My family is not big on drinking soda pop. However, I do keep a 2-litre of lemon-lime in the pantry, for tummy troubles. A problem arises when we don't finish off the entire bottle before it goes flat. Then we're left with a bottled beverage that no one wants to drink. The same thing happens during the holidays when we open a 2-litre of cola. My family will drink the first half of the bottle, but leave the rest untouched. I have found a couple of ways to use flat soda that appeal to my family members.
The first of these concoctions uses lemon-lime soda, gelatin powder, and unsweetened Kool-aid powder. I simply substitute the flat soda pop for juice or water/sugar in making the gelatin, adding a bit of Kool-aid powder (just a small amount, not the whole packet) for flavoring. The above photo is a gelatin salad that I made this week, using cherry Kool-aid, lemon-lime soda, gelatin, chopped fruit, and mini-marshmallows.
The second concoction was modified from a recipe that I found online for slow-cooker barbecue beef. The online recipe called for ketchup, cola, and Worcestershire sauce poured over a beef roast and cooked in the crockpot. My modification uses browned ground beef (drained), with some ketchup, some canned tomatoes (drained of liquid), soy sauce, and garlic powder, then cooked in the crockpot for a couple of hours. I serve this over hamburger buns, like Sloppy Joes. It has been popular enough in my family that I was requested to make it again for tonight's dinner.
