Falling

At the beginning of this week my husband and I spent the afternoon playing in the swimming pool with our baby girl.  It was a cool day for Las Vegas, barely 100 degrees!  The pool, however, was a luxurious 85 degrees, and our daughter giggled hysterically as her daddy whooshed her around the pool, both of them screaming "weeeee," as I doggy paddled close by and smiled beatifically.  So imagine my shock and surprise when we are suddenly thrust into Autumn...Fall has fallen, and while I will miss daily soakings in the pool, I am super excited to get back to my favorite season.  After all, who wants to spend much time outside when it's over 110 degrees?  Now the daughter and I can wear our cute Fall jackets to the park, we can cook and bake without melting, and we can now buy those specialty items that only come out this time of year!

One of those specialty items I have come to adore and tend to stock up on I discovered when I was pregnant with my daughter.  I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, and while this wasn't a huge deal for me, as I was happy to make adjustments to my life to ensure my baby would be healthy and happy, it did force me to rethink and reinvent some of the flavors of Fall.  One of the delights I had come to look forward to was Carribou Coffee's Carmel Apple Cider.  If you have ever had one, though, you know as I did that this concoction was chock full of a diabetic's worst nightmare; sugar, sugar, more sugar.  So, having grown up in a household where my father was diabetic, I hit the grocery stores searching for the sugar free apple cider's we had often had when I was growing up.  Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find it anywhere.  I was so heartbroken, it was Autumn and I wanted my hot apple cider!  Miraculously, the Tea Gods were smiling that day, as someone had placed a package of Bigelow's Apple Cider herb tea on the shelf right next to where the Sugar Free Cider packages should have been, so I thought, ok I will give this stuff a try.  I bought the box of tea and found some sugar free caramel syrup in the coffee aisle and went home with not a little trepidation, but I was desperate.  Imafine my surprise then when I discovered that even without the added caramel syrup, this tea was AMAZING.  Since then, every year I search out the Bigelow tea display praying that they have again created their apple cider tea.  I always buy several boxes since good teas need not be limited to a single season! 

The best part, of course, is that this is an herbal tea.  No caffeine means I can sit in front of a crackling fire in the evening and sip my tea without fear or being kept up all night.  It also means I can have more than one cup and not get the jitters.  Best of all it means I can give some to my daughter every once in a while with no guilt, and guess what?  She loves it even without the caramel syrup! 

And, no, Bigelow isn't paying me for this plug...I just really love this tea...in fact, I'm sipping (ok, slurping) some as I type.