Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Natural Milk Bath

Everybody likes soft skin, except maybe for Godzilla and some of his amphibian kin, so I thought today I'd share with you a home-made recipe for a natural milk bath concoction that sounded pretty cool.

I found this recipe in an old health magazine we had laying around here at CasaDay.

Casey Kellar, author of Natural Beauty and Bath Book (Lark Books, 1997), says the milk in this recipe moisturizes rough skin.
1 cup full-fat powdered milk
2 Tbs almond meal
2 Tbs barley or oat flour
A few drops of rose (Rosa centifolia) essential oil
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, then add two tablespoons to a tub of water. Soak for 15 minutes. Store the remaining bath mix in a glass jar at room temperature. It should keep for two months.

And if you like natural, home-made approaches to healthy skin, click here and sign up for my free series of natural skincare tips.

Chet Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Tortilla Soup Recipe

I'll get to today's healthy tortilla soup recipe in just a minute.

But, first, a little fun...

Although I'm hardly what most people would call an elegant or sophisticated man, I do have moments (rare, I admit) when I like to put on some airs and dine like royalty.

Judging from the comments I receive, I know many readers of this blog are far more sophisticated than I, so, for them, I have this soup serving tip today, one that was sent in by an aristocrat in the United Kingdom, if I recall correctly:
A liner plate placed under each bowl allows you to serve bowls filled with hot or cold liquid gracefully. Use a salad plate beneath rimless bowls, and a ten-inch dinner plate beneath rimmed bowls.

The plate also gives your guests a place to put the spoon when they have finished eating, and helps to protect the table.
Since I often wash the dishes here at CasaDay after meals, you can imagine how many times a decade I serve soup with an extra plate.

Yes, you're right.

Maybe once. Twice at the most.

But the next time the Prince of Wales drops by for a bowl of soup, I'll be sure to put the above tip into action.

Speaking of action, let's make some soup, shall we?

Healthy Tortilla Soup Recipe

1 cup homemade vegetable broth plus 4 cups water - or -
1 can vegetable broth and 1 can water
1/2 medium onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped fine
1 green, yellow, or red pepper, diced
1 ripe tomato, chopped
1 can black, pinto, or mixed chili beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups frozen corn
1/2 cup brown rice
2 Tbs lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Tortilla chips
Optional: 2 Tbs tequila

Simmer the onion, pepper, garlic, rice, corn, and half of the cilantro in the broth and water for about 30 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Add the tomatoes and beans.

When the tomatoes are just cooked, remove from the heat and add the rest of the cilantro, lime juice, and tequila. The tequila should be allowed to evaporate for five minutes or so before serving. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over crumbled tortilla chips.

Notes: Try sprinkling a little shredded CoJack cheese on top. You can season with sea salt. It adds a rich flavor to the clear broth.

Now, that's a healthy and tasty tortilla soup recipe.

If you have a healthy soup recipe you'd like to share, use the comment link below and type it in.

And if you'd like to subscribe to my free Amazing Soups newsletter, click here.

Chet Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Monday, May 22, 2006

Healthy Snack Ideas

Let's start the new week with four quick, easy, and healthy snack ideas, shall we?

The next time you feel like you can't go another five minutes without eating, instead of chomping your molars into some nasty, high-sugar, health-compromising junk food snack, have...
  • A healthy dip or nut butter and some raw crunchy vegetables.

  • An avocado in a whole wheat or corn tortilla with a dash of sea salt.

  • Slices of organic raw cheese and some sour fruit.

  • A fresh glass of fruit or vegetable juice.
Seriously, if you followed the above four suggestions over the course of a year, you would not only satisfy your snack cravings, but you would also lose at least ten pounds... and probably more than that.

Whoa, that's great, eh?

Chet Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Fruit Nut Cereal

Today I'd like to share another in the series of natural and healthy cereal recipes that I've been posting here in the Natural Health Circus.

So, without further chatter, let's get down to brass tacks with...

Nancy's Natural Fruit Nut Cereal

1/3 cup cashews
1/3 cup pecans
1/3 cup walnuts
1/2 cup raisins

Grind the above ingredients on low in your blender, VitaMix, or food processor and then dump into a bowl and set aside.

Make almond milk:

1-1/2 cup raw almonds - grind on low speed
4 cups water
3 cups ice
1/4 cup maple syrup or to taste

Add water to ground nuts and blend on high for a few minutes. Add syrup and ice and blend a few more minutes.

Place fruits from 1 or 2 below into a cereal bowl. Top with ground nuts and then almond milk.
  1. Sliced bananas, chopped sweet apple, chopped dates.

  2. Sliced bananas, chopped peaches and/or nectarines, blueberries, srawberries.
That's the basic recipe, and thanks to Nancy for sharing it.

Now, get creative and come up with your own variations. If you hit on a really good one, come back to the blog and share it with readers by clicking on the comment link below.

Folks, that's a healthy cereal recipe!

Chet Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Healthy Butter

Today, I'd like to share an excellent recipe for a healthy and different butter...

Karyn's Better Butter

Chet, we try to eat good, but we really enjoy butter, so I'd like to share a recipe for healthy butter that I created.

I found that if I mix one pound of good butter with half a cup of cold-pressed oil (I prefer olive oil, but it's too strong for my kid's tastes) and a half a cup of good yogurt (I use Mountain High, plain), then the mixture is more like margarine, without all the junk that's in margarine.

I let this healthy butter mixture soften and then throw it all in my Bosche food processor and whip it up good.

I usually do at least three pounds of butter at a time and add 1 1/2 cups of the oil and yogurt, and freeze part of it until we need it.

This mixture is not as fattening as pure butter but still tastes very good.
Thanks to Karyn for sharing this recipe for a healthy butter.

Chet Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com

Monday, May 08, 2006

Natural Insect Bite Treatments

There are almost as many natural insect bite treatments as there are seeds in a pomegranate.

Here are a few of the more interesting home remedies for insect stings that I've run into over the years.
  1. Soak the affected area with vinegar.

  2. Put a cotton ball dipped in ammonia on the bite to draw out the stinger and reduce the pain and itch.

  3. Smash up a clove of garlic and place the poultice on the affected area.

  4. Spread some honey onto a clean cloth. Place an ice cube on top of the honey. Wrap up the cloth and place on affected area, honey side next to the bite.

  5. Kill a rattlesnake and then eat some of the meat every day for the next week. (I don't recommend this one since monkeying with rattlesnakes is dangerous, but I included it anyway because it's the oddest insect bite treatment I've ever heard of.)
My personal favorite is No. 4.

Amazingly enough, the honey insect bite treatment worked wonders for me last summer when a wasp decided to kick my ass for disturbing its territory while I was mowing the lawn.

I've never tried treatment No. 5 and have no intentions of doing so in the future.

Chet Day
Editor, The Natural Health Circus
http://chetday.com

P.S. If you have a natural insect bite treatment you'd like to share, click on the comment link below and start typing.