- Carrot
Why? It can effectively nourish blood, eliminate toxins, improve spleen and protect stomach. It contains abundant carotene, vitamin A and pectin. After carrot enters into the human body, vitamin A and pectin can integrate with mercury ions in human body to decrease the density of mercury ions in blood and remove the mercury ions from human body. - Kelp aka Seaweed
Why? It is regarded as an effective food to alleviate inflammation, eliminate toxins and improve defecation for human body. It contains abundant coarse fibers, carotene, vitamins, calcium, iodine, etc. Iodine is effective in decreasing blood pressure, preventing arteriosclerosis and removing toxic substances from human body. The middle-aged men should frequently eat kelp so as to improve prostate and kidney. - Edible fungus aka Mushrooms
Why? It is very effective in clearing toxins, cleaning stomach and intestines and stopping bleeding. The plant pectin contained in edible fungus can absorb the dust in digestive system and then remove it from the human body. It contains various amino acids and enzymes. The dietitians have already regarded mushroom as an effective food of resisting cancer. Mushroom is effective in restraining malignant tumors, improving the immunity of human body and purifying toxins in the blood. - Cucumber
Why? It can effectively clear heat, accelerate the metabolism, expel toxins out of human body and improve the functions of lung, stomach, heart and liver. Cucumber contains an extremely high content of vitamin C. After vitamin C is absorbed by the body, it can beautify the skin, enhance the elasticity and restrain the formation of melanin. - Balsam pear aka Bitter melon
Why? It is regarded as an effective food to eliminate toxins and beautify the skin. It contains a kind of active protein which can resist cancer, improve the immune system, enhance the activity of immune cells and expel toxins out of the body. Women should often eat balsam pear to improve menstruation. - Leechee aka Lychee
Why? It can effectively protect spleen and liver, promote digestion, quench diarrhea and eliminate toxins. According to the medical research, leechee has important effects of nourishing kidney, improving the liver functions, eliminating toxic substances, accelerating the reproduction of cells and beautifying the skin. - Coagulated pig blood
Why? It is an ideal food to eliminate toxins, clean intestines, nourish blood and beautify skin. The plasma protein contained in coagulated pig blood can be decomposed by the gastric acid in the body to produce a special resolvent which can remove toxins from human body. What’s more, eating coagulated pig blood can effectively alleviate anemia for people. - Honey
Why? It contains abundant vitamin B, vitamin D, vitamin E, glucose, protein, potassium, lactic acid, and so on. Honey is always considered as a high-quality food to enhance the physical constitution of human body. It is effective in nourishing lung, stopping cough, improving defecation, eliminating toxins and beautifying skin. The nutrients contained in honey can be easily absorbed by human body. - Mung bean
Why? It contains vitamin B complex, protein, calcium, iron, and so on. It is effective in discharging toxins and accelerating the metabolism in the body. At the same time, mung bean can effectively protect liver and resist allergy for the body.
Powering the Impossible
My rawsome green noodles creation
Makes enough for 2. Sharing is caring.
Ingredients
- 2 large zucchini
- 6 pcs semi sun-dried tomatoes sliced thinly
- extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp homemade pesto
- sea salt
Method
- Use a mandoline for julienne cut and shred down lengthwise one side of the zucchini to create thin noodles and turn zucchini around as you approach the core where the seeds are.
- In a mixing bowl, add the zucchini, tomatoes, oil, pesto and salt. Combine gently.
- Voila! Rawlicious!
What tea’s gotta do with it
Cool sunburned skin
What can you do when you forget to use sunscreen and have to pay the price with a painful burn? A few wet tea bags applied to the affected skin will take out the sting. This works well for other types of minor burns (i.e., from a teapot or steam iron) too. If the sunburn is too widespread to treat this way, put some tea bags in your bathwater and soak your whole body in the tub.
Relieve your tired eyes
Revitalize tired, achy, or puffy eyes. Soak two tea bags in warm water and place them over your closed eyes for 20 minutes. The tannins in the tea act to reduce puffiness and soothe tired eyes.
Reduce razor burn
Ouch! Why didn’t you remember to replace that razor blade before you started to shave? To soothe razor burn and relieve painful nicks and cuts, apply a wet tea bag to the affected area. And don’t forget to replace the blade before your next shave.
