I clipped this recipe during my marathon magazine reading at the lake. It sounded delicious and if I had had oranges then, I would have whipped this up.
Orangeade Thyme Cooler
Adapted from Tangerine-Thyme Cooler by Bryant Terry from Sunset (April 2013)1/4 c. raw cane sugar (or honey)
1/2 c. water
“bunch” of thyme (I like to use lemon thyme.)
6 oranges, divided
1 liter club soda, chilled
crushed ice (or “Sonic” ice if you can get it)Place sugar and water and a small saucepan. Strip leaves off of thyme and add to sugar water. Heat over medium heat, stirring often, until sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.
Strain syrup into a large, glass beverage dispenser.
Juice 5 oranges and add to the pitcher. Slice the remaining orange and add for garnishing. Add club soda and enough ice to fill up jug.
You may also garnish with more thyme sprigs.
Let me comment here on Sonic ice. If you do not have Sonics in your region, I am sad for you. Sonic Drive-Ins started in Oklahoma in the 1950s.
One of the original drive-ins in Stillwater, OK. (Picture from waymarking.com.)
Now again, I don’t love pre-packaged food or fast food. But there are exceptions, right?
I love Sonic.
Do you love tater tots?
Do you love a good cherry-limeade?
Slushies?
Onion rings?
Cream pie shakes? (What? You have never had one?)
Have you ever had a choco-cherry-coke? How about a vanilla Dr. Pepper?
Yep, you can have all of this great and unhealthy stuff at Sonic.
But, again, I digress and I need to talk about Sonic ice. Sonic ice rocks. It is soft and round and I love it. (Some call it pellet ice but that reminds me of rabbit droppings. )
Sonic ice.
Sonic is so popular that if you grew up with it and moved to an area that unfortunately doesn’t have a franchise, you seek it out whenever possible.
I have college friends that make Sonic their first stop upon returning to Stillwater (Go Pokes!).
My sister was super excited to have one open in her town in Iowa only to have it close. She now has to drive to Des Moines to visit their lone location. (And then she sometimes even stops in KC and Coffeyville, KS on her way home for even more great beverages. She always enters my house at the end of a long trip with a Sonic cup in hand.)
My brother-in-law knows that there is one in a small town in the Oklahoma panhandle that he can hit on his way back from Colorado.
I may snub my nose at fast food and unhealthy offerings, but please don’t take away my Sonic. I need a fix now and again.
Good to the last drop. (Sonic ice rocks!)
Hope you enjoy this cooler. It was delicious. And thank you for listening to my Sonic rant. (And, yes, we actually do own stock.) 🙂
Abigail, here is your virtual flower for the day.
Okay, this is obviously not a flower but a toad stool growing in our yard. We have had lots of these with all the rain we have gotten this summer. Sometimes I even have fairy rings.
This looks so refreshing, I might just have to make it this afternoon! 🙂
This is a great drink. It would be perfect non-alcoholic offering for late summer patio parties. (I cannot believe it is the middle of August!)
That looks totally refreshing!
Yes sirree! It is quite thirst quenching.
It looks great! I love Sonic Ice and we buy it all the time but it sure has been going up in price lately – $1.99 plus a tip – whew. I love Sonic food too: Pickelo’s are my favorite!
I think the Pickelos might be a regional thing too. I have seen them at some Sonics but I will have to look and see if we can get them here.
Often they aren’t on the menu but I’ve never been turned down when we’ve ordered them. Of course the Classic 50’s drive – in (on Lindsey in Norman is the actual originator of Pickelos and those ARE better – in fact, that’s who I got my recipe from! 🙂
So Pickelos are a Sooner thing? LOL
I stop at Sonic every morning for diet coke with extra ice. EVERY. MORNING.
If I know I will need an extra caffeine jolt on the way home, I will sometimes stop for a diet Dr. Pepper (especially if I can hit happy hour!).
Thank you Debra! I have quite a bit of lemon thyme and I know that I would thoroughly enjoy put it to use in this cooler! Wish I had one right now!
Hope you try it, M.J. I love thyme!
This is a very nice and refreshing drink!
Thanks for stopping by, Raymund.
Sonic ice is great! Love this cooker – I have a boatload of thyme at the moment, so I know what I’m going to make this week! Thanks for a fun post.
I just found an herbed salt recipe that calls for 1 cup of thyme (and 1 cup of rosemary). I have enough of both to do that too. Sonic rocks!
Love that picture, Debra – this looks so refreshing and simple! I miss Sonic – growing up in Kansas City it was a regular stop off for drinks in the summer – yum!
Thanks, Jess. I would truly miss Sonic if I moved.
When I was anemic ALL i wanted was Sonic ice! My husband said if he could find a machine to make it at our house, he would. I had no idea they started in OK – interesting trivia. The mushroom is CRAZY big – the kids were amazed.
Oh, that was actually a small one.
[…] few posts ago, I posted a toad stool instead of a virtual flower for Abigail. Aimee (Abby’s mom) commented that they […]
I sure could go for a big glass of that right now. I have never had thyme and orange together. This sounds refreshing!
It makes me want to add thyme to marmalade.