What do you EAT when you're sick? 🥣

Here are a few of my favorite feel-good recipes to nurture our health, beauty and well being while also being divinely delicious. Let the ingredients inspire your own creations. Super simple. Super sexy. 🍲

Chicken Soup for the Sick

It's really a thing. Research proves it. Chicken soup is legit for soothing upper respiratory infections, unstuffing noses and it definitely wins the prize for warm and cozy. Fresh and home-made is always best, but not always practical. This is the soup for those who just can't make it from scratch!  It's got some kick for sure, thanks to a healthy dose of pepper and infection-fighting garlic. Bonus: You don't have to be a wiz in the kitchen to nail this recipe; just eyeball and adjust the ingredient amounts to your liking. And, if you don't eat meat, make this soup anyway and use veggie broth instead. Add extra veggies, like sweet potato, butternut squash or parsnip, if you like. The antibacterial/antiviral properties of the onion, garlic and ginger are the stars of this soup.

The Soup

Ingredients:

(local and organic whenever possible)

If you can make home-made soup from a whole chicken, do that. It's best. Put the whole chicken in a pot and cover with plenty of water and boil. Skim the scum. After it has cooked for an hour or more, remove the chicken from the pot. Then add the other ingredients (except rice), debone the chicken, shred the meat and add back to the pot. Cook until done to your liking. Add herbs and rice before serving.

Or, if you don't want to make it from scratch, do this:

• 2 boxes of organic, free-range chicken (or veggie) broth (no MSG or yeast-extract, please)

• LOTS of garlic, peeled and crushed (I use a whole head)

• Fresh ginger, peeled and grated -- LOTS

• Juice of 2-4 fresh lemons

• Onions, chopped

• Celery, chopped

• Carrots, chopped

• Cilantro or parsley, chopped

• Lots of pepper, freshly ground

• Cooked chicken, shredded (optional)

• Cooked brown rice (optional)

Directions:

Put a glug of olive oil in the bottom of a heated pot. Add the chopped onion, celery, carrot and saute gently for a few minutes, until the onion is translucent. Add the broth, crushed garlic, grated ginger, lemon juice, pepper. Simmer gently until veggies are tender. Add the cooked chicken, if using, and fresh herbs. Of course, include turmeric or any other healing spice that makes you feel sexy. And, you can add some cooked brown rice per bowl of soup, too.

Best. Chicken soup. Ever.

Raw Harvest Soup

This easy-peasy soup is radiantly RAW, not cooked, so please be warned. It is brimming with natural enzymes, vitamins and antioxidants to feed your natural health, beauty and well being. Use organic and local ingredients whenever possible. Using a high powered VitaMix blender will naturally create some warmth to this soup. Yield 6 cups -- recipe courtesy of Kristen Suzanne

• 1 cup or so of water

• 1 large zucchini, chopped

• 2 medium tomatoes, quartered

• 3 stalks celery, chopped

• 2 cups carrot, chopped

• 2 dates, pitted

• 1 or 2 cloves of garlic

• 2 tsp Himalayan crystal salt

• 1 tablespoon onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

• 1/2 cup flax oil

Blend all of the ingredients, except for the flax oil, on high speed in your blender until really creamy. Then, while the blender is running on low speed, add the flax oil. Continue blending, at a higher speed, for another minute or more until it gets gently warmed from blending. Pour into warmed bowls and enjoy!

Variations:

~Substitute olive oil for the flax oil

~Add 1/2 teaspoon coriander

~Add 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

 Want more SOUPS ?? See my recipes for Vibrant Winter Beauty soup and Cup-of-Comfort soup. You can make any of these soups vegetarian, vegan, paleo or keto. Swap ingredients. Use your creativity. My only request is that you make them as pretty as possible to rock your radiance 🌟

Carrot Ginger Green Smoothie

• 2 whole organic carrots, scrubbed

• 1 whole green organic apple, cored

• 2 large handfuls + of raw organic baby spinach

• 1 large organic orange, peeled 

• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger root or one knob of peeled ginger.

• 4-6 ounces of water or to your desired consistency

Add ingredients to your blender and blend on high until creamy. Serves 1.

Here's another smoothie I love ...

Honey Lemon Cough Syrup

Put a pint of local raw honey in a pan on the stove on VERY low heat (Do not boil honey as this changes its medicinal properties).

Take a whole organic lemon and drop in boiling water in a separate pan for 2-3 minutes to both soften the lemon and kill any bacteria that may be on the lemon skin.

Let the lemon cool enough to handle then cut it in slices and add it to the pint of honey on the stove.

Let mixture cook on warm heat for about an hour.

Then strain the lemon from the honey, making sure all lemon seeds are removed.

Let cool, then bottle in a glass jar with a lid and store in the refrigerator.

This syrup will keep for 2 months in the refrigerator.

To soothe a cough, take 1/2 teaspoon for a 25 lb. child and 1 teaspoon for a 50 lb. child, about 4 times a day, or as often as needed. Do NOT give to infants under 1 year of age. Adults can take 1 tablespoon doses.

