Ah, finally a lazy weekend after a busy week. I drink a lot of hot tea at work, especially in frosty fall/winter weather. I tried a new tea today, Yogi Detox, that I found at Target. It’s corny, but the randomly insightful sayings on Yogi tea bag labels are uplifting for me, today’s was “By listening you comfort another person.”
The box has an impressive lists of supplements including sarsaparilla root, cinnamon bark, ginger root, licorice root, burdock root, dandelion root … lots of hot, organic root action. It has a strong cinnamon spice smell to it, very festive for fall. At first taste, it seemed a bit spicy, but the flavor grew on me as a warm spice blend that’s not too sweet or phony … unlike egg nog flavored tea which is a guilty pleasure of mine as an alternative to egg nog. Still, Guayaki Yerba Mate Chocolate has to be my current favorite tea:
It has a nice, natural chocolate flavor with a hint of mint, just perfect. I’ve only been able to find it at Whole Foods locally.
We’re starting to get more frosty mornings and I’m getting tired of cold smoothies for breakfast, so I’ve been experimenting with warm breakfast soups. Here’s what I tried this morning:
Recipe: Berry Walnut Soup
Summary: Blend on walnuts and fruit to create a breakfast soup.
Ingredients
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 tbsp. carob powder
- 1 cup frozen mixed berries
- 1/2 banana, frozen and sliced
- 1 packed Truvia
- 1/4 walnuts
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into a Vita-Mix and run on high until warmed up to desired temp, between 105-115 degrees. If not using a Vita-Mix, warm water in microwave before adding and thaw frozen fruit.
It tasted more like a warm, chocolaty, fruity soup. The walnuts and/or the spinach added a bit of bitterness, not strong. I used whole leaf organic spinach I got from Whole Foods and usually I like the baby organic spinach leaves from Costco, so that may have had something to do with it. But a great jumping off point. I’m also considering a thinner, fruit based version and sprinkling dried apples or raw cereal on it to create a warm, raw cereal/oatmeal.
Last year I got my husband a infrared thermometer for Christmas and we’ve been using it in the kitchen more than the garage lately. It comes in handy for heating soups in the Vita-Mix while not going over 115 degrees.