Green Options

This twist on classic pizza ushers in summer with a tender gluten-free crust, garlicky oven-roasted tomato sauce and the zing of fresh herbs.  You could top this with homemade mozzarella cheese or soy cheese, but what if you’re avoiding both dairy and the highly-processed soy isolates found in many cheese alternatives? Is it even possible to imagine – much less create and enjoy — a pizza without wheat and cheese?

Editor’s note: The following post was originally published on Green and Clean Mom. “Green & Clean Mom can inspire you to try a little harder, be a catalyst for change and to offer you some new tips and news on how to be the green, sexy and sassy mom…I know you are!”

I drink organic shade grown coffee but I put sweet and low in it. Gasp. I know, it makes no sense and I’ve tried to stop. I can’t. Over at 5 Minutes for Going Green I wrote a post about my natural weight loss struggle and the zero calorie mentality that basically has me hooked on artificial sweeteners.

This was before my new love affair with Stevia. Have you tried this stuff? Holey Moley! Good by artificial sweeteners, hello Stevia! Very expensive but well worth it. It is so sweet that I can use half the packet in my coffee and make it go the distance. Plus, zero calories and it’s natural.

Stevia, a herb native to Paraguay, has been “treated like a drug by the FDA”, again proving that the FDA is in bed with the chemical companies. The more I read about Stevia and the ongoing saga with the FDA, the more I am convinced that money has everything to do with what is on our shelves, versus health and safety.

Artificial sweeteners are big dollars in the U.S. and the FDA can’t have a natural herb like Stevia knocking all those pink and yellow packets off the grocery store shelves. Oh, my…what would happen?

As the sniffles start moving across the country – helpfully tracked this year by Google, you can start loading up on some natural remedies for those annoying symptoms. Since flus are viral in nature, no amount of antibiotics is going to help and why ply you or your child with over-the-counter medicines which sometimes haven’t really been quite tested enough?

Instead, take some preventative steps and try some of these herbal remedies, often available at your local health food store.Before the flu comes your way, try some of these anti-viral and immune system building herbs.

1. Zinc - Zinc is an essential trace mineral that stimulates the immune system – great for those days when the flu is coming your way.

2. Echinacea - Echinacea a popular herb since the 70s is one of the two natural remedies that we start taking daily (with Vitamin C) around this time of year to boost our immune systems

One of the most misunderstood and over-treated childhood conditions is a fever. Fever is not a disease, and in most cases is nothing to worry about. An elevation in body temperature is one of the body’s strongest weapons to deal with infections, and is best left to run its course.

A fever increases the amount of natural antiviral and antibacterial substances in the blood. Fever also increases white blood cell count, to kill cells infected with viruses, and it improves the ability of white blood cells to destroy bacteria and infected cells, while impairing the replication of bacteria and viruses.

Western medicine has a limited number of treatments available for fevers, most of which involve Tylenol or Ibuprofen, which may mask the symptoms and actually prolong the illness.

Treating a feverish child with natural remedies is a gentler method that doesn’t introduce pharmaceuticals into their body or artificially force a fever down. Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, author of How to Raise a Healthy Child in Spite of Your Doctor, debunks the myth that febrile seizures (convulsions) and high fevers cause permanent damage the child’s brain or body. He does recommend seeing a physician if your infant (under two months old) has a fever over 100°. Fevers under 106° should be allowed to run their course.

Of course, when your child is miserable and can’t sleep, treating a fever with natural remedies may give enough relief for them to sleep and heal. You will probably need the sleep as well…

Got tomatoes? Looking for a simple, delicious way to use those?  Because we planted somewhat late, we’re at the peak of our tomato harvest, and last night I made my first pasta sauce from scratch from slow-roasted plum tomatoes fresh from the garden. Slow-roasting concentrates the sweet flavor of the tomatoes, transforming them into an entirely different entity.  Find out how, after the jump…

Stressed out?

Feeling old?

Holy Basil helps your immune system to help you!

