Family bonding around homemade snow cones

We have entered a stage of life in which I will take any opportunity I can find to spend a few minutes with the entire family all in one place. Recently, I’ve been scouring Pinterest for ideas on how to make home-made snow cones to create some family bonding time.
If you watched our most recent episode of “Life in the Middle,” then you already know that my daughter and I had the genius idea of purchasing a “frozen concoction maker” (aka, margarita maker) for Father’s Day. I always struggle to come up with gift ideas for my easy-going husband. A few days before Father’s Day, we all went to Prairie Fest, a big festival that happens in our town every summer. It was incredibly hot, and my husband kept making his way to the snow cone stand.

This reminded me of his LOVE for snow cones. My husband isn’t a guy who obsesses over snack food or sugary drinks like I do. He doesn’t drink coffee or soda. He doesn’t care about chocolate or baked desserts. He’s really not even into candy.
But snow cones?! That is one thing he actually LOVES!

While we were out shopping for a snow cone machine, we ran into our friend, Mike. We mention him in the video as the guy who is wearing the “Best. Dad. Ever.” t-shirt. He told us that he uses his margarita maker to shave ice for snow cones. So, yes… we did buy a margarita maker for the primary purpose of making family-friendly syrupy drinks.
I, of course, had to figure out how we could make a healthier version of the snow cone. There are lots of recipes to boil fruit to create snow cone syrup. I wanted something that landed between not pure sugar, but not too much work. Here is the super simple way to make that happen:
Take any flavor of frozen fruit juice concentrate and mix it with a half can of water. That’s it!

Not only is the recipe super easy, but I don’t feel like I have to stress about how many snow cones my kids make. They are basically just drinking a cup of juice loaded with tons of ice.
I’ve also been using our “snow cone machine” to make myself some tasty, but healthier-than-Starbucks, frozen coffees and teas. My favorite is my frozen matcha latte.
Combine:
1 tsp matcha powder
1/2 cup of full fat coconut milk
raw honey to taste
a big mug of hot water

I blend that up in my single serving blender cup for a few seconds. Place it in the fridge. After it’s cool, shave some ice and blend it all together for a yummy frozen drink. You can do the same thing with coffee.
So, yeah… I’m loving making icy drinks this summer. But my favorite part is having an excuse to get my whole family together around the promise of snow cones!