Making your own broth is a really easy and inexpensive way to nurture yourself during the coming months of cold and darkness. You can make any type of soup or cook any type of bean in this homemade stock to lend the dish extra nutrition. It can be used in almost any dish that calls for liquid. Bone soup is great for your bones and connective tissue (ligaments & tendons love it!).
As you might have guessed from the subtitle, you will need some bones! This recipe works great with any type of bones. I like to separate mine into chicken and other, with other being beef, lamb, and pork bones. You can add any veggie scraps that you accumulate as well, provided they don’t have a really strong flavor which will take over your stock. You can also save up just your veggies and use this recipe to make vegetarian stock which, although tasty, will not have the same tissue-nurturing effect of the bone stock.
The size of your biggest soup pot will affect the amount you can make; you need enough bones to loosely fill the pot with several inches left at the top. I use an 8 quart soup pot and save up my bones in the freezer until I have about 2 gallon-sized Ziploc baggies’ worth (which is 3-4 chicken carcasses). You can also ask your butcher for bones for soup stock. Fill the pot with water, leaving about an inch at the top. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar (this helps leach the minerals out of the bones). Use less vinegar if you’re making a smaller batch. Cover the pot, bring the liquid to a boil, and then cook at a low boil, covered, for about 6-10 hours. I like to do mine in the evening and leave it overnight. Strain out your bones and enjoy! If there was a bit of meat left clinging to the bones, you might want to chill the stock and skim off the fat before using it. This method will make for a very gelatinous texture when chilled so don’t mistake it all for fat, which will float at the top. I usually make a large batch and package it into small containers and freeze it for future use (I like empty large yogurt containers best. They hold about 3 cups of stock). There’s nothing better than homemade stock when you don’t feel well, conveniently stored in your freezer.
Got a crock pot? You can slow-cook your stock instead. For a 5 quart crock pot, use about 1 gallon-sized Ziploc baggie’s worth of bones. Set to high and cook for several hours at a boil (bearing in mind that it will take a while to come up to a boil if the bones are frozen), then set to low and let cook overnight or throughout the day. Strain and store as above.
Now that you’ve got this fabulous broth, you can use it to cook any type of bean, grain, or soup to make it even more nourishing. Some of my favorites are listed below:
In addition to doing acupuncture and herbal medicine, I love to cook. This is a recipe I adapted from a few that I found on-line and really enjoyed. It’s really simple and requires no cooking; just dump everything into a bowl and stir, then add to some stir-fried veggies and protein and serve over rice or noodles. Yum! It’s equally good with chicken, beef or tofu. I usually use veggies like onion, carrots, broccoli, green beans, and baby bok choy (sauteed in that order) and cook up the protein separately, combining it all at the end (even the noodles) before adding the sauce. Sometimes I garnish the dish with raw, thinly-sliced carrot and cucumber sticks, and/or raw or lightly cooked chopped scallions. This is also a great way to use up leftovers from a whole, roasted chicken.
Peanuts are good for strengthening the body’s Yin, Blood, and Qi. They can lead to phlegm, so pass on the peanuts until your cold is over or if you have a productive cough. The chile paste, garlic, and ginger in this recipe all act to alleviate phlegm production. It’s important to use only organic peanuts or peanut butter, as they easily soak up pesticides. They are also highly susceptible to fungus when grown conventionally. If you’re allergic to peanuts, you could try this recipe with a different nut butter, such as almond.
1/2 cup organic creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 small garlic clove, mashed to a paste (about 1 tsp is plenty; remember, it will be raw!)
1-2 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 teaspoon chile paste, opt. (I like Sriracha)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Juice of 1 lime (this can be omitted or you can substitute lemon juice)
1/4 cup water (you might use a touch more or less to achieve your desired thinness)
a few dashes of fish sauce, opt.
This recipe makes about enough peanut sauce for a dish that serves 4 people. I tend to have most of these things in my fridge already and simply omit one here or there if I’m missing it. Eat in good health!
As you move through the weeks of pregnancy, you are likely to find yourself suffering from insomnia. While it’s true that soon you will be waking up with your baby throughout the night, it’s nice to get sleep while you still can. Difficulty sleeping can be addressed with acupuncture and herbal medicine but there are also some simple things you can do for yourself to help address this issue. Remember, if you are going to take herbs during pregnancy, make sure to consult with a knowledgeable practitioner first.
Proper sleep posture can do a lot to alleviate sleeplessness and body pain. As your pregnancy progresses, sleeping on your back can cause your growing uterus to compress your blood vessels, interfering with blood flow and leaving you with a feeling of breathlessness or vague discomfort. Since sleeping on your belly is out for obvious reasons, getting comfortable on your side is important. You can use a couple of regular pillows or one long body pillow for support. Place one of the pillows between your knees and hug the other pillow. You can also sleep with your bottom leg straightened out and place the first pillow under the bent knee of your top leg. Switch sides throughout the night to avoid compressing your bottom hip. You might also find it helpful to wedge a folded towel under your growing belly as you get further along.
