Raspberry Leaf Home Made Tea

 

Raspberry leaf tea is probably my favorite herb and definitely my most consumed herb. It's not my favorite because of the taste but because of the amazing health profile it carries.  It's naturally high in magnesium, potassium, iron and b-vitamins which make it helpful for nausea, leg cramps and improves your sleep during pregnancy. It strengthens the uterus and pelvic muscles which some midwives say leads to shorter and easier labors. This has been a very true fact for me, it also has helped with postpartum bleeding.  I currently am almost 27 weeks with my twins and am drinking 2L a day of it at almost $7 a box it can get expensive quickly and I run out at the worst times. If you scroll back a couple posts I shared that someone blessed us with raspberry plants, what a perfect time to make my own leaf tea!  All you need to do is pluck off a decent amount of nice looking ones. Once you’ve collected a decent amount of leaves, give them a quick rinse and dry them out. You can do this fairly easily by laying them to dry out in the sun for a few days. Once your leaves are all nice and dry and you’re ready to brew your first cup of red raspberry leaf tea, just take about a half ounce of the leaves per cup and pour boiling water over them, steep for 10 minutes or so and then enjoy.  I have been making iced tea with mine during these hot summer days and I find drink way more this way as well.

A few recipes

I just wanted to share a few recipes that we have been using.

This is such a nice dinner bread. Our first loaf goes as soon as it is out of the oven my littles gobble it up right away.

Amish White Bread

2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Another thing I wanted to share with you is homemade laundry soap. This is by far the best stain remover I have ever found. I also resently just found out if you boil socks in lemon water you will have the whitest socks ever.

Homemade Laundry Soap

1. Soap (You need one bar per batch). You can use Ivory. I use a Sunlight laundry bar.
2. Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (Available in the laundry area)
3. Borax (Available in the laundry area)
Step One: Shred, chop or shave your soap into small pieces. (Go ahead and do all the bars at one time, storing each bar into bags for use later.
Step Two: Measure and start heating water. You will need 6 cups of water heated to melt the soap in a sauce pan. It will bubble and rise, so get a deeper pan. Add the soap and water to the pan.
Step Three: Once the soap is all dissolved, you stir in half a cup of Borax and half a cup of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda. Stir over the heat until it is all dissolved. I add more washing soda because with 3 boys our clothes get rather dirty. LOL
Step Four: Remove from heat and pour into a large bucket. Use a three gallon bucket (or larger)
Step Five: Add four cups more of hot water
to the bucket and stir until well blended.
Step Six: Add one gallon plus six cups of cold water to the mixture. Mix well. Let sit for 24 hours.
Store it in your old laundry soap bottle or other plastic contianer for easy pouring.
Ready to use! I used 1/4 of a cup because I have a high efficiency (HE) machine. Most would use half a cup. It looks like a liquid gel.