Summer is here and it’s hot out! If you’re anything like us, now that the height of July has arrived, you’re taking advantage of the beautiful weather, staying active, and maintaining a healthy diet. No matter where you live, whether in a populated city or on the rural countryside, you probably have a bunch of fun, outdoor activities to choose from. But in case you’d like a few more ideas to add to your summertime bucket list, the Sweetly Stevia team has put together our top 3 favorite activities for you to try, and each comes with the perfect sweet treat or stevia drink to compliment it! 

RIDE A BIKE

The very notion of riding a bicycle calls to mind childhood memories and summertime nostalgia. Glittery streamers. Playing cards thwacking between spokes. A basket full of dandelions you picked along the ride. The moment your training wheels came off. Can you remember the last time you rode a bike?

Even if you’re an avid cyclist or your primary mode of transportation is a bicycle, now that summer’s on there’s no better time to get out there on the open road—or into Spin class at your local gym—and drink in the warm breeze and scenic setting, and get a little exercise, too!

Once you do, we invite you to pop the kickstand, park the bike, and try our Raspberry Road Rash cocktail.

RASPBERRY ROAD RASH COCKTAIL  

Ingredients:

  • 5 Fresh raspberries
  • 1/2 cup Raspberry seltzer
  • 1/4 cup Freshly squeeze lemon juice
  • 2 ounces Vodka
  • 1 teaspoon Sweetly Stevia, or to taste

Mix all of the ingredients and serve in an eight-ounce glass with ice! If you make a puckering face after a sip, just keep adding Sweetly Stevia! For a mocktail alternative, simply use cranberry juice instead of vodka.

FLY A KITE

One thing we love about summertime—and we love many things about it!—is simply getting outside and enjoying the day. Sunshine, warm weather, blue skies, and white fluffy popcorn clouds all add to the beauty of the season. What better way to lean back and take in the skyline than to fly a kite?

Kites come in all different shapes and sizes. Some are easy enough for children to launch, while others require the kind of experience you would expect from a Nasa engineer to get off the ground.

No matter what your experience level, trust us, there’s a kite out there for you. And once that baby takes flight, you’ll want our Windy Watermelon Pops on hand to snack on and stay cool!

WINDY WATERMELON POPS

Ingredients:

Chop the watermelon into cubes and use a blender to puree, mixing in the Sweetly Stevia as you go, then pour the liquified watermelon into 4 ice cube trays. Cover the trays with plastic wrap then poke popsicle sticks into each cube. The plastic wrap will keep the sticks upright and in place. Then simply put the trays into the freezer until your Windy Watermelon Pops are frozen!

MAKE LEMONADE

Ah, the good ole lemonade stand. Nothing says summertime like an eight-year-old entrepreneur trying to turn a profit! Were you one of them when you were growing up? If you guessed that we were, you would be right! Where else would our Sweetly Stevia business experience have started from?

What we love most about making homemade lemonade on a hot, summer’s day is that we can make our drink as tart or as sweet as we like! And the best part is that, thanks to Sweetly Stevia, we never add empty calories to our mix, because we substitute sugar with our all-natural, calorie-free product, granulated Sweetly Stevia.

How do you like your lemonade? Sour enough to squish your face into a tight pucker with every sip? Or so sweet that it makes you smile? No matter where you fall on the sweetness spectrum, your summertime homemade lemonade will pair perfectly with our Lemon Coma Cupcakes!

LEMON COMA CUPCAKES

Cake Ingredients:

  • 3 cups Self-rising flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt
  • 1 cup Unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 cups Sweetly Stevia, or to taste
  • 4 Eggs
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons Lemon zest
  • 1 cup Whole milk
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons Fresh lemon juice

Frosting Ingredients:

  • 2 cups Heavy cream
  • 3/4 cup Sweetly Stevia, or to taste
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Fresh lemon juice

Preheat your oven at 375 degrees F, and line 30 cupcake pan cups with your paper liners. In one bowl, sift the self-rising flour and salt together. In another bowl, beat the unsalted butter and Sweetly Stevia with an electric mixer until its fluffy. Beat your eggs into this bowl, one at a time, then mix in the vanilla extract and lemon zest. Gently beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture in a larger bowl, but do this one third at a time, as you alternate in half the milk and half the lemon juice. Do this until all are combined, but be sure not to overmix. Then fill your prepared cupcake liners with the batter so that each cup is ¾ full. You will bake these roughly 17 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out of the center “clean”.

Now on to the icing! Use an electric mixer set on Low to beat the chilled heavy cream in a bowl that has also been chilled. Keep beating until the cream begins to thicken, but don’t overbeat it! Add in your Sweetly Stevia and lemon juice, a little at a time, until you’ve mixed all of both in. Next, switch the electric mixer speed to High and beat the mixture until your icing forms “soft peaks”, or for about 5 minutes. Once your cupcakes are baked and have cooled, you can spread your icing on top!

Well, there you have it! Our favorite summertime activities along with the perfect Sweetly Stevia treats to compliment the experience!  

If you’re acquainted with our blog, then you’ve already tried out some of our delicious recipes! Never miss out on a recipe or blog post again, click the Sweetly Stevia subscribe button at the bottom of the page and be the first to know!