Sweet Tea -- A Taste of the South

I have a drink-love-affair with this here sweet tea.  You may think you know sweet tea, but you do not know Doug and Leigh's sweet tea.

Being a California girl myself, my "experience" with this went something like this: you order tea at the restaurant, you rip open six packets or so of sugar, you dump them in, stir, and then decide it still tastes too bitter.  And then you ask yourself, "Why on earth did I order tea?!"

And then I met Doug and Leigh.  They so graciously sponsored my every-other-week six hours back into American reality while I lived on Ebeye and they lived on the US Army base, three miles over.  Not only did they have fresh water showers (that were warm), a washer and dryer (that worked), and good home cooking (that included fresh vegetables and fruit), but they had their Alabama charm -- and part of that was sweet tea.

I don't think I have ordered a glass of icky California tea since.

So now, if I get the chance to go to that part of the country for whatever reason, I call them up and say, "Please, pretty please, have lots of tea waiting for me!"  And they always do...

Here's how they do it, in Leigh's own words:

Here's how I make it. I use two family sized Luzianne tea bags and steep them in boiling water for 30 minutes to a whole day...it really doesn't matter. I put 1 and 1/2 cups sugar in a gallon container and pour in the steeped water, then add to make a gallon.


Simple, and really REALLY sweet.  

Just the way I like it.

(Notice I made the brand large?  Well, that's because that is the secret, so I am told.  Liptons = no good (for this recipe).  Luzianne = EXCELLENT.)

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