Cold Brewed Iced Green Tea

This is my new go-to drink instead of pop. It is surprisingly refreshing and tasty.

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts water
• 4 tea bags (green tea)
• 4 slices of lemon
• 4 scoops of stevia

1. Pour water into a 2 quart container with a lid (I re-use a Simply Orange OJ bottle)
2. Add stevia to the water; close and shake to dissolve stevia
3. Add tea bags and lemon slices
4. Place container into the fridge 8 hrs or overnight (I have left it a day and a half and it doesn't seem to hurt anything)

Thoughts: I keep this in the fridge at all times by rotating two containers. Sometimes I add a another bag of fruit tea from the Celestial Seasoning Sampler. The raspberry is crazy good. I have managed to give up pop by drinking coffee in the morning, and this tea with lunch and dinner.

My First Experiments - Drinks (Coffee & Lemonade)

Experiment #1: Mocha Coffee

1. Brewed 12 oz of whatever coffee my mom left in my cabinet (Folger's or Dunkin' Donuts??)
2. Measured a scoop of Stevia but added just a sprinkle; tasted it and wasn't offended so I added the whole scoop 
3. Tasted coffee again and it was perfectly sweetened with no bitter aftertaste! Amazon reviewers were right!
4. Added 1 tsp of Hershey's cocoa powder (unsweetened). Not enough chocolaty taste so added another. Good flavor, but a little bitter
5. Added 1 T of heavy cream (yeah I should buy something less fattening, but it was what I had); happy with taste so far
6. Added a hefty dash of cinnamon, a squirt of lowfat Redi Whip and a sprinkle of cinnamon for looks. Lovely.

Thoughts: The label was right; one scoop was perfect for a 12 oz coffee. I am pleased and very happy with Kal Stevia so far. The drink itself was not quite perfect... maybe a tad... chalky? bitter? Whatever it was, it was pretty mild and tolerable. I think it is from the cocoa powder (or the cinnamon since I have noticed that it doesn't dissolve too well). In any case, the Stevia dissolved well and tasted fine, so improvements will focus on the mocha. I don't honestly believe anyone is ever going to read this blog, but if you do and have a tip for making mocha coffee with cocoa powder, I am all ears.

Improvements for next time: Figure out a way to make the cocoa powder blend better. Measure cinnamon so I can figure out if it is responsible for the chalky feel.

Ingedients & Calories:

• Coffee (12 oz) 8 cal
• Stevia (1 scoop) 0 cal
• Hershey Cocoa Powder (2 tsp) 7 cal 
• Heavy Cream (1 T) 50 cal 
• Cinnamon (dash) 0 cal 
• Redi Whip Fat Free (2 T) 5 cal

Total: 70 calories per serving

Experiment #2: Citrus-Aid

I have a good recipe for a lemonade/citrus drink, that uses lemons, limes, and oranges and I wanted to see if Stevia could be used instead of sugar. I started with a mini-batch so as not to give myself carpal tunnel squeezing a million fruits only to screw up batch after batch with wrong amounts of Stevia.

1. Squeezed 1 lemon, 1 lime, and 1 tangerine (I am out of oranges); resulted in about 1/2 cup juice
2. Added 3 cups of water (reduced proportions from this Citrus Lemonade recipe from Allrecipes.com)
3. Added Stevia
4. After 1 scoop: Drink still very sour, Stevia clumped when I dumped it in. Smashed bits with fingers and then it seemed okay.
5. After 2 scoops: Tasted better, poured Stevia slowly while stirring and no clumps
6. After 3 scoops: Much better, might be okay for some
7. After 4 scoops: Yum. Much better than expected. Probably wouldn't know the difference if I hadn't made it myself.

Calories per 8 oz serving: 10 for Citrus-Aid w/ tangerine, or 12 if made with orange. YAY!

Thoughts: Pleased again. I might have tasted a slight aftertaste, but I think it was in my head because I believe I should with an alternative sweetener and I have a cold. I'll see what my husband, Jeff, thinks. I would make this again with no changes. Maybe increase the proportions to make 2 quarts or a gallon.
 
PS Jeff liked it. He was impressed. He was NOT impressed with my 1st attempts with other brands of Stevia so that says something.

Kool-Aid

This is a simple one, but I finally perfected making Kool-Aid so I thought I would share.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet Kool-Aid (any flavor)
• 1/4 tsp Kal brand stevia
• 1 T of sugar
• 2 quarts water

1. Dump first 3 ingredients into a 2 qt pitcher
2. Stir in 2 quarts of water

I know... I know... seems so obvious as to hardly be worth mentioning. BUT if you are like me and tired of measuring out 8 tiny little scoops of the Kal stevia every time and then pouring it in one speck at a time so that it doesn't clump, then you will be happy to know this recipe!

The trick is in the sugar. It only causes the Kool-Aid to be 6 calories per serving but by mixing it with the stevia beforehand, you solve the clumping problem. Also it is nice to know that you can just measure out a 1/4 tsp of stevia from the jar and not mess with the tiny scoop.

Enjoy Kool-Aid once again!

British Style Green Tea

Experiment #7: Green Tea with milk

This is not so much a recipe as a review. I am not a big coffee or tea fan, but I like a warm drink in the winter and I also want to find something to replace pop.

