• About Sri Lalita

    Milk Thistle & Sesame Gomasio Furikake

    by  • January 11, 2012 • Health, Herbs, Recipes • 0 Comments

    Gomasio FurikakeGomasio is a condiment comprised of toasted sesame seeds and salt. Furikake means “to sprinkle” in Japanese and refers to condiments like gomasio, usually including seaweeds. Here, we’ve got variation on a classic theme. After a suggestion by Michael Tierra, I added some secret herbal liver-boosting magic: milk thistle seeds.

    Milk thistle is well-known as a wonder herb for all ailments of the liver. It is safe for general use as a basic liver tonic, though it is specifically indicated in cases of hepatitis, jaundice, cirrhosis and liver congestion. It helps regenerate the liver and even reduces fat deposits on the organ. If you do anything that may be considered taxing to the liver–live in a polluted environment, eat processed, fried or fatty foods, drink alcohol, etc–then milk thistle is a good, safe herb to know.

    On top of that, milk thistle grows practically everywhere. If you are a die-hard, you could probably don some heavy-duty gloves and go harvest some for yourself. Me? Nettle is one thing (read about my nettle noodles here), but milk thistle? Ouch.

    This version of Furikake is an enjoyable way to boost liver function. My Ayurveda teacher, Dharmanidhi, used to say, “Your liver is you.” Which is funny, come to think of it, because my TCM teacher used to say, “Your spine is you.” I can see both perspectives and when I can connect to reverence for my liver and spine, it is easy to eat fresh and homecooked and then treat myself to the delicious but difficult discipline of a good yoga session or workout.

    Do something nice for your liver on a daily basis. The liver likes bitter. Drop bitter watercress into your soup. Hide a pinch of turmeric in your meal or chai. Simply eat yummy bitter greens regularly. But, I like to make this Gomasio Furikake recipe because it is always around to liven up a less-than inspiring meal while reminding me to think about the wellbeing of my largest internal organ.

    This liver-supporting version of Furikake has as many uses as you have imagination for it: a topping for rice, baked on fish with a layer or miso paste, or popcorn.

    My favorite: top a batch of homemade fresh french fries. How’s that for taking care of the liver? Ha!

    —

    Milk Thistle & Sesame Gomasio Furikake

    .5 oz wild nori (or seaweed of your choice)
    1 1/2 cup sesame seeds
    1/4 cup milk thistle seeds
    1/4 cup salt

    Preheat the oven to 300 and arrange nori flat on a cookie sheet. Cook until it looks toasty, about 10-15 minutes or when it looks done to you. Pulse in a spice grinder.

    While nori cooks, dry-roast sesame seeds in a skillet over medium-high heat, turning frequently. They are ready when they are fragrant and slightly darkened. Allow to cool.

    Pulse milk thistle seeds in grinder until very small. The outer portion of the seed is rather course must be broken down. The medicinal component of the herb is not usable by the body unless is is ground well, otherwise the body sees it as just roughage.

    Combine toasted, ground seaweed, toasted sesame and ground milk thistle with salt in a medium bowl. Take care when filling spice jars that the salt is heaviest ingredient and tends to fall to the bottom while seaweed rises to the top.

    Store in jars with tight-fitting lids and consume within a month or two for best results. Unless you are putting a shaker on the table that will be eaten quickly, store in a cool, dark place as all seeds and oils tend to become rancid in extended storage.

    Neti: One Pot to Rule Them All

    by  • January 6, 2012 • Ayurveda, Yoga • 4 Comments

    I’ve gotten a lot of questions from people recently remembering the following post, originally released in April, 2010. Then, a friend sent this youtube video (warning: funny) and couldn’t resist reposting.

    —

    Last week, I went to a party and this guy and I got into a lively conversation about…neti. You know, the yogic practice where you run a mild, warm saline solution into one nostril and out the other using a little neti pot?

    Yes, at a party. It’s Berkeley, people.

    Anyway, somehow I started to wax on about my newly acquired giant neti pot which I got about 6 months ago and how much the larger size neti pot has changed my life. I mean it. Changed. My. Life. I swear by this thing. The wild part is, he responded with equal enthusiasm! He had recently gotten the big kind, too, and couldn’t believe the difference. I’m not alone on this one.

    Again, it’s Berkeley, people.

    I’ve been using neti pots for years. I mostly used what I had access to: cute little ceramic numbers from the generic yoga studio or health food store that hold maybe a cup or two of water. This small amount of water, split between both nostrils, makes for a paltry jala neti experience. Still, even with the tiny pot, I was pretty excited about jala neti when first discovered it and I practiced it regularly for a time. I was impressed with the results. I even gave my family members little hand-thrown ceramic neti pots one Christmas. Poor guys.

