When life gives you snow - eat it!

This article originally appeared on mommachef.com. It has been reprinted here with permission.

Congrats- we made it through this painful and long week of Chicago's polar vortex! I somehow had the foresight to buy loads of boxes of edible unicorn slime and every Jell-O activity kit I could find. I think I have gained 5 pounds in the past 2 days eating a crapload of "Jello-legos" and "Beach Pudding Cups". But, with yesterday being the third day school is closed this week I had to come up with more creative ideas and recipes.

This is an awesome project you can make without even needing to leave your house for supplies. This recipe is made with real outdoor snow and homemade syrup that takes just minutes to make. But PLEASE make sure you use clean snow- I mean my youngest coming in excited that he found “lemon” snow in my dog run did not make for a fun tantrum explaining that yellow snow was not actually edible! Bundle the kids up and send them outside for 30 seconds to collect some snow and the rest can be done inside.

Enjoy!!

HOMEMADE “SNOW” CONES

Prep time
5 mins

Total time
5 mins

Author: MommaChef.com
Serves: 10 Snow Cones

INGREDIENTS

• 2 c. of snow per each snow cone
• 1 c. water
• 1 c. sugar
• Kool-Aid liquid (I like cherry and grape) **see “tips” below

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a saucepan, mix the water and sugar and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally for about 2 minutes until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Remove from the stove and divide the liquid into two bowls.
3. In one bowl, squirt about 8 drops of Kool-Aid Liquid cherry. In the other bowl, do the same with the grape until desired color.
4. Put the bowls in the refrigerator until the liquid is cold.
5. When it’s ready, take your kids outside and have them scoop about 10 cups of fresh snow into a large container (this will make about 5 snow cones). Make sure it’s clean snow!
6. Back inside, put the snow into a 1-cup measuring cup and press down until the snow is compact. Keep filling until the cup is full. Turn the cup over, shape it into a ball and put the snowball into a bowl or snow cone cup.
7. Spoon flavoring over the snow and enjoy!

Tips:

1. My kids like to use a spoon and straw to eat their homemade snow cones.
2. Remember snow melts fast, so enjoy these treats right away!
3. The syrup is good for 10 or more snow cones. When finished, store any leftover syrup in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to two months.


About Momma Chef: Karen Nochimowski, the mom behind MommaChef.com has loved cooking for as long as she can remember. After friends and family begged to be let in on her culinary secrets, she decided to create a blog featuring the easy, quick recipes that everyone loved. All of her recipes are less than 6 ingredients and under 6 minutes of prep time. The goal of Momma Chef blog is to help busy moms serve fabulous meals with little effort and few ingredients to their families. She is also the founder of Momma Chef’s Soup Kitchen, an organization feeding those in need of hot meals.