So I made a cup of green tea, added a scoop of Kal stevia, and maybe an ounce of milk and it was delicious. I have made tea with milk and sugar before, but I have to add so much sugar and the last few drinks are a syrupy sugary slop. I would say this is the 1st thing I have made that I prefer to sugar. For the record:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 tea bag
• 1 scoop Kal stevia
• 1 oz 2% milk

Nutrition Facts: 15 calories per cup, Total Fat 0.6g, Sodium 19mg, Total Carbs 1.3g, Protein 0.9g (of course everything is zero if you leave out the milk!)

I can't wait to make Iced Tea this summer!

Update (7/27/2011): I have stopped putting milk in my tea. It seems that milk reacts with tea in such a way that it destroys its health benefits. I would recommend using milk if you need it to get used to tea... but then wean yourself off of it.

Hot Cocoa

Experiment #4: Hot Cocoa

Ingredients:

• 1 T Hershey's Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 scoop stevia
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 2 T Lowfat Redi Whip

I basically made this according to the directions on the side of the package, but changed the measurements to make one serving. I will spell it out here though in case I ever use a different brand.

1. Put cocoa powder, salt, and stevia in a small saucepan (I filled the scoop slightly less than full and used the whole thing)
2. Microwave the 1/4 cup of water to boiling (about a minute) and then whisk it into the dry mixture
3. Bring to a boil then gently simmer for 2 minutes (mixture became nice and creamy like melted chocolate chips)
4. Slowly whisk in the milk and heat up to near boiling (do not boil)
5. Remove from heat and add vanilla
6. Pour into a mug and squirt Red Whip on top

Nutrition Facts: 145 calories per cup, Total Fat 6.2g, Saturated Fat: 3.9g, Sodium 262mg, Total Carbs 14.8g, Dietary Fiber 1.8g, Protein 9.2g
Thoughts: This was delicious! I was happily surprised once again. I did not need to add more stevia. I would never have known this was not made with sugar or real sweetened chocolate.
Also the calorie savings is significant compared to the original recipe. Since I am using milk, this will never be a 0 calorie beverage; I will admit, however, that I am not going for 0 calorie foods with this project. I am trying to make snacks and drinks that are healthier, natural, and that I don't have to feel deprived when eating. I could try making this with more water and less milk to reduce calories, but it was so delicious that I might not.
One downside: this was time consuming. But I am finding out good, healthy, whole foods are generally more time consuming to prepare but are worth it.
Note to self: Try using this method to make the mocha coffee -- heating the cocoa before adding to the beverage is what makes it smooth and creamy I suppose. Live and learn.

Smoothie and berries

Experiment #3: Tropical Berry Smoothie
I made an awesome Smoothie this afternoon, but I can't really document it properly because I did no measuring. All of the following fruits were leftovers that had already been chopped up for my boys to eat. The strawberries had previously been cooked in a skillet with sugar (before I bought stevia) to make a topping for French toast.
Ingredients:

1. 1/2 large papaya
2. 1 1/2 cups pineapple chunks
3. 1 cup strawberries
4. 1 cup light vanilla yogurt (Meijer brand)
5. 1/4 cup orange juice
6. 1 1/2 cups ice, crushed (from the fridge dispenser)
7. stevia to taste (3 scoops)

After all the ingredients were blended, I would say this made about 5 - 8oz servings. I know the kids drank at least 4 cups and I drank exactly 1 cup and I had a little leftover.
Thoughts: This was delicious. I loved it. I poured out some for my 1st son before adding the pineapple and OJ because he hates pineapple (and I forgot the OJ). So that makes it even harder to guess the proportions in mine, but it was excellent!
Nutrition Facts: 85 (depending on the proportions this will be anywhere from 75-100), Total Fat 1.0g, Saturated Fat: 0.5g, Sodium 38mg, Total Carbs 16.8g, Dietary Fiber 1.9g, Protein 3.3g
Experiment #4: Sweetened Strawberries
This may seem too simple to mention, but I will because I am still amazed how well this sweetens with no aftertaste. This is probably the 1st time I tried stevia without having it masked my some other strong flavor.
Ingredients:

1. strawberries
2. stevia

I cut 7 medium berries into fourths. I put them in a Glad container with a lid and filled the scoop just over half way with stevia. Then I held it over the berries and just gave it the tiniest of shakes letting some grains fall out. I closed the lid, shook the berries, tasted and they were CRAZY sweet. But not yucky! I gave them to the kids and they gobbled them up and asked for seconds.
So I cut up 5 more berries and shook them in the container without adding any more stevia and they were perfect. The boys asked for thirds and I admit, I told them no and bribed them with a cookie to go away. How backward is that?! I cut up four more and shook them in the container one more time and this time they were a tad tart. But I happily ate them before the boys could catch me and ask for more.
Calories: 25 per 1/2 cup serving
Thoughts: These were great. I didn't miss the sugar at all. Next time cut up a lot more berries and just keep them in the fridge for later so the stevia isn't so strong. or just ditch the scoop and just sprinkle on a tiny pinch. Maybe add a few drops of water to the container, pinch some stevia into that, then add the berries and shake to coat uniformly.
Next I need to figure out how to make the whole strawberry shortcake.