Get the gray out
Turn gray hair dark again without an expensive trip to the salon or the use of chemical hair dyes. Make your own natural dye using brewed tea and herbs: Steep 3 tea bags in 1 cup boiling water. Add 1 tablespoon each of rosemary and sage (either fresh or dried) and let it stand overnight before straining. To use, shampoo as usual, and then pour or spray the mixture on your hair, making sure to saturate it thoroughly. Take care not to stain clothes. Blot with a towel and do not rinse. It may take several treatments to achieve desired results.
Condition dry hair
To give a natural shine to dry hair, use a quart (liter) of warm, unsweetened tea (freshly brewed or instant) as a final rinse after your regular shampoo.
Drain a boil
Drain a boil with a boiled tea bag! Cover a boil with a wet tea bag overnight and the boil should drain without pain by the time you wake up next morning.
Soothe those bleeding gums
The child may be all smiles later when the tooth fairy arrives, but right now those bleeding gums are no fun whatsoever. To stop the bleeding and soothe the pain from a lost or recently pulled tooth, wet a tea bag with cool water and press it directly onto the site.
Relieve baby’s pain from injection
Is the baby still crying from that recent inoculation shot? Try wetting a tea bag and placing it over the site of the injection. Hold it gently in place until the crying stops. The tannic acid in the tea will soothe the soreness. You might try it on yourself the next time an injection leaves your arm sore.
Stop foot odor
Put an end to smelly feet by giving them a daily tea bath. Just soak your tootsies in strongly brewed tea for 20 minutes a day and say good-bye to offensive odors.
Make soothing mouthwash
To ease toothache or other mouth pain, rinse your mouth with a cup of hot peppermint tea mixed with a pinch or two of salt. Peppermint is an antiseptic and contains menthol, which alleviates pain on contact with skin surfaces. To make peppermint tea, boil 1 TBSP fresh peppermint leaves in 1 cup water and steep for several minutes.
Tenderize tough meat
Even the toughest cuts of meat will melt in your mouth after you marinate them in regular black tea. Here’s how: Place 4 tablespoons black tea leaves in a pot of warm (not boiling) water and steep for 5 minutes. Strain to remove the leaves and stir in 1/2 cup brown sugar until it dissolves. Set aside. Season up to 3 pounds (1.5 kilograms) meat with salt, pepper, onion, and garlic powder, and place it in a Dutch oven. Pour the liquid over the seasoned meat and cook in a preheated 325°F (165°C) oven until the meat is fork tender, about 90 minutes.
Clean wood furniture and floors
Freshly brewed tea is great for cleaning wood furniture and floors. Just boil a couple of tea bags in a quart (liter) of water and let it cool. Dip a soft cloth in the tea, wring out the excess, and use it to wipe away dirt and grime. Buff dry with a clean, soft cloth.
Create “antique” fashions
Soak white lace or garments in a tea bath to create an antique beige, ecru, or ivory look. Use 3 tea bags for every 2 cups of boiling water and steep for 20 minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes before soaking the material for 10 minutes or more. The longer you let it soak, the darker the shade you will get.
Shine your mirrors
To make mirrors sparkle and shine, brew a pot of strong tea, let it cool, and then use it to clean the mirrors. Dampen a soft cloth in the tea and wipe it all over the surface of the mirrors. Then buff with a soft, dry cloth for a sparkly, streak-free shine.
Control dust from fireplace ash
Keep dust from rising from the ashes when you clean out your fireplace. Before you begin cleaning, sprinkle wet tea leaves over the area. The tea will keep the ashes from spreading all over as you lift them out.
Perfume a sachet
Next time you make a sachet, try perfuming it with the fragrant aroma of your favorite herbal tea. Just open a few used herbal tea bags and spread the wet tea on some old newspaper to dry. Then use the dry tea as stuffing for the sachet.
Give roses a boost
Sprinkle new or used tea leaves (loose or in tea bags) around your rosebushes and cover with mulch to give them a midsummer boost. When you water the plants, the nutrients from the tea will be released into the soil, spurring growth. Roses love the tannic acid that occurs naturally in tea.
Feed your ferns
Schedule an occasional teatime for your ferns and other acid-loving houseplants. Substitute brewed tea when watering the plants. Or work wet tea leaves into the soil around the plants to give them a lush, luxuriant look.
Prepare planter for potting
For healthier potted plants, place a few used tea bags on top of the drainage layer at the bottom of the planter before potting. The tea bags will retain water and leach nutrients to the soil.
