Ginger is Your Winter Survival Ingredient

Have you got a cold/ flu? Or have you got the symptoms? I'm just recovering from one. Not sure about you but I've never taken the flu jab because I don't like the idea of it and I try to avoid taking things that contains all sorts of chemical as much as possible. I prefer natural remedies and being a Chinese descent girl I am surrounded by herbal ingredients at home. 

Whenever I have a cold/flu, my cure is ginger tea. I swear by it! In a Chinese household you will definitely find ginger lying around in the kitchen. The Chinese use ginger in their cooking, sauces, drinks and to marinate food. 

This simple ginger tea recipe was introduced to me by my parents, it will help you beat the winter cold and reduce the suffering of a flu. It usually takes me about 2 weeks to get rid of a cold but taking this ginger tea daily has helped me get rid of the sniffles in a week. 

Ginger can also treat nausea and studies have found that it fight numerous diseases. Ginger contains vitamin B3, B6,C, E, folic acid, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, zinc, gingerol, phenols and volatile oil. Really this root is a superfood or super root. 

Lets get started....

You will need about 2 inches of ginger root.

Peel the skin and slice it

Put the slices of ginger into a pot of water. Bring the water to boil.

Once it starts boiling, simmer it for another 10 minutes over low heat with the lid on. It is essential to let it simmer for a little longer because this process brings out the flavour of the ginger, making the tea spicy. I love that kick it gives my throat, makes me feel that the ginger is dissolving the bacteria at the back of my throat. 

The tea is brown because I added muscovado sugar for a bit of sweetness. You can add manuka honey. Make sure it is not regular honey because manuka honey is the only type of honey that can resist high temperature. The minerals and nutrients in regular honey will be lost in high temperature. For an extra boost of vitamin C add a slice of lemon. 

This ginger tea is not only good for treating cold and flu but also good for warming up and an immune booster. For more ginger tea recipe have a look at  Aloha's Cranberry Ginger Tea. It's a good detox tea which is probably what everyone is looking for in January.  Aloha is a healthy lifestyle inspired company that offers many recipes that can really keep the winter blues away. They are loaded with superfoods and many natural ingredients that we need!. 

What are your cold and flu remedies? How do you have ginger and what do you use it for?

{Recipe} First Breakfast in 2015- Oatmeal Crepes

Happy New Year!! Hope you all had a good New Years Eve. Mine was boring because I wasn't feeling well and so went to bed after watching the fireworks on TV. Anyways this morning felt like making some of my healthy pancakes since I haven't made some in a while.

As I was getting all the ingredients ready I realised I didn't have any baking powder so I decided to make crepes instead. I opened the fridge and there was no milk!! Since I was in the mood of making pancake/crepes, there was no way I was going to scrap the idea. I wanted pancakes! So then I decided to try making crepes with water. In fact it turned out really well.


Ingredients (all measurements are an estimate):
- 1/2 cup of rolled out oats
- 300 ml of water
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tsp of cinnamon powder (optional)

Method:

Put all ingredients into a blender. I was worried the water will make the batter too runny so I added chia seeds to make the batter a bit thicker.

Heat a non-stick pan with a bit oil. Pour a bit of mixture into the pan. Cook each side for about 1 minute. Enjoy flipping the crepes!

This recipe makes about 8 crepes. The crepes are bit brown because I added cinnamon powder to the batter. I love cinnamon!

I felt like having chocolate spread with banana so I melted some dark chocolate on a double boiler.

Voila! Healthy oatmeal crepes was my first breakfast of 2015. What was your first breakfast?