I have been trying to keep my family from soda pops and sport drinks for a long time. I tried Water Kefir, Kombucha and powdered additives, but they just weren't tasty enough. Knowing plain water is the best option I suggested we get used to it. One night after dinner, my husband expressed how much he enjoyed a sweet beverage with dinner rather than plain water. I thought about it and had to acknowledge that a tasty beverage does improve a meal. What is a picnic without Lemonade or Rootbeer? Lemonade is the perfect accompanyment to spicy foods, and eating burgers and chips and watermelon on 4th of July just isn’t the same without a grape or orange soda. I immediately thought to myself, what did retro housewives do? I remembered black and white images of their dinners spread out on the table for the family to sample from. The old refrigerator ads that always had a jug of something in it even with the bottles of Coca-Cola. I had assumed they were jugs of canned juice like my Momma usually kept. I considered what beverage a person could make that would be just as tasty as kool-aid, soda or bottled juice, but much healthier? That is when I thought of Lemonade. Well sure, Lemonade is nice, but my family is sure to be tired of it in three days. Then I thought of flavoring the lemonade with fresh or frozen fruits to change it up! They do it at restaurants and my family loves it, so why couldn't I make it myself? So I did, and they liked it and I did too!
As a society, we have gotten so far away from carefully prepared meals at home. We all seem to think we need to go out to eat in order to have a nice relaxing experience, but really it only takes a few thoughtful finishing touches to create a cozy meal at home. Even better really. If we try adding a tasty beverage, maybe a bowl of celery and carrot sticks and some dinner rolls! That would liven up any dinner I say! Who doesn't like dinner rolls?
I decided then part of my dinner preparations should include a beverage. I bought a big bag of limes at Costco and started experimenting. Next, I bought a bag of lemons and just rotate flavors so we always have a refreshing tasty homemade beverage in the fridge that is versatile. Sometimes I add frozen berries, sometimes fresh fruit and sometimes I leave it classic.
Bonus; I know my family will be getting their vitamin C and antioxidants on a regular basis and no more artificial flavors and colors not to mention added sodium or copious amounts of sugar or who-knows-what! It helps that this beverage is very fast and easy to make up ahead of time and to keep making it whenever it runs out. I use a Citrus press and a half gallon mason jar with a pour and store lid and just rinse it inbetween a couple batches, so there aren't as many dirty dishes created. Since lemon or limeade has a fresh citrus base, it doesn't have much chance to harbor any bad bacteria and we go through it in a couple days so it doesn't ever go bad. I just quickly wash the citrus press after I use it and it's ready for the next batch!
½-⅔ cup Fresh Pressed Juice
(I use 3 Limes or 3-4 Lemons)
¾ cup Organic Cane Sugar
7 cups Purified Water
1 cup Berries or Fruit of choice, fresh or frozen (optional)
Press juice and pour sugar into a half gallon jar; add water until it almost fills the jar, then add the fruit or berries to top it off. Screw lid on tightly onto jar and shake till all the sugar is dissolved (About 1-2 minutes). For an extra flair you can add sparkling water for a sparkling lemonade! Just disolve the sugar in lemon juice and a couple cups of water, add your carbonated water and give it a stir to combine. Enjoy chilled.
I make this up in the afternoon long before dinner, so it is nice and cold at mealtime especially for the summer!
Another homemade beverage that can be easily made and chilled is Tizane. If you are wondering, 'what is Tizane?' It is an herbal infusion like tea or herbal tea. I find it much less confusing to use the term tizane instead of tea eapecially because I use herbs instead of tea leaves for this infusion.
Somewhat like Sweet Tea in The South, I have taken to infusing herbal tea bags or herbs in hot water, adding honey to enhance the flavors and chilling it in the fridge until ready to serve. It is easier than making lemonade, but adding some citrus juices or other fruit and berries are delicious variations as well. To make iced Tizane, just boil 8 cups of water. Add 4 herbal tea bags to a half gallon mason jar or jug. Pour boiled water over herb sachets and let steep for 5 minutes with the lid on or a silicone mat or small plate over top. Remove sachets squeezing out liquid with a slotted spoon (careful not to burn your fingers.) Stir honey or other sweetener into the now infused hot water until dissolved and chill in refrigerator. Add-ins may be included before chilling. Note that if you want to include fruit you may want to decrease the water to infuse by ½-1 cup so as to make room for the displacement.
The third homemade beverage I want to suggest here is to mix bottled fruit juices with sparkling water to taste. This makes a delightful beverage for any meal and is also simple to throw together at the last minute provided both sparkling water and juice are present and chilled.
Lastly, I have learned how to make hot chocolate and chocolate milk from scratch. They are one and the same in this preparation, but could be counted as 2 if you don't want to complicate things for your family.
Hot Chocolate/Chocolate Milk
Chocolate Chips (to Taste)
1 Tbsp Sugar (or more to Taste)
About 1 quart of Whole Milk
Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and stir continuously until the chocolate has melted into the milk and the sugar has dissolved. To make this process easier, one could melt the chocolate and heat the milk and sugar. Then whisk the sweetened milk slowly into the melted chocolate.
Enjoy a cup of hot chocolate or chill for chocolate milk later! This will need to be shaken up before pouring. It's easy and free of all those nasty carcinogens included in most prepackaged chocolate milks. I also think it tastes better and it is much cheaper than the store-bought bottles that have a clean ingredients list.
This can also be carefully reheated for hot chocolate again!
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