29 Nov 2011
by Amy Huebner Health Coach
in Essay On Health, Recipes, Supplements
Tags: A Fine Example.com, astragalus, bone broth, broth, candida, candida cookbook, candida diet, cilantro, Dr. Vincent Pedre, Fire Cider, health coach, herbs, immune booster, immunity, Meat Market, parsley, soup, soup stock, turkey
If you really want an immune boost come visit our booth at Alchemy’s Handmade Holiday Festival, this Friday evening and Saturday from 10-5 pm. We will be handing out Fire Cider samples and selling our holiday edition wax sealed bottles as well as herbal bath soaks, unique tee shirts from A Fine Example and other great handmade gifties!
Dana just made turkey stock from the Thanksgiving carcass (thank you Meat Market!) and it came out really well. Soup stock made from simmering an organic, healthy animal has tons of nutrition in it. If you don’t have a day to simmer, here’s an easier immune boosting soup recipe from my doctor in NYC.
'Tis the season for soup!
Superimmunity Soup from Dr. Vincent Pedre
When you need an immune pick-me-up, try this superimmunity soup to charge up your immune system and ward off that cold. It contains many common vegetables that we all enjoy, but feel free to vary the recipe by adding your own winter vegetables. You may vary the mushroom used from shiitake to reishi or maitake, all are highly medicinal. It is ideal to always add the astragalus, but it may be harder to find at your local grocery store. Astragalus may actually require a trip to Chinatown or to Mountain Rose Herbs on-line.
Also, remove any ingredients you don’t enjoy. For example, I am an avid cilantro lover, so I always add cilantro to my soups, but there are those among that may not share my enthusiasm. Feel free to quietly omit the cilantro and use parsley instead. You can also use the soup recipe to make a vegetable stock to use in other recipes.
Here’s my recipe:
Ingredients
1 yellow onion
2 large organic carrots
2 stalks of organic celery
1 head of kale
30g dried or fresh shiitake mushrooms
30g dried astragalus root
1-2 tbsp finely chopped ginger
10 garlic cloves (chopped or whole)
1 bunch of cilantro
¼ cup olive oil
Sea salt
Ground black pepper
Directions
- Wash and cut the vegetables
- For extra browning and flavor, you can sauté the vegetables with olive oil or sesame oil
- Wash the mushrooms and astragalus root and place into pot
- Pour cold water into a large soup pot up to 3/4 full, add all vegetables, and bring to a boil
- Lower the heat, and cook uncovered for 40 minutes
- Add sea salt and black pepper to taste
- Cool down and enjoy!
If you have an autoimmune condition or other chronic disease, you should consult with your doctor before taking medicinal herbs or mushrooms. Read Dr. Pedre’s whole
post about immune boosting for the winter….and don’t forget to take your daily dose of
Fire Cider!!!
25 Oct 2011
by Amy Huebner Health Coach
in Essay On Health, Hormones, Supplements
Tags: candida, candida cookbook, candida diet, Christiane Northrup, Dong Quai, health coach, herbal medicine, hormonal health, hormone balance, hormone imbalance, Women's Bodies Women's Wisdom, yeast infections
There’s nothing quite like a hormonal out of body experience. There you are in the middle of a normal day, a normal sentence and suddenly you find yourself having a totally out of place emotional reaction. You witness yourself acting completely off the wall, you know this isn’t you at all, but what can you do? Laugh about it later if you’re lucky!
There are the other symptoms of hormones out of balance; crying suddenly for no apparent reason, bloating, blemishes, swollen and sore breasts, yeast infections, digestive problems….the list goes on, and on. Certainly there are underlying emotional triggers for any imbalance or illness, hormones included. A great book on the subject that I think every woman should own and use as a reference is Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom by Christiane Northrup. 
As for remedying the immediate physical symptoms I recommend Dong Quai root. I have been making and taking a tincture of Dong Quai for the past 2 years and it has made a dramatic difference in my hormone health. I buy organic powdered root from Mountain Rose Herbs, tincture it in vodka and take 3-6 dropperfuls daily.
Dong Quai: ultimate women's tonic herb
“Dong quai is an aromatic herb that grows in China, Korea, and Japan. The reputation of Dong quai is second only to Ginseng and is considered the ultimate, all-purpose woman’s tonic herb. It is used for almost every gynecological complaint from regulating the menstrual cycle to treating menopausal symptoms caused by hormonal changes.
