Summer is the perfect time to practice using (or continue using) your entertaining ideas! As a general rule, from brunches to cookouts to afternoon snacks on the deck, summer food is light, yummy, and easy to serve.

This simple-to-prepare beverage is ideal for summer entertaining, for enjoying alone, or for treating your family to a break from chores on a hot afternoon. While there are many versions of this beverage offered at high-end coffee shops and bistros and numerous recipes that incorporate club soda and Torani®-style flavored syrups, we crafted this simple recipe with items we already had in our refrigerator. We found it to be quicker, less complicated, and less expensive, since the items come from basically any grocery store (no specialty aisles required).

Joe and I enjoy a Cranberry-Grape Cremosa on our front porch, where we often sit and read or just talk in the evenings. We’ve also enjoyed them on the back deck, where we sometimes quietly read our Bibles in the mornings. Additionally, this will be our pre-meal appetizer when we have dinner guests this summer. Because this is our new summer go-to treat, we wanted to share it with you today. Enjoy!

“Come on Over” Cremosa

Prep time: 5 minutes-ish
Serves: 1 (but make several!)
From the kitchen of Brenda Henderson

Ingredients:

• Ice (cubed, crushed, chipped—it honestly doesn’t matter)
• Fruit juice (the flavor options are endless)
• French vanilla coffee creamer (liquid only—not powder)

Directions:

1. Fill drinking glass 1/2 full with ice (Note: use whatever size glass will allow you to quench your thirst; tumblers are pictured)
2. Fill glass about 3/4 full with fruit juice.
3. Add creamer to taste. (We use about the equivalent of three little single-serve creamers per glass.)
4. Stir well.

Serving suggestions:

• This is such a great treat that it truly stands well on its own!
• Serve as a midmorning snack with muffins or mini muffins.
• Serve in the afternoon with specialty breads (e.g., banana bread).
• Serve as a pre-dinner appetizer.
• Serve after the evening meal with cookies.

“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:8–10, NASB).

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