Hibiscus Blood Orange Punch

Super Bowl Punch!

It’s Super Bowl Weekend!!! Make a Super Bowl of Hibiscus Blood Orange Punch this year for your Super Bowl party!  No matter which team you are routing for, this drink represents both!  Ok to be perfectly honest, I can’t even tell you which teams are playing off the top of my head. I’m not that into sports, but I AM into parties! Most years we host, however this year we have a friend’s Super Bowl party we are going to instead. However if I was going to host, I would totally make this recipe right here. Yup, Hibiscus tea infused with my favorite Blood Oranges, oh oooh good. It’s like health and and happiness in a drink. And it’s Beautiful too! Plus, it’s cheap (and you all know I like my bargains). Hibiscus tea is not that expensive (if you get in bulk), and blood oranges are just a few bucks. Sure Fruit Punch at the store might be a few bucks cheaper, but what exactly are you buying in that anyhow? High fructose corn syrup? Processed sugars and water with Red #40 food coloring? Nah, this here is the real deal, the Real stuff. It’s a perfect mid winter juice because it is LOADED in Antioxidants, and vitamin C (no need to be fortified, it’s already naturally in oranges)! Did you know Hibiscus tea is traditionally used for reducing high blood pressure? Let me break down some of the benefits of Hibiscus…

Hibiscus Benefits:

Reducing High Blood Pressure – a 2010 Study discovered that consuming 1 cup of hibiscus tea a day for 6 weeks lowered blood pressure in people at risk for high blood pressure and helped those with mildly high blood pressure. It significantly lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Lowering Cholesterol – a 2011 Study found that consumption of hibiscus over black tea showed an increase in their total HDL (“good” cholesterol) levels after 30 days of daily consumption. Other studies such as this 2014 Study showed that hibiscus increased good cholesterol as well as decreasing bad cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Weight Loss – one study reported a lower BMI (body mass index), body weight, body fat, and hip-to-waist ratio thanks to hibiscus. Reduction of bad cholesterol also helps reduce the risk of obesity, which means in theory it should help you loose weight.

That’s only a few of the positives. There are many more, as you would expect consuming most herbs. However if you are taking medication or already have low blood pressure, just check with your doctor that hibiscus is safe for you to consume in larger amounts. And definitely don’t go overboard on hibiscus, as a very high dose of hibiscus extract could potentially cause liver damage, so everything in moderation!

My Life in 2020

Now to catch you guys up with what’s goin’ on in my life. Lol okay whats Not going on is the better question. I’ve been working on my YouTube channel a bit, more for personal enjoyment and learning and educating myself on the process of doing video (as a photographer, it is sort of new to work with moving pictures). I’ve been trying to learn Davinci Resolve in my editing, rather than relying on Premiere Pro because Davinci uses GPU to render and replay video, which works out better for my set up since I have two 2080’s in my PC build I did last year. And I see a noticable difference when trying to replay my 4k drone footage on Adobe Premiere vs Davinci Resolve! So that’s cool. I have so many more videos to edit, like finishing up our Cali videos, working on a vlog I made when my best friend Nikisha came up to visit us in NY, a Lake Minewaska hiking vlog with my friends Tyree and Rhonda over the summer, etc etc. I’m a tad behind in that (video editing takes a little longer than I originally expected). BUT I did accomplish a One Second a Day video where I filmed a day in my life everyday in 2019!! You should check it out :)) I’m really happy with all of the positive feedback I received from it, honestly it was really cool to look back and watch the seasons change in a matter of seconds, watch what I choose to record in my day, and what I was doing on a daily, it’s a cool way to summarize a year of your life that normally flies by without a second thought. I think I’ll keep doing this for a few more years (Oh man just wait until I’m pregnant, that’s going to be a fun ‘one second a day’ video)!!

