Homemade Strawberry Lemonade Slushies

Once when I was a tween living in Poughkeepsie, New York, my family took a bike ride around our neighborhood with another family we were friends with. It was a cool spring day, and the blossoms were on the trees. Our friends had recently moved into the neighborhood, and — for me — it was thrilling to learn how close by they’d be living.

Anyway, while we were on this fun bike ride, I got a little nervous. See, I was convinced that my tire was leaking since it was making this scary swissshhhhhhhhh whenever I would pedal. So, I became insistent that something was very, very wrong and we headed for the air pump at a nearby gas station.

As it turns out, the tire was fine. It was just rubbing against one of those blue plastic coated chain locks that I had so smartly attached to my bike. You know, so that no one would steal it from the inner basement of my house. Or something like that. Really, I just thought it looked cool. (Lesson: “because it looked cool” is never a good reason to have something attached to your bike.)

Anyway, although I am still occasionally reminded of my little error, I will say that the stop at that gas station was fortuitous — because the attached convenience store was a 7-Eleven. The kids among the group managed to convince the parents among the group that since we were there, we might as well get Slurpies (right?!?). So, all’s well that ends well.

Gosh, I love Slurpies. Even if I rarely buy them anymore.

My kids have tried Slurpies too and love them. And recently Cheryl Budge from Middlesex County Parent and I got on the topic of the sweet-tart slushie-esk Frozen Strawberry Lemonades at a certain fast food joint, and the idea of making my own slushie kind of got stuck in my head. Because while I don’t often go to that fast food joint, I do love me a good sweet-tart slushie drink.

So I had to. And it had to be Strawberry Lemonade Slushies. Seriously. My kids now think I am totally awesome because I surprised them with these this weekend.

Making these is easy but I will warn you that you need to plan ahead — the strawberry puree needs to sit overnight to be perfect for this. Trust me, it’s worth it.

When you are ready for your heavenly slushie, you whip up an easy, homemade sweet-tart lemonade. Sometimes I like lemonade to be sweet-sweet, but for this a more tart version is perfect. Once that’s made, you whirl together a little lemonade and ice in the blender until the ice is totally pulverized. To serve, spoon your slushie into a glass and top with a good dose of the strawberry puree.

OMG. It’s so good.

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