Ok, so maybe I don't have 101 ways to enjoy raspberry leaf tea, but I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. Many people who have never tried raspberry leaf are expecting to taste raspberries... sorry you will be disappointed. Raspberry leaf tastes a bit sweet, a bit bitter, and a bit bland. For those who in a previous time in their life drank black tea, if you make it strong enough, and ice it, it can make a nice substitute for ice tea.
Why drink raspberry leaf? There are a few reasons and while some are female specific, raspberry leaf is not just for females... I will list a few but for a more in depth look at raspberry, check out my thesis:
-balances female hormones and thus eases the monthly cycle (women and teens can benefit from drinking a cup a day)
-prepare the body for pregnancy and child birth (many midwives have recommended it for those who have a tendency to miscarriage, many midwives recommend it to help prevent or ease afterbirth pains, tones the uterus, etc.
-lots of vitamins and minerals (there is a table of this in my thesis)
-specific for colds and flues (thins mucus in the lungs)
-cleanses mucus membranes
-assists in milk supply in moms (this is more of an observation than a typical notation in the literature regarding raspberry leaf)
Before I get into the different ways to enjoy it, let me review how to make raspberry leaf tea.
1 tsp of leaves per cup. I typically use a quart mason jar and put something like the mesh tea infuser (I have that one) or the celestial strainer from Mountain Rose Herbs in the jar. I put about a tablespoon and a little more in the basket and then let it sit at the top of the jar. I pour boiling water over the top and let it sit for at least 20 minutes. I usually put a small plate on top. I don't use the tea balls from large box stores or the grocery store because they don't typically allow enough water circulation to utilize the leaves that are in the middle so you are wasting a lot of herbs and ending up with weak infusions. If you can't find anything locally, then just brew in the jar and strain out with a fine mesh strainer. You can drink the RRL cold or hot. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I would take a muslin tea bag put the herbs in(it held about 1/3 cup), fill a sun tea jar with water and make sun raspberry leaf tea. Sometimes I would boil 2 quarts of water in a stainless steel pot with a lid, turn off the heat and stir in raspberry leaf, put the lid on and go to bed. In the morning, I would strain through a mesh strainer put the infusion in the refrigerator. Previously made raspberry leaf will store in the refrigerator for a couple of days. If you have need of it on a daily basis and aren't good at remembering to steep some, then make a batch and have it ready to go. If you wish to reheat it, do so until it is just drinking temperature. NEVER boil your infusions.
Since raspberry leaf is my most used herb, and I get bored easily, I have come up with several ways to enjoy raspberry leaf tea.
1. Just the way it is hot with a little honey
2. Hot with a little honey and sqeeze of lemon
3. Mix in peppermint (let the raspberry leaf steep for 15 minutes and then add the mint for an additional 5 minutes but be sure to put a lid on your container because you don't want the mint essential oils escaping with the steam)
4. Find a favorite fun tea blend like Celestial Seasonings English Toffee or Lemon Zinger or Yogi tea Calming or Cocoa Spice or whatever and steep like the peppermint at the end of your raspberry leaf steeping time. Those teas tend to get bitter if steeped too long.
5. Stir in 1 T of blackstrap molasses per cup. This will give you a little sweet as well as a nice boost in iron, calcium, etc. beyond what raspberry leaf already provides. I found this method wonderful when I was a little tired mid-afternoon and needed an energy pick-me-up. You could also add some almond milk here too.
6. Cold with honey
7. Cold with a little 100% juice added (I liked 1/4 cherry juice with 3/4 raspberry infusion and a twist of lemon juice)
8. Use as the base liquid for a green smoothie you will be getting all those great greens along with your raspberry leaf! Be prepared that you will taste the tannic taste of the raspberry leaf but not too strongly. My kids love raspberry leaf with spinach, apples, bananas, peaches, and organic lemon with peel and maybe a touch of honey if it needs to be sweetened.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
New Recipe! Healthy Creamy Yummy soup
I make a lot of soups in the winter. They are easy, they taste yummy, and they are good for you!
