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One of my very vivid summer memories as a child was going to the grocery store with my mom. I guess that we never went with her during the school year because she probably enjoyed going by herself when we were at school so as to avoid the endless stream of can I please have this, I want to eat that, I hate him, and so on (clearly those comments came from my siblings, I was a saint). My mom is nothing if not fair, so we use to have to take turns choosing the cereal, snack bars, and other unnecessary treats she would let us have each week. But I do remember one thing she would let us each pick our own of, Kool-Aid fruit drink packets.
We would feel like we had won the lottery when she would say we could each pick out our OWN personal flavor. Little did we know that they probably cost about .05 cents in 1993. I remember we would agonize forever over which flavor we would get that week. Sometimes there were even limited edition flavors and someone would ALWAYS have to get that one because who knew if it would be there next week. I am also pretty sure that my sister and I would usually influence my four year old brother to pick a flavor that we wanted since I don't think he had much of an opinion at the time.
As soon as we had earned our allowance by helping put the groceries away, we would beg my mom to mix up our Kool-Aid which she happily did because she knew that she could then send us outside to drink it and she could have 5 minutes of peace and quiet.
While I know that my mom made us drink milk or water at meals, Kool-Aid was our go to summer drink treat of choice. There was nothing quite as amazing as a huge plastic cup full of Kool-Aid after a hot afternoon of making a girls only fort out of your swing set and Little Tykes Jungle gym connected by pool towels and maybe even with a garden hose pulled inside to spray intruders with.
As an adult, Kool-Aid still reminds me of summer and while I still love drinking it straight out of the bottle I also love getting creative with it too. Justin and I's favorite local restaurant always serves fantastic granita as a palate cleanser between courses (fancy, right?). So I decided to try my hand at making granita at home. The new 96 oz. bottles of Kool-Aid made for the perfect size to make a huge batch and I while I was at Walmart grabbing some I also grabbed some frozen fruit to give our granita a little extra punch.
This Peach Mango Granita was so easy to make and it looks beautiful. With summer coming to a close, we are trying to spend as much time outside as possible and this makes for the perfect refreshing treat to have on it's own after an afternoon in the pool or as a palate cleanser between salads and dinner when we have friends over to have dinner out on the porch (who's fancy now?).
This recipe can be customized with whatever flavor you like. I also have tried it with Watermelon Kool-Aid and just bought the Limited Edition flavor Blackberry to try out next week. Just switch up your frozen fruit to match your flavor or try a complimentary type of fruit to switch it up. Walmart always has the new 96 oz. bottles at the low price of $1.98 but you might even find the limited edition flavors on sale for .98 cents depending on your local store.
Peach Mango Kool-Aid Granita
- 2 cups of Peach Mango Kool-Aid
- 1 cup of frozen mango pieces
1.) Combing Kool-Aid and mango pieces in the blender and blend until completely smooth.
2.) Pour mixture into a 9x13 pan and freeze for an hour.
3.) After an hour, use a fork to scrape up the mixture to form a slush. Refreeze for another hour.
4.) After an hour, repeat the fork scraping and place mixture in freezer for another 4-6 hours. You can leave it overnight if you prefer but you may want to cover it.
5.) When ready to serve, remove pan from the freezer and use a fork to scrape up the frozen mixture until its a loose, icy slush. Serve immediately and enjoy!
If you live in South Carolina, you are in luck because Jim Dillard, pro fisherman, could be coming to your local Walmart to help promote the new 96oz bottles! There will be product giveaways, t-shirts, games, and more fun activities!
Check it out:
Friday August 8th 5-7pm:
360 Harbison Blvd Columbia, SC WM Supercenter
Saturday August 9th 3-5pm:
1326 Bush River Rd Columbia, SC WM Supercenter
Saturday August 9th 6-8pm: 2401 Augusta Rd West Columbia, SC WM Supercenter
