Baba Ghanoush
Adapted from Carole Raymond’s Student’s Vegetarian Cookbook

1 eggplant (about 1 pound)
1 head garlic, whole, with paper on
about 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper, mint, oregano, tahini paste, other seasonings (optional and to taste)

Preheat the broiler until it’s hot hot hot. Pierce the eggplant once or twice on all sides with a fork to let out steam. Place the eggplant on a baking sheet and broil for 20-40 minutes, or until it’s soft and the skin is a bit charred. When in doubt, leave it for a few more minutes. While it’s broiling, slice the top off the head of garlic so that all the cloves have exposed cut sides. Pour the olive oil into a small dish and place the garlic, cut side down, in the oil to soak it up.

Remove the eggplant with tongs and let cool. Switch the oven to 350 degrees F and bake the garlic, cut side up, on a baking sheet until the cloves are all soft, about 10-15 minutes (I squeeze it with the tongs to test its doneness). When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, break the skin and scrape the insides out into a bowl. The insides should be mushy and should come out easily with a spoon. Discard the skin.

Squeeze the garlic cloves out onto a cutting board or plate (use tongs if it’s still too hot to touch) and mash them into a paste with a fork. Add the garlic paste to the bowl of eggplant and mix well. Season with lemon juice, salt, pepper, dried or fresh herbs, tahini paste, etc. Serve with warm pitas and Greek yogurt or add to your favorite sandwich.

It’s squash… stuffed with other kinds of squash. To veganize, use vegetable oil for butter, 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast in place of yogurt, leave out the Gouda and add another teaspoon of smoked paprika. I like to squirt rosemary-infused olive oil over the bread cubes before toasting them; you could also just add some chopped rosemary to the stuffing. You will have leftover stuffing, and you will like it.

Meta Squash
Makes 2 servings (1 squash each)

2-3 small yellow squash or 2 patty pan squash
2 medium-large globe squash
1 small or ½ large onion
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
2 ounces smoked Gouda, grated
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons yogurt
1/4 cup pecans
2 slices bread (preferably stale)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Chop the bread up into tiny cubes, toss into a grill pan or baking pan and toast in the oven until the bread is dry and hard.

Chop the tops off the globe squashes and place, cut side down, in a pot with some water (should come about halfway up the squash). Bring to a boil and cook for about five minutes. Hollow out squash with a spoon or melon baller, leaving a nice ½-inch thick wall. Mix cinnamon and butter/oil together and rub all over the inner walls of the globe squash.

Dice cooked globe squash flesh, yellow or patty pan squash and onion. Roughly chop the pecans. Saute together on medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until diced squash is soft. Add pecans, paprika, cinnamon and turmeric. Cook for a few minutes longer, then remove from heat.

Stir in yogurt/nutritional yeast, bread cubes and about half of the grated Gouda. Spoon stuffing mixture into hollowed-out globe squashes and top with more grated Gouda. Bake at 350 degrees F until cheese topping is well-browned.

When I make it at home, I combine the ginger and lime and mix with Topo Chico, an exceptionally carbonated sparkling water. I prefer to dilute the juice with more water rather than add a sweetener, but either way, homemade soda drinks are the best because you get the fizz without the high-fructose corn syrup.

A few notes on grating ginger: organic ginger tastes better, plus you don’t have to peel it. If you don’t have a cheesecloth to squeeze the juice from the grated ginger (get one! They cost like two dollars and are super useful), you can also use a strong paper towel or just squeeze the juice from the gratings in your hand. If you have a good blender and don’t mind drinking ginger bits, you can just toss it in there and mix the grated ginger into the water.

Ginger-Lime Soda
Makes 1 liter (about 6 servings)

3-4 inches ginger
6-8 whole limes
1 liter Topo Chico (or some other, more inferior sparkling water, or soda)
simple syrup of honey or sugar mixed with an equal amount of hot water (optional)

Peel the ginger and grate finely onto a cheesecloth. Gather up the cheesecloth around the pile of gratings and squeeze the juice out into a small jar. Squeeze the juice from the limes into the jar and mix well. To make drinks, pour out a little bit of the juice mixture into a glass and add Topo to taste (ratios depend on how strong you like it – experiment!). Sweeten with simple syrup if desired.

Peach cobbler moves fast. I bought twenty small, juicy, perfectly ripe peaches from a roadside stand ($16 plus a free prayer) in the afternoon, baked the cobbler at 10:00 that night and watched the last piece disappear the next morning. It was that good (although it might have been because the peaches were blessed at no extra charge). When I made it last year, I cut the brown sugar down from the original 2/3 cup called for to 1/3 cup; this year, I left the sugar out altogether so I could feel slightly more justified in eating it for breakfast.

