Imbolg 2023

Last Thursday (2nd Feb) it was Imbolg (more commonly known as Imbolc). Some people celebrate from sundown on 1st Feb to sundown on the 2nd, or on 31st January, but I usually have my celebration on the 2nd. As I said in my Happy Imbolg! post, I normally make pancakes for this sabbat, and this year I made oatmeal pancakes again. I used this recipe from Don't Waste the Crumbs: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/oatmeal-pancakes/

They were quite nice as usual, but they fell apart a bit this time! They were more solid last year. Never mind, lol. Here's a pic:

 

 

Saying Goodbye to Summer, Moving into Autumn

We're now in September and autumn is starting. It seems to have come around quickly again! Back in February I wrote a post called Saying Goodbye to Winter, Moving into Spring, so I thought it would be good to do one for the opposite end of the seasonal wheel. :)

I tend to find moving from winter into spring an easier transition than going from summer into autumn, because summer is my favourite season and I feel more depressed during the winter. Spring is a hopeful time for me, whereas in autumn I feel sad because things are ending. Autumn is a beautiful time of year though!

I've previously written some posts on getting ready for autumn, which you can read at the links below:

Getting Ready for Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/09/getting-ready-for-autumn.html

Celebrating Madron + Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/09/celebrating-madron-autumn.html

Summer Photos + Preparing for Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/09/summer-photos-preparing-for-autumn.html

 

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, spring is beginning. You might like my Saying Goodbye to Winter, Moving into Spring post: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/02/saying-goodbye-to-winter-moving-into.html

 

I'm going to share a few thoughts on shifting into autumn, like I did with my post about moving into spring. As I've mentioned before, there are two dates which are considered the start of autumn (as with all the seasons)- meteorological autumn which is 1st September and astronomical autumn which is on the day of the Autumn Equinox (around 21st September). In the UK we tend to go by the astronomical start of the seasons.

Some of us with pagan beliefs/interests also celebrate the festival of Madron (more commonly known as Mabon) on the Autumn Equinox. This year Madron/the Autumn Equinox is on 23rd Sept. You can read more about it here: https://inews.co.uk/news/autumn-start-when-2022-why-uk-dates-first-day-season-autumnal-equinox-1826584

Litha 2022

The week before last I celebrated Litha aka Midsummer/the Summer Solstice (Tuesday 21st June). I had planned to do a post about it last weekend but wasn't able to, so I'm posting this weekend instead! :)

As I mentioned in my Happy Litha! post, I usually celebrate by making/having salad. This year I made a tomato and onion salad, the same as I've done for several years. The recipe is from The Kitchen Witch book by Soraya. I don't think it's online, but here's a similar recipe that I linked to in the Happy Litha! post (for Italian salad): https://thisitaliankitchen.com/italian-tomato-onion-salad/

Last year I used red onions, like when I make Kachumbari (Kenyan tomato and onion salad) for Beltane. But this Litha I decided to use brown onions again. I had the salad for my lunch with some chicken, ciabatta bread, guacamole and tortilla chips (bought from the supermarket). I also made some "Hello Kitty" lemonade (the recipe is from a Hello Kitty book!).

The salad and the rest of the food was nice. Here's a pic:

 

 

Saying Goodbye to Winter, Moving into Spring

We're now coming to the end of winter and moving into spring. I've mentioned before about how this is a more hopeful time of year for me, compared to the transition from summer into autumn. (I do like autumn but summer is my favourite season, so I'm always sad to see it go.) Although I try to find something good in every season, I'm not that keen on winter. I don't like the cold weather and short days. If we do get snow, it makes a change though! 

I've previously written a few posts on getting ready for spring which you can see below:

Getting Ready for Spring: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/03/getting-ready-for-spring.html

Preparing for Spring + Spring Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/03/preparing-for-spring-spring-inspiration.html

Oestara + Spring Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/03/oestara-spring-inspiration.html

Winter Photos + Preparing for Spring (2021): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/03/winter-photos-preparing-for-spring.html

 

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, it's almost time for autumn. You might like these posts:

Getting Ready for Autumn: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/09/getting-ready-for-autumn.html

Autumn Photos + Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/10/autumn-photos-inspiration.html

Autumn 2020 + More Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2020/10/autumn-2020-photos-more-inspiration.html

 

This year I thought I'd share a few thoughts on shifting into spring. As I've said before, there are two days thought to be the start of spring- "meteorological" spring (on 1st March) and "astronomical" on the Spring Equinox, also known as Oestara/Ostara in pagan circles (20th March this year). I do like the idea of spring starting on the 1st (as that's my birthday!), but it often still feels quite cold and wintry during early March.

