I'm Melting...

It’s really been a hot summer here…whimper…

I don’t do hot. I’m a sweater weather person and love cold weather. There, I said it. Don’t send hate mail.

I drink a lot of herbal teas year round and make my own blends. In the winter I  brew warming teas, in the summer I need something to cool me down.  If you’ve ever made sun tea with tea bags then you can easily make herbal sun teas, too.

Lemon Verbena Herbal Sun Tea

If you are using fresh herbs from the garden, use two to three times as much as you would for dried herbs. Why? Dried herbs often have more potent flavor.

For a small jar of tea “concentrate” I use a handful of crushed herbs in a jar of cool water.

Some nice cooling herbs? You can use any of the mints, but I also like Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena or a combination of all of them. I grow lots of Stevia, so I’ll stick a leaf or two in the mix for a touch of sweetness.

Tuck the crushed leaves in the jar, add water and close up the jar.

Now set your jar in a sunny place for the day.

Later that afternoon…

Strain out the herbs and taste. If you want to add a bit of honey, go for it!  If it’s too strong, add some water, then add your ice cubes. You can jazz up any teas up with a wedge of citrus fruit as a garnish. I like an orange slice with spearmint tea. And sometimes a bendy straw.

Refrigerate any leftover tea- it should be good for 24 to 36 hours or so before the flavor goes ‘off’

In the summer I’ll make a jar of herbal tea daily to have for the following day.

That way I never lose my cool

Unless you ask my kids.

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If you liked this post, and would like to learn more about growing your own herbs then sign up for my online classes at Growing Herbs For Beginners!

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A really excellent herb-snack, these Rosemary glazed nuts are beautiful and simple to make.

Six ingredients is all it takes. Mixed nuts (or just your favorites) fresh Rosemary, Cayenne pepper, butter, brown sugar, and sea or Kosher salt. You can find Nigella’s recipe here.

You can tweak the recipe and add a bit more cayenne for those that prefer the spicier stuff.

Me? I’ll add more Rosemary next time since I love the stuff.

Either way, it’s all really good!

Gluten Free Herbed Bread

Gluten free herbed bread, that is… this is a recent dietary adjustment at our house.

I combined a gluten free bread mix from Bob’s Red Mill along with another GF bread recipe I found. I tossed in some herbs, ( see below) a variety of seeds, and baked the whole thing into a large round loaf. Surprisingly it  turned out very nicely!

I never know what I’ll get when I start to experiment like this – sometimes I get carried away… *blush*

 It made a flavorful heavy/hearty “whole grain” style loaf. When paired with a steaming hot mug of beef stew, the herb bread was the perfect “dunking” companion.

I have long added herbs to my ‘regular’ flour breads and rolls, and now continue to experiment with my gluten free breads. Thankfully there are many great GF blogs I follow for great recipe ideas! If you are interested let me know and I’ll post a few of my favorites.

Here are some herbs to add to your breads. Try pairing a few of them together, or for your first try, you might just go with a single herb.  Adding seeds such as caraway, dill, coriander, and others can add great flavor to breads and rolls, too!

You could also do plain bread or rolls served with an herb butter. Herbed butter is SO easy to make and really delicious with vegetables or breads. OK, with anything really.

Yum!