Healing our body, our soul and Mother Earth ("Chicken and Rice Soup")

Wisdom to heal is within each of us

Little did I know but this blog post was inspired early this morning, when I selected one of the tiny wisdom cards from my seashell. The words on the card said, "Slow down~When you move too fast, you miss so much."~

These precious cards were given to me this past Christmas by my niece, T, who lives in Victoria with her family. Her husband R and her two beautiful daughters, H and M. My niece T, is a gentle soul with a warrior's heart. She is sensitive, compassionate, kind, loving and oh so generous. Thank you T, for helping me remember what I already know.

(If you are interested in learning more about these cards....I will put more details below)

The wisdom cards given to me by my niece T.....this one says, "Slow down, when you move too fast, you miss SO much."

As I went about my morning, I thought about this message and very quickly it became clear how it  would resonate in my life. First, I received an email from my wonderful sister B, who is a strong, intuitive woman with such a kind heart. She goes out of her way to help others for instance, rather than going to high tea to celebrate her birthday this past Sunday, she asked how she could help our son who was flying back to the city to start his second term of University.

She not only picked up Mitchell but his friend as well, she took them grocery shopping at Costco and then drove Mitchell to his dorm and his friend to the place he resides while going to school. Other than a foot injury last year, she always seems to be so healthy. She is really good at listening to her body and soul, and taking care of both,  but is service to others another key to staying healthy? 

Then, she told me about her daughter T and her granddaughters not feeling well this week. Flu season is here after all, but I just went hmmmm, maybe there is a message I can learn from all of this today. T (who you may remember gave me the wisdom cards) and her husband both work, lead a busy life in a large city, raising their two beautiful girls but they are really good at listening to their bodies. What's up....are they able to slow down enough for what their bodies need? 

Then I received another lovely email from my sister, C, who is a yogi, a personal trainer, a reiki master, an artist, and I think a modern mystic...but aren't we all? Except most of us aren't truly tuned in or even trying to listen. Anyway, she wrote me an interesting email titled, "Universal Health." In her email, whether she realized it or not, she inspired me on ways to stay healthy, and also help the earth. She mentioned that this month she was involved in some art classes and then she talked about hanging their laundry to dry and how she loved the smell of air dried clothes.

Finally, she wrote about their green bathroom practice to save water, "when it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." Okay, maybe TMI, but I was thinking of how her whole life has been devoted to staying healthy within her mind, body and soul, while inspiring others to follow suit. Also, by walking the earth gently it allows healing to take place which in turn nourishes us. Mother earth give us the basics for perfect health, clean water, air and healthy food, not to mention beauty everywhere to feed our soul.

She then took me down memory lane when she used to teach fitness and on her business card were the words, "Universal Health." Her creative, and artistic son, S, drew a picture of a cute alien in meditative pose, floating above the world with, "Universal Health" as the heading. She wasn't just promoting her ability to train individuals towards greater fitness and health but she was referring to how we could heal the earth, and hence heal ourselves by creating a healthy Universe for us ALL to enjoy.

Okay, too many coincidences for me to ignore. I had to write about health and how we can heal ourselves. It also seemed like the perfect blog post for a New Year, when so many people are working towards their conscious intention of obtaining great health, more joy, greener living...etc. Thank you to my sisters, and my niece for this inspiration.Although, you have no idea how extensive you touch my life in so many other ways.  Okay, here is my post for today....

                               

   

Recently my family had a lovely, relaxing holiday, as well as two bonus snow days which were magical.  I thought we were ready to start the New Year with gusto and although everyone finally returned to school and their respective jobs this week, some of us were not functioning at our best.

Now that is understandable, as it takes a few days to re-adjust to getting up earlier and fitting back into a regimented structured schedule, but over the holidays a few of our children caught cold viruses and weren't recovering as fast as I would have liked.

Will got sick first, a few days after Christmas. Although he had had a slight cough, I was surprised how quickly his croup incident came upon us. We had put him to bed, thinking nothing other than it had been a lovely day. There was no warning whatsoever, until in the middle of the night, I awoke to our little guy's barking cough. I knew exactly what was occurring when I saw him sitting up in bed, gasping for air.

The first croup incident occurred when he was a toddler. When we realized he was having such a hard time catching his breath we did the logical thing and rushed him to the ER at our nearby hospital. When we arrived, they diagnosed him as having croup and administered medicine through an inhaler. However, he had improved so much just by being out in the cold air on the way to the hospital, that the next time he had a croup incident, we just took him outside first rather than rushing him to the ER.

At the back of my mind though, I'm always second guessing taking my child outside, instead of to the hospital. As I sit rocking him, bundled in a warm comforter, whispering soothing words, "it's okay, it's okay, take little breaths, little breaths," I'm praying inside, "please God, keep him breathing, keep his heart beating." It's such a terrifying experience as a parent and yet, a part of me is also saying to myself,....."Hope, it's okay, it's okay... JUST keep breathing." We always know the path to take deep inside.

