Funnel Cake

Ingredients

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup water

½ tsp vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

Oil for deep-fat frying

Sugar

In a large bowl,  beat eggs.  Add milk, water and vanilla until well  blended.  Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; beat into egg mixture until smooth.  In an electric skillet or deep-fat fryer,  heat oil.

Cover the bottom of a funnel spout with your finger;  ladle ½ cup of batter into the funnel.  Holding the funnel several inches above the oil,  release your finger and move the funnel in a spiral motion until all the batter is released (scraping with a rubber spatula if needed).

Fry for 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Drain on paper towels.  Dust with sugar and serve warm.  Yield:  8 cakes

My daughter served us these for our weekend snacks.  Beats store-bought chips.  She had two types – the first one which are more cakey and the second one which are crunchy.  Both are good.  In addition to dusting the funnel cake with sugar,  we added condensed milk and grated Flat Tops chocolate.  Yummy! Completes your weekend.

Cucumber Iced Tea (with Yakult)

Ingredients

4 yellow (international blend) Lipton tea bags
1 cucumber, unpeeled, cut into1/8-inch slices
¼ cup honey

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup water
Yakult probiotic drink

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat and add the tea bags and half the cucumber slices. Cover and let steep until cool, about 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, combine the honey and ¼ cup hot water in a measuring cup and stir until the honey is dissolved.  To make the syrup: a) stir the sugar and water to dissolve the sugar crystals slightly, 2) allow the mixture to boil, and c) do not stir once the syrup is formed.

Fill a large glass pitcher with ice and a few cucumber slices. Strain the cooled tea into the pitcher and discard the steeped cucumbers. Add the honey mixture, syrup and 4 cups of water and stir to combine. Add Yakult. To serve, pour the tea into tall glasses full of ice. 

My daughter and son first tasted this when they were on vacation.  They said that there is a missing ingredient that would have duplicated what they originally had – mint leaves which would have been steeped together with the tea bags and cucumber slices.  But mint or no mint,  the cucumber drink was light and refreshing!