Actually I’m finding that tea happens to be turning up in a great many places and not just in my tea cup.
It all began a year ago (almost to the day)…I was chatting with a fellow Steepster user (then known as LadyKittyKat, now known as Bigelow (aisling of tea)). She told me she had a great recipe for Potato Soup* using Lapsang Souchong and better still she was willing to part with it! So here it is for all of you to try out and also adapt to make it your own:
– 5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced in 1 to 2-inch chunks
– 1 teeny onion, diced
– 4 cloves garlic, minced
– 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
– 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
– 1/2 teaspoon red pepper
– 6 cups chicken broth
– 2 cups Lapsang Souchong tea (I’ve found any quality Lapsang will do)
– crumbled bacon and green onion or chives as garnish
– 1 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese (Optional)
– 1 cup Monterey Jack Cheese (optional)
The Directions.
Use a 6 quart or larger slow cooker. Peel and dice the potatoes, and put them into the stoneware. Add onion and garlic. Sprinkle in the seasonings, and pour in the broth and tea. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4. The potatoes should be fork-tender. You can use a potato masher to mash the potatoes in the soup, or a hand-held immersible blender. You can also leave the potatoes in chunks, if you really wanted, but I like a smooth soup (WARNING Blending too long may lead to a mashed potato thickness). Here’s where the OPTIONAL bit comes in…this is where I like to add in the cheese to make it a little creamier. But you don’t have to at all, just a personal preference.
Garnish with crumbled bacon, green onion or chives.
The result is this:
Yum!
This one was without the garnish because it was tonights leftover dinner….still super yummy!
Right so where else has tea been turning up? Well, how about my shampoo? Yup, tonight as we were cashing out at the hairdressers I noticed White Tea hair products by Scruples. It is listed as the White Tea Luxury Collection. Needless to say I was a little nervous to look at the price…thankfully my hairdresser is really reasonable and it only set me back $13 (tax included, I also only purchased the shampoo this trip). Apparently, it will set you back anywhere from $15-33+ elsewhere when I did a quick Google search for the product. But I liked it…which is more than I can say for white tea you drink (I am really not a fan!)
The smell was really light and reminded me of a white peony tea I had in the past, very flowery and light. It also sudsed up really nice and a little goes a very long way. I’d show you a picture of that but 1. I didn’t take one, and 2. This is a family friendly blog (sort of).
You get a picture of the shampoo in my shower instead…
Last but not least there are the great products offered by Rachel Carter of iHeartTeas. I purchased her Sinus Bath a few weeks (maybe months ago) and have yet to try it. Sadly it has been way too hot to indulge in a bath of any kind. But we seem to be in for some cooler weather here this week. Hopefully I will get the chance to try it out and report back!
Sinus Bath – Bath Tea from iHeartTeas
So you see tea really isn’t for your morning wake-up or afternoon pick-me-up anymore. Seems more like tea is storming the globe one product or recipe at a time.
*If you try the potato soup I’d love to hear what you thought of it and if you made any further modifications.
Yay! The soup recipe. Thank you. Also, I was planning on asking you about the Sinus Tea Bath and now I know. I love nailing two birds with one tea cup.
Please let me know how you like it when you use it. I understand with this heat wave it may be a while.
I wonder if I can substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth? Or would I need to replace with water? Hmm?
I do hopt to use the sinus bath this week and will let you know how i like it. It smells amazing! I have yet to try it with any other broth…but I think it might work fine only one way to know for sure…
Love this post. I’ll add the recipe to my collection. Also, I was wondering if you’d like to link to your post on our recent forum thread: “Cooking and baking with tea?” http://teatra.de/forums/topic/cooking-baking-with-tea/
Thanks Jackie! I can link the post over there. Sometimes the forums don’t work for me…but I will give it a go!
I make several soups per week. I can’t imagine making one WITHOUT tea.
I don’t usually make this one when the weather turns warm…BUT my husband actually likes it and asked for it this weekend! Really? Which of your teas do you use and in which types of soups?
Persian Princess, Fennel tops salt and pepper makes a great stock in the pressure cooker in about 15 minutes. Using brewed tea, not the leaves! Strain out the fennel and then use it as a vegetable stock. I’ve also boiled bacon bones in two tigers as a bacon stock for an onion gravy.
Tea is everywhere.