It's still true: Desperate times call for desperate measures ... like iced tea

And the times lately have certainly been desperate as far as heat and humidity are concerned, not to mention the ever-present stress and strain from our current world situation.  So I'm updating and adding to this post from two years ago, in hopes that others may find it useful.

As a rule at our house, we no longer drink sweetened beverages.  Mr. T does use a little stevia in his coffee.  But for cold beverages, our first choice is always nice cold water.  Sometimes we will have kombucha.  I enjoy unsweetened iced tea with lemon, but my hubby does not, so I don't usually bother making it just for me.  Usually, water is the most refreshing and most usual cold drink for us.

However.  There are times when a lightly sweetened iced tea is just the ticket.  We've had an unusually long spell of heat and humidity and I have found myself making a jug of iced tea nearly every day during it.

I think maybe it all harks back to when my mother and grandmother made iced tea every summer, and it also brings back memories of my first job, washing dishes in a very busy local restaurant.  No AC in the kitchen, of course -- not sure window air conditioners were even a thing in the mid=1960s.  I think there were a few strategically placed fans.  The dishwasher ran on propane, so there was a pilot light and it got very, very hot in that kitchen!  When the bus people brought in their overflowing bins of dishes, there would almost always be partially finished glasses of iced tea, complete with ice and lemon.  Oh, the clinking sounds of the ice and the zesty lemon scent tempted me!   But don't worry -- I never succumbed to drinking from a stranger's discarded glass.

I did, however, drink my share of iced tea at home and I still find it one of the most refreshing beverages I can think of.

I have often used my daughter's recipe,  which is a good bit healthier than my mother usually made iced tea.  (She used a can of lemonade concentrate, replete with high fructose corn syrup I am sure.  Though, in her defense, I do remember many, many years ago when she used lemons and sugar instead.)

I have copied and pasted Carrie's recipe just as I wrote it in a 2007 blog post.  When I've made this during those desperate times in past summers, I've  usually made half a batch.  And I've used brown sugar, which feels just a tiny bit healthier and adds a bit more depth to the flavor.

CARRIE’S ICED TEA

12 cups boiling water
12 green tea bags
1 cup sugar
4 Tblsp. orange juice
4 Tblsp. lemon juice

Pour the boiling water over the tea bags in a large bowl. Let steep 5 to 7 minutes only. Stir in sugar and juices. Stir well; let cool. Transfer to a pitcher and let chill in refrigerator. Serve over ice.

This recipe may easily be halved and is very adaptable. I often add in some lime juice along with the other citrus juices, and usually when I halve the recipe I still use the full amount of fruit juice. Sometimes I use regular tea in place of the green tea -- just as tasty! Sometimes I use 11 regular tea bags and 1 flavored one such as mint, raspberry, or peach. Gives a nice, different flavor.

Since our 40-day sugar fast this spring, however,  I decided to try and make a healthier iced tea that didn't use sugar.  So this is what I am doing, just about every day:

MRS. T’S ICED TEA

8 cups boiling water
7 black tea bags
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup lemon juice
Pour the boiling water over the tea bags in a large bowl. Let steep at least 15 minutes or according to your taste.  I often let it steep for an hour or more. Stir in agave nectar and lemon juice. Stir well; let cool. Transfer to a pitcher or jug and let chill in refrigerator.  Serve over ice.  Makes about a half gallon.

We had one of these!  How about you?

If heat and humidity (not to mention hype and hysteria) have you desperate, too,  you might like to give one of these recipes a try.

Warming winter beverages

Image by Linda Toman from Pixabay

Last night at our informal cookie swap, I served two warming winter beverages.  I know the cranberry one is on my Christmas blog, but thought I would share them both here at my kitchen table as well.

HOT SPICED CIDER

The cider is so easy.  You need:

1 gallon cider
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon whole allspice
1 teaspoon of broken cinnamon stick pieces
Coffee filter and kitchen string to make spice bag
1 orange
Additional whole cloves

Pour the cider into a large kettle and begin heating it.  

Place the whole spices in the center of the coffee filter and gather it up to form a little bag.  Tie it closed with a piece of kitchen string.  Drop the spice bag into the cider.

Wash the orange well and cut it into quarters.  Stick 2 whole cloves into each orange piece and add the orange quarters to the cider as well.  Heat for 1 hour or until nice and hot.  May be kept on Low for an hour or so, or transfer it to a slow cooker set on Low.

