Sun in Capricorn: Stabilize, Nourish, and BE WELL

Welcome!  Happy New Year...  Here we are in 2013.  We all made it.

Now, time to do the good work.  I've created this blog because I am passionate about Health, Wellness, and Food as Medicine.  After the over excitement and parties of the Holy-daze, I succumbed to a yearly/seasonal flu that carried on and off for weeks, which served as a great reminder and test of my nutritional knowledge.  What to buy?  What to cook?  Where to go?  It can be so overwhelming when your immune system is in war-mode, BUT still- I managed to HAUL to the Farmers market and Rainbow Grocery (aka. FOOD MECCA) to cure myself.  Cold schmold.

I know many of you are battling colds, flus, and post-holiday blues, too.  Boo.

My favorite local honey company! You can actually get honey local
to your neighborhood/hill in San Francisco!!

So I decided to create this list of things to buy- pretty basic stuff- which can help you, my friends, heal up proper.  I've been eating this for DAYS. Once you have these items, below the list are two SIMPLE recipes that I guarantee will help nurse you back to good health and BURN away whatever bug has got a hold on you. I'm also going to include a short list of helpful herbs, tinctures, and a couple essential oils that are reasonably priced and can be of extreme assistance to your sickly immune system.  There are a TON of things out there that can help, and the things I list are just a few that I've had great experience with and tend to be easily accessible.

(FYI: I've also been eating at least one full meal a day of brown rice, quinoa, millet & some type of bean w/ mixed veggies like squash/chard/zucchini... SEASONAL = AWESOME)

JENNIE'S ULTIMATE CURE-ME-NOW SICK LIST:
(buy organic PLEASE!! but if you can't... wash wash wash!)

-Kale (her royal highness)
-Carrots
-Red Bell Pepper
-Scallions, Green Onions
-Garlic MUST HAVE
-Ginger MUST HAVE
-Shiitake Mushrooms (fresh or dried- they may be pricey but they are immuno-boosting POWER)
-Wakame seaweed
-Cayenne pepper, dried
-Lemon
-Cilantro
-Miso paste (unpasteurized- I like barley and chickpea the best!!)
-Raw, unprocessed Honey as LOCAL & STRONG AS POSSIBLE

Also a fan of their Red miso as well-  you don't
need to use as much per serving.

YUP- TOLD YOU IT WAS SUPER BASIC GUYS!

HERBAL MEDICINE HELP BELOW! FOLLOWED BY TWO BASIC RECIPES!

Herbs/Tinctures that help heal:

Look for a specific immune defense tincture at your local hippie dive/health food stop- one that contains Echinacea and Elderberry (among other things).  Herb Pharm makes a good one.  Echinacea actually helps boost white blood cell production.  YUP!   More recently I've also used a Reishi and Astralagus tincture in conjunction with my Echinacea and Elderberry concoction.  Reishi is one kick-ass super fantastico immunoboosting life enhancing mushroom that pretty much does all things awesome.  I recommend it.  Astralagus root is considered a QUEEN in the world of tonifying herbs and does wonders for your immune system when fighting off a bug- it is particularly handy at combating a fever.  Tonifying = supportive and nourishing, and suitable for consumption on a regular basis.  I definitely recommend taking a immune support tincture as a prevention measure in the future.  Especially when traveling or after a dip into party-party-lower immunity mode.  Not that I am experienced in these things... Ahem...

Essential Oil Must-haves for your sickness:

-NUMERO UNO- EUCALYPTUS!!  This helps break up congestion in your respiratory system.  Steam it, sniff it, put a drop in a teaspoon of unrefined sesame, sunflower, or olive oil and STICK IT IN YOUR NOSE. This is the best ever.  You will thank me later.  Also rub it on your chest.  It is antibacterial and will help fend off whatever strange colony/civilization may be plotting to take over your respiratory tract.  Make sure you use a carrier oil, ok?!  It's strong.  Nice additions to a chest rub oil are rosemary and peppermint.  Refreshing and ANTIsickness.  Love it.

-OREGANO -  This is the stuff miracles are made of.  Yes, Oregano. I believe this component is a key factor in the chicken soup cure hubbub.  The essential oil of oregano, when consumed INTERNALLY, has amazing antibiotic and antibacterial effects.  Put a few drops into 8 oz of water, or into your soup!!! but don't go overboard as this stuff is powerful and will potentially throw off the pH of your tummy and intestinal flora if you overdo it.

-LAVENDER, good for everything, literally.  Antibacterial and Antifungal like our friend Eucalyptus.  Personally I used it this time around to help calm me down at night when I couldn't sleep and then got mad that I couldn't sleep which didn't help me sleep at all.

Spicy Lemon Ginger Tea

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH EATING HONEY STRAIGHT OUT THE JAR!  IT'S MEDICINE!  I SWEAR!

  Peel a 1 to 2 inch piece of ginger and dice it up.  Throw it in some filtered water (if you have filtered water- if not throw in in whatever water you have!!)  Let it boil and then when it does, turn it down to a simmer for AT LEAST 20 minutes.  Ginger needs this time for all the magically amazing greatness to ooooooze out.  While you are waiting patiently, put a teaspoon of honey into your cup and sprinkle it with cayenne pepper, and squeeze a big lemon slice into it.  When the hot ginger water is ready, pour it into your cup, stir and enjoy!!  and then REPEAT THIS ALL DAY EVERYDAY until you are better.  I'm not joking.

Magical Mushroom Miso Soup

That's my little girl dog Bodhi.  She's a rascal. 

WHEN IN DOUBT, ALWAYS ADD MORE CAYENNE & GINGER!!!

So I'm pretty neurotic about the order in which things are added to the soup.  And this is because each of the components has its own sensitivity to heat and we want to get MAXIMUM medicinal value out of each.  You can add different veggies to this but just don't overcook the greens! Not the greens!

STEP AWAY FROM THE MISO PASTE.   YOU DO NOT BOIL OR COOK MISO PASTE.  Just clearing that up now.  You will add that at the end.

-Dice up a 1 to 2 inch piece of ginger, and at least 4 cloves of Garlic.  Also dice up at least 4 good size Shiitakes, a good amount of kale leaves, 2 carrots, a couple pieces of scallion and a red bell pepper.  

-Fill up a medium size soup pot (if you are going to use a bigger pot,  awesome, just use a lot more ginger and garlic!) with water and throw in the GINGER
ONLY to start, as well as the dried Wakame seaweed if you have it.  Let this come to a boil, and then turn to a simmer.

-At this point, throw in your CARROTS, GARLIC and SHIITAKES.  Let this simmer for awhile, 20 to 30 minutes at least.

-After that time has passed, turn OFF the heat and throw in the Scallions, Red Bell Pepper and Kale.  
The hot water will cook these down just enough to make them a little easier for your body to break down and digest, but will also preserve a good amount of the vitamin content.

NOW put a teaspoon (or maybe a little more if you bought the white mellow) of miso paste in a good size soup bowl with a half a cup of water.  Mash it up until it becomes mostly liquid. Now, you can ladel in some of your magically amazing shiitake ginger garlic soup!!  Mix it up.  Add CAYENNE and CILANTRO and if you need a little more salty- but not TOO salty- a couple drops of Shoyu/Tamari/Soy Sauce.

This is clearly super adaptable.  Beets, Daikon, Celery, Broccoli, Anything. Throw it in! (at the right time OF COURSE)

YUMMMMM.

VOILA!

Hopefully this helps.  Next blog post will be about the DELICIOUS partial juice cleanse that commenced this week. And probably some astrology talk, too... Since the New Moon in HEALTHY Capricorn is on Friday.