How to Make Lemonade

How to make lemonade

Last summer I decided to figure out how to make lemonade.  It turned out that all I needed were a few very simple ingredients for this easy lemonade recipe: lemon juice, simple syrup, and water.  I didn't even have to squeeze lemons if I didn't want to! During the summer we drink a lot of water. We can easily go through a gallon a day, often more.  But sometimes, the water starts to get boring and I want some flavor in what I'm drinking.  I really want lemonade on a hot summer day, but mixes and frozen juices are expensive and just aren't my thing. So last summer I decided to figure out how to make lemonade. I knew I was going to need lemon juice, but I didn't want to spend an hour squeezing lemons.  As it turns out, you don't really need all that much lemon juice to make lemonade.  The lemon juice is pretty potent so a little bit goes a long way! But still sometimes I didn't have lemons around.  So I found an alternative -  store bought lemon juice.  It does ... [read more]

Green Tea Strawberry Smoothie and Popsicle Recipe

Green Tea Strawberry Smoothies & Popsicle Recipe

A green tea strawberry smoothie is not only great for a quick breakfast - it also works great as a popsicle recipe! Like my chocolate banana smoothies, these also made great popsicles for our backyard movie night!  The trick to a great smoothie is a combination of fresh and frozen fruit.  For this strawberry smoothie, I added in pomegranate green tea ice cubes for a healthy boost of antioxidants. My kids are a little weird - they don't like smoothies.  After months of throwing away leftover smoothies, a friend suggested I freeze them and make popsicles.  Well, duh! It worked like a charm and my kids now eat healthy popsicles without batting an eye.  So when I wanted to make a fun frozen treat using tea for our backyard movie night, I pulled out the popsicle molds. You can really use any tea or fruits that you want.  I opted for Bigelow Tea's pomegranate green tea because I wanted to try a green tea smoothie. I did not realize, however, that green tea is ... [read more]

Simple Syrup

Simple Syrup

Simple syrup is a combination of water and sugar that is perfect for sweetening cold beverages.  I always keep a big jar of this in the fridge during the summer to sweeten iced coffee or make an iced chai tea latte. Simple syrup is just sugar dissolved in water so that you can add it to cold beverages and not have the grainy sugar to deal with. You just use equal parts water and sugar, heat it enough to dissolve the sugar and call it good. During the summer I like to drink my beverages cold.  This includes coffee and tea.  I prefer to cold brew the coffee and tea because it's just quicker, but as you may know, sugar doesn't dissolve well in cold liquids.  I like my drinks sweet so I needed a better option. I'd heard of simple syrup before, but I'd never really made it because "syrup" just sounded difficult. Ha ha! It's not. It takes about 5 minutes to stir together simple syrup and I make a large enough batch so that I only have to do it every once in a while. Simple Syrup ... [read more]

Irish Cream Coffee Creamer

Irish Cream Coffee Creamer from growingupgabel.com @thegabels #recipe

With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, I have Irish cream on the brain.   My homemade Irish cream is a favorite adult beverage, but I wanted something the kids could enjoy, too.   Plus I love flavored coffee creamers, but not all the junk ingredients  in them. A few years ago I made my first batch of homemade Irish cream.  The recipe started the wheels churning to make the recipe in to an Irish Cream coffee creamer.   I'm a major coffee drinker of all kinds like cardamom coffee and iced coffee. I also like my tea with a little cream and I'm thinking this Irish Cream coffee creamer would be an interesting addition to tea. This coffee creamer comes together really quickly and just store it in the fridge.  Make sure to shake it up before using it because the chocolate sauce tends to settle to the bottom. If you don't drink coffee or tea, don't worry - I have a few other ideas on how to use this creamer to add a little Irish Cream to your day! Irish Cream ... [read more]

Vanilla Soy Chai Tea Latte #RethinkWhatYouDrink

Silk Vanilla Soy Chai Tea Latte Recipe from Growing Up Gabel @thegabels #recipe

Silk Vanilla Soy Milk is the base for this rich soy chai tea latte made with just two easy ingredients.   This latte rivals those made in a coffee house and it's much healthier for you.  All you need to make the latte is  is Vanilla Soy Milk and a chai tea bag or homemade chai tea concentrate. I have been wanting to try cooking with soy milk for a while.  I've never actually tasted it or cooked with it, but I kept thinking that chocolate or vanilla soy milk would just be fun to substitute in a few recipes for a different flavor.  Of course, many of my friends drink soy milk out of necessity, too and I'd love to have a few recipes for them. I finally had the opportunity to give soy milk a try and created what has become one of my favorite winter beverages. I had a lot of fun recipes in mind to try, but after tasting the Silk Vanilla Soy milk, I knew what I wanted to make with it - vanilla soy chai tea latte.  The flavor of the vanilla soy milk was so rich and creamy ... [read more]