My name is Jenna Rey – Sue’s daughter – and I have the honor of writing the first guest post for my mother’s website! I hope to share with you some of the convenient but healthful ways I have found to keep myself feeling well.
The other day I was pondering two concerns during my weekly meal planning. One, I wanted to make smoothies for breakfast but I didn’t want to use store bought juice as the base (because they contain too much sugar). Two, I wanted to include some immune support for myself and my fiancé as back-to-school and the onset of chilly weather was making us both feel a little under the weather.
Aside from getting enough sleep, I feel this time of year, when schedules pick up and we are confronted with a whole host of new germs, it’s so important to take care of one’s immune system with healthy foods choices. This is especially true for my fiancé who consistently overworks himself in a public school environment. Many of us have similar situations and could always use a few more vitamins in our lives!
After pondering for a bit longer, I realized I could use an immune supporting tea as the base of my smoothies! PROBLEM SOLVED!
I hit the store to find a suitable tea…
When shopping for my tea, I was looking for Echinacea as well as ginger as ingredients. The Yogi tea had both and many other helpful herbs.
When considering my smoothie ingredients I chose strawberries, banana, and mango. I chose the strawberries and mango for their vitamin C content, and I chose bananas because they fill me up a bit more (and I need that in the morning!)
The night before I was going to make the smoothies, I boiled a full kettle of water and filled my glass mason jar with the hot water. I let four tea bags steep for about ten minutes, covered. After it cooled, I popped it in the fridge till the morning.
In the morning, I put two cups of tea into the blender, with one and a half bananas, a handful of strawberries, and some mango. I like to have a lot of strawberry in my smoothie so I added more – go with amounts you like, making sure you have enough liquid to blend smoothly.
I ended up needing more liquid, but I added some water instead of more tea.
When I was done I had two delicious smoothies.
The Yogi Tea Echinacea Immune Support Tea turned out to be a fantastic flavor as a smoothie base! It was not overwhelmingly herbal but did add some fruity flavor.
I don’t like to stay too long with one herbal treatment, and I know Echinacea can lose its effectiveness when taken for too long, so I think I will switch this up weekly. My next tea base to try will be Tulsi tea!
FORMULA FOR IMMUNE SUPPORT SMOOTHIE!
2 cups chilled Yogi Echinacea Immune Support tea + 1 cup of strawberries + 1 cup of mangoes + 1 ½ banana + dash of water (dependent on your blender)
Play around with some other options: Kale and strawberry! Blueberry and lemon!
Good luck keeping the germs at bay this season!