    Enter the new giant neti pot. I got it about 6 months ago for my birthday and it has been an amazingly different experience. The big neti is where it’s at. I even took a picture. That’s big neti across the table from me at a candlelight dinner. As you can see, it’s getting pretty serious.

    It’s made by healthandyoga.com and I even tried to get a discount code for y’all, but I have been reticent about making this forum commercial in any way, even if it saves YOU money. So, just submit a comment here or on fb if you want me to do it to save you 15% or something. (UPDATE: DUE TO READER RESPONSE, THERE IS A DISCOUNT CODE HERE.)

    Anyway, this pot. I feel like I want to tell you guys about this pot the way I used to want to tell a girlfriend about a new guy. This neti? I mean wow. Shiny and nice and new, but what it comes down to is that…it’s big.

    Size matters.

    And it can go again and again and again. I usually fill it twice in a session–once for each side. It’s incredible.

    What more could any girl ask for?

    [Note: it's a great idea to talk to a qualified yoga instructor if you are interested in starting a jala neti practice. Despite what you'll read on the internet, it *is* a practice, not something to take up now and then when you're feeling congested. It does so much more than 'clean the sinuses' or whatever they say. And, if you're a renegade and are gonna watch youtube and try it anyway, please please PLEASE use good, filtered and boiled water and dry your nasal passages gently and thoroughly afterward. Your head will thank you.]

    In Defense of Art: Make Something

    by  • December 16, 2011 • Community, Sewing • 0 Comments

    advent calendar 7 8 9

    I’m always talking about plants. Today, I want to speak in defense of art. If human health is about achieving balance, let’s please put art somewhere on the scales.

    Please, please make something. You don’t have to be an artist. So often, we get an image in our heads of what an “artist” is. Black beret and canvas in Paris? Suspender-clad metalworker in Oakland? Activist guerilla-knitter in NYC? Noble images of the artist, but please.

    People use stuff, make stuff–all the time. So, if we gotta make it, why not make it beautiful? Take, for example, dinner.

    Or, craft. Sewing, home repairs and decoration, even gardening, maybe. Craft is such a practical way to bring art into daily life. It can build community. Without craft, life can so easily slip into a very dull and stressful cycle: work> sleep> repeat, peppered with (often unfulfilling, often kitchy, often commercial) entertainment. So, please, please make something.

    advent calendar

    More than that, craft can be thrifty. It keeps it local. It’s a way to stop the crazy shopping.

    In the spirit of the holidays, here’s something seasonal that makes a great gift: homemade advent calendars. If there are kids in your life, these are such a treat and they require really no sewing skill. You can make them in any color combination to suit any occasion: the countdown to vacation, a birthday, the last day of school, visit from Grandma and Grandpa. Best of all, you can fill them with anything you like. (Bye bye to crappy tasting, non-fair trade chocolate.)

    Advent Calendar 3

    This set was made in red and white for my sister last year for Christmas. She just sent me pictures of it all strung up in her house. So cute. She filled the envelopes with little special toys and tree ornaments, instead of sugary sweets. Silver bells can be placed in a bowl on the hearth. After an envelope is opened, the kids can hang a silver bell up so that they see how many days are left and know which envelope to open next.

    There are thousands of pictures of different varieties of advent calendars online and probably some good tutorials. Look around. Use your creativity. If sewing is not your thing, I bet you could figure out how to do it with glue if you’re clever, skipping the button. Mine are pretty Berkeley: recycled red felt from a support a local, mom-and-pop fabric shop.

    I hope you find a way to get your craft on, too. Happy holidays, from Sri.

    Advent Calendars

    recycled felt
    yarn
    buttons
    contrasting thread
    silver bells or other item to hang on the button after opening

    Cut 2.5in x 6.5in rectangles out of felt.

    Measured down 1.5in from one end and affix a button loosely. Here, I used an assortment of various shades of green in slightly different shapes and sizes. Don’t make it too tight or it will be hard to wrap the yarn around it as a closure.

    Then, fold at 2.5in from button end to make a pocket and a 1.5in flap. Blanket stitch around pocket sides and flap.

    Sew a length of yarn to top center of flap. Wind yarn around button to close. Hang envelopes around a length of yarn over the mantel, down the staircase, etc.