Litha 2020

Last weekend it was Litha aka the Summer Solstice. (Sat 20th June). As I mentioned in my Litha + Summer Inspiration post I celebrated by making tomato and onion salad and lemonade. The tomato and onion salad is a recipe from The Kitchen Witch book by Soraya, and the lemonade is "Hello Kitty" lemonade (the recipe is from a Hello Kitty book!).

This year I also made some potato salad. The recipe is from Apply to Face Blog and I first made it for Eurovision last year (I like to have some food and drink while watching the contest). Here's a link to the recipe: https://applytofaceblog.com/potato-salad/

I actually forgot to check the recipe before going shopping, so missed some of the ingredients. It ended up being based on the recipe and being mainly potato and red onion! Never mind, lol. I did have some spring greens but we'd forgotten to put them away and they went off. I'm planning to make it "properly" this week. It was still nice though.

I had the tomato and onion salad and the potato salad for lunch with some chicken drumsticks, tortilla bowls and dip. Here's a pic:

Litha + Summer Inspiration

Note: I normally post on Sundays or Monday but I realised I forgot to post about Litha last weekend, so I'm doing it today instead! :)

It's almost time for Litha  and the official start of summer! This year it's on Saturday 20th June (tomorrow!). Summer is my favourite season so I'm looking forward to it, even though this year's summer may look very different to previous ones, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere Yule and winter are nearly here, so you may like these posts:

Yule Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/12/yule-celebration-ideas.html

Celebrating Yule + Christmas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/12/celebrating-yulechristmas.html

My Winter Round-up + Inspiration post: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/12/winter-round-up-inspiration.html

Yule Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/06/litha-inspiration_17.html

And here is a guide to both the Midsummer and the Midwinter solstices: https://www.stellaseaspirit.co.za/solstice-ritual/

For the past few years I've done posts with ideas for celebrating Litha aka the Summer Solstice and summer. You can see them below:

Litha/Midsummer Celebration Ideas (also a baking post): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/06/baking-no-yeast-dinner-rolls-and.html

Celebrating Litha + Summer: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/06/celebrating-litha-summer.html

Litha Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/06/litha-inspiration_17.html

This year I'm featuring more inspiration for Litha and ideas for celebrating summer. :)

Yule Inspiration

 

I normally post on Sunday or Monday but been a bit behind recently, so I'm posting today instead. :)

It's almost time for Yule aka the Winter Solstice/Midwinter. This year it's on Sunday 22nd December. The date varies each year but it's always around 21st December

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere it will soon be Litha aka Midsummer/the Summer Solstice. Here are my Litha celebration ideas posts:

Litha/Midsummer Celebration Ideas (also a post about no-yeast dinner rolls): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/06/baking-no-yeast-dinner-rolls-and.html

Celebrating Litha/Summer: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/06/celebrating-litha-summer.html

Litha Inspiration: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/06/litha-inspiration_17.html


In the past two years I've done posts with ideas for celebrating Yule. You can see them below:

Yule Celebration Ideas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/12/yule-celebration-ideas.html

Celebrating Yule/Christmas: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/12/celebrating-yulechristmas.html

 

During 2019 I've done a series of Inspiration posts for the sabbats, so here is the  post for Yule! :)

As I said in last year's post, Yule is either the first sabbat of the new cycle on the Wheel of the Year, or the second, depending on your point of view. (I think of Samhain as the beginning and end, so count it as the second). It's definitely the final sabbat of the calendar year.

April Update + Beltane Inspiration

This month I'll do the monthly update and a Beltane inspiration post together. This has turned into quite into a long one, so feel free to skip down to the Beltane part if that's what you'd prefer to read about! :)

April Update


Here's April's update. Read previous updates here:

Jan: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/02/january-update.html

Feb: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/02/february-update.html

March: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/04/march-update.html

Blossom tree in Hove Park.

Spring properly started this month, although the weather has been messing around a bit! It went colder again earlier this month and was around 8 degrees Celsius (about 46 Fahrenheit) during the day. Then it went up to 25C/77F (here in Sussex) which reminded me of the hot spell we had during April last year.  This weekend it's about 12C and very windy.

