How to Make Simple Syrup

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My husband and I drink a lot of iced tea in the summer. I brew tea in the sun several times a week during the hot months, so we always have it on hand.

To sweeten our tea, I make a simple syrup. I like my iced tea a little sweeter and with simple syrup we can each sweeten our tea to our taste.

To add some flavor, I infuse the syrup with herbs from my garden--pineapple sage, lemon verbena, and lavender. The herbal syrup makes iced tea incredibly flavorful and it's so easy to make. My favorite is the lavender.

Use 1-3 teaspoons of the basic recipe or the herbal version per single serving. The syrup is a delicious way to sweeten tea, lemonade, mojitos, and other summertime drinks.

How to Make Simple Syrup (Basic Recipe)

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water

Over medium heat, stir and dissolve sugar in the water in a small saucepan. Once sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and cool. Once cooled, store in the refrigerator. This recipe stores well in an 8 oz jelly jar. You can increase the volume of the syrup, just keep the 1:1 ratio.

How to Make Herbal Simple Syrup

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup packed fresh herb - mint, lavender, lemon verbena, or pineapple sage

Over medium heat on the stove, stir together the water, sugar, and herb in a small saucepan. Once sugar is dissolved, place a lid on the pan and remove from heat to steep for an hour. Allow the syrup to cool and pour through a sieve into the storage container. Store in the refrigerator. This recipe stores well in an 8 oz jelly jar.

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Hot Chocolate: Just Two Ingredients

Who doesn't love Hot Chocolate at wintertime? I used to keep a box of hot cocoa packets in my cupboards, but not anymore. Two ingredients are all you need to warm up on those blustery winter days.

My ratio is 2 cups of milk to 3/4 cup of chocolate chips. My little sauce pan only holds two cups of milk at a time. I had some milk chocolate chips on hand, but I'm sure this will be just as tasty with semi-sweet or dark, depending on your preference.

Stir continuously over medium-low heat.

When the milk gets to your desired temperature and all of the chocolate has dissolved...

...drink up!

I mixed with my coffee for a homemade cafe mocha.

How do you make hot chocolate?

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How To Make Iced Coffee

This post was originally published in July 2009.

No, I don't have a tobacco-chewing habit, like my husband thought when he first saw my cold-brewed coffee jar. I have a different habit...iced coffee.

I drink hot coffee in the mornings, but in the summer I love iced coffee. I came across this recipe by accident when surfing the web one night and it hit me, "why am I not making my own iced coffee?". I was buying iced coffees as a treat for myself occasionally when we were out and about running errands. Now I don't have to because I am making them at home and they are delicious, just like the coffee shops.

It is very easy:

In a mason jar, I stir together 1/3 cup ground coffee and 1 1/2 cups water. Cover and let rest at room temperature overnight or 12 hours. The next morning, I strain through a coffee filter and a fine-mesh strainer. The recipe says to strain twice, but I haven't needed to.

I clean out my mason jar and then mix equal parts coffee concentrate and water, or to taste. The coffee concentrate measures to about 8-9 ounces, so I add about the same in water. I also add about 2-3 ounces 2% milk.

I shake together and pour into a glass filled with ice. Love, Love, Love it!!

Cold-brewed iced coffee recipe found at The New York Times website.

What kind of special coffee drinks do you make? Let us know along with the recipe in the comments.

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Make Your Own Iced Sun Tea

Who doesn't love a glass of refreshing iced tea on a hot summer day? We love iced tea, but hate all of the sugar in the gallon jugs of iced tea that you find at the grocery store. And at $2.00 or more a gallon, iced tea can definitely blow the grocery budget. On a hot day, a gallon doesn't go very far...did I mention that my husband and I drink alot of iced tea in the summer?

We have been sun-brewing our own tea of years. Throughout the summer, if it is a sunny day, we're brewing tea. You can tell my pretty sun tea jar is an old one, circa early '90s.

Every batch of sun tea tastes different, so you'll never get bored. I fill the sun jar with water and add 6-decaffeinated, green tea bags and about 10 sprigs of mint from my garden. I have loads of mint in my garden, so I make a lot of iced mint tea. I put it in the sun around 9:30am and leave it there until about 4:30pm. I pour the tea into another pitcher, squeeze out the tea bags and mint, add more water to get to the gallon line and add about 1 tablespoon of sugar to sweeten slightly to our taste. We go through so much tea in the summer, that I don't keep the tea in the sun tea jar, because I usually have to start brewing another jar in a day or two.

I also make flavored iced tea with 6-decaf, green tea bags and 2 flavored tea bags. We like raspberry or peach. Or, I will replace the mint with other herbs like pineapple sage and lemon verbena. Although, the mint seems to brew with the most flavor.

The key to making great tasting tea is to experiment until you find the combination that you enjoy. You can use more or less tea bags, use different herbs for flavoring and alter the sugar to your taste.

How does it add up? As stated above, a store bought gallon of iced tea can cost about $2.00. I can buy a box of 40 green tea bags for $3.50 and make almost 7 gallons of iced tea, saving about $10. I'll save even more when I use the FREE mint from my garden instead of the flavored tea bags; the flavored tea bags usually cost about $2.00 for 20 bags.

Do you make your own tea? What is your favorite recipe?

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This post is linked to:

• Mouthwatering Monday at A Southern Fairytale
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Thrifty Tip Tuesday at I Am A Money Magnet
• Works for Me Wednesday at We Are That Family
• Frugal Friday at Life As Mom