    I sewed on little numbers cut out of matching felt to count the days. Or, as a visual cue to know which envelope is next to open, hang something on the button, such as a bell or printed card.

    Chai Tea with Tonic Chinese Herbs

    by  • December 6, 2011 • Ayurveda, Chinese Herbs, Health, Herbs • 2 Comments

    Chai TeaIn traditional herbalism, we take our cues from nature. We consciously choose activity, food, drink, exercise, sleep patterns and even the company we keep with the intention of syncing up our individual rhythms with the larger cycles. This moves us toward greater health and harmony and as such, we feel ourselves as part of a larger whole.

    In the winter season, the cold outside and the shorter duration of sunlight prompt us to bundle up, to stay in, to cozy up by the fire, to do less, to rest more. But, how often do we override our desire to shift our behavior? It’s easy to be tempted to fuel ourselves with caffeine, overcome the urge to rest and push ourselves to accomplish just a little bit more. I’ve caught myself looking at the clock to determine my bedtime rather than sensing within.  It takes an added level of awareness to observe how obtuse it really is to have all these electronic lights and gadgets glowing at us with ancient sunlight mined from the earth and piped in through electric currents.

    Harvest is over. Those plants that will thrive again next Spring have all withdrawn their energy from the branches and directed it back down to the roots. We would be wise to do the same.

    Stop. Rest. Don’t overdo. Reflect.

    Astragalus CodonopsisI made a nice tonic chai tea using Chinese herbs and warm, wintery spices that can be enjoyed plain or with milk. On a naughtier day, I might add some black tea, but it tastes just lovely without.

    Astragalus, or Huang Qi, has a sweet, almost licorice flavor. Studies indicate that it may stimulates the immune system and help the body withstand stress and extreme temperatures. Codonopsis root, of Dang Shen, is a sweet tonic herb which boosts the lung and spleen systems in TCM. It’s considered by some to be like a cheaper, less potent ginseng, with a shorter duration of effects. Cinnamon brings warmth and nourishment and even antidepressant qualities to the heart while aiding digestion. Cardamom is a delicious herb with the special quality of helping humans digest cow’s milk.

    Winter Tonic Chai

    small handful astragalus
    2-3 codonopsis root
    1/2 stick of cinnamon
    4-5 cardamom pods
    1-2 quarter-size slices of ginger
    a few peppercorns
    pinch turmeric
    water
    milk
    sweetener, optional

    Rinse astragalus and codonopsis and soak in cool water for a few minutes and rinse then again (this helps remove pesticides or preservatives in case your herbs are coming from Chinatown and may not be organic). Make an herbal decoction of these herbs by simmer them plus cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and peppercorns in water in a small uncovered saucepan for 30 minutes or until it reduces by about half (longer to get more effect). Add about half the quantity of milk back to the infusion with a pinch of turmeric and bring up to heat. Strain and serve. Sweeten, if desired. Serves 4.

    p.s. Jaggery is my favorite natural sweetener because it has lots of minerals which lend it a nutty, rich flavor, almost salty. Palm sugar or honey also work nicely.

    p.p.s. Use common sense with these herbs. Ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and turmeric are common kitchen herbs that are effective and safe for daily use. Use caution with tonic herbs such as codonopsis and astragalus. Most people should be fine with them on a regular basis. However, if you are on immunosuppressant drugs or already fighting a cold or flu, these herbs may not be appropriate. Ask your doctor.

    Workshop: Healing with Bone Broth and Jook

    by  • November 26, 2011 • Ayurveda, Events, Health, Herbs • 0 Comments

    bone broth

    From the Traditional Cooking 101 series…

    Description: Good broth is more than just simmering bones and some veggie scraps. Participants will learn cooking principles to reap maximum nutrients. Recipes will be given; variations and herbal add-ins will be discussed. Following the presentation, we will share a meal.

    Why broth? Nutritive bone stock is the foundation of low-budget, health-conscious meals and complex, gourmet cuisine alike. We will discuss the difference between throwing some bones and veg in a pot with some water and creating a truly healthful cooking base or sipping side. In particular, we will discuss how to draw the nutritive gelatin, collagen, calcium, magnesium, potassium and minerals out of the bones effectively and create a refined, delicious final product.

    Why jook? Jook (or rice porridge, or congee) is an easy and adaptable recipe that can be eaten anytime. This Chinese breakfast staple can be adapted endlessly. The addition of herbs can make jook a medicinal meal. Made with or without homemade broth, savory or sweet, jook is a delicious way to boost the health.

