Shave Your Ice

Wal-Mart is already carrying their ice shavers, even here in Colorado where we’re expecting still expecting snow half of the time (heeeellloooooooo! Run outside and scoop the snowbanks for real snowcones. Mind the yellow stuff.)

I bought an ice shaver last year and I love it.

These are great, whether you have kids, or like snacking on shaved ice. I know I enjoy the texture.

The Rival ice shaver is easy to use and produces cups o’ ice in mere electric moments. The machine comes with its own ice cup and lid.

One cup won’t appease hoardes of kids looking for instant blue-lipped gratification. Enter my clever husband who found Ziploc containers (also from Wal-Mart)(pictured, front left). They come in packs of 4-6, so a body can more ice than even the neighborhood can eat. I fill all of the containers with water and leave them in the freezer until needed. The plastic is fairly pliable, so the ice pops right out! The ice is easily removed, flat-side down, into the ice shaver, and Bob’s your father’s brother.

What do you do with leftover ice? With the sliver left over, I tend to put it in the dog’s water dish. If, however, there is quite a bit left, I just pop it back into the freezer. You can also make ice and keep adding the ice to a ziploc bag and continue to make more as needed.

You’ll find the ice shavers at Wal-Mart in their summer/seasonal area, along with the syrups. At Target, look in the small appliances section, where you’ll also see the syrups.

My absolute favorite flavor is the sugar-free blue raspberry from Wal-Mart (left in the picture). Target sells a greater variety of flavors in sugar-free for the ice shavers (top right). Davinci’s (found in your local coffee aisle) also makes some sugar-free syrups in over 50 flavors (stores are limited, so check out this link for more flavors).

Note: The Blue Raspberry brand flavor-syrups (Wal-Mart) are sweetened with aspartame, so keep this in mind if you have a sensitivity to artificial sweeteners. Target and Davinci’s syrups are sweetened with Splenda.

Memorial Day has passed, so ready those coconut bras and your grass skirt, and let’s cheer for some weather that I don’t need mukluks for. Or are those just my hairy legs? No comment.