Tastefully Tuesday - Home Made Snow Cones with Healthy Fruit Syrups

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said, "In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play." Do you know what my inner child wants? My inner child wants home made snow cones!

Every year when warmer weather arrives I find myself nostalgic for the treats of my childhood. Ice cream sandwiches, grape soda straight from the bottle, and cantaloupe still warm from the sun, straight from the garden, and lightly sprinkled with salt all come to mind.

Today I am allergic to chocolate, have no garden filled with cantaloupe, and avoid soda like the plague. But one treat I can still enjoy is home made snow cones. And now that I make my own syrup, I don't even have to feel guilty about eating them!

Snow Cone Syrup Recipes

Making your own snow cone syrup is not only easy, but it is also healthier than the product you buy in the store. Making the syrup at home allows you to control what goes in it, so you know your family is not consuming potentially harmful dyes and preservatives. Here are a few tried and true recipes.

• TRADITIONAL SNOW CONE SYRUP - If you are into the sugary syrups, then mix up 2 cups of white sugar, 1 cup of water, and one package of unsweetened, fruit-flavored drink mix. It is going to be super, duper sweet but the shaved ice will help water it down quite a bit. However the next recipe will provide the same texture with only a portion of the calories and carbs.

• LOWER SUGAR SNOW CONE SYRUP - This recipe is just like the one above with one simple difference. Instead of sugar use a low-calorie sweetener, like Splenda. Just mix until all the powder is dissolved and store in a bottle with a pour top (like ketchup or pancake syrup).

• FRUIT MASH SYRUP - Don't throw out your fruit once it gets a little too soft to eat fresh. Peel and cube it, then throw it into a sauce pan. Over medium heat, constantly mash the fruit with a potato masher until it is the consistency of oatmeal. You don't have to add any sugar because the well-ripened fruit is filled with natural, healthy sweetness. You can strain the juice off the fruit and keep it in recycled plastic bottle with a pour top.

You can mix the fruit compote leftover with the shaved ice and a container of yogurt for a smoothie-type alternative. Save the compote in the freezer and use it as filling when making fruit pies and turnovers, or in cakes.

Snow Cones - A Healthy Ice Cream Alternative

When eating snow cones, aside from the bit of syrup used to flavor the treat there is really no need to feel guilty about eating them. That's because the primary ingredient of snow cones is shaved ice, which is just frozen water. And the health benefits of water are so numerous, that it is almost impossible to list them all. Here are some of the ways water helps our bodies.

1. provides energy for muscles to work properly
2. balances bodily fluids for digestion, absorption, circulation, and saliva creation
3. makes us feel fuller which helps prevent overeating
4. keeps skin healthy because staying hydrated allows you to sweat out toxins
5. produces healthy waste which keeps kidneys healthy and reduces the risk of kidney stones

When making home made snow cones, my family once relied on the blender to chop up our ice. The problem was that even though it has an ice crush feature, the sizes came out disproportionate and it still allowed for large chunks. The snow cones were just okay.

Then my son received the above as a birthday gift from his grandparents. We love the retro design -- it matches perfect in our kitchen, since most everything else in there is also red. It shaves ice quickly and cleans up easily afterwards. It is probably our most used appliance!

Click the icon above to order your own Nostalgia Electrics Retro Series Snow Cone Machine. You can also check out the reviews, over half of which give the product 5 stars. In addition to the 90 day limited warranty, you can add extra protection from Square Trade, which is also explained on the Amazon site. And if you are a member of Amazon Prime, enjoy a hefty discount plus free shipping, too.

Don't wait until the dog days of summer to make home made snow cones - click the picture above and order your machine now!

Eco-Friendly Geocache Containers

Last week I shared my family's newfound love of geocaching. Geocaching is a modern day treasure hunt that GPS coordinates to find specific locations based on their latitude and longitude.

Someone told me that this is not a well-known hobby. Perhaps they missed the part of the Geocaching website that says in the past 30 days, people logged more than 7.5 million finds. Go geocachers! But, I digress. This week I really want to discuss containers.

In the week since we have seen some pretty unique containers, from tiny little magnets to a glass pumpkin. However the best containers that we have seen are ones that are clearly made from recycled materials - like a plastic container that once held powder for instant lemonade or some other fruit juice.

Another clever one we saw was the very top of a plastic soda bottle. Unscrewing the plastic cap revealed the geocache log, nice and dry within its watertight, plastic home. Unlike the cheap plastic food storage containers we saw at past cache sites, this tricky little container held up better.

Earth-Friendly Container Tips

When creating an eco-friendly geocache container, here are some things to keep in mind:

• DURABLE - This container, even if you leave it in a protected spot (such as a decoy, like a birdhouse or beneath those metal squares on light poles) could face exposure to the elements. It has to stand up to extreme temperatures, wind, and moisture. Also, avoid glass because you don't want to find out that anyone sustained an injury from your container.
  
• UNBREAKABLE - Your container should not only be durable, but it should also be unbreakable. Obviously some plastic bottles and jars can break down over time. Unbreakable really refers to glass, which could be sharp and cut people. It also means flimsy metal, which rusts faster and could cause nasty scrapes.
  
• WATERPROOF - The primary item inside the container is the paper log. This is what people sign when they find your cache so you can know who was there on which day. If there is any question that your container might not be waterproof, then put the log in a small plastic bag that zips shut.

How to Make a Plastic Jar Geocache Container

While some people might point you to "Lock & Lock" or "Ammo Box" style items to purchase for use as geocache containers, our goal here is to recycle something that we already have at home. One common item is a plastic jar. Here are some basic instructions for turning a plastic jar into a geocache container.

