SMALL BITES: Did You Know? Hawthorn — Recipe: Hawthorn Tea — Bonus Recipe: Walnut Cookies
What are SMALL BITES?
They’re easily digestible bits, bites of delicious recipes, and/or something intended to inform or help you. And they come to you twice a week, with maybe an Xtra Edition, now and then.
I love small bites – pieces like what you see here — anything savory or tasty. A donut, a cuppa coffee or herbal tea, or a small bite of conversation, when pressed for time, with a friend or loved one. Short, but sweet. I loved introducing a different version of small bites into my young kids’ lives – swimming, tennis, music, dancing, theatre — that they could either pick up and run with, or leave alone, as they liked.
I hope you’re enjoying these SMALL BITES! I also hope you’ll join me on my mission to seek out healthy, GMO-free food, and spread the word to friends and loved ones.
I know – it’s not officially Heart Month. But shouldn’t we look after our hearts every day of the year? With that in mind, today, you’ll learn a smidgeon about the “heart herb,” hawthorn. We’ll only talk about the berry, but the leaves and flowers are also usable. It’s a honey of an herb that can be taken long-term. Always check with your health practitioner before taking any herb, though – especially if you’re taking medication, right?
Since we’re talking about being kind to our hearts today, how about a bonus recipe for another food known for being heart-healthy, the walnut?
To your best health ever,
Natalie
P.S. If you like SMALL BITES, share them with friends and fam? I’d appreciate it!
SMALL BITES #6
- Did you know this about the heart herb?
Hawthorn, the leaves, flowers, and berries, is good for everything-heart, and that includes the circulatory system and varicose veins. In a gentle way, it helps the physical heart return to normal functioning, and gently has been known to help the emotional recover from heartache. It “nourishes and protects” the heart, says herbalist Rosalee de la Foret, “… and benefits a wide variety of heart-related problems.” It can be taken as a tincture, in food, or as a tea.
Here’s an easy tea recipe I use.
- Recipe: Hawthorn Tea…
Place 2 teaspoons of dried hawthorn berries (from a reliable, non-GMO source) into a cup. Pour freshly boiled water over the herbs, cover, and allow to steep for 20 minutes. Strain, and sip. Also good with a dash of raw honey.
Enjoy one or two cups a day. This flavonoid-rich herb tastes good and can be taken long-term.
3. Bonus Recipe! Walnut Cookies
Fun to know: Some people connect the shape or color of certain whole foods with the part of the body it’s known to help. Crack open a walnut, and you may see what they see: two lobes that resemble the physical appearance of the heart. A heart-healthy snack? Eat a small handful of walnuts.
Ready to try this bonus recipe?
Walnut Cookies [Adapted from Cook Right 4 Your Type, by Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo with Catherine Whitney]
1 stick butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1 cup spelt flour
Confectioner’s sugar [optional]
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter cookie sheet(s). Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add walnuts and flour. Stir to combine. Drop by teaspoonfuls, an inch apart, onto cookie sheet(s).
Bake about 25 minutes, but check after 20 minutes. You want them to be golden brown. Remove immediately with spatula to a wire rack. If you’re using confectioners’ sugar, sprinkle on cookies while still warm. Store the 25 to 30 cookies in a container with lid. A cookie monster lives in my house, and these cookies are not known to last long! They’re just plain yummy!
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3+3: Three Questions/Three Answers of Juice Lady Laura Akre
Laura Akre, a/k/a “the Juice Lady,” is no ordinary juice person. She makes smoothies and juices at home, you bet, but she also takes her talent on the road, setting up her mobile shop at festivals and other outdoor events in Central Minnesota. Laura owns Fountain of Juice, a juice truck business she started two years ago. In that short time, she’s made thousands of cold-pressed juices and whole food smoothies for eager health-conscious folks, and quickly becoming a favorite of event-goers (and organizers who love her professionalism).
Laura has another distinction: she’s the very first juice truck business in Minnesota!
Fountain of Juice. Pretty clever name, don’t you think? Catchy, and memorable. Hmmm… Just thinking. Could a fountain of juice also be a fountain of youth? It’s a pretty good question, if I do say so, and I’ll bet Laura knows the answer (we’ll save the question and answer for another post).
