First I tried a couple recipes from a book called "Jude's Herbal Home Remedies" which is not endorsed by the WAPF or anything but I found it at Goodwill and it looked like fun. The first one involved simmering 1 1/2 quarts of water with 1/2 cup of rice in it and then drinking the water. Jude says to flavor it with vanilla and sugar or cinnamon. I added a bunch of cinnamon since another concoction of hers says cinnamon is a stimulant that makes you sweat, which sounded like a good idea. The drink tastes OK but I didn't notice any relief from my symptoms (or excessive sweating).
I also made a drink with ginger, honey and raisins that you strain and then add juice from lemons and oranges. That was really tasty and soothing. I think I put too much honey in though because it tasted SUPER sweet. I had a stomachache later on, but it also might have been from the movie theater popcorn when I went to go see "Notorious," which was really good.
Then I made some chicken stock with a leftover carcass I had frozen and a big bag of chicken feet I bought from Abundant Life Farm. Now that's something that Sally would approve of! When it cooled it was very gelatinous from the cartilage in the feet (gross!) but that's a good thing because gelatin is supposedly really good for you and has been used as a successful treatment for a host of ailments. It turned out really good and I made the BEST chicken noodle soup with some homemade egg noodles!
The way I made it was to put all the chicken parts in a giant pot with three carrots, an onion and a bunch of celery, all chopped, and simmered it six hours. I added a bunch of parsley (not chopped) to the pot 10 minutes away from the end. That all got strained and skimmed of fat. For the noodles I mixed about 1 cup flour with 1 beaten egg and formed a smooth ball, adding more flour if it got sticky. I rolled it real thin and cut it into strips and added those to the broth along with salt and pepper once it was back on the stove and boiling.
