fighting off illness

October 13, 2015 Megan Rodriguez

It's that time of year! The time when everyone seems to be fighting off something. I was somewhat in denial about it for myself all last week, until my chiropractor was adjusting my neck and asked if I had been fighting a cold...to which I sighed and answered with, "I guess..." It's that time!

However, the beautiful thing about this time of year, at least if you ask me, is that we have a choice to make. We can either accept the fact that we'll probably get sick, or we can start prepping our bodies to do what they are made to do and fight off those nasty little viruses! I'm sure you can guess the route that I prefer to take...and so today, I thought I'd share with you a couple of the home remedies that we are using this fall to ward off illness and keep our bodies healthy!

The first one is Fire Cider, a pungent vinegar tonic that can be taken straight from the bottle, or mixed into food or salad dressings. It's made by infusing raw apple cider vinegar with onion, garlic, horseradish, and ginger, and then sweetened and spiced up with a bit of honey and cayenne pepper. Fire Cider is great for both the immune system and digestive system. It can help kick a cold if it's taken regularly at the first signs illness. There are many different versions and recipes out there for fire cider, but here are a few...

Rosemary Gladstar's Fire Cider (I used her recipe found in her book Medicinal Herbs's: A Beginner's Guide)
Mountain Rose Herbs Fire Cider
Wellness Mama's Spicy Cider

The second remedy that we've been using over the past several months is an Echinacea tincture. A tincture is a simple extract made with alcohol and herbs. You can find a simple tutorial on how to make tinctures here. We take a dropper full of this tincture several times per day anytime we're feeling a bit run down or on the verge of potential illness. My brother and his girlfriend even request a dropper full when they are over at our house! Echinacea is a fabulous immune booster and can help your body to do it's best work at fighting off viruses.

The third thing that we do, which I believe I've mentioned before, is to make a simple tea with grated fresh ginger, fresh lemon juice, and a touch of honey. It's amazing what those those simple kitchen ingredients can do when mixed with some hot water. They are so very healing and soothing for the body!

The fourth thing that we do is defuse our bedroom with immune boosting essential oils while we sleep. You can find some great blends out there, but I just mix up a simple concoction of lavender, eucalyptus, clove, and tea tree. The lavender calms our minds and bodies, the eucalyptus clears our sinuses, and the clove and tea tree purify the air and help support the immune system. I also have a blend of these oils mixed with a coconut oil base that we often use to rub into our feet before bed. However, during pregnancy I'm sticking to the defused versions as topical use of clove is best avoided during pregnancy.

And lastly, anytime we are feeling a bit run down, we SLEEP!! We live in a society that does not value sleep the way that it should. Gosh, I really do believe that if we, as a society, slept more we'd be a lot healthier! So, when debating whether or not to use that sick time---do it! Stay home and sleep! Your body will thank you and you'll be far more productive when you return to work healthy and rested (which is easier said than done for those of us without the luxury of sick time!) But, even if getting out of work is challenging, do get yourself to bed at an early hour and let your body rest and heal itself, because it will if you give it the chance.

I firmly believe that our bodies are created to ward off illness and keep us healthy, but they need the right tools and fuel to do so. There are many other fabulous ways out there to stay healthy and keep sickness at bay, but these are the ones that we've been using as of late. How about you? What home remedies do you love this time of year?

baby bump butter

October 6, 2015 Megan Rodriguez

With this little one on the way, I've been busy making and thinking up body care product recipes for both me and Baby! As this belly of mine expands, I figured the first recipe that I should focus my attention on should be a belly butter that will help my skin stay moisturized as it stretches and grows to safely house this baby for another few months. For the past couple months, I've been using a homemade Shea moisturizer and a coconut and neem oil moisturizer off and on. I've had great results with both and my stomach has yet to show signs of being overstretched. While it may be too early to know for sure, I still thought it would be good to make a belly butter just for this occasion. The following recipe has a luxuriously creamy butter texture and the smell is absolutely divine! The added rose water and essential oils not only add a lovely fragrance, but all of them are also good for skin elasticity and overall skill health. Most of the ingredients below can be purchased through Mountain Rose Herbs, or found at your local health foods store or food co-op. The Shea that I used was by Everyday Shea, a fabulous company that does quite a lot of good in Western Africa.

