Italian Soda Party

This has made me want to have a party just so I can do this! Doesn't it sound so fun? And delicious?

Building an Italian Soda Bar

Setting up an Italian soda bar is a fresh, fruity alternative to the traditional backyard barbeque.

Studio 5's Executive Producer, Michelle Torsak shows how easy it is to create this big impact idea.

The original inspiration for an Italian soda party came from Elizabeth Kartchner's blog. You can check out the Dear Lizzy blog here, but be warned you will fall in love! http://elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com/2011/05/party-time.html

I found a similar idea on this darling blog: http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/italian-soda-bar/

What you need for an Italian soda bar:

· Lots of sparkling water or club soda

· A variety of flavored syrups, available at Italian import stores or restaurant supply stores. I love the Torani syrups available at Granato's:

1391 S. 300 West; Salt Lake City

4044 S. 2700 East; Holladay

1638 S. Redwood Road; Salt Lake City

www.granatos.com

The most popular flavors for sodas are the traditional fruit flavors like strawberry, cherry, peach, and raspberry.

· Ice

· Heavy cream or half and half (for cremosas)

· Whipped topping

· Soda glasses, available from Tai Pan Trading

· Striped straws, available from Orson Gygi located at 3500 South 300 West; Salt Lake City or online at The Bakers Confection Store:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/thebakersconfections

Making an Italian soda:

An Italian soda is a combination of club soda or sparkling water and flavored syrup. For a traditonal Italian cream soda or cremosa, you add half and half or heavy cream.

Italian Soda: 8 oz. sparkling water

2 -4 Tbsp. flavored syrup

Fill a 16 oz. glass with ice. Add water and favored syrup. Stir to combine and top with whipped cream.

Cremosa: 8 oz. sparkling water

4 Tbsp. flavored syrup

1 oz. half-and-half

Fill a 16 oz. glass with ice, add syrup, soda water and half-and-half or milk. Stir to combine flavors and top with whipped cream.

Ice Cream: 8 oz. sparkling water

4 Tbsp. flavored syrup

Ice Cream

Fill a 16 oz. glass with soda water and syrup. Stir to combine flavors and add 2 scoops of ice cream and top with whipped cream.

Free Favor Download:

Right now Martha Stewart has a free download for a fun favor tag. Click here to link to the download: http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/goodthings/sweeten-up-favor-tag

Milkshake fake

Just saw this clip from Studio 5, can't wait to try these recipes out this summer! What ahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif great way to use powdered milk!

Peanut Butter Moo'd:-makes two 8-ounce cups
Ingredients:

1/2 C. Water
3/4 C. Dry Powdered Milk
1/3 C. Chocolate Powder (like Nesquick or equivalent)
one banana cut into 1 inch slices
2 spoonfuls of peanut butter
2 C. Ice

Method:

Layer ingredients in your blender as listed and blend until smooth. Serve immediately! Spruce it up with half of a banana for fun!

Banana-Pineapple Freeze
Ingredients:

1 C. Unsweetened Pineapple Juice (you can use pineapple juice that you drain from using canned pineappe just double check that the juice you drained off is unsweetened - you could also just use crushed pineapple)
1/2 of a Medium Banana, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 T. Dry Powdered Milk (non-instant)
1 C. Ice Cubes

Method:

Place ingredients in blender jar in order listed. Place cover on blender jar. Turn blender on and use the "Crushed Ice" setting.

Orange Julius

More like orange dream. Making this recipe took me back to my childhood. I remember my parents making orange julius...and early on in this pregnancy I was craving that--it was so weird because I knew that I wanted the orange and milk together. And so I called my dad and asked him about it--he told me they had used a mix, so I had no recipe to go off of. Since then I came across this recipe and finally tried it tonight. Yum... just right. Orange and milk together. :)

Brazilian Lemonade

You have got to try this! We went out to eat at Tucano's for Mr. Wonderful's birthday...he loves it because of all the meat. The thing I was most looking forward to was Brazilian Lemonade! This stuff is amazing! I can't wait to try this recipe! And I'm so happy I can have it whenever I want without having to pay to go to Tucano's!

This recipe and picture are courtesy of Our Best Bites. You might want to try this with Baked Cream Chicken Tacquitos for dinner some night!

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.

*OR*

I just found this extremely simply and quick recipe here!

2 bottles Simply Limeaid
1 can sweetened condensed milk
4 sliced limes for serving
1 bag crushed ice

In a large bowl (or pitcher if you have one big enough) pour about a cup of the Limeaid in then pour in the sweetened condensed milk. Pour in the rest of the Limeaid, mix well.

Fill desired glasses to the brim with ice, pour Brazilian lemonade over top with lime and serve immediately.