The herb is frequently used by the Chinese as a strengthening treatment for the heart, spleen, liver and kidneys. Both men and women use the herb as a general blood tonic.
It contains vitamins E, A and B12. Researchers have isolated at least six coumarin derivatives that exert antispasmodic and vasodilatory effects. Antispasmodics are a remedy for menstrual cramps. The essential oil in dong quai contains Ligustilide, butylphthalide and numerous other minor components. Ferulic acid and various polysaccharides are also found in dong quai’s root. These elements can prevent spasms, reduce blood clotting and relax peripheral blood vessels. Research has shown that dong quai produces a balancing effect on estrogen activity.
Modern treatments prescribe the herb to combat PMS and to help women resume normal menstruation after using birth control pills.
The flower of the Dong Quai plant.
The herb has been found useful in balancing and treating many female systems and cycles. Its constituents can act to stimulate the central nervous system which can remedy weakness and headaches associated with menstrual disorders. It strengthens internal reproductive organs, helps with endometriosis and internal bleeding or bruising. It relieves menopausal conditions such as vaginal dryness and hot flashes.
The plant has also been used as a blood purifier, to promote blood circulation and nourish the blood in both sexes. It is high in iron content and may help to prevent iron deficiency and anemia. Studies show that it can aid in regulating blood sugar and in lowering blood pressure.
It has a mild sedative effect which can relieve stress and calms the nerves. It has also be used to stimulate the uterus during childbirth, treat insomnia, alleviate constipation and for migraine headaches.
Parts Used: Whole root. Found in tea, herbal preparations, capsules, extract and recipes.
Common Use: The root has earned a reputation as the “ultimate herb” for women. It is used to restore balance to a woman’s hormones and cycles and is helpful in restoring menstrual regularity and for conditions of the reproductive system. It is not recommended during pregnancy, for women with excessive menstrual flow or for people taking blood thinning agents.” Taken from: http://www.kcweb.com/herb/donquai.htm
20 Oct 2011
by Amy Huebner Health Coach
in Candida, Recipes, Supplements
Tags: cabbage, chili peppers, digestive support, garlic, ginger, hot peppers, immune booster, kimchi, lacto-fermentation
You may remember this post I did for a quick version of kimchi. Here is the lacto-fermented version which is pretty easy considering how much food you can preserve in about an hour, no boiling or sterilizing necessary. Lacto-fermentation happens when the starches and sugars in vegetables and fruit convert to lactic acid by a friendly lactic-acid producing bacteria. So basically you take a plant that is already good for you and preserve it in a way that makes it even healthier AND you can enjoy it all winter long. Pretty neat trick, just ask Sally Fallon:
“The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anticarcinogenic substances. Their main by-product, lactic acid, not only keeps vegetables and fruits in a state of perfect preservation but also promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestine.” Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions, pg 89
Simple Bites also offers a lot of information and instruction for lacto-fermenting whatever it is you have in abundance at the end of the growing season! Here’s what my dad and I did with the beautiful cabbages he grew this year….
We started with about 6 heads of cabbage from the garden each weighing about 3.5-5 pounds!
For each 5 pounds of sliced cabbage you need 3 Tablespoons of kosher salt, 4 dried hot peppers, a head of garlic and a chunk of ginger, peeled. The ginger and salt were store-bought but the rest my dad grew in his garden!
Hot peppers from Dad's garden drying on the table, we used 4, seeds removed, for each 5 pounds of shredded cabbage.
Dad shredded and weighed the cabbage for each batch while I.....
...removed the seeds from the hot chilis, measured out the salt, peeled the head of garlic and used the food processor to grind everything up.
Once the cabbage was shredded and the salt-hot pepper-garlic-ginger mix was ready, I mixed the two together in a large bowl. We ended up making about 4 batches.
The salt makes the cabbage release its water, creating the brine it will ferment in.
Once the brine can be seen above the level of the cabbage, which is very soft at this point, it's ready to pack in big, clean glass jars.
I packed the cabbage into the jar, added the brine, plus a little more so that it covered the cabbage by at least an inch. We used a plastic bag filled with water as a weight to make sure the cabbage would stay completely covered by the brine.