Baby Bump Butter

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons Shea butter

1/2 cup almond oil

1/2 cup rose water (or distilled or boiled water)

2 tablespoons coconut oil

7-8 ounces beeswax

20 drops lavender essential oil

20 drops Vitalize blend essential oil (a citrus blend by Melaleuca, The Wellness Company, you can easily substitute lemon, grapefruit, mandarin, orange, or a blend of these)

10 drops ylang ylang essential oil

Melt the Shea, coconut oil, and beeswax in a double broiler. Once it has melted, add the almond oil. In a separate sauce pan, warm the rose water until hot to touch. Add the essential oils to the rose water and adjust for desired scent. Pour the melted oils and water mixture into a glass jar and use an immersion blender (I have a special one that I use just for making soaps and lotions, but a you should be able to use your kitchen version and just clean it well) to emulsify them until it reaches a lotion-like consistency. Continue to blend it every few minutes until the mixture has cooled. At this point, it will still have more of a lotion-like consistency, but as it cools completely it will turn buttery. Put a lid on the jar or transfer the mixture into another container for storage. This recipe fits nicely into a pint-sized mason jar. To use, apply liberally to belly and breasts (or all over!). Use within six months for best results (both in moisture and freshness).

tomato soup

September 4, 2015 Megan Rodriguez

I've said it before, but soup is one of my favorite things to can. There is nothing quite like grabbing a jar of soup from the basement on a cold winter's night and having a homemade dinner ready in a matter of minutes. Throw a crusty grilled cheese in there and you've got a perfect comfort food! If you are looking for a tomato soup recipe, here is the one that I came up with this year. I'm rather excited about! I made a double batch and ended up with 6 quarts. However, I probably could have let it cook down a bit more so that it was a little thicker. I think the little bit of sugar helps soften the acidity of the tomatoes and wine. Add more or less to taste. Enjoy!!

Tomato Soup

12 cups of peeled, cored, and chopped tomatoes

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 cup dry wine (I used a chardonnay, but a red would probably add an even better flavor)

2-4 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

ground pepper to taste

Melt butter in a large stock pot. Cook onions in the butter until translucent. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Turn off heat and let cool for a few minutes. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth (or blend in a regular blender in small batches until smooth). Add wine, sugar, salt, pepper, and basil. Simmer until reduced to desired consistency.

Pour into clean jars. Either freeze or can. Pressure canning is the preferred canning method for soups. Process the jars at 11 pounds for 25 minutes.

When ready to serve, add a bit of half and half or heavy cream to thicken and make it creamy. Yum!

Yield: 2-3 quarts

from the garden, from the market, to the shelf

September 1, 2015 Megan Rodriguez

My days over the past few weeks (when not traveling, that is) have been filled with food preservation. The shelves are slowly, but steadily filling with jars of tomatoes, corn, pickles, and soup. And the freezer has been filling with green beans and cherry tomatoes. It feels so great to make so much progress in putting up the food that will nourish us throughout the coming year. It's so very satisfying. A lot of what I preserve I buy at the farmer's market. While our garden produces quite a bit of food for fresh eating, as of now it doesn't produce quite enough for much preserving. The few things that I do preserve from our own plot of land are tomato sauce from my six sauce tomato plants, cherry tomatoes when we can't keep up eating them (I roast them in the oven with herbs and olive oil for a bit and then freeze them), green beans (which I freeze as they come in to the kitchen), fermented jalapeños, and a couple jars of pickled mixed veggies to be used in Bloody Mary's (yum!). Everything else is from the farmer's market such as the quartered tomatoes, the dill pickles (both vinegar-based and fermented), the corn, and the tomato soup (recipe to follow soon!). I am hoping to make carrot tomato soup in the next few weeks with ingredients from my garden, but we'll see if the warm temps hold out long enough to get me a good amount of tomatoes in a relatively short amount of time...we'll see...fall has definitely been in the air off and on over the past couple weeks in these parts.

With all of the farmer's market buying that I've been doing, I've learned a few tips. First, get to know the people who run the different stands. I've found some who will happily throw in extra of this and that if you buy a bunch of something from them, and I've found others who won't. Second, it's a lot easier to barter if you are buying more than one item, if you are down to your last couple dollars, or if you are buying a large quantity of something. Don't be afraid to ask! I'm amazed at how often I can buy something for less just because I ask! Third, there are certain vegetables that don't have to look perfect for preserving. For example, cucumbers should all be firm and freshly picked if you are going to pickle them. However, tomatoes can have many imperfections and still make great soups, sauces, and even diced/quartered tomatoes. Just cut off the bad parts and keep the good!