1. Take an empty plastic jar (peanut butter ones work great for this) and clean it out really well with warm, soapy water.
   
2. Once it is thoroughly dry, cover the outside of the jar with camouflage-patterned duct tape. You can also put some tape on the lid, especially if it is a bright color like red or yellow.
   
3. Finally affix the geocache label on the top of the lid or side of the jar, wherever it is most easily recognizable.

And that's it! Now you are ready to review the guidelines for placing a new geocache and register your geocache container.

In the meantime, check out these other awesome containers. Can you think of some creative ways to make them with earth-friendly and other recyclable materials? Until next week, happy geocaching!

These bolts are magnetic and really tricky to find if you are in an urban location with a lot of signs and other structures around.

Light poles have become my favorites. See the empty medicine bottle? Remove the label to protect sensitive information and tada - instant geocache container with a child-proof lid.

While it might look like a sprinkler, unscrew the cap and what you really have is a tricky little geocache log waiting to be signed by geocachers clever enough to find it.

Fence cap containers are easy to hide from the prying eyes of pesky muggles, and difficult to find if you have never seen one before.

See this surveyor's stake? Yeah, it's really a geocache container! A hole drilled in the bottom  hides the plastic tube that holds the minuscule log.

Here's another example of bottlecap cache containers. They are hardly big enough for anything larger than the tiny log, but in the spirit of geocaching that is really all you need.

You will never look at dog doo the same again after finding this cleverly disguised geocache log. (Yes, it's fake. And yes, I totally want to make one now!)

Around here pine cones are everywhere. I would never, ever have expected to find a container inside a pine cone.

Here's another tricky one. If your GPS leads you to an area that has these, don't automatically assume that this is the hiding spot -- but don't automatically assume that it is not the spot, either.

Remember the magnetic bolts in an earlier photo? Grr, these are so frustrating -- and yet at the same time, so rewarding.

Would you ever think of looking inside a log if you hadn't seen this container? I wouldn't have!

Again, this one is so very tricky. But I really want to try it now. And am now thinking that one of the ones in Pennsylvania that eluded me may have been similar to this. Argh!

I would never pick up old chewing gum to see if there was a log tucked beneath it (until I saw these tricky little containers).

Using real sticks as camouflage. Clever!

You aren't allowed to bury your containers. But you can recess them so that the top of the container is in plain view. This is one of those that, when you find it, you'll find yourself slapping your forehead over.

When closed, you can hardly tell this is different than any other tennis ball.

This is something else that, if I didn't know about geocaching, I would not have suspected as being a container. Now I suspect everything, everywhere, all the time.

Real leaves make great camouflage for this container. It looks like someone spray painted a plastic baby wipe container. Way to recycle!

If it looks like a birdhouse, and acts like a birdhouse, then there might just be a geocache container inside!

These are the magnetic nano containers. My youngest son is a whiz at finding these on those white roadside historic signs. I'm glad because I have trouble spotting them every single time.

Welcome to Geocaching! (Or, Size Matters!)

We've heard about this Geocaching things for a while now, but never gave it any real consideration. With the home school portfolio deadline looming we are in panic mode, doing all we can to throw as much as possible in at the last minute. While I have no doubt that we did more than enough in the last year for the boys to progress on to the next grade level, I am constantly paranoid that our social media updates make it appear as though all we do is sit around playing Xbox or watching the History channel.

Geocaching is a form of modern-day treasure hunting. Someone hides a container and lists it along with its GPS coordinates at www.geocaching.com where other participants will use those coordinates to find it. What is inside the geocache container? That really depends on its type! Here are the four primary sizes:

• MICRO - These are less than 100ml in size. It could be something like a film canister, or a two-part magnet the size of a button. Typically all you will find in this size container is a log book.
• SMALL - Ranging between 100ml and less than 1L in size, this could be a small Tupperware or Rubbermaid container, or a Ziploc sandwich bag. It will typically hold a log and also some small treasures.
• REGULAR - These are larger than 1L, but less than 20L. Think shoebox size, for regular geocache containers. They can hold bigger treasures, or even just a lot of smaller treasures, and of course the necessary log book.
• LARGE - Anything larger than 20L in size falls into this category. Examples include a five gallon bucket, a large wooden crate, and so forth. What treasures await depends on the geocachers!

On our first day of geocaching we headed to 9 different locations. We found containers at 7 of those locations. My favorite treasure of the day was a little knight in shining armor. One of my sons took a wooden nickel, and the other selected a patch. We left behind army men, baseball cards, and loose change. Following the unofficial "trade even, trade up, or don't trade at all" guideline, we always left more than we took.

Here are some pictures of my boys enjoying the geocaching. Hopefully none give enough hints to ruin it for future geocachers.

First container of the day was in a forgotten cemetery. It was aptly named -- I've driven by here hundreds of times in my lifetime, and never knew that cemetery was there!

I walked right up to this box, thanks to the app on my iPhone.

This little wooden puzzle box was a cinch to open for my oldest, who saw something similar in Agatha Christie's Poirot!

We were looking for a full-sized ammo box. Tricky containers are the most rewarding!

This tricky container, hidden in some bushes, nearly eluded us!

The smallest micro container we found that day!

Awesome sunset on the way home that evening.

If this sounds like something you'd like to do with your family and friends, sign up for free at www.geocaching.com and look for me there under "beckythehobbit". While you don't need to buy the premium membership or the app, we did. All total it was less than the price of a new Xbox game, and inspires my family to get off the couch, into the fresh air, and spend quality time together.