Summer Favorite

I recently did an open house displaying my books. I offered a cup of tea to the folks coming by. There was a large selection of teas to choose from but most of my friends chose the lemon ginger tea. Lemon is a good source of vitamin C and ginger is good for both medicinal and culinary purposes. Lemon and ginger work well together. This tea can be served hot or cold. Since summer is coming along with the warm weather I thought I'd share with you a recipe for iced lemon ginger tea.

Iced Lemon Ginger Tea

4 cups of water
Juice of 1 lemon
2-3 ginger tea bags  depending on your taste or 1/4 cup of freshly peeled and grated ginger
Sweetener as desired

Bring water to a boil. Add lemon juice and ginger. Let it steep for 20 minutes. Stir in the sweetener. Strain tea into a pitcher and cool in the fridge. Ice cubes may be added if desired. Serve with lemon slices.

Serves 6 people

Valerie Lull
Author, Ten Healthy Teas
Lullval@hotmail.com
www.valerielull.com

Iced Tea for Summer

As we get closer to summer there will be plenty of hot days when having a tall glass of iced tea will seem like a good idea. I like iced raspberry lemon tea, or iced peach tea. You can make iced tea with just about any kind of tea, though some taste teas are better than others. I like to sit out on my patio and sip iced tea while reading  a good book. Herbal teas are available on the internet.  Here is one of my favorite recipes for iced tea.

Raspberry Lemon Tea

2 teabags of lemon tea
2 teabags of wild raspberry tea
boiling water
Sweetener as desired (some suggested sweeteners: honey, agave, stevia, or real sugar if you prefer it)

Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Add tea bags and steep for ten minutes. Add sweetener to taste. Pour into a pitcher and store in the refrigerator until cool. Add ice cubes if desired. Pour out into glasses and enjoy! Serves about 2 people. Boil more water and add additional tea bags when you steep the tea if you want a larger recipe to serve more people.

Valerie Lull
Author: Ten Healthy Teas

Smoothie Deliglht

Smoothies are a great way to start your day. Here are two recipes for great smoothies that I like for breakfast. One contains blueberries which have wonderful antioxidants and ground flax seed which gives you lots of fiber. The other contains bananas which are rich n potassium. I especially like these on a summer morning. Smoothies are also great for a pick-me-up on a hot day if you want something cool and smooth.

Blueberry Smoothie

1 Cup almond milk (you can also substitute dairy, or soy milk, or rice milk or any milk of your choice. I like the almond with vanilla flavoring.)
2 Packets stevia or sweetener as desired
2 Tablespoons of ground flax seed
Blueberries ( as many as you want)
Ice (as much as desired, or none at all)

Mix all these ingredients together in a blender until well blended and ice is crushed. Pour out into a glass and enjoy!

Here's another smoothie recipe.

Banana Smoothie

1 Cup milk ( whatever kind you desire).
1/2 bananna sliced
Ice as desired
Sweetener as desired

Mix all ingredients together in a blender until ice is crushed. Pour out into a glass and enjoy!

-- Valerie Lull, Author, Ten Healty Teas

Healthy Snacks

Snacks can be a  problem when you reach for the potato chips and ice cream bars. There are a lot of healthy alternative snacks that are very simple. Like a handful of nuts. There are many kinds of nuts, pick your favorite. For the diabetics out there nuts do not raise your blood sugar. Trail mixes are good and there are many different kinds of trail mixes to try. Then there's fruit, an apple or a peach, or a banana. Chocolate is good for you, especially the dark chococolate that is 70% or more cocao. Do not overdo the chocolate, one or two squares per day is plenty. Some folks like sunflower seeds. Here is a simple recipe for a healthy snack. It's easy to make and it is tasty. I've tried it out and I like it.

Crispy Garbanzo Beans

15 oz garbanzo beans (canned or prepared)
Garlic
Olive oil
Chili flakes

Put olive oil, garlic and garbanzo beans in a baking dish. Make sure the beans are coated in oil. Sprinkle with chil flakes. Bake at 425 Degrees for 20-30 minutes, turning over several times. The crispier the better. Remove from the oven, let cool and enjoy. Garlic salt or garlic powder can be substituted for real garlic and if you don't have chili flakes handy, chili powder wll do.  Snack and enjoy.

-- Val Lull

Simple Ways to Stay Healthy

Perhaps you do not realize how simple it is for you to do small things for yourself that will boost your health. . What can be simpler than making a cup of tea? It can be black tea, green tea or one of many herbal teas. One of my favorite teas is raspberry tea. I'm talking about raspberry tea, not raspberry leaf tea.I just want to make a distinction between raspberry fruit tea and raspberry leaf tea. The raspberry leaf tea is a medcinal herb for women's problems. This recipe is for the raspberry fruit.

Here is the recipe:

1 teabag of raspberry tea (Wild raspberry tea is good too.)
1 cup of boiling water
Sweetener to taste

Pour water over tea bag. Let the tea steep for 3-5 minutes. Drink and enjoy.

I've written a book called Ten Healthy Teas. When people read my book they come to the section on garlic and are amazed at the concept of garlic tea. Well, garlic is an herb and most herbs can be made into teas or infusions, so why not garlic? If you plug the term garlic tea into any search engine on the internet you will come up with thousands of references to garlic tea, complete with recipes. I like to add a little chicken bullion to my garlic tea to flavor it up a bit and sometimes I also add a pinch of cayenne. Garlic is so good for you and it is one of the most studied herbs, except possibly green tea. Have a cup the next time you have a cold, stuffed up sinuses or the flu. -- Val Lull