Tea.

Lately, I have been experimenting with tea, in a non-traditional sense. So far I have infused it, with the following, to make tea flavoured:

1. Porridge (oatmeal)

2. Protein Shakes

3. Poached eggs

4. Pasta

5. Marinated Chicken

1. Porridge. In the morning, I like to have porridge and tea. Prior to coming to the U.S. I always cooked my porridge in milk. Over here, adding boiling water seems to be the norm. Made sense to me, it was healthier and quicker to pump pre-boiled out of a thermos. It occurred to me that I could combine both, tea and porridge, for a super healthy start to the morning! The added taste of the tea, not to mention the catecholamines, is enough to forego any added brown sugar or honey. I used a mix of chocolate chia and green tea originally, but any tea works well. I also add in cayenne pepper and cinnamon, as I usually have this with my tea.

2. Protein Shakes. This year, I have started consuming protein shakes. Before this I was against buying protein for shakes and preferred to consume it via food consumption. It is so expensive back home as well and just f***ing love food! Sometimes, I used to cook with protein powder as I tried to shift my diet away from carbs. I used a lot of recipes from this website 'Protein Pow' Anyway, I started trying protein shakes in the morning with just water. Now, if I’m planning ahead I brew tea the night before, let it cool, and mix the protein together to have in the morning. I have tried it with Cookies and Cream, and Chocolate flavoured protein, both taste great.

3. Poached eggs. Not much to rave about this one. A subtle taste. The colour of the eggs becomes altered, for the worst I think, much prettier with just vinegar and water. But try it if you want.

4. Pasta. I thought this was pure genius. Surely, nobody had tried this before! I remained naïve, and believed that I must’ve been the first one! Unfortunately, originality is hard to come by these days. Firstly, you need a lot of tea bags for this one. I usually mix my brews with black, white, green, and rooibos tea. Again, subtle. This is the best word to describe the new taste. I’m sure this could be improved by further addition of tea bags. You really don’t need sauce with this tea pasta. Just some parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast (vegan).

5. Marinated Chicken. This was awesome! Same deal, brewed some tea prior, let it cool, add to chicken in a plastic bag overnight, with any other spices/flavours you desire. Also, you can poach it in tea water.

The addition of tea to any meal seems like a logical and healthy choice for those willing to try it. It requires little or no more effort than brewing tea for individual consumption. It adds no calories, and provides a subtle taste that negates the need for further flavor enhancements (again, in most cases it reduces any additional calories).

I’m still thinking of other ways to combine tea and food. Perhaps, some tea jelly!?

#tea #cooking #health