What is always amazing to me is how resilient children are. They can be extremely sick one night and then bright and chipper the next morning. It's so surreal. But there is a lesson here, as small children live in the moment and appreciate the smallest things in life. Their joy and exuberance is another key.

Then, a few days after putting the vaporizer away, we heard that tell tale, barking cough coming from the twin's room. Both girls had had colds, but it was Kate who was struggling to breathe one night. Although she and her twin, Victoria had been tiny 5 pounders, when they were born, they have been healthy babies and toddlers. We have been really thankful that they have hardly had a cold in their 31/2 years. So when she caught the croup virus, it really caught us off guard. Thankfully, like Will she recovered nicely after a trip outside and an evening with the vaporizer in her room. Then a few days later, Victoria, who also caught a cold, developed a rash all over her body, which I understand is a common side effect from some cold viruses.

Not only were the little ones feeling unwell but our oldest daughter Alyssa, who has been teaching in the U.K. since September, and working so hard at her new position, caught the flu right before Christmas and she spent the whole holiday coughing and was extremely tired. And back in our home, Grace had a cough and Clark also had been really tired and suffering from a sore throat. As the kids got ready to head back to school, I KNEW I had to do something drastic. I opened up my pantry and went into my laundry room, where I keep my herbs.

Okay, my pantry needs serious organization work...but keeping a well stocked pantry with nuts, seeds, dried fruit, flax, oats, quinoa, can really give you the boost when you are needing a quick energy fix.

I use this indoor expandable clothing rack to dry my herbs...it's great and accessible when I need to refill my herb jars.

Being able to grow my own herbs has taken my cooking to another level...one of greater health AND looking at my herbs reminds me of that song by Simon and Garfunkel..."Scarborough Fair"....see below

 If you can't click on the link above, click here to hear and view... Simon and Garfunkel's song, "Scarborough Fair" which I always think of when I'm using "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" in my cooking...love this classic sweet melody....sing it while making your soup to heal your family

 I took stock and knew that things like garlic, ginger, "parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme", brown rice, vegetables, all simmered in an aromatic broth would heal us. There is something restorative about these foods, they are our comfort foods, allowing our bodies to balance and return to perfect health. Here is my version of a healing Soul Soup....

Hope's Chicken and Rice Soup...(although I have added chicken, vegetable broth and more veggies works beautifully with the rice and all the garlic and ginger too...let your heart be your guide)

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions
4 garlic cloves
4 tbsp fresh minced ginger
2 celery stick
6 Chicken Thighs
12 cups of  chicken broth 
1 cup of uncooked basmati brown rice
5 large carrots
1 tbsp parsley (and if you have any fresh as well you can add it to the soup when serving)
1 tbsp sage
1 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp rosemary
Salt and pepper
(optional: swiss chard or spinach)

Directions: 

1. Soak 1 cup of brown rice (I use basmati) in 2 cups of water
2. Bake chicken, seasoned with some salt, pepper, garlic and ginger in 375 degree oven for 30 minutes

I sprinkled the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder and ginger powder...and caught all the juice in the tin foil and added it to the broth

3. In a large stock pot, add 1 tbsp olive oil and saute, 1 diced onions, 1 cup up celery stick, 2 cloves of minced garlic and 2 tbsp of fresh minced ginger...cook until translucent. 

4. Add 12 cups of chicken broth

5. Add the dried parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, oh and salt and pepper to taste. Then carrots.

oops, sideways...but you get the idea...lot of lovely dried herbs are the key to flavour

And if you are making it a totally veggie soup...be creative..I love beans and mushrooms with carrots

6. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a frying pan and saute second medium diced onion, 2nd celery stick, 2 minced garlic cloves and 2 tbsp minced ginger...add the cooked chicken. Allow the chicken to brown really well creating more broth for the soup. (we are funny about meat...we like to cook it really well...especially chicken...plus it just makes more broth) After cooking for about 10 minutes, add chicken to the stock pot....add salt and pepper liberally as you are browning the chicken

After cooking the chicken in the oven, browning it with onions, celery, garlic and more ginger just layer the flavors again.

7. Rinse the rice and add to the stock pot.

I had been soaking the rice in a jar...rinse it and then add it to the soup...boiling and then simmering

8. Bring to a boil, then simmer for an hour.....or until the rice is cooked. (I like making my soup mid afternoon and simmering for a few hours until dinner...the smell in the house is like aromatherapy in my opinion) Also, if you want to add some swiss chard or spinach do so just before serving the soup...the added greens are lovely and add more nutrition to your soup.

Light a few candles, serve with a green salad, bread sticks (recipe below) and a glass of white wine...or in our kids case, they had their Umma's special, "pink lady"drink..which is cranberry juice and ginger ale which is perfect when your tummy isn't feeling all that great and you are maybe a bit dehydrated....it makes it festive for the kids to have a special drink.

