RECIPE: home madee chai tea (latte)

I fell in love with chai tea when I was visiting my dad and his family one holiday season. I was probably 13 or 14, and at that time, I wasn't a coffee drinker, so my dad suggested having a chai tea latte from starbucks.

Coffee is amazing, don't get me wrong. Every morning I brew a 3 cup pot of coffee in my percolator, and when that is gone, I switch to tea. Since it is getting cold, I really like to keep warm, but too much coffee makes me whacko.

The first sip I ever tasted was so hot, and creamy, I was just in shock. Could tea actually taste this good? YES!

Well, since then, I've had about 50 chai tea lattes from starbucks (I'm a broke grad student so it's only on special occasions and also because they don't offer almond or rice milk, and I can't drink milk or soy and handle it well.), I've bought countless boxes of chai tea bags, and now for the first time ever, I've tried to make my own chai tea from scratch and IT WORKED!

The benefits if tea are innumerable, and when adding spices, like cinnamon, cayenne, clove, and nutmeg, you're gaining so many antioxidants! Click the links for each spice to read about what they offer to your health!

So, for the recipe, here is what you need:

Cinnamon sticks (or ground cinnamon)
Cloves (or ground cloves)
Nutmeg
Allspice (or ground allspice)
1 tsp cayenne pepper
Black tea

Put one Tbsp of each spice into a grinder, pulse grind for 1 minute. If you have all preground spices, mix them all together in a sealed container. Add the contents of 15 black tea bags, or 5 Tbsp lf black tea leaves. Mix thoroughly.

When ready to make the tea, put a 1Tbsp scoop of the chai tea, into 8 Oz of milk and warm over stove (or microwave).

Use strainer over cup, pour tea from pot thru strainer into cup. Add one tsp natural sweetener, and you've got your very own chai tea latte!

To make regular chai tea, use water in place of milk. Just as good! I've even devoted a coffee pot just for brewing tea, since I make it so much and, also because you can use the filters with loose tea, just like you do with coffee! Genius, right?! :)

Prefect for keeping you warm inside and out on a cold, drab day.

How do you like your spices? Do you add cinnamon to many things in your diet?

Remember, enjoy and eat to live!

Chia Stevia Green Tea Limeaid

Every morning, I take a big handful of vitamins and supplements, so that I can be rest assured that I have all the nutrients that my body needs. My daily concoction is:

• 2g Vitamin C
• 1g Flax Seed oil
• 1g Evening Primrose oil
• 1g Omega 3
• 2g Inositol
• 1g B12
• 1g L-Tyrosine
• 1g Kelp
• 1 Multi Vitamin
• 1g Green Tea Extract
• 1g Lysine

To get these vitamins to go down smoothly, I've been taking them with juice and 1g vitamin C powder, but the amount of sugar in 4oz of OJ is just too much that early in the morning. So, I have been searching for a solution.

Here it is:

Organic Chia Stevia Green Tea Limeaid!

• 2 TBSP Chia Seed
• Juice of 4 freshly squeezed limes or 2 lemons
• 8oz Distilled water steeped with 6 bags of Green Tea
•  2 packets stevia sweetener

Let the mixture sit overnight, and in the morning, you will have a sweet and power packed drink to wash down your vitamins with. It has Chia Seeds for extra Omega 3's, Lime/Lemon juice for antioxidants, the EGCG's from Green Tea, and it's one serving of water, with only 40 calories at most! Forget flavored water from the grocery, or sports drinks or sugary juices. Here is a top notch way to get many essential nutrients, while washing down other vital nutrients!!

Let me know if you give it a try!!!!

<3 Amelia

Running for a cure....

So you're probably thinking I'm talking about raising money to cure cancer or something, which is amazing, but I'm about to go on a run to cure my cramps and bloating from that "time of the month".

Ladies, I'm sure you can empathize. I always have terrible pain the first few days, and today is not different. Woke up to that special gift, and then came the cramps and bloating.

I'm going to do a 30 minute run/walk, alternating every ten minutes, then hopefully some yoga to calm me before I study.

The pain is so unbearable, and I hate NSAIDS, so I'm not taking any. Rather, relying on my bodies own endorphins to soothe me.

I am also going to do a fruit and veggie, with lots of lemon/lime infused water, cleanse. COMFORT FOODS DON'T ACTUALLY HELP YOUR SYMPTOMS, THEY MAKE THEM WORSE. Extra fats, sugars, and carbs really run havoc on a girls body during this time, so grab the colorful fruits amd veggies for those extra antioxidants your body needs.

Good luck, fellow sufferers, and I will catch ya later.

...Amelia...