Smoothie

     If you read yesterday's post, you saw what could be done with just a few basic ingredients. Dried apples, dried blueberries and 1/2 a lemon. You get a great tasting iced tea. But you can do more with the leftover ingredients!

     After you have drained your tea, you will be left with plump re-hydrated fruit!
     What better than to use this mix to make a yummy smoothie!

If you aren't ready to make a smoothie the same day or day after making the tea, I would suggest pureeing and freezing the fruit in an ice cube tray. That way it will keep until you are ready to use it.

Smoothie

1/2 cup of any kind of milk substitute (I used Trader Joe's Almond)
1 banana
leftover fruit
Stevia to taste (I use liquid, about 8-10 drops)
2-3 tbsp Water (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender, blend until smooth. Use the water to thin the smoothie if it is too thick.
Makes 2 servings

Each serving is 2 points on the Weight Watchers Points Plus program (just a note, I am counting the dried apples as having points even though they are re-hydrated.)

Frugal Iced "Tea"

         I love iced tea, so I was pretty thrilled when I came up with this super easy, super frugal version of it.
          For my birthday, a friend gave me a container of dry tea that contained bits of different dried fruits. I started making ice tea with that. When I ran out, it occurred to me that I had a ton of dried fruit  from last year.  I had spent time harvesting free blueberries from our local blueberry farm. I also harvested apples from a local apple orchard. I dried some of both, not really sure what I would do with them.  I decided to throw in some lemon and see what would would happen.

I used my handy tea maker very similar to  this one  that my wonderful husband gave me for my birthday. It has a really cool strainer built in on the bottom. Place about 1/2 cup dried blueberries and 1 cup dried apples in the container, along with 1/2 a fresh lemon (peel removed) into the tea maker. Fill the tea maker with boiling water and let steep. After the tea has steeped, you sit the container on top of your cup and the liquid pours out from the bottom. I put my tea straight into a glass pitcher.

      I think I let the fruit steep for at least an hour (I went off to do other things and didn't time it). The longer it steeps, the stronger the flavor will be. Chill and then add a little stevia and you have a cool, fruity drink!

Tomorrow, I will show you what to do with the leftover fruit pieces, so don't throw them away!
Enjoy!