Stone Fruit Cornmeal Cobbler
From The Lee Brothers Southern Cookbook and Smitten Kitchen
Makes 1 9×13 pan of cobbler (about 6 servings)

Fruit
5 pounds assorted stone fruit (I used 10 small freestone peaches, 3 pluots and 2 nectarines)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Biscuit Topping
3/4 cup (3 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup fine stone-ground cornmeal (yellow or white)
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup buttermilk (regular milk worked fine)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove stones from fruit and slice thinly. Toss with lemon juice, cinnamon and salt in a 9×13 baking pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into the dry mixture with your fingertips, a fork or a pastry blender. Stir in buttermilk with a rubber spatula until a wet, tacky dough comes together.

Plop spoonfuls of the biscuit dough over the filling; don’t worry about covering entire surface. Bake until the cobbler’s syrup is bubbly and the biscuit tops are browned, about 20 to 25 minutes. Happy 4th of July!

This past weekend I was in San Antonio for the Texas Folklife Festival, a multicultural festival that celebrates Texas immigrant groups from Hungary to the Canary Islands. It’s modeled on the national Smithsonian Folklife festival and has been going on for 40 years. Yes, there are hordes of amazing dancers, kitschy carnival rides and exhibits on Texas immigrants, but it’s really all about the food. Lebanese kebab and iced mint tea, Greek gyros, Japanese rice bowls, Belgian waffles, frozen sangria slushies, corn in a cup – the Wends alone have moist chocolate-brown rye bread, fresh cheese flavored with caraway seeds, ginger snaps, chicken noodle soup and $1 whole pickles. This is marathon eating.

The following two recipes come from handouts at different booths and were copied directly from their sources. The tabouli recipe comes from the Lebanese Texans, one of the largest groups at Folklife. I haven’t made it myself yet, but when I do, I’ll probably use less olive oil and lemon juice than the recipe calls for, just to keep it from getting too wet. Squeezing the cracked wheat dry is also important – no one likes soggy tabouli. The bread recipe is from the cleverly named San Antonio Loafers, a breadbaking association. They gave out samples of the bread, which has a nice chewy crumb and a slightly crunchy golden crust. It would be great for sandwiches.

Tabouli (Parsley & Wheat Salad)
Courtesy of Lebanese Texans and the Texas Folklife Festival

“1 cup cracked wheat
2 large bunches Italian parsley, chopped fine
1 bunch fresh mint, or 2 tablespoons dry mint (optional)
4 large tomatoes, diced
1 cup olive oil
½ cup lemon juice, or to taste
2 bunches green onions, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Soak wheat in water for about 30 minutes. Drain water and squeeze dry by pressing between palms. Add rest of ingredients and mix well. Serve chilled. May serve with crisp lettuce leaves as wraps.”

Coffee Can Bread
Courtesy of the San Antonio Loafers Breadbaking Association and the Texas Folklife Festival

“This is a simple farm bread. It is baked in 1 pound coffee cans to show that no particular type of bainge pan is necessary for a good loaf of bread. The recipe we are using makes 5 or 6 coffee can shaped loaves:
3 ¾ cups warm water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 ½ tablespoons (2 envelopes) granular yeast
3 tablespoons cooking oil
10 cups white flour (approximately 3 ¼ pounds)
1 teaspoon vinegar

Mix sugar, salt, yeast, vinegar and warm water. Allow to stand in mixing bowl for 5 minutes. Add oil and all of the flour. Mix thoroughly. If using an electric mixer, beat with dough hook for 3 minutes. Dust a kneading board and hands lightly with flour. Turn dough into the kneading board and knead sough several minutes. Form into a ball. Place in greased mixing bowl. Spray surface of dough with a thin layer of oil (Pam, etc). Cover with a tea towel; allow to rise until double in volume. Knead lightly for 30 seconds; divide into 5 or 6 parts. Knead each part into a smooth ball and place each in a well greased 1 lb coffee can. Dough would fill half the can.

Place cans and dough in a warm place. Allow dough to rise until it is just over the rim of the can. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. When removed from the oven, the loaves should have pulled away from the sides of the can and should come out easily. Leave the loaves on a cooling rack until thoroughly cool. Wrap each loaf in heavy aluminum foil and freeze until needed. Loaves will keep many months this way.

