Soda and Sugar Webinar

To watch Summer 2012 Series Webinar on Soda and Sugar, click link below:

http://www.anymeeting.com/empoweryou/EB53DA86894E

Thank you!!

Summer Ideas

Summer is in full gear and I have hunted down some great ideas to make summer healthy and affordable:

Homemade Vitamin Water - 

Instead of spending money on Vitamin Water and adding sugar to your summer diet, make your own.  Using a large pitcher, cut up fresh fruit into small chunks or thin slices and fill pitcher with filtered water.  Let seep for 4-6 hours, up to 24 hrs.  Strain fruit from water.  Pour into glasses over ice or into reusable bottles.

Homemade Glow Stick - 

For camping or late nights at the beach? Leave 1/4 of Mountain dew in bottle (just dont drink it all), add a tiny bit of baking soda and 3 caps of peroxide. Put the lid on and shake - walla! Homemade glow stick (bottle) solution. 

Root Beer Float Popsicles -

http://www.evilchefmom.com/2011/06/root-beer-float-popsicles-5050.html 

18, 3-ounce Dixie cups, 1 gallon of vanilla ice cream, root beer or orange soda, popsicle sticks, baking sheet, tray or dish, spatula

First of all make room in your freezer for a tray, baking sheet, or dish. Snip a little bit of the Dixie cup. This will make it easier to peel the cup off of the popsicle later on. Place Dixie cups on tray.

Layout all of your ingredients. Fill bottom 1/3 of the Dixie cups with ice cream, then pour root beer slowly over ice cream until the root beer fills two thirds of the Dixie cup. Place tray into the freezer. Freeze for about two hours or until root beer is close to frozen. Carefully, fill the top third of the Dixie cups with remaining ice cream. Freeze for 30 minutes, then insert wooden sticks into the root beer ice cream mixture. Serve when the popsicles are completely frozen.

Other Combination Ideas:

Vanilla Ice Cream with...  Dr. Pepper, Grape Soda, Coke, cream soda, cherry soda
Yogurt with...  lemonade, strawberry lemonade, 7-up
Blueberry Yogurt with Lemonade
Chocolate Ice Cream with Cream Soda

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream - 

What you'll need:

• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup milk or half & half
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 tablespoons rock salt
• 1 pint-size plastic food storage bag (e.g., Ziploc) 
• 1 gallon-size plastic food storage bag
• Ice cubes

How to make it:

1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully.
4. Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully. Enjoy!

Tips:

A 1/2 cup milk will make about 1 scoop of ice cream, so double the recipe if you want more. But don't increase the proportions more that that -- a large amount might be too big for kids to pick-up because the ice itself is heavy.

Homemade Slip N Slide -  

Can't afford a swimming pool or simply want to avoid another trip to the store? No problem! Your children will love helping your create an exciting water toy out of simple household items! All you'll need is a few large black garbage bags, some stakes, and a hose! Pull apart the garbage bags and lay them flat on the ground in a long line and stake them down. Wet down your newly created slide and you are set! If you have a hill nearby take advantage of it and make the slide even better! Your children won't be able to get enough of it and you will have spent next to nothing!

Waterproof Beach Bag

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/waterproof-beach-bag-672913/

Materials

• 13-gallon garbage bag
• Scissors
• Colored duct tape (we used red and white)

• Marker or pen
• Yardstick or measuring tape
• 4 (2-foot) pieces of white cotton cording

Instructions

1. Turn the garbage bag into a large sheet by cutting along one side seam and the bottom seam. Tape the sheet flat to your workspace and draw a 16- by 30-inch rectangle on it. Cover the rectangle with slightly overlapping strips of red and white tape.
   
2. Cut out the tape rectangle and flip it tape-side down.
   
3. Lay 2 pieces of cording across the rectangle about an inch from one of the shorter ends. Fold that end over the cording and tape it down to make a casing. Repeat this at the opposite end with the other pieces of cording.
   
4. Fold the rectangle in half and tape the sides together to form the bag.
   
5. To make the drawstring, pair up one cord from each casing and knot them together at both ends. Repeat with the remaining 2 cords, then pull one knot at each side to cinch the bag.
   

 I hope you enjoy all these ideas and save some summer bucks!!  Then take that extra money and go to the local farmers market to buy fresh produce or make your own herb garden....