Tea Time

Not to be confused with the football players' tee time. However, this is iced tea, so maybe they'll enjoy it at the driving range. Who knows. Anywho, iced tea can be a spot dull . . . just plain old Lipton tea bags with water and sugar. Maybe some lemon for the adventurous ones. Meh. But, leave it to Ina, to "turn up the volume" and make it a bit more exotic. She uses lemon zinger and red zinger, but honestly you could probably use whatever kind of zinger you want. The apple juice (the Martinelli's is not product placement - it really does make a difference here) sweetens it so you don't need to dump in the sugar, Splenda, Stevia or whatever else you use to make it go down easy.

I served this on Mother's Day to complement the top shelf weather at cocktail hour. I put a couple lemon slices in the tea itself and one on the pitcher's rim for garnish. So, Ma could have her iced tea and cheese, crackers, and olives. I frequent the olive bar at Whole Foods and another local store and find these olives to be far superior to those things in a jar. While not as elaborate as many of my cocktail hours, the olives, served along side brie, gouda, and "entertaining crackers" created a nice little cocktail hour.

Herbal Iced Tea

Barefoot Contessa Family Style (Ina Garten)

Serves 6-8

4 Celestial Seasonings Lemon Zinger tea bags
4 Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger tea bags
4 cups pure apple juice

Steep the 8 tea bags in 4 cups of boiling water for about 10 minutes. Discard the tea bags. Combine the tea with the apple juice and refrigerate until cold. Serve over ice.