Best-Ever Iced Tea

What does your family drink all summer long? Fat, juicy pitchers of lemonade? Cans of soda?

I'm a fan of fresh-brewed iced tea—it's pretty flexible stuff. You can control the amount of sugar in it, or use a different sweetener; you can make it decaf; you can shake things up with a splash of citrus; and you can make a big pitcher of it for just pennies a gallon if you want!

Iced tea fueled a productive weekend for me now that it's warmed up and buds are starting on the trees...Potted my peas and radishes, went to the bank, drove out to the local discount grocer's to stock up on some staples, did some laundry, ran some errands, made tacos and a really good gallon of iced tea. . .

I've got a recipe to share with you today. . .I would say it's a famous, old family recipe, but unfortunately, it's not. You should try to wrangle the old family recipe for Minted Lemonade out of me. . .

Best-Ever Iced Tea

To make a generous gallon

• 5-8 black tea bags (you can use the cheapo ones that come 200 for $2.00 or whatever)
• 1 lemon
• 3 sprigs of mint (grow your own, and eventually it's practically free!)
• 1 C sugar

1. Draw a quart of cold water in a medium saucepan. Squeeze the mint to lightly crush the leaves and add to the water. Wash and zest the lemon, and add the lemon curls to the water. Throw in your tea bags. . .Bring it all to a boil, then turn off the burner and let it sit for awhile.
2. Halve and juice your lemon. Pour the lemon juice into your gallon pitcher. Add a couple cups of cold water and the sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves.
3. After the tea has steeped 7-10 minutes, strain out the mint and the lemon peel (and the tea bags of course,) and add to the gallon pitcher.
4. Stir it all, and top off with more cold water and ice.

The subtle addition of mint makes it extra refreshing. Enjoy!

Do you have any favorite family recipes?