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.