Pregnancy Tea

Currently Craving: A Massage

I know i'm a southern girl and all, but as a general rule i do NOT like iced tea. Especially not sweet tea like they advertise at McDonald's here, YUK! so when Nancy gave us a bag of what looked like grass clippings and said we were supposed to brew it up and i'm supposed to drink a gallon a week of iced tea until the end of the pregnancy, i was skeptical to say the least. i was very up front 'i don't like iced tea' but she asked me to try it anyways. she said people either love it or hate it, no in between. since it counts as the days worth of green vegetables and i haven't been doing great with my eating (other than canned green beans) i figured i'd give it a try.

In this tea are included: nettles, alfalfa, oatstraw and some other herbs. she said in the last few weeks we'll add raspberry leaf. and if i want to add mint or lemon for flavor i can.

She gave me a list of herbs to avoid as well. mostly things i'd never heard of but a few things on the list were interesting: Nutmeg, Parsley, and Sage were all safe for cooking but to be avoided otherwise. i don't use nutmeg or parsley for anything other than cooking but i do have some sage tea. i'd stopped drinking it when i got pregnant though. if you're wondering, you should also avoid: Birthroot, Damiana, Coltsfoot, Osha, Mugwort, Sarsaparilla, Tansy, wormwood... etc. stuff i've never heard of and certainly am not using on a daily basis. i think i'm safe.

Brew your own home iced tea

Start by boiling two quarts of water, then turn off the heat and dump in about 1 cup of herbs. let that sit until it gets 'stone cold' then strain the herbs out and dilute with water to one gallon. pretty easy.

This is what it looked like through the process.

The Herbs in a bag


Steeping


Final Product



Then the moment of truth. How did it taste? actually, lucky for me i like it. HOORAY!

Nancy gave us just enough to brew two times then gave us the info to order. if you'd like to try it for yourself (all my pregnant, or non-pregnant friends) it is called Pregnancy Tonic Herbal Tea Blend and is by Blessed Herbs she recommended calling rather than internet to order. and she said about a pound would take me through the whole pregnancy unless i suddenly absolutely LOVED it.

in funny news, our friends Karen and Joey were visiting last week and the tea was in the fridge. Karen and i went out and joey stayed home to chill. when we got back he'd had some of the tea with cranberry. luckily it isn't get pregnant tea.