Friday, February 25, 2011

Seasonal Healing Part 2

I believe that nutrition plays an even bigger roll in our healing than medicines. So today I present to you my No-Recipe Chicken and Brown Rice Soup. (I say "no-recipe" because I didn't follow one--it's typical of me, I was raised with a little Italian Granny living in my house)


Cast of Characters (Take Two):
Carrots
Celery
Garlic
Onion
Parsley
Thyme
Salt and Pepper
Whole Chicken Legs (its important that they are not deboned or skinned)


Step I
Mid-morning some time (like when the baby takes his first nap)
1. Chop half of onion, half cup parsley, several cloves of garlic. and a few sprigs of thyme plucked (is that the right term for taking those tiny leaves off of fresh thyme?)
2. Fill soup pot 2/3's full of water
3. Rinse chicken legs. You can do this with a whole chicken, but be prepared for a lot more work. Also leave the bones and skin on.
4. Simmer for 1 hour. It can come to a boil a few times, but don't do that for too long

*** If you want to make your broth in the slow cooker use high for about 3 hours or until the chicken is done and falling off the bones.

Once you get soft chicken that is falling off the bones pull the chicken out of the pot and shred. Place in small bowl with lid in fridge.
Let the broth cool enough to place entire pot in fridge to cool.

Step II
Later that afternoon (like when the baby takes his second nap)
1. Chop several carrots (I did 4 but you can do more if you need more soup)
2. Chop celery (I did 3 stalks) and rest of onion
3. Cook Brown Rice (follow directions on back of bag)
4. Chop 1/3 cup parsley
5. Chop a lot of garlic... its great for healing fevers so get crazy!
6. Pull out the pot of broth and skim all the fat off the top (I just used a spoon) and using a slotted spoon scoop all of the onions out of the bottom.

Congratulations you now have a beautiful pot of chicken broth.

Finally saute for 6 minutes your veggies and garlic. Dump sauteed veggies, rice, parsley and chicken into pot. Warm and eat up!

Happy Cooking.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Seasonal Sickness Ideas






Your cast of characters are:
Expec--herbal expectorant
Claritin--Children's 24 hour
Ibuprofen--Children's of course
Benadryl--Childrens
Echinacea--formulated for children
Mother's Milk Organic Tea--increase that supply!
Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime--Pink Eye compresses
Seasonal Teas--Throat Coat, Breath Easy, Gypsy Cold Care,
Nasal Spray
Flowers... be happy


This is a personal favorite of mine, it really really works, it makes illness shorter for sure.


Strawberry Breastmilk Smoothy... yep!



What? I drink smoothies all the time?

And finally a good book. Marin has a fever and has been home laying about. We are currently reading this wonderful read. I started crying today when we got to the part where the grasshoppers eat all of Pa's wheat crop, that was going to get him new boots and pay for the new house lumber. Marin and I read through both of Owen's naps today.

Hugs to all of you out there with sick kiddies. Its no fun and full of worry, I know.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Boosting the Immune System

I wanted to share this little bit of information I came across a while back. As many of you know we delay our children's vaccinations. We believe in public health and vaccinate them, just at a slower pace than the normal CDC vaccine schedule. This post is not about my personal reasons for this but quickly I will just say that we have decided to do our delayed schedule with our pediatricians blessing. And the reason she has blessed "our" schedule is for two reasons, 1. both babies are exclusively breastfeed and 2. because they are not in day care. If either of those were not present she would not have "blessed" our desire to delay.

OK but when I was doing research on kids and vaccinations, at Askdrsears.com, I came across this wonderful article he wrote on boosting your child's immune system before they get a vaccination to minimize side effects (also to prevent infectious diseases). So I wanted to share this with you today.

Boosting The Immune System--Dr Sears

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Dust Bunnies Attack Infant

On Wednesday afternoon this cute infant was innocently crawling around on the kitchen floor when...


he was attacked...




By sneaky and evil Dust Bunnies lurking under the play kitchen. His mother claims to vacuum the floors most days of the week, and says, "I have no idea where a Dust Bunny that large could come from?" Even with a statement like this the Health Department is further investigating. We will keep you posted as to how this situation is being handled.
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Friday, February 11, 2011

Health Policy is Good News for Breastfeeding

This story was on NPR this morning. I wanted to share

BREASTFEEDING GETS A BOOST

have a great Friday, I'm making crayon hearts for our school Valentines! (Even though the house is a wreck)