The 'Recipe'

Remember the two elderly sisters on "The Waltons" who brewed moonshine whiskey and called it "The Recipe"? Well, this is something like that. Only its legal. And non-alcoholic. Although it has been known to cause odd behavior in some individuals.

This is Swamp Water (or Polyjuice Potion for all you Harry Potter fans.) It originated a looooong time ago, when a bunch of us were training at the Shueyville Community Center every week (before its $175,000 makeover, they probably don't even allow dogs in the parking lot now) and decided to have a St. Patrick's Day party. I made green punch. It looked like this.

(Photo by Rilda at this year's Halloween party)

The original recipe has been lost and I've spent the last 15 years trying to recreate it. Every version of Swamp Water differs slightly. That's the beauty of it.

SWAMP WATER (makes 2 gallons)
2 packages Kool Aid lemon lime drink mix (dry)
1 can frozen lemonade concentrate
2 cans frozen limeade concentrate
3 2-liter bottles of ginger ale
a bunch of lime sherbet (4-5 cups?)

Mix Kool Aid with frozen juice concentrates. Add ginger ale and stir in sherbet in large chunks. Stir occasionally while serving to blend melted sherbet.

Having said that, you can substitute a lot of the ingredients to customize the recipe. I've used frozen pineapple juice concentrate in place of the lemonade and pineapple sherbet in place of the lime sherbet. That was a rockin' recipe but since our small town grocery store doesn't carry things as exotic as pineapple sherbet I usually go with lime because it's readily available without a trip to the big city.

The key to good Swamp Water is that is is tart and has a lot of fizz. You don't need to add any sugar, there's plenty in the sherbet, which doesn't melt right away but floats around and looks wonderfully scummy.

Today I am thankful for ibuprofen. I overdid it playing Frisbee with the dogs and winterizing flowerbeds over the weekend. The dogs are tired and happy, the flowerbeds are tidy and I feel like I've been hit by a truck.