(10 seconds each to read and are almost that quick to prepare)
By Lisa Messinger
Food and Cooking at Creators Syndicate
Bottled tea drinks are overflowing market refrigerator cases. Profits are as high as waterfalls, too, since these are some of the most marked-up "disposable income" products available. Stretch your summer budget by stirring up pitchers of antioxidant-filled green tea at home since using tea bags is much more economical than purchasing by the premixed bottle. Markets and bulk stores also often have large containers of plain green tea on sale at much lower prices than trendy flavor-added, individual-serving bottles. What's better is that the mild taste of green tea makes it not only the ideal beverage for everyone from kids to seniors, but also the perfect foundation for nutritious flavor fests you can create at home, such as the split-second stirs below that include touches with even more antioxidants, like the herb lemon verbena, sugar-free hazelnut syrup, and fresh ginger.
Fun fare like this also proves innovative food and beverage preparation can be easy, nutritious, economical, entertaining - and fast. They take just
10 seconds each to read and are almost that quick to prepare. The combinations are delicious proof that everyone has time for tasty "home cooking" and, more importantly, the healthy family togetherness that goes along with it! Another benefit: You - and your kidlet helpers - effortlessly become gourmets, since
there are no right or wrong amounts. These are virtually-can't-go-wrong mixtures, so whatever you choose to use can't help but draw "wows" and healthfully quench summer thirsts.
To pitchers of green tea, consider adding a no-calorie, natural sweetener like stevia, to taste, and:-- Fresh squeezed orange juice, tangerine juice and lime juice, and diced fresh mint.-- Pomegranate juice, ice cubes frozen from fresh strawberry and blueberry purees, and vanilla extract.-- Shavings of fresh ginger, very thinly sliced cucumbers, and maraschino cherry juice.-- Almond extract or coconut extract, pineapple juice, and sugar-free ginger ale.-- Sugar-free hazelnut syrup, freshly ground cinnamon, and ice cubes frozen from sugar-free lemon-lime soda, and either dried or finely minced fresh lemon verbena.QUICK TIP OF THE WEEK: Chilling sliced fruit first causes drizzled chocolate to almost immediately harden for refreshing summer treats - instead of the longer and less reliable wait with unchilled fruit. Place sliced fruit (bananas and strawberries are good with whole raspberries included, too) on a plate. Sprinkle with a no-calorie, natural sweetener, like stevia. Chill, uncovered, for about 45 minutes. Drizzle with melted dark chocolate. Ones that are at least 70 percent cacao are best, by being lower in sugar, dairy free and high in antioxidants, yet still fairly sweet tasting. Because of the chilling of the fruit, the chocolate will harden almost immediately.
Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food and nutrition writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the National Council Against Health Fraud and author of seven food books, including the best-selling The Tofu Book: The New American Cuisine with 150 Recipes (Avery/Penguin Putnam) and Turn Your Supermarket into a Health Food Store: The Brand-Name Guide to Shopping for a Better Diet (Pharos/Scripps Howard). She writes two nationally syndicated food and nutrition columns for Creators Syndicate and had been a longtime newspaper food and health section managing editor, as well as managing editor of Gayot/Gault Millau dining review company. Lisa traveled the globe writing about top chefs for Pulitzer Prize-winning Copley News Service and has written about health and nutrition for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Reader's Digest, Woman's World and Prevention Magazine Health Books. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com.
