“Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart, and cannot make a good soup.”
Leave it to the great Beethoven to mix morality with soup. (A tall order for his distressed servants, no doubt!)
Allow me to be “pure-hearted” here and share a recipe that represents a key nutritional foundation with a symphony of possibilities. This soup base is the foundation of every well prepared soup imaginable. Plus, it is free of MSG and preservatives that flavor many store-bought broths and soups.
I start with roasted bones and end with a gorgeous stock. I find that the most delicious and nourishing stocks are those made from a variety of bones, so plan to save your roast chicken, roast beef, pork, lamb, buffalo and rabbit.
Here’s what else you’ll need:
4 lbs (approximately) of bones (carcass, head, feet, cartilage, antlers, etc)
4 or more quarts cold, filtered water
½ cup vinegar, distilled or raw
2 apples, halved
3 onions, halved
3 celery stalks, halved
3 carrots, halved
Several sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tsp dried green peppercorns, crushed (optional)
1 bunch parsley (optional)
Once your roast has been served, add approximately 4 quarts of water to the roasting pan and scrape the bottom to infuse the drippings into the mix. Toss in any additional bones, heads, feet, etc. and add the remaining ingredients. Be sure that the bones are covered. If not, add more water.
I like to include apples and onions because they impart a sweeter aroma to a stock that might smell gamey otherwise. Vinegar is necessary to draw out the calcium, magnesium and zinc from the bones and render the bone stock more nutritious.
Then, set the pot to simmer for 12-72 hours. Skim off the scum and discard. The pot can remain on the flames for an entire 72 hours or turned off nightly, left at room temperature and reignited in the morning. Once strained, the stock can be frozen.
While it’s still on the stove, this stock can be used as a base for a myriad of soups. You might find that the stock doesn’t have a particularly appealing aroma but it will taste delicious after it’s strained and used to cook with.
With this base, you can offer “medicine in a bowl” in tandem with the other, family-pleasing meals you serve day after day.
I’ve made a little discovery. I can make crackers in infinite flavors and with a myriad of ingredients. They can be high or low carb, gluten free 
or include lots o’ gluten. They can be savory when I add cheese and olives, or sweet like graham crackers when I use a touch of cinnamon and maple syrup. And since I realized how easy they are to make, I’ve been making crackers nearly every night for the last few weeks.
I think it’s my new hobby.
Now, when someone asks me “So other than being a homeopath, what do you do for fun? I say “I’m a cracker-head.”
Familiarizing myself with the components of a cracker was the first step. I learned that crackers are forgiving. You can add just about any nut, bean or grain flour with some flavoring, add a liquid, roll out and bake and you’ve got something on which to serve cheese or to spread almond butter. Last week I added Pecorino cheese, cracked pepper and chopped garlic.
They were Italian crackers.
Then one night, I added rosemary from my garden, melted coconut oil as part of the liquid and tons of shredded coconut.
These were herb crackers.
When I included cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and chopped almonds they tasted like Dutch Windmill Cookies (Speculaas).
Heavenly.
‘Don’t have tapioca flour? No problem, just use more almond flour. ‘No gelatin? Don’t worry, skip it. ‘Don’t like poppy seeds? It’s ok. Just add sesame seeds instead.
The only caution I found to be noteworthy, is that you don’t want to use too much liquid or they’ll stick to your rolling pin. It’s hard to say exactly how much is just the right amount without knowing if you’ll be using coconut, almond flour or such. Each has its own idiosyncrasies and they require adjusting for more liquid or less. So, I learned to eye ball it. A mealy type consistency is the best so that the dough can roll out easily.
But again, crackers are forgiving.
So, if you add too much liquid, just toss more dry into the bowl until it feels as though it will roll out nicely.
Yummy Gluten Free, Low-Carb Crackers
Preheat oven to 250°
In a mixer, or a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add the liquid and mix until mealy.
Roll out the mixture between 2 pieces of parchment paper. Until it’s 1/8” thick or less.
Peel off the top layer of parchment paper and place the batter layer still on the parchment paper onto a cookie sheet. You want the parchment to be underneath the dough directly on the cookie sheet. Score the dough into the shape of crackers.
Bake until slightly golden, then flip, allowing the paper to release, so that the crackers are now directly on the cookie sheet.
Bake until crisp. Depending on the amount of liquid and type of flour, it may take up to an hour or so until they’re crunchy.
I keep mine in a glass container with a tight plastic lid in the pantry. So far they’ve stayed fresh, but I think that’s because my family eats them so quickly that they haven’t a chance to get old.
What a week at Homeopathy Works! I’m very excited and just as busy preparing for my upcoming webinar system,
How to Raise a Drug Free Family.
So, while I’m perfecting this year-long course, I’ll leave you with a brief consideration.
A friend of mine, Liz Pitfield, uses this quote from Wendell Berry on her email stationary. I like the spirit of it but I can’t help but tinker with it a bit.
This is Wendell Berry’s version:
“People are fed by the food industry, which pays no attention to health, and are healed by the health industry, which pays no attention to food.”