… To make whole wheat bread, use this recipe but substitute whole wheat flour for 1/3 to ½ of the white flour. At least half of the flour must be white flour to help the yeast do its work.

What about A RECIPE FOR ONLY 2 LOAVES? Here it is:
1 ½ cups warm water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cooking oil
½ teaspoon vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 envelope granular yeast
4 cups flour (1 lb 3 oz)

Proceed as in the recipe above.

ENJOY YOUR FRESHLY BAKED BREAD!”

This was one of those rare occasions when lots of random leftover ingredients and things buried in spice cabinets came together perfectly. Everything about these wraps was easy except coming up with a name. My alternate title was “Root Vegetable Tacos” but that doesn’t really convey how appetizing they are: slightly sweet from the potato and honey, gently spiced from the sumac and mustard, topped with a touch of raw red onion-and-lime crunch. I used medium pita breads from Phoenicia but can’t wait to try it again with El Milagro flour tortillas. Summertime, easy livin’, etc.

Spiced Sweet Potato Wraps with Honey-Mustard Shallots and Lime-Marinated Red Onion
Inspired by Gourmet January 2009
Makes 4 medium-sized pita wraps

1/2 medium-sized red onion
juice of 2 or 3 limes

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 large or 2 small sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon sumac powder
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon zaatar powder
salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste

2 shallots
1 1/2 tablespoons honey or agave
1 1/2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1/2 cup dry white wine

4 medium-sized pitas, flatbreads or tortillas
chopped green onion for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Slice the red onion as thin as you can possibly manage and toss with the lime juice in a medium-sized bowl. Let the onion marinate in the lime juice for at least half an hour or until serving time.

Cut the sweet potato(es) into 1-inch strips, like French fries. In a large bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons olive oil, sumac, curry powder and zaatar. Add sweet potato pieces and toss them in the spice-oil mixture until coated. Oil a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper (I use Super Parchment). Place the sweet potato pieces in rows on the sheet, spacing apart just enough so that they don’t touch. Cover the baking sheet with foil, pinching the foil around the sides to make a seal, and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until fork-tender.

Chop the shallots and saute them in one tablespoon of olive oil, uncovered, over low heat, for about two minutes. Whisk together the honey and mustard and add them to the shallots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are soft and translucent. Add the wine and simmer, partially covered, until the liquid is absorbed.

Warm the flatbreads (if you time it right, you can warm them in the heat from the dying oven after the sweet potatoes come out). Place 3-5 sweet potato strips, a couple of spoonfuls of shallots, two big pinches of red onion and a sprinkling of chopped green onion in the center of each flatbread and wrap ‘em up.

I’ve learned the hard way that there is no such thing as an unshrinkable tart crust. The way to avoid having a crust that shrinks smaller than your pan is, of course, to make one that is slightly larger than your pan. That’s why they tell you to “trim the overhang” and “fold over” the crust, which I never understood: fold the crust over WHAT? Um, itself? It’s hard to explain. But at least YouTube was there to provide me with a video of a guy who sounds like an 18th-century chimney sweep showing how exactly to trim the damned overhang and pinch the crust into a thickness at the top of the pan that eventually shrinks to make a perfectly level tart shell. I do not have the druthers, at this moment, to translate the whole thing into verbal directions, so you should just watch the video yourself if you can.

Sweet Buttery Tart Crust
From The Silver Palate
Makes 1 9-inch tart crust

1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/3 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cold water

In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, sugar and salt together. Cut the chilled butter into 1-inch pieces, then place in bowl and cut into flour with a pastry cutter, two knives or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

In a medium bowl, stir the egg yolks, vanilla and water together. Add to the flour-butter mixture and blend with a fork. Shape the dough into a ball. This should not take more than 30-45 seconds, and you should handle the dough with your hands as little as possible to avoid melting the butter with the heat from your hands.

Place the ball of dough in a lightly floured surface. With the heel of your hands, smear about 1/4 cup of the dough away from you into a 6- to 8-inch smear. Repeat until all of the dough has been smeared. Scrape the dough together, re-form into a ball and wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap. Chill for 2-3 hours.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, with a floured pastry cloth or between two sheets of wax paper. Line your tart pan (8 or 9 inches in diameter) with the dough, fitting it loosely into the pan and pressing to fit the sides. Do not stretch out the dough; these parts will shrink or break later. Trim the edges to 3/4 inch outside the top of the pan, then fold this edge over the inside of the pan, making a little extra ring of dough around the top of the pan. Cover and chill.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the dough in the tart pan with a piece of aluminum foil or wax paper and weight it with beans or rice. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove the foil and beans. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork in several places. For the blackberry tart, you’ll need a fully baked shell, so put it back in the oven until it’s lightly browned (8-10 minutes more); for a partially baked shell, leave it in for only 3 or 4 more minutes.

