Limeade

Summer is coming, and cold drinks are a huge part of our summer at home. I usually have a pitcher of water in the fridge, but occasionally, for a treat, we make this. The recipe I got from Paula's "Jamaican Cooking" book by Lucinda Scala Quinn. The picture is from Martha Stewart's site. Just click on the title. This is great for a BBQ or any meal really, just adjust the recipe to how many servings you need.

Limeade (Serves 6)

Ingredients:
5-7 medium sized limes
5 cups water(40 ounces)
1/2 cup honey or sugar

Directions:
For maximum juice, roll room-temperature limes over counter back and forth with palm of your hand. Cut limes in half and juice by hand or with a juicer. Reserve the rinds. You should have about 1/4 cup of juice. Place the rinds and juice in a large heat resistant pitcher.
Place 1 cup of the water in a saucepan over high heat. When it boils, add the honey and stir till dissolved.
Pour this mixture into the pitcher along with the remaining water. Blend well and taste for sweetness.
Refrigerate for one hour, remove rinds and discard them. Serves 6

Sweet Tea

This recipe comes from my awesome Sister-in-Law, Mindy. It was passed down from her mother, who got the recipe from a fellow church member. The title will take you to myrecipes.com where I found the picture. Brandon likes to make up a pitcher of this tea during the hot summer months because it's so refreshing. I'm posting this up now because I'm looking forward to the Summer again. Only about 3 more months, right? Now this recipe is fun because you can change up the tea to whatever kind you like(our favorite is the Stash brand, Mint Herbal Tea, and my favorite is the Stash brand, Raspberry Herbal Tea), but we pretty much like it all.

Sweet Tea
4 Bags Celestial Seasonings Caffeine Free Tea(we use 6-7 bags because we like it stronger, and switch it up with different flavors)
1 cup sugar(I start with 1/2 cup and go from there, depending on how sweet we want it)

In a 1-quart pot, fill with water and bring to a boil. Then place 4 bags into the pot and pull the pot away from the heat, placing the lid on and simmering for at
least 15 min. Remove bags. Pour tea water into a one gallon pitcher.
Add sugar to make it sweet. Then fill the pot with water
and fill pitcher until its full. Stir, and Refrigerate. Serve chilled over ice.

Banana-Nutmeg Smoothie

Kelli likes to make these smoothies for an after school snack. It's nice to have a variety of options for an after school snack, and this is on the list. We found it at Marthastewart.com. Just click on the title and it will take you there.

Banana-Nutmeg Smoothie
Ingredients
Serves 4

3 bananas, ripe but firm, broken into pieces
1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
1 cup ice cubes
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Directions
In a blender, combine bananas, broken into pieces, with milk, and puree until smooth.
Add to the fruit mixture yogurt, ice cubes, and nutmeg, and blend until the ice is finely crushed and the drink is frothy. Serve immediately.

Fruit Smoothies

 

These smoothies are thick, made with frozen fruit and milk, no sugar added. Trust me, they are sweet. During the school year, I make these as an after school snack, and now that it's summer, it's still a great treat.

Fruit Smoothies

Blueberry Smoothie
2 frozen bananas(frozen at least 3 hours or over night)
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
enough milk(fat free), to make it whir in your blender.

Add all ingredients and whir in a blender till smooth, you'll want it thick. I personally, don't measure the blueberries, I just pour them in till I think there are enough.


Chocolate Peanutbutter Banana Smoothie
2 frozen bananas(frozen at least 3 hours or overnight)
1 Tablespoon hot cocoa mix
1 Tablespoon peanut butter(I use Adam's Peanutbutter)
enough milk(fat free), to make it whir in your blender, you'll want it thick.

Add all ingredients and whir in a blender till smooth.


Idea:These are simple and can be made with any type of frozen fruit(cherries, peaches, raspberries, strawberries, apricots, blackberries, pears, whatever you have on hand. I like serving these to my kids because there are no added sugars, corn syrup, or ingredients I can't pronounce.

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

I know it's not Winter right now, but it's been raining and it's making me want Hot Chocolate again. I looked at a ton of Hot Chocolate Mix recipes and I mixed them all up and came up with this. I was buying the can of Nestle Rich Milk Chocolate hot cocoa mix, but discovered their list of ingredients, is not what I want in my families bodies. Have you ever looked at the label? I've been drinking these for years and I finally looked back in January. Anyway, among other ingredients, it has partially hydrogenated and hydrogenated oils that we, as a family, have been trying to stay clear of. So now I just fill the old can with this recipe and then I feel better about giving this to my kids. The title will take you to the Martha Stewart web site where I found the pic.

Hot Cocoa Mix

10 cups dry, instant milk powder
6 cups powdered sugar
2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups Ovaltine(Rich Chocolate Mix)or you can use Carnation Malt

To make the instant powdered milk and the ovaltine into fine powder, pulse in a food processor or in a blender until super fine. Add all ingredients in a large bowl, mix and keep in an airtight container till use. If this isn't sweet enough, just add some honey. You can easily add a sprinkle of cinnamon or peppermint or whatever to make it your own to your cup of hot cocoa. This makes quite a bit, so if you're nervous about making it and not knowing how it tastes, come on over, I'll make ya a cup. :)

I still use this in the summer and throughout the year, thrown into an after school snack smoothie. I'll have to post my smoothies now that I mention them. Yum!

Mango Smoothies

This recipe is out of a Jamaican cookbook of Paula's, and goes fabulous with Jerk Chicken, Garlic Mashers and Coconut Rice-MMMMMM! Or with anything else. :) I found the picture at www.theage.com

Mango Smoothies
1 Medium Mango, ripe
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 1/2 Tablespoons honey
lime juice - 1/2 teaspoons or grated lime peel
juice of 2 oranges (2/3 cup)
3-4 ice cubes
4 lime wedges

Peel mango and cut flesh around pit into pieces. Put in a blender with yogurt, honey, lime, orange juice and ice cubes. Blend on high speed until smooth. Serve with a wedge of lime as garnish on glass.