The lids are just sitting on top so that the air can escape and the little guys doing the fermenting can breathe!
And that’s it! The jars will sit out for a few days and then will be kept in the fridge (or a cool root cellar) until they get eaten! Lacto-fermented foods are good for everyone and especially beneficial to those of us on the Candida diet.
16 Aug 2011
by Amy Huebner Health Coach
in Essay On Health, Recipes, Supplements
Tags: BBQ sauce, bloody mary, cold remedy, Dottie's Coffee Lounge, Fire Cider, flu remedy, healthy salad dressing, marinade, sore throat
Fire Cider for sale at the Zucchini Festival in West Stockbridge last Saturday, what a great day!
Fire Cider is great for warding off colds and flu but there’s so much more you can do with it! Here’s what some of our customers have been doing with their Fire Cider:
Fire Cider Marinade: whether you are grilling, baking or sautéing, you can use Fire Cider straight from the bottle as a ready to go marinade for meat, fish, tofu and veggies.
Fiery Bloody Mary: Try mixing a few tablespoons of Fire Cider into your favorite tomato/veggie juice; add ice and vodka, if you like. Super quick, even better for you and yeah, it’s got a great kick to it!
Sweet, Hot and Tangy BBQ Sauce: use Fire Cider in place of the vinegar in your favorite BBQ recipe or check out this recipe from About.com:
Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Yield: Makes about 3 1/2 cups
Ingredients:
- 2 cups ketchup
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup Fire Cider
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over a low heat. Stirring occasionally and simmer for 20 minutes. Sauce should be thin, but not watery. Allow to cool. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate. Sauce is better if allowed to sit for a day.
Spicy Guac: Mash up a few ripe avocados and add a splash or two of Fire Cider, a mashed clove of garlic and mix well. Salt to taste. You may not need to add anything else!
Fire Cider Salad Dressing: use Fire Cider in place of the vinegar in your favorite recipe or just mix with olive oil or mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Quick, easy and healthy too!
You can also….
- Take a sip of Fire Cider everyday as a health building preventative. Cold and flu season is coming, are you prepared? An 8 oz bottle can last up to a month if taken daily in ½ Tablespoon doses.
- Take a tablespoon of Fire Cider every three hours when you feel under the weather from an oncoming cold or flu.
- Mix with extra honey for a sore throat soothing, pathogen fighting remedy. Kids like it too! (Because of the raw honey, Fire Cider is not for children under 2)
- Feeling congested? Need to loosen that cough? Allergies bothering you? A shot of Fire Cider to the rescue!
- After a big meal, Fire Cider will help you feel more comfortable by stimulating your digestive system.
- You can get a sample, a shot or a bottle of Fire Cider at Dottie’s Coffee Lounge on North St. in Pittsfield where they serve the best coffee in the Berkshires along with delectable baked goods and fresh squeezed juices!
- What’s your favorite way to use Fire Cider? Send us your recipes and suggested uses; we love to hear from our customers: ShireCityHerbals@Gmail.com
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I made this banner out of my mom's scrap fabric from her sewing business, re-use and recycle!
18 Jul 2011
by Amy Huebner Health Coach
in Recipes, Supplements
Tags: aloe vera juice, bitters, bubbles, carbonator, ginger juice, lemon, lemonade, lime, pero, soda water, stevia, stevia to taste
In the cooler months I drink hot tea like it’s the only think keeping me warm. Because sometimes it is. When summer hits and the weather calls for icy cold beverages (and your distributor sends you an extra case of lemons) it’s clearly time for something more refreshing like lemonade or a ginger lime fizz. Here are my favorite ways to stay hydrated and cool….
Lemonade on the porch.
Lemonade….ok this one is really simple, squeeze 1/2 a fresh organic lemon (or more) into a pint glass, add a bit of stevia and top off with fizzy water. Add a dash of bitters for old-fashioned tummy relief and a bitter, floral, slightly sweet flavor. A trip to Old Town Bar years ago was the first time I had bitters in soda water as a cure for my upset stomach. It’s one of the oldest bars in the city and so it seemed fitting that I would be offered a traditional digestif. Sure enough, it made me feel well enough to order a drink! My friend Mark is behind Brooklyn Hemispherical Bitters if you are looking to break out of your Angostura habit and try something new.
