Recipes for the Resistance—and Resilience

Looks like we’re in for the long haul when it comes to Covid-19—our new normal being that infection will be a present danger for longer than we can even imagine. Which means continuing to be as vigilant about Covid resistance as possible. I’ve been diffusing essential oils to support respiratory health, using nasya oil to keep my nasal passages lubricated, & slathering my feet with doTerra’s On Guard every morning—not because I’m paranoid, but because I believe in being proactive.

We have become experts on social-distancing, have curated a wardrobe of masks, & are still staying home more than we ever thought possible, except for mad dashes to imbibe some vitamin D(aylight) & catch a glimpse of another human. Hopefully we are all eating more, rather than less, healthfully, maybe because we have more time to cook and are inspired to do so.

Sugar inhibits the immune system, so this is not the time to be gorging on boxes of Trader Joe’s O’s, which also have the downside of causing the dreaded Covid-15. & I hate to be a party-pooper, but it is also not the time to be overindulging in alcohol. It is the time to be eating our fruits & veggies to suck down lots of micronutrients & getting lots of sleep. & it is also a good time to be otherwise supporting the immune system as much as possible so it can do the job it is designed to do.

With that in mind—& with the caveat that I am not a doctor or nutritionist or ayurvedic practitioner—I thought I’d share a few recipes to help you fight the good fight, to maintain your resistance. & don’t worry, I didn’t forget your sweet tooth!

 

Golden-Milk Chai

We have been advised to not only stay hydrated to keep our immune systems on the alert but to drink hot liquids, every 20 minutes, because they can wash the virus from the mouth into the stomach, where the acids kill it. Anything hot counts, except maybe a hot rum toddy! This golden-milk chai, which I’ve adapted from my acupuncturist Kate Blalack’s recipe, does double-duty on the heat front: its temperature is hot (warm counts) & it incorporates heat-inducing pepper & ginger. The turmeric adds an extra anti-inflammatory kick. Feel free to drop in two or three black tea bags for a caffeine infusion.

1-2 cinnamon sticks
5 cloves
5-10 peppercorns
Dash nutmeg
1 t whole cardamom seeds (no skins)
1 inch chopped fresh ginger
½ inch chopped fresh turmeric, or ¼-½ t ground turmeric
2-3 cups coconut milk, almond milk, or other nondairy milk*
Maple syrup
Coconut oil

• Add the spices to two to three cups water in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and simmer down to one cup over 15 to 30 minutes.
• At this point, the spices can be strained and the liquid concentrate refrigerated for up to a week for future use.
• When ready for some chai, add milk of choice to liquid concentrate in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Serve warm. Add maple syrup to taste & a teaspoon or two of coconut oil per cup.

Yield: About four smallish servings

*If you want to make your own oat milk, it’s a cinch: just throw 1/2 c oats + 2 c water + 1 pitted, chopped date + 1/2 t vanilla + a pinch sea salt into the blender & blend for about 30 seconds. Strain using a nut milk bag or fine cheese cloth or a fine mesh strainer. Voilà!

 

Immune-Boosting Fire Cider

My new favorite cocktail! Grand mistress of all things herbal Rosemary Gladstar concocted this elixir in the 1970s, combining the digestion-boosting & germ-fighting & anti-inflammatory properties of various ingredients into one potent potion. There are myriad recipes around for fire cider (& you can even just straight-out buy it, but how much fun would that be?), but the basic recipe calls for garlic, ginger, onion & horseradish macerated in apple cider vinegar.

Not only is making it not rocket science, but fire cider invites individual input. & especially these days when we are being called on to make do with what we have, to creatively leave out or sub in, we are encouraged to have our way with this project. Oh, yes, it is a bit of a project, as it needs to sit for at least three weeks (& up to six), but once made, it’ll last for quite a while—just start your next batch when you’re halfway through your current one. Here’s a breakdown of the basic ingredients:

• apple cider vinegar: improves digestion.
• horseradish: awesome artillery against sinus congestion & headaches.
• ginger: warming & wonderful for circulation & digestion; also helps fight infection.
• garlic: antimicrobial & antibacterial.
• onions: similar properties to garlic; also good for colds & flu.
• cayenne pepper: great for cardiovascular issues; also mobilizes the immune system & moves blood through your system.

You can find Rosemary’s original recipe here, but I just made this souped-up version courtesy of Martha Stewart (who knows a thing or two about confinement), which is insanely deeeelicious. (Note: I subbed maple syrup for honey, because the bees, & I used half the amount of sweetener, because I love a little pucker!)

If you are a virgin fire cider imbiber, you might want to dilute it in some warm water. It’s also nice to add a shot to some sparkling water, for a spritzer. I love mine straight up, no chaser necessary. I’m hoping that an ounce or two a day, in combination with all of my other healthy-self-care habits, will keep the doctor far far far away. Cheers!

 

Hand Cream for the Resistance

This is not edible, but it is Kate’s recipe for body butter. I use it for hand cream, because given all the washing & sanitizing these days, my hands crave the extra nourishment. I imagine yours do too.

Note: You can purchase ingredients online from Rebecca’s Apothecary.

½ c coconut oil
½ c light oil (olive, almond, jojoba, or avocado)
½ c cup shea butter
½ c cocoa butter
10-30 drops essential oil(s) of choice (optional)

• Combine all ingredients, except essential oils, in a double boiler or saucepan.
• Heat on low, stirring constantly until ingredients are melted, which may take a while.
• Place in the fridge for about an hour until it starts to harden around the edges but is still soft to the touch. Add essential oils at this point if using. (I’ve found that it’s best to err on the side of more rather than less essential oil, especially if the oil has a delicate scent, otherwise the shea & cocoa butters will overwhelm the scent.)
• Use a hand mixer to whip for 10 minutes or so until the mixture is lighter in color and fluffy.
• Store in a covered jar (ideally glass).

