Pregnancy drink series: week 3, decaf chai latte

Chai is one of my favorite coffee shop drinks (since I don't really like coffee).  The trouble with chai and pregnancy is that I don't think you can really get a good estimate of how much caffeine is in it because of the variety of ways it's prepared.  Here's a list of a few brands, and how much caffeine they have per 12 ozs (numbers from energyfiend.com and starbucks.com)
Oregon chai - 97.5 mg
Tazo - 70 mg
Pacific chai - 100 mg
Starbucks - 75 mg
So there's a range, and there might be more of a range among brewers who don't use the chai concentrate, but rather make it from scratch (a number of coffee shops, Indian and Middle Eastern restaurants I've been to make it from scratch, and it's delicious).  I also have a feeling that coffee shops that do make it from concentrates don't really measure it, cause I've definitely had ranges of concentrations.

But anyway, the obvious answer is to make it yourself with decaf tea.  The trick is great spices, good tea, and fresh ginger.  I just got a new batch of spices from Savory Spice Shop, and they sure make a difference!  I think especially good, soft, well-crumbled stick cinnamon and cardamom that hasn't been sitting around for a year makes this really good.  The cinnamon may be hard to find.  This recipe is certainly good with some ground cinnamon or hard cassia cinnamon stick, but not quite as good.  I'm giving links in case you want to follow this recipe to a tee, both Adagio and Savory have online ordering!

Ingredients, serves 2
3 t. teaspoons loose leaf decaf black tea
5 cardamom pods, crushed or torn open with your fingernails
3 cloves
1 inch soft Ceylon cinnamon stick, crumbled
1 grind of black pepper
1 heaping t. minced fresh ginger, or about an inch roughly chopped*
1 c. water
2 c. milk or milk substitute
2 T. sugar**
0.25 t. vanilla extract

1.  Combine tea, spices, ginger, and water in a saucepan.  Bring to a simmer, simmer for 3 minutes.
2.  Add in milk and sugar, stir to dissolve sugar, heat to steaming.
3.  Add in vanilla extract.  Strain and serve.

*The pre-minced jarred ginger you can get in a store works well here, I happened to have some, so that's where the 1 heaping teaspoon measure comes from.  I've also made it with sliced or roughly chopped fresh ginger root.  No need to peel.
**Honey and agave syrup are definitely tasty too!  I like plain sugar though.  2 T. makes the drink sweet, but not too sweet.  Less sweet than most chais I've had a coffee shops or restaurants, but it's all a matter of taste.

Pregnancy drink series: week 2, Green smoothie (spinach-banana-strawberry)

You need even more iron when you're pregnant, and that's one nutrient I struggle to get enough of normally with my mostly vegetarian diet (and the few meats I do rarely eat - chicken and turkey, stocks, aren't very high in iron anyway.)  There's certainly Fe in my prenatal vitamin, but supplements are generally harder to absorb than natural Fe ... it's less bioavailable due to its chemical form ... I won't get started on this but could go into a lot of chemistry if anyone's interested.

There's lots of iron in greens, and combining green with a little acid, especially the citric acid found in citrus, is a great way to increase its availability.  I love spinach in almost any form, but the smoothie form is a great way to start off the day.  Or for a snack.  My dad tried this this morning and despite he skepticism over the color and eating spinach for breakfast said it was good.

Green smoothie, serves 1
2 c. baby spinach greens (I buy the prewashed and add straight from the bag or clamshell)
0.5 banana (frozen is fine, even preferable)
a small handful of strawberries (4-6) (ditto the frozen remark)
0.5 c. plain yogurt
0.25 c. orange juice, adjust to achieve the preferred texture
optional: sweetener to taste (I usually skip this)
optional: a few ice cubes

Directions: Put in blender.  Blend.

I say that frozen fruit is preferable cause it makes the smoothie nice and frosty.  You may want to add a few ice cubes if your fruit is fresh.  I don't think they sell bananas frozen, but I buy a large bunch when they're on sale, and when they are good and ripe (a little overripe even), I peel them, break them in half, and throw them in a freezer bag.  Then they are ready smoothie making.

Other fruits are really good too - this morning I added some mango - but I would say strawberry makes for a classic taste.

Oh, and a random question - Andy picked up some Whole Foods 365 organic brand plain yogurt for the first time yesterday.  Did we just get a weird batch or is it about 10 times more sour than other brands of plain yogurt (specifically Mountain High, which is what we usually get)?  It was sour enough that when I licked the spoon I immediately spit it out thinking something was wrong with it.

Pregnancy drink series: week 1, Grapefruit spritzer

As I mentioned in the last post, I'm getting creative with non-alcoholic beverages lately.  I'm going to attempt to keep a semi-regular posting schedule by putting a new drink up once a week. Most will be pretty simple, some a little more complex.  We'll start with a simple one.

Grapefruit spritzer, serves two

1 grapefruit
2 T. agave syrup (or to taste)
2 cans seltzer water
ice

1.  Juice the grapefruit.
2.  In each of two glasses, combine half the juice and 1 T. agave syrup and stir.  Add an ice cube or two.
3.  Pour in the seltzer water (slowly as it will bubble up a lot) and stir. 


Note: My glasses aren't big enough to hold all of the seltzer water; there's always a little left in the can, so I just top it off when I've had a little of it.