Enhance your compost pile
To speed up the decomposition process and enrich your compost, pour a few cups of strongly brewed tea into the heap. The liquid tea will hasten decomposition and draw acid-producing bacteria, creating desirable acid-rich compost.
Source: Reader’s Digest
Don’t be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try.
Poutine, gosh I miss you…
“Poutine is french Canadians’ answer to Aussie’s meat pie.
I could die a millionaire (maybe?) selling this (adapted with a meat pie gravy) during AFL season, ca ching” – Cat
4 Teas to Boost You Up Post Workout
1. Green tea: Drink green tea before or after a workout to burn the body fat and stay energetic. The caffeine content in green tea is believed to be the reason behind weight loss. Caffeine in green tea helps control hunger, burn calories and excess water from the body. Having green tea after workout speeds up the metabolism and has antioxidants which help burn the calories.
2. Black tea: Having a cup of black tea after a workout is healthy as it is an energy supplier which boosts up the body energy thus keeping you active whole day. It is said that having black tea before or after a workout increases the nitric oxide level in the blood vessels which in turn increases the strength to help do weight lifting easily. Black tea also burns calories which leads to weight loss. You can even have black green tea to get best results.
3. Ginger tea: A cup of ginger tea after a workout is a natural medicine to cure muscle pain, a common problem post workout! Having ginger tea also enhances the mood and boosts up digestion. So, have ginger tea to cure muscle soreness.
4. Herbal tea: Unsweetened iced tea after exercise vitalizes your mood and body energy levels. This unsweetened iced tea is low in calories and keeps you hydrated. If you are doing stretching or cardio exercises, have a cup of herbal unsweetened iced tea after the exercise.
Go for loose leaf, you will never look at tea bags the same way!
Source: boldsky.com
A vehicle for change
10 food scraps you can re-grow at home
Did you know you can re-grow food from your food waste or cooking scraps? Check this, because you will not believe that so many of the scraps from raw ingredients you use in your kitchen, you normally dispose or put in your compost patch, will re-grow! Yep. Even without seeds. Nothing is better than home grown and knowing how to do it is even better. Survival skills? Maybe or perhaps smart planet lover.
It’s a fun and healthy experiment to try anyway and you might get the shock of your life. Amazing nature holds surprises.
“Mum dried out a bunch of rockmelon seeds and threw them in a sunny spot in the vegie patch. 1 year later 2 rockmelons grew.” Small rockmelons but sweet ones. 100% organic at its best! Free of pesticides and other nasties that are often sprayed on commercial crops.
However the quality of the “parent” vegetable scrap will influence the quality of the child vegetable re-growned. Having organic ingredients will result in much fresher, healthier and free of chemical and genetic meddling. The season, soil quality and sunlight available in your home or garden can play a major part in the success of the re-growth. Some vegetables propagate easier than others.
1. Leeks, Scallions, Spring Onions and Fennel
You can either use the white root end of a vegetable that you have already cut, or buy a handful of new vegetables to use specifically for growing.
Simply place the white root end in a glass jar with a little water, and leave it in a sunny position. The green leafy part of the plant will continue to shoot. When it’s time to cook, just snip off what you need from the green growth and leave the white root end in water to keep growing. Freshen up the water each week or so, and you’ll never have to buy them again.
2. Lemongrass
Lemongrass grows just like any other grass. To propagate it, place the root end (after you’ve cut the rest off) in a glass jar with a little water, and leave it in a sunny position.
Within a week or so, new growth will start to appear. Transplant your lemongrass into a pot and leave it in a sunny outdoor position. You can harvest your lemongrass when the stalks reach around a foot tall – just cut off what you need and leave the plant to keep growing.
3. Celery, Bok Choi, Romaine Lettuce & Cabbage
Similar to leeks, these vegetables will re-grow from the white root end. Cut the stalks off as you normally would, and place the root end in a shallow bowl of water – enough to cover the roots but not the top of your cutting. Place it in a sunny window position, occasionally spraying your cutting with water to keep the top moist.
After a few days, you should start to see roots and new leaves appear. After a week or so, transplant it into soil with just the leaves showing above the level of the soil. The plant will continue to grow, and within a few weeks it will sprout a whole new head.
Alternatively you can plant your cutting directly into soil (without starting the process in water) but you will need to keep the soil very moist for the first week until the new shoots start to appear.