Yield: Enough for you & those nearest & dearest to you!

FYI
Because the skin is our largest organ, and it is permeable, it’s a good idea to use organic butters and oils if possible.

It can be a wee bit of a challenge to measure the butters accurately because they’re so chunky, which means your consistency may be a bit off the first time you make this. Not to worry: If the butter is too soft after whipping, just melt it again and add a bit more cocoa butter; if it’s too stiff, melt it again with more of the light oil you used. The butter will naturally be softer in the summer, firmer in the winter.

Good-quality natural butters and oils don’t contain preservatives and will go rancid over time. So do keep raw ingredients as well as most of your finished body butter in the fridge, transferring a small amount at a time to a jar in the bathroom.

 

Raw Brownies

This recipe is allegedly from The Green Moustache Cafe in Whistler, B.C. I say “allegedly” because a friend of a friend who took a raw food course through the café shared the recipe with me & said that’s where it came from. I also say “allegedly” because while these brownies are awesome, they aren’t exactly like the brownies I had at the café. And even though I have adapted the recipe, I wanted to give Green Moustache a shout-out because the food there is deeelish & I hope to ski in Whistler again & eat more of its yummy food.

Note: The basic brownie is divine as is; chocolate glaze &/or garnishes are optional. I mean, everything is optional these days—make it work for you! And do use organic ingredients if you can.

Brownie
¾ c walnuts
1 c medjool dates, pitted
¼ c cacao powder
½ t vanilla powder
Pinch sea salt
¼ t cayenne pepper*

Chocolate Oil for Glaze
1¼ c coconut oil, warmed to liquefy
¾ c + 2 T cacao powder
3½ T maple syrup
Pinch sea salt

Garnish
3 T shredded coconut
3 T cacao nibs
3 T crushed walnuts

Brownies: Throw the walnuts into a food processor & pulse until fine. Add the rest of the ingredients & pulse to form a dough. Press into a five-inch-square pan. Pop in the freezer for seven minutes to firm up or do so after you add garnish &/or glaze.

Glaze: Place all ingredients in a blender & blend until smooth. Drizzle over brownies to your heart’s content & either pop in the freezer now or add garnish first. (This makes about a pint, but, imo, you can never have too much chocolate oil on hand—it stores really well in the fridge or not; just warm gently when you’re ready to use again.)

Garnish: Press any or all of these ingredients into the brownies themselves or, if glazing, sprinkle on after you drizzle with chocolate oil.

Cut into squares of whatever size you want, but know that these are flavor- & nutrient-dense—a little goes a long way. FYI: I like to double the recipe & use a seven-inch-square pan for the fatness factor.

* or not! I sometimes use cinnamon for a different flavor profile. Bear in mind, though, that cayenne is an immune-system aide & that cinnamon has antiseptic as well as antibacterial properties—either way, you can make the excuse that these brownies are medicine!

 

Neo-Scout Cookies … Just Because

Perhaps my favorite cookie-cookie is the scout cookie at Watercourse in Denver, evidently an extravagant nod to Samoa Girl Scout cookies, introduced after my Girl Scout cookie-selling & -eating days were over. On the rare occasions I’d venture into Denver (why leave the Boulder bubble?) & meet a Denver friend for a meal at Watercourse, I’d grab a scout cookie to go with the intention of saving it for the next day since I was already comfortably bursting from my vegan-comfort-food dinner. Never happened. No sooner would I get into my car than I’d find my hand in the bag breaking off a chunk even as I was pulling out of my parking space & trying to remember how to get on I-25 from there.

The Watercourse Alternative

Since my trips to Denver are rare, I was thrilled when I discovered a very near substitute at the website In Johnna’s Kitchen. She calls her labor of love Recon Cookies (or Almost-Scout Cookies), because of all the reconnaissance involved in their creation. Huge props to Johnna for spending so much time in her test kitchen trying to get it right! They are “this” close to the Watercourse version, & truth be told, I prefer them because they aren’t as sweet. Which doesn’t mean I won’t grab a scout cookie the next time I’m at Watercourse.

Meanwhile, as I was looking for pix of scout cookies to share here (I ended up snapping my own damn cookies so as not to infringe on anyone’s copyright), I came across a paleo website with a version called Better Than Scout Cookies. Why, exactly, are they better? I wondered. So, in the interest of cookie science, I decided that I just had to smack down for you—plus, I really didn’t feel like grating sweet potato for the recon cookies, sweet potato being pretty much the sole difference between the two recipes. Naturally, I veganized the better-than version, swapping a flax egg (1T ground flax seed beaten with 3 T cold water) for the egg-egg & maple syrup (could’ve used coconut syrup) for the honey.

Sorry, the better-thans are good, & do evoke the essence of scout cookies, & I think you could eat them for breakfast without guilt, but they are not better than scout cookies or recons to satisfy a cookie-cookie & scout-cookie craving. Why don’t you do your own taste-test & see which ones you prefer?

One more thing: For dipping & drizzling, I prefer chocolate oil to chocolate chips, which are just too sugary for my taste, so check out the recipe in the raw brownies, above. & don’t be stingy—these cookies benefit from a healthy dose of chocolate.

Bon appétit & bonne santé!

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