Monday, July 23, 2012

Pineapple and Mint Granita


It's official.  My husband likes peanut butter.  Loves?  Nah.  But likes.  All you Americans out there are like, "Well, duh!"

It's also official... he had the ability to get sick of rice and beans.  All you Brazilian readers out there are thinking, "WHAT???!!!"

I know.


 
So what does all this mean, then?  Well, he is becoming American.  Which I love, don't get me wrong.  But I feel like I need to help him remember every once and awhile that he is Brazilian.  And what a better way to do that than abacaxi com hortela?


When I saw this week's recipe for the cooking group I am a part of (Sundays with Joy) was an espresso granita, I first had to ask, "What the heck is a granita?"  Once I found that out (basically a homemade snow cone, but much better) I had to ask another question -- "What flavor should I make since we don't drink coffee?"  I racked my brain for flavors I would like to have on a warm summer day.  Several ideas came to me, but only one stuck.

Pineapple juice with mint.

Perfect for a summer day; perfect for reminding my man that he is still Brazilian.


Now there is something else official: granitas are the ideal summer treat.  No dairy, low in sugar, cold and refreshing, and so incredibly tasty.  I may not have figured out what a granita was until my late 20's, but rest assured it will be an active part of my (future) young children's working vocabulary.

Abacaxi com hortela?  Tastes like sunshine.  Frozen sunshine. 

Yum.


Recipe entirely mine, yet inspired by Joy the Baker's Espresso Granita from the book, Joy the Baker Cookbook 

Pineapple with Mint Granita

Ingredients
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 T fresh chopped mint leaves
2 1/2 cups pineapple juice

Directions
  1. Bring sugar and water to a boil.  Let boil without stirring for five minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool, adding the mint leaves as soon as heat is removed.
  2. Let mint steep in sugar syrup until cooled down.  Remove leaves by pouring through a fine-meshed sieve.
  3. Add pineapple juice and stir. Pour into a 13"x9" glass baking dish.  Cover and place in freezer.
  4. After one hour, remove from freeze and scrape edges with a fork, bringing the frozen pieces into the middle.  Repeat every 30 minutes until all frozen.  Let freeze 30 more minutes and then fluff with fork and serve.  (Save any left over in a smaller container in freezer.)

COST: $3.35       COST PER SERVING (6): $0.56

8 comments:

  1. Stellar as always! I love the color, very much like frozen sunshine :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! In case you haven't been able to tell, I like color ;) (You should see the future house that lives in my dreams... crayon box, I tell ya!)

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  2. Love snow cones, so I`m sure I`ll love granitas! I just discovered gradnitas this year as well. SO I`m with you on that!
    & LOL at the fact that your husband can get sick of rice.

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    Replies
    1. How did we live this long without this brilliance in our lives???

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  3. Summer treats, indeed! The presentation is really pretty, eclectic, fun, vibrant! You never ran out of wonderful ideas. =) This is a must try!

    Myfudo here...Normally we'd never put a shameless plug back to us, but we just launched our new site and we would love for you to be a part of it. I'd love to share our newest launch with you, I hope you don't mind? Now that we are getting a new look...Myfudo is moving to a new domain http://www.yumgoggle.com This has been a project we have been working on for almost a year now. We just launched our new gallery submission site, and we are just thrilled. We’d be proud to have your work as part of our growing collection to continue to have a larger reach and further inspire all fellow food lovers out there! Please sign up and check us out (it's free) http://www.yumgoggle.com/gallery
    We look forward to seeing your wonderful pictures, as always.
    p.s. We are hosting a Kitchen Aid Mixer Giveaway to celebrate our new Yumgoggle site, we hope you'll participate =)
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    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! It really is a must try, so try it :) I will check out your new site. I know you aren't spamming me because I know you actually do follow and read my blog, so... :)

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  4. Looks really delicious!

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