Wassail

This is an old-fashioned spiced drink that is served warm, similar but different from spiced cider. It is nice in the winter with snacks.

Ingredients:

4 cups unsweetened apple juice
3 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
2 cups cranberry juice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
lemon slices

Mix all together and simmer on the stovetop for about 1 hour or warm and put in a crock pot/slow cooker a couple hours before serving.

Banana Crunch Punch

This is a wonderful drink for summer at picnics or parties.

Ingredients:

4 cups sugar
6 cups water
5 oranges (may use unsweetened orange juice with pulp- approximately 2 1/2 - 3 cups)
2 lemons
1  46 oz can pineapple juice
5 mashed bananas

Boil sugar and water until syrupy (about 3 minutes). Cool. Juice the oranges and lemons. Combine citrus juice with pineapple juice and crushed bananas.  Add syrup to juices. Mix well and freeze.

When ready to serve, add 7-up or Ginger Ale to frozen punch. Serve while icy. Should be slushy.

Healthy and Tasty Green Drink

Trying to eat more healthy? This is a great way for you to have a powerful nutritional drink that is easy to take on the go and keeps well in the fridge. My grandfather drank this for many years, and I have started trying to make this for our family. This will surely help your body fight off sickness and give it the nutrients we all need. Although it takes a little time to clean/prep the items, but you may only need to make it every few days. The options of fruits and veggies that you can put together are limitless. So have fun and give this a try. At my house, I blend it up and then give a "shot" of it to everyone, including all the kids (some are happier than others, but they have learned to eat/drink what is given for the most part). It is helpful to have a good blender.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1-2 apples, washed, cored and cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup of peaches, canned, fresh or frozen
• 1 -2 cups of crushed pineapple or pineapple juice, unsweetened
• 1 small cucumber, mostly peeled, or 1/2 medium cucumber
• 1 stalk celery, cleaned and cut into chunks
• 1 heaping handful of rinsed spinach
• 2-3 leaves of romaine lettuce, cleaned and torn into chunks, or you may use kale
• 4-6 sprigs of parsley, without the thicker stems
• 1 large carrot, or may use a large handful of baby carrots (I prefer these as they are not so pulpy and usually sweeter)
• optional- 1-2 Tbsp chia seeds (this actually helps keep it thicker as the ice melts or it sits in the fridge)
• 1 tbsp flax seed (ground or whole)

Directions:

• Blend first few ingredients together and add the remaining gradually as your blender can handle it. You may need to scrape down the sides and push the lettuce/spinach down at times.
•  If you desire it very cold, you may add some ice. However, the blender will be very full. So you may need to take some out in order to add the ice.

This is pretty thick and you may want to add some water or other type of unsweetened juice if you like it thinner. I usually eat this with a spoon.

To all of our health!

Iraqi Chai

Boil water and black tea with cardamom seeds for approximately 3 minutes. You may use 1 teabag and 1 cardamom seed for every 2 cups of water. If you are using loose tea leaves, you may use 1 tbsp of tea per 3-4 cups of water.  You may want to adjust the amount of tea and spice to the amount of water depending on how strong you like the tea.

After the tea and spice have set for about  5 minutes off the heat, pour into cups and serve with sugar and cream to taste, if desired.