Celebrate With Fresh StrawberryAde!
I’ll get on to telling you about how to make this incredibly easy and delicious Strawberryade drink but first a couple people have asked me about these glasses.
These are the glasses my Mama Reed used for her tea at every meal. They were considered very fancy glasses but Mama Reed never put them aside for special occasions. She considered each meal to be special and worthy of her best. “Always set your table like the President is coming to dinner” is her often quoted saying.
The interesting thing about these glasses is that they weren’t acquired in a fancy store or even the kitchen department at Dunavant’s or JCPenney, they came from the grocery store, filled with peanut butter. With ten children and all of the other folks who came by on any given day, Mama Reed amassed quite a collection (no doubt she had good use for all of that peanut butter, too!). I don’t have any of her original ones but I’ve managed to come across enough to use them at my table, although I only do so from time to time.
My kids love drinking out of these and I helped them understand the history behind them by finding an old advertisement for the glasses and peanut butter, which I have framed on my kitchen wall here at Bountiful. This ad is dated June, 1957.
Big Top glasses were plentiful in the South and for this reason are still pretty easily acquired at antique malls and on Ebay (see the bottom of this post).
This glass still has the original sticker, it’s a prized possession of mine and only cost me about $6.00. I usually try to spend my money on something with a meaning and a history to it rather than something new whenever I can.
Now what was I supposed to be posting about? Oh yeah…StrawberryAde.
And we’re off!~zoooooom~
You’re going to need: 16 ounces (or two cups) fresh strawberries, and a tub of pink lemonade Crystal Light.
That’s it. Honest.
Oh alright, some water as well but you should have that on hand.
You can also use generic sugar free pink lemonade mix such as Wal Mart brand.
You know my motto: “Go for the cheap!”.
Wash and cut the tops off of your strawberries. If a few make it into your mouth, I won’t tell. 🙂
Toss them into your blender.
This is my old Hamilton Beach blender. I’ve had it since they made dirt and it’s still going strong.
Puree that until it’s all good and liquified.
Put a few inches of water in a two quart pitcher.
I really wanted a glass pitcher for this tutorial but I don’t own one. I put off doing this for a few weeks as I looked every time I went out, hoping to find a deal. In the end, I didn’t find one for less than $8.00 and I felt guilty buying it (seemed frivolous) just to take a prettier photo of Strawberryade. So here we are, doing a tutorial in my usual plastic pitcher.
Jes’ keepin’ it real, y’all!
Add your Pink Lemonade mix to the water…
Stir that up til it is dissolved.
Stir in puree.
Fill the rest of the way with cold water and stir.
Serve over ice.
If you make this a few hours before, the seeds will fall to the bottom. If you serve immediately, you can strain the seeds out or just leave them like I do. It makes it look more authentic and fresh ~grins~.
This reminds me of a Strawberry Julius (from the old days) with a bit of a zesty kick to it! Strawberry is definitely the dominant flavor!
Ingredients
- 16 ounces fresh strawberries
- 1 Tub Crystal Light Pink Lemonade
Instructions
- Wash and remove tops from strawberries. Place in blender and puree until fully liquefied. Fill two quart pitcher halfway with water. Stir in drink mix. Add strawberry puree and fill the rest of the way with cold water. Stir well. If strawberries aren’t sweet enough, you can add ¼ a cup of Splenda or to taste. I’ve never had to add Splenda!
- Serve cold, over ice.
You may also enjoy these punch recipes:
Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate
“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”-Harriet Van Horne
Submitted by Amelia. To submit your quote (and make my day), please click here!
Be still my heart – someone else who loves Big Top peanut butter “crystal”…. I remember digging the peanut butter out of these as a child and also drinking sweet tea from them. Years back, I found a bunch of these at an auction and bought them. Then I started adding to my collection at thrift stores, yard sales, and other auctions. Today, I have a big set of the glasses and also the sherbets and love using them on a daily basis.
Thanks for sharing this and helping me to remember the old labels and advertisements from my childhood!!!
(By the way, the strawberry-ade looks wonderful too!!!)
Hi Christy,
Just wondering if I missed something but looks like you have something green on your ice cubes and glass rim? Could it be mint or am I seeing things again..lol Thanks for everything you do your great and appreciated alot….Roger
Hey Roger! You’re not seeing things!Those are just strawberry seeds :). ~grins~ Sharp eye!
Thank you!!! I appreciate you reading!!!
Gratefully,
Moi
Ooooh, this sounds WONDERFUL! And even better, I have the pink lemonade in my pantry and am going to the farmers market tomorrow to get some goodies for the long weekend. Big container of strawberries will make it into the car for sure. I’m hosting my mom and aunt for dinner on the 3rd and this would be great after their long day of shopping! You rock!
Oh that looks so REFRESHING! I’ll have to try this one out this summer for sure.
I remember the little glassses that came in the oats. My grandmother used to save those for me to drink out of.
I’ve had my maternal grandmother’s dishes for years and use them every day. And pretty soon my dad will be bringing me his mother’s dishes and china hutch that I have inherited as well.
And I LOVE those old ads – I bought up an old 50’s issue of The Ladies Home Journal from a flea market around here a few years ago. I really enjoyed looking at the old advertisements (and funnily enough a lot of the articles dealt with pretty much the same issues we deal with today!)
That really looks good! I can imagine it would seem heaven sent after mowing two yards like I did yesterday. Thank ya kindly maam!
My wife and I enjoy trying your recipies, Christy! She’s threatening me with the Sundae Cake even as we speak.
I love the old “Big Top” Peanut Butter and Jelly glasses. We used to drink from those and the “Bama” jelly glasses (they had colorful prints of circus parades and ducks & stuff) and the glasswear that came as a “premium” in the Crystal Oats and Duz detergent boxes…anybody else remember those?
They make a drink like this at the Mexican restaurant here in our town and my husband could drink it by the gallons. Thanks to you, now I can make my own instead of pay $2 a glass for it there! (And it’s no sugar added- whoo hoo!) We probably can’t say it’s sugar free since there is natural sugar in the strawberries, but close enough! Thanks, I can’t wait to try it!