Summer Fun 2014 - Frozen Juice, Snow Cone in a Bag

I wanted to make some kind of icy treat for the children, mainly to keep myself from suggesting another Dairy Queen run.  I'm completely addicted to their light, piña colada, smoothies, this summer.

Mmmm...piña colada smoothies...they're so icy, and perfectly fruity.

Anyway, my first thought was to finally try freezing Capri Suns, but since we don't usually buy Capri Sun pouches, that would have meant a trip to the store, and the store is dangerously close to Dairy Queen.

I remembered having seen someone making homemade juice pouches by simply pouring juice into heavy duty, resealable, plastic bags, and decided to give that try.

We found placing the empty bags into a mug, before pouring the juice, not only keeps the bag upright, but is helpful for measuring out even, 8 oz servings.

The cup was also a convenient stand, as we pushed the air out of the bags, and sealed them up.

We placed the bags into a cake pan, to keep them orderly in the freezer...

...and froze them overnight.  Finding the frozen juice was too hard to break apart, and mush up by hand...

...I sandwiched the bags in a dish towel on top of a cutting board, and let the children crush the ice with a hammer. 

Finally, I unzipped, and rolled back the bags, stuck in spoons...

...and sent the children outside.  They were surprised, and delighted to find the resulting dessert was more like a snow cone (you can suck off the juice, and leave the plain ice behind) than a slushy.  And, I was happy to note, that while not quite the same as a light smoothie - our 8 oz bags of crushed up juice cocktail were icy, light, fruity...

...and about half the calories of my favorite Dairy Queen dessert.