This is my version:
“People are fed by the food industry, which pays no attention to health, and are treated by the health industry, which pays no attention to food and knows little of genuine health.”
For Valentine’s Day, why not give your loved ones a truly delicious and wholesome candy; one with ingredients that you love and can feel good about? Here’s what I make for my family on Valentine’s Day.
Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Chocolate Layer
In a food processor, mix all ingredients except peanut butter. Scrape out ½ of it and make a smooth layer of the mixture on a cookie sheet lined in parchment or waxed paper and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Put the other half aside and keep at room temperature. While the first mixture is cooling begin the peanut butter layer.
Peanut Butter Layer
Add peanut butter and honey in a clean food processor. Smear the peanut butter topping in a uniform layer on top of the refrigerated chocolate.
Refrigerate. Once cooled, smear the last chocolate mixture on the top of the peanut butter layer. Place back in the refrigerator. When cooled, break up into individual bit-sized pieces and place in paper crinkle cups or fashion on a doily. They may remain at room temperature but a distance from the fireplace.(Yes, there’s a story behind this caution.) Usually, I keep them in a glass covered container in the fridge.
Minty Valentine Candy
Using the above recipe, omit the peanut butter layer and instead, add 10 drops of essential oil of mint. Oh heavenly day!
Orange Valentine Candy
Using the above recipe, omit the peanut butter layer and instead, add 10 drops of essential oil of orange. A little twist of orange peel on top is a lovely addition and denotes which candy is the orange one, if you decide to make a variety.
I love good food. Even my favorite movies attest to this: Big Night, Chocolat, Julie and Julia. And when it comes to foodstuff, I have
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a difficult time getting past the low-fat paradigm.
As far as I’m concerned: fat is where it’s at.
Now, not all fats are the same. Think of the distinction between a Dunkin’ Donut doughnut and my Sunday, homemade, buttermilk pancakes, blissfully fried in cold-pressed virgin coconut oil, and then drenched in raw spring butter and a splash of local maple syrup from my farmer. If we only examine one aspect, it becomes apparent which is the superior choice. Look at the oils. The former choice is fried in months-old soybean or canola oil; the latter is in concert with delectable coconut oil, which has the distinct fragrance of fresh coconuts. Can there be any comparison?
So how do I rationalize the abundance of saturated fats for my family and me? I did my homework and this is what I learned.
The notion that saturated fats cause heart disease is not only facile but just plain wrong. Do you remember the Framingham Heart Study? Well, if not, you ought to know that it’s the mainstay for the low-fat paradigm advocates. Yet, its hypothesis has been turned on its head.
In hindsight, some 40 years after the study became public, the director of the study confessed that “the more saturated fat one ate, the more cholesterol one ate, the more calories one ate, the lower the person’s serum cholesterol… we found that the people who ate the most cholesterol, ate the most saturated fat [and] ate the most calories, weighed the least and were the most physically active.”
Can we deduce that arterial sclerosis has little to do with cholesterol and fat consumption? It certainly appears that we can when we consider those telling words from the director of the lipid theorist’s flagship study.
Interestingly, clogged arteries are not choked with saturated fats, but with calcium deposits akin to lime. This is not what we have imagined all these years.
Instead, we’ve visualized the fats from a fresh, free range, pastured egg fried in extra virgin coconut oil traveling directly from the mouth into the stomach and then straight for the arteries. It simply isn’t so and there’s plenty of evidence to substantiate this.
Irrespective of the repetitive conventional medical mantra and unsound pop culture advice, we can reconsider the last 40 years of fat phobia to be a wash.
If butter, organic, extra virgin coconut oil, cod liver oil, whole milk, tropical and other saturated fats don’t cause heart disease, then what does? We know that deficiencies of vitamins A, E and D are one cause. Where are these vitamins found? Why, in butter, lard, tropical oils and animal fats…the very same foods we’re advised to eschew!
B vitamin and mineral deficiencies are also contributors to heart disease. These occur as a result of eating foods of commerce, such as soda, preservatives, additives and enhancers, instead of whole, homemade fare. Vitamin B happens to be abundant in red meat and in organ meats.
Butter, lard and tropical fats, such as virgin coconut oil, thanks to their antioxidants, protect us against free radicals and are therefore, preventative against diseases such as cancer, heart disease, depression, infections and reproductive disorders.
Get happy! Ward off hot flashes, heart pathology, allergies, fatigue, memory loss and winter respiratory infections. Eat like a true gourmet; include plentiful amounts of butter, organic virgin coconut oil and fresh milk. Then go outside and take a walk. Your brain, heart, lungs and even your arteries will thank you for a radiant life.
Recently I heard a mom declare, “I wish I had taken my job as a mother more seriously. My kids might not have the chronic illnesses
they suffer from today.”
Indeed.
Preparation for motherhood ought not to be random or casual. It needs to be faced with the same kind of intent and commitment as getting your PhD.