Easter was in mid-late April this year, the Easter weekend being from the 19th (Good Friday) to 22nd (Easter Monday). You can read my post about Easter 2019 here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/04/easter-2019.html

Winter Drinks

I've done a couple of posts on summer drinks in the past, so I thought it would be good to do one on winter drinks. :)

Summer is my favourite season and I love iced coffee (and drink it year round!) but hot drinks are good too. Winter will last for a couple of months or so yet and then the nights still tend to be chilly during spring, so these drinks will also be nice for early spring. (I do still like them in summer if it's not too hot).

As I mentioned in my post on getting ready for winter, I'm not a big fan of this time of year, but I do always hope that we'll get some snow because we don't get it very often here in South East England. All we've had in my area so far was some light snow one morning that had melted by the afternoon. It has been warmer lately but colder weather and Arctic winds are on their way! Weirdly I saw some daisies in the park last week and thought I saw some daffodils today! I don't think they will last though because it's getting cold. Daffodils normally come out around my birthday at the beginning of March, so it's really quite early for them. Anyway, here are the drinks. :)


Cocoa

My favourite type of cocoa currently is Cadbury's Bournville cocoa (I'm also really into the bars as well!). It's dark chocolate, so more bitter than milk choc, but with milk and sugar it can still taste quite sweet. I get mixed up between cocoa and drinking chocolate sometimes, but I think the difference is that cocoa is a powder whereas hot chocolate is made from melted chocolate that's blended with milk etc. You can read more about the difference here: https://www.thespruce.com/hot-cocoa-vs-drinking-chocolate-3971361

It does get confusing though because Cadbury's drinking chocolate which I also like, is a powder as well. Maybe it varies depending on the country? Anyway, I'll do separate entries for them here. :)

If you fancy making your own cocoa, here's a recipe: http://afiremanswife.com/2016/11/23/homemade-hot-cocoa/

It's saved on my Pinterest Recipes To Make board and I haven't got round to making it yet, but it looks good. It's made with Nesquik.




Hot chocolate

As I mention above, Cadbury's is my fave hot chocolate. I also really like Hans Sloane drinking chocolate which I discovered the other year. That is different to cocoa because it's chocolate beads that melt when you mix them with hot milk.

Starbucks do hot chocolates. I haven't tried one but it's going on my list of things to try! Here's their menu: https://www.starbucks.co.uk/menu/drinks/hot-chocolates-and-other-drinks

And so does McDonalds. I had one before Christmas as and although it wasn't as nice as others I've had, I did like it.You can find it on their McCafe menu: https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/menu/mccafe.html

If you'd prefer to make your own hot chocolate, here are a few recipes:

Sam Stern's recipe for hot chocolate I made in 2014: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2014/09/chocolate-drinks.html

Ellie from Nashville Wife's crockpot hot chocolate that I made a year ago (if you don't have a crockpot slow cooker like me, you can put the chocolate mix in a Pyrex dish on top of a saucepan or something similar): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/01/hot-chocolate.html

French hot chocolate (haven't made this but it looks good, it's dark chocolate): https://www.wellplated.com/french-hot-chocolate/




White hot chocolate
 

I first made this nearly 4 years ago but it didn't come out that well for me. It was probably because I don't have a slow cooker, so just made it it the pan. If I did it again I'd probably use the method I did for the crockpot hot chocolate (see above). Here's a link to my post about it: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2014/03/white-hot-chocolate.html


At the weekend I made some more white hot chocolate and it came out a lot better. It was simpler for me because you don't need a slow cooker and there's no whippng cream, so it's less ingredients (just milk, white chocolate chips and vanilla essence). Find the recipe here: https://lusciousmeals.blogspot.com/2017/01/homemade-white-hot-chocolate.html*


And here's a pic:

Hallowe'en/Samhain 2017

For Hallowe'en/Samhain last Tuesday (31st Oct) I celebrated by making some food and drink. I did my usual Demon's Blood drink and the potato salad I've made the past two years (the recipe is from The Kitchen Witch book by Soraya but I did it with chives and spring onion instead of rosemary). I also made a Mexican milk drink called horchata, the recipe is from my Llewellyn Sabbats Almanac book.

I had a pumpkin, some pumpkin candles, the pumpkin container/lantern with a tealight in from other years and knitted ghost decorations. There were also orange and green candles and I lit a white one for my girl cat who died in January. (A Samhain tradition you can do is light a candle for any relatives, friends or pets that have passed away in the past year). :) Here's a picture of the pumpkin:

This year's pumpkin.

More Summer Drinks + Summer Tag!

Back in 2013 I did a post on summer drinks. That was 4 years ago now, so I thought it was time for a follow-up post!

