amazon.com

We had a spate of hot weather at the beginning of June and Olivia, like the rest of us, was guzzling liquids like no tomorrow. At the time, all we had in the house was lemonade mix, juice and water. She does drink a fair amount of water, but was also drinking a lot of juice and lemonade. I wasn't thrilled with all the extra calories she was taking in, not to mention the cost of restocking all that juice and lemonade. It's amazing how quickly the people in my house go thru that stuff - I don't drink it, but man, I hear about it when it's gone.

So the next time I was at the market, restocking said drinks, I decided to look for an alternative. I don't buy soda, for a variety of reasons (the main one being that it's crap) and I try to stay away from too much artificial sweeteners, so I wound up in the tea aisle.

Iced tea is good, but Olivia and I both prefer it sweetened. And I'm a geek and have to make it with simple syrup and mint and it becomes this project and frankly, something I save for occasions rather than just something to drink on a day to day basis. Besides, the simple syrup means carbs and carbs mean insulin.

I perused the aisle and came across the Celestial Seasonings teas. I remember my mother making me Red Zinger tea when I was sick as a child and loving the taste of it - the tang of rose hips was delicious. I thought that might make a tasty iced tea that wouldn't require any sweetening.

I filled a 20 ounce glass bottle with water and put 4 tea bags in it. The best part about this iced tea is that it brews right in the fridge. A couple of hours later, I had a lovely iced tea, needing no additions at all. It was refreshing and tasty and easy as pie, which is always a plus.

All the girls loved it and I felt good about letting them drink as much as they needed. I even froze some of it in ice cube trays so the tea wouldn't get diluted when it was chilled. Just call me Martha.

There are several types of Zinger teas - next time I'm at the market, I plan on picking up a couple of other kinds, too, and keeping the fridge stocked with this tasty treat.