I don't drink much soda, and neither does Kiddo. In fact, she drinks soda maybe once every six months.
They took out the sugar but added more sodium... No Ty, moving on.
Sorry for the blurry picture! Egads! This is worse than the diet tonic water. This is literally carbonated salt water.
I think I was subconsciously biased... Cause that's a good photo lol. Anyhow THIS is what I was searching for. It is, very simply, carbonated water.
What kind of juice us totally up to you. Apple juice has a lot if sugar, so you probably want to steer clear of that.
But Boyfriend drinks it and so Kiddo is becoming more curious about what's so good about soda.
Between that, and Boyfriend trying to cut caffeine out of his diet, I thought it was time to come up with a solution.
Enter the seltzer water and the ice cube trays!
Okay so you've probably figured it out already right? Good, but before you start here are some note worthy tips, after a bit of research.
Lets start with tonic water:
You could use this, but then you could just drink soda... The idea is to cut out as much junk as possible. I bypassed tonic water because it had too much sugar and sodium in it and was more than just water.
Well what about diet tonic water?
But please, if YOU choose to use tonic water, then by all means, do it and do it proudly. I'm not here to judge you, just my own taste buds and ideas. But this is why I skipped it none the less.
A
Okay club soda! Go!
You can't really tell... Because of my epic picture taking talents... But the Canada Dry has 80mg of sodium where as the Kroger brand has 65mg.
Make sure that you're buying for quality not label name.
Okay... Seltzer... You're on!
In this case, the store brand was the same as the more expensive one, do something good for your wallet... Buy the store brand lol.
Okay, so what have we learned today? That not all carbonated water beverages are creat equally? Yes! And also make sure to read the labels if you're not really sure. Especially if its something you don't usually purchase.
So with step one (finding the right carbonated water beverage) out if the way, we now turn to juice. Yes juice... Real juice.
Bolthouse juices are delicious and packed with vitamins and nutrients. They also go on sale at my Kroger pretty often. When they do I buy about 30 of them. I use them for everything from drinking strait to cooking/baking to smoothies. This is also one if the least expensive ways to buy pomegranate juice (when they are buy one get one free).
I will point out though, that because these are real juice, they don't freeze completely, and they melt/defrost very quickly. I still like them for the flavor and even the texture.
You could also juice your own fruits and veggies and use that, or mash up watermelon into a purée and add that.
The possibilities are practically endless!
I love these little Halloween ice cube trays, I got them (from Kroger of course) for just a dollar each around the beginning of October last year. I have used them for tons of things, including juice cubes and homemade caramels.
Anyway, the next few steps are pretty strait forward. Pour juice if choice into an ice cube tray. Freeze overnight.
Add as many cubes as you want to your cup. Kiddo was very excited to help with this part. It was a good time to talk about good foods, and also about the senses.
Are the juice cubes hot or cold? How can you tell? Can you smell them? What do they look like? Etc...
Pour the Seltzer water over the juice cubes....
We talked about science. What did she think would happen when we poured the seltzer over the ice, would it change color and why, would the same effects happen if the water was not carbonated? Etc.
Enjoy! I feel good giving this to her as a sometimes treat. Carbonation still isn't great for teeth, but she has good brushing habits, so I feel it balances out.
So far this is working pretty well. We don't have it constantly, but it wouldn't be difficult or expensive if we did.
Tomorrow I will be posting a recipe/guide for a twist on a growing favorite, watermelon slushies.
Thanks for viewing! Please comment and let me know what variations you tried!
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