December 22, 2011

Warm Winter-time Deliciousness


One of my absolute favorite things about the chilly season are the homemade warm, delicious food and beverages. Three of my newly-learned recipes are (homemade from scratch...well almost) vanilla chai tea, stuffed peppers and granola (all vegan of course). Below is my vanilla chai recipe...loosely.


STEP ONE: boil a small amount of water with one or two tea bags of spiced chai. I use about 1/2 cup...

STEP TWO: Once it has boiled for about one minute the water will turn a caramely-brown. At this point I like to sweeten the mix without about 2 tsp of sugar.

STEP THREE: Using a mini-whisk I stir the mixture (rapidly) to melt the sugar.

STEP FOUR: Pour in enough soy milk to turn the mixture a light, creamy tan color.

STEP FIVE: Continue to whisk the mixture. Add a small amount (I add about 1/8 tsp) of vanilla extract and continue to whisk. Do not walk away from this milky tea while it is on the burner! If you, for example, stop to take a photo of your mug with the strainer so you can post it on your blog, the tea might get extremely frothy and that sugary-milky mixture might overflow, hit the burner and caramelize, making a terrible smell and you might still be trying to get it off your stove days later....just an FYI.

STEP SIX: Place a fine mesh strainer over your mug. Chances are all that rigourous whisking has caused a tea bag or two to break open. Slowly pour your chai tea into your favorite handmade mug and enjoy!