The weather has been hot and humid around here lately. I love cooking, but coming home from work and making, say, a lasagna just doesn't appeal to me right now the way it did in January. So instead I've been working on variations of my lemonade recipe to get that culinary creativity fix. Last week, I tried making an iced tea-lemonade hybrid. Not quite as good as Half-and-Half, but it's quick and pretty tasty. If you want to try:
. . .
Boil about a cup and a half of water. Pour the water into a large mug and steep 2 or 3 tea bags in it for five minutes. I used plain old Red Rose tea, but it would probably be good with any kind of black or herbal tea.
Add sugar to the tea--lots of sugar. I think I put in about five heaping spoonfuls--you'll need it to counteract the sourness of the citrus and the bitterness of the tea. (I add the sugar at this point because it seems easier to dissolve in hot tea than in cold.)
Juice one lemon and one lime. Put the lemon and lime juice and a lot of ice--maybe a tray full--in a pitcher. I do this in a Mason jar, which makes measuring and mixing very easy.
Add the tea to the jar. Mix it all around until the tea has cooled off, then add some water. Not sure how much--maybe start with a cup and see how it tastes? I ususally just fill it up to the top line on the Mason jar and then mix it.
Taste the lemonade-tea and make adjustments as necessary. I also throw in a couple of the lemon / lime halves for interest. Just remember to wash them before doing so.
This makes enough for two or three regular people or one very thirsty one.
. . .
Luckily, it's been pretty cool in the morning for the last couple of weeks, so I'm able to do a little cooking then. I've been hearing a lot about how great Irish/steel-cut oats are lately, so last time I was at the grocery store I decided to splurge and try them. They cost about $8 a can, but you can get them in--presumably cheaper--boxes, too. (They're up on a top shelf at our local store, though, so I had to rely on a kind passerby to reach them for me, and I didn't want to test her patience by comparing prices for the various containers.)
I've tried them two different ways--toasted with butter then simmered for half an hour (fun, but time-consuming), and soaked overnight, then simmered for ten minutes in the morning (much more practical on workdays). Once they're done--when all the water is absorbed--I just throw in whatever is close at hand: milk, maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, etc. It's really...wholesome. I don't even know if I like the taste of it so much as the texture (it's crunchy, very different from regular rolled oats) and the energy boost it gives you. You can run on that stuff for hours before you're hungry again. They say a serving is a quarter-cup of dry oats and I agree. It's easy to multiply the recipe (just keep the oats:water ratio at 1:4), but a little of this goes a long way. Especially first thing in the morning.
