Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Homemaking Tip—Copycat Drinks


To make non-alcholic, sparkling grape juice add diet or regular lemon-lime soda to home bottled grape juice concentrate instead of sugar and water. It tastes great. Or, if you are using store-bought, frozen, grape juice concentrate add sparkling soda instead of water when reconstituting it.



I should have posted this idea back when there was lots of fresh snow, but replacing ice in Italian sodas with snow works terrific. (Cash & Carry has the largest selection of flavorings for the best price in our area.)


And finally, sometimes we make 5 gallons of homemade root beer for parties or picnics—it’s easy to make and serve, good and fun. I had planned to make some for New Year’s Day, but worried no stores would be open that sold dry ice. Instead, I bought eight or ten (2 liter) bottles of A&W root beer, filled the cooler with a bag of crushed ice and poured it in. No mess, no waiting for the bubbling to die down and it tasted as good as homemade. It’s now my preferred recipe and costs a fraction less than home brew.

Great drinks, all three, and they work for us. Do you have a copycat drink you like? Do tell, do tell.

6 comments:

Becky said...

I love the taste of a strawberry "daquiri"...they are super easy to make non-alcoholic. Just buy the Bacardi brand frozen drink mix and blend with crushed ice...yummy!

A&W Rootbeer is the only approved flavor at our house...Jeff won't except anything else :)

P.S. If you love homemade drinks at your house I will send you the recipe for Jeff's Grandma's Frape (fruit juices, 7-Up, and ice essentially).

John and Lisa said...

One of our favorites isn't exactly a copycat drink, but we love it nonetheless. We just reconstitute frozen lemonade concentrate with club soda rather than "still" water. It's very light and refreshing! Thanks for your ideas!

Deidra said...

I'm a big fan of Italian sodas. Must be the half and half...

We're generally a water family, but we've found the seasonal Pomegranate 7-Up to be a big hit. And I think a little club soda makes everything seem a little more fancy!

Wanda said...

These are the most fabulous ideas, ya'll! YUMMY!
Thanks so much for sharing. I am a "heavy" drinker...love all of these!

Anonymous said...

I got caught up on some of your posts today. What fun. Thanks for the good ideas and sharing your world.

Lynn

michelle said...

I think your A&W plan was a great one because I don't actually like homemade root beer!