drinks

Homemade Tea Blends

- Tobia 6 Comments
homemade tea blends herbs in glasses

I am one of the many people who picked up a new hobby during corona. It started in the spring of 2020 when we were in lock-down or coming out of (who knows…) and all we were able to do is spend time walking around. Preferably in places where no other people were met. During my walks I started to identify and later on gathering herbs. My goal was to make homemade tea blends. I knew about certain herbs that are good when having a cold. My grandma used to collect coltsfoot and I loved coltsfoot tea. But she always kept it locked up so we could only have it when being sick.

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Spicy Fruit Punch for winter days

- Tobia 2 Comments
craftaliciousme seeking creative life Spicy fruit punch

After being locked up for the last few days I needed to get outside today. I knew it got cold but I was still a bit surprised how cold it was. Winter was in the air. I could almost smell snowflakes but not quite yet. When I was strolling the streets I thought to myself this will be a really cold long winter. We hadn’t had those in a while. I am looking forward. Just need to get used to the cold. Cold air makes everything feel fresh and new. However when I came home I was chilled to the bone. Time for a spicy fruit punch to warm me up.

Good thing I had all the ingredients already at hand. Let me invite you for a glass and if you are not able to stop by let me share the recipe with you.

What you need:

♥ bag of homemade chai tea
♥ redcurrant juice
♥ mint

Preparations are quite simple. Boil the chai tea in water and let simmer for about 30 mins. Add approx. same amount of juice to the concoction. Heat up. Fill in glass and decorate with min leaves.

craftaliciousme seeking creative life Spicy fruit punch

If you enjoy this recipe you might also like Kuuma Karpalomehu – Finnish Hot Cranberry Juice. Now I wonder what your favorite hot drink during winter time is. Let me know so I can give it a try.

Happy winter,

Tobia

spicy fruit punch for cold winter days

Finnish inspired Hot Cranberry Juice – Kuuma Karpalomehu

- Tobia 4 Comments

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Good morning,

Once a year I invite you for a Finnish meal on my blog. We had cake and breakfast and last year some Salmon Soup. High time for a warming drink.

Kuuma Karpalomehu Hot finnish Cranberry Juice

When we enjoyed our honeymoon in Lapland we were often served a hot drink when sitting by the fire warming up after our outdoor adventures with huskies and reindeers.

As vegetation is scarce so far up north it doesn’t surprise that there isn’t a huge variety of juices, fruits and vegetables available. It is mirrored in the food and drink choices. So besides coffee – that is served religiously – you can drink Hot Cranberry Juice everywhere. And I mean everywhere…

For me this was somewhat of a light bolt moment. I mean sure I know of hot cider and shared my recipe here but for some reason I never really thought about heating up other juices. But I really took a liking to it. Now when I drink this it takes me right back to my honeymoon, the snow covered countryside, the crystal clear air, my cold cheeks and this deep felt happiness. Come join my be making yourself a pot!

Here is my personal version of this Finnish Hot Cranberry Juice –  Kuuma Karpalomehu

♥︎ 1/2 cup cranberry sirup (I used the one from here)
♥︎ 2-3 cups of water
♥︎ one bag of my homemade chai tea
♥︎ a slice of ginger

Bring water, ginger and chai tea to boil and let simmer for 30 min. Add sirup and let simmer for 5-10 min. The longer the sirup will cook the sweeter the concoction will get. I prefer spicy over sweet but adapt to your liking.

finnish cranberry juice

I will dream a bit more of my honeymoon, enjoy my fourth wedding anniversary and dream of more trips and vacations. And you stop by for dinner next year. I already know what I am serving.
Or please sooner I don’t mind!

Happy day to you,

Tobia

finnish hot cranberry juice-5

Red Currant Summer Drink {Lemonade Party}

- Tobia Leave a comment

How is your summer treating you so far?

It’s been a while since we had some lemonade up on the blog. And by now you know that I love love love lemonade and that I hardly drink anything else during summer besides homemade lemonade and some iced tea.

So today I have some red currant lemonade for you.

red currant syrup

What you need:

♥ 400 g red currant
♥ 10 tbs sugar
♥ 750 ml water

Clean and wash the berries and put them in a big pot. Add sugar and let sit for a bit so that the berries can get juicy.

Add water and start boiling. Let simmer for about 15 minutes. Berries will loose their color and look very dead.

Put berries in a strainer and catch all liquid. Then put liquid back on stove and let simmer until it’s syrupy.

Wash your bottle with hot hot water. Fill in syrup, close bottle and turn upside down to seal.

yummy red currant syrup

Enjoy your homemade red currant lemonade!

Happy brewing,

Tobia

P.S. For more lemonade recipes check out my lemonade party.

Iced Coffee { Recycle Quick Tip #8 }

- Tobia 6 Comments

I usually have my cup of coffee by pushing a button and it’s done. However when having guests it would keep me quite busy. So we also got a fancy French press system for our wedding. But what to do when some is left?!

iced coffee

Freeze it. Yep.
With this kind of weather iced coffee is the best choice. But putting ice cubes in your coffee usually makes it quite watery (is that a word?). So freeze your cold coffee and just pour milk over your cubes. Very yummy, very refreshing.

iced coffee
And because I really love my iced coffee these days I link it to Frollein Pfaus MMI.

Any other tips how to use up cold coffee? Let me know in the comments.