What do you think? Is it Physalis?

I have been off on vacation, and truth be told, it has not been so relaxing for me. I am a naturally wound up guy, so relaxing is a bit of a hard thing for me to do. Panic attacks, fear of dying and the works. Goes to show you that your health is in your mind as well.

So, I have to learn to truly relax. I have not posted much in the last few days because I needed to get my mind off of cooking for a couple of days.

Truth is, I don’t have much in the way of hobbies other than cooking, and I guess that can be unhealthy. I guess my garden counts as a hobby, albeit a neglected one. Well, nothing takes the mind off a sharp chest pain like weeding.

Today I actually sat down and watched a couple of videos in an attempt to find out why my San Marzano tomatoes are not preforming like I would like. One plant totally is sucking wind, and the other is a bit overgrown. I found a cool, short video describing what to do – pruning your tomato plant to 2 lines. I hope I have not screwed my plant up too badly now.

My yard also looks like a jungle. I am sure the neighbors appreciate the work I put into ripping out the waist-high thistles, dandelions and other nameless wonders. All the dog manure is picked up, ready to go, and even the herbs are properly clipped.

I was in a corner of my lot cleaning out what looked like some weird vines when I stumbled onto something that blew me away. I use Physalis all the time, (AKA ground cherries, cape gooseberries,) and I was startled to see vines growing on the ground. Thing is, I never planted them before!

Here are some crappy pictures, can you all tell me if I am right about this?

Excuse the beer shorts... Here is a shot.

I am so excited, if I am right, accidental gardening is an awesome thing! Now to figure out how to make it grow better.

I recently posted an attempt to make an ice cream suitable for a diabetic. Here is another popular flavor, strawberry.

There were some pitfalls in the last batch, namely the graininess after the ice cream was spun. There were a few great comments to how to avoid that scenario, and it got me to thinking.

What if I used a natural thickener to set my ice cream? One could use stabilizers, algae, or gelatin to set up the ice cream. The idea is to replace the structure of the sugar in the ice cream so it does not freeze into a solid block.

Today I thought I would try my hand at using yogurt. The milk is naturally thickened by the bacteria in the yogurt, and it would also have a creamier profile.

I make yogurt regularly, and I have a great post on how to do that. There is a little fore planning for this recipe, unless you replace it with commercially prepared yogurt. Be careful to use a Balkan style though, as you don’t want a yogurt that is thickened with gums and gelatin. Look for something around 6 to 10% milk fat.

The other key to this recipe is using local fruit. If you just buy those disgusting huge strawberries that are pure white when you cut into the center, you need to add more sugar to coax the flavor out of them. I prefer to eat my sugar naturally, thank you.

I am lucky enough to live in Quebec, and I have a bit of strawberries growing in my back yard. I supplemented the amount by going to the local market. This year is a bit expensive for strawberries, as it has rained like crazy. In the end though, I ended up paying less than half than for the fake strawberries you see at the grocery store.

Blend strawberries, eggs, cream, yogurt, and Sugar Twin together with a hand-blender

Since I was going to use a hand blender today, I made this into a 1 bowl affair. It worked out pretty good, and my other half was not as vexed with the amount of dishes.

No graininess, and a couple of spoonfulls missing.

The mixture spun up really good, and there was no sign of the graininess like before. My son could not wait, so I had to give him a few spoonfuls to tide him over. That was a good sign.

Here's a trick: cover the top of your ice cream to prevent a skin from forming.

The ice cream held its own, and was a sucess. I was not so sure of the Sugar Twin, but in the end it turned out great. If you knew it was in there, you could tell. My wife and son ate it without complaint, so speaks volumes.

Wow, good enough for a Diabetic!

The next ice cream I am going to try out will have Stevia leaves for sweetening. For that, I will be making the most popular flavor of all, Vanilla!

Quebec Strawberry Ice Cream

Inspired by Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book pg 54

Serves: 8

Calories per serving: (4 ounces): 123.99

Carbohydrates: 7.26 grams

Ingredients:

• 1 pint fresh Quebec strawberries, hulled, chopped (you can use your own local strawberries, just please… local only!)
• 1 cup Sugar Twin
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1 cup yogurt (preferably homemade or at least 6% milkfat)
• 2 free-range organic eggs

Method:

1. Combine strawberries, Sugar Twin, and lemon juice together in a large bowl. Toss together, and place into the fridge to macerate for at least an hour, (or overnight.)
2. Take out the bowl, add the cream, yogurt, and eggs. Grab your hand blender and blend the works until it is smooth. Some people prefer to have chunks in their ice cream. If that is you, go ahead and take out half first the strawberries at first, then add them back  in the next step.
3. Add your ice cream to your maker according to the manufacturer;s instructions. When the ice cream is ready, taste a few spoonfulls, then place it into a container, covering the top with plastic wrap before putting on the lid.

Why can’t a Diabetic enjoy ice cream?

Something that bothered me about my Diabetes diagnosis was the things I had to give up. Ice cream is one of those things. Nothing says summer like a nice bowl of ice cream. Today’s post will attempt to bring back what Diabetics are forbidden to have: Ice Cream!

I recently had the displeasure of eating what passed as “ice cream” for diabetics at an ice cream stand. Trouble was, it tasted like plastic. The experience wasn’t all that great, but it got me to thinking:

What is ice cream?

Basically: air, cream (or milk for those misguided fat-free crowd), sweetener, and eggs.

Of course, it goes without saying that sugar as a sweetener is what gives us Diabetics the most trouble.

What if we used another sweetening agent instead? There are so many different products to sweeten with that I decided to make a Facebook Page just for Diabetic Ice Cream experiments.

What follows is today’s experiment, using an awesome ice cream machine, the Cuisinart ICE 50-BC (link goes to my Amazon store page). Of course, you don’t need a fancy machine to make this ice cream, but it sure helps.

Here is the experiment:

Today I will experiment with Splenda. The results will be at the end, with the recipe.

Start with 2 free range eggs

Here you see an action shot! Whisk those eggs until they are frothy!

Wait! You mean you are not going to cook them? Before you balk at not cooking the eggs, remember that if your eggs are fresh, it’s okay to eat them raw. For example, you would eat raw eggs when you eat mayonnaise.

Why not cook them like all those other recipes say? The reason is the mixture would thicken like a custard, and have a cooked flavor. There is enough fat in this mixture that we can enjoy the fresh taste of the cream and milk. Besides, I don’t like to heat Splenda from the packets. In coffee it is fine, but I have never had success with other heating applications with the packets. Perhaps the bulk Splenda is different.

In another bowl, 1 Cup of half-and-half

Some recipes will call for milk. I replaced it with half-and-half to up the fat content. Understand this people – the fat in ice cream is not what makes you gain the weight. It’s the sugar!

Add 2 cups heavy cream to the half-and-half in the bowl.

A quick aside here… I love Martha Stewart! Seriously, I love her magazines. I recently took a quiz on her site to see if I was a “master chef or a novice cook?” I got 9 out of 10! One of the questions was on how you measure liquids. You can see I did not really measure this at eye level. I will tell you a secret though – we don’t use liquid measurements in a professional kitchen. We use a scale. But I digress… back to the ice cream at hand!

Add 2 tablespoons of Premium freeze-dried coffee to the cream mixtures. Yes, that is bacon in the background! I was eating my breakfast while preparing for this post!

Yes, it’s a shortcut. Thing is, I could probably make some double strength espresso, incorporate it into the mix. Truth though, this way isn’t so bad. Sometimes you can make a compromise and not affect the flavor. In this case, the flavor is superior to the espresso.

Add in 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the bowl.

My favorite cacao powder is Barry Extra Brut. You can get it by clicking on that link that goes to my Amazon store. I like to put it into a plastic container so it will keep almost indefinitely.

Add in 18 packets of Splenda to the bowl.

Wow! You’re asking yourself, “Why doesn’t he just add in the baking Splenda?” Good question. I didn’t feel like buying a whole box of the stuff, and I had some leftover for my morning coffee before I discovered Stevia, so why not use them up? Find out how that turned out later…

Whisk everything together to blend ... sort of.

Don’t get too carried away about blending the mixture. The eggs are coming next, you’ll get another chance. The main problem is incorporating the cacao powder with the liquids…

Pour and whisk the eggs into to the chocolate mixture.

Pour the eggs into the chocolate mixture. Why use another bowl to whip the eggs WDC?

I think it is only to annoy my wife. See, she hates it when I have so many different dishes for one recipe. I really can’t think of another reason.

Whisk for all your might!

Here’s your second chance to mix the works up. Once the mixture is homogenized, you can stop. (I just had to slip that big word in there!)

This is why I am fat - I can't resist the tasting of food!

Taste the mixture. Keep in mind that it might be a little sweeter than you are used to cold. The sweet sensation will dissipate with the cold, so keep that in mind. You may have to adjust the sweetness with another packet or two of Splenda. Of course, I always use that as an excuse to “test” things out. See if it works for you!

The Monster Ice Cream Machine!

Worth every penny folks! This machine will pay for itself in, uhh, 2 or so years. The best part? You don’t have to freeze the bowl to make ice cream. It has it’s own refrigeration unit inside. The downside? It weighs a tonne, and can’t exactly go on your counter.

Another bad point is your significant other might curse it when they trip over it in the kitchen floor. But… back to this post!

Turn the motor on, then add the ice cream mixture in a thread through the hole.

The machine is loud, but if your significant other just turns up the T.V., all will be well in the household. Alternately, you could put the machine in the bathroom with the door closed. Excessive, but if it avoids an argument? Why not!

Spin the ice cream mixture for 30 to 60 minutes.

The number 1 ingredient in ice cream is air. The reason it tastes so light and fluffy is because of the air that is worked into it. If you don’t have a machine, the ice cream won’t be as nice because the ice cream mixture will freeze into crystals. The paddles on the machine break the crystals as they freeze, and incorporate more air into the mixture as they swoop through the mix.

The amount of air added into the ice cream is called “overrun”, and is the main reason you see gums and thickening agents added to commercial ice creams. Enough theory!

Of course, if you don't have that huge monster machine, you could just put it into a bowl for the freezer

If you don’t have a fancy machine, you can opt for the freezer method. Put the bowl into the freezer, and set a timer for every 5 minutes. When it goes off, pull out your bowl and whisk the ingredients together. Repeat those steps until the mixture resembles a slightly melted ice cream. It will not be as nice, and it will be a major pain in the ass. (Especially if your significant other is trying to catch up on their PVR shows and the alarm goes off every 5 minutes!)

Put the ice cream into a container with a piece of plastic touching the ice cream's top. Then place a lid over it.

No, your ice cream is not ready yet! It will need some curing time in the freezer first. If you must, you could give out a few tablespoons here and there as a taste, but avoid eating too much. It will be too soft!

After a couple of hours, your ice cream will be hard enough to scoop, and you will have this deliciousness to eat!

The results:

The ice cream turned out a little bit grainy. I think it was due to the Splenda. The cream base just did not lend well to the smoothness that I usually like with ice cream. It could be that I left the mixture too long in the bowl as well. Overall, the ice cream was not bad, certainly better than plastic! I think I will try with some Sweet n’ Low next time and see what happens.

The recipe:

Diabetic Mocha Ice Cream

Inspired by Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book pg 72

Serves: 8

Calories per serving (4 oz): 275

Carbohydrates per serving: 6.37 grams

Ingredients:

• 2 free-range chicken eggs
• 1 cup half-and-half cream
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons Barry Extra-Brut cacao powder
• 4 tablespoons freeze dried coffee
• 18 packages Splenda

Method:

1. Whisk eggs together until frothy. In a separate bowl, combine half-and-half cream, whipping cream, cacao powder, instant coffee and Splenda together. Whisk the mixture until incorporated, then add in whisked eggs. Whip the mixture together until the mixture is homogeneous.
2. Set up ice cream maker according to instructions; add the ice cream mixture to the bowl while it is spinning. Process according to your ice cream makers instructions. (It should take almost 30 minutes to an hour.)
3. Alternately, if you do not have an ice cream maker, you can put the bowl into the freezer with a whisk inside. Set a timer for 5 minutes, whisk the mixture, and replace it into the freezer, resetting the timer for 5 minutes. Repeat as necessary until the ice cream mixture is soft.
4. Remove the ice cream from the maker, and place it into a container with a tight-fitting lid. Make sure to put a layer of plastic on top of the surface of the ice cream to avoid ice crystals from forming. Freeze for a couple of hours to let the ice cream set.

Find time to DIY - you won't be sorry you did

About a week back, I put out the question on Twitter, Facebook and this blog:

What’s stopping you from making it yourself?

The #1 answer won by a long shot: There’s not enough time to cook it by myself.

I can totally identify with that. You arrive home, it’s late, the kids have to go to karate, dance class or swimming lessons, there is that report that you are 3 days late on, and dinner has to fit somewhere into there.

No wonder you all reach for the premade stuff, or worse, through the drive-thru.

Here are a few thoughts to fix that:

1. Stop f&*ing around. Put away the email, Facebook, Blackberry, Twitter for at least an hour and get cooking!
2. Plan your meal for the next day. Notice i didn’t say the whole week, or month. I find that you should be a little more flexible. I like to name the days of the week by protein. For instance, Monday could be chicken. What that meal will be depends on what I have on hand, or what is on special at the grocery store. This week it might be star anise braised chicken legs with fennel.
3. Prepare most of the dish the night before. If you have figured out what will be the dish for tomorrow, the preparation will go much more smoothly if you spend a few minutes preparing your steps to the point before cooking. For example, you might have a stir-fry dish. Chop the onions, carrots, celery, peppers the night before and put them in a container. Marinate your pork. That way, you can just toss them into your wok and cook them up. That is how we do it at the restaurant. We don’t cut up our items to order, Mise en Place!
4. Adopt and use a slow cooker. It is not exactly sexy, and sometimes can be downright different. I will tell you a secret though – nothing is more awesome than knowing in the morning that tonight’s Cacciatore chicken is finished. I set it to cook overnight and put it away in the morning before I head to work. Some rice or noodles, and dinner is ready.
5. If you must watch TV, consider moving it into the kitchen. I learned this from my MIL. I can’t stand the TV in the kitchen, but some people might actually like to cook and watch the tube at the same time. Combine the two activities, and get more done. Watch your fingers while you are cutting though!
6. Pick a day and cook! As crappy as it is, if you have Monday and Tuesday off, cook some meals ahead on one of those days. You will thank yourself when you have those crazy days where you can barely think, let alone cook and get everything done.
7. Press your family into service. Turn off the TV, unplug the computer, do whatever. Get everyone involved somehow. I always thought that cooking should be a family event.
8. Learn how to cook. Read magazines, this blog, other blogs for ideas. Think in your mind on how to make the dish following the above advice. (Prepare most of the dish in advance.) Try not to have the same old thing all the time, unless your family really digs that. The reason I pick proteins for the day is to keep it fresh. I can’t imagine serving Cacciatore chicken every Friday.

What do you think you could do to find more time to cook?

I am taking the next couple of days off work to gear up for a week full of menu tasting madness. The new summer banquet menu will be going into effect, and the room service menu will be changing as well.

I will naturally have to cook everything on there, take pictures, and write recipes.

I can’t hardly wait to share some of the creations of our wonderful team with you.

Here are a few links for items that are just awesome:

How to Truss a Chicken. Bob is awesome, and so is Micheal Ruhlman!

Watermelon Syrup and Watermelon Butter by Cupcake Project. I would have never thought of the two items. I love things that surprise me.

Blueberry Strawberry Pie by Sassy Radish. So sinful, and so worth it.

Silky Butter Chicken Sauce at Mark’s daily Apple. What a lovely primal dish. I love butter chicken, so go there for a decent version to try out.

Until then, remember – REAL food, for your LIFE.

A while back, I gave you a recipe for chicken spice rub. It is time to update the recipe for two reasons: make it into a ratio, and suitable for a diabetic.

You can make this mixture from the spices I told you should be in your cupboard, with a few extras. They are definitely worth the extra expense; this will be your go-to chicken rub.

The recipe starts with an idea from a fantastic post I saw a week back on roasted lemon zest. I was so impressed with it, I decided to add it to the spice. (It is totally optional, the recipe will work without it.)

Since it takes the longest to complete, we will start off with those steps.

Here is what you do:

Peel off the skin of the lemon, taking care to leave the white pith.

Remove the skins of the lemon with your vegetable peeler, taking care to leave the white pith behind. This is important, because the pith tastes bitter. Trust me, it is like accidentally eating a thyroid pill. Disgusting!

You will want to roast them in a moderately hot oven. The original instructions say to place them in an oven that is pre-heating. I found that a 250°F oven is the best way to go. You will want to take them out about half way to give them a little stir for even roasting.

Give the zest a little stir for even roasting.

The entire process will take about 30 minutes. Don’t let them get too dark, or the flavor will be bitter.

There, they are nice and roasted now. The smell intoxicates - a citrusy aroma with some darker undertones

Let the peels cool for a bit.

Look at the nice clean grinder!

Grind the cooled zest with a clean spice grinder.

Next up, dry-toast your cumin seeds. You do this by setting your pan over a medium flame, add your seeds, and shake the pan until you can smell the earthy scents from the cumin.

The shot is a bit blurry, because this is an action shot!

I always set the cumin seeds into another cold pan to arrest the cooking. Otherwise, the seeds will continue to cook and become bitter. If I do that at home, my wife gets upset (about using too many dishes,) but losing your cumin from overcooking is never good.

Once the cumin seeds are cooled, add them to your spice grinder with the celery seeds. Grind them until they are a powder.

Sometimes you gotta McGyver something to make it work.

A quick aside: you may have heard about System D. This is a great example of that term. Equipment has a short life in professional kitchens, especially spice grinders that are not meant for commercial use. This one is missing its button. No matter – nothing a bamboo skewer can’t solve. Dangerous? Sure. Necessary? Absolutely!

All the spices are here, except for one I forgot to lay out. Doh!

Here you can see all the spices I have in this mix. I forgot to put one in there in my haste to take this picture. Can you guess which one is missing?

Mix the spices together, get ready to test!

Shake  the spices together. It is not really necessary to lay out all the spices like I did in the last picture, unless you are taking an explanatory photograph. (Unless you are anal of course… but that is a topic for another day!)

The most important part of the post comes with the test. How does our spice hold up?

Place about a tablespoon of olive oil on the chicken

I had some chicken tenders left over, and it was getting close to lunchtime. What better way to test the new spice mix than over a salad?

Rub some olive oil on the chicken, then sprinkle the spice rub generously over the chicken:

Massage the spice throughout the chicken

Roast (or grill) in a 400°F oven for 10 minutes. It should look like so:

Let the chicken rest, or they will be chunks of leather!

After a short rest, the chicken went on usual lunch salad I made.

After tasting, I discovered that the mix was a bit too spicy. I reviewed my steps, and found that I did not put the regular paprika in. I fixed it, tested again, and the spiciness was just right. That is why it is so important to taste while you go.

Putting it all together:

This recipe below is a ratio by volume, so you can substitute a part for a cup, or a half cup, or an ounce if you like. Just replace the word “part” with your base volume measurement (cup, tablespoon, or something like it.) I won’t give the recipe for the chicken today, as it really was just for a test.

WDC’s BBQ Chicken Spice

Ingredients:

• 2 parts smoked paprika
• 1 part paprika
• 1 part Splenda or stevia powder
• 1/2 part black pepper, freshly ground
• 1/2 part cumin seeds, dry toasted
• 1/2 part celery seeds
• 1/2 part kosher salt
• 1/2 part garlic powder
• 1/16 part chili powder
• optional: 1/2 part roasted lemon peel, ground

Method:

1. Peel lemon zest strips with a peeler, taking care to remove only the yellow, not the pith.
2. Roast strips in a 250°F oven for 10 minutes; stir the zest to promote even roasting.
3. Replace and roast strips for another 20 minutes; remove and cool strips.
4. Grind in a clean spice grinder until finely ground.
5. Toast cumin seeds over medium flame until you can smell the earthy tones. Remove from heat, cool, and grind in a coffee grinder with the celery seeds until coarsely ground.
6. Combine smoked paprika, paprika, Splenda, black pepper, garlic powder, chili powder and lemon peel. Stir in ground cumin and celery seeds.
7. Place into tight fitting bottles and use within 3 months.
8. To use, rub your chicken with a bit of olive oil, then sprinkle this mixture on the chicken liberally. Massage the spices into every nook and cranny of the chicken, then grill or roast it to your heart’s desire.

What if you had to grind some roasted lemon zest powder, and you just used the spice grinder to grind curry spices? By the end of this post you will have another trick in your arsenal to impress your (small) group of spice-grinding friends.

First, take the offending spice grinder and fill it half way with raw rice grains.

Fill it half full of rice, and get ready to let er rip!

Pulse the grinder a few times, shaking it up and down. Then hold the grinding button for a minute, and turn your grinder upside down a few times to allow the rice grains to spin completely around the bowl.

When you are finished, the rice will be pulverized.

The powder has lifted the spice stains out of the grinder.

Toss the rice powder, wipe the lid clean, and your grinder is as good as new.

Good as new, and ready to go.

This trick will also save you money, because you could use your regular coffee grinder to grind spices.

Do you have a question for the Well Done Chef? Visit my Ask the Chef! page and fill out the form.

Last week I posted a menu that reflects the new health-conscious lifestyle that I have adopted. Today I am going to show you a refreshing, healthy tea that will certainly quench your thirst, and be a definite conversation piece.

Rumor has it that it was discovered as an alternative to black tea and the high taxation the British imposed on them. (A great way to thumb your nose at the aristocracy.)

The health effects of this tea are what have me. It is traditionally used in India to lower blood sugar in diabetics, and it is rumored to reduce hypertension. (That is, if the gods of Wiki can be trusted.) It is popular in a lot of cultures: Jamaican, Asian, Latin-American and African.

Here is my version of the tea, without sugar that would counteract the benefit for a diabetic.

Don't be scared of the price, this will make enough for an entire BBQ party!

Hibiscus will be a little more difficult to find than your regular sachets of dust in the supermarket. You will need to visit one of those weird little herb/spice shops, or perhaps your nearby health food store. In a last-ditch effort, you might even be able to ask a florist where to find the dried flowers.

Don’t be put off by the first step. Sometimes you just need to work a little extra for that payoff, and it will be huge, I promise!

The next spices are the secret ingredients. You do not need these spices to continue, but they will add a special touch to the tea. Peppercorns for a bit of spiciness, cinnamon for a little earthiness, cloves for a back of the mouth feel, and Jamaican allspice and star anise for their high accent notes.

This is what adds that special touch to the tea

Add it all together in a large pot, throw in your spices whole. (Don’t worry, we will be straining the whole mixture later.)

Look at all that goodness in there!

Fill the pot to almost full with water. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

You really don’t want a roiling boil here. The idea is to extract as much out of the flowers and spices as possible. Once 15 minutes has passed, turn off the heat and let the mixture rest for 10 more minutes. This is to allow the maximum extraction of all that is good from the ingredients.

