Pear Infused Iced Tea



Call me a dork diva, but I really, really like fruit cocktail. LOVE IT. I love it so much I've been buying it and hoarding it and eating it for dessert.

The motivation for this wonderfully refreshing beverage.

What does this have to do with this post? Well, I seem to have inherited the soul of a mother of 13 during the Great Depression. My mind is always chewing on how not to waste. How to use EVERYTHING to the last drop, crumb or morsel.

That's how this tea was born.

I feel bad calling this a recipe as it's so darn simple yet REFRESHING. I don't have a photo because I am packing up my house and my good glasses are all packed up! Lo Siento!

Nik's Pear Infused Iced Tea

Ingredients

Juice from 2 cans of no-sugar added fruit cocktail in pear juice (or 2 cups NSA pear juice if you can find it)
2 sleeves of Iced Tea with Lemon Drink mix (extra points if you get the decaf version)
4 quarts of water (I make a big thing of this as the divas will drain me dry!)

Optional: If you're an iced tea purist, by all means make some brewed tea using your favorite recipe (sweet vs. unsweetened). I think this would go nicely with a green tea personally.
Directions:

Pour juice into your pitcher. Add drink mix and water. Stir. Enjoy.

As the weather gets warmer, I look for various ways to jazz up my drinks. Hydration is important. So drink up!

Homemade Citrus Green Tea

~~by Nikki

Anyone who knows me knows several things: first, that I am a shameless "know-it-all," second, that I'd give you the shirt off my back if I thought you needed it. Lastly, those who TRULY know me...know that shirt didn't cost much cuz I am CHEAP!

Well I wouldn't say cheap...frugal. That's a better word. Either way I try not to spend too much money. Part of this comes from being a single mummy but also because I've been striving to be a better steward of my resources (whatever that means...).

Keeping all this in mind, I set about an experiment recently. I love Diet Green Tea, especially the citrus flavor. I go through a LOT of it. In fact, at this point I've probably made huge deposits to many landfills with the plastic I've used (well...until recently when I became a more dedicated recycler). Between that and the cost of buying the stuff AND the fact that I'm not exactly sure where they get the tea from and if the person who grew it is actually benefitting from my addiction...well let's just say I wanted to find a way to drink my drink, save money, respect the environment AND my fellow man.

So in a way this is no just a drink. It's a MOVEMENT. :) My version is made using Fair Trade green tea. If you don't know about Fair Trade, you should check it out.There are many, many fairly traded products out there. I have done a taste test amongst fellow diet green tea enthusiasts and this blend gets their seal of approval.

(My apologies for the lack of pictures lately. I seem to have misplaced my digital camera battery charger somewhere between here and I-don't-know-where and the camera phone is iffy. I will resolve this soon though because I know you all love your food porn!)

Good-for-everyone Green Tea

Ingredients

8 cups +2 additional cups water (NOTE this is a change from original posting. I was half asleep last night folks...my bad!)

5 bags of Fair Trade Green Tea
2 cups no-calorie sweetener (I used Splenda)
The juices of:
1/2 a large orange (I used a navel)
1/2 a lemon
1/2 a lime

2 trays of ice cubes

Directions:

Fill a large pot with 8 cups of water and add tea bags and set over a medium flame.

While that's going, in a smaller pot combine Splenda and other cup of water and bring to a boil then remove from heat.

When pot of tea comes to a boil, turn off flame and allow tea to continue to steep for about five minutes until it is a dark amber color.

Add fruit juices to the hot tea mixture.

Combine tea mixture and simple syrup in a pitcher and let it sit on a counter until it comes down to room temperature.

Add ice and then refrigerate (the ice is more for adding more water to the equation and making it the proper temperature to go in the fridge without sending it into hyper overdrive)

When ready to serve, do so over ice in a glass and, if desired, add slices of lemon and/or lime.

Cool, refreshing, cheap to make and it does something for your carbon footprint and your sense of humanity.

What more could you ask for?

H-two-ohhhhhh...

Warm weather is a’coming and so now seems like a good time to talk about hydration. You getting yours? Some folks find it easier to get their 64 oz. a day in the warmer months. Others struggle all year long.

We here at BF would like to point out a few things:

• 64 oz. is a minimum. You can actually drink MORE water if you want to.
• You SHOULD drink more water if your diet is “above and beyond” in the protein arena. If half your daily calories come from protein, you should be drinking lots and lots of water. Your kidneys will thank you!
• According to our nutritionist: anything non-carbonated and non-caffeinated counts toward your liquid total
• Also per nutritionist: water in foods, though hard to measure, also counts. So if you’re getting a lot of water and a lot of protein, those water-filled veggies are just helping the whole love train along!

So having said all that…in my house I cut out all soda after RNY. I could have said “well the kids like it…” but the truth his that sodas (especially regular ones) are empty calories. They don’t give you anything back. My eldest daughter’s favorite, Mountain Dew, gave hear nearly 46g of sugar per serving – and there were 2.5 servings in a bottle! Yowsa!

Needless to say this presented a challenge. I mean my kids like plain water but not at every sitting. They are also growing away from the “milk…it’s what you drink!” phase of their existences. Recently they have started something, though, that I am liking…especially in the warm weather. Drink mixing!

That’s right…drink mixing. It’s simple really. They take two different kinds of Crystal Light and combine them in a pitcher. Simple. But soooo many possibilities. Here are a few that we really like (all from Wal-Mart’s “Great Value” line):

• Strawberry + Orange Early Sunrise – served with frozen, fresh-cut pineapple chunks instead of ice cubes
• Strawberry, Orange, Banana – we used to mix this then GV came out with their own blend.
• Iced Tea w/ Peach + Strawberry – which tastes good but my oldest says it looks like “pee in a cup…”
• Grape + Fruit Punch – with frozen grapes instead of ice cubes
• Lemonade + Orange Early Sunrise (or cherry, or strawberry)

See where I’m going with this? Now if you really do miss the soda vibe…and if you are a ways out (I’m talking 9 mos. + probably) you might invest in a small bottle of soda water. Just a little tip of the stuff in your Crystal Light can make it into a very refreshing spritzer.

So go on…git yo’ drank on!