Mulled Cranberry Apple Cider

A few weeks ago I was taking a walk with my sister and we started talking about hot apple cider. She said she had a recipe from my cousin Andrew that she liked. I usually don't like hot drinks, but for some reason I really wanted some. We made the apple cider this past weekend, and her four boys loved it. I'm making it again for Thanksgiving since it will go well with the menu. It's very simple to make and leaves the house smelling so good!

Mulled Cranberry Apple Cider

2 quarts apple cider

1½ quarts cranberry or cranberry-apple juice

½ cup light brown sugar, packed

8-10 cinnamon sticks, 3 inch, broken into pieces

10-15 whole allspice

20-25 whole cloves

Bring everything to a boil in a 6-quart pot. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Strain and discard spices.

Yield: 12 cups

Photo by JoJo

Sun Tea

Yesterday I was babysitting at my sisters and had some iced tea at her house. She and her husband always make "sun tea", which I hadn't had in a long time. Growing up we always set the tea out on the patio in our backyard, or we would set it out at the deck at the beach. Now my dad makes iced tea on the stove with a pot of boiling water, but I wanted to try this out. I made some today for our Mother's Day cookout and wanted to share the idea with anyone who loves iced tea! This tea is a little more mellow in flavor than iced tea made with boiling water. It is a matter of preference - I like it made either way, as long as it's sweetened!

I used a 2-liter glass container and filled it with cold water, added a cup of sugar (I like my tea very sweet and I thought this was perfect...adjust the amount of sugar to your liking or leave the sugar out and sweeten it later), stirred the water and sugar together and then added 4 tea bags. I sealed the container and set it in the sun for a few hours (recommended 3-5 hours) and served with ice.

We still happened to have our old sun tea container in our house (which even has a recipe on the back), so that is what I made my sun tea in!

Photo by JoJo