Drinks suggestions or recipes

Thriftylady

The summer seems to finally be here, and there is nothing quite as lovely as a nice glass of chilled wine on a hot summers day, or a nice cold beer along with a barbecue......sadly, I'm pregnant at the moment so can't indulge myself. (oh, I mean, its not sad that I'm pregnant,that bits fantastic, its sad that I can't indulge myself!).

I'm not a heavy drinker by any means anyway, its just that nothing quite compliments a nice meal the way a glass or two of wine does, or a really good beer. I have tried every soft drink under the sun, but really don't like the taste of them, they are all far too sweet and the fizzy ones are far too fizzy. Fresh fruit juice is ok in very small amounts, but again, its too sweet. Mostly I stick to sparking mineral water, but I've been on that for months and I'm sick looking at it!

On holidays last year I had some really lovely iced teas which were very refreshing, but have no idea how to make it, would anyone have any ideas? Or any suggestions at all for 'grown up' soft drinks?

thanks!

thriftlady_2

Hi Thriftylady,thriftlady here:) I googled iced tea and came up with thishttp://design-emporium.com/iceteas.htmDoes that help? there are loads more recipes on the internet.

Thriftylady

when I first looked at the board, I thought I had replied to myself and was sitting here thinking 'how did I do that? is that even possible?'

I'll have a look at that link, thanks for that.

Sorry for almost copying your name by the way, looks like you had it first ! When I first joined the site a couple of months ago I just sat down and typed in the first thing I could think of, and I was surprised that it hadn't been used by someone else, but I suppose in a way it sort of had been....

thriftlady_2

:rotfl: :rotfl: Don't worry about it,when I saw a post of yours the other day,I thought it was me:rotfl:

pbright

Thirftlady...thirftylady.....:D Thats funny bet your sisters or something!!

cheekymole

Couldn't you try the non-alcoholic beer/wine?

kittiwoz

You can buy ice-tea mixes from Whitards but they're expensive. I really like peach tea made by mixing cold black tea with peach squash or barley water concentrate. Sainsbury's does an own brand peach high juice which is really nice. Their high juice is a lot nicer than Tesco's and they have a better range. I drink high juice made up way weaker than it says on the bottle (about 1 in 8 - 10) or fruit juice mixed half and half with water or soda water. You might like cranberry juice because it is quite tart. I like orange juice mixed up half and half with tonic water too which you might like because tonic is quite bitter and balances the sweetness of the juice. I remember eating outside in Summer when I was a kid and having a big jug of ice-water on the table with slices of orange and/or lemon and sprigs of crushed mint floating in it.

Must agree though that squash in this country is generally quite rubbish. I bought some syrup de citron when I was in France in a very attractive shaped metal bottle. Much nicer than what we get here but sadly run out now. If I'd have been able to visit a supermarket while I was there I would have stocked up but it was a resort shop and very expensive.

Jay-Jay_4

What about half a glass of fresh orange & pineapple juice (or cranberry juice), topped up with sparkling mineral water with lots of ice, a slice of orange, a slice of lemon and a straw :drool:

Robinsons used to do a lovely organic orange squash but I haven't seen it for ages in Asda, maybe another supermarket has it.

Whatever you choose, have a stash of ice cubes in the freezer and some fruit to slice and put in your drinks. It makes it seem a bit more special.

I used to crush my ice when I was pregnant. At first I wrapped it in a tea towel and smashed it with a rolling pin but then I bought a cheap ice crusher which was fab


(EDIT: sorry, I've almost repeated the last poster.... didn't read it before typing )

maering

Iced tea are nice from lidl & Aldi https://www.lidl.co.uk & https://www.aldi.co.uk for your nearest.

Iced coffee mix from Nestles from Asda & other chains, or make yourself, with ground coffee and cream, then chill.

Brew your own , very very low alcohol soft drinks such as ginger beer, water kefir, dandiylion & burdock, or whatever takes your fancy with water kefir.

Chilled Milk kefir. Huge advantage to the fermented kefir types is the probiotic effect & the increased ed boost this is supposed to give to you & your baby

You can ask for the cultures and recipes here http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Fermented-foods-UK/

Mel

JailhouseBabe

Frappe, greek style (well, how my greek ex used to make it):

Measure two tablespoons of instant coffee into a cocktail shaker or something similar, add a little cold water (100ml or so) and a couple of ice cubes.
Shake vigorously. You should get a very frothy mixture, pour over ice in a long glass. Add a little more water to the shaker and again shake vigorously to get all the froth left in shaker loose. Add this to the glass.

You can also add sugar to the coffee at the first step, and could add milk if required.

I personally like to make it black and add a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream to the glass
Ex liked it with baileys or baileys ice cream added.

memorygirl

If you've got a blender - or one of those magic bullet thingies - here's what I drunk during a very hot n sweaty preganancy in Central London.

1 cup of ice
Egg cup of sugar syrup (equal volume of sugar and water warmed till melted. I do a cup of each and then store in bottle in fridge)
Handfull of any fruit (berries, nectarines, peached, bananas - even frozen ones work really well.
Splash of OJ

Blitz to make a yummy slush puppy style of drink.

Also really good with a splash of yogurt or milk to make a smoothie style.

I used to make this up and pop it into a vacumn flask with a sippy cup top = then I could sip it all the way into work on the tube. Figure because of the ice its mostly water with some fruit anyways (the sugar syrup does make it yummy though)

Memorygirl