my fridge is filled with these

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My husband keeps teasing me about all of the jars in our fridge. I’ll admit, I have quite a collection, but I’m not a fan of plain water. Here are some fun drinks I’ve been playing around with since it got warm outside.

cold-brewed tea: You’ll find at least one jar of tea concentrate in my fridge at all times. Lately it’s been green and I’ve been adding it to my morning smoothies. I also make regular, decaf and passion teas. Just add four bags to a jar and let it steep for 12-24 hours. I dilute it with water in my glass, but the green goes in my smoothies at full strength. GOOD MORNING!

iced coffee: Cold brewed toddy or just leftovers from a morning latte. I’ve been trying to create my own frappuccino at home for an afternoon pick-me-up. I’ve come close, but it’s still missing something. (Probably sugar!)

fruit infused water:
This is something new for me. So far I’ve tried cucumber and strawberry (not together) and my daughter and I love them. They are a great alternative to flavored waters, which can have just as much sugar as soda. I fill these up at night and use the fruit in my morning smoothies. We drink the water during the day.

homemade lemonade: My husband makes this from scratch with lemon juice and sugar. My daughter is usually the only one who drinks it, so he just makes a jar’s worth instead of a whole pitcher. It usually winds up getting frozen in popsicle molds.

So, that’s not too many jars, is it? How do you stay hydrated during the summer months? Do you have a stash of jars or are you more of a pitcher person?

it’s u-pick your fruit season!

picking fruit

Over the weekend we went to a local orchard to pick raspberries and apples. It was a beautiful day: warm and sunny, but not hot — breezy, but not windy. Autumn is definitely in the air.

picking fruit

First up were the raspberries. They aren’t supposed to reach their peak ripeness until later this week, so we had to hunt for good ones. I think we did pretty good.

picking fruit

My daughter enjoyed picking them until she began to notice Bees! and long grass Scratching Her Legs! In her defense, she doesn’t really like the seedy texture of raspberries, so this was a lot of work for something she wouldn’t eat.

picking fruit

After the berries, we headed over to the apples. Galas are our favorite and they just happened to be the ones ready for picking. Our daughter was much happier once she got her hands on a juicy, sweet treat.

picking fruit

It was hard to resist some of the other trees that were full of unripe fruit. We couldn’t believe they weren’t ready and threw a few into our bag anyway. Woah, were they tart! Lesson learned.

picking fruit

I plan to make some freezer jam with the raspberries. The apples will disappear fast around here, but I hope to at least get one pie made and maybe an apple crisp, too. On our way out we talked about a return trip later in the season, maybe when the pumpkins are ready.

for the locals:
We went to Martin’s Hillside Orchard. I follow their updates on facebook. A list of local orchards can be found here.