Recipe of the Month – Froyo Berries

Not long ago I posted an article about foods that are season versus foods that are out of season. Since it’s summertime, most berries are currently in season and at their juiciest, ripest, and freshest. That being said, I have a great, simple recipe for you.

The best part of this recipe is that you can choose literally any berry you like. Blueberries are my favorite, but even raspberries or strawberries could work.

Once you pick your berries out, grab a tub of Greek yogurt and line a cookie sheet with wax paper. All you’re going to do is dip your berry in the Greek yogurt and place it on the wax paper. I like plain old Chobani or Oikos Greek yogurt since the tang pairs nicely with the sweet fruit.

For smaller berries, you can use a toothpick to dip them in the yogurt. Once your cookie sheet is full of berries, place it in the freezer until the yogurt hardens. Make sure to eat the berries shortly after you decide to take them out of the freezer, because the yogurt will melt fast. Enjoy this cool summer treat as a snack or dessert that you don’t need to feel guilty about indulging in!

Cup of Tea

Tea has become a pretty hot (or iced) commodity these days. So popular, in fact, you can personalize your style and tea content to match YOUR likes. No more buying boring boxes of tea bags. You can mix and match real tea leaves, blend flavors, and more. But while this is all really fun stuff, are you just on the tea bandwagon because it’s cool? As you suck down yet another canister of iced tea today, find out more about the benefits (and drawbacks) tea offers.

~Style~

Do you know the difference between loose leaf tea and tea bags? If you care about quality, content, and taste, you want to! Loose leaf tea, like the tea you can buy at Teavana, is of higher quality than the tea bags you can buy just about anywhere else. Loose leaf tea is made of entire tea leaves and large, hand picked buds. The tea found in tea bags, while taken from the same sources, is a combination of smaller, broken up pieces. This reduces the quality of the tea as flavor is compromised.

While tea bags are arguably more convenient, you shouldn’t necessarily sacrifice convenience for quality. Loose leaf tea can typically be re-steeped for multiple brews, without losing the flavor of the tea. This is because loose leaf tea, when steeped, has more room to absorb the hot water and expand to extract the flavors. The result is a high quality, fresh tasting, highly flavorful cup of tea.

Tea bags, on the other hand, are good for one brew and often have a bitter, harsh taste as a result of more tannins escaping from the tea bag into the tea. This results from the small, broken pieces of tea leaves having a larger surface area – so most of that delicious flavor you’re trying to infuse into your water evaporates away. The result is a quickly brewed, harsh tasting cup of tea.

Additionally, loose leaf tea can be personal! When you buy tea bags, you’re restricted to the flavors offered on the boxes. When purchasing loose leaf tea, you can easily mix flavors and make your own unique blends, without reducing quality and taste.

Either way you enjoy your tea, remember that it does in fact have an expiration date. When stored properly in an air tight container, good quality tea can last anywhere from six months to a year.

~Content~

Caffeine – Many teas contain caffeine, and certain types may even have higher caffeine contents than coffee. So if you think you’re being healthier simply because you’ve replaced your coffee addiction with tea, think again.

Antioxidants – Antioxidants are micronutrients that really help our bodies by protecting the tissues and preventing harmful chemical reactions from occurring in our cells. You can find antioxidants in fruits and vegetables and the most common antioxidant compounds are pretty well known: Vitamins A, C, E, beta-carotene, selenium, and more! Tea contains plenty of these helpful vitamins.

Calories – Tea is one beverage you don’t need to feel bad about indulging in. There’s no sodium, cholesterol, saturated fat, etc. in tea. Plus, if you’re using loose leaf tea instead of tea bags, you likely won’t even feel the need to add sugar or any other sweetener to it because the flavor is all there!

~Good or Bad~

Like anything, too much can be a bad thing. While most teas have less caffeine than coffee, that doesn’t mean there’s no caffeine in the tea you drink. So drinking multiple cups per day can result in anxiety, restlessness, and trouble sleeping.

Similarly, since tea does contain caffeine, and since caffeine is a stimulant, you can become addicted and dependent upon it. If you typically have a few cups of tea per day, then suddenly stop drinking it, you may experience the usual symptoms of withdrawal such as headaches and fatigue.

On the other hand, the antioxidants found in tea have great health benefits. Drinking tea can help protect us against cancers and other degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Tea helps hydrate us, even despite the caffeine. This has a domino effect, often aiding people in weight loss, managing Type 2 diabetes, and lowering cholesterol levels.

Green tea in particular has a lot of health benefits including increasing bone density, combating allergies, promoting eyesight health, and warding off the effects of UV radiation. (Don’t believe me? Read this.)

So, all in all, I’d say go ahead and put down the coffee mug. Buy some loose leaf tea flavors. Mix them up, brew them over ice and enjoy a nice cool, healthy beverage this summer.