Red Raspberry Leaf Tea

Good morning! Recently I have rediscovered the wonderful taste of coffee and it's effects. It's amazing how quickly I ended up having two cups in the morning and drank less water throughout the day. And it seemed no matter how agitated I got throughout the day the taste and energy took over. So this morning I decided to have tea instead. I have such a big variety of herbs and teas in my cupboard theres absolutely no reason to drink them up!

Normally my reaction would be to have green tea. It's good for the body in so many ways and has that caffeine boost for the morning. But, no matter how tired I felt this morning I chose to have something else for flavor. I decided on Red Raspberry leaf.




I think usually the first thing people think of when they hear red raspberry is that is what the flavor will be. Not with the leaves, because the leaves simply don't taste like the berries. However, it is delicious and I highly recommend it. I get mine in bulk at the health food store, but you can also find the prepackaged tea bags in some mainstream stores.

One of my favorite tea books is called "20,000 Secrets of Tea" written Victoria Zak. Often when I have tea or have a simple ailment I look to my tea book to see what the herb is good for. Red raspberry leaves have vitamins A, B-Complex, C, E, citric acid, malic acid, calcium, niacin, iron, magnesium, pectin, potassium, selenium, silicon, sodium, and zinc. Some of the good stuff our bodies need! But that's not all. It also helps with canker sores and bleeding gums, and extreme diarrhea. It does all that and tastes good!

The Sandwich

Sandwiches are one of my most favorite meals whether it's for lunch or dinner. This is my idea of a raw vegan sandwich. It's delicious. You can put whatever you want in it. For the bread I use collard greens. They are great because they are thick and hold your sandwich together, but not so thick to where it's chewy. And of course it tastes good! There is one thing you do have to do to it though. It is necessary to take out the ribs (I think that's what they're called!) down the middle. After that I like to put lot's of mustard on it, sprouts, avocado, and tomatoes. The best way I have found to put it all together is to just roll it up. I suppose it's more like a wrap. Delicious! I encourage you to try it if you haven't yet. Even the kids like to take bites out of mine. Give it a try and let me know how you like it!

I Call it...The Christian Sandwich

Because it was specially made for my son, by request.

He originally requested a raw vegan sandwich for lunch. (Super proud Mom!!) But when I told him I'll use collard greens as the "bread" he said, "No, I need bread." So wheat bread it was! I asked him what he wanted on his sandwich and he requested peanut butter, strawberry jelly (homemade with organic strawberries), ketchup, mustard, "leaves" (lettuce of course), and tomato. Oh, and for the side, "baby cabbages" (Brussels sprouts). Geez I love that kid! He sure does make me a proud mom.

I was a little skeptical if he would even eat the sandwich since it's just a little different than a normal sandwich, but sure enough, he ate it up. And all the sprouts! He wouldn't let me cut open the sandwich to take a picture so I just put one up of him chowing down.

Asking the kids what they want for lunch is one of my favorite things to ask them. The responses I get sometimes are amazing and awesome. Although, we have had a couple of rough rounds where the food didn't quite come out as planned. Trial and error I suppose!