Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Homemade (FREE) Slushie Magic

I suppose this post is a little late since it's no longer summer, but I think my kid would drink a slushie any time of year.  I'm going to show you how to make your own slushie at home without having to haul out the blender, which I personally think is a pain because I hate taking it apart and cleaning it.

Every time the "Slushie Magic" commercial comes on tv, my son BEGS me for one, telling me he's DYING for one.  Yes, dying, I'm sure.  There was no way on God's green earth I was going to spend $20 plus shipping and handling for that silly thing, especially on our budget.  Knowing the cubes were the key to the slushie making process, I set out to find out just what was in them.  Anything I can make at home, I will.  Some may call me cheap, some may call me genius.  I always say there's a fine line between genius and moron, LOL!

The only thing I could find was that they seem to be made out of salt water.  I suppose you could liken it to when you make homemade ice cream the old fashioned way.  Remember how you had ice in the big tub, then added a bunch of rock salt to bring the temperature even lower?  Kinda like that.  Not knowing just how much salt/water to use was my dilemma.  That, and what kind of container to use.  Here's what I came up with.  It did work, but I think my salt to water ratio might need some tweaking.

You will need the following: (sorry, forgot to take a pic)
Small water bottle
Salt
Mason Jar with lid
Drink of your choice

Start by soaking your water bottle in soapy water, removing the label.  (I did that after the fact) Then fill bottle 3/4 full with water.  We need to leave some room for expansion. Add in 2T-3T salt.*  At least this is what I used.  It was a complete guess, really.  I used some cheap sea salt.
 Don't waste your money using the expensive stuff.  The rock salt mentioned above for ice cream making would probably not be recommended.  Some of the salt leaches into the drink and I'm not sure if rock salt is safe for consumption.  Best to play it safe.

Put the lid on tightly and throw it in the deep freeze.  It waited about two days (simply because I forgot about it) and mine still wasn't totally frozen.  I'm not sure if it will freeze entirely.  The part that WAS frozen was totally white, which I assumed was a good thing, like a little iceberg.  Place your bottle down into a quart mason jar.
Pour your drink in.  I used Fool Aid.  I only filled it half way full to allow room for agitating.
Place the lid on tightly and shake shake shake.  Be careful, it can get slippery when it gets cold.  I had Mr. Happy Face do it.  It only took about a minute and a half at most.
Remove your lid and pour into a cup.  See, it's slushie, it's magic.  It's Slushie Magic!!!
I took a tiny little sip and it tasted a bit salty to me.  I'm no scientist, but it seems the salt leaches out somehow, even though it's sealed in the plastic.  Some kind of crazy osmosis, I guess.  Tommy thought it tasted great!  I think he just liked the idea of the Slushie Magic in general.  It's exciting to see it happen before your eyes.
*(As a disclaimer and a warning:  NOT that your child would ever consume the salt water inside the container, but you need to know that if you ingest 3T of salt, it will kill you!!!  So keep that little salt bottle away from the kiddos when finished) 

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