Building a PC and Buying a New Couch

Other things I’ve been working was building my husband new PC. He worked overtime to save up and sold our old iMac so he could buy all of the parts to make a PC of his own. We ran into some trouble putting it together (like this one screw would NOT come off of the motherboard for us to access the SSD slot. We eventually ended up stripping the screw and really could not get it out. So I drilled straight through it for 20min until it broke right off LOL = problem solved). Then our friends started sayin’ it was time for us to get a new couch, because our old couch was a used couch I purchased off Craigslist for $200 5 years ago, and it’s been heavily used since, soOo it was time. It was sagging in multiple places, the cushions always separated, the cats have scratched it up, there are stains on it, oh it’s a sad state. So Tim (hubby) and I finally went couch shopping for 2 weeks straight, and we settled on a BEAUTIFUL Raymour & Flanagan Outlet couch: The Francene. We just got it like 2 days ago, so I’ve been photoshopping pillow ideas, and wall color ideas, and rug ideas, all based around the new couch. I’m so so excited to have it all come together. I’ll be sure to show pictures on my next post so you can see beautiful Pinterest ideas come to life :D.

Wedding Photography

And lastly, I want to get back into Photographing more. I love photographing, its my first true love (since like 7th grade). It’s what I went to school for. But in my career now, I’m a retoucher full time. And I’m learning CGI (which I really really love as well, and will continue to pursue and learn – it’s So inspiring). I just don’t want to give up on photographing in the midst of everything I’m doing. The past few weddings I’ve been to as a guest, I brought my camera along and photographed for fun. Well, the bride and groom every single time ended up using my photos more than the photographer they paid for the event! My Mom (who does cake baking for weddings) has been pushing me, telling me that I could do Wedding Photography on the side. I use to think Wedding Photography was a joke, not real photography, a crutch, etc. But lately (thank you Instagram!), I’ve seen it taken to a Whole other level. It’s treated as ART, rather than just a mom with a camera (no offense) taking black and white pictures and keeping the flowers saturated or whatever. Now it’s Instagramable, it’s beautiful, its jaw dropping and drooling. People are doing amazing destination weddings, out in Yosemite, and photographing in the most epic landscape in the land, and stylizing their photographs with Lightroom presets, and brown neutral tones, earthy moody vibe, ohhh I’m all for it!!! Plus I remember when I got married, it was the best day of my life, it was a huge celebration, and I LOVE parties (as I said above), I love people, I love photographing, and I love beauty, plus people love my work and it makes them smile, it’s a win win for everyone. So I’ve been improving my Wedding Photography side of my site, learning about advertising, and upgrading my lens to the new Sony e-mount Sigma f2.8 24-70mm, and we’ll see where it goes from there!

Omega Juicer

Oh, ok one more thing!! I JUST bought the Omega Juicer 900 HDC, (our old Omega died…rest in peace my friend), and OH BOY that thing is a BEAST! Haha! I bought it off Craigslist (can you tell I like craigslist?) while I was at work, and my co-worker thought it was a vacuum it was so big and heavy! But I understand why now, the power behind it is crazy. It’s quiet, stable, and powerful. It can tackle anything, fruit and veggies yes, wheat grass you bet, even almonds to make almond butter!!! How cool is that!! So yeah, if you’re in the market for a juicer, tottally check out the Omega juicers, specifically this new model. It’s all that and then some.

Enjoy a cup full of Antioxidants + Vitamin C!

Hopefully you can give this recipe a try, it’s quick, simple, and delish! Have it warm, or chilled, sparkly, or flat 🙂 And you can feel good while drinking it. Anyhow, I think that’s all for now. I hope you guys enjoy the Super Bowl this weekend! Go ‘insert your team here’ LOL!

Hibiscus Blood Orange Punch

Print

Serves: 8 Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 30 Minutes 30 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 3 Cups - Filtered Water
• 6 - Hibiscus tea bags, or 0.5oz of dried Hibiscus
• 2 - Blood Oranges, juiced (save one to slice as decor in the punch)
• 1 - Lemon, juiced
• 1 Handful - Fresh Mint
• 1/2 Cup - Cane Sugar
• 4 Cups - Sparkling Mineral Water (or regular filtered water if you don't like the bubblies)

Instructions

1. In a small pot, bring water to a boil.  Then add the hibiscus and mint and turn the heat off. Cover and let it sit and steep for 10 minutes.
2. Remove the tea bags (squeeze all of the liquid out first) and mint (or simply strain if you are using dried Hibiscus).  Juice one of the blood oranges + your lemon, and add it to the punch, along with your cane sugar and sparkling water/filtered water (whichever you choose).  
3. Chill in the refrigerator until cold.  
4. Take out when you are ready to serve, and add the slices of the 2nd orange to the punch for added flavor and better presentation!