It may be the tail end of spring right now, with daily rain storms and unpredictable weather here in Colorado, but the warm days make it feel a whole lot like summer’s just around the corner, so what better way to hasten the change in season than with a picnic? Of course, a picnic planned on a day with a 60% chance of “storms, heavy at times” is one that is best planned indoors, and so that’s what I did!
Well-heeled folk talk about food and wine pairings, but I’m a huge fan of iced teas and so the challenge I set myself was to come up with a set of basic summer picnic foods that were a perfect match with Milo’s Café Style Iced Tea. My solution: a turkey and cheese sandwich (can’t BBQ in the rain!), watermelon, corn on the cob, potato salad and cole slaw, all on a festive plate with a cheery napkin on the side.
Add a big, cold glass of, you guessed it, Milo’s Café Style Iced Tea. Sweetened. And it’s quite delicious. I picked up a couple of bottles at the local Walmart in the refrigerated juice and dairy section. Why refrigerated? Because of its all organic ingredients!
What I really like about it, however, is that it’s made of incredibly few ingredients. The sweetened tea has three ingredients: filtered water, organic tea and organic sugar. That’s it. Compare that to other beverages you might get at the market and it’s terrific, a drink I’d be happy for my kids to consume too.
But what about the rest of the food? Here’s my plate:
Looks good, and nothing says summer to me than corn on the cob. In fact, I have very fond memories of living in Fort Collins, Colorado immediately after my undergrad studies and when my friends and I would get together, we’d just boil up a pot of fresh corn and that’d be dinner. Possibly not the most nutritious in the world, but cheap and delicious!
If you’re like me, this should make you salivate too:
I can assure you that when I did have my first bite, oh, the heavenly choir sang “hallelujah” and I rapidly consumed the rest of the corn, starting with the other half of this particular cob.
At a street fair I’d sprinkle it with chili powder, as I did at the Boulder Creek Festival over the weekend, and I know a lot of people like to put butter on their cob, but just like the Milo’s tea, if it’s good corn, you don’t need to add anything else for it to be delicious!
I was contemplating making a burger, a hot dog or even a steak, but when rain was in the offing, a turkey and cheese sandwich (with natural sliced turkey and organic cheese, coupled with organic lettuce and full grain bread, of course) was a perfect centerpiece on the plate:
After all, it was all just an excuse to eat lots of corn and drink lots of iced tea!
The Café Style Teas are brewed from USDA Certified organic tea leaves and are sweetened with either organic sugar – as with the flavor I enjoyed – or with organic stevia, a popular alternative sweetener. A bit of online research and I learned that stevia comes from a plant that’s related to the daisy and ragweed and that while there are species that grow in New Mexico, Texas and Arizona, the best are grown in Paraguay and Brazil.
Oh, and one more thing: Milo’s Teas is a woman-owned business. I like that, I like supporting small business that’s delivering a great product to the market! And if you can’t find it at your local market, you might find the store locator tool from Milo’s Tea darn useful. Just click here: What stores carry Milo’s Tea?
Whatever the back story, what I know is that I had a delightful and relaxing home picnic featuring steaming hot corn on the cob, chilled watermelon and, of course, chilled Milo’s Café Style iced tea. Not a bad way to slow down after a tough day, actually. Now that I think about it, I didn’t finish all the corn, so I’m outta here before one of my kids snags it!
Disclosure: This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group and Milo’s Tea but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #TasteTheMilosDifference [my disclosure]