Missing: A Cup of Hot Tea

April 5, 2013 By 1 Comment

I got just on my way to work and noticed I was missing an important part of my morning routine. My cup of hot tea wasn’t in the cup holder of the car. It was MISSING. OK, it wasn’t really missing. I knew it was sitting on the kitchen counter right where I left it. I was past the point on my drive into work where I turn around to get missing hot tea though so I did the next most practical thing. I called Brian to tell him to please enjoy my tea that I left. You see it was a perfectly brewed cup of American Classic Tea from Bigelow Tea that couldn’t just sit there and get tossed out later! Don’t fret, I will have to make a cup after dinner tonight just to even the day out.

I grew up not drinking tea. My mom always had hot tea in the morning. There was always a pitcher of iced tea in the fridge … always. I didn’t drink it. Then I went to college and nearly froze down at Virginia Tech in the beautiful mountains down there. I suddenly knew why my mom drank hot tea in the wee hours of the morning when she would go into work at the hospital. I could function with a mug of hot tea and if I was lucky, it would warm my hands as I carried it across campus to class! Double bonus.

American Classic Tea by Bigelow Tea

Oh about American Classic Tea from Bigelow Teas … I featured American Classic Tea as a Friday Favorite back in July 2010!  I drank a lot of this tea when I was nursing the kids because it didn’t give them a caffeine kick that I knew they didn’t need! I am way past the nursing stage of my life but it is still a favorite of mine. I do have to give my dad credit for discovering this tea for our family though. He brought it back from one of his sales calls in South Carolina. I am told you can buy it in the grocery stores down there. Virginia isn’t that far from South Carolina but it isn’t sold here that I found so I order it by the case online. Yes, the case.

Back to when dad first brought this tea home, I looked it up and read all about the only tea plantation left in the US … the Charleston Tea Plantation down in Charleston, South Carolina. I knew then it was on my places to visit list. Not only was an excuse to add an other South Carolina trip to my travel wish list but it was tea and really good tea at that! You see I was born in SC and while we only lived there for four years until we moved to Virginia, but that is where I learned to talk. I am told I used to have the strongest southern accent … kinda odd for two Yankee parents to take a southern talkin’ kid back to Ohio for visits! Over the years, we have made a few visits through South Carolina since we moved and I have loved each and every visit because of the people … and their southern accent that I can roll into within a day. Plus they really know how to make a real glass of sweet tea down there and who can pass up a cold glass of sweet tea?

Maybe one day I will still get that visit to the Charleston Tea Plantation. Have you tried the American Classic Tea by Bigelow Tea or been to the Charleston Tea Plantation? Leave me a comment and let me know if you have tried this great tea yet!

NOTE: This is my entry into the Bigelow Tea Contest. All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Simply Food Tagged With: , , ,

The Daring Cooks’ Challenge: Cooking with Tea

November 14, 2011 By 12 Comments

Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.

I have been interested in cooking with tea for some time.  Sarah offered up some options, including a couple of Asian dishes, but the challenge was simply to create a savory dish using tea.  Being Southern, I grew up with the belief that it only counts as tea if it is sticky sweet.  With that in mind and a need to practice my chops for the upcoming Thanksgiving cooking marathon, I decided to brine a chicken in sweet tea and to oven roast it.  The great part about this recipe is that most of the time spent preparing it is inactive.  You create the brine, but the chicken just sits in it for a while.  You pull it out of the brine and prepare it for roasting, but then it just roasts for a while.  It really couldn’t be easier to put great food on the table!

 Peekaboo!  That little chicken is so happy in there.  It’s almost a shame to take it out.

See how the skin soaks up that tea?  That’s how you know it’s going to be good!

All ready to go into the oven.  See you later, pal!

Golden brown and delicious!  Time for a little rest before slicing.

Sweet-Tea Brined Chicken

If you didn’t know that it was tea, you might wonder how this was prepared.  Once you know it’s tea, the tastes are clear and add to the experience.  If you are using this for a turkey, just triple the recipe and you should have plenty of brine for it!

Ingredients

2 quarts cold water
6 individual-sized tea bags
peel from 1 lemon
1 Tbsp dried rosemary or Italian seasoning
juice from 2  lemons
2/3 C kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 quarts ice cubes
1 3-4 lb chicken (inside stuff removed)
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Bring water to boil and add tea bags, lemon peel, and rosemary.  Allow to steep for 15-20 minutes and remove tea bags.  Add lemon juice, salt, and sugar and stir to dissolve.  Add ice cubes and stir until ice cubes are mostly melted and brine is cooled completely.  Pour the entire mixture into a vessel large enough to hold the liquid and the chicken.  Add the chicken and top with a heavy plate to keep it submerged in the brine.  Allow to sit for at least 12 hours and up to 2 days.

When ready to cook chicken, preheat oven to 425.  Remove chicken from brine and rinse thoroughly.  Dry well and place into roasting pan.  Cover lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt (go easy, remember that the brine was salty) and lots of pepper.  Cook for 45 minutes to an hour or until a thermometer reads 170 in the thickest part of the thigh.  Remove from oven and allow to rest about 10 minutes before carving.  Enjoy!

Thanks, Sarah for a great challenge.  I hope that we inspire our readers to try something a little new.  Have you ever cooked with tea?  What did you make?  If you haven’t, let us know when you plan to try it.  Leave us some comments!  Oh, and make sure to check out our other Daring Kitchen adventures!

 

Filed Under: Daring Kitchen, Simply Food Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Libre Tea

September 29, 2011 By

Details …

The Libre  glass ‘n poly tea glass has a durable polycarbonate exterior and a health-conscious glass interior for practicality and clean taste.

The Libre glass ‘n glass tea glass has a glass interior and exterior - excellent for home and office – handle with care.

The stainless steel filter in both models keeps the tea leaves away from your mouth and is easy to remove for quick access and easy cleaning when adding or emptying loose leaf tea.

Both the glass ‘n poly and glass’n glass Libres are a BPA-free experience for your tea.

By now, you’ve probably discovered the wonderful taste and variety of loose leaf tea and teas’ health benefits. Are you also aware that loose leaf tea has a smaller eco-footprint than tea bags, because of its bulk packaging? And, of course, loose leaf is economical – significantly less than whole leaf tea bags.

Enjoy the benefits of loose leaf tea anytime, anywhere, with your Libre tea glass! Take along your favorite loose leaf tea, and simply add hot water for easy, great tasting loose leaf tea all day long.

Our Thoughts …

Check out their video on how to use tea glasses! These tea glasses are great if you love loose leaf tea but hate making a pot of it. That is me summed up right there. I love the taste but hate the whole tea pot as I can’t carry it in the car with me … this I can! We will give a heads up that you can not put super hot  water in these and flip them over. The online directions say this but the paper one that Brian followed didn’t. Yes, he knows steams expands but was like 6:30 in the morning and he wasn’t thinking and gave himself a burn as a result of the water come out of the cup with he flipped it. The paper insert is being updated so just consider this a heads up to be sure to read the paper directions and watch the video to use these nifty tea cups. I am really enjoying the fresh taste of loose tea again and that is a great way to start my busy days!

We are excited to offer one of our readers either the Libre Tea Large or the Mug (both are valued at $32.50)!

Details:
This drawing will end Thursday, October 13th at 11:59pm EST. The winner will have 48 hours to reply with their address. You must include your email address in the comment form so you can be contacted if you are a winner! You must complete the Mandatory Entry for the additional entries to count.

This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only!

So how do you enter?

Mandatory Entry: Tell me if you would pick the Libre Tea Large or the Libre Tea Mug!

Additional Entries:

1) Follow us on Facebook HERE. Worth two entries so leave two comments here! (Psst … we love comments on Facebook so maybe you can leave us one!)
2) Fan Libre Tea on Facebook HERE. Leave a comment.
3) Follow BOTH SimplyBudgeted and This_Cookin_Dad on Twitter. Leave a THREE comment with your twitter name.
4) Follow Libre Team on Twitter (@libretea). Leave a comment.
5) Tweet about this giveaway with this tweet:

RT #Win loose leaf tea mug by@libretea at @simplybudgeted http://bit.ly/qQzCEG ends 10/13 #giveaway #tea #breakfast

Leave a comment with the URL for your tweet. (One Tweet per day until end of giveaway!!)
6) Follow us publicly through the Google Friends Connect in the footer. Leave a comment with your name that you subscribe with.
7) Subscribe to the daily email here at Simply Budgeted. It is at the top of the sidebar!;) Please leave a comment. (worth 5 entries!)
8) Subscribe to Libre Tea’s email newsletter at www.libretea.com. Leave a comment

 

NOTE: We were sent a sample product in support of this review. No other compensation was received. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our honest opinion.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Food Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,