Homemade Slurpees for a Hot Summer Day -- AKA How to Use That Flat Cola

I've mentioned before that we buy a 2-liter bottle of cola every Christmas season. A 2-liter bottle is the least expensive size, cheaper than a small bottle. However, we never drink more than half the bottle, leaving us with several cups of flat cola to deal with. I've used it in baked beans and sloppy Joe mix. Yet I still had more to use.

Monday was hot, hot, hot (for my area, at least). I decided to use my ice cream maker to make a slushie-type drink. I froze the chilling chamber overnight. Then Monday afternoon I poured the cola into the chamber and churned in the same way I would for ice cream. 

One difference between making ice cream/sorbet and using cola for a slurpee is in the texture upon freezing. Bottled soda freezes more solidly. I found that at the end of the freezing/churning, I still needed to use a large spoon to knock some of the frozen cola off the sides of the chamber, then chop it ups with the same spoon. In the end, the texture was great, and we had a very cooling drink to enjoy on the hottest day of the year so far. To note: our cola slurpee was not nearly as sweet as 7-11's version. But I actually think that was a good thing.

Anyway, we have some fruity soda that's gone flat, too. I'll be using this in future slurpees this summer when it heats up again. 

This has turned out to be a great way to finally finish off those open 2-liters of soda that linger in my fridge. I now know that if I can't use it up in winter meals, I can use what's left in summer cooling treats.

Cheap & Cheerful Meals for Father's Day Week

Friday
pepperoni pizza, tomato-basil soup (canned tomato paste, frozen basil from last summer, garlic, chicken stock), steamed broccoli and turnip stem pieces (saved from the turnips I harvested earlier in the week)

As usual -- your homemade pizza dinner for Friday. I love pizza and look forward to this dinner every week.

Saturday
scratch refried beans, homemade tortillas, carrot sticks, garden green salad

Sunday (Father's Day BBQ)
barbecued burgers on homemade buns from the freezer with lettuce from the garden, homemade dill pickles and onion slices, steamed broccoli in cheese sauce, potato chips and dip, canned pineapple chunks and banana slices, ice cream sundaes

My daughters prepared the Father's Day meal. This was as much a gift to me as to my husband. For dessert, they made a fudge sauce and a caramel sauce to go on vanilla ice cream and the leftover chocolate brownie ice cream from April birthdays. 

Monday
chicken pot pie, leftover bananas and pineapple, toasted burger bun, green fig pickle slices

Tuesday
sausage patties, lentils, rice and gravy, sautéed turnip greens, oven-roasted turnip chunks

Wednesday
tuna casserole using the last of the cheese sauce from Sunday as a binder, garden greens and lentil sprout salad, chocolate chip cookies

Thursday
leftover tuna casserole, Swiss chard frittata, carrot sticks

Baking this week -- I baked 3 loaves of bread, some chocolate chip cookies, and a batch of corn muffins. I also made another jar of instant brown sugar and cinnamon oatmeal for family members to make a bowl of oatmeal at a time. I've been working in the garden every day and have had little time for baking this week.

My friend with the fridge problems received her new fridge and freezer on Saturday (2 days late, they had to reschedule). She came and picked up her freezer items and returned the picnic cooler. I went shopping and bought another gallon of whole milk for making yogurt and did just that on Tuesday. Breakfasts included homemade yogurt once again.

Mid-week, I made soup for lunch that lasted 2 days, using leftover cooked lentils, sautéed turnip greens, chicken broth, garlic and some Parmesan cheese. It was delicious and appreciated by my family members to have something easy for their lunches. I also made 2 batches of rhubarb sauce and 1 bath of spiced fig-applesauce. We are low on fresh fruit and our strawberries are still not ready. Adding fruit sauces to the bananas, raisins, and canned pineapple makes our fruit selection more interesting. We also opened one of the packages of uncured hotdogs (bought on clearance) to use in lunches and ate leftovers or peanut butter sandwiches.

From the garden this week, we harvested lemon balm, rhubarb, turnips, Swiss chard, beet greens from thinning, lettuce, nasturtium leaves, radish leaves, and chives. The weather finally warmed up this week after weeks of chilly rain. I'm hoping the garden takes off with the warmer weather.

These were the meals we ate this week. What was on your menu?