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Winter Citrus Green Tea

 

Sometimes the stars align and I'll find a cool recipe on Pinterest and have all the ingredients on hand to make it, without needing to run to the store for one item. This was the case with winter citrus green tea. It was pinned under “Dr. Oz's Metabolizing Tea” and since it's January and my pants are a bit snug from too much Christmas candy, I decided it was worth a gander, even though the rational voice in my head told me that drinking or eating anything isn’t going to make me magically thinner.

The original recipe called for tangerines (I don’t see why regular oranges wouldn’t work) fresh mint leaves, which I swapped for fresh basil (a member of the mint family but far less sweet and toothpaste-like), green tea bags, ginger and honey. I skipped the honey, only because I like my tea totally unsweetened. and added the juice of one lime, because I have a bag on limes in the fridge I need to get rid of and it's too cold for tequila shots.

Winter Citrus Green Tea

Ingredients:

1 tangerine or orange
1 lime
I tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tbsp fresh basil, roughly chopped
2 green tea bags

Directions:

1. Slice tangerine and lime into quarters

2. Place all ingredients in a quart-size jar

3. Fill the jar with boiling water

4. Let steep overnight

5. Pour liquid through a strainer into a pitcher or other container

6. Add one quart of cold water and stir

7. Serve cold and enjoy!  

Because I am the only person in my house drinking this tea, I make a pretty small batch. However, you could easily double it to accommodate a larger crowd.

Will this tea make you lose weight? Well, if you drink it in place of high calorie soda or chocolate donuts, then sure, it might. I don’t really hold with all the science of certain foods “burning” fat better than others. I think it is a matter of expending more calories than you consume. BUT I am not a scientist, nutritionist or doctor, so don’t construe anything I write as medical advice!  I simply like the taste of this tea – it’s cool, tart and tangy and a nice change from the heavier black teas I usually drink. Plus it is easy-peasy to make!

Maine Winter

Another round of ice is heading our way.  I managed to get outside today and snap some photos of the last round. I am not looking forward to extra work winter rain brings, but I do enjoy the beauty it leaves behind.

Did You Know...

Did you know that propane tank meters can freeze in cold weather? I didn’t. The Little Farm on the Hill is the first home in which I’ve used propane for any kind of heat or cooking fuel. So, when I dutifully checked my tank a few days ago and the meter read 40% it was really just hovering above zero. Sunday I was just getting ready to put a batch of New England Baked Beans into the oven when I noticed it wasn’t warming up. Then poof! No more propane. Luckily the propane is only used for my cook stove and a small cast iron heater in the kitchen; the rest of the house runs on oil and wood. 

The silver lining of my poor planning (I debated about getting a propane delivery just before Christmas but decided to skip it) is that the beans turned out even better, cooked on top of my woodstove. Recipe to follow.  

As far as homeowner follies (of which I am sure there will be plenty more) this one wasn’t so bad.

Sunday

Today was beautiful in the foothills. Another storm is looming, but for now I enjoyed the fresh air and mild temperatures (you know it's winter in Maine when 30 degrees is considered mild). I love my welcome sign attached to a lovely trellis on my woodshed. It was a carryover from the previous owners and I'm thinking I'd like to use it to plant clematis, so long as I can find a variety that does well with partial shade.

If you have any suggestions for planting clematis or any other climbing flowers, I'd love to hear them.

My greenhouse is looking a lot like an igloo these days. I keep reading about people who do winter gardening, and I'm wondering how early I could start using my greenhouse this spring?

Gardening in Winter

Now that the holidays are behind us, I am ready to start planning my garden adventures for the coming year. Despite temperatures hovering around zero today, I managed to get some good photos of the Little Farm on the Hill. I snapped a couple of close ups of some rose bushes and a beautiful vine that grows up the side of the porch. It was lush and green when we moved in back in July and I thought it might have been wild hops, but no hops or other flowers ever appeared. I'm looking forward to spring and summer so I can identify the many flowers that had already gone by before I arrived.

Rose hedge in January

Any guesses to what this vine might be?

The Beginning

 

The house was undeniably cute. A cottage-like white farmhouse with a wrap around porch I mean, who can say no to a wrap around porch? It’s like kicking a puppy. It was far from perfect, which also appealed to me. Perfect, new, mint condition things needed upkeep and constant attendance, something I no longer had the time nor the patience for. The house was more shabby chic than anything, with weathered wood trim and stone planters half hidden by lush weeds and wildflowers.  It had five bedrooms, which was ideal because there were five of us. It was less than half a mile to the downtown, something I had stressed to the realtor was of the utmost importance (even though I only walk into town about twice a month and only in good weather). And it was in my price range (low). But even so, it was just too much house for me. Along with the rambling house and porch, there was a garage, two wood sheds, a chicken coop, and a greenhouse. And I mean a honest-to-God-real-green-house – not one of those plastic-stretched-over-metal-hoops-jobs. What would I do with a greenhouse? 

And then there was the yard. I loved the idea of gardens. Vegetables planted in tidy rows, hedges of roses, banks of tiger lilies, flowerbeds running over in color and perfume. But the reality? I didn’t have time for any of that. I'm a working woman and single mother of four. I don't have time to play in the dirt. I have serious-grown-up-work-to-do. I was specifically looking for something that was low maintenance. I was not looking for the long, hilly driveway that I knew would be a hassle in the dead of a Maine winter. Nor the four different sloping roof lines that would be need to be raked free of snow and ice after every storm. Or the upper garden that was so buried by brambles it looked like an English maze had imploded. No, this house was just way more than I was looking for. But to be polite to my very nice realtor lady, I agreed to go look at it, one rainy April afternoon.

Despite all of the work I knew it was going to require, the money it was going suck up that could be spent on cars, vacations, or the kids college fund, despite it all, I knew the minute I stepped into the yard, I was home. And this is my story of how I got here and what happens next.