The very weak tea mishap today

                           My new tea cup and holder

So I guess I was not very much awake this am when I went to make my tea!

I drink herb tea and I make it in a thermos pitcher that holds one and a half quarts or just over a liter. So I go to pour out into the new 'Starbucks' type plastic cups Melissa got me for Christmas. I say to myself, "My, that tea looks so pale, I guess I did not let it steep long enough."
The cup is brick red so it is hard for me to see the colors as I am legally blind. Upon further inspection I see that it is just hot water no tea in it.... LOL  I failed to add the tea!!!

                         
I love the new tea cups with the tops. It keeps my tea hot and also if I knock it over it does not spill so fast!  The green holder is made of soft spongy material and helps to stabilize the cup besides keeping the tea hot.
                     

Thermos Pitcher

Both have been a nice help to my morning tea. With that thermos holding about 48 ounces, it fills this cup at least three times.

I have been drinking herb tea forever and the last two years I have branched out from just the Chamomile and mint for 30 years.  I had been using cinnamon tea from Celestial Seasonings and plain peppermint tea for three years. Now we are using more varieties that my daughter has been buying for me.
               

Cran-aid Tea

One new one she found this month is a local tea from Sebastopol given to me by my granddaughter. It is called "Traditional Medicinal."   It is called Cran-Aid.  It contains Cranberry, Ursi leaf, Marshmallow root, Cleavers herb, with the addition of some basics.
                         

Cinnamon Apple Spice Tea

         
The Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple Spice has cinnamon, hibiscus, chamomile, chicory, orange, and carob.
I usually use one of the cinnamon apple spice, one mint and one other in the thermos. We are using filtered water that we filter with one of those Brita Pitchers.
                         

Brita Water Filter

I heat the water in an electric kettle. All these for health and safety for me! Health for the whole house.
               

Ginger Snappish Tea

We also got another new tea from Bigelow called Ginger Snappish.  It has Lemongrass, lemon peel, ginger and a few other things.
                         

Bengal Spice Tea

The newest one by Celestial Seasonings is Bengal Spice. It has Cinnamon, roast chicory, roasted carob, vanilla, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and cardamom.

I like the flavors and I only use Almond milk and nothing else in my herb tea.
                                   

Hamilton Beach Electric Kettle

Teas light as herb teas count as water consumed. I have the whole thermos throughout the day.
Later I will have 20 ounces of filtered water with a tablespoon of lemon juice and two packets of Stevia natural sweetener. I use the bottled lemon juice from Costco. I know it is not organic or without additives and preservatives. Since I only use 2 to 4 tablespoons a day, I feel that it is not horrible.  We all do the best we can to get as much natural as we can otherwise.

Smoothies

Melissa has been working hard at presenting as many vegetarian dishes for us as possible.

We have started the vegetable and fruit mixed smoothies this last few years. We like to have it every day if we can in the future. We had only been having them in the summer in the past. So she got the large attachment for the “Bullet” mixer so that can make enough for the three of us.
  So those are our goals this year to incorporate more fresh fruits and vegetables that are raw.  I want to try the fresh ginger in the smoothie as well.

As soon as we get going again I will add the recipes to the recipe section of my blog here.




My little Owl
                       

This owl was made my my granddaughter's BF. I wanted to add the photo to the Christmas hand made gifts I recieved post. I forgot to add it. He uses several kinds of modeling clay and colors. He is so talented. It is only 2 inches tall! Note the wire feet! It is just so cute!!!