Have you ever eaten something that’s made you moan?
Seriously. I bet you have. And I bet it was something sinful – maybe a super-rich dessert, or a perfectly marbled rib-eye that just melted in your mouth.
I bet it wasn’t a salad.
That’s right – this salad made me moan. From my first bite, all the way until I ate the leftovers at work days later. I can’t even remember the last time I ate leftover salad and even remotely enjoyed. And this one… I just didn’t want it to end.
Here’s what I can tell you about this sangria: It’s dangerous.
I’m going with dangerous in a good way. I consider any specialty cocktail that has you and your guests dancing on the couches in the middle of the day to be a great thing, in fact. I suppose it could be dangerous in a bad sense, if you consider how your head feels the next day.
I’ve also discovered as I’m writing this that I’m somewhat obsessed with sangria.
More and more, people are becoming concerned about what they put in their bodies.
{It’s about time}
So, when Lipton reached out to me and asked me to try some of their new 100% natural line of iced teas and then review them online, I was in.
You may be aware that this is my first time doing a compensated review on this blog. Allow me to say – that first of all, I would never give a positive review on a product unless I meant it, regardless of whether or not I’m being paid to say it. Thus, I would never agree to do something like this unless I was fairly certain that I would have good things to say.
Lucky for Lipton, that was the outcome. These new iced teas taste great, and I’m proud to be part of a campaign for a company that cares about their consumers and our needs.
I love that they’re offering both diet versions with no calories as well as regular iced teas that are still low in calories (50-70 per serving). I’d have to say my favorite regular flavor is the Iced Tea with Blueberry Pomegranate, and my favorite diet flavor is the Diet Green Tea with Watermelon. Delish.
I was also excited to receive a ton of cocktail recipes to try with the new iced teas. Because I’m loving the watermelon flavor the most (and because it’s diet), I’ll share Lipton’s suggestion for serving here. Perfect for summer cocktailing!
Watermelon-Lime Mint Punch
Thoroughly crush mint with wooden spoon on side of pitcher. Stir in green tea, lime juice, and rum. Let stand 30 minutes. Remove mint. Chill until ready to serve. Serve in ice-filled glasses and garnish, if desired, with additional mint and watermelon balls. Makes 5 servings.
To learn more about Lipton’s new natural iced teas, check out their Facebook page.
{I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Gen-Yknot on behalf of Lipton and received Lipton product samples and a subscription to Pandora One to facilitate my candid review. Gen-Yknot also sent me a promotional item to thank me for my time}
Does anyone remember that show Ask Aida? I really liked that show – I wonder why it was cancelled.
Anyway, as I was searching high and low for an interesting watermelon gazpacho recipe a few weeks ago, I found this one. The author was Aida Mollenkamp, of Ask Aida.
I had been looking for a gazpacho recipe because for whatever reason, I just *had* to make one for a dinner party we were hosting. It didn’t matter that Dan wasn’t into the idea – he’s a hot soup kinda guy – I had an idea, and I wasn’t going to let go of it. I had a heavier meal planned, so I wanted to do something light to start.
Still, I wanted to find something different. The only gazpacho I remember loving was this one my aunt made for me earlier in the year, and that was a tough one to beat. I knew that I wanted to do something summery, as it was nearing the end of summer – and when I learned that our guests {one of them a very picky eater} loved watermelon, I had part of my work cut out for me.
But what I wanted was a watermelon gazpacho with an edge, and that is exactly what I found in this recipe. The addition of the basil oil and the spicy cayenne salt was everything I could have asked for. My photograph taken in the dark doesn’t do it justice – the garnishes really made it look like something special. My picky eater – who turned out not to be a big gazpacho fan – even said, “if I liked gazpacho, this would be the best gazpacho ever made!”
I’ll take it.
Watermelon Gazpacho with Basil Oil + Cayenne Salt
Adapted from Aida Mollenkamp
For the basil oil:
For the gazpacho:
For the garnish:
To make the garnish, mix cayenne pepper and salt in a small bowl until well combined. In a separate bowl, toss together watermelon and cucumber. To serve, top each bowl of gazpacho with 2 tablespoons of the watermelon and cucumber, sprinkle with cayenne salt, and drizzle with basil oil.
Makes 8 servings – I halved the recipe to serve 4.
When life hands you lemons, grab some vodka and make yourself some lemonade.
Add some puréed watermelon and it gets even better.
I can only partially take credit for this idea, because this recipe is the product of the second week of Project Pastry Queen. Which means we have not only Rebecca Rather of Pastry Queen fame to thank, but also Ashley of Delish for choosing this week’s recipe.
The reason I say I can take partial credit, is that I made some pretty substantial changes to the recipe. Read: I forgot to bring the one thing I needed when we left to spend this weekend with the fam. The cookbook.
It happens.
Like I said, you make lemonade. In this case, lemonade with puréed watermelon. And vodka.
The original recipe used a little more sugar, and much more water. I don’t like my drinks too sweet, so I may have done the same thing even if I had the recipe in front of me. Using less water made it extra tart, but I liked it this way because we were using vodka.
So basically, we replaced the extra water in the recipe with vodka. Do you see any harm in that? Me neither.
The other major change is that I puréed the watermelon, while the original recipe left the fruit diced in the pitcher. I loved the purée in the drink. I think that if I were to make it again, I’d add even more. I do love this drink because the diced fruit makes it almost like a fruity-vodka sangria. Tequila would be another great match for this.
If you’d like to see the recipe in its original form, be sure to check out Ashley’s post.
Watermelon Lemonade
Adapted from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather
For the sugar syrup:
Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Turn the heat to medium-high and boil until dissolved. Make sure to allow it to cool before making the rest of the drink.
Juice your lemons and limes. Add to blender with watermelon sugar syrup and purée. Place your citrus rounds and diced fruit into a glass pitcher. Pour puréed mixture from the blender into the pitcher over the fruit. Stir well and chill until icy cold.
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