Fire Cider 🔥

If you like it hot, spicy and fiesty -- you gotta try Fire Cider! This potent (and tasty!) apple cider vinegar infusion is powered by warming and wellness-supporting ingredients and it is a totally EXTRA way to boost our natural health processes, stimulate digestion, and raise our internal thermostat on cold days.

The standard base ingredients are apple cider vinegar, garlic, onion, ginger, horseradish, and hot peppers, but there are plenty of other herbs that can be thrown in for added kick! Make it your own. Spicy jalapenos, vibrant rosemary, organic turmeric powder and fresh lemon peel can also be thrown in. Take a shot (or just 1 tablespoon) each morning to warm up, kick-start your digestion, rev your metabolism and maybe even put hair on your chest 😳🔥

Fire cider can be taken straight by the spoonful, added to organic veggie juice, splashed on cooked veggies, added to soups or drizzled on a salad with good olive oil. You can also save the strained pulp and mix it with shredded veggies like carrots, cabbage, broccoli, and fresh herbs to make delicious and aromatic stir-fries and spring rolls.

Typically, you want a long fermentation time -- we're talking a month!! That alone keeps most of us from having this tonic when we need it most. So, if you have a hectic lifestyle, and don't happen to have fresh horseradish laying around, this recipe from my favorite herb supplier, Mountain Rose Herbs, is for you!!

Speedy Fire Cider Recipe 🔥

Makes about 1 quart

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup organic horseradish root powder

• 1/4 cup organic ginger root powder

• 1/4 cup dried organic minced onion

• 2 Tbsp. dried organic rosemary leaf

• 1 Tbsp. organic turmeric root powder

• 3 tsp. organic garlic powder

• 2 tsp. organic black peppercorns

• 2 tsp. organic astragalus root powder (or a few astragalus root slices)

• 1 tsp. dried organic orange peel

• 4 organic star anise pods (optional)

• 4 organic whole bird’s eye chilis or hot peppers of your choice

• About 4 cups raw apple cider vinegar

• 1/4 cup (or more) raw, local honey (optional)

Directions

Place all herbs and spices in a quart-sized glass jar.

Pour apple cider vinegar into jar until all ingredients are covered and the vinegar reaches the jar’s top.

If using a plastic lid, place lid on jar. If using a metal lid, place a piece of parchment paper underneath the metal lid to avoid the metal getting corroded, then screw lid on jar.

Shake well.

Store in a cool, dark, dry place for 2 weeks. Remember to shake daily.

If it's got the kick you're seeking after 2 weeks, strain the ingredients through cheesecloth and pour the vinegar into a sterilized glass jar for storage. Squeeze out the cheesecloth to get every last drop of tasty herby goodness.

Pour in 1/4 cup (or more, to taste) of raw honey. Mix well.

Store in a cool, dark, dry place (or fridge)

Pro Tip

If you'd like it a bit stronger, continue to ferment for 2 more weeks.

For traditional (1 month-long fermentation time) fire cider recipe, click here

Here's another goodie from Mountain Rose Herbs ... a delicious version of Ancient Robbers or Thieves magically protective spice blend. You can get the essential oil version here

Four Thieves Vinegar Recipe

Makes about 1 pint.

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. dried organic sage leaf

• 1 tsp. dried organic lavender flowers

• 1 tsp. dried organic rosemary leaf

• 1/2 tsp. dried organic thyme leaf

• 1/2 tsp. organic black peppercorns

• 16 oz. raw organic apple cider vinegar

Directions

Place sage, lavender, rosemary, thyme, and peppercorns in a pint jar. Set aside.

Gently, over low heat, warm apple cider vinegar to temperature of warm bath water, about 100 to 104° F. Don’t boil!

Pour warm cider vinegar into the jar with the herbs. Fill to the top.

Wipe any liquid off the rim and top with a tight-fitting plastic lid. Alternatively, place a piece of parchment paper under a metal canning lid and ring to keep the vinegar from touching the metal. Parchment paper with a rubber band to hold it tightly in place also works.

Label and date.

Store jar in a cool, dark place to extract for four weeks. Shake the jar every couple of days to assist in the extraction.

Strain vinegar through fine mesh strainer, pressing down on the herbs to release as much vinegar as possible.

Pour strained vinegar into glass storage jar or bottles. Remember to label and date!

Store in cool, dark place until ready to use in vinaigrette.

Pro Tips

You can adjust the amount of herbs to your taste. The amounts above are good when using the Four Thieves Vinegar for a vinaigrette dressing. If you’re wanting an extra kick in the vinegar, you can increase the amount of each herb to 1 tablespoon.

If you want to use fresh herbs, chop them up in similar proportions to the recipe above (3 parts sage; 1 part lavender and rosemary; 1/2 part thyme and peppercorns), and fill the jar half full of the herbs. Then fill the rest of the jar with vinegar, infuse for a month, and strain.