Pastry Cream
From The Silver Palate
Makes 2 1/2 cups pastry cream

2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Put a medium saucepan on the stove with a few inches of water in it and heat on medium until it simmers. This will become the bottom part of an improvised double boiler. In another heavy saucement, heat the milk on high. A skin will form; that’s okay.

While the milk is heating, whisk the sugar and flour together in a stainless-steel mixing bowl. Make sure this is bigger than the saucepan with the water in it – this will be the top part of your double boiler. When the milk is boiling, remove the top skin and slowly pour the milk into the flour and sugar, whisking constantly.

Place the bowl over the saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes, or until the mixture lightly coats the back of a spoon. Add the egg yolks and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick and lovely (about 10 more minutes).

Remove from heat. Add the butter and vanilla and mix will. Place a bit of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream to prevent the formation of a skin and chill in the refrigerator until cold.

Blackberry Tart
Makes 1 9-inch round tart

1 9-inch Sweet Buttery Tart Crust, cooled
1/4 cup blood orange marmalade, or other marmalade with 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper mixed in
2 1/2 cups pastry cream, chilled
2 pints blackberries (and/or blueberries)

Spread a very thin layer of the blood orange marmalade on the bottom of the tart crust. Pour the pastry cream over it and spread with a rubber spatula until the cream is even and fills the tart. Stick the berries into the cream, the more fruit the better.

I’m always enticed by the idea of gnocchi – it seems so cute and comforting, like eating soft little dumplings – but quickly grow disappointed by how bland it is. It’s just… dough. And I’m pretty sure it expands in your stomach later to cause a serious medical condition called gnocchi belly. To spice up this recipe from Gourmet, I mixed the chopped green onions into the gnocchi dough instead of putting them on top. It was a definite improvement and the gnocchi were good, but I still don’t think they’re worth the time it takes to make them by hand, especially if you’re going to go the whole hog and make fresh ricotta. If you’ve got a free day and feel like puttering around in the kitchen, it’s fun and easy to do, but store-bought gnocchi or even just store-bought fresh pasta (maybe pappardelle) would work just as well. The real star of this dish is the mushrooms, which are cooked in butter and wine, and do I even need to say anything else about that? No, I don’t.

Fresh Ricotta Cheese
From Gourmet January 2009
Makes 1 1/2 cups

8 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Line a colander with 4 layers of cheesecloth and set in the sink. Bring milk and salt to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in lemon juice. Let simmer until white curds separate from greenish-yellow whey, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, scoop curds from the saucepan and transfer to the colander to drain. Let drain only about 1 minute for regular ricotta, but if you’re using it for gnocchi, let drain for about 2 hours. Chill until cold. Will keep, covered, in the fridge for 2 days.

Ricotta-Green Onion Gnocchi
Adapted slightly from Gourmet Janary 2009
Makes 6 servings, or about 53 1-inch gnocchis

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
green parts (leaves) of 3 green onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
a few turns of the pepper grinder

Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl until dough is slightly sticky. If it’s too sticky, add up to 4 tablespoons of flour, one tablespoon at a time. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle a rimmed baking sheet generously with flour. Cut dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each one out on a lightly floured surface into a 3/4-inch log, then cut log crosswise into 1-inch pieces. Place gnocchi on the floured baking sheet, spacing apart so they don’t stick together. Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

To cook, add to a large pot of boiling salter water, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking (both to the bottom of the pot and to each other). Boil until the gnocchi rise to the surface of the pot, then boil about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes longer. Remove from pot with a slotted spoon and transfer to plates.

Wild Mushrooms with Marjoram
Adapted slightly from Gourmet January 2009
Makes 6 servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound assorted wild mushrooms (chanterelle, oyster, maitake, brown beech, stemmed shiitake, black trumpet, etc)
bulbs of 4 green onions
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons fresh marjoram leaves

Cut mushrooms into small (1/2- to 3/4-inch) pieces. Thinly slice the green onion bulbs. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add mushrooms and saute until beginning to brown, about 4 minutes. Add the sliced onion and saute 1 minute more. Add wine and stir until almost all liquid is absorbed. Add chicken broth and stir until sauce is thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add 1/4 cup cheese, butter and marjoram; stir until cheese and butter melt. Transfer to plates on top of gnocchi.