The other day, we had several family members who were down with a minor cold. So minor that they had some sniffles but were mostly doing well. I made a big pot of Onion Soup like I often do when people are not 100% in my home. Because I have small children who don't think onion soup is the best food in the world- even though it is rather mild and definitely sweet, it is onion soup! I diverged a little at the step where you add water. Instead, I set the onions aside and gently sauteed some more onions, added in some cubed potatoes and carrots and water and simmered until the potatoes were tender. I then put the onion soup onions into my vitamix with some of the hot water and blended them up with a handful of cashews (soaked almonds would also work). I added in some Balti curry seasoning from Penzeys. I poured the blended onion soup with curry seasoning back into the pot and added some cut broccoli. I brought to a simmer until the broccoli was done and served. My family devoured it. I was quite happy because my family got really good nutrition including the super healing onion soup and the kids were happy because they didn't have to eat onion soup for dinner! ;)
The other day, we had several family members who were down with a minor cold. So minor that they had some sniffles but were mostly doing well. I made a big pot of Onion Soup like I often do when people are not 100% in my home. Because I have small children who don't think onion soup is the best food in the world- even though it is rather mild and definitely sweet, it is onion soup! I diverged a little at the step where you add water. Instead, I set the onions aside and gently sauteed some more onions, added in some cubed potatoes and carrots and water and simmered until the potatoes were tender. I then put the onion soup onions into my vitamix with some of the hot water and blended them up with a handful of cashews (soaked almonds would also work). I added in some Balti curry seasoning from Penzeys. I poured the blended onion soup with curry seasoning back into the pot and added some cut broccoli. I brought to a simmer until the broccoli was done and served. My family devoured it. I was quite happy because my family got really good nutrition including the super healing onion soup and the kids were happy because they didn't have to eat onion soup for dinner! ;)
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Something Pinched Me!
We were at the beach a few weeks ago and my 4 year old had walked toward the water. She came running back whining that, "Something pinched me!" I looked at her foot and saw nothing. I figured it was a grain of sand in her shoe or something. She stood by me for a few minutes and after a few minutes, she got very agitated insisting that something had pinched her. I took off her shoe again and found a large stinger with the bum of a bee still attached! Poor thing. When she saw the stinger she began to wail. Her foot had begun to swell and the site was reddening. I got the stinger out and immediately called for my other two children to search for plantain. They brought me a pile which we crushed and placed on my daughter's foot. I changed it literally every 30 seconds for about 5 minutes- basically as soon as the leaves were hot I changed them. After about 5 minutes, I kept a wad of leaves on for a few more minutes. Within 20 minutes, she had scrambled off my lap, foot restored to perfect health with no indication of a sting, no swelling, and no pain. The day at the beach was saved by plantain!
Spider Bites- OUCH!!!
Over the last couple of weeks, I received a few spider bites. OUCH. I am convinced that one of them was a black widow bite because of the sickness and toxicity I experienced as well as the localized pain and intense itching... thank goodness for herbs though! Now on to my experience.
I was at the park for a picnic and after sitting on a bench for a while, I noticed a very itchy welt on my calf near the back of my knee. I figured it was a mosquito bite because it resembled a fresh mosquito bite with its raised whitish welt appearance. I quickly grabbed some plantain leaves and crushed them up to place on my bite. It gave a little relief but not the relief I am used to with a mosquito bite. I got more plantain and crushed it up and placed it on the bite. A little more relief followed... it was time to go home and I had to put kids to bed so I wasn't able to deal with it much. I can't remember if I put some old plantain ointment on it or not but the next day it was worse. All day I kept plantain ointment and fresh plantain packed on it but it still got worse. Over the course of the day, my calf swelled up, my leg got a bit stiff, and it hurt to walk! Boy did it itch too. By night, my calf was totally red, swollen, and hot. It still hurt and it itched. I kept at my plantain and added a little BFC to it. That seemed to ease some of the itching. I had to keep off my leg and use some ice to bring down the inflammation. I ended up resting all day because it was so miserable of a bite. On the fourth day, I remembered the Immucalm or Kid-e-Soothe formula. I took a couple droppers of Kid-e-Soothe (that is what I had on hand and it is the same as Immucalm with marshmallow and astragalus). Almost immediately the swelling started to go down. Now it looked like I had a weird old bruise surrounding a bite site. I kept at the Kid-e-soothe as well as more Complete Tissue because I figured there was some tissue damage given the looks of the bite site. By the fifth day, that weird bruise look had shrunk and I just had an occasionally itchy red dot. Over the next few days I used the Complete Tissue and Kid-e-soothe as needed. Success!
