Tea, tea, tea, morning, noon and night!

In our house, we love tea all year round but as the temperatures begin to slide down the thermometer, our tea drinking certainly increases. We all know that tea has been used for medicinal purposes for centuries and I'm not here to give you a history lesson (although I do reserve the right to teach and preach at a later date).

No, I just want to share with you a few of my favorite, simple tea recipes that get me up in the morning and keep me going throughout the day and, oftentimes, put me to bed at night.

Morning Start Tea
Yield: 1 serving

8oz hot (not boiling) water
1 tsp minced or pureed ginger root
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of ground cardamom

Combine ginger, cinnamon and cardamom in tea cup. Pour hot water over and stir. Allow to sit a few minutes before enjoying. Can be sweetened with 1 tsp honey if desired.


Midday Slump-Chaser Tea
Yield: 1 serving

8oz hot (not boiling) water
1 teabag strong black tea, such as Irish breakfast tea
pinch of ground cayenne
few whole dried rosemary leaves (not whole sprigs!)

Place teabag, cayenne and rosemary in tea cup. Pour hot water over and allow to steep 3-4 minutes. Remove the tea bag (and fish out the rosemary leaves if you like). Enjoy as is, or stir in 1 Tbsp vanilla almond or oat milk.

Soothing Bedtime Tea
Yield: 1 serving

8oz hot (not boiling) water
2 tsp dried chamomile flowers
1/2 tsp dried catnip
1/2 tsp dried lemon peel or 1/2 tsp dried lemongrass or 1 tsp lemon juice

Place chamomile, catnip and lemongrass in a metal infuser spoon, basket or reusable tea bag and place in tea cup. Pour hot water over and allow to steep 5 minutes before enjoying.

Crispy Cheezy Kale Chips

Kale is good for you. You can tell just by looking at it. It's a deep, dark green. It's hardy and hearty. And surely, it's difficult to get any kid or veg-hater to try it, much less eat it on a regular basis.

That's all true until you start making kale chips in your dehydrator. After that, you'll have all the picky eaters in your house downing the greens like they were candy. Really.

Today, I'm turning two bunches of organic local kale into a seriously tasty snack.


Kale Chips
Yield: About 4 cups of chips

2 bunches kale, washed and patted dry
Olive oil (or olive oil spray)
Sea salt
Nutritional yeast flakes
Optional: garlic or onion powder

Remove the thickest parts of the stem from each kale leaf. These just don't dehydrate well. You can chop them up and add to soups or salads, or feed them to any veggie-vore critters you might have in or around your house.

Tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces, keeping in mind that the "chips" will shrink a bit during the dehydrating process. You don't want to make them too small.

Lay the kale pieces on your dehydrator trays in a single layer. For me, two bunches translated into 4 trays. Spray with olive oil, salt liberally, and sprinkle with nutritional yeast flakes. (If you're not using a spray, you'll want to toss the kale pieces in a large bowl and use your hands to make sure they get coated before spreading them on your dehydrator tray and adding the nutritional yeast.) If using, sprinkle with garlic or onion powder as well. (The amount of nutritional yeast and garlic/onion powder depends solely on your taste. Use as much or as little as you like!)


Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 4-5 hours minimum, and as much as overnight. The length of time will depend on how much water is already in your kale, and how crispy you like your chips.

After dehydrating, let the chips cool to room temperature and store in a brown paper bag. That is, if you can manage not to eat them all by the time they reach room temp!

Eggplant-Tomato Lasagna

Due to the abundant supply of eggplant and heirloom tomatoes currently on hand, I decided to make another yummy eggplant-centric dish for our Friday night dinner. This lasagna was inspired by the delicious Rustic Bread & Eggplant Lasagna from VeganYumYum, but I substituted her grilled sourdough for "no boil" lasagna noodles and added some zucchini as well since I had it available. The result was a fresh, flavorful stack of veggies and pasta that delivered the full taste of summer right to our mouths. Perfect!

Eggplant-Tomato Lasagna

2 globe eggplant, peeled and sliced lengthwise in 1/2 inch thick slices
1-2 heirloom tomatoes, sliced in 1/2 inch slices
olive oil and salt for roasting
1-2 zucchini, sliced lengthwise in 1/4 inch thick slices
4-6 "no boil" lasagna noodles
approx 1 cup of your favorite tomato-based pasta sauce (Newman's Own Sockarooni would be a great choice)
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
olive oil, salt and pepper for finishing

Preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay out eggplant slices and tomato slices, drizzle with olive oil and salt liberally. Allow to rest 15-20 minutes before putting in the oven. This will allow the salt to work on the eggplant, bringing out the moisture. Bake for 30 minutes.


In the meantime, spread about 4 Tbsp of tomato sauce in the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish. Spread half of your zucchini slices out in a single layer, followed by half of your lasagna noodles and another layer of sauce. After the eggplant and tomatoes have cooled a bit, build a layer using all of the eggplant.


After the eggplant, add another layer of noodles, sauce and the rest of the zucchini followed by the tomatoes. Drizzle balsamic vinegar and olive oil over the entire dish, and salt and pepper according to your taste. You won't need a lot of salt since the eggplant and tomatoes have already been salted. Top with breadcrumbs--as much or as little as you like.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until lasagna noodles are cooked through. Serve on with a little extra balsamic vinegar or even balsamic syrup. This dish pairs nicely with an Australian Shiraz.