This wonderful fruit drink recipe is sure to please. Made with frozen grape, cranberry and lemon juice, this is the perfect summer thirst quencher!
I can’t talk about summer without talking about Grandma Pearl. Growing up, I was blessed to have both of my grandmothers alive and well. But Bushia, my maternal grandma, birthed 13 children, my mom being #10, and by the time my mom was in high school, there were already grandbabies from older siblings running amuck! Not that Bushia didn’t love us every bit as much as the first, we just weren’t much of a novelty! Whereas, Grandma Pearl only had 2 children, my Dad being 6 years older than his sister, so when my older brother, Keith, was born, with me just 14 months on his heals, why, Grandma Pearl couldn’t get enough of us!
In the summertime, we spent the night at Grandma Pearls, often. Because of that, so many of my summer memories involve her. If Grandma Pearl did anything beyond playing with us when we were over, she must have done it after we went to sleep… which was after the Tonight Show, which we watched in the pull-out bed, in her foyer, with the door to the street left open all night, so we could get a “nice cross-breeze”.
Today, I want to share her summer concoction, which in my mind’s eye, is the absolutely BESTEST summer fruit drink recipe EVER! (Even beats a fruity Sangria or salty Margarita, in my book 🙂 My children liked it, but didn’t LOVE IT the way I did. So I didn’t make it all the time. Besides, if I made it all the time, I’m afraid it would lose its “specialness”. To this day, when I take a sip, I’m sitting out back in Grandma Pearl’s back yard, watching her water her prize winning roses, and thinking “life is good”. So, when I made up this batch, with the help of my grandbabies, I lifted my glass in toast to Grandma Pearl, hoping she is still mixing up pitchers in heaven 🙂
Best Fruit Drink Recipe EVER!
1 can frozen concentrate lemonade
1 can frozen concentrate grape juice
1 can frozen concentrate cranberry juice
Mix them all together, adding the amount of water listed on the cans.
On a hot summer day, fill a tall glass with ice cubes, and pour yourself a glass. Find a nice, shady spot in your backyard, then take a sip. Nectar of the gods, right? 🙂
After Bug made up a batch, we took it outside. We poured the drink over ice. They took their taste testing seriously.
And the results? Two hardy thumbs up. Phew! You can bet we will be making more of it over the summer 🙂
What was/is your favorite go-to drink in the summer? Feel free to share a recipe in the comments 🙂
I recall a Lemonade recipe you posted once too! It’s pretty high on my list of favorites. In fact, it inspired me to plant mint in my flower bed. 🙂
Hugs from your melting friend in Southern Indiana!
It's super hot and humid here, too. The trouble with Michigan… perhaps the Midwest… it was 55 degrees last week. What body can go from 55 to 95 in one week? I need a little transition time!!!
I always make Garden Lemonade https://weefolkart.com/content/garden-lemonade when Tim and I are working in the gardens. Nothing bets it for thirst quenching and the Vitamin C and sugar give you a pick me up! I have started making a sugar syrup, tho, and using that instead of granulated sugar. It mixes better.
Well now I’m just terribly thirsty! yum
For my little family its lemonade…from lemon juice. When I was a kid my go to drink was an orange julius (before I’d ever heard of the store.) I still remember crawling up on the counter to make it in the blender. This is my recipe: In a blender combine: 6 ounces of orange juice concentrate (I remember this being 1/2 a can of the regular size), 1/4 C sugar, 1/4 C milk, 1 tsp vanilla Fill the blender with ice (about 1 tray) then fill the rest of the blender with water and blend it.
Looking at it now it’s probably more of a treat….but that’s what growing up does sometimes. 🙂
I remember when an Orange Julius came to our mall. Incredible! We had never had a drink like that before. It was so yummy. Of course, we went home and created a knock off. Another favorite is to follow your recipe but use pureed pineapple, instead. I LOVE pineapple! After becoming lactose intolerant, I stopped making them. However, this past year I've discovered the joys of almond milk. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I'm going to try making an Orange Julius with almond milk. YAY!
This sounds great! Is that a Mary Engelbreit pitcher? Anyway. I just made some raspberry lemonade last week, which also doubles as popsicles.
1 cup lemon juice, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup frozen raspberries, 2 cups ice, blender full of water. Blend until smooth. It separates to foam and a deep pink liquid. Super yummy. We made Popsicles with the rest and those are very tasty.
Another variation: add lime juice. Really good kick to this version! Then if you wanted to experiment more you could get cherry juice and make a cherry lime slushy. Maybe even with Sonic ice!
I think I actually threw in a whole peeled lime to the mix.
I love anything with raspberries. As an adult one of my favorite drinks is raspberry iced tea. I make sun tea, then make a raspberry syrup, and add that to tea for sweetening. I have found I need to be careful when I order raspberry tea when I'm out-and-about. Restaurants usually start with brewed "regular" tea, but the other day I got an iced raspberry tea that was actually made with raspberry tea. And although I love hot herbal and fruity teas, I'm not a fan of icing them. I want "real tea" with raspberries added.
