Sandi Huang's Brazilian Lemonade

from Our Best Bites

Brazilian Lemonade

4 juicy limes (try and find ones with thin, smooth skins; they’re the juiciest and the thin skin cuts down on the chance of your drink being bitter)
1 c. sugar
6 c. cold water
6 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk

Mix cold water and sugar very well and chill until ready to use. This step can be done ahead of time.

Wash limes thoroughly with soap (I just use hand-dishwashing soap or regular hand soap); you need the soap to get the wax and pesticides off of the limes because you’re using the WHOLE lime, baby. Cut the ends off the limes and then cut each lime into 8ths.

Place 1/2 of the limes in your blender.

Add 1/2 of the sugar water, place the lid on your blender, and pulse 5 times. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a pitcher (the one you’ll serve the lemonade in) and pour the blended mixture through the strainer and into the pitcher. Use a spoon to press the rest of the liquid into the pitcher. Dump the pulp and stuff in the strainer into the trash. Repeat with remaining limes and sugar water. Add sweetened condensed milk; DO NOT leave this step out unless you will die of a horrible sweetened condensed milk allergy because this is the secret ingredient! You may want to taste test it at this point; I used giant, thick-skinned limes tonight and didn’t test it and it came out a little bitter. If it’s bitter, just add some more sugar and maybe a little more milk.
Serve immediately over lots of ice. This does not keep well, so don’t make this in advance (although you can cut the limes, mix the sugar water, and measure the sweetened condensed milk in advance). Serves 4, although I can pretty much guarantee you that people will want more; I usually plan on 1 1/2 servings at LEAST per person.

Sandi Huang's Strawberry Limeade

from Our Best Bites

Fresh Strawberry Limeade
Recipe (can you even call this a recipe??) by Our Best Bites

1 tall glass
Lots of ice
Sprite (or Diet Sprite…or Ginger Ale if you’re feeling wild)
1 1/2 limes
3-4 tablespoons Strawberry Sauce

Strawberry Sauce

1 pint strawberries

1/3 c. white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Wash strawberries and remove stems. Roughly chop the strawberries and throw them in a medium saucepan. Add sugar and vanilla and cook over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and then stir mixture constantly for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and allow mix to cool. Use a blender to puree the mixture.

To make Strawberry Limeade

Fill a glass with ice. Squeeze the juice of one lime into the glass over the ice. Fill the glass about halfway with Sprite. Add 3-4 tablespoons of strawberry sauce. Top the glass off with Sprite and add more strawberry sauce if desired. Garnish with lime wedges (which you can also squeeze into the glass before drinking. Definitely best when served with a straw.

Tammy McKissick's Frozen Pineapple Slush

Frozen Pineapple Slush
1 (46 oz) can pineapple juice (unsweetened)
2 1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
4 cups water
2 cups sugar
Ginger Ale

Bring water and sugar to a boil.
Add juices.
Freeze 12-24 hours, stirring occasionally while it is freezing.
When ready to serve put some slush in a tall glass and pour ginger ale over it. (You might need to defrost the slush for about an hour before serving so it isn't rock hard).

Note: I didn't have 12-24 hours to freeze the slush before recipe group, so I put mine in the ice cream maker for 30-40 minutes first and then finished it up in the freezer... it ended up only taking 4 hours to freeze.