Fruit and Citrus Tea (caffeine free)

Some mornings I don't feel like drinking caffeinated beverages, and I especially never drink any at night. I came up with this gentle, unobtrusive tea that is full of flavor. The ginko in the tea gives you a boost of brain power, and the cool, fruity flavors of rosehips and lemongrass keep you calm.

I used a peel from a clementine that I dried myself and had stored in a glass jar. I would use some other type of orange peel - orange, blood orange, tangerine, so on. 

To dry your own citrus peel, simply peel it off the fruit (it's easy to do this in one piece with mandarins, but oranges have a thicker peel so it will be in many pieces) and lay someplace where air can get to it on all sides. I rigged mine up to the handle of a cabinet using string and clips. Let it sit for a day or two until it is hard, and store in a glass jar or airless plastic bag.


This recipe makes a tea concentrate - that is, you keep it around a mix it with water to make the perfect cup of tea. I like to make concentrates because they are easier to store in my refrigerator (I can't ever seem to have enough room in there) and I can still have the same cup of tea all week with minimal effort. To make the perfect cup of tea from the concentrate, simply follow these instructions:

• To make hot tea: Heat one part tea concentrate with one part water in a saucepan. Let simmer for a second and sweeten to taste using raw honey, honey, agave nectar or your favorite sugar (if desired).
• To make cold tea: Mix one part tea concentrate with one part cold water and some ice. If you'd like sweetened cold tea, follow the instructions to make hot tea, add in the sweetener and then chill before pouring over ice.
• To make caffeinated tea: After bringing the tea concentrate/water to a boil, simply use that as your steeping water. I haven't tried any yet, but I'm guessing this would be delicious with black, green, oolong or white tea!  

Alternately, you could simply mix together all of the herbs and store it in a glass jar, taking out one teaspoonful at a time to brew one cup of tea at a time the way that you normally do; however, simply steeping the tea blend won't produce as strong of a flavor as simmering it for a longer amount of time. 

Alternately again, to simply make tea that you and some friends would like to drink in thirty minutes or so - double the amount of spices but keep the amount of water the same. Strain and enjoy.



Fruit and Citrus Tea
Yields enough concentrate to make about eight to ten cups of tea.
All ingredients are dried

• 4 tablespoons ginko
• 4tablespoons lemongrass
• 4 tablespoons rosehips
• 2 tablespoons peppermint
• 1 small or 1/2 large dried citrus peel
• 10 green cardamom pods
• about 4 cups water

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over low heat until the tea is dark and fragrant - about half an hour. Alternately, put everything into a slow cooker and simmer over low heat for 8 hours.

Simmering tea, relaxing me...

Green Rice

I always have a large variety of green vegetables and seasonings hanging out in my kitchen - today I decided to use them all together! This recipe is very easy and quick to make and very filling. Serve it hot or cold!

The specific pesto sauce that I used in this recipe is my own Spinach and Squash Pesto, however, feel free to use your favorite pesto - homemade or store bought.

Green Rice
Serves 3-4

•  olive oil
• sea salt and ground black pepper
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried peppermint
• 1 cup green peas (thawed)
• 1 cup baby lima beans (thawed)
• 1/2 cup prepared pesto sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon kelp powder
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice
• 2 cups cooked brown rice

Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add in the onion, oregano, basil, thyme and peppermint and saute until the onion is soft and translucent, about ten minutes. Season with a little bit of salt and pepper. Add in the peas, lima beans, brown rice, pesto sauce, kelp powder and lime juice and mix well. Taste, and add in more lime juice, salt and pepper, if desired.

Beautiful green nutrition!

Green Berry Smoothie

I love smoothies in the morning. They're quick, filling and nutritious.

How is a smoothie filling? If you make smoothies like the ones I do, when you think about it, you're putting in a couple servings of fruit, two or three servings of vegetables, a couple of servings of nuts, and a superfood supplement. If you were to eat all of that separately it would be a pretty good meal.

I'm not a heavy eater at breakfast time... I used to be. At home, I would fry eggs and hash browns, make breakfast sandwiches, or put some fried eggs on top of rice. And I would always be super hungry again in a couple of hours, probably because my metabolism sped up super quickly to deal with the shock of all that food. In the past few years, I've weaned off of that. What good was it doing me to eat a fried meal in the morning and then snack all day until lunch? Now, I make a delicious smoothie about an hour after I wake up and I can keep going until lunchtime without discomfort from hunger. I made this transition slowly and I am glad I did!

That said, here's another smoothie I enjoy. The superfood powder that I list as optional really adds in a kick of healthy goodness and energy - I enjoy Amazing Grass Berry Flavor Drink Powder.

 When it's on sale, buy extra fresh berries and extra bananas. Slice the bananas into one inch slices and place on a piece of parchment paper in a single layer. Freeze them, and then place into bags - do the same with the berries. This way you always have frozen fruit for your smoothie and you don't have to use ice.

No picture because, well, the deep green superfood powder makes no smoothie look pretty ;)

Green Berry Smoothie

Layer these ingredients in the following order:

• about 1 cup frozen banana slices
• 4 frozen blackberries
• about 1/3-1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries and strawberries
• 1/4 cup cashews
• 1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves
• 10 fresh mint leaves
• 1-2 cups vanilla soymilk (depending on your blender and how thick you want the smoothie - just make sure the frozen fruit is completely submerged)
• 1 scoop Amazing Grass Berry Flavor Drink Powder (optional)
• 1-2 teaspoons honey

Blend, starting on a low speed and increasing slowly, until completely smooth. Give it some time - it takes a minute for the cashews and spinach to break up.

Breakfast Mint Toasts

I just made these for breakfast. In fact, I am still eating them and I simply could not wait to post them on this blog!!

A little while back we had bought some Greek sour cream to make stroganoff, and we had a bunch left. I've been staring at it in the fridge in anticipation of the expiration date. Then I decided to actually read the container.

This specific sour cream is Greek Gods brand, and it's not even sour cream, it's Kefir Cheese, or Lebni. Now that I look at it it's not sour cream at all, but I am absolutely certain it was on the same shelf as the sour cream in the grocery store... anyway, I absolutely love this brand's yogurt (especially the honey flavor) because it is extremely thick and creamy. The same for the this lebni - it's thick and creamy and very tart. Here's a picture of the package:

Well, on the back of the tub it says to mix it with some dried mint and eat it with pita. This morning I did sort of that, and it's great!!

If you don't have this product, cream cheese would be very similar but the dish would no longer be healthy. Plain or vanilla flavored Greek yogurt would also work, Fage brand is another one I like. Whatever you use, it must be of spreading consistency, so it won't slide off the bread.


Breakfast Mint Toasts

• 2 slices whole grain bread (here in the picture I used whole wheat hamburger buns, because that's what I had! haha)
• 3-4 tablespoons Greek Gods Lebni
• teaspoon or so of honey
• 2-3 tablespoons dried cherries, cranberries, blueberries, currants or raisins
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped walnuts or almonds
• 10-20 fresh mint leaves (depending on your level of minty preference)

 Preheat the broiler and place the bread slices underneath just until they are brown (my electric broiler does this in fifteen seconds - check often!) I only prefer one side of the bread toasted, but if you like the other too, flip it over. This side will take much less time to brown. Or, if you have a fancy toaster, use that.


Spread the lebni over the top of the bread slices and drizzle with however much honey you'd like (be careful though, honey is very sweet). Top with the dried fruit and nuts. Make a chiffonade of the mint leaves - stack them on top of each other in a pile, roll them up in a cylinder and slice extremely thinly (or mince the leaves). Spread atop the toasts, eat and enjoy!!