It’s July. I don’t know where you are, but here in southeast Louisiana, where we live just north of Baton Rouge, it’s HOT. And HUMID. Like so-humid-my-hair-looks-like-a-frizzy-mess humid. It also probably doesn’t help that our poor old AC unit is ready to be put out of its misery, and it’s as hot inside our house as it is outside. But a new one will be here soon. My hair is excited. My wallet, not so much.

When I was a kid, my mom would take us to the pool and the library for summer time fun, but one of my favorite places she’d take us would be the occasional trip to the mall and if we were lucky, a stop at Orange Julius. Remember these?

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of these in a mall. They were bought out by Dairy Queen in the late 80s and are still around if you know where to look, but thank goodness for the web, because there are all kinds of homemade recipes you can try to recreate this orange refreshing icy goodness!

This is the best one I’ve found. Just 5 simple ingredients, and we like to dress it up with a dab of whip cream on top. (This is NOT for the dieting, people!) I know a lot of recipes use the frozen orange juice concentrate, but this one doesn’t, and since I never HAVE frozen orange juice concentrate in my kitchen, this recipe works for us.

If your favorite brand of OJ goes on sale like ours has the last couple of months, this is a great treat to enjoy and would be fun for a get-together with friends or pool time with family!

Here’s what you need.

2 cups of your favorite brand of OJ
1 cup of milk (we use what we keep on hand – skim)
1/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/4 cup of powdered sugar
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
Ice/crushed ice
Blender (We have a Ninja)
(A recipe version you can print out is below.)

Make sure you use the correct measurements – once when I thought I knew the recipe by heart, I accidentally did a CUP of sugar for BOTH sugars. Let’s just say it was pretty sweet!! And I didn’t go to sleep until the next day!

Mix and whisk: I like to whisk all the ingredients together in a measuring bowl and then I take our handy Ninja and add about a cup of crushed ice. (Add less ice if you want it thinner, more ice if you’d like it thicker.)

Pour and blend: Then I pour the OJ mixture into the Ninja, and blend. Because our Ninja is the small one (I have the blender attachment, but honestly, I don’t like using it), we do two batches. After I pour the first batch, I repeat the crushed ice, add more of the OJ mixture, and blend it all again. This makes big servings for the 3 of us (if my husband liked Orange Julius). If you make your servings smaller, you can probably serve 4-6.

Don’t forget that dollop of whip cream!

The Orange Julius: Make This Perfect Summer Drink For Your Family   Print Prep time 5 mins Cook time 5 mins Total time 10 mins   Recreate this favorite non-alcoholic frozen summer drink with ingredients you probably already have in your house. Powdered sugar gives it just the right texture and sweetness! Author: Sara Horn Recipe type: Non-Alcoholic Drink Cuisine: Beverage Serves: 4-5 8 oz. servings Ingredients 2 c. of your favorite brand of Orange Juice 1 cup of milk (whole is best but skim works just as well) ¼ c. granulated sugar ¼ c. powdered sugar ½ tsp. vanilla extract Ice/Crushed Ice Cool Whip for topping Instructions In a measuring bowl, add Orange Juice, milk, granulated sugar, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract and whisk until well blended. Add 1 cup of ice or crushed ice to your blender.* Pour orange juice mixture over ice, seal blender and blend on high for 30 sec to a minute. Pour in glasses and top with a dollop of whip cream *For a thicker, milkshake-consistency, add a larger amount of ice. For a thinner consistency, add less ice. 3.3.2998

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