Mama’s Home Remedies

Today is Monday. Some people don’t like this day because the working week starts again. We are busy again, and have our plate full. Of course, the weekend is much better when we can relax and have fun. There’s other group of people who are superstitious. They believe that Monday never brings any luck or anything good. So, for both groups there is a simply wonderful message that comes from students of the city of Sondrio in Italy.

You’ll never guess what is in this message created by great Italian young people who sincerely want to make you feel good even for a moment. You know, Italians are happy and positively emotional people. So, their message comes attached with free hugs…

Abbracci gratis a Sondrio, which means in Italian, Free Hugs from Sondrio. Is it not great to see how people are open, kind and loving? Watch this video, forget about your life problems and get good start to a new and joyful week.

Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova.

Since ancient times, tea has been used not only as a pleasant beverage, but medicine too. Green or black tea with a piece of lemon and honey is number one healthy beverage in my daily menu. I love especially green tea with a delicate scent of jasmine. It is one of the great foods that fight cancer. Here is my glass pitcher with green tea, lemon and honey that I make fresh every day. Hot or cold, but one glass of green tea is a must-to-have in the morning or afternoon. Do you know why?

Both green and black teas possess numerous active ingredients, including flavonoids and polyphenols. Flavonoids and polyphenols are potent antioxidants.One widespread study has recently noted that one class of flavonoids called catechins has anti-cancer potential. Conclusion: tea is the best source of catechins in our diet. If you compare both teas, scientists say that green tea contains about three times more of catechins than black tea.

In laboratory studies, green tea dispayed amazing results. It has been shown to slow or even completely prevent development of colon, liver, breast and prostate cancer. Other studies that involved green tea have shown similar protective eggects in tissues of the digestive system, lung and skin.

Studies conducted in Asia where green tea consumption is common have also associated regular usage of green tea with lower risk for colon, stomach, bladder, pancreatic and esophageal cancers.

Do you want to brew a fresh cuppa of tea and do it right? Watch this video.

Drink only freshly brewed green or black tea, one-two cups a day. Don’t store it in refrigerator for the next day.

CAUTION: Very high amounts of green tea usually associated with overdosage of green tea supplements have been shown to interact with drugs that affect blood clotting such as aspirin and change the way the body metabolizes certain medications.

Source: AICR’s second expert report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective

Text and Photo Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova

Now I am experimenting with zucchini which are the best loved of all squashes. They are versitile, easy to cook and easy to prepare as raw dishes, too. It doesn’t matter if you are vegetarian or a raw food dieter. Everybody should eat healthy and make it a number one priority. Zucchini are available all year through, but in summer time these vegetables are especially tender with a delicate flavor. The zucchini, cucurbita pepo is classified as a summer squash, so take advantage of it and bring it on to your dinner table.

Do you know that any vegetables taste best when eaten immediately after they have been peeked? Freshness is very important for zucchini. These veggies have relatively long season and are easy to grow in your home garden. We had them in our home garden as a must-have vegetable. My Grandma cut them very often to bring new, young baby zucchini. The more you cut, the more this plant will produce. If you leave zucchini unchecked, it will turn into marrows.

Zuchini with its deep green skin and firm pale flesh, sometimes called courgettes (pretty name, isn’t it?), and they are basically immature marrows. The name comes from Italian zucca, and courgette means miniature courge, which is French for marrow.
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If you are expecting a miracle for treating fatigue or unhappiness, watch this video. There’s is no miracle, but just one simple, green recipe for that. The second is the recipe I adapted from my Grandma and tested it a million times. Just kidding! Not exactly a million times, but many times. You’ll be surprised, it works.

Chef Keith Snow makes absolutely fabulous green salad that can adorn any dinner table. What I like about this salad that he makes it with fresh greens gathered from his home herb garden. Imagine, fresh and delicate arugula, lettuce, rosemary, parsley that are not ‘abused’ while stored in the refrigerated containers on a long way from farm to the supermarket. These homegrown greens keep all vitamins and other nutrients in place, in addition to its tantalizing, earthy scent.

You see this salad comes with Pomegranate Dressing. Pomegranate is a great fruit. You can use it not only in salad dressing, but you can squeeze fresh pomegranate  juice and drink it. Here is the recipe:

— If you feel unhappy or fatigued, make fresh pomegranate juice, add one teaspoon honey to eight ounces, and drink it.

Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova

Source: Pomegranate juice recipe comes from the multiple awards-winning book, Mama’s Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Life and the Pleasure of Natural Living, p. 209, Aurora Publishers, 2008

  Greens are so good for you that you should eat lots of them. Whatever the  season, there is something for  everyone, vegetarians or meat eaters, when it comes to greens.

 Greens are also quite delicious and versatile when it comes to recipes. You can make inexpensive, nutritional and simple dishes with a surprising texture and delightful flavor. Try to make Cauliflower with Tomatoes and Mushrooms, Spinach Pie, Spinach Omelette, and Spinach and Cannellini Beans; Broccoli Crumble, Broccoli Tartlets and Broccoli and Chicken Lasagne; Stir-fried Brussels Sprouts, Chard Pasties, Kale with Garlic and Parmesan; Fettucine Pasta with Savoy Cabbage and Gruyere or Cheddar Cheese; Chinese Cabbage with Lime, Cocoanut or Mushroom Sauce; Greek dish, Dolmades (grape leaves) or my favorite, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish Golubtsi (grape leaves).

