Restorative Herbal Winter Tea

In the winter, you have probably noticed that you need to moisturize your skin and condition your hair more than normal. The cold, windy weather and artificial heating cannot be avoided and we naturally crave those warm and sweet comfort foods to balance the prevailing cold and dryness. Fortunately, we can add some mucilaginous herbs to help bring healthy moisture into our vulnerable membranes of the lungs, throat, GI tract, urinary tract and even our nervous system for optimal hydration (along with a healthy fluid intake and a limit on dehydrating activities). One of our favorite winter teas utilizes milky oats, licorice and marshmallow, which are all nourishing to our systems. This recipe makes two cups of tea.

INGREDIENTS:

• Add 20 fluid oz. of boiling water to the oats, licorice and chamomile in a teapot and steep for 10 minutes
• Strain the tea
• Add the marshmallow to ½ cup of the strained tea and vigorously stir; you may also need to use a fine sieve to get it to dissolve
• Add the marshmallow to the remaining strained tea
• Sweeten with honey or sweetener of choice, if desired.