The Juice Lady is also a fountain of information. Besides awakening the palates of men, women, teens, and the younger set with cell-nourishing fruits and veggies, Laura starts conversations with her customers about the benefits they’re getting in the cup of happiness she just handed them.
Hey, what do you think about this? The day before every event, she shops for the freshest organic fruits and veggies she can find. Then she pops them into the fridge to preserve their freshness.
Can you guess Laura’s number-one goal when she launched her exciting venture two years ago?
The obvious answer would be she wanted to share her love for healthy drinks, and that is true. But to do that every month of the year? Laura’s bigger goal is to settle Fountain of Juice into an accessible brick-and-mortar storefront. Give St. Cloud folks a place to drop any time of the year by for nutritious food in a beverage container.
Does that mean she’ll park the juice truck, once and for all? Nope! She’ll keep on truckin’ to outdoor events, as well.
Let’s hear Laura’s answers to the three questions I put to her.
- WHAT ARE THREE REASONS WHY JUICING IS A HEALTHY IDEA?
One – Consuming fresh juice is a great way to get high quality, dense nutrition into your body.
Two – Juicing is a fast, tasty way to increase your fruit and vegetable servings.
Three – Drinking fresh juice gives your digestive system a break and allows easy absorption of live nutrients
- WHAT ARE THREE FAVORITE COMMENTS YOUR CUSTOMERS HAVE MADE TO YOU ABOUT THE JUICES AND SMOOTHIES YOU MAKE FOR THEM.?.
One –“I can’t even taste all the vegetables you put in here!”
Two –“I love that you offer such healthy food we can enjoy at fun events!”
Three — “Juice and smoothies taste so much better when I didn’t have to do all the work!”
- NAME THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE JUICING INGREDIENTS.
One —Any (organic) greens
Two — Pears
Three –Young coconut
You’ve got to admire this enterprising businesswoman and mom of two. She knows what it’s like to not be healthy. Helping others find their best health is what feeds her passion.
Laura started a crowdfunding campaign to help fund the brick-and-mortar shop.
She’s also active on her Facebook page.
I love her new website. It and Facebook are two great ways to keep up with what Laura, the Juice Lady, is up to.
It’s YOUR turn:
Do you drink smoothies or juices? Often?
Do you make them yourself, or buy them ready to drink?
What are your favorite fruit and/or veggie ingredients?
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This National Hot Tea Month, begin the herbal tea habit
Tea-drinking wasn’t a habit at our house until we relocated to the Upper Midwest. Bitterly cold days and nights hang on endlessly, or so it seems. For generations, coffee, not tea, was our family’s beverage of choice. We haven’t ditched the coffee — never! — but we have invited all kinds of tea into our lives. Mornings/early afternoons are dedicated coffee-drinking times; mid-afternoons and beyond belong to herbal teas.
Why the about-face? A heavy chest cold significantly relieved by a pot of herbal tea with honey and fresh lemon awoke me to tea’s healing powers.
Some of our favorite teas
Now that we’re among the universal society of tea-lovers, the question begs to be asked, What’s not to like? Herbal teamakers like Traditional Medicinals, Yogi, Choice Organic Teas all formulate countless tea combinations that speak to certain symptoms – colds, sore throats, PMS, insomnia, stress, and other maladies too numerous to mention. (As home remedies. For serious stuff, get thee to a health care professional!)
Teabags were our preferred method of enjoying tea. Loose tea, the alternative, just seemed so…messy. Can be. Exercise a little TLC and voila! a whole world of exciting herbal teas opens up. At the moment, I’m sipping anise tea brewed from crushed seeds in that darling glass teapot you see below. Anise is a good choice to help with digestion and congestion (Source: Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible). Dr. Mindell suggests drinking one to three cups per day.
Delicious anise tea is brewing. Tastes like licorice.
Our Asian friends have been devoted tea-drinkers ad infinitum. Americans of whatever background have become pretty faithful tea-drinkers, as well. That’s such a smart move! Lots of good things await us when we head to the teapot for warm comfort. Like stronger immune systems. So says Dr. Jack F. Bukowski of the Harvard Medical School in his study in 2003, published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”
And this. The Tea Association of the USA blew me away recently—and maybe you, too—with these numbers: Americans drank 65 billion servings of tea in 2011, well over half from teabags. Pretty astounding, don’t you think? They say loose tea use is also on the rise.
