Refreshing Summer Beverages

When you think of being outside at this time of the year, either sitting on the patio or lying in the hammock, what makes the experience complete?  Your favorite book in one hand, right?  But what’s that in the other hand?  Your favorite beverage, of course!  This week I’m rolling out a slew of recipes for beating the heat.

Francine Latshaw was a lifesaver in the summertime…at least to those of us who worked at Mowrey-Latshaw Hardware Company.  This was in the seventies, before an air conditioner had been installed in the Spring City store.  I began to work at “The Hardware,” as we called it, shortly after my parents’ bakery closed in 1974.  I came home from college on weekends in order to work in the store on Saturdays and also worked there in the summertime.  It was on those hot, 95°+ summer days that Francine would often rescue us.  She’d stop by the store to check in with “Dickie,” her husband and one of the Latshaw brothers.  Richard Latshaw was very business-like, and was also the president of Spring City Borough Council.  No one else called him “Dickie.”

Mowrey-Latshaw Hardware Company, Inc., 77 N. Main, Spring City, PA
Photo courtesy William C. Brunner, Spring-Ford Area Historical Society

“How can you boys stand it in here?” Francie would ask us, not really expecting an answer.  “It’s sweltering!”  She would disappear for about an hour and a half and return with a wide mouth jar filled with icy homemade lemonade.  She used the same jar every time.  It was squarish with a wide mouth and a green screw-on lid made of metal.  It was extremely difficult to pour from, but we were always careful not to lose a single drop.  I don’t have Francine Latshaw’s lemonade recipe, but I do have two I like for pink lemonade.  I can’t help but think of her and those hot days at “The Hardware” when I drink it.  It tastes even better if you’ve worked up a sweat.

PINK LEMONADE I

Ingredients (makes about a gallon):

1¾ cups granulated sugar

2 cups water

2 cups fresh lemon juice (approx. 4-6 lemons)

2 cups cranberry juice

8 cups of ice water

Directions:

In a saucepan, heat 2 cups of water and 1¾ cups of sugar until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved.

Fill a half-gallon container (8 cups) with ice cubes, topping it off with cold water.

Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher.  Garnish with lemon slices.  Adjust the sugar if you like your lemonade sweeter or more tart.

The origin of pink lemonade is shrouded in mystery.  I found at least five stories.  They included everything from red cinnamon hearts accidentally finding their way into a pitcher of lemonade to the first pink lemonade actually being grapefruit juice.  It was renamed, so goes this legend, because no one wanted to buy what they thought would be sour grapefruit juice.  My favorite goes back to 1857 when Pete Conklin, a man who operated the lemonade and peanut concession at a circus ran out of water for making lemonade.  The only water on hand was found in a tub that the bareback rider used to wash her red tights.  The pink tinge didn’t faze Conklin. He just called the result “Strawberry Lemonade,” effectively doubling his sales.

This recipe uses actual strawberries.

PINK LEMONADE II

Ingredients (makes about a gallon):

1¾ cups granulated sugar

2 cups water

2 cups fresh lemon juice

1 to 1½ cups of strawberries (fresh or frozen)

8 cups ice water

Directions:

Place the strawberries in a saucepan and mash them thoroughly.  Add the sugar and two cups of water and heat to boiling.  Reduce heat and allow to simmer for five minutes.  Allow to cool for about ten minutes.

Fill a half-gallon (8 cups) container with ice cubes, topping it off with cold water.

Strain the cooked strawberry mixture through a sieve, discarding the pulp.  Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher.  Garnish with lemon slices.

DAVE’S LO-CAL DECAFFEINATED ARNOLD PALMER

One of the biggest problems with summer beverages is the amount of sugar they contain.  While my two recipes for pink lemonade contain a lot of sugar, the concentration is still less than typical soft drinks.  Another problem for me is caffeine.  I don’t drink much that contains caffeine, with the exception of iced tea.  However, drinking it with dinner or later in the evening will often keep me awake at night.  My Arnold Palmer recipe contains no caffeine and no sugar, and is about 5 calories a glass.  If you have a problem with a little aspartame, skip this one.

The story of Arnold Palmer, the beverage, is a short one.  Palmer liked to mix iced tea and lemonade, half and half.  In fact, that is what it was originally called:  “Half and Half.”  He liked it so much, word spread from clubhouse to clubhouse.  Eventually they named the combination after him.  I don’t think it’s copyrighted, but he does now market the beverage.  It’s known as “Arnold Palmer Tee,” and that’s an official trademark.

Because I make this beverage all year long, I like to vary the flavored herbal tea bags I use so that my taste buds don’t get acclimated to a single flavor.  Favorites include:  Trader Joe’s Mango Black Tea and Pomegranate White Tea, Bigelow’s Perfect Peach, and The Republic of Tea’s Ginger Peach.

Ingredients:

2-4 flavored herbal tea bags

8 decaffeinated tea bags

1 packet of Stevia Extract

1 packet for making 2 quarts (64 oz.) Crystal Light Lemonade

water and ice

Directions:

Heat a half gallon of water to boiling.  Remove from heat and add tea bags.  Allow to steep for at least 20 minutes.  Fill a gallon pitcher about half full of ice cubes.  Add one pack of Stevia Extract, (an organic sweetener), and one pack of Crystal Light Lemonade mix (to make two quarts or 64 oz.)  Remove and drain the tea bags.  Pour the tea over the ice.  If necessary, add additional ice cubes to bring to a full gallon.