 MULLED CRANBERRY ORANGE JUICE

1 orange
12 whole cloves
a cinnamon stick
1 cup water
2 quarts cranberry juice cocktail -- I used the Apple & Eve brand, the kind without sugar that is 100% juice.  It includes apple and pear juices, but that's preferable to sugar.
3 Tblsp. brown sugar
(The recipe also calls for 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice, but I don't think it's necessary.  Maybe if you were using a cranberry juice cocktail that includes sugar, it might be, but not using the 100% juice.)

Use a vegetable peeler to peel off thin strips of orange peel from the orange. Set the orange aside. Put the peel in a small saucepan with the cloves, cinnamon stick and water. Bring this mixture to a simmer; cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.

In a larger saucepan combine all of the remaining ingredients. Cut the orange in half and squeeze the juice into this larger saucepan. Using a strainer, strain the liquid from the spice/peel mixture into the larger saucepan as well. Add the lemon juice and brown sugar.  Heat the mixture in the large saucepan over low heat until it is hot. May be kept simmering over very low heat and ladled out as needed.

(For the cookie swap, I tried making this in a slow cooker and it worked beautifully.  About 2 hours before serving I put the cranberry juice into a 3-quart slow cooker and set it on high.  Then I peeled the orange and simmered the peel with the water, cloves and cinnamon stick for the 20 minutes as specified.  Then I strained this mixture into the slow cooker and added the juice of the orange and the brown sugar and let it all cook on high until ready to serve.  Then I turned off the slow cooker and it stayed plenty hot enough.)
Save the cranberry juice bottle to store any leftover beverage.  It reheats well by the mug in the microwave.

This recipe came from Cook & Tell, my old favorite cooking newsletter that is no longer in publication.   I discovered this beverage recipe a dozen years ago and it became an instant favorite of mine to serve to guests at holiday time.  I still love it -- it's so much fun to make! -- and people invariably ask for the recipe whenever I serve it.

Hope you will enjoy using these lovely recipes during this festive season!

Desperate times call for desperate measures ... like iced tea

And the times lately have certainly been desperate as far as heat and humidity are concerned.

As a rule at our house, we no longer drink sweetened beverages.  Mr. T does use a little stevia in his coffee.  But for cold beverages, our first choice is always nice cold water.  Sometimes we will have kombucha.  I enjoy unsweetened iced tea with lemon, but my hubby does not, so I don't usually bother making it just for me.  Usually, water is the most refreshing and most usual cold drink for us.

However.  There are times when a lightly sweetened iced tea is just the ticket.  We've had an unusually long spell of heat and humidity and I have found myself making a jug of iced tea twice during it.

I do use my daughter's recipe,  which is a good bit healthier than my mother usually made iced tea.  (She used a can of lemonade concentrate, replete with high fructose corn syrup I am sure.  Though, in her defense, I do remember many, many years ago when she used lemons and sugar instead.)

I have copied and pasted Carrie's recipe just as I wrote it in a 2007 blog post.  When I've made this during those desperate times this summer, I've made half a batch.  And I've used brown sugar, which feels just a tiny bit healthier and adds a bit more depth to the flavor.

CARRIE’S ICED TEA

12 cups boiling water
12 green tea bags
1 cup sugar
4 Tblsp. orange juice
4 Tblsp. lemon juice

Pour the boiling water over the tea bags in a large bowl. Let steep 5 to 7 minutes only. Stir in sugar and juices. Stir well; let cool. Transfer to a pitcher and let chill in refrigerator. Serve over ice.

This recipe may easily be halved and is very adaptable. I often add in some lime juice along with the other citrus juices, and usually when I halve the recipe I still use the full amount of fruit juice. Sometimes I use regular tea in place of the green tea -- just as tasty! Sometimes I use 11 regular tea bags and 1 flavored one such as mint, raspberry, or peach. Gives a nice, different flavor.

If heat and humidity have you desperate, too,  you might like to give Carrie's recipe a try!

Favorite coffee or tea for fall

Today as I write my final post with a fall/October theme (for 2015, anyway) I am using a prompt from Whitney at Come Home for Comfort.  Whitney did a series of vlogs for Vlogtober and she offered a list of prompts for others who wanted to join her in vlogging.  That would not be me.  I am highly cameraphobic.  But her prompts were interesting and I decided that if I needed some ideas through my month of daily blogging, I would use some of them.

One of the prompts concerned favorite fall coffee or tea.   My friend Arlene at Nanaland is using some prompts in her October blogging and chose this one to write a post called Coffee, Anyone?, which I found so interesting, I decided to use that prompt myself.  And here we are!