Okay, actually this doesn't look all that great...ha...but then I had to serve 9 people and wasn't able to touch up before the photo shoot...but you wouldn't believe the flavour...D came home for lunch the next day so he could have more soup!...good thing his office is just 5 minutes away from home.

My family was saying...'really mom, another blog post...can't we just eat already...it was so delicious and restorative HERE'S TO YOUR GOOD HEALTH!

The little girls sitting next to us at their little table were thrilled with the Soul Soup..."we are all in perfect health!"..CHEERS!

Although, I did not make bread sticks on the day that I made this delicious soup, as we had some good heart buns in the house, I love making my bread sticks to go along with my soups...or my pasta...well my kids like bread sticks anytime. Here's the recipe. Mitchell brought the recipe home from his grade 9 Foods class. I have never been a fan of taking Foods in high school for our kids because I teach them how to cook at home but this was one recipe, I was thankful to receive as we enjoy it several times a month.

Mitchell's Bread sticks...also known as our Crazy bread recipe

Ingredients

5 cups Flour
5 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
5 tsp yeast
450 ml of hot water

Topping;
1/2 cup of melted butter
2 tsp garlic powder
75 ml parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425 F

1 Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and yeast
2. Add hot water to make sof dough
3. Turn out dough onto lightly floured counter
Knead until smooth, and elastic, about 2 minutes
4. Cover, with a damp paper towel, Let rest 5 minutes
5. Meanwhile, combine melted butter, and garlic powder
6,  Roll out dough to 1 cm thickness.
7. Using a pastry brush, brush on half of the melted butter
8. Place on lightly greased baking sheet.
9. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until lightly brown..watch closely
10. Remove from oven and brush with remaining melted butter and sprinkle with parmesan cheese

Cut into sticks or shapes of your choice

I make a large batch and they disappear very fast...the little kids begging for some BEFORE dinner

Then as if that weren't enough, as this health idea was brewing in my brain all day, I received a phone call from our son Mitchell. As I mentioned earlier, he is back in Victoria attending his second term of University, but today he called me to say he went to the clinic as he wasn't feeling great and it's now confirmed that he has contracted mono. (His roommate in his University cluster had caught it in the fall) I absolutely knew by then, that after the little ones were in bed tonight, I would be writing a blog post about health and healing.

I wondered why he was so tired during the holiday break. While he worked really hard at his grocery store position, both weeks while home, as well as filled each moment visiting family and friends, he seemed more under the weather than is normal for this energetic, upbeat 18 year old, (almost 19 year old) so I was concerned. Knowing this virus was brewing, makes me wish I had made some soul soup for him before he left to return to school.

Well, as for the Wisdom card message, "Slow Down, when you move so fast, you miss So much, " a few thoughts have come to me today. First, often we become sick to begin with by burning the candle at both ends, if you will and not allowing any light to infuse our lives. We work so hard and life for many people today is stressful. It's also, not aligned with what our earth needs to heal itself either.

When we slow down and connect with nature, we are able to balance ourselves and recognize what each of us needs to do in order to stay in perfect health and keep our Universe healthy as well. By living consciously, breathing deeply, moving and connecting out in nature, eating whole, as close to nature food, we stay in our natural state. Perfect health.

So the next time you become ill, say thank you. It's an opportunity to slow down and allow contemplation and connection to occur...."what are you meant to be doing after all?"

 And before I close, I just wanted to share some information about the precious wisdom cards and a link to an interesting TED Talks presentation by Allan Savory below. First about the precious cards.

These card were created by a Victoria, B.C. yoga teacher, mother and nature lover, "Linda Cirella." Each deck contains 80 cards and is printed on eco-friendly paper in Victoria, B.C.  Canada
These cards were created to remind you of what you already know deep within your core; and to help you to connect with it....because when you embody that wisdom you shine BRIGHTLY and you feel more ALIVE. And as a result you have more to give to others...So the world gets a little brighter!!!

Thank you again to T for the cards and to my sister B and my sister C...for always inspiring me! YOU ARE LOVED!

If you are interested in purchasing the cards contact Linda at om_shantii@yahoo.ca 



Wisdom is always a great gift to share.

And my final thought for the day is in regards to a Ted Talk my sacred sister, L, sent to me about healing our planet by Allan Savory. (thanks L...your angels must have whispered to send it to me)

Here's the link to the Youtube video, but if you are using an apple product you may have to click here to see it. "Allan Savory's presentation on TED Talks, how to green the world's deserts and reverse climate change"

I believe it's worth the time it takes to view it....slow down, when you move too fast you miss so much.

 You never know when you will pick up a tiny piece of wisdom, put it in your back pocket and contemplate how it may change the world. Remember, we are ALL connected!

Until, I see you again, may you be WELL, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope