Before packing lunches, pour juice into a
zip-top plastic bag and freeze. At lunchtime,
the tip of the bag can be opened, a straw inserted,
and the juice sipped. Be sure to pack the straw
in the lunchbox.
Freeze juice cans or boxes before packing
them in lunches. This will keep them cold and
will help keep the rest of the lunch cool as
well.
Pour the syrup from canned fruit into ice
cube trays and freeze for later use. They can
be added to punch, etc.
Coffee
Adding one pinch of salt to the basket of the
coffeemaker will remove some of the acid taste.
For clear coffee, put egg shells in after
perking.
Always start with cold water.
Make coffee more exotic by adding a dash
of ginger, cardamom or cinnamon to the grounds.
Crush a small piece of ginger and add it
to the upper container of the filter while brewing.
Ginger coffee has an great taste and can also
help to end a nasty cold.
Orange Juice
Thaw frozen orange juice in the container in
the microwave. Remove the top metal lid. Place
the opened container in the microwave and heat
on HIGH power for 30 seconds for 6 ounces and
45 seconds for 12 ounces.
Soda Pop
Before you cap the plastic bottle, squeeze it
to force out as much air as possible (so that
the liquid is almost at the top). The bottle
may look odd, but the soda won't lose its carbonation.
For a nutritious soda pop, prepare frozen
concentrate and mix half and half with club
soda.
Tea
Instead of using sugar, dissolve old-fashioned
lemon drops, cinnamon red hots or hard mint
candy in your tea. They melt quickly.
To make inexpensive spiced tea, pour loose
tea leaves into a jar that has a tight lid.
Add your favorite spices singly or in combination
and store for a couple of weeks before using.
Some flavors you might try include dried orange
or lemon rind, cardamom, pieces of vanilla bean
and cinnamon stick.
When serving iced tea to guests, dip the
rims of the glasses in lemon juice and then
in sugar or packaged lemon-flavor gelatin. Be
sure to pour the tea into the center of the
glass so as not to disturb the pretty (and tasty)
edge.
Whip up fresh-brewed iced tea quickly by
putting one large tea bag into your automatic
coffee maker. Pour in some water, let perk,
and it's done.
To add a special touch to iced tea, freeze
whole berries, fresh mint, or citrus slices
in ice cube trays filled with water.
You don't have to boil water to make iced
tea. To make four servings, place six tea bags
in a pitcher containing four cups of fresh,
cold water. Cover and refrigerate several hours.
You will need less sugar in iced tea if you
add the sugar while the tea is still hot.
Freeze leftover tea in an ice cube tray.
The next time you serve iced tea, use tea cubes
instead of plain ones and you tea won't be diluted.
You can do the same with other cooling summer
drinks such as lemonade and fruit juices.
For iced tea, add a small amount of very
hot water to instant tea before adding cold
water. The crystals will dissolve completely
for better flavor.
Tomato Juice
Improve the flavor of inexpensive tomato juice
by pouring a 46-ounce can of juice into a refrigerator
jar and adding one chopped onion and a cut-up
stalk of celery.