I do so love the task of preserving and all that goes into it. Even though it makes for very long days in a warm kitchen, I find the gathering of produce and the filling of shelves so very satisfying in the end.

How about you?? What delicious things from summer have you been tucking away for winter??

fermented cucumbers and jalapeños

July 31, 2015 Megan Rodriguez

You know that team building game that people sometimes play where you have to choose what two foods you would want to live on for the rest of your life if you were stranded on a deserted island?? Well...one of my two foods has always been pickles. I mean, really, if you're stranded on an island what better food to have with you! They are shelf stable, they are a vegetable, and they are always delicious. Yum. My mouth waters every time I think about those sour crispy delectables.

For the past few summers I've made a couple batches of traditional vinegar dill pickles--and I love them and wouldn't go without them. But last year I also tried my hand at fermented dill pickles. It was an experiment--as I've found all fermenting to be. It's not an exact science the way that hot water or pressure canning is. With canning you have to have just the right amount of food in the jars, the jars have to be closed just right, the temperature and/or pressure has to be just right, and you have to do it for just the right amount of time, but with fermenting it's totally different. Your jar of cucumbers can be half full, you can have several different sizes of jars with different types of lids, you can ferment something for a week, two, five, twelve. Every ferment is different and each one is a bit of an experiment with far too many variables to make it scientific---it's awesome! Those are my favorite kinds of experiments. It's like when you make a really delicious meal and your husband says, "Wow! This is amazing! Can you make this more often?" And you respond with, "Um...this exact thing?? Probably not. I made it up." That's kind of how fermenting works, at least for me.

Another thing about fermented pickles is that they taste a bit different from their vinegary counterparts. They are more sour and they are kind of bubbly. They can make your face pucker and they can be incredibly addicting...but I do think they are a bit of an acquired taste. If you've never made or really eaten homemade vinegar pickles, then tasting your first fermented pickle may be quite a shocker. They are very different from the jars of pickles that line the grocery store isles. However, if you are a homemade pickle lover, then I encourage you to try fermenting a batch. The best part is that you can start with a little pint jar and if they don't turn out or you hate them, you can compost those babies without it being a big deal at all.

The basics of fermenting cucumbers include packing pickling cucumbers (I get my mine at the farmers market) into a jar with pickling spices, garlic, and fresh dill, and then filling the jar with a brine of salt water. You then tightly cover them and leave them in a warm place for a bit. If your kitchen is warm (mine was in the 70's and 80's this week), then it may take just 5-7 days for the pickles to be ready. If it's on the cooler side (consistently below 75) then it may take a few weeks for them to finish. Once they have changed from bright cucumber green to dull pickle green and the liquid is bubbly and cloudy, then they are ready to taste. When you bite into them, they should look pickled all the way through. If they are still bright green in the middle--they are not done, or if they taste really salty they are not done. When they get to the sour level of your liking and they are pickled all the way through---they are done!! Hooray! Then you can wipe down the jars (in case they've dripped a bit in the fermenting process) and move them into the refrigerator where they'll keep for 6 months to a year. So easy and so good!

Also, adding traditional fermented foods to your diet can be so good for you! Unfiltered and unpasteurized fermented foods are full probiotics that help to build a healthy gut flora. Stop buying those expensive probiotic supplements and start eating fermented pickles and you'll be set!! I wrote a bit more about this in a post last summer, if you're wanting to find out more.

If you are looking for a recipe to get you started with fermenting cucumbers, this Nourished Kitchen recipe looks like a good one. The one I used this time around is from The New Midwestern Table by Amy Thielen. It's a fabulous cookbook that includes so many great updated traditional midwestern recipes, which is great if you want to cook using local and season ingredients. I fall more in love with that cookbook each time I use it.

For my fermented jalapeños, I just added some garlic and used the same salt water brine that I used for the cucumbers. They take a bit longer to ferment (you can see the changing green colors in the picture above; once they are all the duller green color, I'll start checking them), but I find that fermenting them is a great way to preserve the handfuls of jalapeños that come in from our garden as I can ferment them as soon as I have a pint jar full.

How about you?? Have you tried your hand at fermenting?? If so, what are some of your favorite things to ferment?