Roasted Winter Vegetables

Roasted Winter Root Vegetables

1 bulb of Celeriac (celery root)

1 yellow onion

2 beets-any color

2 turnips

4 parsnips

4-6 multicolored carrots

3 Tablespoons of good quality olive oil

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 shallot minced

1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary; roughly chopped

1 Tablespoon of Italian Seasoning

1 teaspoon Himalayan pink salt or sea salt

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Clean, rinse, peel, and chop all vegetables into large chunks and place in a large bowl.

Ladle olive oil over the top of the vegetables and toss until all vegetables are coated.

Add garlic, rosemary, shallot, Italian seasoning, and salt. 

Toss vegetables again until spices are roughly, evenly distributed.

Place in a roaster or covered pan and put in preheated oven.

Cook for 30 min checking to make sure root vegetables are fork tender.  If they are still hard, cook at additional 10 min increments until desired tenderness is reached.

Bone Broth Soup Recipe

Immune Boosting Bone Broth:
Bone broth has multiple health benefits.  It's perfect for the season change, for boosting the immune system, healing the gut, and giving us prolonged energy as we enter the fall and the children head back to school.  In Chinese Medicine, it is used to increase energy, assist with joint pain, aids in treating iron deficiency anemia, and decreases pain and inflammation. It is also used to fight aging and increase collagen production.  It's time consuming to make, but well worth it.

Below,  I've included my personal recipe for beef bone broth.  Feel free to try it and play with it.  You can use any combination of vegetables or bones that you choose. I recommend using grass fed free range bones and organic vegetables to get the most benefits from the broth you make.  I drink 1-2 cups everyday for the best results.  It's something I love to have in the mid-morning after my coffee.

http://naturalnews.com/040493_bone_broth_immune_health_nutrients.html

Shandalla's Bone Broth Recipe:

• 2 lbs of grass fed beef bones-roasted at 425 degrees for 1-1/2 hrs 
• 2 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar-divided
• water
• 2 whole yellow onions-chopped 
• 1 leek-sliced
• 2 small carrots-sliced
• 3 stalks of celery-sliced
• 3 large cloves of garlic-minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 Tablespoons of salt
• 2 tsp mixed whole peppercorns
• 1 bunch of parsley-chopped
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp oregano

Method:

Roast beef bones in oven, uncovered, for 1-1/2 to 2 hrs.  Place in a large stock pot with 1 Tbl of apple cider vinegar. Fill stock pot with enough warm water to cover bones; let soak for 20 min.  After soaking the bones, bring bones to a boil on medium high, skimming off foam every 20-30 min. Boil for 2 hrs.  Transfer bones and water to a crock pot, add remaining vinegar and all remaining ingredients to the pot.  Cook stock in crock pot on low for 24-48 hrs, adding water as needed to keep the bones covered and submerged. Skim off fat (beef oil) every few hours through out cooking process.***  When you are done simmering the broth, strain out all the liquid and compost or throw away the solids.  The liquid is your bone broth. You can freeze the broth or store it in the fridge and use it as desired. 

***You can dispose of the fat or collect in a jar to use the fat to cook with later; make sure to store the fat in the fridge for future use.  It will solidify like butter when cold, which is normal.  For more information on good fats, keep an eye out for my upcoming blog on the topic.

Strawberry Tomato Salad

Strawberry Tomato Salad

3 cups organic Baby Arugula-prewashed, prepacked is the perfect size
8 oz. Organic Sweet Cherry or Mixed Grape Tomatoes-halved lengthwise
8 oz. Organic Strawberries- thickly sliced
Half an English Cucumber-cubed
Half a Red Onion-diced
¼ cup Fresh Cilantro-chopped
¼ cup of Fresh Dill-chopped
Feta Crumbles to Garnish: optional

Dressing:

½ cup white balsamic vinegar
1 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1 tsp honey
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl, toss all the fresh ingredients together except feta cheese. Keep cool (not cold) until ready to serve. In a separate bowl or salad dressing container, mix together all dressing ingredients until smooth. Set aside, remixing as needed. When ready to serve, sprinkle feta cheese on top of salad.  Serve salad with dressing on the side, using as desired for additional flavor.

This recipe will be in The Points Living Magazine June, 2016

Combating Seasonal Allergies

Seasonal Allergies Got You? Try These Remedies!

By: Shandalla L.R. Seirawan, MSA, Bastyr University, Premed N.D.

It’s that time of year again in Western Washington.  Yes, it is spring; making our fair city even more beautiful with all its blooms and flowers and yes, unfortunately, allergy season.  Spring shows up with all its glory and for some, it can bring with it sneezing, watery eyes, uncontrollable runny nose, and a puffy face.  All of this sending even the bravest of us inside to avoid the pollen and to avoid being caught in public looking like a watery mess.  To help you out, I did some research and brought together the other practitioners in my office. Together, we can offer you some advice to offset this time of misery because we want you to make the most of our wonderful upcoming spring days.

Get a chiropractic adjustment: Getting regular chiropractic adjustments during this time can help to make the body perform optimally and increase the immune system, this way you are less susceptible to the onset of allergies.  In addition, gentle adjustments can open up the Eustachian tubes of the ears and release the sinuses to help decrease the misery that comes with the symptoms of seasonal allergies.

Consume locally sourced raw honey throughout the year: Local honey is a great way to build up immunity over time.  The key is getting locally sourced raw honey that is created with local pollen.  Because honey contains a small amount of pollen, a you consume the honey throughout the year, the body will build up immunity to that allergen.

Reishi Mushroom tea/tincture:  Reishi mushrooms are a woody mushroom used widely throughout the world, but is well known to reverse signs of aging.  In addition, research has shown that it increases the immune system and decreases histamine and inflammatory response.

Nettle tea:  Yes, the Stinging Nettle variety.  Once dried, it loses its ability to sting, but gains the ability to decrease inflammation in the body and decreases histamine response.  Histamine is what is responsible for all the symptoms that come with seasonal allergies.  The best bang for your buck will come from wild harvested dried organic nettle leaf.  You can order whole leaf nettle from a local Seattle store online at www.dandelionbotanical.com just steep in boiling water to make an herbal tea, or go to Whole Foods and pick up some Nettle Leaf Tea by Traditional Medicinals.

Quercetin:  This has also been shown in preliminary studies to lessen inflammation and reduce histamine production while acting as a bronchodilator.  You can get quercetin from foods like red onion, grapes, apples, parsley, sage, green tea, and citrus.  Better yet, make a salad with some of these ingredients and poof, you have a healthy delicious allergy reducing side dish.  Or make a wonderful citrus green tea by boiling 2 quarts of water with 4 green tea bags; making sure to steep tea bags for only 3-5 minutes to prevent bitterness, remove and discard.  Once the green tea has cooled some, wash and slice a whole orange, peel included, place in the tea.  Let it rest for 1 hour to infuse the tea. Sweeten with local honey to taste and serve cool.  Now you have a great allergy busting drink. If you’d rather, you can also obtain a quercetin supplement from a Naturopathic Doctor.

N-Acetylcysteine (NAC): NAC is a derivative of the amino acid L-cysteine.  It is well known for its antioxidant benefits.  It increases energy and is a precursor to glutathione, one of the body's natural healing chemicals and disease fighters.  NAC boosts the immune system and thins mucus is a natural allergy remedy.

As you can see there are many ways to treat and prevent allergies.  Talk with primary care physician or Naturopathic Doctor to determine the treatment that is the most appropriate for you. 

Sources: 

http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/quercetin

www.everdayroots.com

http://www.drwhitaker.com/

https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs/reishi-mushroom