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Herbal Healing
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Friday, 25 June 2010 |
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Last night I taught a class at Oakhurst Community Garden about "making your own medicine". This is one of the medicines that we tasted. Remember, all food is medicine.
Berry Betterment Cordial (AKA Elixir)
1 C. bilberries (or blue berries)
1 C. elderberries
You can also use berry concentrate (unsweetened). Dark
cherry is really good.
2 quarts water
Put berries into a sauce pan with the water. Bring to
a boil and then simmer until the water is reduced by half. Strain through
a tightly woven sieve so that you can mash the berries, extracting the pulp
without skins or seeds. Discard the herbs…. keep the liquid.
Mix in 1/2 c. honey while the juice is still warm. Add any
concentrated juice that you may want to use. You can do this at this point or previously when you are cooking the berries.
Brandy: Add 1 C. per one quart of juice. This
will allow you to keep it indefinitely without refrigeration.
I added Hawthorne berries (Crataegus laevigata) to the
mixture after it was completed and let it sit another 6 weeks. You could
also tincture the Hawthorne berries ahead of time and add the tincture to the
juice in place of part of the brandy. Enjoy! This would be served
after dinner… about 1/8 c. each day. This mixture supports heart health.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 July 2010 )
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Thoughts
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Tuesday, 15 June 2010 |
These days I’m feeling a little helpless about the big oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. What can I do to help? As I thought about it, I realized that every little thing that I do to decrease the dependence on fossil fuels would help. Here are some things that I am doing.
Buying as much locally grown food and products as possible. I'm asking the grocery stores to tell me where the food is grown that I am buying. As more and more of us ask them, they will have to respond to the consumers. By buying food grown closer to us we cut down on the miles that it has to be brought and the gas that is used to bring it. Because it doesn’t travel so far, it tastes better.... it can be picked riper. Do you know that in Atlanta there are many organic farmer's markets? There are two, one on Wednesday and one on Saturday, in our little town of Decatur. Explore where you live to see if you can find food that is grown close to home.
I walk or ride my bike whenever I can. Our town is a totally friendly town as far as walking is concerned and becoming more and more friendly to cyclists.
I take reusable bags into the store. I keep them on the seat next to me so that I see them when I get out of the car. I keep accumulating more reusable bags, so, I’ve decided that I’m going to carry extra ones into the store, sometimes, to give to someone who doesn’t have one with them. I have seen the statistics about how much oil it saves to not use plastic bags and it’s astounding. Between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year.
Cut down on plastic bottles for water. I take my own reusable bottle, either safe plastic or metal. There are all kinds to choose from... some of them very fashionable. This website is one place that you can explore alternatives. http://www.reusablebags.com/
I help my health as well as the environment by taking my lunch or picnics in reusable containers. My daughter has gone so far as to take a reusable container to the restaurant to take home left overs... now, we’re not all going to be that good, but, I hadn’t thought of it before she did it. You can carry your own silver wear and cloth napkins to use in place of disposables. Sometimes it’s a little cumbersome, but, things are getting more fun all the time. I would love to hear back from you what you have tried.
It might not seem like much, but, when millions of us change the way we do things it will make big changes.
Come and learn how to cook more at home and do things to take good care of you and your family. I'm teaching classes this summer. Check out the list on this site. Be well and take good care of yourselves.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 15 June 2010 )
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Herbal Healing
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Tuesday, 08 December 2009 |
This is the recipe for an onion poultice as suggested by Michael Tierra, who is one of the great herbal teachers that we have here in the United States. An onion poultice is particulatly useful for coughs that just won't go away. Check out his website at: http://www.planetherbs.com/
1. Finely chop two or three onions (you may also add a few cloves of chopped garlic for increased antibiotic effect).
2. Steam these for a short while in a steamer.
3. Remove from steamer, place in a large bowl, and add a half cup of corn flour and a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to help hold the poultice together. Mix well.
4. Place the entire mash in a natural fiber cloth, large enough to wrap and keep the entire mash over an area roughly the size of your patient's chest.
5. Apply the wrapped mash to your supine patient, as hot as can be tolerated without burning, over the chest, from the base of the neck down as far as you wish. If the cough seems more on the back then apply it over the upper back. (If you are putting the poultice on yourself, you might need assistance from a friend or family member.)
6. Place a hot water bottle or heating pad over the top of the poultice to maintain heat for greater penetration.
7. Rest with the poultice on for at least 20 or 30 minutes.
This treatment can be repeated once or twice a day until relief is obtained. Applying the hot onion poultice before bed will help allay the cough enough to produce a more restful sleep. If you want to accompany it with a simple homemade antibacterial internal medicine, you can blend several cloves of garlic in olive oil and take a teaspoon to a tablespoon at least every hour. You can also make a tasty instant cough syrup by grating raw ginger and mixing it in warm liquid honey with the juice of a lemon.
The antibiotic and antiviral sulfur compounds of onion and garlic, when applied directly over the lungs, will ease inflammation, loosen and break up hardened mucus, and help expectoration. You may experience immediate benefit from even one application, but for some this may be accompanied with shorter bouts of somewhat more aggressive coughing fits as the hardened phlegm is loosened and gradually works its way out.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 08 December 2009 )
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Recipes
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Saturday, 05 December 2009 |
Here is a ginger snap recipe that is take from Cooking Free written by Carol Fenster. She is one of the major recipe creators in the gluten free world. I have made these a number of times, and usually make a double batch. Note the 1 hour of refrigeration needed. You'll have to plan ahead a little to make these. ENJOY!
Ginger snaps (non-gluten, non-eggs) (makes about 20 cookies) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
1/4 c. butter (2 oz.)
3 T molasses
1/2 c. packed lite brown sugar or maple sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. flour blend (see below)
1 t. xanthan gum
1/2 t salt
1 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. ground ginger
1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground cloves
2 T. water, if needed
Directions:
In food processor, or stand mixer, combine butter, molasses, sugar, and vanilla
add remaining ingredients and blend until forms a ball. Add water 1 T at a time only if mixture fails to form a large ball.
REFRIGERATE 1 hour
Preheat oven 325 degrees
Grease cookie sheet or line with parchment.
Dust hands with rice flour... shape into 1 inch balls partially flatten with a glass or your hands
Bake 15-25 minutes until start to brown on the bottom.
Cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then on wire rack until completely cooled. Store in airtight container. These freeze really well.
Contents of flour blend: 1 1/2 c. sorghum flour, 1 1/2 c. potato starch, 1 c. tapioca flour, 1/2 c. corn flour. Mix the blend and keep it in the cupboard to use for lots of
different recipes. I'll be sharing others with you, over the
holidays. I've used this blend in my regular cookie recipes and
replaced 1 c. flour with 1 c. flour blend and it has worked really well.
It is a little heavier, but it hasn't stopped anyone from eating them.
Remember this must be potato starch and NOT POTATO FLOUR. Corn Flour is simply very finely ground corn. All the flours can be gotten at most health food stores as well as some regular groceries are starting to carry them.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 11 December 2009 )
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