Now we're in August we're getting near the end of summer but there are still a few weeks to go! Summer is my favourite season so I want to enjoy it for as long as possible. After a dull, rainy couple of weeks here in South East England, it's been hotter and sunny these past couple of days and feels more like summer again, lol. So here are some drinks to enjoy during the rest of August (and into September)!



Iced coffee

I love iced coffee. I didn't used to drink it as much because I would get it from Starbucks and they're more expensive but then a few years ago McDonald's started doing iced coffees and they're over £1 cheaper, so now I have them more frequently. (A regular Starbucks frappuccino costs £3.40 in the UK, whereas a regular mocha frappe from McDonald's costs £2.19). Starbucks do mini frappuccinos for a cheaper price but they really are mini!

My favourite Starbucks frappuccino flavour is mocha and I also like mocha frappes from McDonald's. I also occasionally have a McD's caramel frappe. Check out the Starbucks and McDonald's ranges below:

https://www.starbucks.co.uk/menu/drinks/frappuccino


https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/latest/mccafe.html





Homemade Starbucks frappuccino

One of my favourite homemade coffee recipes is this DIY Starbucks frappuccino from Fantastical Sharing of Recipes: http://www.fantasticalsharing.com/2013/07/drinks-week-diy-starbucks-frappuccino.html

I discovered the recipe a few years ago. It uses creamer and the first time I made it I used Sainsbury's coffee whitener, but you can also use milk or evaporated milk (I use Carnation). I find it's not quite like Starbucks (at least the way I make it) but it's the closest I can do at home! lol.



Vietnamese style iced coffee

Speaking of Carnation, back in June I made a Vietnamese style iced coffee  using a recipe from the Co-Op magazine. It's made with condensed milk (I use Carnation). I can't seem to find the recipe online but here are a couple of  similar ones:

http://heavytable.com/adventures-in-condensed-milk-how-to-make-vietnamese-coffee-and-vietnamese-yogurt/

http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/vietnamese-iced-coffe-recipe/

It's basically made by just pouring hot coffee over condensed milk and ice, at least you can do that at home. In coffee shops they will make it with coffee machines and I expect it tastes different. Probably nicer than homemade. It would be good to try one in a Vietnamese cafe one day!

Anyway, it is nice. The condensed milk makes it quite rich and thick, so I don't think I could drink too much of it, but it's definitely good for a treat. :) I'm planning to make some again this week. Here's a picture from when I made it in June:

Hot Chocolate

I'm into hot chocolate and cocoa at the moment! It's especially good to have during winter evenings. My favourite at the moment is Bournville cocoa but I also recently got some Cadbury's drinking chocolate. The other night I made crock pot hot chocolate, using a recipe from the blog Nashville Wife: http://www.nashvillewife.com/2017/01/crock-pot-hot-chocolate-recipe.html

I don't have a crock pot or a slow cooker but my mum suggested I use a Pyrex dish on top of a saucepan of water (I put the chocolate mix in the dish and covered it with foil, then put it on top of the pan) and it worked. A couple years or so ago I made white hot chocolate which was meant to be done in a slow cooker but I just did it in the pan with no covering and I think it could have come our better. Maybe I should try it again using the method I used for this hot chocolate.

This one came out nice. It uses whipping cream and condensed milk, so had a rich, creamier taste and was thicker than ordinary hot chocolate. Here's a pic:

It takes a couple of hours but it's worth it. :)

If you're into a hot chocolate here's a post I did in 2014 about Sam's Stern's hot chocolate (I also made his chocolate milkshake but that didn't come out so well!): http://livingseasonal.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/chocolate-drinks.html



Hope you're keeping warm if it's cold where you are! :)

Yule 2015

Last Tuesday was Yule (22nd December this year) and I had a chocolate Yule log again. In previous years I've bought one from Sainsbury's. Last year I decided to make my own. It was fun but this year I decided to buy one again, lol. Since some years the Sainsbury's log has been nicer than others, I tried Tesco's Belgian chocolate log this time. I liked it but the cake was a bit dry. Here's a picture:

                              

Hallowe'en/Samhain 2015

For Hallowe'en/Samhain last weekend (Saturday 31st October) I made my usual fave drink Demon's Blood. I also made some potato salad using a recipe from the book The Kitchen Witch by Soraya. The recipe was for rosemary and garlic but rosemary has a strong taste, so I decided to make chives and garlic instead. It came out nice. I had it with some buffet type food, crisps and dip, onion rings and chicken satays etc.

In my Madron post I wrote that I wasn't sure whether to make gingerbread or not. In the end I made gingerbread skeletons using a recipe from Closer magazine. You just make gingerbread men and then use icing to draw on them. I didn't have writing icing so mine weren't as neat, lol. I made 3 gingerbread skeletons and 4 round gingerbread biscuits. They were quite nice as well. I usually use the recipe from the Tesco Light Brown Soft Sugar packet when I make gingerbread for Madron or Lammas  but it made a change to use a different recipe.

Here are a couple of pictures of the food:

Potato salad

Litha 2015

Last weekend I celebrated Litha/the Summer Solstice (Sunday 21st June) by making lemonade and having it with some ice cream with crushed Digestive biscuits on top.

The lemonade is what I refer to as "Hello Kitty lemonade" since the recipe is from a Hello Kitty book! lol. I also had ice cream with crumbled biscuits last year (click the Litha link above for details). This year I had Mackie's and Cornish ice cream and also some chocolate sauce. It was nice. :)

Here's a pic:

Wishing everyone a happy summer! :)

Chocolate Drinks

Last month I made a couple of chocolate drinks using recipes from Sam Stern's Student Cookbook. I made a chocolate milkshake and hot chocolate. I thought now was a good time to post about them both, since the weather has still been warm but it's getting colder at night, so you might feel like both kinds of drinks. :)

I made the chocolate milkshake first but I was disappointed with it, so I decided to make the hot chocolate a few days later, lol. I'll still include both on here though.


First here is the chocolate milkshake:

Chocolate Milk Shake (Power Drink for 1)


Ingredients

A few chunks good dark chocolate
250ml/9fl oz cold milk
2 scoops best chocolate ice cream or 1 choc and 1 vanilla


I don't have the recipe to link to but here's a similar recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/143456/chocolate-chocolate-milkshake/ (Updated link as of Sept '25)

And another one with melted chocolate in: https://www.abeautifulmess.com/2012/09/askinosie-chocolate-malt-milkshake.html

The problem with this was that because you're just putting hot melted chocolate straight into milk, it goes hard straight away. So I ended up with hard bits of chocolate instead of it blending in properly! (That's a bit of chocolate on the top in the picture). I don't know if I was doing it wrong or what, lol. (My mum didn't know how to stop it doing that either). Maybe it works better if you have an actual blender but I don't, so I just mixed it in a bowl. Maybe it was because I didn't mix it in quick enough by hand? Never mind! You also can do this with drinking chocolate and I expect that works much better.

I used Tesco Plain Chocolate and I think both chocolate and vanilla ice cream.



And here's the hot chocolate:

Hot Chocolate Treat for 2


Ingredients

110g/4oz 70% cocoa solids chocolate
425ml/15fl oz any milk


This recipe isn't online here but here's a link to a similar one that involves melting chocolate: https://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/308/Hot-Chocolate


The hot chocolate came out a lot better because it was melted chocolate going into hot milk. I used some chocolate I had left.


Hope you enjoy them if you make them and that if you make the milkshake it comes out better for you! :)

White Hot Chocolate

Last month I made White Hot Chocolate using this recipe: http://whipperberry.com/white-hot-chocolate-recipe/

I liked it but it can taste a bit overpowering, maybe because of the cream, chocolate and vanilla all mixed together. Also I might have put too much vanilla in. It was nice to have for a change but I wouldn't drink it all the time. It will be spring officially this week when we have the Spring Equinox on 20th March* (I'll do a post on Oestara, the sabbat, later) and while the days are warmer it's still quite chilly at night, so I'd recommend trying the White Hot Chocolate if you feel like a hot drink. :)

Here's a picture of mine. I can't remember exactly why it came out a bit yellow but I think I might have heated it for too long. I didn't use a slow cooker because I don't have one, I used a saucepan instead. Maybe it tastes best if you use a slow cooker but it's still worth trying if you don't have one.

*In the northern hemisphere, in the southern hemisphere it's reversed so it will be their autumnal equinox.

Hallowe'en

Hope everyone had a good Hallowe'en/Samhain! I made the Demon's Blood drink again this year but the green food colouring I had was out of date and Tesco didn't have any at all (in fact they didn't seem to have much of anything!), so I used red instead. It came out alright and still tasted the same. :) Here's a pic:

I also made some chocolate ginger bat biscuits, using a recipe from the Tesco magazine:

A couple of them got a bit broken! lol.