Research recently presented at the British Pharmaceutical Conference found that holy basil extract was effective at searching for and eliminating harmful molecules and protecting against damage caused by free radicals in organs.

The researchers, led by Dr Vaibhav Shinde from Poona College of Pharmacy, Maharashtra, India, studied the herb for anti-oxidant and anti-ageing properties.

Dr Shinde said: “The study validates the traditional use of herb as a youth-promoting substance in the Ayurvedic system of medicine. It also helps describe how the herb acts at a cellular level.”

You’ve got that garden of herbs, in containers, in your windowsill, in your garden.  You’ve made basil pesto, and added some parsley or oregano to pasta sauces.  Well, there’s more you can do with those herbs you’ve been growing.  A woman in my recipe swap got me thinking about other things to do with herbs to make your meals more flavorful.  Thanks to Lisa at 47 Thoughts for getting the ball rolling on this. Those tips, after the jump…

Last month, I shared with you the household herbal remedies I used to treat my daughter’s first canker sore. One of the natural items my herbalist friend recommended was licorice root, specifically glycyrrhiza extract, which I did not have on hand. Now, I have discovered a canker sore product made from glycyrrhiza extract that is all natural:  CankerMelts.

CankerMelts not only heal canker sores in 1 to 5 days, but they help relieve the pain too. These slow natural dissolving discs adhere to the oral sore and provide anti-inflammatory pain relief.  Recently, my daughter thought she had another canker sore, although I could not confirm it by peering in her mouth. I let her try CankerMelts, and she did not complain about the sore again.  CankerMelts are not limited to canker sores, as they can be used on any sore in the mouth, such as from braces or biting one’s cheek.  It is advised not to use CankerMelts with children under six years of age, due to choking hazards.  CankerMelts are made in the USA.

Having been inspired by one of my favorite gardening books to leaf through on a regular basis, The Curious Gardner’s Alamanac: Centuries of Practical Garden Wisdom, by Niall Edworthy, I decided to use my 4th of July party guests as guinea pigs. It is kind of fun experimenting on unsuspecting guests . . .

Of course, this was one of the great hits of the party and I did NOT make enough. I had to keep a secret stash so that late comers could at least give it a taste!

Mr. Edworthy offered a very simple recipe for lavender infused lemonade that I couldn’t resist. I put two and two together and realized I had plenty of lavender in the garden just ripe and ready for this sweet, cool, summer drink.

Here’s what I did (pretty much straight from Mr. Edworthy’s book - it worked very well):

We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden.
Anonymous

Since we moved into our current home, we haven’t developed a serious vegetable garden. We’ve missed it, and every winter for the last 4 years, we have dreamed, planned, fantasized and even drawn pictures complete with fences (which are critical since we have a seriously hungry deer and critter population), vines, flowers and rows and rows of burgeoning edible vegetation.

The subsequent Springs have found these dreams beyond our capacity what with start up multi-media companies and other silliness occurring. However, we have managed to keep our perennial beds going and since I seem to have a flower addiction, these seem to expand a little every year.

For the last 3 years, we’ve been doing potted veggies and herbs on the deck, where our big scary guard dog (not), woody the wonder boy, our goofy golden retriever, keeps the critters from taking the entire harvest. We don’t mind sharing with the wildlife, but they tend to get greedy around here.

Lovin’ Fresh is a series of recipes
designed to showcase produce gathered
from local farms or grown in my own garden. 

It’s been brought to my attention that croutons aren’t “much of an entry” (this from a man that goes pale at the mere mention of his participation in the nightly dinner preparations), but I beg to differ.  While making your own croutons isn’t hard, it’s something most folks rarely think to do.  The recipes I post aren’t meant to be revolutionary.  Rather, they are here to prompt you, noble Eat.Drink.Better readers, to embrace the freshest, local food you can find.  Homemade croutons made with a fresh herb butter fit in perfectly with that scheme, don’t you think?  I certainly do.