No Wooden Spoons: southern girl

When it comes to summer in the South, everyone has their favorite Banana Pudding recipe. You're pretty much guaranteed to find a banana pudding at every potluck or family function. This is my family favorite from my "Aunt" Pam! She gave it to us when we first got married. It's in our family and friends cookbook where everyone who loved us gave us recipes to start off our marriage. I make it every year when the weather warms up.

Southern Banana Pudding

1 large box instant vanilla pudding

8 oz sour cream

12 oz Cool Whip

3 or 4 large bananas

1 box Vanilla Wafers

3 cups of milk

1. Mix the pudding and milk as directed on box.

2. Add sour cream and mix well.

3. Fold in Cool Whip.

4. Layer Vanilla Wafers, chopped bananas, and pudding mixture.

5. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

If you don't know, I'm from the South.

And being from the South what do we like?
Yep, Sweet Tea.
Usually the sweeter the better.

For the summer I thought it would be fun to create a few fruity spins on sweet tea. I actually misled you in the title of this post. I'm actually going to post 4 tea recipes. My recipes for 2 fruity concoctions I created myself, and my classic sweet tea, and one that isn't my own but I want to share with y'all. My classic recipe "Cat's Southern Sweet Tea" will be at the bottom.

I totally made up all these recipes on my own except for the Blackberry one which Bobby Flay rocked and I 100% thank him for creating cause it is yum!!

I present:

::: Strawberry Mint Tea ::: Blackberry Bourbon Tea ::: & ::: Raspberry Lemonade Tea :::

STRAWBERRY MINT TEA
2 cups strawberries hulled and quartered
1 cup sugar
3 1/4 cup water
5 teabags

Mix together the strawberries, sugar, & 1/4 cup water in saucepan and cook over medium high heat about 5 mins until warmed through and strawberries are softened. About 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in 10 mint leaves. Let sit at room temperature to cool 20 mins.

Heat 3 cups of water in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and steep 5 teabags for about 5 minutes.
Discard the tea bags and pour tea in with strawberry mixture. Let sit at room temperature about 45 mins to meld flavors together.

Strain mixture into a pitcher and top off with cold water. serve over ice with strawberry and mint leaves for garnish.

BLACKBERRY BOURBON TEA

3 cups fresh blackberries

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

6 tea bags

bourbon

Combine the blackberries, sugar and chopped mint in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher. Let sit while making the tea.

Bring 1 1/2 quarts cold water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and add the tea bags and let steep for about 3 minutes. Remove the tea bags and pour the tea over the blackberry mixture. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour to let the flavors meld.

Pour the mixture through a strainer. Serve chilled with a shot of bourbon floating on top. Garnish with mint if desired.

RASPBERRY LEMONADE TEA
3 tea bags
1/2 can frozen lemonade concentrate
1 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups water (plus 2 cans)
1/3 cup raspberry sorbet
raspberries and lemon slices to garnish

Put your raspberries in a bowl and pour the 1/2 cup sugar on top. Mix in 1/2 cup warm water. Mash well with potato masher. Set aside for about 30 minutes.

Heat 2 cups of water in a small saucepan until almost boiling. Remove from heat and steep the teabags in it for about 5 minutes.

In your pitcher, scoop in 1/2 can of the frozen lemonade. (Save other half of lemonade mixture for regular lemonade or another use) Mix 2 lemonade cans of water with your lemonade in pitcher. Add in the 1/3 cup raspberry sorbet.

Once tea is ready pour into pitcher and discard the tea bags. Strain your sugary raspberry mixture into pitcher. Stir well to mix flavors. Serve with slices of lemon and fresh raspberries on top.

::: Bonus Recipe :::

Cat's Southern Sweet Tea
8 tea bags
1 1/3 cup sugar

water

Heat some water in a medium saucepan with tea bags in it until almost boiling. When it starts to get frothy on top take it off the heat. Let steep for 20 minutes. Add sugar into pitcher with just enough water to cover it. Pour in tea and mix well to dissolve sugar. Top off pitcher with water. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving for best taste!

**Note: These recipes are for a 2.25 quart pitcher.