You’ll notice all of the drinks in this post have something in common: bubbles. I LOVE water with bubbles. I also love champagne but that’s a whole other bubble story. My husband Dana made us a carbonator because it was getting silly expensive paying for water with fizz and then the guilt of all those plastic bottles, just too much.
Dana made this for about 40 bucks, we have it mounted to the wall in our kitchen.
Ginger Lime Fizz
I drink this all the time; it settles my stomach, combats Candida and combines two of my favorite flavors, ginger and lime.
Squeeze 1/2 a lime into a pint glass, add 1 Tablespoon or so fresh juiced ginger (or finely grated fresh ginger), 2-4 ounces of aloe vera juice, stevia to taste and top with fizzy water.
You can make this with lemon or with just ginger, play around with the flavors and see what you like best!
A note on ‘Stevia, to taste’: Recently a friend of my mom’s tried my nuts and seeds cookie recipe and they came out mostly unsweetened because she didn’t know how much stevia to add. Stevia comes in many forms; granulated, green unrefined powder, refined white powder, liquid drops, flavored liquid drops, ect. Each form has a different amount of sweetness from very sweet to intensely sweet. What I do is add a little at a time until it tastes right to me. When I’m baking I add it to the wet ingredients, making it a little sweeter than I want to compensate for the dry ingredients, then I taste it again when it’s mixed to make sure. It can take some adjustments and getting used to when using stevia as a sweetener, you’ve gotta taste and adjust and taste again!
Tastes like a root beer float and looks like one too!
Pero Float
Pero is a malted grain beverage that’s made from chicory and barley. It has a rich, earthy coffee like flavor and has been used in times of no coffee as a replacement. Really, there is no substitute for coffee and Pero is its own thing, with it’s own flavor. It contains no caffeine and offers your liver some support filtering out toxins. You can easily make a hot or cold Pero drink by mixing a couple of teaspoons in hot or cold water. Add a bit of stevia and almond milk if you like.
Or…you can mix 3 teaspoons of Pero, a bit of stevia and a splash of almond milk in a large glass. Make sure the powder is dissolved before filling your glass up with, yup, fizzy water. This makes a frothy dark drink reminiscent of a root beer float. Looks pretty and tastes pretty awesome.
Summer Cocktail
ALL of my Candida clients ask me, can I drink alcohol and what can I have? Most of them just want something so that they can socialize like everyone else. It was kind of shocking to me, when I first started eating to get the Candida back into balance, how much socializing takes place around alcohol and food, most of which was not healing or healthy. This recipes is for my favorite adult beverage and it makes a deceptively drinkable party punch. Hey, if you are going to host a party, you should at least be able to enjoy the punch! If you are sick, don’t drink, but if you feel all right and want to enjoy a cocktail, this is what I recommend. All ingredients (except the booze) are soothing and healing for your whole digestive system, including your taste-buds.
1 oz top shelf blanco tequila ( you can use vodka but why would you do that?)
juice from 1/2 a lime
1 Tablespoon ginger juice (or freshly grated ginger)
2-3 oz aloe vera juice (goes really well with tequila, the agave and aloe plants are in the same family)
stevia to taste
Mix or shake well, pour over ice in a pint glass and top with soda water.
09 Jul 2011
by Amy Huebner Health Coach
in Essay On Health, Supplements
Tags: Dottie's Coffee Shop, FDA, Fire Cider, Local food, North Street, Pittsfield
If there were a local food movement militia, this would be my uniform.
The longer this process of bringing our Fire Cider to market the more I think we’ll actually need a local food movement militia. After we celebrated the end of the bureaucratic bullshit, the red tape wrangling, the deciphering of rules and regulations specifically written so that you need your corporate lawyer to interpret them, Dana and I happily began phase two of the Fire Cider project: production and marketing. The Solid Sound Festival went well, people really liked our labels and had a lot to say about tasting Fire Cider for the first time!
Then we got an email from the man who is ultimately going to send us our whole sale licence. He said our label isn’t up to regulations. This is the same guy I called several times and left several messages for, TWO MONTHS AGO. I also spoke to several other people who work for the FDA. They told me they couldn’t explain the rules to me but that I could hire a lawyer to read them to me. I was also informed that it is up to us, the producers, to follow all these hard to interpret rules. How will I know if I am doing something wrong? When the FDA sues me and confiscates my product. Awesome, thanks for the advice. Right now it kinda seems like the FDA is just trying it’s best to waste our time and money. Clearly this organization is run by and for big business.