    Demonstration:

    How to Make Broth: Kombu/Bone Broth

    How to Make Jook: Nutritive Jook with Chinese Herbs

    Menu:

    Chestnut & Apricot Kernel Soup with Lotus and Cress

    Seasoned Mushrooms and Greens over Nutritive Jook with Chinese Herbs

    Fee: $30

    Date: Sunday, December 4th, 11am-1:30pm

    Location: Berkeley, CA

    Space is limited. Please pre-register. Call 415.938.7421 to register or click below to pay and register online.

    Navigating the Postpartum Period

    by  • November 9, 2011 • Ayurveda, Community, Events, Health, Herbs, Perinatal • 0 Comments

    Pregnant mamas, please come to get ready!

    Postpartum mamas, bring your babe and learn some tricks to make it a bit easier!

    The postpartum period is so much easier with a few tips and tricks up your sleeve! Class will include herbs and food cures that are easy to have on hand to self-treat.

    Natural approaches to common concerns will be given: managing baby blues, natural pain relief, balancing appetite, toning the abdominal muscles and pelvic floor, lactation issues, prevention and home treatment of mastitis, strategies to maximize rest and minimize stress.

    For new moms and moms-to-be. Bring your partner.

    $35, but partners attend for FREE.

    When:  November 20, 2011 12:30-3:00pm

    Where: Berkeley Yoga Center

    call 415.938.7421 to register or click below to pay online.

    Building a Chicken Coop

    by  • November 7, 2011 • Gardening, Homesteading • 0 Comments

    Have you seen in the Chronicle that Oakland residents may now sell produce grown in their urban garden? Or read Farm-to-Consumer or Food Rights Coalition lately? Have you seen what Farmer D‘s projects are? Do you know about underground cowshares, goatshares, and foodswaps in your ‘hood?

    The food and sustainability movement is happening, and its big. Bigger than my vegetable garden and 8 chickens, but I’m part of it. I’m sure freedom has many definitions, but feeding your family and friends is certainly one of them.

    My boy knows that breakfast means dancing outside–coat over pjs–to see if the chickens have laid yet, picking some herbs and veggies, and bringing his choices to me at the stove. To him, food does not necessarily mean a trip to the store.
    This is achievable for everyone, even folks living in an apartment. Anyone can grow a little something, even if it is just a pot herb.

    That’s part of why everyone loves to visit the chickens. We all know our collective agrarian history is not so far behind and visitors always ask the same questions, seemingly plotting their own dreamy coop of the future.

    “Is it a lot of work?…does it stink?…are they loud?… are they gross?… and what about the poop?!”

    Well, its easy. No, it doesn’t really stink. House policy is that roosters, once identified, are soup. (Though, that last one hasn’t been tested, yet.)

    It is all about design, design, design. We have a small yard. We live in an urban area. We’ve got neighbors. We know that chickens live 10 years and we didn’t want this experiment to suck.

    With this in mind, we carefully designed our coop by looking at 8 million pictures on Backyard Chickens while we planned. No plans, just pictures and late nights with paper and pencil at the kitchen table. And some minor arguing, you know, ’cause its marriage. We thought about convenience for cleaning, maximizing yard space and making it easy in case we needed to get in there and chase one of them around.

    We chose breeds with high yields and docility (Golden Sex Link, Black Sex Link, Rhode Island Red, Golden-Laced Wyandotte, Australorpe, Buff Orpington, and Americaunas–the kind with the green and blue eggs). We raised them from day-old cuties who would take naps in our hands and grew so fast you could see the difference from hour to hour to awkward teenagers with patchy feathers, funny
    long necks and knobby knees (not really about the knees) to fine, shiny laying pullets (ok, not so shiny on a rainy day). We feed them our food waste and cooking scraps–including meat and bones–and trimmings from the garden, so the organic chicken feed is only there if they really need it. This diet equals awesome eggs and happy birds who don’t fight. (Just like us humans, really.)

    In fact, we can’t stand to see waste from people’s plates and have been known to bring home “chicken bags” from restaurants. In fact, just the other night, the birds ate a mismatched assortment of burrito ends, nacho chips, plate garnish and an eclectic variety of fresh salsas from the taqueria.

    In short, our chickens are weird, humorous and sensitive creatures, sort of like lizards with feathers who come when called.
    The best thing about them is that they take care of themselves. All we have to do is wander out every few weeks to shovel the poop inside the coop into a compost heap to cure for gardening use later (takes 3 weeks).

    Yeah, pretty delux.

    And delish.

