Drinking Away My Sorrows....With Chai Tea ;)

The Hubby is officially gone for three weeks.  The house feels empty, the dog is wandering around wondering where his pops is, I don't have anyone to cook for and even worse....
I'm gonna have to wash my own dishes!!!

I spent this first day alone grocery shopping for food for one, watching movies, cleaning (not really) and reading.  Whilst reading I stumbled upon an awesome recipe for home made Chai Tea.  This, I decided, was going to be my project for the evening.

 

Ingredients:

10-15 whole cloves

1 tbsp fennel seeds

5-6 slivers of fresh ginger

1/2 tbsp black peppercorn

1 dried bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick

6 cups water

2 tbsp black tea (4 tea bags)

4 tbs brown sugar *

1 1/2 cup 1% milk*

*I used splenda in place of brown sugar and fat free milk instead to save 50+ calories per serving

Pour water in medium saucepan.  Add cloves, fennel, ginger, peppercorn, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 7-10 minutes.  Remove from the heat and add the tea bags.  After 5 minutes of steep time, strain and return to the pan.  Stir in milk, sugar and simmer till it's hot all the way through, pour in a nice mug and garnish with a cinnamon stick! 

This makes 4 servings.  The original recipe is 95 calories per serving and a whopping 18 grams of sugar, but if you do it my way it's approx 45 calories and NO grams of sugar.  For those of you that think Splenda is bad, think again.  It's actually THE BEST option out of the artificial sweeteners and thus far has not produced negative side effects.

Needless to say, this made my evening a little more bearable and warmed me from the inside out....Just wait till you taste it for yourself.