Keeping Temperatures Down with Ice Cold Refreshments

Summer seems to be getting hotter each year in the Philippines. I’m not talking about events and bodies here, weather temperatures are really on a constant high. Some days even have the highest temperature level record in our history. Moms like me should come prepared and fully equipped with fun coolers to keep kiddie temperatures down and combat heat. 

There are plenty of fun DIY coolers and refreshments that you may try at home. About a month ago, we talked about how to make ice candy in this blog. It is one economical ice cooler that you can prepare for the whole family this summer. You could also turn your ice candy into Fun Popsicles by putting the ice candy mix into Popsicle molds and adding a stick to it instead of using ice candy plastic before freezing.  

Smoothies and milkshakes are also popular refreshments in the house. These great tasting coolers are made more nutritious with the use of fresh fruits and vegetables ingredients. That’s right you can also make use of vegetables in your smoothies and the kids would hardly notice it. 

There are also some cool desserts and snacks that the kids would love. Instead of preparing a cool drink and something to munch on, you can just whip-up some mais con hielo or halo halo treats and the kids can have both. The ice shavings and milk in this dessert is somewhat similar to a watery milkshake while the ingredients are filling enough to qualify as a snack.

Mais con hielo can easily be prepared with a can of cream style corn, evaporated milk, shave iced and some sugar or honey. Halo-halo on the other hand is a bit more complex because of its varied ingredients.

Halo-halo ingredients can vary depending on your taste. The standard version that we grew up with is made up of sago, gulaman, sweet banana and camote, nata de coco, kaong, white beans and red mongo beans, macapuno or buko strips, langka, and pinipig. On some occasions, this is topped with leche flan or ice cream.

Summer coolers like these can be homemade or purchased from your favorite refreshment bar. I try to stick to our homemade version as often as I can, but we also got our favorite mall stands and snack bars for our treats. The important thing is to keep our kids cool with nutritious and great tasting refreshment in this super hot summer.