Thanks for sharing your recipe. Funny, after Bug drank half a glass of Best Summer Drink he said, "Hey, we should make popsicles." I agree with both of you 🙂
I think that’s so sweet that you make your Grandma’s recipe for your own grandkids 🙂
And it sounds yummy!
For me, I don’t think much beats a cold rootbeer float, which always makes me think of my Grandad
Ah, root beer floats are yummy. Grandma Pearl also use to make Boston Coolers… Vernor's gingerale and vanilla ice cream. Yum!
what a sweet post and lovely tribute to your loving grandma! i love the little details like staying up late watching the tonight show with the door open for the cross breeze. so nice to have a drink you can mix in memory of her.
This is a note to Michelle!
Do you realize how blessed you are to have a mother that brings so much joy and beauty into your family’s life? I have a career mom that can’t be bothered with my children. It breaks my heart that even when we are together, she is always sending the little ones off. Most birthdays they receive a check with her apologies and excuses for not being able to come to their parties.
I come to this blog and wish I could trade places with you. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to have a mother that shared in the joy of my children. I hope you NEVER take her for granted. What a gem.
Nice to know I’m not the only one with “Kimara Envy”!!! Yeah, I’ve found myself wondering, do her kids know how incredible their mom is, or do they think everyone’s mom is like that? I know mine certainly isn’t. Whenever they are in town they always want us to get babysitters all the time so we can go out and “have a good time”. When I say we can have a good time with our kids, I get the heavy sigh and “Kailin, the world doesn’t revolve around your children.” Well, to my husband and I, it does!
Didn’t mean to dump, but I do look at Wee Folk Arts family’s life and think, it must be nice. It must be nice to have a mother that loves to spend time with your children. It must be nice to have a mother that taught you how to do so many things. It must be nice to have your mom be your best friend. Like I said, Kimara envy, LOL.
Oh how fun! I usually just make good ole lemonade with fresh lemons … But now I am looking forward to trying all of these when we return home. I grew up in Michigan and I know how the weather can turn from cold to hot in just a few days. My Grandmother who is in MI. always says if you don’t like the weather stick around it will change 🙂
As kids we used to visit my Grandparents home which was a small portion of a huge ranch. My Grandmother, didn’t have a green thumb, she had a green hand. She could make just about anything grow. As kids she made us fresh lemonade from the lemons in her orchard. But, what made it extra special, she put fresh strawberries in the mixture.
That was the first drink.
The second was fresh sun tea, usually with Lipton tea. But, she would add an extra zinger of fresh mint with the tea.
Both were out of this world and we always looked forward to these drinks as kids.
Recently, I got to share the lemonade drink with a classmates from a Waldorf workshop. It was a huge hit.
Bless Bless
Helen
Both drinks sound wonderful, And I can only imagine how wonderful the lemonade was with lemons fresh from the tree! And with strawberries 🙂 Also, I'm a fan of mint. I like to add mint to many drinks… cold drinks in the summer, warm drinks in the winter. A very soothing herb. WOW. As a kid it must have been exciting to be able to visit a ranch, too!
I love this idea! I will definately try it on the next hot day! Thanks for the great ideas!
Tiffany
This is a bit off topic, but I wanted to make sure you knew, I am using your pattern for felted coasters, which would be perfect for your summer drinks. I am enjoying the crazy Nerd Wars competition on Ravelry and your pattern is a huge help to me for a particular challenge. Thanks for creating and writing your directions so clearly. I haven’t crocheted in years and this will be a fun first day off from teaching. Favorite drink from childhood summers would be mint juleps, which my sister made for me with lime-aid and fresh mint from our garden. We would drink them by the pool while playing cards.
very helpful and informative blog thanks for sharing a peaceful article!
🙂 ~Kimara~
Thanks for a great receipe and a sweet story Helen
You are very welcome. ((hugs)) ~Kimara~
I would love to know the origin of the name Bushia. My grandmother came from Poland and she was called Babcia.
It sounds like your grandma Pearl was a very loving woman.
I’ve been told that “Busia… or Bushia” is an Americanization of one of the many forms of traditional Polish words for Grandmother. My Busia was born in Chicago in 1902. Her parents came from Poland. They then moved down to central Texas and became farmers. There she meet my grandfather, Dza-dza, who was also first generation American. I am sure much of the language we were exposed to, and the food, were both effected by their Polish ancestry and the southerns with whom they now lived 🙂 ~Kimara~
I enjoy reading all your bits and pieces and will try your summer drinks, but my favourite summer drink here in England is a cup of tea, mainly to keep myself warm!
Perhaps our summers are different! When it is 85 – 90 degrees F and you are outside running around, something cold helps cool down your core, HOWEVER, with all the air conditioning that is used in the states, I find when I’m inside, I’m usually too cold. I take a blanket with me when I go to the movies and always take a sweater with me when we go out to eat. Then, I agree with you… keep the hot tea coming… winter and summer! 🙂 ~Kimara~