Homemade Iced Sweet Mint Tea

I have a horrible time making female friends. As far back as I can remember I have had one very close female friend and than a small group of female acquaintances. At parties in college I was more likely to be talking about political theory or science than where I got my nails done (for the record I have never actually been in a nail salon, shocking I know). To this day I have a hard time discussing 'typical' female topics. I fully admit a large part of it is my fault. I grew up with male cousins that were obsessed with professional wrestling and computers. To make matters worse I was an only child and I loved spending time with my dad, we went to sporting events, on hikes, and watched movies. Now I live in a house full of men. Most conversations in my house involve video games or bodily functions, not necessarily in that order. As I've gotten older I've realized I need to be better and more patient with forging female friendships. I have a horrible habit of getting mad at close female friends and then cutting off contact, or just losing contact through my total lack of being great about remembering to make phone calls. We all have things we can work on and one of mine is definitely being better about getting along with other women. I'm a work in progress.

Our weather has been hot and very humid. Our humidity was 83 percent today and it was 93 degrees. It was horrible. Due to the lovely summer weather I have been making lots of cold drinks. Iced Tea is a family favorite and Mint Iced Tea is a great way to use garden mint. The recipe is as follows.

Adapted from Food.com.

Iced Sweet Mint Tea

Recipe Type: Drink

Summary:

A refreshing sweet iced tea recipe using fresh mint.

Preparation Time: 0h, 5m

Cooking Time: 0h, 20m

Yield: 2 Quarts

Mint Iced Tea

Ingredients

• 12 black tea bags
• 10 mint sprigs
• 2 gallons water
• 3/4 cup sugar (or your choice of sweetener)

Cooking Directions

1. Boil the 2 gallons of water.
2. Once water has boiled add water to mint and tea bags.
3. Let steep for 20 minutes.
4. Discard tea bags and mint.
5. In a heat proof pitcher add sugar (or sweetener) and then pour iced tea over.
6. Place in fridge until cold.
7. Serve over ice and with sliced lemon if you prefer.

This tea is strong and sweet. My husband and I are both fans of strong tea, so if you like your tea weaker reduce the amount of tea bags. The same goes for the sugar. If your like your tea sweet add the amount listed, alternately you can make the tea unsweetened or reduce the amount of sugar to meet your needs. When I make this for my whole family (including my kids) I use decaf tea bags and it turns out just as good. 

Bon Appetit Black Bean Chili with Butternut Squash

Since temperatures are in the 80's in my area this week, I'm cramming my last few soup, stew, and chili recipes in before the thermometer hits the 90's. This weekend I tried the Black Bean Chili with Butternut Squash from the February issue of Bon Appetit.

This dish takes a considerable amount of prep and cooking time: three and a half hours, combined. Pre-planning is definitely involved to get this recipe ready for the dinner table. The ingredients are easily accessible, though, and everything was available at my local grocery store. The only negative aspect of prepping is the cutting and peeling of the butternut squash, which can be time consuming.

I did forget to buy the pickled jalapenos and sour cream as suggested for serving. The other substitution that I made was to use the black beans available at my grocery store, not special order the beans from the two websites that Bon Appetit recommends. The added expense was not something justifiable for my family budget and I feel that the dish tasted great regardless.

My two-year-old loved this recipe. He ate his whole bowl and asked for seconds. My four-year-old also ate his whole serving and had leftovers for lunch today. I thought it was a good tasting chili, but I think that next time I would add more salt, it was a little sweeter than I think was intended. Many people would balk at the idea of meatless chili, but I thought this vegetarian (vegan if you skip the dairy toppings) version was a great way to introduce healthier and less-expensive recipes to my household. I will definitely make this recipe in the future (with more salt and the suggested toppings).

For the recipe visit Bon Appetit Black Bean Chili with Butternut Squash.

(Note: Sorry about the unimpressive photo. My iPod Touch was the only camera available at the time.)