We just got back from The Wilds of New England and a couples' retreat there -- and it's pretty hard to beat the good coffee served in their coffee shop,  Cool Beans. I had tried a maple coffee there back in September at the ladies' retreat, and just had to introduce my hubby to it. He loved it and we had maple coffees twice over the weekend, as well as one regular coffee. 

In general, for out and about, we like coffee from Cracker Barrel, McDonalds and Dunkin' Donuts -- pretty much in that order --but we seldom get to Cracker Barrel. Sometimes we have bought their packaged coffee to bring home.  Dunkin' Donuts has become a favorite accompaniment to an overnight getaway:

On a daily basis we drink whichever coffee we've found good deals on -- Folger's, Maxwell House, New England Coffee. Sometimes our local supermarkets will have deals on Green Mountain Coffee or Dunkin Donuts packaged coffee. We don't own a Keurig but may eventually get one.

As for flavors, hazelnut is probably our favorite, but we also enjoy pumpkin spice, blueberry cobbler and all sorts of seasonal flavors.

We used to buy the delicious flavored creamers that are available, but decided to stop using them as we are trying to eat more healthfully.  We now tend to buy more flavored coffees and just add a healthier creamer to them.  Mr. T usually puts vanilla almond milk in his coffee, and I usually use fat-free half and half.

For tea, I have found that my favorite fall tea is the Pumpkin Spice black tea from Bigelow. 

And there you have it!   What is your favorite coffee or tea for fall -- or anytime?

 

Cranberry Lemonade ~ a refreshing summer treat

Photo by Taste of Home

In trying to decide what to share for Gooseberry Patch's Recipe Round-up this week, I got to thinking about refreshing icy summer beverages.  When I bring a fruity lemonade or iced tea to a get-together in a gallon glass jug with lots of ice, people always enjoy it.

This Cranberry Lemonade recipe is one that I used to make all the time.  I had forgotten how easy and refreshing it is.  Other than the cranberry juice, it takes simple ingredients most people would keep on hand and is so simple to put together.

Why not double or triple the recipe and put in a gallon jug with ice for your family and friends this weekend?  I predict they'll enjoy it as much as we do!

Delights of December Day 23 ~ Mulled Cider Mixes

Mulled Cider Mix

It's fun and easy to make little packets of mulling spices for gifts. They produce some very yummy cider and make wonderful small gifts. I often include them in gift baskets for our neighbors or in care packages to faraway family and friends. Here's what you'll need to make these:

* Cinnamon sticks

* Whole cloves

* Allspice berries

* Coffee filters

* Plain white string

Break the cinnamon sticks in 1-inch pieces. For each packet of spices, place 1 tsp. of cinnamon sticks, 1 tsp. of whole cloves and 1 tsp. of allspice berries in the center of a coffee filter. Gather the filter up into a little bundle and tie securely with string.

To package these, I use an idea I found in a Gooseberry Patch book -- Place each bundle of spices in a small brown paper bag. Fold the top of the bag down securely. Make a tag on card stock or half of a file card with these instructions: "Mulled Cider Mix. Place spice bag in large saucepan with 1 quart to 1 gallon of cider. Heat through and enjoy." Then position the tag at the top of the bag and use your sewing machine, threaded with red thread, to sew the tag to the bag, sewing the bag closed in the process. These look so cute and festive!

Delights of December Day 22 ~ Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

Homemade hot chocolate mix was something my grandmother would always stir up for Christmas gifts for her children, grandkids, and their families. I have also found that it makes a wonderful gift. Here's a gift idea for that hard-to-buy for older person : A jar of hot chocolate mix, a container of refrigerator muffin batter, and a box of clementines. We've done this for the past few years for my mother-in-law (the first year we also included a six-cup silicone muffin pan) and she looks forward to it. We have the agreement that I will refill the muffin batter and the hot chocolate as many times as she wants me to.

My hot chocolate mix is one I developed myself by combining my grandmother's recipe with another one and adding in some ideas of my own. I really like the touch of malted milk flavor in this. Here's the recipe:

HOT CHOCOLATE MIX
5 cups instant nonfat dry milk
2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups instant chocolate drink powder (like Quik)
1 cup malted milk powder, chocolate flavor
1 cup malted milk powder, malt flavor
1 cup non-dairy powdered creamer
1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa

Mix all ingredients together thoroughly and store in an airtight container. Include these directions with mix:
* Place 1/3 cup of mix in a large mug. Fill mug with hot water and stir to dissolve. *

Favorite Ingredients Friday for July 13

Well, the theme for this week's Favorite Ingredients Friday is Healthy Eating. I try to lighten up most all of my everyday recipes, so I really couldn't decide what to share. I finally decided to share two recipes, one for fruit smoothies/shakes and one for roasted vegetables.

