Non-Alcoholic Drinks
What's on the menu?
Russian Tea Mix aka Spiced Tea
My children's father, Roger Smith, first tasted spiced tea at his friends, Jake and Shirley Stevens', home when he first went to Rolla, Missouri to study for his doctorate. Shirley made the tea from scratch with fresh oranges and lemons. I am also enclosing Shirley's spice tea recipe in this cookbook. It is more work intensive and cannot be stored like this mix, but it is well worth the effort for a party. Most recipes for this tea mix are called Russian tea and I will use that name as well. Russian tea is also a great drink to serve during the holiday season. There's something about a hot, citrusy brew laced with sugar and spice that just screams Christmas. Since it was Roger's favorite winter drink, the kids would make up a big container of it for one of their dad's Christmas presents.
2 cups Tang orange drink mix
1 cup lemon flavored iced tea mix (Nestea Sweetened Ice Tea Mix with Lemon)
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
Combine all ingredients in a large jar with a tight-fitting lid. Whisk it around until all of the ingredients are completely mixed together. Mix one or two tablespoons to taste in a cup or mug and add boiling water. Stir and enjoy.
Almond Tea
1 (12-oz) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed and undiluted
1 cup sugar
3-4 tablespoons unsweetened instant tea
1 tablespoon almond extract
1 tablespoon vanilla
14 cups water
Combine lemonade, sugar, tea, almond extract and vanilla in a 1-gallon container. Mix well. Add 8 cups of water. Stir to blend. Add remaining water. Serve over ice.
Yield: 16 servings or 4 quarts
Southern Sweet Tea
As Southerners always say, iced sweet tea is the house wine of the South. And everyone has his or her own favorite recipe.
3 cups water
2 family-sized tea bags (I always use Luzianne Tea.)
½-1 cup sugar
7 cups cold water
Bring 3 cups water to boil in a saucepan: add tea bags, boil 1 minute: remove from heat. Cover and let steep for 10 minutes.
Remove and discard tea bags. Add desired amount of sugar, stirring until dissolved. Pour into 1 gallon container and add 7 cups of cold water. Serve over ice.
For peach iced tea, use the recipe above using ½ cup sugar. Stir together 1½ quarts of tea, 1 (46 oz.) bottle of peach nectar and 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice.
Serve over ice.
Iced Tea Punch
This punch is great served at baby and wedding showers and you can add vodka or bourbon at parties.
2 quarts strong tea
1 cup sugar
1 can(s) (12 oz) frozen lemonade
1 can(s) (12 oz) frozen orange juice
1 can(s) (46 oz) pineapple juice
1 cup ginger ale
Mix ingredients as listed. Add additional ginger ale to taste just before serving.
How to Make Perfect Sweet Iced Tea
5 to 7 individual Luzianne brand tea bags
1 quart of cool filtered or bottled water
Pinch of baking soda, optional
1 4-cup glass Pyrex measuring cup for steeping
2 quart glass pitcher, filled with ice
1 to 1½ cups of sugar, more or less, to taste
Fresh lemon, sliced or wedges, and some mint sprigs, also optional
Grab a pot and pour in one quart of cool filtered or bottled water, bringing to a full, rolling boil. For a milder tea, use 5 bags; for a more robust tea, go with 7. Spin the tea bags together so all the strings wrap together and set them inside a 4-cup glass Pyrex measuring cup with the tags hanging on the outside. Pour boiling water into the container and dip the tea bags in and out to begin releasing the tea leaves. Stick a plate on top and set the timer for exactly 9 minutes for a full-bodied tea, 5 minutes or less if you prefer a lighter version. Let the tea bags steep. Do not go longer than 9 minutes or you risk burning your tea leaves and will end up with a bitter tea.
I almost always do 5 teabags, steeped for 5 minutes, sweetened with 1 cup of sugar, and that's a most excellent glass of iced tea!
After the steeping time is up, take a wooden spoon and press the tea bags up against the side of the Pyrex cup and toss the tea bags into your compost pot. For insurance against bitterness you can add just a pinch of baking soda - no more than 1/8 teaspoon - to the steeped tea. It will not affect the flavor, but will take away bitterness if you happened to have burned your tea leaves.
Fill your glass pitcher with ice, pour the sugar on top of the ice and slowly and carefully pour the hot, steaming tea over the ice. If you prefer a sweeter tea, go with 1½ cups of sugar. Don’t pour hot tea directly into a glass pitcher without ice in it!!
