Week 1, Recipe 1: Chai Smoothie

• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 5 whole cloves
• One 1-inch piece ginger, finely chopped
• 7 bags black tea
• 1 pint vanilla low-fat frozen yogurt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 3 cups ice cubes

Tip: Place the shake in an insulated mug to keep it thick and cold.
Recipe from November Everyday with Rachael Ray

1. In a saucepan, combine 1 cup water, the honey, cinnamon sticks, cloves and ginger over low heat. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
   
   
2. Remove from the heat, add the tea bags and let steep for 5 minutes. Strain, then let the tea cool for 20 minutes.
   
   
3. Using a blender, combine the tea, frozen yogurt, nutmeg and cardamom. Add the ice cubes and blend until smooth.
   
   Results: First, a nitpicky note.  This recipe is called a Frozen Chai Tea Smoothie.  Doubly redundant much?  Chai means tea and smoothie implies frozen does it not?  In my mind it does but according to the dictionary not necessarily.  But I stand firm on chai!  So there!!  Anyway this was yum-o!  I would note that when using ground ingredients as I did, when you cool the tea, the ground ingredients create a sludge on the bottom, leave that there.  It makes the finished product grittier than it should be.  This was my first time using cardamom.  It has a kind of peppery smell.