First, here is a basic recipe with many variations for a healthy fruit shake/smoothie. I have tried several of the flavor variations and have enjoyed all the ones I've tried. Although a frozen banana is vital to the consistency of this shake, you really don't get much of a banana flavor in the variations. They just taste good -- and of course are very healthy. You can freeze the bananas whole (in ziplock bags) anytime you have overripe ones on hand -- or anytime you find a good deal on overripe ones. It is an easy thing to do with overripe bananas rather than feeling you must make muffins, banana bread, etc. every time. The recipe makes 1 tall glassful.

BASIC FRUIT SHAKE

1 frozen banana
1 cup liquid (as specified in recipe)
additional fruit or flavoring (as specified in recipe)
optional sweetener (as specified in recipe)

Break the frozen banana into chunks and put in blender. Cover with specified liquid up to the 1-cup mark on the blender container. Add any additional ingredients. Blend until the mixture reaches "shake" consistency, usually 30-40 seconds. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Now for the variations.

VANILLA -- use 1 banana, 1 cup milk, 1 tsp. vanilla extract

CHOCOLATE -- use 1 banana, 1 cup milk, a few squirts of chocolate syrup

STRAWBERRY -- use 1 banana, 1 cup milk, 1 handful fresh strawberries, washed/sliced (or use unsweetened frozen ones -- works fine); pinch of sugar if desired

BLUEBERRY -- use 1 banana, 1 cup milk, 1 handful fresh or frozen blueberries

PURPLE COW -- use 1 banana, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup grape juice

PEANUT BUTTER -- use 1 banana, 1 cup milk, 2 tsp. peanut butter. May also add some chocolate syrup for a "Reese's" effect. (This one is yummy!)

PINA COLADA -- use 1 banana, 1 cup milk, 1-2 tsp shredded coconut, 1/4 cup crushed pineapple

APPLE -- use 1 banana, 1 cup apple juice, 1/2 of an apple, peeled & chopped, cinnamon & nutmeg to taste

KEY LIME - - use 1 banana, juice of 1 lime placed in a 1 cup measure and milk added to the 1-cup mark

TROPICAL -- use 1 banana, 1 c. orange juice, 1/4 cup crushed pineapple

***********************************************************************************

Now, moving on to my second recipe:

SIMPLE ROASTED VEGETABLES

Vegetables of your choice:
Mushrooms, zucchini, summer squash, green, red, yellow or orange sweet peppers, baby carrots (or use regular ones), onions, eggplant, etc.
1 to 2 Tblsp. olive oil
Herbs or spices of your choice -- I use either pizza spice or Italian seasoning
A gallon-size zip-top plastic bag

Line a large shallow pan with foil.

Cut the vegetables into bite-size pieces. (Baby carrots may be left whole.) As you cut them up, place them in the zip-top plastic bag. Add 1 Tblsp. olive oil to the bag. Seal the bag and shake vigorously to coat the vegetables with oil. Dump the vegetables out on the foil-lined pan. Spread them out evenly.

(If you have more veggies than will fit in a gallon-size bag, then re-use the bag after dumping out the first batch, and add another Tblsp. of olive oil to the bag.)

Roast the vegetables at 425º for about 25 to 30 minutes. You can sprinkle the seasoning on either before or after roasting.

Yield for this recipe will depend on how many vegetables you use, but 1 pan should be enough for about 4 people.

This is a recipe I developed myself after some trial and error. The blend of roasted vegetables is just beautiful with all of the different colors. It goes well with grilled meats, or alongside pizza or sausage subs.

Happy healthy eating, everyone!

Another refreshing summer beverage!

It's that time of year when we just crave something cold and filled with ice cubes! Of course plain old water is the best thirst-quencher of all, but I try to keep a pitcher of something else in the fridge as well as a pitcher of water. Here's my favorite, very adaptable, ice tea recipe!

CARRIE’S ICED TEA

12 cups boiling water
12 green tea bags
1 cup sugar
4 Tblsp. orange juice
4 Tblsp. lemon juice

Pour the boiling water over the tea bags in a large bowl. Let steep 5 to 7 minutes only. Stir in sugar and juices. Stir well; let cool. Transfer to a pitcher and let chill in refrigerator. Serve over ice.

