TIS THE SEASON! It’s officially SMOOTHIE weather! When it turns hot and humid, relief is needed. This fabulous smoothie tastes great and cools you off quickly. After we walk, we usually come in and make a smoothie. This is my all time favorite, and when Fred is home he makes one each morning (in the summer). Here’s what he does… See updated (2025) version below…
Hot chocolate. The epitome of comfort food during the cold months. There is nothing better then a warm mugful of the tasty treat that satisfies your need for warmth, sweet and chocolate craving all in one fell swoop!
I have previously posted how to make Hot Chocolate from scratch (using milk). It’s a treat, a real treat!
But… if you’d like to make a hot chocolate mix (like the store brands) that is healthier (because it’s minus the strange ingredients) that you mix with water, just like the pouch you buy at the store, Alton Brown from the Food Network came up with a recipe to make it quick and easy.
This recipe received five stars by all those who reviewed it… that’s the highest… how convenient to whip it up yourself!
This recipe received FIVE STARS
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown – (Food Network) – Yield 5 1/2 cups of hot chocolate mix
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate evenly. In a small pot, heat 4 to 6 cups of water.
Fill your mug half full with the mixture and pour in hot water. Stir to combine. Seal the rest in an airtight container, keeps indefinitely in the pantry. This also works great with warm milk.
How easy is that?! Catch you back here tomorrow!
I realize that knowing how to make tea isn’t difficult. I used to live in Michigan. Iced tea was different there. I live in the South now… have lived here since 1989. When I came to Charleston, one of the most fabulous treats was SWEET TEA! It seems like I could drink it sweeter in my younger days. Syrupy sweet tea is too sweet for my taste, and with all the talk about how you shouldn’t eat sugar, here’s a way to have your sweet tea and be able to drink it too! Making sweet tea isn’t rocket science, really… The way we made tea in Michigan was to put water and teabags in a jar and set it in the sun. And. Wait. And. Wait. And. Wait. Then we would pull out the teabags, pour it over ice, stir in some sugar that went straight to the bottom, and a squeeze of lemon. Ohhhh, how I loved iced tea in the summertime. Since there isn’t a lot of sun in the winter, we never had tea in the winter, something that we in the South have on a daily basis… Here it’s not milk with dinner, it’s tea (for the record, I still drink milk with dinner, but I drink tea during the day). Tea has lots of good stuff going for it. Obviously the more sugar you add the less “good for you” it is, but you will be amazed at how a small amount can be plenty! Trust me on this… If you’ve developed the taste for unsweet tea, follow the directions below and skip the “add sugar” part!
Brewed Sweet Tea – Makes 2 quarts
Ingredents:
Water
2 FAMILY SIZE teabags (good if you can get the ones for iced tea, doesn’t matter what brand…)
Sugar (I buy cane sugar, not granulated sugar, it’s more of a tan color, hasn’t been bleached), but whatever you’ve got will work
First, fill a saucepan with a few inches of water, cook on high until it starts a rolling boil… then…
Turn the burner off. Add two FAMILY SIZE tea bags and dip em around good… then set the timer for 5 minutes… gives em time to get a nice hot soak…
When the timer goes off after 5 minutes. Remove the teabags. Then add 3 tablespoons of sugar. That’s how much I use for 2 quarts. You can start with that and add/subtract until you get it how you like it…
Now give it a good stir, kinda like Jello, need to stir in the sugar… don’t want to crunch! Now let it cool a bit…
Now pour the concentrated mixture into a 2 quart pitcher…
Finally… add cold water to the container until it’s full… (I use cold filtered water from the fridge). Then pop it in the fridge and enjoy whenever you like!
Hope you enjoy! Catch you back here tomorrow!
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY! There are 4th of July parties all around us today. What better time to try something that will cool you off? This is similar to an “Arnold Palmer” (half lemonade, half iced tea)… something refreshing to beat the heat! Give it a shot, something different and fun to bring to a party!
You can click HERE to go directly to MyRecipes website where it’s quick and easy to print… or see below:
A Southern Living Recipe from www.myrecipes.com
Ingredients
Preparation
Southern Living
JULY 2009
ENJOY! Drive careful and have a good time today! Catch you back here tomorrow!
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