Dana, my brother and myself have spent hours trying to come up with a way to say what we know to be true about our product without making any ‘health claims’. The FDA, an organization that routinely approves drugs with significant side effects and minimal testing just can’t be sure that a food based product made from a several hundred year old recipe that’s backed by doctors and documented in books is a ‘safe product’. Also, the FDA has no sence of humor, no big surprise there. This excerpt from the email we received about our label, really sums up everything we’ve been dealing with: “The use of the phrase “digestive aid” on the left side of your label implies a medicinal – or curative property. Also the statement “Fire Cider is much like a large bear on a cold winter night, a large bear that mauls what ails you!” – these are implied claims that the product has curative benefits or properties. ” SERIOUSLY? A simile is a health claim?! A large bear that mauls what ails you is meant to be funny not cure cancer. Although Fire Cider would probably be good for that but I can’t say for sure.
Making Fire Cider, part two!
Not to worry, we are playing by the rules. We are changing our label, again. And again. We’ve come this far and we’ll be announcing soon where and when you can buy Fire Cider in the Berkshires! Our next event will be July’s Third Thursday at Dottie’s on North Street. Dana and I will be handing out free samples and selling 8 oz bottles of Fire Cider so please come out and see us, your support makes all the difference!
06 May 2011
by Amy Huebner Health Coach
in Essay On Health, Recipes, Supplements
Tags: allergies, allergy prevention, bee pollen, citrus peels, kukicha, lemon, licorice tea, local honey, mate tea, natural antihistamine, orange, raw apple cider vinegar, Vitamin C
Spring is finally, really truly here and so are my allergies. This is the cruel irony of spring, it’s so beautiful outside but after an hour run my eyes are itchy and watery and my sinus’s are starting to make my head hurt. What’s a health conscious, outdoor loving Berkshireite to do? Well the good news is that there are a whole bunch of natural remedies to choose from. Everything from homeopathic remedies that you can purchase at the Health Food store on North Street to local bee pollen and honey by the tablespoonful. Bee pollen, nettles and Dana’s allergy tincture have been working really well for me this year but I wanted to have more options to share with my clients. I started doing some research and the list of natural, effective allergy remedies is so long, I started to get overwhelmed! Then I got an email from one of my health coaching clients, we have been working on a number of things together and during our last conversation, her seasonal allergies came up. Her email included an amazing ‘recipe’ she had found for delicious and effective allergy relief along with her account of how well it works!
Before we get to the recipe, let’s make sure we are on the same page as far as what allergies are and why our bodies react the way they do. The most basic definition of an allergic reaction is that it is an inappropriate response by the body’s immune system to a substance that is not normally harmful, in this case, pollen. Pollens, molds, animal hairs, dust and foods all contain protein antigens that stimulate an antibody response or sometimes a “hyper-response.” Histamine and other chemicals are released into the system, causing an inflammatory reaction. This is called an antigen-antibody response. This reaction could affect the tissues, organs, the skin, mucous membranes, the lungs and gastrointestinal tract. Over the counter and prescription medication may alleviate your symptoms but they will never help build up your immune system. Worse, instead of helping your allergies lesson over time, your body will build a resistance to the medication and you will need larger and larger doses. That sounds unhealthy and expensive!
The case for natural remedies is easy to make: they boost your body’s immune system while training it to react less and less over time to exposure to pollen. Colleen’s Allergy Recipe is for citrus peels in apple cider vinegar and local honey. This remedy is so effective because the citrus peels work as a natural antihistamine, which provides allergy relief within minutes, and the Vitamin C supports your immune system.
The local honey is an equally important component because when you put a small amount of the seemingly harmful irritant (honey from local flower pollens) into your body, your immune system builds defenses or immunities against the foreign substance. This will make your immune system ready to handle that substance in larger quantities the next time you are exposed. It is a similar concept to using a vaccine or taking homeopathic medicine. Get honey as close as possible to where you live, this way it will be more likely to contain pollen from the plants that are causing your allergies. And, lastly, the apple cider vinegar, is there any malady that it isn’t good for? Those of you who have tried our Fire Cider know what I’m talking about!