Stevia Extract is more concentrated than sugar and a single packet packs the punch of a half cup of sugar.  I didn’t know this the first time I used it, and put 8 packets in my Arnold Palmer recipe.  Whoa!  Arnold would have flipped his golf cart.  It had to go down the drain.

SMOOTHIES

Now for some fun…not that Arnold Palmer and lemonade made with wash water isn’t.  Smoothies give you the chance to be the mad scientist you’ve always wanted to be in the kitchen.  You almost can’t ruin a smoothie.  If the ingredients sound like they’d be good together, they will be.  For this portion of this week’s post, I consulted another "Dad in the Kitchen," and the King of the Smoothies, Chad Neiswender.  Although, according to Chad, his most recent smoothie-making has consisted of baby formula and water.  Chad is the physical education instructor at Royersford Elementary and was always game to try anything.  One day for morning announcements I asked Chad to go outside with a microphone and do a fall foliage report.  He didn’t bat an eye, and proceeded to report on the one tree that was in view of the camera.  I thought it was the funniest thing ever, and I’m sure I enjoyed it more than anyone.  Chad also helped me run over a gingerbread house with my car, but that’s a story for another time…maybe Christmas.

Upper left:  Making a smoothie live on the set of the RES Holiday Morning Show;
Below:  Chad and fellow teacher, Heather Weise, getting ready to try out Heather's Easy Bake Oven
(I think the infamous bottle of peppermint extract is on the counter in front of them!)

Speaking of Christmas, on the last school day before Christmas break, we’d usually broadcast a holiday morning show using the school’s closed circuit television system.  The show featured a variety of holiday segments including gift ideas, crafts and recipes.  Chad would always come through with a smoothie recipe.  One year, he planned a peppermint smoothie but misplaced his measuring spoons.  As a result, the smoothie was significantly overindulged with peppermint extract.  I was the recipient of a taste test and had fresh breath for a week!

One of Chad’s smoothie recipes follows, but here is how to make a basic fruit smoothie.  Following the same basic ingredients and adding the fruit of your choice will almost definitely yield positive results.

BASIC FRUIT SMOOTHIE

(Strawberry-Banana)

"Before"

Ingredients (make a large serving):

½ cup orange juice

1 cup strawberries

½ to 1 banana

½ cup milk or ½ cup of yogurt or ½ cup vanilla ice cream

1 cup ice cubes

"After"

Put everything in a blender and blend.  In the words of Ron Popeil, “It’s just that simple!”

CHAD NEISWENDER’S FRUIT SMOOTHIE

Ingredients (makes about 4 servings):

Smoothie Ingredients:

1 banana

1 cup frozen peaches

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 cup frozen cherries

4 ice cubes

½ cup orange juice

¾ cup vanilla yogurt

½ teaspoon honey (optional)

           

Garnish Ingredients:

3 pieces of honey dew

3 pieces of watermelon

3 pieces of cantaloupe

           

Directions:

           

Place the banana, strawberries, peaches, cherries, and ice cubes into a blender. Pour in the orange juice, vanilla yogurt, and honey. Puree until smooth. Using a melon baller, garnish smoothie with a fresh fruit kabob of honey dew, watermelon, and cantaloupe.

Here are two more quasi-smoothie recipes for those hot summer days.  I say “quasi” because they don’t contain fruit.  We can’t always be good.

OREO SMOOTHIE

Ingredients:

5 Oreo™ cookies

½ cup milk

2 scoops of vanilla ice cream

Finely grind the Oreo cookies in a blender or food processor.  In most blenders, you can only grind two or three cookies before the bottom starts to clog.  The fun part is revving up the blender and dropping the cookies, one at a time, through the hole in the lid.  Cover the opening immediately as Oreo pieces have been known to launch  Put the ground Oreos aside, (about ½ cup), and add the milk and ice cream to the blender.  Blend until just mixed together and then add the Oreos.  Again, blend until just mixed.  Serve with a straw.  This is like drinking an Oreo cookie!  Try adding some Crème de Menthe for a mint Oreo smoothie.

ROOT BEER FLOAT SMOOTHIE

The history of this summer beverage goes back to the days when I was working alongside my dad at Latshaw’s Bakery.  I found a blender in the kitchen equipment of what had been the family seafood restaurant.  The restaurant had operated for many years along with the bakery.  (Guess where the dinner rolls came from?)  I knew nothing about blenders, so I tried adding 8 oz. of Coca Cola, (still in glass bottles at the time), and two scoops of Nelson’s vanilla ice cream, (which we also sold at the bakery).  The result was heavenly, and when working beside a hot “bake oven,” very refreshing.  This one is made using root beer, so there’s no caffeine.  I can still hear my dad saying, “Daver, make me one of your special shakes.”

Ingredients:

1 bottle (12 oz.) root beer

2 scoops of vanilla ice cream

Put the root beer and then the ice cream in a blender.  After an initial blending, you may have to shake or stir to allow the two ingredients to fully blend as the ice cream has a tendency to float on top.  (That’s why it’s called a “float.”)  This is also delicious, and “goes down” very easily.

There are many more summer beverages, but this post is already too long.  Happy Fourth of July!