Friday, January 16, 2009

Spice Tea


This is a recipe that I meant to post a month or two ago before the cooler weather started, but as you all know, my life has been a crazy, busy mess. With the cold front coming through this weekend, we will be starting our second pot (of the week) tonight. =)

This warm, comforting drink has been a family favorite ever since I can remember, and now that we've made some changes to our eating habits, we have also made some changes to this recipe and still thoroughly enjoy it! Let me know if you try it and how you like it...

Ingredients:
*14 cups water
*12 regular-sized tea bags (We use a lemon herbal tea to cut out caffeine. FYI: Decaf tea only decreases its caffeine content by 2% from regular tea.)
*3-6 cinnamon sticks (I use 6 to make sure we can taste it...it's not too strong.)
*2 cups sweetener (We have used evaporated cane juice, but to eliminate glycemic index concerns, we use agave nectar. I haven't been able to tell a difference between the two.)
*3 cups unsweetened orange juice (We like it with extra pulp, but you can get it without if you don't care for that.)
*1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice (We get the big cans and then freeze the leftovers in 1 cup portions so that they are ready for the next batch.)
*3/4 cup lemon juice

Boil water, tea and cinnamon sticks for 7-10 minutes. Remove tea bags and sticks and add sweetener. If using a granulated sweetener, stir until dissolved. Add juices and heat just to boiling. It's now ready to drink...Enjoy!

No comments: