Mobile Menu

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Menu
  • Skip to left header navigation
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Annie B Kay

telehealth holistic dietitian, yoga therapist

Header Left

Header Right

  • Home
  • About
    • Start Here
    • Media
    • About
    • Contact
  • Read, Listen, Cook, Shop
    • Blog
    • Quickeners Podcast
    • Easy Healthy Recipes
    • Books by Annie B. Kay
      • Every Bite Is Divine
      • Yoga & Diabetes
    • Herbal, Supplement & Health Products Shop
  • Let’s Work Together
    • Workshops & Appearances
    • Personal Nutrition & Lifestyle Coaching
    • Contact
You are here: Home / Archives for herbs

herbs

Herbal Water Recipe

June 3, 2019 //  by annie//  8 Comments

herbal water

I finally got a glass pitcher with a cylinder in the top so that I can easily make herbal waters – cold water sun infusions. These are really the perfect alternative to soda or even to sparkling water in plastic containers.

Why Drink Herbal Water?

With herbal waters, you take a pass on the sugar and whatever else is in packaged drinks you purchase. But you also get a smidgen of phytonutrient and bioenergetic support (that certain je ne sais quoi – a delight of unknown origin) from herbs and other botanicals. Herbs do contain some of the most potent of nature’s medicines, and the flavors and fragrances you experience are those potent antioxidants that provide health-enhancing benefits like calming inflammation and helping to make your internal environment resilient.

How to Make Herbal Water

The recipe is so straight forward – it’s really more of a reminder.

herbal water
Print Pin

Herbal Water Recipe

Herbal water passes on the sugar and expense of soda and soothes your senses with some of the most potent of nature's medicines - phytonutrients.
Course Drinks
Cuisine Plant Medicine
Keyword Herbal Water, Recipes, Plant Medicine
Prep Time 15 minutes
Steeping time 6 hours
Servings 4
Author annie
Cost $2.00

Equipment

  • Pitcher

Ingredients

  • 1 quart water clean, filtered
  • 1 /2 cup herbs & flavorings any edible fresh herb, root, flower or spice

Instructions

  • Fill a one-quart glass pitcher with water.
  • Place herbs and flavorings in something that will allow their suspension in the water - a clean small cloth bag, for example - I have a pitcher made just for sun-tea, with a plastic cylinder attached to the lid. A tea-ball would do the trick. There are an array of options available commercially.
  • Place pitcher containing herbs on a sunny windowsill or a sunny spot free from critters.
  • Leave for at least an hour, preferably several hours.
  • Remove herbs/flavorers, and enjoy as is or over ice. Keeps refrigerated for about a week.

Notes

This is one of those non-recipe recipes - perhaps it's more a technique. But, having a quart of herbal water around is a wonderful direct and simple way to connect with what is blooming or at it's peak in my yard. Simple refreshing plant medicine. 

Here are a few of my favorite herbal water combos I’ve tried over several summers:

  • Fresh ginger and English mint – refreshing and delicious
  • Lavender and blueberries – sweet and soothing
  • Cilantro – like a light green drink – tastes cleansing
  • Watermelon and lime – sweet and tangy and what is it about watermelon that just makes me happy?

What’s Your Favorite Herbal Water Combo?

If the idea of botanical cooking appeals, check out Kami McBride’s book, Herbal Kitchen. It’s an inspiration, a classic and uses botanicals in a variety of creative ways, from herbal waters to soups to cordials and even bathing and beauty non-products. Check her out!

Check my other plant medicine and plant-centric recipes.

herbal water

Herbal Water RecipeRead More

Category: Heal with Food, RecipesTag: herbs, recipes, Summer

Hail Tulsi – Green Mahadevi

August 23, 2017 //  by annie//  Leave a Comment

Hail Tulsi - Green Mahadevi by Annie B Kay - anniebkay.com

Hail Tulsi - Green Mahadevi by Annie B Kay - anniebkay.com
My garden right now is filled with the sweet green goddess known as tulsi.
Tulsi is a type of basil that originated in India. There are several types, like sisters in a family. If you ‘do yoga’, love botanicals, AND you haven’t met tulsi yet, I’m happy for you. Your future includes meeting one of the most sweetly powerful and healing herbs in the canon. I have great sisterhood with this plant and feel that I am introducing you to one of my coolest and best friends. When I refer to her, I am referring to the big T – the green goddess herself – tulsi.
A distinguishing feature of tulsi is its fragrance – it’s rich, buttery and flowery with an undertone of funk. Tulsi (which translates as “incomparable one” in Sanskrit) occupies an auspicious place in yogic/Ayurvedic tradition. It is thought to be an embodiment of the goddess Lakshmi, she of abundant good fortune, of being held in esteem in a community, and of generosity. In India, many homes have a tulsi plant at their doorstep, and women (and I’m sure men) have a tulsi plant near their bed so that the gentle breeze carries the scent of tulsi to them as they sleep, bestowing them with ageless beauty.

In the Garden

Much like the goddess, my tulsi seems to have a mind of her own. She goes where she wants, comes up really late (late June this year – thank goodness I held her space!). I have not been successful at growing her from seed so that I can get a jump on the season – nope, not how she’d prefer to roll. Yet, tulsi comes rolling back, year after year in her own preferred manner my garden. I often smell tulsi and then oh, there’s a plant popping up amongst the roses or corn.
I never needed tulsi seeds, though I’ve purchased many packets. My original tulsi plant came to me auspiciously – from Sweetwater Sanctuary in VT. Pam Montgomery gave me and my fellow apprentices plants (in 2013), and mine has happily multiplied into tulsiville.

Culinary & Preserving

I’ve tried for years to make a good oil infusion of tulsi but have been only modestly successful at capturing that unique fragrance in oil. Drying, I find, works best for me. I’ll then drink it as tea through the cooler months. If I have a gathering of gal herbalists I may attempt herbalist Brittany Wood Nickerson’s yellow cake which she served once incorporating dried tulsi….magnificent. She’s just come out with a cookbook filled with scrumptious herbal fare, but the way, which I strongly recommend.
You can also make a pesto with tulsi.
To dry tulsi or any herb (I have mugwort, cilantro, lemon balm and mint drying now), gather a bunch of it, tie it into a bundle at the stem, and hang in a place that will be warm and dry. Attics are great if they are reasonably well ventilated, and you can find a place to hang your crop. After a couple dry weeks (challenging this year), cut the bundle down. For plants that I intend to use as a tea of spices, I pull the dry leaves off the stem and place them in glass jars. Between Mason and jelly jars, you have a jar for any quantity of herb.

Medicinal & Energetic

From a Western medical perspective, tulsi is an adaptogen and has been studied for a variety of uses. Adaptogenic activity means that, like ginseng, it contains a complex array of phytonutrients that act in different ways but tend to overall support homeostasis – or healthful balance. So, tulsi tea is a terrific drink through the fall when back-to-whatever stress and cool winds conspire to give us colds and other crud.
Energetically, I’ve done a number of shamanic journeys with tulsi and here’s what I learned. Tulsi embodies all the goddesses of tantra – she’s Lakshmi, Deva, and yes Kali and all the rest – all rolled into one. She just might be the MahaDevi – the mother goddess. This is my own perspective colored, no doubt by my study of the goddesses of tantra. I know and love them, and draw on them often. In my study, these goddesses represent parts of ourselves (even if you are a man – we each contain both divine masculine and feminine within us). So, interestingly, I’ve found tulsi is energetically adaptogenic as well. From my discussions with other herbalists in my tradition who work energetically with plants, my view is not unique.
You can increasingly find tulsi plants and seed at your local garden shop. If not, try Mountain Rose Herbal or Horizon Herbs.
Have a beautiful day.
Hail Tulsi - Green Mahadevi by Annie B Kay - anniebkay.com

Pinterest

Hail Tulsi – Green MahadeviRead More

Category: Heal with Nature, Plant AlchemyTag: alchemy, Ayurveda, herbs, plant medicine, Tulsi

How to Use Herbal Preparations Safely

August 3, 2016 //  by annie//  Leave a Comment

How to Use Herbal Preparations Safely by Annie B Kay Pinterest

How to Use Herbal Preparations Safely by Annie B Kay
This month in the newsletter I wrote about putting summer’s bounty by for colder months, and I also wrote a brief piece on how to use herbal preparations safely. Herbs, herbal tinctures, flower essences and other botanicals can be wonderful allies for healing, but like any medicinal substance, different preparations are of varying quality and composition and can cause unexpected side effects. Here are a few thoughts, and suggestions for staying safe as you explore.

The Wise Herbalist: please be safe

After last month’s newsletter on making flower essences, I had a thoughtful exchange with a reader concerned about the toxicity of buttercup. Flower essences don’t contain any of the plant matter (they operate like homeopathy), so not to worry. But, since I have been writing more about the use of herbs and interest is certainly growing, I thought I’d give you a little overview of herbal preparations and how they operate so as to keep you nice & safe as you venture into this newly revived mode of healing.

You can think of herbal healing as ranging from gross physical (food, pharmaceuticals and infusions like teas operate on this level) to more subtle mind-body like tinctures, where plant matter is placed in alcohol for a number of weeks, and plant oils, where plant matter is placed into an oil for a number of weeks and the oil then carries some plant matter. Then there are those that operate on the subtle energetic level (homeopathic preparations and flower essences, for example).

For preparations that work on the physical level, it’s important that you stick with things that are edible and medicinal. So, in the case of buttercup, you don’t want to make an infusion tea with it nor eat it, because it is not edible – it contains compounds that can be toxic. Same with tinctures – stick with medicinal and culinary herbs for these. Flower essences don’t contain actual plant matter – they are energetic preparations – you can make an essence out of any plant and you won’t have a toxicity reaction to it unless you have a reaction to the carrier (often brandy, but you can also use vinegar).
Now, let’s talk about essential oils. These are wonderful but very condensed and strong extractions of the oils of plants. I have an essential oil diffuser in my office with a stress ease mixture and it works like a charm. Essential oils can damage your skin if you apply them directly and many people are sensitive. They can also react with your skin when exposed to the sun – I’ve had an instance of this and it wasn’t pretty!
I’ve been giving herb walks at Kripalu and interest in wild edibles and herbs is really growing. If you have an interest in wild edibles, take your time and stick to things like dandelion, plantain and garlic mustard that are common and safe, then slowly and safely expand your knowledge from there. Like anything, there are things to be aware of, but if you approach nature with respect and curiosity (and a few of the many good references), it will be a wonderful exploration.
Enjoy the season in fun and deliciousness,
Annie
Annie B. Kay MS, RDN, E-RYT500
How to Use Herbal Preparations Safely by Annie B Kay Pinterest

Pinterest

How to Use Herbal Preparations SafelyRead More

Category: Heal with Nature, Plant MedicineTag: herbs, plants, safety

Minted Snow Pea Recipe

May 24, 2016 //  by annie//  Leave a Comment

Minted Snow Pea Recipe by Annie B Kay

Minted Snow Pea Recipe by Annie B Kay - anniebkay.com
Food fresh from the garden doesn’t need much help to taste great and nourish you deeply. Our fresh peas often don’t make it into the kitchen because we snack away right in the garden. Here’s a simple recipe for snow peas with mint.

Minted Snow Pea Recipe

Ingredients

  • Snow peas or fresh spring peas – about 2 cups, cleaned
  • Fresh mint, cleaned and chopped
  • High-quality olive oil (like CA organic cold-pressed)
  • Squeeze of fresh lemon
  • Salt and pepper to taste.

2Directions

  1. Grow peas! Or, locate fresh snow or sweet peas at a farmer’s market or grocery.  They are an easy grow, and I love that they are best planted just as soon as the earth is thawed enough to work. So, either pick your own or you can get them at a farmer’s market or grocery (…growing your own is cheaper though more time-intensive, but the benefits are manyfold).
  2. Place a medium skillet over medium-high heat, add olive oil and peas, sauté 2-3 minutes.
  3. Add chopped mint & a squeeze of fresh lemon. Saute another minute.
  4. Dress with salt and pepper and enjoy.

Tip: the key is not to overcook the peas…literally sauté for just a minute or two to keep that lovely sweetness and crispness. Enjoy!

Minted Snow Pea Recipe by Annie B Kay

Pinterest

Minted Snow Pea RecipeRead More

Category: RecipesTag: garden, herbs, recipe

Footer

Inspiration

“Every day is another chance to get a little stronger, to enjoy a little more, to make choices that help you live a little healthier, and to be a bit more of your own true self.”

Be You

Recent Posts

quickeners podcast episode 4Quickeners Podcast Episode 4: Not Your Fault. Now What?
emotional eating to eating disorderEmotional Eating, Disordered Eating, Eating Disorders
garlic leek soupGarlicky Leek Soup Recipe
quickeners podcast courageMoving Grief with Courage: Quickeners Special Episode
Quickeners Podcast Episode 1Quickeners Podcast: Episode 1 – Finding Inspiration
breakfast salad recipeBreakfast Salad Recipe

Site Footer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2021 Annie B Kay · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Mai Theme