Easy autumn recipe: Chai tea

I don't know about you, but when it's cold outside I just can't get enough of hot drinks. I have tea or coffee almost every day, and the tea I usually turn to is chai. I have a great recipe for chai tea that I want to share with you. It's not a very precise recipe - it usually just involves me throwing a whole bunch of random spices into some milk and warming it up. But for your sake I tried to make it more accurate!

Chai tea

Ingredients (for one large mug of tea):

8-10 cardamom seeds

4 whole cloves

2-3 black peppercorns

1 allspice berry

2 coriander seeds

1 cinnamon stick

1 cup milk

1 cup water

2 black tea bags (English breakfast is what I use, but you could use almost any other black tea, although I wouldn't recommend Earl Gray)

Sugar, to taste

1. Place the spices (except for the cinnamon stick) in a plastic bag and crush with a heavy skillet. (I made the tea with the spices crushed one day, and un-crushed the next, and I can tell you that it tastes better if they're crushed.) You really don't have to use all the spices listed - the recipe I got this from didn't include the allspice berry or the coriander seeds.

2. Place the crushed spices in a medium saucepan, along with the cinnamon stick, milk, and water. Bring to a boil. (You may want to watch the pot, because when it starts to boil, it will boil over quickly.) Remove from heat, add the tea bags, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes.

3. Strain into a mug. Add 1-2 teaspoons sugar or more, to taste.

Easy summer recipe: Blueberry tart

 There are so many things I love about summer: lazy afternoons spent by the pool, barbecues, meals consisting entirely of ice cream (whattup, Rocky Road!), wearing sundresses, and most importantly, fresh berries from the farmer's market! Whenever we go to the farmer's market during the summer, we always get a half flat of blueberries and munch on them compulsively all the way home. This weekend I decided to use some of them to make a blueberry tart. Josh and I loved this recipe (which I got from my friend Monica) because it's not too sweet, which means it pairs wonderfully with some vanilla ice cream on the side. I used a quiche pan to bake this, but you can use any shallow baking dish you have on hand, whether it's circular or not.

Blueberry tart

Crust ingredients:

2/3 cup butter

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/3 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

Filling ingredients:

3/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 to 1 1/2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease baking dish. Mix together the crust ingredients. Press the crust into the bottom of the dish, spreading it out evenly across the bottom and up the sides. Sprinkle the blueberries over the crust. Mix together the filling, and pour over the blueberries. Bake 25-30 minutes.