Fast forward a few weeks. I was sitting in a chair at this old amusement park and all of a sudden my ankle was itching HORRIBLY! I looked down and there was a bite (looked like the same swollen bite I had had a few weeks before). We rushed home to get some plantain for me. This time it was unbearably itchy immediately. Worse than a mosquito. I downed some Immucalm and kept at it the whole time. This time my ankle did swell up but not as much. As long as I kept the immucalm and some plantain ointment that had some comfrey in it on the bite, I was mostly itch free. Thank goodness for that Immucalm!
I was at the park for a picnic and after sitting on a bench for a while, I noticed a very itchy welt on my calf near the back of my knee. I figured it was a mosquito bite because it resembled a fresh mosquito bite with its raised whitish welt appearance. I quickly grabbed some plantain leaves and crushed them up to place on my bite. It gave a little relief but not the relief I am used to with a mosquito bite. I got more plantain and crushed it up and placed it on the bite. A little more relief followed... it was time to go home and I had to put kids to bed so I wasn't able to deal with it much. I can't remember if I put some old plantain ointment on it or not but the next day it was worse. All day I kept plantain ointment and fresh plantain packed on it but it still got worse. Over the course of the day, my calf swelled up, my leg got a bit stiff, and it hurt to walk! Boy did it itch too. By night, my calf was totally red, swollen, and hot. It still hurt and it itched. I kept at my plantain and added a little BFC to it. That seemed to ease some of the itching. I had to keep off my leg and use some ice to bring down the inflammation. I ended up resting all day because it was so miserable of a bite. On the fourth day, I remembered the Immucalm or Kid-e-Soothe formula. I took a couple droppers of Kid-e-Soothe (that is what I had on hand and it is the same as Immucalm with marshmallow and astragalus). Almost immediately the swelling started to go down. Now it looked like I had a weird old bruise surrounding a bite site. I kept at the Kid-e-soothe as well as more Complete Tissue because I figured there was some tissue damage given the looks of the bite site. By the fifth day, that weird bruise look had shrunk and I just had an occasionally itchy red dot. Over the next few days I used the Complete Tissue and Kid-e-soothe as needed. Success!
Fast forward a few weeks. I was sitting in a chair at this old amusement park and all of a sudden my ankle was itching HORRIBLY! I looked down and there was a bite (looked like the same swollen bite I had had a few weeks before). We rushed home to get some plantain for me. This time it was unbearably itchy immediately. Worse than a mosquito. I downed some Immucalm and kept at it the whole time. This time my ankle did swell up but not as much. As long as I kept the immucalm and some plantain ointment that had some comfrey in it on the bite, I was mostly itch free. Thank goodness for that Immucalm!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Sprouted Grain Bread
I have been playing with sprouted grain bread lately. I finally got up the courage to tackle it thanks to some recipe help from Traci Sellars. Her blog is listed on the right side of my blog. Prior to using her bread recipe, I hadn't had the guts to try with my dehydrated grains. I know that dehydrated sprouted grains work great for baked goodies, but bread can be so finicky. I first tried making some pizza bread by substituting the flour with my ground dehydrated sprouted wheat. Then I made Traci's bread. WOW it is fabulous. It calls for both moist and dry sprouted grains. She said she will be posting a video bread lesson including the recipe soon which will cost $1.50. It will be well worth it! Anyway, the bread was fluffy, toothsome, and so tasty. Needless to say it did NOT last long in my home. It also took less time than traditional bread since it only needed to rise about 30 minutes in the pan and then bake. No multiple risings and punching down.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Yummy kale sauce...
For dinner the other night I used a recipe for a kale "pesto" sauce on Veg Web. Super yummy! I used brown rice pasta (not the best in terms of mucusless diet but FAR better than wheat pasta). You could put this over a baked potato (with skin) or over some quinoa, etc. Yum. I think for my family we will double the recipe next time.
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