Sunday, March 31, 2013

The Power of Real Food and Holistic Healing

So living here near the windy city of Chicago, we can get some pretty nasty winters. Having a kid, that usually means lots of sickness: colds, croup, ear infections, etc. It's one of the things about being a parent that you assume comes with the territory,right? WRONG. Your child is not guaranteed to maintain a runny nose and perpetual cough from December through March. I know this because despite daily trips to stores, play dates, Park District classes, & working with the public, our family has made it through this past winter virtually virus and infection-free...without receiving flu shots, no use of harsh, anti-bacterial hand sanitizer or toxic cleaning products, & we never tried to evade germs by using a shopping cart cover (haven't heard of them? Trendy, I know..but they exist). When the common cold bordered on us around the holidays, we were able to thwart it within just 24 hours by eating fresh, real food (including lots of nutrient-dense, homemade bone broth), increasing our raw probiotic/supplement intake, using holistic healing remedies, & plain old hand soap. My kid will be 3 in two months and has never actually been sick. Besides a brief visit with the painless Roseola virus at 20 months and a few mild colds, she has remained clear of any bacterial infections and her immune system hasn't been weakened by antibiotics. Watching most of her peers struggle with on and off illness all winter long, I can only feel grateful to have the knowledge of natural healing to keep us healthy. Simple, organic living is such a beautiful thing..it certainly beats the alternative of having to rely on prescriptions & pills for constant ailments! Now this seasonal nasal allergy I seem to have developed recently is a blog for another day.....

10 Reasons to Take Probiotics--Good Bacteria, Probiotics, Helps the Immune System Work Properly-

Natural, Safe Alternative to Commercial Cough Syrups that contain Preservatives, High-Fructose Corn Syrup, & FD&C Red Dye #40

Why NOT to get a Flu Shot

The Raw Honey and Cinnamon Cure

Garlic--Nature's Antibiotic

Spring is here! I love the feeling of newness; being outside and seeing all the trees and plants beginning to bud and bloom with fresh life..however, this year I seem to be feeling something else as well. Anyone else dealing with annoying runny nose, sinus congestion, or itchy eyes?

ALLERGIES-YOU SUCK.

Saturday, March 30, 2013 2:14 PM

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Pink "play-doh"

Play-doh. Every kid loves it, every Mom gets stuck cleaning bits of it out of the carpet. My daughter could play with the stuff for hours, and her new favorite thing is to make lots of different sized "snakes" out of it. Her introduction to this childhood staple started as an impulse buy I made from Toys'R'Us. The original few containers I bought have now gotten slightly dried out, and the colors have all been blended together by the creative mind of my toddler and her partner-in-crime, aka Daddy. That is, whatever hasn't been smashed into the carpet or eaten by the dogs. In other words, we could use some new dough. I remembered that Mommypotamus had posted a great blog on DIY play-doh, and I had a lone beet in the fridge that never made it to my beet brownies, so the timing was perfect. I used her recipe and it turned out AWESOME!

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tarter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup of naturally colored water OR 1 cup water and natural food coloring
few drops essential oil of lavender (can't hurt to calm a nearly three-year-old down if possible)

Homemade play-doh with natural dyes!

I almost used my beloved sea salt until I remembered I had Morton's salt (containing GMO corn, a fact which I was only recently made aware of) so used that instead. This was also a great way to use up the all-purpose flour I bought before making the switch to gluten-free flours.

Boil your sliced beets in 2 cups of filtered water for about 15 minutes. Drain the beets and save the colored water which should measure 1 cup. I was able to throw the cooked beets onto a salad for lunch. Win win!

Measure & mix the flour, salt, and cream of tarter in a pot. Pour in the olive oil and colored water. Stir, stir, stir.

Your arm will start hurting. It's worth it, I promise.

It will get a little gloppy after all the water is added, but keep stirring. After it seems mostly blended, put the pot over med-low heat. Continue stirring until it starts pulling away from the sides and forms a ball.

How gorgeous is this color?? Completely from nature. Amazing.

Stored in, of course, a mason jar.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

What are Fermented Foods and Why are They Good For You?

I have always been a lover of pickles and sauerkraut (I am a polish girl, after all) and have been hearing recently how we should be trying to incorporate more fermented foods into our diets for optimal gut health. Besides being an avid canner of pickled veggies, I wanted to try fermenting some cucumbers without my water bath canner to get the maximum health benefits. I used distilled water versus filered because I am hoping to ward off any mold that might form on the top. I know it's harmless, but yuck.