Onions + Ears

I suppose I should give you a bit of background on my pediatrician, Dr. Razi. I'd heard of her through numerous people that she was amazing and I would love her. Her phlisophy is nutrition = healthy kids. She's an actual MD, too. I love her. Seriously. I wish she could be MY doctor. We drive 40 minutes (non rush hour) one way to see her and pay out of pocket. She's worth it.

Well, a few weeks ago my three-year-old wakes up with a high fever and tells me her ear hurts. Off we go to the doctor. 3 hours later? I come home with a piece of paper and directions on how to stick an onion on an ear. For the first time, I thought to myself, "What the hell have I done?" Seriously? AN ONION? Seriously, Moose. It works. The miserable three-year-old told me herself.

DIRECTIONS:

Take a slice of yellow onion and heat in pan until wet. Wrap the slice in a paper towel and hold to ear (preferrably while wearing a hat). Do this as often as tolerated.

Home Made Cough Syrup

I haven't tested this one out yet but that is because I don't have a double boiler. I have no doubt that it works (everything Razi suggests works)...though I do wonder how it would taste.

4-6 onions, chopped
1/2 cup honey

Boil in a double boiler for one hour. Strain. Use the liquid as cough syrup.

PCRM Good Medicine Magazine Cancer Survivor Sues over Grilled Chicken Carcinogen Winter 2010

I'm not clear if this refers to all grilled chicken (hope not, because we've been eating it lately!) or just fast-food chicken. Hmmm...

PCRM Good Medicine Magazine Cancer Survivor Sues over Grilled Chicken Carcinogen Winter 2010

Babies on Solids

Vegetables + Fruits are first foods NOT cereal in this order:

Sweet Potato
Avocado
Squash
Carrot
Green Beans
Apple
Banana
Pear

Immunity Soup

I have this one on the stove as we speak. Dr. Razi told me yesterday that shitake mushrooms, onion, garlic and ginger are key ingredients to cook with when looking for immune boosting foods. So when I ran across this recipe today in Boost Your Child’s Immune System I figured it had to be pretty good stuff.

1 onion

1 T olive oil (I am sure I used more)

A handful of Shitake Mushrooms (I used more)

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

1 thin slice ginger

2 pints vegetable stock

3 large carrots, peeled and sliced

1 sweet potato, chopped

½ c pearl barley (I used Israeli cousous)

1 head broccoli

A handful chopped parsley

Gently cook the onion, mushrooms, garlic and ginger. Pour stock over the sweet potato, carrots and barley. Simmer for 40 minutes. Add broccoli and simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Remove ginger and serve sprinkled with parsley. I made this as a thick soup when the little one was still on baby food and I fed it to her as a baby food. To be honest, my three year old has never been a big fan of this soup...but I enjoy it!

Flu Soup

I know a few of you were asking me about this recipe so I thought I would type it out and pass on in one fell swoop. Dr. Razi gave me the recipe (and also some of the actual broth) and I felt better almost immediately. She told me that she used it herself when she felt herself coming down with the flu. So if you have the flu or you feel yourself coming down with it, make a huge batch and drink all day.

I doubled this recipe and used it all up in less than 24 hours (but this is pretty much all I consumed when I had H1N1 in October).

All ingredients must be FRESH (doesn’t work with dried)

3T chopped ginger

3T chopped garlic

3T green onions

3T parsley

10 SHITAKE mushrooms (I just threw them in there whole)

Juice from lemon to taste

4-6c water

Bring to boil and then let simmer aprox. 90 minutes. Strain. Discard everything except liquid. Keeps in fridge (best kept in mason jar). I prefer it cold but Pat liked it better hot.

Green Smoothie

I used to be all cocky and think how cool I was that my kid sucked three of these things down a day. Yeah, well, now I'm lucky to get 12oz into her a day but it does taste good (a few of my friends tell me my tastebuds are broken)....OK, well, my husband drinks it and says it is good. I don't think he's just being nice to me.

I use a vitamix to blend the following and would recommend doing in the following order:

2 cups plain soymilk
1 cup juice (OJ, pomegranate, cranberry, Vit C)
3 heaping handfuls greens (I started with spinach but have worked up to kale, beet, collard, parsley, etc. just make sure you avoid mustard greens as that will make it peppery)

BLEND

1 handful (raw) walnuts (the taste does not change if you leave this out)
1-2 spoonfuls of yogurt (for some reason leaving this out makes it pretty gross)
1 spoon raw honey
1 very ripe banana

BLEND

1 bag frozen fruit (blueberries, peaches or mango)

BLEND until smooth

It is best if you drink it immediately but it will last for two days in the fridge in a mason jar.

Houston, We have a problem

You know how Oprah talks about having a-ha moments? Well, actually, I don't really watch Oprah, but I hear she says this. Anyway, lemme tell you about mine... I'm big into feeding my kids healthy foods and getting good nutrients into them. The moment I knew I had gone overboard is when my then not-quite-two-year-old daughter was on a playdate at a friend's house. The Mom had put out a bowl of goldfish (something my daughter had never had before). Normally, I would tell my daughter she couldn't have any but this particular playdate I was trying hard not to seem wierd (we didn't know these people very well). The other two little girls would take a few goldfish and run off and play. My daughter? She stood at the table, hovering above the bowl, double-fisting those goldfish into her mouth as fast as possible. Yeah, Houston, I think we have a problem. Talk about an a-ha moment.