What's for Dinner? - Hot Spiced Apple Cider

When we were at Wal-Mart, I saw a display of the gallon jugs of apple cider.  I asked the kids if they had ever tried it.  When they said "no," we decided it was time to give it a try.  We made a spiced hot apple cider for our Fall Fun Day this past week.  It was delicious.  Here is what we did:

Hot Spiced Apple Cider
1 quart apple cider
2 cinnamon sticks
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. orange extract flavoring
Dash of nutmeg
2-3 Sweetener packets to sweeten (honey or sugar works also depending on your preference)

Mix all the ingredients together in a pan.  Heat over medium heat until boiling.  Turn off the heat and let it steep in the pan with the lid on.  We made ours a couple of hours in advance to let the flavors set in.  Serve hot.

Tips:

1. If you are planning on needing to keep your cider warm for an extended period of time, you can use a crock pot to keep the drink warm for several hours without having to worry about it scorching on the stove.  
2. It is also fun to warm and drink the cider by the camp fire on a cool evening.  We just set up our campfire with a place to put our pan.  It stayed hot and ready to drink!  
3. The longer our cider sat, the stronger the flavor became...so, you may need to add unseasoned cider to tone it down after a while.
4. Orange juice will work in substitution for the orange flavored extract.  You will need to use more orange juice because the orange juice is not as strong in flavor as the extract.  I have also heard of people using pineapple juice, but I have not tried it yet.