Strain the mixture through a fine strainer

If you don’t have a fine chinois, you could use a clean T-Shirt to strain the mixture. The idea is to get all of the flowers and spices out of the tea so it will be more enjoyable to drink.

Let the mixture drain naturally

Patience is key here. You might be tempted to mash the mixture through the strainer. Don’t. If you do that, you will force the particles through the mesh, and you will have sediment in your tea.

Some people like their tea sweet. If that is the case, mix in enough sugar to lightly sweeten the mixture. If you are diabetic like me, you can enjoy it without sweetening it, or you can add some stevia leaves (or powder) to the mixture while it is still hot.

To serve, pour over ice cubes. You could even take it to go in a container like this one:

Take it to go! Just remember to pour it over ice.

There you have it, a refreshing tea for the BBQ that people will love!

Refreshing Hibiscus Tea

Serves: 15

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces dried hibiscus tea leaves
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon Jamaican allspice
• 4 pods star anise
• 1 tablespoon cloves
• 1 gallon cold water
• optional: 2 cups sugar or 3 stevia leaves or 10 packets stevia powder

Method:

1. Place hibiscus leaves, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and star anise in large pot; fill with cold water.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to barely a simmer. It is important that you do not let the mixture roil and boil, as this will make for a cloudy and bitter mixture.
3. Simmer for 10 minutes, then turn off the heat and let the mixture steep for an additional 10 minutes. (If you are adding the stevia leaves for sweetening, add them now.)
4. Strain the mixture through a fine strainer or an old clean T-Shirt. Avoid the temptation to press the mixture through the strainer. You will need to be patient, or you will have to contend with small particles catching in your teeth while drinking. (Not a fun experience!)
5. If you are sweetening with sugar, add it at this point, stir the sugar through.
6. Allow the mixture to cool.
7. Serve the mixture over ice, adding a twist of lemon or lime if you choose. Mint also works very well for another added touch.
8. You can keep this tea in the refrigerator for up to a week. Take it to go from time to time!

Time to fire up the barbecue!

I will be occupied with work this weekend, but below are a few links to give you some ideas for the barbecue this weekend.

Get lubed up with a drink, the patriotic Red White and Blue by Savory Reviews, or the Tequila Soaked Watermelon Wedges. Nothing starts a great barbecue like a few drinks.

If you are looking to grill chicken, check out my Spatchcocking Chicken post for an idea on how to quickly cook a bird over the grill. Perhaps you would like to dust it with my BBQ Chicken spice, or better yet, my Montreal Steak seasoning.

Gabriella posted an awesome grilled chicken recipe, Mandarin and Avocado crowned Thai Grilled Chicken. Make sure to print multiple copies of that post, because people will demand the recipe.

If you are looking to make some burgers, don’t buy them premade, check out the tutorial I posted on a DIY burger press. If you are looking for awesome and different, Food In My Beard’s Satay Burgers will fit the bill.

If you are into Beef Kebabs, Kalafogas has a great post on how to make juicy kebabs.

If you are into a more traditional kebab, Greg at Sippity Sup has some wonderful Lamb Kebabs with Pistachios, or awesome Grilled Shrimp Kebabs with Tomatillo Avocado salsa.

Michael Ruhlman has an awesome potato salad done with baby new potatoes. I suggest following his advice and poaching the potatoes first. The end result will be divine.

It would be a shame to waste that charcoal for the barbecue. I always like to double up on the cooking tasks. Try out Jan’s Smoked Almonds when you need to use up the rest of the coals. You won’t be disappointed.

If you are looking for a guide on how to cook everything off the barbecue, look no further than Lifehacker’s post, Cook Every Course of Summer Meals On The Grill.

Today is July 1st, which is Canada Day here. I have the day off, and if the weather holds out, I plan to barbecue, swim, and basically relax as much as I can.

I also plan to catch up on a bit of reading, visit some farmers to plan out a few menus for fall, and I have a Diabetes consultation tomorrow.

I know a lot of readers are from the United States here, so what are your plans for the Long weekend?