I compiled a List of the Best Greens for Healthy Family Eating that are an excellent source of vitamins A and C, calcium, potassium, iron. These Greens are  highly nutritional vegetables wheather are eaten raw or cooked:

• SPINACH: Spinach and Baby Spinach which is easy to grow and quick to cook, and delicious raw, served in salads.
• CAULIFLOWER: Baby cauliflowers, Broccoli romanescoes, Broccoflower; a member of the cabbage family, Brassica oleracea. Cauliflowers are excellent raw or  steamed, either whole or in florets.
• CABBAGE: Savoy Cabbage, in 3-4 minutes of cooking it gets tender. Green Cabbage, a very good cabbage for stir-fry with eggs and onions or Russian red borscht, and needs longer cooking. Red Cabbage,  should be cooked with a little vinegar added to the water or the color will fade. Red cabbage can be pickled or stewed with natural spices and flavorings. White Cabbage (Dutch Cabbage) and Spring Greens; delicious raw or simply sliced and used  in a coleslaw, or boiled, steamed and served with lemon and olive oil dressing.

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In my recent post “Keep Yourself Slim and Healthy with Versatile Spinach,” I did not mention another popular delicatessen, Spinach Pie. Spinach Pie is a great choice if you have some family members or guests at your home party that are meat eaters and vegetarians. How can you please these people with different approach to eating? Make this tasty dish and you’ll please both, vegetarians and meat eaters.

Usually these pies are made with ricotta, feta, Gruyere or Emmenthal cheeses that are grated or cut into small cubes. Then the mixture of cheeses, cooked spinach, fresh chopped marjoram and chervil, salt and pepper is wrapped in large or small sheets of filo pastry. I don’t like filo dough and never use it because it tastes like a parchment paper. Especially, the one produced commercially, “Ready-to-Use” that is offered by supermarkets. I prefer to make my own. It is different type of dough that is used traditionally in Greek and Russian cuisine.

So, now watch this video and try to make the same delicious Spanakopita that contains yummy feta cheese and fresh spinach in traditional Greek style. Bon appetite!

Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova.

Ever thought about starting raw diet? I was always interested in raw foods, but never made a “jump” into eating only raw foods. I am still devoted to my healthy, delicious and nutritious meals with time-tested recipes from my Mom and Grandma, and other recipes I gathered while traveling around the world. Maybe should I try, and so are you? If you are curious about how to make raw foods that are healthy for you, here is video “The Value of Eating Raw Foods” where the healthy lifestyle expert and Green Mom Beth Aldrich explains how to start eating healthy.

Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova.

For many people the word ’spinach’ is associated with Popeye, the cartoon character (if you remember) who used to eat huge amounts of spinach. Popeye was smart, but we are smarter. We can make hundreds of dishes using this versatile vegetable that offers us so many nutritious benefits, so who’ll refuse this opportunity?!

Let’s continue to explore my Green Recipes.  What about a fresh spinach salad? It is really tasteful because the leaves of spinach  have sharp, but not overpowering  flavor that is just in the right balance. Fresh greens are so good for you that you really should eat lots of them, so there’s no excuse if you don’t!

 Fresh Baby Spinach Salad (4-6 servings) 

Ingredients:

2 cups organic baby spinach, washed and chopped

1 avocado, diced

 2 cucumbers, sliced

  green onions, chopped

  10-12 walnut-halves, chopped

   1/3 cup olive oil

   1 small organic lemon

    A pinch of sea salt and paprika

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a large glass bowl. Carefully mix spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, and walnuts. Sprinkle sea salt and paprika. Squeeze one lemon and combine  fresh lemon juice with olive oil in a small glass bowl. Pour this simple and flavorful dressing over the salad. Voila! You have a fresh, healthy and nutritions salad.

Sometimes I chop two organic hard boiled eggs and add to enrich this salad. It turns my spinach salad into  a main dish that is light, nutritious, and can fully satisfy your healthy appetite.
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Back to my post “Prevent Cancer By Including Dark Leafy Vegetables in Your Daily Menu” with green spinach recipes.

 Spinach can be used in so many ways. You can chop it and serve with butter. I prefer to use organic, cold press olive oil mixed with freshly squeezed lemon juice because it’s healthier. You can also serve spinach with baby carrots, beets or small white or young  fava beans. You can also make one of my favorite meals, green spinach omelette.

Once in a restaurant in Paris I ordered an omelette with spinach. It was so delicious! So from that time, I started making the same for my family breakfast or weekend lunch. I asked the French chef in this restaurant to share his recipe with me, and he kindly told me his secrets of making this puffy and airy nutritious meal. Now you can make the same,

GREEN SPINACH OMELETTE

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Music has been used since time immemorial to induce all states of mind, and also to heal disorders of the body, mind, and spirit. Can you imagine music that heals you while you are sitting in your green garden? There is no doubt that the powerfully emotional effect of music can soften rage into affection and romance, can marshal men to battle, and definitely can inspire you to do good things in your life. Music can effect not only us positively, but flowers, trees, plants, too.

Centuries by centuries world famous composers created music that even the gardens could not resist listening to the Argentinian tangos and classic rhapsodies, noctunes, valses and popular songs. We listen to these masterpieces year after year. We enjoy, admire and get inspired by music. We never get tired to listen it again and again. But the most interesting is that not only we, people, love music. Everywhere, in different parts of the world, the gardens and its green inhabitants also love wonderful music the same way as we do. Don’t you believe me? Observe yourself, discover this phenomenon and have fun!

Don’t you know that vegetables, fruits and flower gardens grow much faster and blossom much longer under the generous sunny rays, gardeners’ loving care, and sounds and words of the beautifully written melodic songs? Now watch this one that I heard many times in our family garden in July, my favorite month of the summer…

Have a great weekend!

Submitted by Svetlana Konnikova.