Grocery Haul for Two and Chai Tea Mix

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Good morning! It's time for my weekly grocery haul and I'm sharing my recipe for chai tea mix. It's perfect for this time of year and makes a nice gift as well.

My only grocery stop this week was at Winco...


I restocked on some canned good for the pantry: cream of mushroom soup, green beans, and green chiles. I also picked up a few packages of Ramen noodles. I like to use them with Asian type meals and they are the least expensive way to buy the noodles. I throw out the seasoning packet and do my own seasoning instead. Tortilla chips were also on sale so I picked up 2 bags of them.






The regular fruits and veggies and some breakfast cereal.






I picked up some frozen hash browns. I'll be using those to make a hash brown casserole for our Christmas dinner. I also picked up a couple bags of tater tots (generic store brand) and 2 packages of Jimmy Dean sausage that was on sale for $2.98 each (for 1 pound). Post roast was on sale and I don't have any in the freezer so I picked one up.

Also my hubby (bless his heart :) wanted steak for dinner the night we were shopping, so we picked up a package with 2 steaks in it. I have a few steaks in the freezer but we knew by the time we got home there would not be enough time to defrost them (since this wasn't on my menu plan I had not pulled them out of the freezer). He also saw shrimp and wanted that too to go with our meal. The shrimp and steak came to a total of $15.22. And while this is a lot to pay for one meal it's still way less than we would have paid if we had gone out for a steak and shrimp dinner.

We don't eat out much at all so a treat like this is nice sometimes. And he did bbq them when we got home. Which was funny because the weather had warmed up a little and the constant wind had stopped blowing which made it feel almost balmy out (it was about 48 degrees out) so we had fun sitting out under our carport (in the rain, it was pouring down LOL), bbqing our steak and enjoying the evening. The simple things in life! 





 


Besides that we picked up half & half, milk, sour cream, a couple yogurts and eggs. I also picked up some Powerades and club soda.


Total from Winco and the 
grand total for the week: $91 (rounded up)




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Chai Tea Mix
Crystal Miller

2 ½ cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered milk
1 ½ cups unsweetened instant tea
2 tsp. ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp cardamom

In a small bowl combine cane juice crystal’s and vanilla and allow to dry. After it has dried out break up any clumps. In a large bowl mix all ingredients well. In a blender blend 1 cup at a time of the mix to make it a fine powder. Store in a glass jar or ziplock bag. To serve mix 2 rounded tablespoons of Chai tea mixture into a mug and add hot water. 

Enjoy often during this holiday season!

Here is how it’s made..

You first begin by making your vanilla sugar. You can purchase vanilla sugar but it is kind of spendy but oh so easy to make. Measure out your  sugar and add the vanilla…
 
Start by mixing it with a fork but then use your hands to make sure it gets incorporated very well. Allow this to dry. I typically mix this together the evening before I make the mix and let it sit out to dry overnight..



In a large bowl combine the vanilla sugar, powdered milk, instant tea and spices…
Mix it well..


You will need a blender to mix the ingredients into a fine powder. I add 1 to 2 cups at a time and blend it finely….



Now put it into canning jars or any type of container you desire for gift giving…








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