How to pick a tea
Ask yourself what you want the tea to do for you. A couple of the benefits of Tulsi tea (also called Holy Basil, and, in India, it’s known as the “queen of herbs”) are to reduce stress and balance energy levels. It tastes pretty good, too.
To help melt away extra body fat, our go-to is oolong. We like it with a bit of honey added.
Chamomile is light and soothing, good to drink before bedtime, and very tasty. Dr. Mindell writes that it has traditionally served as a remedy for rheumatoid arthritis. It has other bennies, as well. Anciently, Egyptians enjoyed chamomile, and, 400 years ago, Europeans got into the chamomile tea-drinking habit. BUT Dr. Mindell sounds the warning for ragweed sufferers. You might want to skip the chamomile.
A couple reminders and a tip…
- Trap in the tea’s volatile oils – they’re what make the tea so beneficial – by covering the cup with a saucer while the tea steeps.
- Herbal teas are made from the roots or flowers of herbs. Green and black teas, and those in between like oolong, come from tea leaves and are not herbal teas.
- Any time of the year, herbal teas make great hostess gifts, or teacher gifts. Or, for just about any occasion when you’re gifting a tea drinker, make a gift basket of a couple kinds of tea, a jar of honey, and a honey dip.
There’s much to know and love about tea. Start by educating yourself with this very informative glossary of terms. Then pick your tea, and start sipping!
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Experiencing tummyaches after you drink these milk substitutes? Suspect carrageenan!
Organic foodies share a number of reasons for buying organic foods. We trust the foods for what they don’t contain—chemicals and toxins, and that includes GMOs. Or organic foods are blessed relief for family members having a food sensitivity. Or, diligent label-reading is no longer necessary. Those are the main reasons why we became dedicated buyers of organic foods. Still, once in a while, an unwanted ingredient shows up in even those organic foods wearing the USDA organic seal. Take carrageenan (carr-a-GEE-nan). For quite a while, the food industry has steadfastly claimed the seaweed derivative was safe for humans to consume. To be sure, it’s been a controversial issue, but now, new studies say carrageenan is not safe. Before I even knew about the studies, my GI tract was saying, No more!
When I was a kid, my family would occasionally break bread at my aunt and uncle’s house. Joining us at the dinner table were five or six quart bottles of milk. My older boy cousins were milkheads. Each of them was good for at least a quart a meal. Good thing Aunt was on a milk delivery route, otherwise, she’d have had to park a dairy cow outside her kitchen door. Any left for me, their little girl cousin? Yes, but no. Because I was lactose intolerance, I’d never developed the habit. Instead, my folks bought me fresh goat’s milk from a farm on the outskirts of town. Gut pain from eating or drinking is a deterrent and a turnoff. Another likely turnoff was knowing that the milk in those bottles was room temp, but the cousins slammed it down, anyway. Shouldn’t milk be cold when you drink it?
Since my kidhood, I’ve ditched the goat’s milk habit, but we occasionally enjoy chevre (goat cheese). It’s a source of calcium, and all of us who don’t tolerate milk know we still need a steady supply of that mineral from somewhere. Not until we started shopping at the organic food co-op did we find a happy substitute for cow’s and goat’s milk. Of course, solid foods like avocados, dark leafy veggies, eggs, fish, kale, raspberries, broccoli, cabbage, kale, salmon and sunflower seeds—just to name a few—contain calcium. But what about that milk-substitute find we found at the co-op? We’ve tried rice milk, hemp milk, almond milk, and coconut milk. I liked the coconut milk by So Delicious® best, and so, too, did Heather, my daughter and our household’s designated cook/baker. It works well for her in both cooking and baking.
Happy that I’d discovered my calcium solution, daily, I’d drink a small glass of coconut milk as a mid-afternoon snack, jazzed up a bit with the addition of fresh blueberries or raspberries, or both. Daily, I noticed a stomachache followed. What could be causing it, I asked myself. Answer: No clue.