Just one more thing, when you make Colleen’s Allergy Remedy, be sure to use only organic citrus peels. Conventional citrus fruits are regularly sprayed with all sorts of toxic chemicals which are readily absorbed by the peel.
Allergy relief you can eat. Thank you Colleen for the great picture!
First, peel your fruit and soak the organic citrus peels, I used lemon and orange, in raw, organic apple cider vinegar for a few hours, mixing them every so often to make sure they get really soaked. Drain peels from the cider. Use the left over apple cider vinegar in your next salad dressing.
Then, using local honey, in a pan over low heat simmer the peels with honey drizzled over them for about 45 minutes. Make sure the peels are completely soaked in the honey, the amount will vary depending on how many peels you are making at a time.
Pour everything into a glass container and let it cool on the counter. Any honey not stuck to the peels can be eaten separately or added to licorice, mate or kukicha tea which are also great for allergy support. The peels and honey will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Colleen added that she found relief from watery, itchy eyes and a runny nose from eating 5 or 6 peel pieces followed by a glass of water. Fifteen minutes later her sinuses dried up, eyes stopped itching, throat wasn’t scratchy and her glands even reduced a little in size. Foods are powerful medicine, eat well and be well!
I had help writing this article, thanks to Colleen Del Vecchio for her awesome recipe,
Phebe A. Durand’s online yahoo article ‘Natural Allergy Relief: Treat Allergies Without Medicine’
‘Prescription For Natural Healing’ 3rd edition by Phyllis A. Balch, cnc and James F. Balch, md
And the website: www.bee-pollen-buzz.com
For more allergy relief, my doctor in New York recently wrote this post for his blog: Dr. Pedre’s Clean Living
An article I wrote recently with seven natural remedies for spring allergies was featured onYahoo! Green and The Early Show on CBS this Friday, May 13th, and I am writing to follow-up with a few more natural remedies that can help provide relief to those that suffer from spring allergies:
- Butterbur: this European herb shows great promise as a natural treatment for allergies. In a study published in the British Medical Journal, taking one tablet of butterbur four times a day was effective in controlling hay fever symptoms without the usual drowsiness accompanying many traditional antihistamines. Butterbur has been used medicinally since ancient Greece.
- Chrysanthemum: taken both as a salve and tea, the flower pods of this herb provide relief from red eyes, itchiness, and sinus pressure headaches associated with allergies. Steep the dried flower pods in boiling water for 1 minute, then let sit for 5-10 min, strain, and drink the tea. Place the boiled flower pods inside a paper towel and apply directly over the eyes for 10 minutes for relief from itchy, watery, red eyes associated with seasonal allergies.
- HEPA Filter: a High Efficiency Particulate Filter can filter out the tiniest particles floating in the air, including pollen grains. Use one in your bedroom, or other rooms where you tend to spend a lot of time indoors, and it will help relieve allergy symptoms by reducing your exposure to the allergens. A HEPA filter is a great idea to have in any bedroom to improve the quality of indoor air.
Hope you find these additional suggestions useful as you seek to reduce your allergy symptoms. Here’s to no sneezing, coughing, watery eyes, or itchy eyes and nose!
12 Apr 2011
by Amy Huebner Health Coach
in Essay On Health, Supplements
Tags: cold remedy, Echinacea with Osha, Fire Cider, flu remedy, ginger, lemon, medicinal food
Hot lemon and ginger tea, our own Echinacea with Osha and a shot of Fire Cider
I managed to stay healthy all winter long, I even survived Dana’s death flu. Then, Thursday night I started to feel a bit icky and spent Friday sick and whiny. I annoyed myself! Usually other people get sick and I start taking preventative herbal medicine to bolster my immune system and avoid whatever’s going around. This time I must have been preoccupied because it totally snuck up on me, damn you spring fever!
So, on Friday, in between the naps and the bit of work that I got done I was taking shots (literally, I used a shot glass!) of our homemade Echinacea with Osha and shots of Fire Cider along with some throat soothing Lemon and Ginger tea and after 24 hours I’m feeling better without ever having felt really awful. Ah, the power of not-so-modern medicine.
Whoop that cold with a belt....of Fire Cider!
I took about 5 shots each of Fire Cider and Echinacea with Osha. Not in the same glass tho, that’s a little much, even for me!
