• Juice from 1 small organic lemon (with peel)
• Juice from a thumb-size ginger
• 2 tablespoon raw honey
• ½ teaspoon of cinnamon

Many people think taking vitamin C for cold and flu is good. It’s true, however, without bioflavonoids, you will need a lot more vitamin C for healing. When you juice a lemon with the peel, it provides high content of bioflavonoids that help to super-boost your recovery.

Many vitamin C supplements consist of synthetically derived ascorbic acid. This is virtually ineffective. Without the natural citrus bioflavonoids, ascorbic acid is easily oxidized and can actually be harmful to the body. This is why whole food nutrition is so much better than synthetically derived supplements. The best sources of citrus bioflavonoids are in lemons, limes, grapefruits, oranges, & tangerines. (Source)

If you do not have a juicer to juice the lemon and the ginger, a teaspoon of honey (raw is best) and a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon will usually knock out a cold within a day or two if taken twice a day for 3 days. Cinnamon is 26 percent sulfur based and honey is 33 percent sulfur based, making their combination 59 percent sulfur based and the reason why their combination is so effective.  Sulfur stimulates the body’s natural healing powers, causing a general improvement of symptoms.

When coming down with a cold or flu the herb to take is actually a food: scallions. Scallions release the pathogen by inducing sweating. Simmer scallion or other onion along with garlic and ginger and drink the broth to keep a cold or flu from going deeper.

If a cold or flu has gone deeper and has affected the muscles, the herb of choice is cinnamon. Cinnamon is warming and can help when you are feeling weak especially if sweating does not help you feel better. In this case, cinnamon will warm, strengthen and increase immunity.

Fresh ginger is also warm and releases the pathogen. Similar to cinnamon, ginger strengthens the immunity for weaker people who are sweating without relief of symptoms.

A nice tea for the fall, especially when feeling chilled and trying to recover from a cold or flu, is made by simmering a couple of cinnamon sticks and sliced fresh ginger in water for at least 20 minutes, strain and drink as needed. (Source)

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Eat Better. Feel Better.

Garlic is one of the oldest medicinal herbs (prescriptions for garlic are found on Sumerian tablets from 3000 B.C.). When Russian soldiers in World War II suffered a shortage of antibiotics, they used garlic to such an extent it was called “the Russian penicillin.” The sulfur compounds in garlic and onions promote apoptosis (cell death) in colon, breast, lung, and prostate cancer, as well as in leukemia. Epidemiological studies suggest a reduction in kidney and prostate cancer in people who consume the most garlic. Moreover, garlic and onions help to regulate blood sugar levels. This, in turn, reduces insulin secretion and IGF (insulin-like growth factors), and thus the growth of cancer cells.

This recipe calls for mincing the garlic to the point of almost being a paste, which makes this recipe even better — active molecules of garlic are released when a garlic clove is crushed and are much more easily assimilated if they are dissolved in little oil.

We used organic chicken thighs (bone-in), however you can use chicken legs, breasts or a whole cut-up chicken. This dish creates an amazing sauce, we wanted to slurp it up with a straw! Spaghetti squash would go well with the dish to soak up all of the sauce.

When purchasing your kalamata olives, make sure they do not contain Sodium Benzoate. Also, fresh lemon juice is best, a lot of the packaged lemon juices contain sodium benzoate as well. And fresh lemon juice tastes so much better!

This recipe calls for fresh thyme, which can get expensive if you buy this herb as a one-off for every recipe you make. Chances are you won’t use all the thyme you purchase during that week and it will go bad. To solve this problem I keep fresh thyme, basil and rosemary plants in my kitchen. I bought the organic plants at the food store and keep them thriving with sun and water. The herb holder was purchased at Home Goods, but I have seen them all over the place — target and Walmart have them too. If you prefer to shop online, Amazon.com has a Garden at Home Italian Herb Trio or  a Reclaimed Barnwood Planter Box Mini Herb Garden Kit. If you prefer to buy a box and purchase organic pre-grown herbs at your grocery store, Amazon.com has a Rectangle Planter or a Teak Herb Planter.

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Olive, Garlic & Lemon Chicken

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

See Detailed Nutrition Info on

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup ghee
• 1/2 lb black olives (kalamata), cut in half
• 8 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on
• 3 cups onion, sliced thinly
• 30 gloves garlic, minced and smashed almost to a paste (food processors work well)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 2 extra lemons, thickly sliced (remove the seeds with the tip of a knife
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• A bunch of picked thyme leaves
• Himalayan pink salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Sprinkle salt and pepper on chicken.
3. Melt the ghee in a large and hot pan and brown the chicken pieces on all sides, about 5 minutes per side. Set the chicken aside.
4. Cook the onions until soft, about 5 minutes, and make sure to scrape all the delicious chicken bits off the pan while doing so.
5. Add the garlic and cook for about a minute, until fragrant.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Add the chicken stock, thyme and lemon juice and return the chicken thighs to the pan, skin side up.
8. Bring to a simmer and place the pan, covered, in the hot oven for about 20 minutes.
9. Remove the lid, add the halved olives as well as the lemon slices and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes uncovered.
10. Serve the chicken with the olive, garlic and lemon sauce as well as with some of the lemon slices.

Notes:

Purchase organic ingredients if possible. Organic chicken contains ten times more omega-3s. Recipe adapted from the Paleo Recipe Book.

Olive, Garlic & Lemon Chicken

1/4 cup ghee
1/2 lb black olives (kalamata), cut in half
8 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on
3 cups onion, sliced thinly
30 gloves garlic, minced and smashed almost to a paste (food processors work well)
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 extra lemons, thickly sliced (remove the seeds with the tip of a knife
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
A bunch of picked thyme leaves
Himalayan pink salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Sprinkle salt and pepper on chicken.
3. Melt the ghee in a large and hot pan and brown the chicken pieces on all sides, about 5 minutes per side. Set the chicken aside.
4. Cook the onions until soft, about 5 minutes, and make sure to scrape all the delicious chicken bits off the pan while doing so.
5. Add the garlic and cook for about a minute, until fragrant.

6. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Add the chicken stock, thyme and lemon juice and return the chicken thighs to the pan, skin side up.
8. Bring to a simmer and place the pan, covered, in the hot oven for about 20 minutes.
9. Remove the lid, add the halved olives as well as the lemon slices and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes uncovered.
10. Serve the chicken with the olive, garlic and lemon sauce as well as with some of the lemon slices.

~ “Laughter is brightest, where food is best.”‘ – Irish Proverb