Lori’s Top 5 Summertime Treats

I love Summer because it is a fun season.  It's full of sunshine, school is out, lots of vacations and fun summertime treats.  Let's face it when it comes to summer you can find a ton of tasty treats that you wouldn't normally eat in the other seasons.

1. Homemade Ice Cream

When the Summer Season hits that means it is time to dust off the ice cream maker.  You won't find anything better than homemade ice cream.  When you are making your own ice cream you can add what ever you want to the mixture.  You can make whatever flavor you want.  It becomes a passion product because you are putting your heart and soul into it.  It takes time because you have to make sure the ingredients are perfect.  Not only that, you have to make sure you have the right salt to ice ratio to get it cold enough to freeze it properly.  Some people go as far as to have an actual crank homemade ice cream maker.  I'm not as dedicated, I let electricity and a motor turn my ice cream maker.

My favorite homemade ice cream recipe is:

This is a recipe I have been making for decades.  A family friend gave me the recipe years ago and I've tweaked it a bit to fit my tastes over the years.

Big Red Homemade Ice Cream

1 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
2 pts. frozen strawberries in sugar or add sugar
3 large bananas cut into pieces
2 liter bottle of Big Red

Mix first 3 ingredients and place in freezer. Fill to capacity with Big Red. Let set after freezing about 1 hour.

2. Sno Cones

Are the best way to cool off on a hot summer day and luckily you can find a sno cone stand on just about any corner in any city.  I think each and every summer I keep Bahama Bucks open.  I couldn't begin to tell you how many punch cards we have been through.  The wonderful thing about sno cones is how many flavors are available.  You can add flavors to your flavors or cream to your flavors.  You could eat a sno cone  flavor each day and you still couldn't get through all the flavors in one summer.   So enjoy a summer of sno cones and don't forget to try a pickle juice snow cone.  Yummy!

3. Otter Pops

You cannot go wrong with Otter Pops.  They are the perfect popsicle, they come in their own pouch that you just rip from the others snip the top off and enjoy.  The great thing about the pouch is that you don't get the sticky drips that you would get from other popsicles.  They come in all colors of the rainbow and all sorts of flavors, plus they have really awesome characters on each popsicle.  It's an adventure each day when the kids get to choose which Otter Pop they want to eat.

4. Chocolate Covered Bananas

My friend Jess reminded me of this one.  Number one they are absolutely delicious, they are a cold treat since they are frozen and they are very portable.

How do you make a Chocolate Covered banana?  It is real simple, peel however many bananas you want.  Take a stick it could be a popsicle stick, a or a skewer, and put in the peeled bananas.  Line a plate or a pan with waxed paper then place the bananas on the wax paper and put in the freezer until the bananas are frozen.  Melt your favorite chocolate on the stove or in the microwave then dip the frozen banana in the chocolate and then let the chocolate set.

If you want to be more creative dip the freshly covered banana in nuts, coconuts, sprinkles or any thing that comes to mind.  This also works with all kinds of fruit.

Remember this is also a fun activity that you can do with the kids.

5. Hot Dogs

Yes, hot dogs can be eaten any time of the year, but when summer rolls around its like they become a staple in our fridges.  A lot of families BBQ in the backyard and what is the one things kids love to eat off the BBQ?  Hot Dogs! Especially the perfectly cooked hot dogs with the grill marks in all the right places.  Plus there isn't any limit to what you can do with a hot dog.  You can put ketchup on it, mustard, relish, cheese, bbq sauce and chili.  The best thing about a hot dog, it is portable, you can hold it with one hand.