Our personal use Echinacea, thanks for the beer BBC and for the awesome brown glass growler!
The ‘tea’ is really easy: finely grate some fresh peeled ginger, about a 1/2 inch cube, juice half a lemon, sweeten with honey if you can or stevia if you’re like me and fill your mug to the top with just boiling water. It looks like theraflu but it tastes good and is going to help your body heal because of the vitamin c in the lemon and the anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties in the ginger! This makes a refreshing cold beverage too, use fizzy water instead of hot.
Grated ginger, juice from half a lemon, stevia and hot water in my favorite mug!
A hot ginger bath, use powdered ginger or grate some fresh, about 1/4 cup, can be very helpful as well.
Herbal and plant-based remedies, unlike symptom masking OTC meds, work with your body to help you get rid of whatever cold or flu bug you’ve got. Oh, and they are way cheaper! Especially since you’ll only need them for a few days instead of dragging around for a week or more. Just sayin’ plant food makes the best medicine and if you eat good foods most of the time, you won’t need much else!
08 Apr 2011
by Amy Huebner Health Coach
in Recipes, Supplements
Tags: crackers, fiber, flat bread, flax, parchment paper, romano cheese, Sesame seeds, water
Flax crackers with golden sesame seeds.
My friends Mike and Becca sent me this recipe for flax crackers and I’ve made several batches, experimenting with thickness, cooking time and how to get the sticky flaxy ‘dough’ rolled out with out it sticking to everything. My first batch came out all uneven and not crispy. But they weren’t bad and gave me the inspiration for intentionally making a big, thick ‘flat bread’ which is pretty awesome for someone who hasn’t eaten anything remotely like a sandwich in years!
You can use the basic recipe to make wafer thin (‘but it is only wafer thin!’) crisps, crackers or flat bread. There’s a lot of possibility here as far as adding in herbs, cheese and spices so get creative! I’ll post some recipes that compliment this one in the following weeks so you’ll have something to eat all this flaxy goodness with. Remember to drink plenty of water/liquids with flax, it’s super bonus fiber and will soak up liquid like a sponge so make sure there’s plenty for you and the flax.
The recipe is very straight forward and simple:
1 and 1/2 cups flax meal (I ground my own in a coffee grinder but you can purchase it already ground)
1/3 cup sesame seeds or flax if you don’t have sesame seeds
1 cup of water
salt to taste
Optional additions include but are certainly not limited to: 1/2- 1 teaspoon garlic powder, dried herbs, pepper, curry powder, 1/2 cup finely grated cheese like romano. I made a very thin batch with 1/2 cup grated romano, black pepper and ground rosemary, wickedly good.
Set your oven to 400 degrees.
Mix all the ingredients together until it’s sticky and starting to thicken, see, I told you the flax would soak up all that water. It’ll do that in your stomach too so have some tea with your crackers.
What's brown and sticky? A stick! And this dough.
If you want to make middle of the road not too thin, individual round crackers and you don’t have parchment paper here’s what you do:
Grease a baking sheet, the single ply kind, not the fancy lined ones.
Roll bits of dough, about 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon and place on the sheet.
Flatten with the bottom of a well greased glass, twisting as you go makes it easier to unstick the glass from the dough.
Poke the crackers all over with a fork, this helps them get crispy and cook all the way through. You can sprinkle them with salt, pepper, maybe cinnamon and stevia, ect before putting them in the oven to bake.
Bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes. When they are darker on the edges and feel sturdy in the middle they’re done.
Let them cool on a rack. Store in an air tight container or paper bag at room temp. Putting them in the fridge is fine too but they will lose their crispness.
Flax crackers of varying thickness, ready to bake.
The thinnest ones, pierced with a fork, came out the best as far as crackerness goes.
For the flat bread, grease an 11×17 rectangle pan or something about that size. Scoop out all of the dough and pace it in the prepared pan.
Here’s the meditative part, don’t rush, it’s fun! Use your fingers, well-greased (olive oil, or better, butter) to gently smooth the dough to fill out the pan from edge to edge. If the flax sticks to your hands, remove the dough from your fingers and re-grease them. You may be able to do this with a rubber spatula but I find it’s much easier to use my fingers. I can get the batter pretty smooth and even and if I start off with enough butter the batter never sticks to me!
