Who’s hot?  Seems heat waves have been rolling across the country all summer. I’m BURNING UP!!

Actually, it’s a cool 73 degrees here. Sorry to mess with you East coasters. We don’t call ours the BEST Coast for nothing.

Watch: now we’ll have an earthquake or something.

Anyway, during our 2 hot days last week. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) I got sicka drinking tepid water out of my battered old Camelbak. And it was way before 5 so I had to think fast.

How about a refreshing iced tea?

People, this is so easy. So yummy. So refreshing & with just a touch of caffeine to get you over that late afternoon hump.

You can get all you need at Trader Joe’s (or any old grocery store.)

You need:

- green tea
- mango nectar (juice)
- fresh mint (OPTIONAL)
- ice cubes (not pictured – but I know you’ve seen them before)

I use a large saucepan to boil my tea water. When it’s JUST ABOUT boiling, turn off the heat. Dunk in the tea bags & steep for 3 minutes MAXIMUM.

This is something I just learned – green tea will tend toward bitter if you steep it too long.

Then I just let it cool on the countertop. I usually make it the night before. When it’s cool, I put the whole saucepan in the fridge overnight. In the morning I pour it into my glass Pyrex pitcher & keep it chilled.

Measurements are by eye. I add mango nectar to that pitcher until it’s almost full. I then pour myself a glass over ice and taste it. Then stir the rest with a spoon, adding more nectar if it needs it.

I don’t like it too sweet – just a hint of sweetness. I think I add 2-3 cups of juice to the tea.

You can also crush some mint leaves & drop them in if they don’t bug you when you’re drinking.

Refreshing & a little more special than water or a bottled drink.

Some call this the “Shrek” smoothie. Since my kids don’t know Shrek as well as Kermit I called it a Kermit smoothie.

They LOVE it!

INGREDIENTS:
1 frozen banana
1 c frozen peaches
1 c frozen mango chunks
2-3 c cold almond milk
2-3 ice cubes
2 handfuls spinach
OPTIONAL: splash lemon or orange juice

Honestly, I don’t measure this stuff! I put about half the frozen fruit into the blender & 1 c of the almond milk & blend. Then add the ice cubes. Blend. (Add as much more almond milk as you may need.) Add the rest of the fruit. Blend. Then add the spinach. Blend. As you can probably tell, I don’t have a powerful blender. If you have a Vita Mix or whatever you can probably toss it all in at once!

Start out using less almond milk until you get used to it. It’s easier to thin the smoothie out than it is to make it thicker.

I love to add a few ice cubes and 2-3 TBSP lemon juice since it’s a sweet drink and needs a little acid.

You can’t taste the spinach at all! My kids LOVE this! They have had variations on this one for the past three days. What’s the spinach for? Spinach is SOOOOOOO full of vitamins!! And it makes a crazy bright Kermit green smoothie! (Unless you add blueberries & strawberries, in which case it makes a gnarly brown smoothie that is still delicious.)

There’s my other “smoothie” on the left. A STRONG coffee.

The kids drink it from those plastic cups you get at restaurants.This one is from Benihana’s. And the beer cozy (koozie?) is courtesy of a pre-kid weekend up at the Tuolumne River. Classy!

Maddie wants to call it “Frog Pillow Smoothie” after a particularly filthy little someone special to her.