Make sure to keep yourself well-fed. Eat healthy foods at regular intervals. Have a snack close to bedtime or when you find yourself awake late at night. Something light, like cereal, can often help you fall back to sleep. Remember that your calorie requirements are higher in pregnancy and that you may be happier eating multiple small meals through the day. It’s not unusual for your body to wake you at night up for a snack. It could even help allay morning sickness–one of the tricks to fighting nausea in pregnancy is to keep your stomach from ever being completely empty.
Go to bed at the same time every night. Give yourself some time to unwind. Turn off all electronic equipment, especially the TV and computer, about a half hour to an hour before bedtime. Try meditation, yoga, tai chi or qi gong to practice relaxation. Make sure to get plenty of exercise. The optimal time for these activities varies per person, so try doing them at different times of the day if you’re experiencing sleep difficulties.
Remember that you’re not the only pregnant woman out there who can’t sleep. Combined with the fatigue of early and late (and for some of us middle too!) pregnancy, this can affect other areas of your life. If you find yourself struggling to cope, or if you’d like to treat yourself to some rejuvenating relaxation, go see your acupuncturist.
Check out the short video below for tips on how to change your diet this season for better health! Susan Scott and I discuss some simple ways to avoid this fall’s colds and flus.
Fresh Ginger Tea is a simple solution for mild digestive issues, including nausea, infrequent vomiting of clear fluid, stomachache, and indigestion. It’s easy to make, has no side effects, and works naturally with your body to soothe your belly. Ginger Tea is non-toxic and safe for both pregnancy and breastfeeding. It even has an anti-toxin property and has been used in East Asian Medicine for thousands of years to help detoxify other herbs.
Shēng Jiāng 生姜
Fresh Ginger Tea is best for stomach conditions that come from cold. How can you tell?
Does your stomach feel better with the application of warmth (from your hands, a heating pad, a hot water bottle, etc)?
Does your stomach feel better when you gently press your hands over it?
Cold conditions improve with heat and often with pressure as well. How does one end up with a cold condition? Over-consumption of cold, raw foods and drinks is the main culprit, according to East Asian Medicine. One might also have had a prolonged exposure to cold or a draft which resulted in cold invading the interior of the body.
How to brew Fresh Ginger Tea:
Slice up fresh ginger root, about 2 inches’ worth of root the diameter of your thumb.
Add to 3 cups of cold water.
Bring the water to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.
Serve warm, with honey if sweetener is desired. Store leftover tea in the fridge and reheat to serve.
You can adjust the strength and spiciness of the tea by increasing or decreasing the amount of ginger root. You can also cook with fresh ginger root if you have chronic digestive issues. It is traditionally used in many East Asian cultures as a spice as well as a medicinal to improve overall digestion, not to mention flavor.
If you are experiencing severe symptoms of abdominal pain or vomiting, please contact a healthcare professional. Here’s to your digestive health!
Fall is here, and we’re all pulling out our boots and pulling up our hoodies. That means it’s time to put down that qi-chilling ice cream and snuggle up to seasonal nourishment that soothes and warms your system. Eating foods that are “warm” according to Traditional Chinese Medicine will help keep you energized and healthy as the temperature drops.
EAT MORE carrots, potatoes, squash, yams, rutabagas, turnips, leeks, onions, rice, oats, butter, small amounts of chicken, turkey, lamb, beef, cooked peaches, cardamon, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, small amounts of honey, molasses, maple syrup and sugar. Food should be well chewed and eaten in moderate amounts.
The size of your biggest soup pot will affect the amount you can make; you need enough bones to loosely fill the pot with several inches left at the top. I use an 8 quart soup pot and save up my bones in the freezer until I have about 2 gallon-sized Ziploc baggies’ worth (which is 3-4 chicken carcasses). You can also ask your butcher for bones for soup stock. Fill the pot with water, leaving about an inch at the top. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar (this helps leach the minerals out of the bones). Use less vinegar if you’re making a smaller batch. Cover the pot, bring the liquid to a boil, and then cook at a low boil, covered, for about 6-10 hours. I like to do mine in the evening and leave it overnight. Strain out your bones and enjoy! If there was a bit of meat left clinging to the bones, you might want to chill the stock and skim off the fat before using it. This method will make for a very gelatinous texture when chilled so don’t mistake it all for fat, which will float at the top. I usually make a large batch and package it into small containers and freeze it for future use (I like empty large yogurt containers best. They hold about 3 cups of stock). There’s nothing better than homemade stock when you don’t feel well, conveniently stored in your freezer.
Got a crock pot? You can slow-cook your stock instead. For a 5 quart crock pot, use about 1 gallon-sized Ziploc baggie’s worth of bones. Set to high and cook for several hours at a boil (bearing in mind that it will take a while to come up to a boil if the bones are frozen), then set to low and let cook overnight or throughout the day. Strain and store as above.