Also, here are a couple of  pictures of the decorations: 

Pumpkin lantern (got it last year)

Pumpkin

Summer Drinks

I really like drinks such as milkshakes, iced coffees, smoothies, lemonade etc. I like them all year round but they're especially good to have in summer. So I thought I'd do a post on my favourite summer drinks. :)

Update 14/6/20: I've updated links since this post is several years old now. When McDonald's McCafe gets back up and running I'll add the latest links. :)

Iced coffee


Starbucks

My favourite type of iced coffee would have to be Starbucks' mocha frappuccinos. I don't have them that often because they're expensive. I also like vanilla frappuccinos, I have them occasionally.

See the Starbucks frappuccino range here: https://www.starbucks.co.uk/menu/drinks/frappuccino-blended-beverages

McDonald's

Now McDonald's are doing iced coffees, I've been having them a bit more often because they're cheaper (£2.19 compared to £3+). I like both the mocha and caramel but like the mocha best.


Homemade

I sometimes make my own iced coffee at home using a Sam Stern recipe and it's nice but never as nice as shop bought, lol. The other week I made some using this recipe which is a DIY Starbucks frappuccino: http://www.fantasticalsharing.com/2013/07/drinks-week-diy-starbucks-frappuccino.html

I used Sainsbury's coffee whitener for my creamer. I made it too strong and overdosed on coffee! It tasted nice though. I want to have a go at my own mocha one soon.



Smoothies

Innocent

I really like Innocent smoothies, my fave is strawberries and bananas. I don't like banana but it's ok in a smoothie as long as it doesn't taste too strong! lol.


McDonald's

I recently tried their new strawberry and banana smoothie and liked it. I've yet to try the mango and pineapple.


Check out the McDonald's range of fruit smoothies and iced frappes here: http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/more-food/iced-fruit-smoothies-iced-frappes.html


Update 26/5/14- You can find the latest McDonald's smoothies and frappes at the link for McCafe:

http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/more-food/mccafe.html

 

Update 4/7/22: You can now find the caramel iced frappe (they no longer do the mocha one), mango and pineapple smoothie and other cold drinks/this year's summer range at this link: https://www.mcdonalds.com/gb/en-gb/menu/milkshakes-and-cold-drinks.html

Milkshakes

Nesquick

I like Nesquick chocolate milkshakes best of all. Also strawberry.


McDonald's

McDonald's chocolate, vanilla and strawberry milkshakes are good. They do banana too.


Uncle Sam's

I like Uncle Sam's vanilla as well. They're thicker than McDonald's.


Lemonade

Shop bought

I like cloudy lemonade from the supermarket. Also Fentiman's Victorian and rose lemonades are good and the Sainsbury's ones that come in little bottles.


Burger King

They have a new range of frozen lemonades, lemon and strawberry lemon. I had a lemon the other week and liked it. Burger King also do smoothies and frozen frappes but I've yet to try them.

Visit their site here: http://www.burgerking.co.uk/

 

Update 4/7/22: UK Burger King does not do any of these drinks anymore, as far as I'm aware! Their drinks range is really disappointing these days. My local one currently has frozen lemonade and strawberry Fanta, but not the frozen Coke they did before for some reason. They sometimes have milkshakes and Oreo milkshakes (which are kind of like ice cream as well). Maybe it varies depending on your location.

Costa Coffee

Costa did lemonade last year. I had one then and liked it but I'm not sure which flavour I had, I think they did pink lemonade then. This year I had an original iced lemonade and didn't like that much, it seemed quite watery.

Costa also do iced coffee, creamy coolers, fruit coolers and coffee coolers. I had one of their coolers last summer but can't remember which one. I had a coffee cooler last week.

Costa Ice menu: http://www.costaice.co.uk/the-range

Update 14/6/20: Costa Ice no longer has its own separate section but you can find the full range here: https://www.costa.co.uk/menu/

Homemade

I occasionally make my own lemonade. My favourite is Hello Kitty lemonade from the book Hello Kitty's Little book of big ideas, lol. I thought I'd share the recipe here:

Update 26/5/14- I realised that I shouldn't have copied the whole recipe because of copyright laws, so I'm going to change what I wrote. I came across this article about sharing recipes: http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/how-to-share-a-recipe/



Lemonade

What you'll need for approximately six glasses:

Pitcher (jug)
Measuring cup
Fruit juicer
6 glasses
6 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
4 lemons
Ice cubes
Lemon slices

You basically mix the water, sugar and lemon juice together and adjust it according to taste. It's similar to other basic lemonade recipes. :) Here's another recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/346587/classic-homemade-lemonade







So these are my favourite summer drinks! :)