4. Ginger
Ginger is very easy to re-grow. Simply plant a spare piece of ginger rhizome (the thick knobbly bit you cook with) in potting soil with the newest (ie. smallest) buds facing upward. Ginger enjoys filtered, not direct, sunlight in a warm moist environment.
Before long it will start to grow new shoots and roots. Once the plant is established and you’re ready to harvest, pull up the whole plant, roots and all. Remove a piece of the rhizome, and re-plant it to repeat the process.
Ginger also makes a very attractive house-plant, so if you don’t use a lot of ginger in your cooking you can still enjoy the lovely plant between harvests.
5. Potatoes
Re-growing potatoes is a great way to avoid waste, as you can re-grow potatoes from any old potato that has ‘eyes’ growing on it. Pick a potato that has robust eyes, and cut it into pieces around 2 inches square, ensuring each piece has at least one or two eyes. Leave the cut pieces to sit at room temperature for a day or two, which allows the cut areas to dry and callous over. This prevents the potato piece from rotting after you plant it, ensuring that the new shoots get the maximum nutrition from each potato piece.
Potato plants enjoy a high-nutrient environment, so it is best to turn compost through your soil before you plant them. Plant your potato pieces around 8 inches deep with the eye facing upward, and cover it with around 4 inches of soil, leaving the other 4 inches empty. As your plant begins to grow and more roots appear, add more soil. If your plant really takes off, mound more soil around the base of the plant to help support its growth.
6. Garlic
You can re-grow a plant from just a single clove – just plant it, root-end down, in a warm position with plenty of direct sunlight. The garlic will root itself and produce new shoots. Once established, cut back the shoots and the plant will put all its energy into producing a tasty big garlic bulb. And like ginger, you can repeat the process with your new bulb.
7. Onions
Onions are one of the easiest vegetables to propagate. Just cut off the root end of your onion, leaving a ½ inch of onion on the roots. Place it in a sunny position in your garden and cover the top with soil. Ensure the soil is kept moist. Onions prefer a warm sunny environment, so if you live in a colder climate, keep them in pots and move them indoors during frostier months.
As you use your home-grown onions, keep re-planting the root ends you cut off, and you’ll never need to buy onions again.
8. Sweet Potatoes
When planted, sweet potato will produce eye-shoots much like a potato. Bury all or part of a sweet potato under a thin layer of soil in a moist sunny location. New shoots will start to appear through the soil in a week or so. Once the shoots reach around four inches in height, remove them and re-plant them, allowing about 12 inches space between each plant. It will take around 4 months for your sweet potatoes to be ready. In the meantime, keep an eye out for slugs… they love sweet potatoes.
To propagate sweet potatoes, it is essential to use an organic source since most commercial growers spray their sweet potatoes to prevent them from shooting.
9. Mushroom
Mushrooms can be propagated from cuttings, but they’re one of the more difficult vegies to re-grow. They enjoy warm humidity and nutrient-rich soil, but have to compete with other fungus for survival in that environment. Although it is not their preferred climate, cooler environments give mushrooms a better chance of winning the race against other fungi.
Prepare a mix of soil and compost in a pot (not in the ground) so your re-growth is portable and you can control the temperature of your mushroom. I have found most success with a warm filtered light during the day and a cool temperature at night. Just remove the head of the mushroom and plant the stalk in the soil, leaving just the top exposed. In the right conditions, the base will grow a whole new head. (In my experience, you’ll know fairly quickly if your mushroom has taken to the soil as it will either start to grow or start to rot in the first few days).
10. Pineapple
To re-grow pineapples, you need to remove the green leafy piece at the top and ensure that no fruit remains attached. Either hold the crown firmly by the leaves and twist the stalk out, or you can cut the top off the pineapple and remove the remaining fruit flesh with a knife (otherwise it will rot after planting and may kill your plant). Carefully slice small, horizontal sections from the bottom of the crown until you see root buds (the small circles on the flat base of the stalk). Remove the bottom few layers of leaves leaving about an inch base at the bottom of the stalk.
Plant your pineapple crown in a warm and well drained environment. Water your plant regularly at first, reducing to weekly watering once the plant is established. You will see growth in the first few months but it will take around 2-3 years before you are eating your own home-grown pineapples.
Source: wakeup-world.com
Life manifesto: lead by example
Catrandomization 