Iced Green Ginger Tea

I love Iced Tea on a hot summer day... Green Tea is good for you, and I saw an episode of Dr. Oz one afternoon where he was making all kinds of teas that were supposed to help you boost your metabolism and bust your belly fat. This recipe was found to be the best tasting by a taste tester they pulled out of the audience. It's easy to make... I made mine in a gallon container that I let sit out in the sun one really hot sunny summer day... Refreshing!!

Iced Green Ginger Tea
1 Gallon water in a clear jar or pitcher
12 green tea bags
12-1/4 inch sliced of fresh ginger

Place the tea bags and slices of ginger in the gallon of water.

Place outside in a sunny spot and let steep for hours...I think I left mine out there for about 6 hours. Or to your desired strength of tea.
Strain the tea into another pitcher and store in the refrigerator.
When ready to serve pour over ice in a glass and sweeten to your desired taste with a little sugar, truvia or sweetener of our choice. Enjoy!!

Hot Cocoa

I love a cup of Hot chocolate on a cold winter morning..... especially with a squirt of whipped cream. YUM!
I made Hot Chocolate for my "Treat the Office" Day and took some mini muffins for dunking... I just followed the recipe on the can of Hershey's Cocoa but tweaked it a bit by using some Dutch Dark Cocoa too, and I quadrupled it so it used a gallon of milk.... I think you can serve between 16 to 20 people with this full recipe.... I also added French Vanilla Coffee Creamer to it to make a creamier hot chocolate... experiment with the different flavors or try adding a little eggnog to it... YUM!
Hot Cocoa
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
1/4 cup Dutch Dark Cocoa
1-1/3 cups HOT water
1 gallon of milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup Coffee Mate Coffee Cream (any flavor, I used french vanilla) or eggnog

Mix together the sugar and the Cocoa in a large soup pot. Add the hot water and cook and stir over medium/high heat until the mixture begins to boil, let boil for 2 minutes.
Add the milk and vanilla. Stir and heat until it's heated through but don't boil. I heat mine until little bubles just start to form at the sides. Add the Coffee mate stirring to combine. Serve in mugs and top with a squirt of Whipped cream or mini-marshmellows!
Enjoy!!

Water Punch

This is the best lemonade.... not too sweet! I got the recipe from a lady in our ward, Athena Poole. Hope she doesn't mind me sharing the recipe.

Water Punch

5 quarts water
2  1/2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon Citric acid powder (you get this in the pharmacy, they have it behind the counter)
1 Tablespoon Lemon extract
ice, sliced lemons and limes

Mix the water, sugar, citric acid powder and lemon extract in big pitcher or punch bowl. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add ice and sliced lemon and limes . A few mint leaves would be a nice garnish too along with the lemon and lime slices.

Orange Julius

I love Orange Julius'! We used to make it all the time when I was younger!! When my kids were little we would make a big batch of popcorn and have Orange Julius' to wash it down with!! Yum!!






Orange Julius
1 small can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
10-12 ice cubes

Put all the ingredients in a blender and puree till smooth, may add more ice if necessary, should be pretty thick, yet drinkable.  Pour into glasses and enjoy!

Lemonade

I figured since I titled my blog "When life gives you lemons.... make lemonade and more!" I needed a lemonade recipe for sure! I love lemonade, especially on a hot day in the summer!! I got this recipe from Paula Dean from the food network! Yumm!

Lemonade
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Prep Time: 10 min
Serves: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 cup hot water
2 cups fresh lemon juice
1 gallon cold water
1 lemon, sliced
Mint sprigs, for garnish

Directions:
In a 1 gallon container, place sugar and hot water, and stir until sugar dissolves. Add lemon juice and cold water to render 1 gallon. Stir until well mixed. Pour lemonade over glasses of ice, squeeze slice of lemon on top of each, and garnish with a sprig of mint.