Berry-B-Good Tea: An Antioxidant Boost in a "Simple Saturday Sipper"

This week's Simple Saturday Sipper is an easy, healthy and refreshing drink that is full of nutrients and antioxidants from the blueberries. Berry-Be-Good Tea is from "Yogi in the Kitchen: More Than 100 Enlightened, Delicious, Healthful Recipes for Body and Soul" by Elaine Gavalas, M.A., M.S. Besides those free-radical fighting antioxidants, blueberries are packed with vitamin C, manganese and fiber. Here they are combined with the herbal tea of your choice, lemon juice, honey and ice for a delicious drink.


Berry-B-Good Tea
"Yogi in the Kitchen" by Elaine Gavalas, M.A., M.S.
(Serves 2)

1 1/2 cups spring or filtered water
1 bag mint herb tea, hibiscus herb tea, or decaf green or black tea
2/3 cup fresh (or frozen and thawed) berries (such as strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries)
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp honey
6 ice cubes

In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Drop in the tea bag. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Cover and let the tea steep for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bag and discard. Refrigerate the tea for 1 hour.

Place the berries in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the tea, lemon juice, honey, and ice cubes and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.


Notes/Results: Cold, lightly sweet (I reduced the honey down by half), and flavorful from the tea and fruit, this is a simple drink, perfect for a busy day. For the tea I used an herbal rooibos blend of hibiscus, orange peel, burdock and red clover. Although you can use any fresh or frozen berry or mixed berries, I kept it simple with frozen wild blueberries from the big bag in my freezer. Be sure to cool the tea down well before using, and if you want the drink thicker and slushier, you can use the berries frozen instead of thawed.A simple pleasure that I would make again.

Speaking of simple pleasures, there is nothing like a big shallow shipping box with crinkly packing paper to keep Max entertained for hours. (Of course he made time to stop and pose for this picture). I haven't tossed a Max photo into a post for quite some time--so here is one for his fans. ;-)

Happy Weekend!