Then The Cornucopia Institute‘s latest ezine landed in my inbox. I was all eyes when I saw the article titled, “Is Your Favorite Food Making You Sick? Carrageenan: Upated Shopping Guide and Questionnaire.” The article begins, ”Carrageenan is a highly processed seaweed-based ingredient that acts as a stabilizer and thickening agent in foods. Dozens of scientific studies have linked food-grade carrageenan to gastrointestinal inflammation and disease, including several studies showing higher rates of colon tumors in rats given carrageenan in their diet.”
I checked out their updated shopping guide, and there it was: In the column listing products with carrageenan was So Delicious® coconut milk. Bingo! The mysterious cause of my gut-aches was solved. With my last gut-ache, I’d also had my last glass of this milk. The tummyaches stopped.
So Delicious makes a tasty product as do other milk-substitute brands. But—and it’s a big one—until they find a healthier, safer stabilizer replacement for the carrageenan, they’re off my shopping list.
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Coffee, tea—health benefits…and warm memories
My European-born dad had a way with coffee. He took the ordinary out of the act of sipping the deeply satisfying brew. Thus, coffee has always been my warm beverage of choice. Dad may have downed cups of tea for the short time he lived in London, but I’m bettin’ coffee reigned supreme
Until we moved to Minnesota, you’d never find a box of herbal tea in our kitchen pantry. Since then, teas of all kinds have found a place in our lives—though they’ll never replace our coffee-lovin’ ways.
A pantry shelf of herbal teas. The one at upper left is the brand of Tulsi Tea we like.
Among the teas we keep on hand are green, oolong, and tulsi. Every tea, it seems, has an attitude, er, that is, a unique taste and function. Green tea is one that doesn’t excite my tastebuds, yet it boasts a cornucopia of health bennies, such as protection against cancers of many types, and it aids weight loss. Taste and health benefits are two criteria I prize in an herbal tea. Though green tea doesn’t quite pass my taste requirements, who can pass up the stellar protections it offers?
Enter tulsi tea, a tea that has it all: taste, and a proud resume of outstanding health benefits. I’m astounded by this list, and maybe you will be, too. Presenting—many of tulsi’s benefits:
- it calms and relieves stress, and lowers blood pressure (good for the heart)
- it helps several of the body’s systems, such as the respiratory and digestive systems, and metabolism
- it boosts the immune system
- it helps vision
- it protects against free radicals
- it lowers blood sugar (good for diabetics).
And it’s one of the adaptogenic herbs, meaning it helps the body to adapt to new stresses. Scientific research supports these claims, backing up what the people of India have known for 5,000 years.
Herbal tea-drinking isn’t for everyone. Those who are after the quick fix, for example. I was one of ’em. When my first cup of herbal tea failed to halt my miserable cold, I felt gypped and ready to donate the rest of the box to a true tea-lover. Ahhh, but herbs aren’t quick fixes, I learned. Takes time, patience, and drinking more than one cup.
A couple of unrecorded (till now) side benefits
No tea manufacturer will tell you about these side benefits to drinking tea, or the price might shoot up! They’re probably unaware that some of their customers conjure up idyllic scenes in their minds when anticipating tea time. Like this relaxing (and improbable) scene I’ve painted in my mind’s eye: I’m wrapped in an afghan on a wintry night, comfortably settled into an overstuffed chair near a slightly roaring fire, where I’m reading one of the books I’ve been meaning to get to. Music plays softly as a backdrop. A cup of tea is within arm’s reach. Squares of good chocolate, also within reach, fill a cut-glass dish. Can you picture it?
And this. Whether tea or coffee, warm beverages stir warm memories. When I was in young kidhood, my dad and I frequently headed to his office at the college where he chaired the Modern Languages Department. There, he’d brew a pot of coffee (never tea) and serve me an almost microscopic amount in a tiny, flower-covered china cup with its matching saucer. No music, no afghans, no fireplace, no bowl of chocolates; just dad and me, making a memory I still treasure, as we sipped the lovely beverage he loved and that I learned to love. At no extra charge, coffee or tea offer timeless, priceless moments.
If you’d like to know more about tulsi tea, maybe you’d enjoy Dr. Narendra Singh’s book, Tulsi — The Mother Medicine of Nature. Have a cup nearby for maximum reading enjoyment.