    With 8 heavy layers, we have more eggs than we can eat (unless I make challah and angel food cake every day), so we share. We’ve even been approached more than once by people interested in flocksharing here, but so far we don’t have anything formal.

    I had no idea that my selfish desire for cheap eggs that are actually good would put me  solidly in the middle of the food rights movement.

    kid holding chickenI sure am glad.

    (P.S. Thanks to Somie, RA, Shankar for helping out and keeping us company. And Pat for the advice. Oh, and the meatball sandwiches from the place down the street for keeping the guys’s bellies full.)

     

    Carol Burnett Chicken

    by  • November 2, 2011 • Recipes • 0 Comments

    True story.

    It is 1983. Mom has us 3 kids plus a job and Dad is out of the house at work all day. She’s the one who puts breakfast, lunch and dinner on the table amidst chaos and deadlines and responsibilities. And she’s doing it on a budget.

    Its a Tuesday in this story. In the morning, she pulls a whole chicken out of the freezer and sticks it in the sink. FDA and their recommendations about thawing food in the fridge be damned: Mom needs that bird defrosted and in the oven so it will be done when Dad gets home from work, the hungry teenagers roll in starved from track at school and definitely in time to give the preschooler (that’s me, by the way) a full belly and then off to bed.

    Afternoon rolls around and Mom’s back from a few after-work errands. That bird’s thawed and has gotta get in the oven. But, a woman’s voice is hollering through the screen door. Suzanne, Mom’s pal, has stopped by just like that. Its 1983, remember? It was ok back then, we didn’t text in advance.

    Suzanne wants Mom to come with her…”and c’mon, you have two hours until the other kids come home. Bring A.S. in the back.” (Nobody called me Sri then.)

    Mom had a lot of responsibilities, but she wasn’t going to miss out on life because of them. But what about dinner?

    True story, remember? With one hand, she picked up the defrosted chicken by the leg. With the other hand, she opened the pot. The bird went right in without spice or ceremony. She closed the lid and put the whole thing in the oven and set the heat and walked out the door.

    “Done,” Mom said, grabbing her keys.

    Suzanne said, “That looked like something Carol Burnett would do.”

    In my herbal practice, I think of this story all the time. In every initial appointment comes the dreaded question: will you describe your typical breakfast, lunch and dinner?

    Seriously. People would rather describe the color and texture of their poop than come clean about the crap they are eating. Don’t even get me started about the answers I get to the question of how often people eat out.

    The bottom line is this: too many people are not eating real food, or they are paying someone else to make it. And 90% of the time they have an excuse. It’s either, “I don’t know how to cook!” or “I’m too busy.”

    This is bunk. So I took myself to task and made Carol Burnett chicken to prove that cooking can be easy, fast and delicious. After all, mom told me this story over the phone when I was in my first apartment and trying to figure out how to feed myself. I think she added that you can tell a chicken is cooked by wiggling the leg and seeing if it is loose and looks like it wants to come off and get eaten up right then and there.

    The final product was juicy, flavorful and tender. It was better than good and that mattered because when I started the process, I had forgotten there would be dinner guests. Though, I have to come clean about one thing. I added salt and pepper. I just couldn’t handle possibly wasting an entire chicken and subjecting my guests to what possibly may have come out a bland, unevenly cooked mess. Turned out, it would have been just fine without.

    Since I had company, I spruced it up a bit for the table by opening a jar of my homemade (also ridiculously easy) preserved meyer lemons (the plain kind) to serve on top. I served a nice crusty, artisianal bread, a simple salad and some braised greens from the garden. A bottle of wine. Finger-lickin’ and I spent less than 20 minutes in the kitchen.

    This proves it. I am no longer accepting the “I don’t have time” or the “I don’t know how” excuse. Clients be forewarned that you will be referred to this post.

    Oh and leftovers? This chicken could have been cut up and dropped into broth with veggies as soup, or chopped up and mixed into a salad, or stir-fried with noodles and seasoned with garlic, ginger and lime and squirted with soy sauce. The carcass got simmered with a splash of wine and whatever scraps I had.

    This cooking stuff CAN be easy. Take it from Carol Burnett.

    Cavegirl Chicken Pate

    by  • October 12, 2011 • Recipes • 0 Comments

    Conjure an image of a caveman on the hunt, ok? Now picture him and his tribe nabbing it, the mammoth or whatever. What next? Do they carefully butcher the thing, discard the fat and squabble over who gets the USDA prime cuts? No! They consume the most nutrient-rich bits: the organ meat. Later, you’d probably find them crunching on the cartilage and sucking the marrow out of the bones.

