Copycat Cheesecake Factory Raspberry Lemonade

A bunch of us got together a couple of weeks ago for Brea's birthday. I was put in charge of bringing a drink, and as I stopped drinking soda a month or so ago I really wanted to find a drink that was delicious and it at all possible did not include soda. My Mom had suggested that I could take juice or I thought that I would just take soda and then drink water. But at the last minute Saturday night I went searching through pinterest and blogs and found this drink that was supposed to be amazing...and it was! Everyone kept going back and forth to the kitchen to get more (finally to make it easier, especially for the pregnant ladies, we brought it into the living room). I didn't have the directions and threw the water in before the water was boiling, I'm not sure if that really changed anything but I added a little more sugar because it just needed a little more sweetness ;)

Copycat Cheesecake Factory 

Raspberry Lemonade

Recipe came from The Sexy Knitter

Copycat Cheesecake Factory Raspberry Lemonade

Makes 2 quarts

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

Extra sugar for sugaring the rim of your glass

Directions:
Bring the cup of water to a boil. Add the sugar and stir constantly for one minute until sugar is thoroughly dissolved; remove from heat and add to a blender with raspberries. Puree until smooth. Add puree to 2-quart container with lemon juice and enough water to make 2 quarts. Chill before serving. Serve over ice in sugared glasses. (Or, you know, glass, if you're going to hoard it.)

To sugar your glass, run one of your lemon rinds around the edge of the glass to moisten. Dip rim into dry sugar until coated to your liking.

Mango Smoothie

We didn't follow this recipe exactly...I didn't have fresh mangoes and I used honey flavored Greek yogurt instead. I loved how creamy this was and it tasted soooo good!

mango smoothie

Recipe came from Crunchtime

Mango Smoothie

makes 1 1/2 - 2 cups

1 mango, flesh only

1 small container of vanilla flavored Greek yogurt

1 cup of ice cubes

1. load ingredients into a blender in the order above

2. Blend on low for 15 seconds to create juice from mango

3. Turn up speed to high and blend for one minute or until your blender smokes which ever happens first.

Raspberry-Mango Smoothie

I am a huge fan of smoothies (yum, yum!). When I saw this recipe on Our Best Bites I knew that it was one that I had to try. This was super good and easy but I discovered that because I'm not the hugest fan or raspberries I could have gone with a little bit less or none at all. Be sure to have others to share this with when you make it...Mom and I were very cold by the end and were having difficultly finishing all it made.

Raspberry-Mango Smoothie
Recipe came from Our Best Bites

Raspberry-Mango Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Orange Mango Peach juice
1 cup cubed mangoes (or peaches)
1 cup raspberries
1 1/2 cups (about 3 large scoops) pineapple sherbet
2 cups ice (omit 1 cup ice per frozen fruit used)

Instructions:

Add all ingredients to your blender in the order listed and blend until smooth. Drink immediately. Makes 2 large smoothies or 4 smaller smoothies.

Sumptuous Sunday

Chunky Pecan Pie Bars

Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Frosting

Cake Batter Cinnamon Rolls

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Chocolate Cheesecake Frosting

Rhubarb, Coconut and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lemonade Cupcakes

Peanut Butter Jelly Bars

Cast Iron Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

Pulled Chicken Suiza Sandwiches

Brown Sugar Blueberry Cookies

Gluten Free Rhubarb, Almond, and Lemon Cake

BBQ Chicken Burgers

Crunchy Onion Rings

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

Chicken Empenadas

Easy Raspberry Lemonade

Grilled Quesadillas

Mandarin Orange Pie

Sumptuous Sunday

Strawberry Lemonade Scones

Bacon Ranch Potato Salad

Root Beer Float Cake

Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones

Strawberry Bread

DIY Soda Icee

Whole Wheat Bagels

Frozen Hot Chocolate

Whole Wheat Pretzel Bites

Cheddar Bacon Wrapped Hamburgers

Limeade Punch

We had a family dinner on Sunday and I wanted to make a drink, we were planning on having water but I wanted to add something else. I found this one, I just noticed that they had mentioned some twists that you could make it like Sonic Cherry Limeade (which I LOVE!), I wish that I had seen it to do but it was still delicious. It suggested adding frozen raspberries but we didn't have just that so we added a Costco mix that had raspberries, blueberries, and marionberries. Another blog shared this recipe for Cherry Limeade that I might be trying soon.

Limeade Punch
Recipe came from The Girl Who Ate Everything
Limeade Punch

1 (12 ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate
1 (2 liter) bottle Sprite
frozen rasperries or sliced limes for garnish
ice

Pour the frozen limeade concentrate in a large bowl and add the Sprite. I like my punch on the tart side so I add about 3/4 of a bottle of Sprite. Add ice, sliced limes, and frozen raspberries if desired.

Got Sonic Fever? Turn it into cherry limeade by adding the juice of 1 (10 ounce) jar of maraschino cherries. Add an additional can of frozen limeade for some extra tartness and garnish with the reserved maraschino cherries.