It's getting warmer and sunnier and the days are longer (well on my side of the earth anyways) and today the kids, along with their friends, were talking about why I don't drink cold pop. I just don't. I very rarely put pop in the fridge, never have. Nope, I don't know why. And then I said, "Oh today we have to make some lemonade iced tea!" I got 2 looks of MAKE? HUH? And then I explained why I make iced tea at home rather than buy it in 2 liter bottle at the store. It is way cheaper and full of flavour and way healthier to do it in your kitchen!
Basic Iced Tea
Boil water, add about 3 or 4 tea bags for a liter of boiling water, put it in the tea pot as if you were making regular tea. Add sugar (I use either Agave Nectar or Stevia instead, you can use splenda too but this has to be done while the water is HOT so it mixes) Stir it gently for a couple minutes with a wooden spoon (metal spoons rip tea bags) and then take the tea bags out.
Pour this into a pitcher. Add 1 liter of COLD water and some ice cubes. Put it in the fridge til cold and you have iced tea. Now what did that cost to make? 30 cents? maybe 50 cents at most? Easy and cheap! (Hell even chemical laden kool aid costs more!)
Now to sass it up!
Tyler loves lemons and limes. So when I make citrus iced tea, I take citrus flavored or white tea and then when adding the cold water, I toss in a sliced lemon or lime. It looks cool and its "LEMONY" as he says!
Berry tea, easy! Summer berry flavor teas, when adding cold water add some sliced strawberries or whole raspberries or blueberries.
Apple cinnamon iced tea... now this is an acquired taste. Ty doesn't like it but, Bill does. Make your flavored tea, add a dash of BROWN sugar to the hot water! And a small shake of cinnamon... now I make this with Apple juice instead of the cold water and it. is. excellent. (Thanks to inspiration from Starbucks!)
Blueberry peach tea. This one is fun! We take blueberry tea (with 6 bags instead of 3 or 4), make our iced tea, add a can of sliced peaches with nectar juice to the jug instead of water but, add about a cup and a half of ice to it as well. YUMMY and sweeeeet!
There is no reason to break the bank in the warmer weather. ALL of these can easily be made into popsicles and flavored ice cubes! As well, it is a great treat especially for folks with a limited diet or special dietary needs!
There are so many options out there besides chemically based drinks and sugar packed crap! These will please many and the kids will love the flavor. My super picky eaters have always enjoyed these!
You can find flavored teas in the tea/coffee aisle in the grocery store or you can contact an independent tea dealer through companies like Steeped! I have a friend who sells it. If you are interested, let me know! :)
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