This recipe may easily be halved and is very adaptable. I often add in some lime juice along with the other citrus juices, and usually when I halve the recipe I still use the full amount of fruit juice. Sometimes I use regular tea in place of the green tea -- just as tasty! Sometimes I use 11 regular tea bags and 1 flavored one such as mint, raspberry, or peach. Gives a nice, different flavor.

Favorite Ingredients Friday for June 15

This is my first time to participate in Favorite Ingredients Friday and I'm enthused about it! This week's edition features refreshing drinks, so here's my nomination for the most refreshing summer drink I know of:

CRANBERRY LEMONADE

3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup lemon juice
3 cups cold water
1 cup cranberry juice

Combine the sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the cold water and the cranberry juice. Pour into a pitcher and refrigerate until well chilled. Serve over ice.

Yield: approximately 1 quart

One quart of this is just not enough! I usually triple the recipe and keep it in a gallon-size jar with a spigot in the fridge. We just pour it over ice as needed.

Just Peachy

The nights are cooling down some, but the days are still blazingly hot here in New England. I often find myself pouring yet another glass of iced tea. Usually I make Carrie’s iced tea (you can find the recipe on “Life on a Back Road”), with green tea as specified. It’s not my hubby’s favorite, so I usually make a half batch just for me. I’ve played around with that basic formula to make a peach iced tea which is also quite tasty and refreshing. Here’s the recipe (which I’m posting here so I won’t forget what I did):

PEACH ICED TEA

2 ginger peach tea bags (Republic of Tea makes this flavor)*
4 Darjeeling tea bags
6 cups boiling water
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tblsp. lemon juice
2 Tblsp. orange juice
1/2 to 1 cup cold water (optional)

Put the tea bags in a large bowl. (I like to use a clear glass bowl with a pouring spout [makes the eventual transfer of tea to pitcher easier] and measurements marked on the side.) For tea bags with strings, I clip them to the side of the bowl with a clothespin. Pour in the boiling water. Let stand 5 to 7 minutes. Remove tea bags, squeezing them into the bowl. Discard tea bags. Stir in sugar, lemon juice, and orange juice. Let stand until lukewarm. Taste tea and add the additional water to taste if necessary. Pour into a pitcher (I use a covered plastic pitcher from the dollar store). Store in the refrigerator and serve over ice. Makes a little less than 2 quarts.

The first time I tried this, I used just regular orange pekoe tea bags from the grocery store. It was pretty deep and dark, but still tasty. The second time, I used Darjeeling, and it was much nicer.

* Any kind of peach tea bags would work.

My Grandmother's Cool Kitchen

Thinking about memories of kitchens I have known, I was reminded this morning of how cool (literally) my grandmother's farmhouse kitchen used to be on hot summer days. We lived just down the road from my grandmother, and we kids were often sent there on one errand or another. We especially liked going in there on a hot day. There was a dirt and rock cellar under her house, and so the house stayed cooler than most. I suppose she also opened the windows at night and closed everything up in the early morning while it was still cool. So when you went into her kitchen later in the day, it was cool and dim -- she refrained from putting lights on too, and the shades were drawn against the sun. Oh, how nice it felt after the steamy heat of a New England summer day! Even better were the times when Gram would open up the refrigerator and pour us a glass of chilled iced tea from the jug she kept there. She had some of those shiny aluminum tumblers in different colors, and the tea tasted especially icy when sipped from one of those.

This summer, I've been trying to follow Gram's example and keep a jug of iced tea in the fridge. After tweaking a few recipes, this is the best formula I've come up with.

SUMMERTIME ICED TEA
12 tea bags, either regular tea or green tea
6 cups boiling water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup orange juice
6 cups water
Ice and lemon slices, optional
In a large bowl, pour the boiling water over the tea bags. Let steep. (Green tea should steep no longer than 7 minutes.) Remove tea bags, squeezing excess tea back into the bowl. Add the sugar, lemon juice and orange juice; stir well to dissolve sugar. Let cool until lukewarm. Pour tea mixture into a gallon jug or container. (I use one of those nifty glass jugs with a spigot.) Add the cold water and stir well. Add ice and lemon slices if desired. This makes a really neat thing to take along to a picnic at the beach or elsewhere. I just keep it in a cooler with ice. The ice and lemon slices make it look so refreshing!