Chai tea!

I *love* chai tea!  Of course, it's usually really loaded with fat, but I bought some tea the other day and I have been making a cup of tea, using Splenda for a sweetener and the low-fat canned milk- which you can WHIP and it really is a nice hot drink drink!  And if you use .5 cup of milk... it adds up to 2 points (not sure what that comes up to in calories)   LOVE it! Our low temps right now are between 10 &15 (above 0) so the hot drink is WELCOME  :) :)

chai tea (like in the tea bag) isn't bad at all unless you add sugar and cream. but i have to add something to make it a little creamier.  i like David Rio Sugar Free Chai - its 48 calories - i like the flamingo vanilla but they also have orca spice (everything in the line is named after animals - weird i know). they sell it in single serve packets as well as canisters, although don't know where in AK! its nice and creamy and i only add a splenda or two and its lovely.

Read minds much? I bought all this today... Now this can't be authentic but when I am craving creamy iced chai, I use 3/4 C. Oregon Chai sugar-free mix (it's a syrup base like you'll find in a lot of coffee shops) with 3/4 C. almond milk...and the whole thing comes out to 35 calories for a BIG drink. I wish I had a fancy-ass blender that could pulverize ice, because that would make a killer smoothie :( I've never had luck with dry chai mix for an iced drink but I bet it's dynamite when hot...

Ohhh... wonder if I can get almond milk up here..... I'll check on that tomorrow!!  I was thinking it would be great to make the low fat evaporated milk frothy with a latte' type machine... that would be scruptious as well :)

Oregon Chai is a brand I CAN get where I live- not sure they have the sugar free... I've never seen  the brand  neecee mentioned but I 'm sure going to look :) We only have two VERY small stores here :) 

And BTW... "Read minds much?"  ............. This question is PERFECT for me today :) 
Last night I told dh: I just realized it will be time for the Fire Marshall to pop in on me in May" (I own/operate a child care & they pop-in every two years- but I thought it was due in 2009 & had just realized they were due in 2008)  Dh was like: "Better be prepared!"   (it's NOT a biggy but it was WEIRD!)

This a.m., I dropped my kids off at school and returned home and at 8:15.... the FIRE MARSHALL rang my doorbell!  Was I ever blown away!  He has to FLY in to do the inspections and ALWAYS comes in May... the government flew him in to inspect the hospital- so he stopped here as well :)     I had to call dh at work to tell him :)

I must confess, I have never had chai tea.  what exactly is it?
I love green tea though- my favourite is green tea with roasted rice.

Em

OK... so I looked up Chai tea on the net!  I have made this type of tea before- it's almost like a mulled wine only it's tea! 

I don't usually take sugar- might try it without.  Yummy.... I am off to make some now.  One recipe said you can add a pinch of white pepper! wow.. spiced + !!!

Now I just need to find a hot chiili chocolate recipe that ends up like that one on the movie Chocolat.  I can never watch that movie with wanting that hot chocolate.

Em

 

PS do you reckon you could have 'chai coffee' and grind it all up in grinder then brew it?  I am mad for coffee.

My friend got a chai coffee spice mix online for us - the calories were a little high. Like you, I don't go for sugar in my coffee, so 1/2 the suggested dose did me fine.  It's pretty wonderful, and I always think I will go mix my own chai blend with spices from the health food store one of these days. It need not be sweet - the sweetness of lite vanilla soy milk would make up for it.  I like tea, but coffee is the shizzle dizz. Here is one recipe off the net, with comments from the Food Fascist:

Missing ingredient makes the chai

Sometimes you just need something to calm you down… when you’ve become hot under the collar over teabags. When two interviewees postponed today. As a matter a fact, I’m hot under the collar now. So it was that I though I had to buy chai, that calming hippy dippy Indian spiced tea. Three local supermarkets later and I had none and was too bothered to drive or ride across town to buy it. The best selection was at the local St Kilda IGA supermarket. There were at least half a dozen varieties, but all in the teabag. Frustrated, I return home, without even a bar of chocolate. Damn it! Why can’t I make my own. And I remember chef Barry Vera’s series Feast India, where he made masala chai. Ingredients 2 cinnamon sticks 9 cloves 7 black peppercorns (or red or white of Australian native) 9 green cardamoms 1 teaspoon fennel seeds 1 knob of ginger (officially it’s meant to be dried but it is better this way) Ground nutmeg, allspice or whatever you fancy

Dry roast everything apart from the ginger and the ground ingredients. Takes 3-4 minutes. Discover the lid of the cheap coffee grinder is missing. Bin it and use the pestle and mortar instead. Discover no dried ginger. Put a couple of teaspoons of spice mixture in teapot in compensation for not using tea with it and add shavings of fresh ginger. Add ho****er. Mix with one-third milk, crate in palm sugar and microwave for one minute (yes, I have a modest one hidden away in the laundry). Chant hommm… In his enlightened state I decide I should search for some more recipes. Movable Type guru Elise at Simply Recipes has a variation with star anise (great idea), Allspice and broadleaf black tea (maybe next time). Others, such as the Cardomom Addict have similar recipes. Others use bay leaves and other herbs. I’m personally tempted to use chilli. There are other Ayurvedic recipes blending various Ayurvedic herbs for different people types but I’m too chilled to find them. Has anybody else got any home made chai tips?

Food fascist

1. Fresh ginger is best 2. Continue to rail against teabags 3. Don’t forget the f&^8ing chocolate bar next time (current desire Green & Black’s Maya Gold even if it is owned by Cadbury’s now).

Take most of those ingredients (just no ginger or fennel) and add red wine and water- simmer peeled pears in it....cool then drain and put on a plate for dessert with a small piece of brie or blue cheese.

YUMMY

My new name for that regular dessert will be Chai pears! Instead of pears in red wine.

Thanks for the recipe- I looked up a coffee one and it was delicious- BUT let me warn you- don't ever try putting it through your expresso machine if you use powdered cinnamon... it clogged it up! Oops

Next time I'll use the plunger.  I loved the cinnamon with black peppercorns combo with the other spices- very more-ish.  I do like spiced food, so this was a natural extension.

Em