It's only the first week of August and it's been Hot. Very hot. Hot marked with pockets of dumping rain and mosquitoes. One can't drink beer all day long to stay cool and still function. I've been drinking buckets of iced tea.
Now I'm not a commercial iced tea fan. I don't like the sickly sweet stuff with fake lemon flavor. I like the astringent taste of black tea and just a ton of fresh mint and herbs. I brew my iced tea just like I brew regular tea, by using a tea pot. Depending what is growing in my yard, I'll shove it in the pot with a couple of tea bags and let it seep. Then I'll pour the tea over ice in a very large glass. Today was a combination of mint leaves, sage, rosemary, dragon wart, I mean tarragon, and lavender. I'll toss in two bags of black tea and two bags of a lemon herb tea.
It's very tasty stuff and I can vary it as I feel. Fresh sliced peaches would be very good with the iced tea!
I had stumbled across a post about Mexican Ice Pops or Paletas. They are a less sweet version of a popsicle using fresh. One recipe stuck out at me. Cucumber Lime Chile Pops. ingredients
They are just a sweet, sour, spicy explosion! Which is good because I found Rocket Pop Models in which to make them.
I added a healthy handful of basil and didn't peel the cucumber. It's one of those pops that you can't stop eating. Just spicy enough to force you to keep chomping on them and cooling enough to beat the heat.
I'm going to try the peach ginger ones when i get around to it. Or I'll just sit in the yard with a big glass of ice tea and try not to melt!
Monica
Well, I discovered something that I already knew. Hot, spice wise, food gets hotter when you freeze it. Where I was slightly heavy handed when it came to adding jalapeño powder to the cucumber ice pops was my mistake. As of day four, the pops are too spicy for me to eat!