From Self magazine, this iced tea combines peach, lemon, ginger, and mint with black tea. The recipe calls for Earl Gray or Darjeeling tea, but I used English Breakfast. Assam, Ceylon, Irish Breakfast or plain Lipton would work just fine. This recipe is great for peaches that are slightly over-ripe, as they will be pureed and will taste just fine (but might not look so appealing).

8 tea bags
1 lemon, sliced (ends discarded)
1 piece of ginger, 2 inches, cut into chunks
4 large, ripe peaches
1/2 cup sugar, or to taste
mint sprigs, for garnish

Boil 8 cups of water over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan. Add tea bags, sliced lemon, and ginger pieces. Remove pan from heat and steep 10 minutes. Pour into a heat-resistant pitcher through a strainer. Discard tea bags, lemon, and ginger.  

Peel, pit, and dice 2 of the peaches. Place in a blender with 1/2 cup sugar and blend until smooth (add a bit of the tea if needed to get the blender going). Pour peach puree into tea and stir well, dissolving sugar.

Pit and cut remaining peaches into slices. Stir into tea. Chill tea for 1-2 hours. To serve, pour over ice and garnish with mint sprigs.

Makes 8 servings. Each serving is approx 70 calories.

Brewing the tea:

Adding slices to the pitcher:

Garnishing my tea with basil (peach and basil go well together):

Another adventure in Paprika-thon! I saw several recipes online for various forms of mashed potatoes with paprika, but none of them looked quite right. Here is my own variation:

2 lbs red skinned potatoes, washed and scrubbed
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 tsp minced garlic 
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper, to taste

Cut potatoes into quarters. In a large pot, cover potatoes with water and add bay leaf. Over medium-high heat, bring water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a small frying pan or skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, saute until onions are translucent and tender and garlic is golden, about 3 minutes. Keep mixture moist, if onions become dry add more oil. Add smoked and sweet paprika and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.

Drain potatoes and discard bay leaf. Add onion mixture, milk, salt, and pepper to pot. Using a masher or electric mixer, beat potatoes to desired consistency.

To make it spicy, add chili pepper or powder to onion mixture when sauteing, or use Hot Hungarian Paprika instead of smoked or sweet paprika.

Shown below, garnished with a sprinkle of sweet paprika.

Use the Spicy Paprika Rub to liven up pork chops. This is a quick and easy meal after a busy day.

4 boneless pork loin chops (1 1/2 lbs)
3-4 tsp Spicy Paprika Rub
2 cloves garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 425F

Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Use rub on both sides of pork chops and arrange in a single layer on baking sheet. Top with minced garlic.

Bake for 15 minutes or until pork is done, internal temperature should reach 150F.

These would also be great on the grill!

From the Stash Tea Company (see Links page for details), here is a great new iced tea recipe. The recipe calls for sparkling water, but I used sparkling water with lemon. Any strong black tea can be substituted for Irish Breakfast.

4 Irish Breakfast tea bags
1 1/3 cups boiling water
1 1/3 cups apricot nectar
1 1/3 cups sparkling water
lemon slices or wedges, for garnish

In a heat-resistant pitcher, pour water over tea bags. Steep for 10-15 minutes, or until desired strength. Chill for about 1 hour.

Stir in apricot nectar and sparkling water. Serve over ice with lemon slices or wedges, as desired.

Try experimenting with different flavors of nectar, such as peach, pear, papaya or guava. Nectar is typically at the store in the juice aisle, but can also be found with the Mexican-style foods.

Here’s a little concoction I created to make great mochas at home:

1 pkg (about 1 1/3 cups) dry instant non fat milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/3 cup instant espresso (or 2/3 cup instant coffee)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse to combine, or stir together in a large bowl.

To make mochas, combine 1/4 cup mix with 1 cup hot water (or to taste). Stir and enjoy!