Nipping the sniffles in the bud

Ahhh its October finally so you know what is just around the corner...winter colds!

I am a product of a mother who is not into medicine and pill popping so I've learned a bunch of home remedies that i have already started pumping in and around the Baby Bug to make sure he doesn't get hit hard with sniffles and coughs this winter.  Im on a mission to get his little body to keep those immunity's built up and fighting off the bad guys.

This weekend i cleaned house.  I mean cleaned too, like my Grandmother said from the front door to the back door, from the ceiling to the floor clean.  Cant fight new germs while old germs are lingering.

Next i put 4 cups of water in a pot, added a cinnamon stick and a tsp of olive oil.  Let it boil on the stove for a couple hours. I do not know all the reasons why we do this or even it is scientifically sound and true BUT my mom and aunts have done it and it works.  I think the cinnamon burns bacteria in the air, but hey even if that is a bunch of hogwash your house will smell great for a long time using an inexpensive method. 

After we cleaned we took a trip to the store.  Picked up some chicken, and made chicken soup.  I didn't post this as a recipe b/c its one of those recipes where you don't measure the ingredients.  A lot of my cooking education came this way, it works for me but i cant pass things on to others well this way, with out you watching me the entire time.  I can tell you all the goods in the soup though!  I was taught to boil a whole chicken, but i cheat b/c a whole chicken has way to many bones for me.  I take four chicken breast halves (with the bones, gotta have the ones with bones the fillets wont work the same) and boil them in a pot, sub merged in water with two onions and seasoning.  When its about to fall off the bone, I take it out and de-bone it, and put the shredded chicken back in the water with a bouillon cube.  Then i toss in chopped carrots, cilantro, peppers & ginger.  My mom adds SO many more veggies in hers that i do but thanks to my lovely mother I know  the reason i add everything that i do into my soup.

Beyond the fact that all the veggies in my soup are packed with great vitamins here are some of the things i learned from my mom about what is and isn't in my soup.

• Carrots-lower blood pressure, prevent constipation, and  i think they do something for asthma people (my bother had asthma HARDCORE when we were little so that might be when those got introduced in our diet)
• Cilantro- i think this a detox in some way for you, helping to flush the bad 
• Peppers-Cayenne, Serrano help to cleanse your colony.  Especially as all these veggies with dietary fibers are running out the bad you cleanse while they are on way out
• Ginger is a wonder veggie not many capitalize on, my mom puts it in tea's, soups and sometime she just sucks on to clear her nasal passages and cleanse her palate.  I took this answer from wiki answers.com b/c it was the best one in so little words:

"Ginger is one the foods with the highest content of antioxidants. Not only does it act as a natural antihistamine and a mild decongestant, it is also great for sore throat. The herb promotes the release of bile from gallbladder for people suffering from gallstones. Ginger may also decrease joint pain from arthritis, and blood thinning and cholesterol lowering properties that may make it useful for treating heart disease. "

I made a pot of rice on the side and put some soup on top and the Baby Bug smacked away! No noodles b/c that is way to many carbs as your laying down, brown rice is best for you with chicken soup but i dislike brown rice soooo i get half way good and just do rice hahaha.

Next week we are gonna get him to sip some of his Grammy's famous "Juice". If you have been around my mom sick then you know about "The juice" as she has probably tried to make you sip on at one point or another.  I am not posting that break down here b/c i am not sure she wants it spread around on the net for someone else to sell in the masses and make some money on her invention.  Yes its that good (like works) and homemade.

I start all this prep to guard off hopefully some level of what sickness comes knocking at our door this year, and as i start contemplating weather or not the baby bug will get a flu shot. I think people need to get back in the swing of doing things at home, being proactive and handling problems with their health even before they start to happen.  Doctors can only prescribe pills to do so much, but if you handle the simple things it may be less expense in time and money in the end.