Stir well and serve in a glass, preferably a crystal glass, over even more ice, garnish with a sprig of mint leaves and a nice juicy slice of lemon. Savor.
Sparkling Peach Slush Punch
Stove Top
One of my shower punches. Easy to take to party and leave in fridge until needed.
3 cups water
1 ½ cups sugar
3 oz. box of peach flavor Jello
29 oz. can peach slices in light syrup, undrained
5 cups peach juice blend
½ cup lemon juice
3 liters of ginger ale, chilled
In a large saucepan combine the water, sugar and gelatin. Bring to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar and gelatin. Remove from heat. Place peaches (with syrup) in a blender and blend until smooth. In an extra large bowl combine gelatin mixture, pureed peaches, peach juice blend and lemon juice. Divide peach mixture among four 1-quart containers. Cover and freeze for at least 8 hours or until firm. To serve, let containers stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Break peach mixture in a punch bowl or jug. Gently pour in ginger ale; stir until slushy. Serve at once. Mixture can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Incredible Punch
This is a favorite shower punch and was served many times at Chimneyrock wedding and baby showers.
2 (46 fluid ounce) bottles cranberry-raspberry juice
1 (32 fluid ounce) bottle pina colada mix (or can frozen)
2 liters raspberry ginger ale soda, can sometimes be found at Target (this is almost impossible to find now, so sub one can frozen raspberry juice mixed with 2 liters of ginger ale.)
pebble ice from Sonic or Abbay’s
In a large plastic container, combine cranberry-raspberry juice with the pina colada mix. Freeze overnight. Remove from freezer 30 minutes prior to serving. To serve, place frozen slush in punch bowl and slowly add raspberry ginger ale. Add the ice last or you will get an ugly foam on top of punch. It really is the pina colada mix that gives it the wonderful flavor. A can of pineapple juice can be added to heighten the flavor. 50 servings.
Cathy Wilson's Shower Punch
Cathy hosts a lot of bridal and baby showers. This is her go to punch. When it runs low, it is easy to add more of all the ingredients. Cathy was the first art teacher I met when we moved to Memphis in 1986. There were only 30 primary and secondary art teachers at that time in the district. We have been great friends for over 30 years. We raised our children together, traveled to other countries together, taught together. She became my principal, my art supervisor for the county, my graduate professor, and she held my hand and I'm sure prayed over me for two days when she thought I was going to die from the terrible wreck. She stayed with me until my children could get to me. She took me to all of my doctor's appointments where she guided me to the offices, sat with me, took notes, and reminded me about what I was instructed to do since I was still in a fog. She always makes me laugh. She has always believed in her motto: We can do it. When we taught art together, we always said that we were two halves of the same brain. I would tell her that I was Queen of Everything and she was Princess of Quite a Lot. When she hooded me at my master's graduation, I had to admit that she had evolved to goddess status. I love you, Cathy, dear sister and best friend.
1 cup Countrytime Lemonade Mix
3 cups cold water
1 (46 oz.) can chilled pineapple juice
2 cans of Sprite
Mix well in a punch bowl.
How to Make Perfect Sweet Iced Tea
Tea Tips:
For perfect tea always start with fresh filtered cool water - never tap water! Putting hot or still warm tea directly into a cold refrigerator often causes cloudiness. My method prevents this since you are pouring your steeped tea directly over ice cubes.
Bitterness in tea is caused by overcooking and burning the tea leaves - that is why it is important not to boil the teabags and not to steep them too long in boiling water. To counter, a pinch of baking soda - only about 1/8 of a teaspoon - can be added to the hot, steeped tea after you remove the bags. It will not affect the taste of your tea, and provides insurance against bitterness.
Use wooden spoons to squeeze your tea bags, a glass container - like a large Pyrex measuring cup - to steep your tea, and store it in a glass pitcher, not metal or plastic. After all that it seems proper to serve it in a tall, iced tea glass and not plastic, but that's up to you!
If you prefer your sweetened tea more on the sweet side, you'll probably want to go with 1½ cups of sugar.
Of course, substitute artificial sweetener per glass, or use Splenda for the entire pitcher, if you don't want to use sugar. I use the granulated Splenda in the large bag, about 3/4 cup is enough for me.
If you like lemon in your tea, try making ice cubes out of lemonade to use in the individual glasses. As they melt, they will infuse the tea with lemon flavor!
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