Sprinkle with sesame seeds, salt and pepper, ect. And then bake for 20 minutes at 400. It will pull away from the edges when it’s done and will remain soft in the middle.
From top left to right: the flattened dough ready to bake (for this I used a 9in round pan and half the recipe) butter and the glass I made small round crackers with!
A little thick, a little flexible, topped with sesame seeds, this is as close to bread as it gets!
For thin crispy crackers you’ll definitely need parchment paper and a rolling pin.
Get out a big baking sheet (the ones that are insulated or double thickness will make for not so crispy crackers, go with the low tech, single ply baking sheets for this recipe) and cut two pieces of parchment about the same size as your baking sheet.
Rub oil all over the one sheet and then place the other sheet on top and smush together, making an even coating of oil on both pieces.
Peel the top parchment off most of the way, place a shy cup of flax dough in the center and cover with the top parchment paper.
Using your rolling-pin, roll out the dough as evenly as you can, making sure not to get too close to the edge of the parchment. You can make the dough as thick or as thin as you like.
Flax dough rolled out between two sheets of oiled parchment.
Pull the top layer of parchment off, if it sticks, you need to use more oil next time! Airate the dough by poking it all over with a fork.
Rolled out super thin, removing the top layer of parchment, don't forget to sprinkle with salt!
Slide the dough/parchment onto your baking sheet and once again, bake at 400 for 10 minutes to start, check it and see, when it’s firm in the middle and darker around the edges, it’s done!
Super thin, crispy and made with romano cheese, black pepper, rosemary and salt, yum!
So there you have it, flax three ways, all of them delicious! Here’s how I had my Sunday breakfast last weekend, with toasted flax bread, finally something I can eat eggs over easy with!
Looks like toast and eggs to me!
I ate that and it was awesome.
My next post will be for an open-faced toasted cheese and onion sandwich. Oh yeah!
09 Mar 2011
by Amy Huebner Health Coach
in Candida, Recipes, Supplements
Tags: Adrenals, condiment, dulse, gomasio, kelp, metabolisim, nettles, Nori, savory, sea salt, seaweed, Sesame seeds, Thyroid
Gomasio is a salty and savory condiment. Steam some greens, toss with oil and top with gomasio, done! And delicious.
Gomasio is a traditional Japanese condiment that aids digestion and adds flavor and nutrients to your food. Use it like you use salt and you’ll get more flavor and nutrition. A quick breakdown of the ingredients: Black sesame seeds are known to support kidney and adrenal function. They also provide fiber, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. Seaweed, which ever kind you choose, is a cooling food rich in iodine and trace elements. Nori, Dulse or Kelp all work well in this recipe. I used half kelp and half nori for the super bonus thyroid support. For a more mellow sea flavor go with dulse or a combination of the three. Nettles support lung health, especially helpful for asthma sufferers and they also support proper thyroid function (hello metabolism!). Any dried herbs you add will have their own health benefits adding extra flavor, vitamins and minerals. When making food choices it’s important to think about how you can get the maximum nutrition out of each meal you eat. Using healthy condiments like gomasio is a great way to do just that!
Ingredients:
1 cup brown or black sesame seeds
1 cup white sesame seeds
1/2 to 3/4 cup ground seaweed like Dulse, Nori and/or Kelp (Kelp has the strongest flavor, just fyi)
1/4 Nettles powder
1 tablespoon Sea Salt
You can also add any dried herbs that you love: basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage, tarragon, celery seeds, ect.
Mixing the seeds in a dry cast iron skillet over medium heat.
Lightly dry roast the sesame seeds in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Shake or stir so they toast evenly. The light seeds will turn light brown and will start to make crackling sounds when done. About 10-15 minutes.
Flippin' seeds! Toasting was a serious arm and ab workout, that skillet is heavy. I had Dana help me!
Grind the seeds in a coffee grinder or Cuisinart along with the salt so that you have about half ground seeds and half whole.
Lightly dry roast the seaweed (if is isn’t already) in the oven until crispy. Grind in a coffee grinder or Cuisinart.
Broken pieces of kelp in the coffee grinder.....
....and after, cool smoky effects!
Mix everything together and store in an air tight container. Add to soups, salads and other foods the same way you would use salt.
All mixed up, cooled down and ready to eat.
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