Understanding how to prepare nutritious meals is key, setting them on the right moral path is paramount and treating their illnesses without detrimental drugs, downright fundamental.
Only a century ago, that’s just what mothers did. They learned how to treat fever, coughs, injuries, colic and such without bowing to a modern medical paradigm of a synthetic pill for every ill.
Why? Well, mostly because moms didn’t trust modern medicine.
Do you?
If you embrace medicine of commerce and seek frequent medical procedures, then the information I’m about to present is not for you.
But if you’re like mothers of old or even modern ones, who celebrate their knowledge of intelligent natural health, then read on.
An important place to begin is in knowing how to treat fever. Here’s the rule of thumb when treating a fever….
DON’T!
No aspirin, no Tylenol, no antibiotics. Why? Because fever is not an illness, it’s a symptom. Treating symptoms is what drugs do. And we don’t like that paradigm because drugs don’t get to the root of the problem. They only eliminate the signs of illness.
“She was convulsing. I was scared and so I had to give her something.”
Even febrile convulsions are nothing to fear in a normal child. In fact, if your child has them and you rush to the hospital, by the time you get there, they’ll have passed. There’s no conventional treatment anyway. Further, a convulsion is a normal regulatory response which indicates a fast paced fever, not a high one.
“But the fever was already at 105. I can’t do nothing.”
Brain damage occurs at 107.6 and it is rare indeed when a fever in a child goes beyond 106. In fact, the higher the fever up to that point, the more capable of self cure.
“But he could barely sleep and it’s hard to watch him suffer.”
Why, certainly fever’s uncomfortable! So?
Would you suppress vomiting if he had eaten bad chicken?
These are responses required for genuine health.
It is an understood truth of human pathology that fever cures. In fact, a fever is often employed in uprooting chronic illness. One of the foundational principles in homeopathy is that chronic illness is often the result of acute illness that has been stifled.
No tinkering with meds. Just stand back and watch the miracle of the human body find its way to restoration on its own.
In the process, keep your child hydrated. Dehydration is the only true threat accompanying fever. So insist on quality liquids and maintain bed rest.
There are many methods that as a mom, you need to have in your bag of tricks. The most important is how to interpret illness; when to act and when not.
Join me and millions of educated moms who have found that genuine health begins with the comprehension of genuine health principles.
Get your PhD on how to care for your children as though it is your only assignment in life.
Because it is.
I've just returned to Buffalo after having spent a fantastic weekend in Chico, California. There was a great turnout for my two-day, intensive seminar on homeopathy and I couldn't have asked for a more lively, warm and welcoming bunch! There were mothers, grandmothers, chiropractors, nurses, farmers, a truck driver, teachers, and herbalists. The vendors were interesting and informed, and the food was out-of-this-world delicious.
My mouth is watering just remembering the beautiful cheesecake and acorn squash soup. All the foods were locally sourced, organically grown and true to Weston A. Price principles. I'd like to send a heartfelt “Thank You!” to Carol Chaffin Albrecht, the chapter leader for the WAPF chapter of Chico-Butte and all the wonderful folks who made my family and me feel welcom and appreciated.
And because I loved the meal so much, I thought I'd share a recipe I've found for the delicious cream of acorn squash soup. I can't say that it will be as good as what the talented volunteers prepared, but it's likely to come in a close second!
You'll need:
• 2 acorn squashes, halved and seeded • 1 medium onion, cut in half • 6 tbsp. unsalted butter • 1/4 c. flour (which can be coconut flour or gluten free, if necessary) • 5 c. bone stock • 1 c.raw heavy cream • Celtic Sea Salt to taste • Freshly ground black pepper to taste •
Here's what you do: On a buttered surface of a Dutch oven , bake the squash and onion until soft. Scoop out the meat from the squash and discard the skin. Put the squash back in the Dutch oven, add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add raw cream, and salt and pepper to taste. Continue stirring until just heated through.
Man, oh man…….Chico I’m coming back!
I designed it especially to provide a framework to guide you through your remedy choices. It is perfect for busy mothers and others who love curing their families themselves.
Deal with the flu without drugs and expensive commercial products.
The easiest, safest and most inexpensive way to treat your whole family.
Learn to choose the correct homeopathic remedy to give on the way to the emergency room or better yet,
avoid the trip altogether.
Homeopathy is inexpensive, non-invasive and profoundly curative.
Boost and maintain optimum health with simple foods, instead of vitamin pills.
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| Joette is not a physician and the relationship between Joette and her clients is not of prescriber and patient, but as educator and client. It is fully the client's choice whether or not to take advantage of the information Joette presents. Homeopathy doesn't "treat" an illness; it addresses the entire person as a matter of wholeness that is an educational process, not a medical one. In order to be treated or diagnosed, Joette believes that the advice of a holistic physician is in order. Disclaimer: Claims based on traditional homeopathic practice, not accepted medical evidence. Not FDA evaluated. 2009-2023 © Joette Calabrese – Practical Homeopathy® - HomeopathyWorks® - Health and Wellness
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