When I can’t afford to buy a new cookbook, which is 99% of the time, one of my favorite ways to get new recipes is to go to a used bookstore that sells old magazines and find some back issues of Bon Appetit or Gourmet. They cost about a dollar each, and you get more than your money’s worth of recipe inspiration and drool-inducing photos. The only problem with most of the popular food mags is they are really into meat, and vegan recipes are basically nonexistent. So I was amazed when I found one in the January 2009 issue of Gourmet that I picked up at Nine Lives in San Antonio (your one-stop shop for buying a used book and adopting a kitty) – and not just any vegan recipe, but a vegan baking recipe. Stop the presses! (Oh wait, they did. /snark)

One of my coolest professors recently became a new dad (yay!) and got another book deal (yay!) and decided to leave my school next year (booooo). Since baked goods are the best response to every major life event, I made these for him and they were very well-received, despite the poo-ish color of the frosting, which I haven’t yet figured out a way around. Make these for the Reese’s lover in your life, and give them a pint of milk to go with it, or risk getting some of this action going on.

Gourmet Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from Gourmet, January 2009
Makes about 18 cupcakes

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cupcake pan(s) with papers.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Gradually add the wet mixture into the dry mixture, whisking until the batter is smooth.

Divide batter between cups, filling them to about 3/4 full. Bake for about 17 minutes, or until a tester knife comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting
Adapted from Gourmet, January 2009
Makes 1/12 cups of frosting

3/4 cup natural creamy (smooth) peanut butter
3/4 cup mascarpone cheese or cream cheese
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1-2 oz shaved chocolate and/or handful of unsalted peanuts, for garnish (optional)

Mix together peanut butter, mascarpone and powdered sugar with a fork until smooth and even. Frost cupcakes and top with pinches of shaved chocolate and/or peanuts.

Recently I walked into HEB with a basket, noticed that grapefruits were $5 for an 18-pound bag and immediately turned around to get a cart. Three days later, I had consumed enough quarts of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice to last the rest of my life and still had two gallon bags stuffed full of frozen grapefruit juice cubes in my freezer. Seeking guidance, I turned to the Internet (I think I actually Googled “what to do with frozen grapefruit juice”) and discovered granita.

Granita is Italian for “frozen juice that you scrape up with a fork.” Sounds dumb, but once you taste those tart, sweet little flecks of ice melting in your mouth, you’ll be a convert. It’s one of the few frozen desserts you can make while still saving up for an ice cream maker, and so easy to make that I feel like a fraud writing a recipe.

A standard granita recipe goes like this: mix flavored liquid (usually fruit juice) with sugar or simple syrup. Pour into a shallow pan (like a baking pan) and freeze for an hour, then scrape up the ice that has formed, freeze again, scrape again, freeze again, scrape again, and so on until the whole thing is frozen. Personally, I don’t have the time to hang around my freezer scraping up half-formed ice crystals on the hour, and I found that freezing the liquid in ice trays and then letting them thaw enough to smash up with a fork works just as well. It might not be as pretty or as “dry” as the more time-consuming method, but this ain’t dinner at the White House. I’m just trying to cool off without spending my rent on Siviero Maria (the best store-bought gelato of all tiiiiiiiiime). Plus, if you’re using fruit juice, there’s probably enough sugar in it already, so you don’t even have to add extra. I told you it was easy!

Easiest Grapefruit Granita
Makes about 2 cups

4-5 ripe grapefruits

Juice enough grapefruits to make 2 cups of juice. Pour juice into ice cube trays and freeze until solid. Pop cubes out into a plastic container and let thaw for about an hour. Stab and smash into flakes with a fork. Voila, granita!

Lemon-Mint-Jasmine Granita
Makes about 2 cups

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 cups water
2 teaspoons loose leaf peppermint tea
1 teaspoon loose leaf jasmine green tea

Boil the water and add peppermint tea. Brew for a couple of minutes, then add sugar and stir until dissolved. When the water has cooled to about 160 degrees Fahrenheit (it should still be hot, but cool enough that you can put your finger in it and keep it there comfortably), add the jasmine tea. Let brew at room temperature or in the refrigerator until cool. Strain out the tea leaves and mix in the lemon juice. Pour into ice cube trays, freeze until solid, thaw until slightly softened and stab with fork until you get flakes. Now that’s what I call iced tea (hyuk hyuk) (applause).