Mid Week Munchies and Winter Spiced Tea Recipe

I'm really enjoying doing these mid week munchies posts and checking out what other bloggers taking part around the world are eating and buying too. Check out this link to find out more. Last week my purchases were all from my local super cheap discount store, Heron Foods. This week I've gone to the other end of the scale for my town of Glossop and am going to feature three purchases from our Marks and Spencers Food store. I'm also going to count this as my Halloween link up post.

Check out this link to see Halloween related posts from other bloggers.

I initially went in because I wanted to buy something Halloween related. We had been planning a Halloween get together this year but then Matt got a gig. So, instead we're doing something the week after with Bonfire night themed food. I couldn't resist this big bag of Vampire's Fangs though which are a salt and vinegar flavour maize based crisp. At £2 they are pricey but they are also part of a big 3 for 2 offer in the store at the moment which covers loads of products. I would imagine that come Monday they'll probably be reduced to 50p!

There's a tenuous link to Halloween/ scary stuff here with the next item which is some roasted salt and vinegar flavour fava beans. I have to say that I have never actually seen Silence of the Lambs although I know fava beans feature in the film. I have however eaten lots of Hodmedod's beans and they have teamed up here to supply the fava beans for this Dilly and Wolf snack. Here's a link to a review I did of the Hodmedod's range of products. This is a new product to Marks and Spencer's and they also carry an accompanying snack of wasabi peas which is also vegan friendly. The snacks are £1.50 per pot.

My final product is a not terribly exciting box of loose leaf English Breakfast tea. It will be much more exciting when I have used it to make my tried and tested Winter Spiced Tea blend. I'll be drinking this myself as well as bagging  some up for festive gifts.

Winter Spiced Tea

The ideal tea to refresh your spirits on a cold winter afternoon and it smells amazing. Can be drunk with or without milk.

75g (2.5oz) of loose black tea leaves
3 star anise crushed
2 sticks of cinnamon, crushed
Peel of half a lemon that's been dried and chopped (prepare this a couple of days beforehand to allow the peel to dry out. Remove the peel from the lemon removing as much of the white pith as you can and let it dry out on a plate)
3 cloves crushed
6 peppercorns crushed

Mix all the ingredients together and place in an airtight tin or box. Add a label.