Foodie Fix-It: Overnight Onion Poultice

Another tried and true method to relieve cough, cold, and flu virus is to leave chopped onion near your bed.  According to this article, which I found really informative, leaving onion around your house any old time will help to capture viruses and germs that may be floating in the air:  Click here to see the article.  That being read, I chopped the other half of the large white sweet onion left over from the homemade onion and honey home remedy I made in this post, and decided to see what happened if I left it next to Piper's crib while she slept.  It is currently 10:42pm and I have not heard her COUGH OR SNIFFLE ONE TIME.  This is miraculous to me as during her nap earlier she was coughing so much I thought she'd wake herself up.  I am now an absolute believer in the power of onions and all the health benefits they can provide. The true test will come tomorrow morning to see if these last few posts combined has made any difference in her state of health. If it has, I will blog again to let you know that onions & honey elixir, bone broth, and onion poultices are the ticket to health and wellness. Stay tuned!  Here is how I made the onion poultice!

~Ingredients~

1/2 large white sweet onion

medium-sized square of cheesecloth

small bowl

~Directions~

1.  Place the 1/2 of an onion in a food processor and process until chopped.

2.  Scoop chopped onion onto cheesecloth square.

3.  Bring the corners of the cheesecloth up to meet each other and twist together so that the dry corners are underneath the wet onion section.

4.  Place the bowl and onion poultice on a nightstand (or in my case, and upside-down diaper box because it's the only thing I could find) as near as possible to your own head or the head of the sleeping child. 

Pay no attention to Peeky McLurkerson.

5.  Listen to the sound of no coughing, sneezing, sniffling, or moaning for the rest of the night!!  It's a beautiful sound!!

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Foodie Fix-It: All About The Bone Broth, Baby

Tonight's mission was to cure the yuckies that ail us. And when I get on a mission, I will not stop until it is completed.  We all know that chicken soup cures everything. But what is it about the soup that can practically resurrect the dead? Is it the chicken? The noodles?  Nope. It's all about the broth.  And a good broth has become a lost art form. I won't delve into a bunch of details as to why it is also financially so much cheaper to make and freeze your own broth while utilizing the chicken in various dishes, but rather focus on the types of chicken broth.  

For one, there is the chicken bouillon cube. Now I'm not dissing the cube. It has its purposes. But health benefits, not so much. If you dissolve the cube in a hot mug of water and drink it, the heat alone may help to loosen up some mucus but that's about it. You'll also have high blood pressure.

Another type of broth is canned or boxed. Not altogether bad. It does its job for quick cooking purposes, but it's more expensive and doesn't boast HALF of the flavor as a prepared broth. Not to mention, it is highly processed and doesn't boast any real health benefits.

Next is a broth made from boiling actual chicken. Okay, now we're getting somewhere. This is an actual broth. The flavor is drawn from the meat where the amount and strength of broth you yield is dependent on the chicken-water ratio.

The best, most healthful, and flavorful type of chicken broth is dark meat bone-in broth.  There is more fat, moisture, and flavor in the dark meat of a chicken so that will be very evident in the broth. Beautiful shimmering greasy circles will form on the top letting you know it will be delicious. But the most important part is the bone itself. By boiling the bone, there are trace minerals such as glucosamine and chondroiton that are released which are fairly expensive supplements to buy in a store.  A good bone broth is also rich in magnesium and calcium as well as phosphorous.  All very necessary for healthy body function.  Gelatin is also found in the bones of animals and if ingested can be wonderful for joint health.  

To ease my daughter's head and chest congestion, I boiled her a bone-in organic chicken thigh and let her hang her head over the yummy smelling broth steam. It cleared her temporarily and I boiled her brown rice in the homemade chicken stock, then froze the rest for later consumption. This in conjunction with the onion & honey syrup I made for her earlier, and she sounded exponentially better than she did earlier this afternoon.

I hope this information can help your family's stuffy noses or chest congestion in the future!  Please feel free to leave comments and let me know if you know any more helpful home remedies relating to good 'ol fashioned chicken broth! 

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Foodie Fix-It: Onion & Honey for Cough & Cold

It's that time of year! Some very nasty viruses are floating around and if you're one of the unlucky ones that gets kicked in the ribs (or sinuses) by Virus McNastybug, I have a home remedy that as of tonight has worked very well for myself and Pip.  I gathered some opinions from friends and quantities from various websites and put together what I thought to be the appropriate amount of both chopped onions and honey. Click here to read a totally fascinating article on the healing power of onions!

If your two-year old is reluctant to try a strange mixture he or she has never seen before directly off of a spoon, mix it in with some orange juice.  The Vitamin C is helpful anyway, as well as the hydration, and it masks the taste of any onion that might be offensive to the toddler.  I added 3 tsp. to one full sippy cup of orange juice.

~Ingredients~

1 cup sweet white onion (about 1/2 of a large one), chopped

1/2 cup raw honey

~Directions~

1.  Place the onions and honey in a small pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer on medium-low for 20 minutes.

2.  Strain the onions and capture the rest of the mixture in a bowl. I simply sat the colander on top of the bowl.

 3.  Push the onion around a bit and press down with a spoon to squeeze out any extra moisture.

4.  What remains in the bowl is your homemade cough and cold syrup! Place in a sealed container and store in the fridge for when you need it!

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