Innovative Ways to Get the Most Benefits From Tea

Green tea and other types of tea have a number of benefits. Drinking tea daily can help you lose weight, improve the look of your skin, develop shinier hair and even reduce your risk of contracting certain diseases in the future. Though you might think that you should drink at least one glass of tea every day, there are other ways to take advantage of these amazing health benefits. You’ll find innovative ways to use loose tea, including in main dishes and on some of your favorite desserts.

Salad Dressing

Salads are a great way to get in your daily recommended serving of fruits and vegetables. You can toss a mixture of your favorite greens with other ingredients like red onions, black or green olives, carrots, tomatoes and even oranges, strawberries or other fruits. Instead of reaching for the same prepared salad dressing that you always use, try making your own. Mix equal parts red wine vinegar with extra virgin olive oil and ½ to one tablespoon of tea. The tea adds a slightly earthy flavor to your salad.

Chia and Tea Pudding

If you ever had a Chia Pet as a kid, you already know what chia seeds look like. The same seeds that you mixed with water and applied to that clay animal are the same seeds that you use for this pudding. The seeds mimic the texture of tapioca pearls. Combine the seeds with your favorite type of milk. While you can use whole or skim milk, you can also use milk made from almonds, soy or another ingredient. Add just enough liquid to wet the seeds. As the seeds soften, they will develop a pudding texture. Add a little Ashitaba or your favorite type of tea to the mixture and top with fresh fruit or a dollop of whipped cream before serving.

Banana and Tea Ice Cream

Making homemade ice cream once required an expensive ice cream machine and a lot of time. Even though the price of those machines dropped, it can still take hours to mix up your base and freeze that ice cream. You can now make ice cream much quicker with a few bananas and some other ingredients. After removing the peel from the fruit, chop the banana into smaller pieces, seal inside plastic zipper bags and freeze overnight. You can keep frozen bananas on hand to whip up this recipe anytime you want. Toss the bananas in your blender with a sprinkle of loose tea leaves and a dash of milk before blending and serving.

Green Tea Steak

Turn an ordinary piece of steak into one of the best main dishes you ever tasted before. Use a mortar and pestle, food processor or spice grinder to grind the tea down to a fine powder. Add your favorite spices and seasonings, including garlic, thyme, rosemary, oregano, salt or pepper to the ground tea leaves. Coat the meat well in olive oil before sprinkling with the spice mixture. Rub the spices into the meat and let sit for several hours or overnight. When you grill the meat, the tea flavor will come through with every bite.

Peach Tea

Even if you love the taste of tea, you might not enjoy drinking the same tea every day. As long as you have tea bags or leaves on hand, you can make a batch of peach tea that tastes even better and still gives you all the benefits you desire. After making a batch of tea, slice a peach into chunks or slices. Muddle the fruit in a mortar and pestle to form a thick paste. You can add a little sugar to make this step easier. Combine the muddled peach with your ice tea in a large jar. Slice one or more peaches into thin slices, add to the jar and serve over ice.

Green Tea Frosting

In addition to having some amazing health benefits, green tea also has a shockingly bright color that makes it perfect for use in desserts. Making your own green tea frosting for cakes, cupcakes and other desserts only requires four ingredients. Combine one tablespoon of butter or vegan butter with one package of cream cheese in a mixer. Sprinkle in just enough green tea to get the color you want. Turn the mixer to a lower setting as you carefully add one cup of powdered sugar. Keep adding sugar until the mixture reaches the consistency of frosting.

Green tea and other varieties of tea have a number of health benefits that you can take advantage of every day. While you can drink the tea as-is when mixed with water, you can also make your own tea blends with fresh fruit. Take advantage of all the benefits of tea with some other delicious recipes too.