Thinking outside the bag ...: food

Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Friday, June 17, 2011

Blueberry Lemon Iced Tea

Blueberry Lemon Iced Tea

4 pints of fresh blueberries or 2 (16 ounce) packages of frozen blueberries
1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6-8 lemon)
8 cups water
6 TBSP Black tea (we recommend Java Kertasarie)
1 ½ cups sugar
Bring package of blueberries and lemon juice to a boil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes.
Remove from heat, and pour through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a bowl, using the back of a spoon to press out juice. Discard solids.
Heat 4 cups of water to just below boiling. In 2 cups of the hot water, steep the 6 TSBP of the Java Kertasarie for 3-4 minutes. Strain tea leaves from the tea. In the other two cups of hot water, dissolve the 1 ½ cups of sugar. Remove and discard teabags.
Add the blueberry juice mixture. Into pitcher pour the other 8 cups of water and add the tea/blueberry mixture. Cover and chill 1 hour. Serve over ice.
Garnish with lemons and blueberries if desired.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Blueberry-Lemon Iced Tea

Get refreshed with this antioxidant powerhouse!

Blueberry-Lemon Iced Tea

Ingredients
• 1 (16-oz.) package frozen blueberries
or 1 pint fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 4 cups water
• 2 Tbsp loose black tea
• 3/4 cup sugar

Preparation
Bring blueberries and lemon juice to a boil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and pour through a fine wire-mesh strainer into a bowl, using back of a spoon to squeeze out juice. Discard solids.
Boil 2 cups of water. In one cup of water, steep black tea in for 3-4 minutes. Remove tea leaves and discard. In the other cup of water, dissolve the sugar. Add blueberry/lemon juice mixture, the dissolved sugar and 2 cups of cold water to the tea. Pour into a pitcher; cover and chill 1 hour. Serve over ice. Garnish with lemons and blueberries. Enjoy with friends!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Summer's here!

On June 21 at 7:28am EDT (11:28am GMT) summer will finally be here!
What better way to celebrate than a bowl of delicious frosty ice cream!

Green Tea and White Chocolate Ice Cream

8 ounces white chocolate, chopped into pieces, about 1/2 inch
2 cups light cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp pure vanilla
5 large egg yolks (be sure they are at room temp)
3/4 cup light brown sugar (more if you like sweet ice cream)
2 Tbsp matcha

Directions
1. Mix the creams and extract in a saucepan and heat to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. In a large bowl whisk the egg yolks.
3. In a small bowl mix the brown sugar with the green matcha making sure to completely incorporate the matcha.
4. Add the brown sugar/green tea mixture to the egg yolks and blend.
5. Add 1/4 cup of cream at a time to the egg/tea blend and whisk until fully incorporated. Pour it back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until the custard is thick, at about 170°F.
6. Remove the custard from the heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer into the bowl of chopped white chocolate pieces. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Let the custard cool to room temp and them cover and chill in the fridge overnight.
7. The following day, processing in an ice cream make according to the manufacturers instructions.

Enjoy!

Monday, January 04, 2010

It's National Hot Tea Month!

January is National Hot Tea Month!
I think Joe Simrany, President of the Tea Council in the USA summed it up nicely by stating:

``This January is the perfect time to consider tea as part of a healthy diet. As a new year and new millennium begin, people are making resolutions to eat and live healthier, and there’s no better time to celebrate tea’s healthy attributes than National Hot Tea Month.''

Naturally I agree ...

It's also National Soup Month!

And January 1-7 is Resolution Week. Such a good time to work tea into your healthier-for-the-past-four-days lifestyle. Perhaps paired with a great bowl of soup.

Here's a nice recipe that pairs soup with tea ... the tea is in the soup! Nice vegetarian soup or even vegan with the right pasta choice.

GREEN TEA SOUP

Ingredients
5 cups vegetable stock, broth, or bouillon
4 large cloves garlic, minced or pressed
3 tsp dried thyme, lightly crushed
3 cups chopped broccoli
8oz. small shells or other macaroni shapes
1 cup prepared green tea
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice (about one lemon)
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Combine the stock, garlic, and thyme in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in the broccoli and macaroni, reduce heat, and simmer until the macaroni is just at the al dente stage of tenderness, about eight to twelve minutes according to package instructions. Stir in the tea and heat through for about a minute. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice and pepper, and adjust the salt if necessary. Serve immediately and piping hot.

Need a little different?
Substitute other chopped cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi) for of the broccoli.

For a main dish soup, add 1/2 pound firm tofu or chicken, diced

Enojy with friends, perhaps some awesome hot bread, and of course, a cup of awesome tea.
Namaste!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Hot Spiced Cider

Wouldn't this be nice after a day of raking?

HOT SPICED CIDER

1 quart water
1-2 TBSP Constant Compliment
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 cups apple cider
1 1/2 cups light rum
8 cinnamon sticks
1TBSP butter

DIRECTIONS

Steep the Constant Compliment for five minutes using your favorite method. To the prepared tea, stir in the sugar, apple cider and rum. Add 2 of the cinnamon sticks. Heat just to steaming -- do not boil. (Mmmm ... doesn't that smell amazing!?)
Drop 1/6 TBSP (1/2 teaspoon) butter into each of 6 mugs. Ladle the steamy cider blend over the butter and garnish with a cinnamon stick.