It’s time for another Recipe Redux! This month is all about tea. Here’s our prompt:
Tea cups around the world are bubbling up with bold new flavors: From cardamom chai and sencha green to bubble teas and veggie teas. We wish we could attend the World Tea Expo the end of this month – but in lieu of a plane ticket, we’ll be cooking and baking and stirring up tea-inspired healthy dishes.
I decided to go with green tea. I like to drink it inthe morning instead of coffee sometimes, but I’ve never cooked with it before.
A few major benefits of green tea:
- Improves cognitive function and memory
- Rich in flavonoids and catechins, which are powerful antioxidants
- Can help to prevent cancer, heart disease, and lowers your risk for Alzheimer’s
- Weight loss—boosts metabolic rate and has been shown to increase fat burning ability of the body
- Keeps you awake, without the jittery effects of too much caffeine
- Freshens your breath
- Is great for you skin
I’ve seen green tea ice cream, green tea cookies, etc, so I thought I’d give green tea frosting a try.
The cool thing is I was sent a free package of Kiss Me Organic’s Matcha Green Tea Powder to try out! I was thrilled when May’s theme for Recipe Redux was about incorporating tea into foods! How convenient!
This stuff is basically dried green tea. It’s super concentrated so you don’t need much at all. You can easily add it to shakes, smoothies, soups, desserts, baked goods, etc. I really liked this brand. It’s organic which is a plus! The powder mixed really well in this recipe. I also tried adding it to hot water with splenda, and it was pretty tasty. It’s a little bitter by itself, so I think adding sweeteners to whatever you mix it in is a must. My friend at Kiss Me Organics even sent me a link to a recipe guide full of ideas on how to use green tea powder in foods!
I decided to fill these cookie sandwiches with a cream cheese frosting infused with the green tea powder. These peanut butter cookies feature chunks of apples and are full of flavor from the cinnamon.
It’s like your after-school snack of peanut butter and apples on steroids.
Here’s the recipe!
- 4 red bell peppers, cut in half
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and strained
- 1 cup of sweet corn kernels, frozen
- 1 cup of quinoa, cooked
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
- 16oz package of cheddar cheese, to taste
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Cut and seed the bell peppers, set aside.
- In a large sautee pan, add the olive oil and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the garlic is golden.
- Add the corn, quinoa, black beans and spinach, heat through.
- Add the cumin, paprika, and red pepper. Let cook for 2-3 more minutes.
- Stuff filling into pepper halves and top with cheddar cheese.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
- Serve with chips and salsa or avocado slices.
Check out these other recipes using tea!
[inlinkz_linkup id=399197 mode=1]
Hi! I’m Emily, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and self-taught intuitive chef. I firmly believe that cooking is the simplest and most important step we can take to improve our minds and bodies and build healthier communities. Join me and let’s bring food back to the kitchen!
How did you ever fit all of my favorite things in there, avocado, peanut butter, apples, wow, Emily!
Haha somehow they all fit! :) Thanks for checking my post out!
Oh my gosh those cookies look so yummy!!! (: can you taste the green tea in the frosting??
The frosting has a hint of green tea. The key is adding the matcha powder and tasting the frosting as you go, as to not add too much. A little goes a long way. I think it adds an earthy, tea-like flavor to the frosting.
Good heavens, thank you so much for posting this! It is gonna be so helpful when I buy green tea at the store! So Rad!