Milk Chocolate Digestive Biscuits

One of my new favorite "food" items is the McVities  milk chocolate digestive biscuits! This delicious, melt-in-your-mouth biscuit is made from wheat meal and is covered with the perfect coating of milk chocolate on one side.  I also love it because it contains no artificial flavors or colors, and no hydrogenated fat.  Trust me when I say that you cannot just have one so be careful when you open a packet! Milk chocolate digestives are great by themselves but can also be complemented with a cup of tea ( green, oolong or English breakfast tea).

Blueberry Bliss-Strawberry Lemonade Iced Tea

My new favorite home made iced tea is the blueberry bliss-strawberry lemonade blended tea from Teavana. These are actually two separate teas that I bought at Teavana ( you can ask to have the teas blended for you at the store - 2oz of each will last you a while). I like this tea hot but I LOVE this blended combo ice cold...yum!



Ingredients:

(PS: use a 320z or larger teapot with a built-in strainer in which to steep your loose tea leaves)

• 6 teaspoons of blueberry bliss-strawberry lemonade blended tea leaves
• 3 cups of boiling water
• 1/2 cup of sugar

Directions

• Place loose tea leaves in the strainer ( in the teapot)
• Boil water and pour over tea leaves ( in strainer)
• Cover teapot for about 10 minutes
• Place 1/2 cup sugar in your jug / container
• After 10 minutes, pour brewed tea in the jug / container; stir contents and place in fridge until chilled

Notes:

1. I normally brew another teapot and add it to the first batch with an additional 1/4 cup of sugar.
   
2. You can adjust the sugar according to your taste.
   

Gulab Jamun

Gulab Jamin is a popular Indian dessert.  It is traditionally served on the Indian holiday Diwali but is also eaten throughout the year.  You can enjoy this very sweet dessert at any Indian restaurant or buy them at an Indian grocery store.  

Gulab Jamun is made from a sweet dough (combination of flour and milk powder) which is divided into little balls and deep fried, then soaked in a combination of sugar syrup and rose water! Yes...it sounds that good and it is that yummy!

It is a gulity pleasure but you can feel less guilty by drinking some oolong tea (2 cups should do...at least!) and eating about 30g of fiber( frozen vegetables, fruit) throughout the day!  :-)

Dorayaki

 I first encountered Dorayaki back in my college years during one of my Japanese classes. My professor had just returned from a trip to Japan and he brought with him a bag of goodies, including dorayaki and grean tea. I was , at first, reluctant to try this confection because I never associated black beans and pastry in the same sentence! However, being open to trying new things, I took a bite of this pastry and I have never looked back.

Dorayaki is a Japanese cake with a sweet black bean filling. It actually looks like two mini pancakes stuck together with the sweet black bean filling (anko). It can be enjoyed on its own or with some hot green tea or oolong tea, which balances out the sweetness of the pastry.

Dorayaki can be found at most Asian supermarkets, either in the candy / sweets aisle or sometimes in the "cold" section where cakes and other such pastries are kept. A pack of dorayaki normally sells for between $3.99  and $4.99...cherish every bite you take because before you know it, you are out of dorayaki !

Oolong Tea

There are two types of tea that I enjoy drinking and one of them is oolong tea.  Oolong tea comes from the Fujian Province in China and also comes from the same tea leaf as green tea and black tea but it is the way they are treated or fermented that brings about the difference in color and taste. Oolong is tea, unlike black tea, is semi-fermented.

There are many reasons why this is one of my favorite foods.  One of the reasons I drink oolong tea is for its unique taste...almost like a cross between black tea and oolong tea.  The main reason I drink oolong tea is for its health benefits:

• It helps you burn more fat and that's always a good thing! :-)
• It helps in the reduction of tooth decay!
• It helps remove free radicals!
• Promotes healthy skin!

Of course, these benefits should not be an excuse to have the second or third serving of pecan pie or dorayaki or bowl of ice cream!  Oolong tea is not a miracle drink when it comes to weight loss or maintaining a healthy body...it is just one of the things that will help you get there! 

So on a cold day, on a warm day, before a meal , during a meal or with dessert (never forget dessert!), a cup or mug of oolong tea is always a good thing!

Directions 1 (oolong tea bag): 

• Place tea bag in a cup
  
• Pour boiling water over the tea bag
• Brew for 3 minutes then remove tea bag

Directions 2 (using a microwave):

• Pour about 8 oz of water in a mug and microwave until water is boiling
• Place oolong tea bag in boiling water
• Brew for 3 minutes then remove tea bag