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Green Tea: Health Benefit-Rich
Drinking green tea is at the top, or near the top, of most “what to eat/drink for good and optimum health” lists. With good reason. It helps lower cholesterol, control blood sugar. It’s a warrior in our fight against heart disease, even some cancers. Green tea contains strong antioxidant and antibacterial properties, called catechins (which are polyphenols). The more catechins we take in, the better the results. For example, one 6-ounce cup of green tea contains between 50 and 100 mg of catechins. Drink a couple of cups a day, and you’ve easily boosted your catechins intake.
Dr. David Juan wrote a two-part series on green tea (“One More Look at This Superpower Drink”). He says that “… preliminary evidence suggests that drinking green tea may have the following influences on your body:
- Reduction in the risk of type 2 diabetes
- Increase in the density of your bones, helping prevent osteoporosis
- Reduction of stress
- Protection of skin from UV radiation
- Treatment of human papillomavirus cervical lesions
- Prevention of both cold and flu
- Improvement of cognitive function
- Strengthening of your gums and prevention of gum disease
- Increase in blood pressure in older adults who suffer from hypotension
- Treatment of genital warts.”
Nice! How are those for benefits?
Then, there’s this: Green tea can also increase thermogenesis, a word that means you ‘ll burn more calories, faster. So, in a real sense, drinking green tea aids in weight loss.
Brewed and ready for mid-afternoon tea break!
It’s the immune support green tea offers that inspired me to buy more of it. We’re fast barreling into another cold and flu season, so like a warm winter coat protects against the wintry elements on the outside, green tea protects against bad bug invasion from the inside. “A single cup of Green Tea provides more antioxidant support than a serving of broccoli or strawberries,” so says Yogi teamakers, on the back of their box.
Yogi makes a bevy of teas, including several green tea varieties, and they’re both organic teas and natural teas. While the tea in the picture doesn’t wear the certified organic seal, all but one of the ingredients are organic—and there are a lot of them—Green tea leaf, hibiscus flower, peppermint leaf, burdock and dandelion root, orange, blueberry, raspberry, and pomegranate flavors. Yogi tells its customers that they think before they blend. In my opinion, they thought very well when they blended these two antioxidant superstars! Pomegranate is, according to Better Nutrition, November 2009, “…the only fruit rich in all three major antioxidants: tannins, anthocyanins, and ellagic acid.” Besides that, pomegranate also contains a worthy dose of Vitamins A, C and E, some folic acid and potassium. And, besides its top-notch nutritional profile, the pomegranate makes the green tea taste good.
Because green tea packs about 30 mg of caffeine in every teabag, I stay away from it in the evening. It’s become my mid-afternoon beverage of choice.
But not everyone likes to drink tea. Happily, there are green tea supplements available for them.
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Drink your Vitamin C in cups of rose hips tea
A while back, I bought dried rose hips at our organic food co-op, put them aside for ‘later.’ You guessed it…later never came. Till the other night.
I’d known that rose hips—they come from wild roses—have a lot going for them, nutritionally. They’re loaded with Vitamin C, even more, the site tells me, than oranges! But how to use my small supply was the question, and probably the reason I tucked them aside in the first place.
There may be other ways to unleash the benefits rose hips offers, but making tea is the one I tried…and enjoyed immensely!
I followed the site’s directions, and voila! delicious tea was my reward. I added no sweetener of any kind (raw honey is my usual, preferred sweetener). For lovers of pink, you’ll be delighted to know you may be drinking pink, as I did. While I enjoyed the flavor, my daughter Heather didn’t find it as much to her liking. ( Maybe she’ll grow a taste for it next time I make it.)
Here’s the simple recipe:
- Put 4 cups of filtered water into a saucepan.
- Add one tablespoon of dried rose hips.
- When it comes to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Strain into your favorite cup.
- Find a comfy chair, enjoy a good book or article as you sip your Vitamin C.
Our food co-op has a robust bulk foods section that includes dried rose hips. The above site notes that dried rose hips can go for as much as $25 a pound, but who can’t love buying just the quantity you need from a reliable bulk department?
If you try this tea, let me know if you like it. Have you found any other ways to use rose hips?
Natalie M. Rotunda's Organic Pantry Blog 
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