Slush Cubes

It isn't New Years at the Hernandez house unless Chris's mom whips up a batch of these. These are so delicious, and your kids will luv them!!! Enjoy!

4 cups sugar
6 cups water
2 lemons
5 bananas
1 6 oz. can frozen orange juice, mix according to can directions
1 46 oz. can pineapple juice
4 qts. 7-up

Boil water with sugar just until sugar dissolves. Set aside. Mash bananas and lemon juiceand add orange juice and pineapple juice. Add sugar and water mixture. Freeze in ice cube trays (if you are doing a themed party, you could freeze these in shaped trays). When ready to serve, put desired amount of cubes in glass, add 7-up and serve immediately. We serve these with forks so you can crush up the cubes and let the drink get really slushy.

Note: Put cubes out a little earlier before serving, that way they are easy to crush up in glass. Otherwise, we stick our glass cup in the microwave for about 10 seconds to make the cubes a little easier to slush up.

Mormon Strawberry Ice Tea

2 lb. fresh strawberries or 2-16 oz. pkg. frozen
1 cup packed br. sugar
1 cup water
2 lemons
3Tbsp. snipped fresh rosemary (opt.)
Ice Cubes
1 Liter CLub soda, chilled
Fresh strawberries (opt.)

In a large saucepan combine fresh or frozen strawberries, br. sugar and water and cook and stir over med. heat until sugar dissolves.

Using a veggie peeler, remove strips of peel from lemons, juice the lemons (should have about 1/2 cup)
Add strips of lemon peel, lemon juice and rosemary to mixture in saucepan. Bring mixture just to boiling, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Cover, cool to room temp.

Press mixture through fine mesh sieve, dissolve solids. You should have about 1 qt. syrup. To serve, fill glass with ice. To each glass add 1/2 cup club soda and syrup. Garnish with fresh strawberries.

Strawberry Lime Punch

1 1/2 cups pineapple juice
1/2 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp. lime juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen sliced strawberries with sugar, thawed
4 1/2 cups lemon-lime soda

Add all juices an sugar. Mix well. Add strawberries. Slowly add lemon lime soda. Garnish with fresh lemons or limes

Yields 16 (1/2 cup) servings
Approx, 86 calories

Valentine Hot Chocolate

Ingredients
4 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons plus one teaspoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
4 tablespoons finely chopped or shaved semisweet chocolate
Directions
Bring all ingredients to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until chocolate has melted (do not let boil). Pour into mugs, and serve.

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