I love root beer – as you know. I had already helped myself to her stash and was knee deep into a root beer float. But as I watched the kids pick their syrup flavors and touch the freshly shaved ice, a revelation came to me. I wanted my root beer float COLDER.

ingredients:
vanilla ice cream
root beer
shave ice

The best part of a root beer float to me is the icy, crunchy bits that form when the root beer hits the vanilla ice cream. You have to eat them fast or they’ll disappear. Instead, I wanted that texture ALL THE TIME minus the brain freeze.

So I layered the ice cream, root beer and topped it off with shaved ice. Give it all a quick mix up and you have the coldest, crunchiest, creamiest, flavorful root beer float ever. Ahhhh…summertime.

“Oh gosh, how delicious it was! It was sweet and refreshing. It tasted of vanilla and cream with just the faintest trace of raspberries on the edge of the flavour. And the bubbles were wonderful. Sophie could actually feel them bouncing and bursting all around her tummy. It was an amazing sensation.”

The Kid BEGGED me to make him some Frobscottle. We talked about what we’d put it into it, ‘popping and fizzing’ meant soda which my kids are NOT allowed to have but seeing as how he’s read 35 books in three weeks – I’d say he’s allowed a treat. And man, is this a treat.

I kept meaning to put a recipe together for him, but as parents do, I got busy. Proving that he is my child, before summer school one morning he left his very own homemade recipe on my desk, just as a reminder:

Interesting. I like the way that Kid thinks. I improved it (in my opinion) and upped the ante by using Lilikoi soda from Hawaii. Truly delish stuff IF you can get ahold of it. Most people can’t, so Ginger Ale will do just fine. Here’s the recipe:

ingredients:
1 scoop vanilla ice cream (recipe, here)
1 scoop raspberry sorbet
Lilikoi soda (or Ginger Ale)
whipped cream
fresh raspberries
Pop Rocks

Put the scoops of ice cream in a glass. Man, you could just stop here and that’d be a great summer treat. But no, I must carry on.

I love this natural Hawaiian soda from Waialua Soda Works. I had it in Hawaii YEARS ago and now it’s finally readily available on the mainland. If you can’t find it, ginger ale works just as well! Add just enough soda to get the bubbles to the top. Add the whipped cream and top with fresh berries.

Sprinkle the top with Pop Rocks. Yes, Pop Rocks. It gives it that extra “whizpopping” kick, as the BFG would say.

For sure this is sugar overload but this was a one time treat, and the Kid was SO HAPPY to see the BFG’s Frobscottle come to life! I love enhancing the Kid’s creativity by incorporating fun into his summer reading. It sure makes life a lot more fun.

In the Magic Treehouse book Dark Day Under the Deep Sea, the kids learn that the pirates have to drink lime juice. Hm. Sour. This is a way better alternative. Lime sherbet and a fizzy soda – the most delicious way to prevent scurvy.

ingredients:
1 scoop lime sherbet
1 cup ginger ale
whipped cream
green chocolate curls

In a glass place the scoop of lime sherbet and carefully pour the ginger ale on top – it’s extremely bubbly so take your time. Come on. Do you need a recipe for this? I mean check on the comments on THIS winner of a recipe. Ridiculous.

Heck no you don’t need instructions, but I wanted to show you this picture to make you want to get up right now and make your own. It’s that good.

Whatever Yoda ATE, I’m sure he drank this with it.

ingredients:
3/4 cup limeade
1/2 cup sparkling water
1 scoop lime sherbet

Fill a cup with the limeade and sparkling water. Stir to combine and add a scoop of lime sherbet.

Yoda drank this every day and that’s why he lived for 800 years. True story.

This is a really refreshing take on a berry lemonade…but slushy. It doesn’t have to be summer to have this…we drank it when the weather was in the 40s!! It’s slushy time, all the time!

ingredients:
2 cups frozen strawberries
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water

Frozen strawberries are the key, you don’t need to add ice, they do the work for you.

Blend everything together. Sure, let a small child play with an electric appliance and then take a picture. Hey, he’s just a really small sous chef, ok?

Blend until you get a mini tornado going in there, then pour into cups. This makes two large cups or 4 very small ones. I’m talking about kids here, not oompa loompahs.

However the Kid got right to work on my new liquid diet. He said he wanted to make smoothies and when I went to get the blender, I turned around and he’d already drawn up a visual recipe for me to follow. He’s a quickdraw! He made me follow his instructions EXACTLY and it came out fantastic.

ingredients:
16 ounces frozen strawberries
1 banana (cut up)
1 cup orange juice

The ingredients in this are simple. While I wanted to add some more ‘stuff’ the Kid wouldn’t hear of it. He was right. Simple was best.

Frozen strawberries are great because it gives you just the right amount of slush factor without having to add ice. Blend frozen strawberries, banana and orange juice in a blender. Add more juice if you need to, but not too much.

Blend until the smoothie starts to turn in on itself like a mini tornado. That’s how you know it’s ready!

ingredients:
1 cup cherries, pitted
3/4 cup lime juice
5/8 cup sugar
3/4 cup ice
1/2 cup Pellegrino sparkling water

vanilla ice cream

In a blender, combine the cherries, lime juice, sugar, and ice. Blend until foamy and combined. Add Pellegrino water and stir.

Pour into glasses, and top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. A nice summer treat!

This isn’t a fantastically high tech recipe, but you know. Whaddya gonna do. I love Lemon Coke. I order it when I go to old skool soda fountains. I’m retro like that.

ingredients:
1 can of coke
juice of HALF a lemon

Pour a can of coke into a cup. Cut a lemon in half and squeeze the juice in. Stir.

Told you it was a lame recipe. But SO GOOD.

These go GREAT with Lemon Zest French Fries…

I make this for the kids with orange juice or pink lemonade:

But for me? That’s a different story. Coke is tasty – but SLUSHEE Coke is even better. Better than that? CHERRY COKE. Now you don’t have to go to 7-11 to get your fix, just make it at home!

Start with of can of Coke for each person you are serving – but I think the max should be 3 for a standard ice cream maker.

Then just pour into your prepped ice cream maker. This goes rather quickly. 20 minutes later you have tasty icy goodness, mmm mmmm.

Put all ingredients in a blender. Blend. I like mine a little thick – runny ain’t my thing, so I don’t blend for long. I like the hemmorage effect I get when I try to get it up the straw.

As always, top with whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry and you are good to go.

That there is your standard vanilla milkshake. You can even leave out the vanilla (as I do with the boys) and it tastes just fine. But you can change that thing a million delicious ways:

Chocolate:
Add 3-4 tablespoons of chocolate syrup
Chocolate malted:
3-4 Tablespoons chocolate syrup
2 teaspoons malt powder
Strawberry shake:
substitute strawberry ice cream
also add 1/2 cup frozen strawberries.
peppermint shake:
1-2 drops peppermint extract
some crushed peppemint candies
Oreo shake:
2 Tablespoons chocolate syrup
6-7 Oreo cookies

I could go on, but it’s really endless, just start with the base and add. Peanut butter. Candies. Fruits. What have you. In the end, you are eating ice cream. And that’s really life’s goal, right?