Russian to Make Tea

This was a submission for the Carnival of the Recipes... I am re-posting it here in the interest of collecting my recipes spread across the intertubes into one place.

The deadline fast approaches and I MUST submit a recipe. I’ve pondered long and hard and thought about all of the things I’ve made using tea or coffee. I then thought about the things I’ve made for which I have fond memories. (I can recall several “OMG what is in this?” and “You call THIS coffee?”). By now you can probably tell I’m not much of a coffee or tea drinker. I like my caffeine with some carbonation and phosphoric acid.

When I do make tea it is for tea parties around the fire. I always use Red Rose brand (decaffeinated for the kids). I have one of those lovely teapots with a candle to keep it warm. I prefer lemon. (I can hear the groans from my elegant tea-drinking comrades starting in on everything I am doing wrong. But I’m not going to care about that.) For tea, the coffee table is spread with whatever tidbits and goodies we can pull out of the pantry and freezer. There is usually a cheese tray with a good cheddar and probably a havarti. There are good crackers. Sometimes there is bread with artisnal balsamic and olive oil. Sometimes there is bread with homemade jam. Some times we have an assortment of deli meats, roasted peppers, and marinated veggies. Fruit and veggies are often found. (Some of my littlest friends love strawberries and cherry tomatoes and we hate to disappoint.) There are always pistachio nuts and cookies. Any sort of cookie you want to make or buy. I’ll share some of our favorites at another time as I see from the little clock on my screen that I now have even less time than before.

Tea. At any rate. I’m not a big tea drinker. I didn't like it much as a kid until I was sick one year. My best friend and neighbor would always bring a chicken pox box, the invention of one of the neighborhood moms to save the sanity of another mom during an extended bout of chicken pox. Since I was a bit older than the traditional crayons and coloring book my friend included tasty treats. One of them was Russian Tea Mix. (Fingers in ears trying desperately to ignore the screams from the tea drinkers.) I don’t know if I’d drink it these days but my kids would. It is a fond memory and now I am going to share it with you.

Russian Tea

2 cups sweetened lemon tea mix
1 1/2 cups Tang
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves

Mix together. Store in airtight container. Put 2-3 tsp in a mug. Add one cup boiling water. Stir. Sip. Enjoy.

I usually go light on the cloves. You
can use 1/4 cup tea mix and 1 1/2 c lemonade mix if you don’t have the flavored tea.