Have Lemons? Make Frozen Strawberry Lemonade

I don't like lemonade.

We went through this weird faze with my kids where my daughter always wanted lemonade. Due to the intense demand of lemonade needed I decided not to buy a lemonade machine and fresh squeeze the lemons myself (I assume you understand).


So, we opted for the Crystal Light powder packs which we would stir up in a jug and give to her in her juice cup. She loved it. I hated it.

The weird powder would collect on the bottom of the jug and if I (being the lazy man that I am) didn't stir it up enough it would clump together too.

But the worst part of all was having to poor the old lemonade from her juice cup down the drain. By the end of the day it got fairly warm and the smell of powdery lemons was nicely baked in. Opening up the sealed, spill proof, indestructible cup resulted a rush of hot lemon steam hitting me right in the face {sick}. As quickly as I could, I would dump the hot powder lemonade down the sink and deep clean the juice cup as fast as my hands could move (I've found that hot apple juice in a sealed cup has a similar nausea creating effect).

After a few months of fighting with lemonade every day I made the decision (which my wife appreciated) to move away from powder lemonade and just stick with bottled juice from the store.

Unfortunately the powder lemonade made me a changed man and I haven't been able to look lemonade square in the eye since then. 

When McDonald's came out with their new Frozen Strawberry Lemonade (for just $1.59) it was the first time I'd even given lemonade a second look in years.

It usually seemed that Frozen Strawberry Lemonade (or Frozen Lemonade in general) was reserved for special occasions....like the Fair, an Amusement Park, Concert, etc. In all of these environments you need Frozen Lemonade because you're sweating your butt off and the idea of a frozen beverage is like a fantasy come true (which is why they charge you like $9 for it).

So.....when I'm driving by McDonald's, I'm not sweating. I'm not hot. The air conditioning is on. Why do I need a Frozen Strawberry Lemonade? Um.....cause it looks good and it cost me less than 2 bucks?

My urges overwhelm me and I pull into the McDonald's drive thru, "1 Frozen Strawberry Lemonade please."

I go through, I pay, I drink, I smile.

Damn you McDonald's and your genius marketing product development people. Why are you always creating stuff that's so delicious and so affordable? Why do you keep giving me stuff I don't know I want when really I secretly want it?

WHY!?!?!?

Don't get me wrong. I still don't like lemonade. But the Frozen Strawberry Lemonade is really remarkable at a really good price. It's not too sweet and not too tart. It's a nice slushy consistency so it's not solid rock ice but also not too runny to be pure syrup. There is just enough strawberry flavoring to create the perfect harmony of strawberries and lemons (although I have to imagine that McDonald's isn't squeezing fresh lemons in the back of the restaurant).

For summer, it's a win, win, win. I just won't be sharing any with my daughter (who knows something might happen and I'll get grossed out and never want it again).

If you're still not convinced (how could you not be by now?) here's a $1 off coupon to try the Frozen Strawberry Lemonade at McDonald's - expires on 6/15/11.

Have you tried it? What did you think?