    Fast forward. There we are at the modern butcher counter asking for boneless, skinless chicken breast. Boneless? Skinless? I’m certain our forebears would have declared this profane. Why would we throw away the best parts? Is it healthier? A quick look at our culture who has been eating these “choice” cuts to the exclusion of organs, tendon, sinew and bone and the answer is clear: it can’t be.

    When it comes to our health, lets consider what people have been eating for thousand upon thousands of years. This is why I love traditional medicine systems. Truly, there is no single diet plan to suit all kinds. Constitutional assessment is necessary to ascertain the particulars of the individual within context of the demands of their life. Sometimes that means taking up a vegetarian protocol for some time. That said, we have evolved with pointy little incisors in our mouths for a reason. Why deny them the joy of tearing flesh? Check out what Weston A. Price‘s research says about all of this.

    It might be hard to fathom bringing organ meat and tendons and sinews back to the table. In the case of organ meat, maybe some modern data might motivate. Chicken livers are probably the most palatable “starter” organs for newbies. These iron-rich little nuggets nourish blood and contain all nine types amino acids, some in quite high levels. One serving of livers contains 100% RDA of vitamin A and an impressive dose of 4 of the much-needed B vitamins. That’s good news if you like your vision, your immune system, your brain, nervous system and muscles.

    Below is a simple recipe to help you get your caveman on–with refined elegance. I call it Cavegirl Pate. It’s delicious and easy, a gateway recipe for would-be organ meat eaters. It is quick to prepare and costs about a fifth of what you would pay in the store. Besides, the storebought stuff is on the no-no list for pregnant caveladies, but the fresh and homemade stuff is safe.

    Once you get the hang of pate, you might find yourself dicing up pork heart to mix into hamburger meat. You might start thinking about how to extract the collagen and minerals from bones into your soup stock. You might make friends with a hunter and slow-stew a bear paw. If you do that last one, please invite me over. I’m almost always hungry.

    Cavegirl Chicken Liver Pate

    1 stick butter
    1 small onion, diced small
    1 clove garlic, minced
    bay leaf
    1/2-3/4 lb chicken livers
    mustard
    2 teaspoons brandy
    salt and pepper
    handful parsley, chopped
    handful dill, chopped

    Prep onion and garlic, wash livers. In a frying pan, melt half of the butter. On low heat, saute onion. Do not brown or caramelize. When onion becomes translucent, add garlic and bay leaf and cook for 1-2 more minutes.  Add chicken livers, cook 5-10 minutes or until nicely browned. Stir in mustard.

    Measure brandy (or cooking sherry in a pinch) by the teaspoon. Holding spoon over pan, use a lighter to ignite the alcohol, pouring it into the pan. Let it flame for a few seconds to burn off the alcohol and then extinguish by blowing it out or covering the pan.* Repeat with second portion of brandy. Remove from heat. Salt and pepper as desired.

    Pour everything in the blender with the rest of the butter, parsley and dill. Puree until smooth. Turn out into terrine or ramekin and refrigerate. Serve chilled on crusty bread or crackers. Or, my favorite, spread on toast in the morning and topped with a fried egg.

    *When playing with fire in the kitchen, always keep a tightly-fitting lid handy to quickly extinguish the flames if necessary.

    Sinus Relief

    by  • October 5, 2011 • Ayurveda, Health, Herbs, Recipes • 0 Comments

    Here is an effective homemade herbal formulation to help rid the sinuses of gunky, stuck, infected congestion using herbs many people have present in the household already:

    a few leaves of fresh basil, torn into smaller pieces
    2-3 whole cloves
    a pinch of dry ginger

    Place these in a mortar and pestle and work it until you have something like a paste. First, the leaves will just bruise and you’ll wonder if it will come together at all. Then, they will start to come apart a bit and combine with the other herbs.

    You may need to add a few drops of water. Drops, people. If you add too much liquid, it won’t stick to your face at all. In fact, no matter how diligently you work the herbs, it will be a pretty rough poultice anyway. Don’t worry, it still works.

    Apply the compound directly to the skin over the offending sinuses, using the most usable pieces. Watch out! It can be a bit hot, especially for those with sensitive skin. When you feel some sting on your skin, it is best to remove it to prevent irritation. It doesn’t take long for the medicine of these plants to penetrate!

    Bonus: it smells great. Who knows? After a brief treatment, you might be able to smell again, too!

    Good luck with those late winter/early spring colds!