Way back in March, the New York Times ran an article about Nora Ephron that contained a delicious description of her favorite pineapple milkshake. It sounded so absolutely amazing that I bought a can of pineapple the very next time I went to the store with big plan to make the milkshakes at home. I must have thought about them a million times, but that can of pineapple sat there until last week.
Milkshakes are heavy and rich and seem like they need a special occasion. And, honestly, all that dairy makes my stomach hurt. Not worth it.
Then I saw some ridiculously beautiful strawberry soda floats on Pinterest and I knew what I was going to do with that can of pineapple: make homemade pineapple soda to use in floats. Light and refreshing, these pineapple soda floats are the perfect way to say goodbye to summer. (Or do what I plan to to and drink them all fall, in complete denial that summer is over.)
For the third and final week of the Tazo Cookoff, I faced a bit of a dilemma: the pears that I had been presented to use in my recipe weren’t as ripe as I would have liked them to be. They would have been fine in a few days, but I was headed out of town and only had one night to get my recipe done. To make matters worse, the only thing I felt like eating was a sandwich — which put a quick end to my idea of poaching the pears in tea and making them into a chutney to eat with lamb chops and polenta (I mean, I like to cook, but I’m not about to make something like that when I’d be happier with a simple panini!)
As I tried to think of ways to incorporate the tea and pears into my sandwich or a side dish, I remembered the sangria-like iced tea that I had at Radiance Tea and Bookstore this spring. It seemed like the perfect accompaniment to my sandwich as well as a great way to use up some other fruit before I headed out of town.
The resulting tea was a nice change of pace from my standard unsweetened black tea, and I plan to make it again often. I especially loved the way that the ginger flavor infused the fruit — it was unexpected and extremely refreshing. Eating the fruit at the bottom of the glass was just as much of a treat as drinking the tea!
This is your final chance to win a great Tazo gift pack including a one year supply of tea and a selection of tea-brewing essentials! You’ll be entered one time for every comment you leave on one of my Tazo recipes. This is recipe # 3 of 3. Previous recipes included
Tea-smoked Salmon with Lavender and Honey Glaze.On September 1, I’ll randomly pick a winner from all of the comments left on those three recipes. (Only commenters with valid US addresses are eligible to win) Every comment you leave will also help me win a $1,000 gift card to Williams Sonoma.
