This time of the year, back to school and changing weather all signal one thing: COLD SEASON!

The Sell family is not immune, though we strive to be one of these years. When our family got hit hard just two weeks ago, we felt it out for a couple days to see what we were dealing with. As Ethan and I progressed through the coughs and sniffles, Andy, Liam and Elly remained immune. Within a week, however, Andy succumbed to some sort of cold variation that was completely different than Ethan's and my symptoms.

Within a few days, he was coughing very hard and deep. One day he was laid out completely and that's when we started looking online for symptom descriptions. I found a site on the Mayo Clinic website. There we saw that most of what he was suffering matched up to Whooping Cough, or Pertussis.

A home diagnosis is not as reliable as the sort of diagnosis a doctor's office would give, seeing as they take swabs and samples to verify in a lab. However, given the general public fear of this bacterial infection and the way we've seen whole families quarantined by the county, we decided to play it safe and keep Andy at home. Whenever there is a case of whooping cough, it is blasted all over the news and people are urged to get in right away for the pertussis shot or a booster, especially kids.

We don't believe in vaccinating our kids. As I write that, I realize I'm stating it like a religion, but that's how militant the government and local health authorities have gotten about vaccination. You pretty much have to say it goes against one's religion in order to get a "pass" for your family. That's messed up. One of the minor reasons we are homeschooling is so we don't have to compulsorily shoot up our kids for public school.

Many of you might believe differently about this and that's ok. I'm not here to make converts. Andy and I have simply done some research and looked deeper than the photocopied handouts from the CDC that we always get at each well-checkup. Being spoon-fed anything is not always Truth.

That being said, we didn't want one of several things to happen upon a doctor's visit:

1. Being forced to explain our kids' lack of "up to date" immunizations when it's none of their business.

2. Possibly being quarantined when we have no plans to leave our home anytime soon anyway.

3. Causing a major "outbreak" fear mongering of the media and hospitals.

4. The only thing doctors give for pertussis is antibiotics which we avoid at all costs anyway, since even one dose severely damages the essential gut flora necessary for proper immunities in the first place.

Whew. That was a lot. I'm getting to the point of this post, trust me!

While Andy lay resting in bed, I took a break to look up some herbal remedies for whooping cough and learn more about the infection online. I came across a wonderfully written blog article at Natural Home, a sister publication of GRIT magazine. We love Natural Home for its many eco-conscious building ideas and home accessories. One of their bloggers, Heidi Cardenas, had some ideas for licking the cough right at home with some common household spices and herbs. Her ideas explain the individual benefits of a variety of herbs and spices, each with its own cough-fighting properties.

Here is her link: Natural Home Remedies for Treating Whooping Cough

When I read the short post to Andy, he said..."That sounds a lot like the ingredients for mustard."

And so began our experiment: Mighty Mustard. Below, Andy details the ingredients and prep.

   

MIGHTY MUSTARD 

The flavor is intense. You may have to tweak it based on your level of taste comfort. Do this with water; you want a consistency like a thin paste or a slightly thick mustard. It will be slightly grainy and the onion and garlic will be very fragrant.

Use high quality, organic and raw whenever possible, especially the onions, garlic and ginger as they are the powerhouses of this recipe.

Ingredients 

1/4 Cup turmeric

1 half head garlic, peeled

1 Tbsp mustard

1/4 white onion

1 Tbsp mustard seed

4 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp mineralized sea salt (we use Redmond's)

3 Tbsp fresh ginger (finely grated and compressed)

4 Tbsp Bragg's apple cider vinegar

water to taste/texture

1 Tbsp cinnamon

Add all but water to food processor and blend on high until VERY smooth. Slowly add the water until you are at the desired consistency. If the sharpness is too strong, cut it with another tbsp or two of honey. If it is still too intense, cut it with more water. Flavor mellows with age so the more you make the more palatable it is. Stays for up to a month in the fridge.

Take one tablespoon four to five times per day, or once every four hours when ill. Take as a condiment for preventative care whenever you are well.

The reason we are even sharing this with you all today is because it worked miraculously! Andy wanted to call it Spicy Death Kill because the intensity of the flavors melding together, but he dutifully took one spoonful every few hours washed down with a glass of water. We began this experiment late morning and by evening, he was showing a reduction in coughs by two thirds and when he did cough, it wasn't the deep body cough of the pertussis; it was a phlegm extracting cough. The garlic, ginger and turmeric are all expectorants, as well as anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-spasmodic.

The next day Andy continued the regime and he was nearly back to his normal self with energy, vibrant color and very few whooping-type coughs (though some still crop up).

We are not doctors. We don't boast any sort of treatment background; we just know this worked in our family. It's worth a try in yours. You know ol' Gramps had some sort of ointment or oil he always took everyday and swore by it. Mighty Mustard (aka: Spicy Death Kill) might always be in our fridge as an immune building condiment. Perhaps it should be in yours as well!

PS: Don't be pushed into doing anything you are not sure of. The pertussis vaccine doesn't even work effectively beyond three years and when there have been outbreaks, just as many immunized people as un-immunized were sick with the cough. In fact in some cases, more immunized people were sick than those that had not taken the shot. Food for thought, friends:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/30/whooping-cough-vaccine.aspx 

For the Young’ens…or those with no heat tolerance like me! 

This is for my friend Jill, who had a very good question. She asked with the last post if there was a way to make the Mighty Mustard a little more palatable for kids not too keen on eating a super spicy condiment. Unfortunately, the mustard itself gets its kick from the very items that are the most healthy for one's body: garlic, turmeric, ginger and onions. While we discovered that the mustard's strong flavors definitely mellow after a day or two in the refrigerator and continue to mellow every day it sits, the Mighty-ness of the condiment remained far too strong for our children to take it with a smile.

Therefore, I had a backup plan for the kids. (And me!) We haven't seen the miraculously quick results of the one-day of treatment that Andy saw with Mighty Mustard, but we have seen results. As well, there is science behind these simple ingredients and they can be found at most health food stores. We found ours at NDC in Oshkosh for those of you local to the Fox Valley.

Remember, homemade or raw is best when you can get it.

Kid-Friendly Tonic for Cold and Flu

1 teaspoon Colloidal Silver (optional*)

1 teaspoon Elderberry reduction (syrup)

4-6 oz orange or apple juice (preferably fresh squeezed, but whatever you can get is fine)

Mix all three ingredients in your child's favorite cup and serve with breakfast. Tell them it’s a berry orange juice and let them have it. Serve up to four times per day for to 7 days.

   

Above, you can see the brands we found at Nutrition Discount Center last week. Both are super kid friendly and the directions tell you how much to serve based on age. I drank a teaspoonful of the elderberry syrup by itself as it was so tasty but my kids seemed to prefer it "watered down" with juice. Also, they are not sold with child safety caps, probably because it would be hard to overdose on a natural thing like elderberry. Even still, don't let your toddler grab it while you are preparing breakfast. They are smart little buggers and want to do exactly as Mommy does. See below for evidence of Liam's Hitler-esque elderberry experience.

   

Now that you have the recipe, I'll talk a bit on the health benefits of colloidal silver and elderberry.

Colloidal Silver

Much to our amazement, the slightly yellow water is nothing but silver added to water at the molecular level. That's it! But it's been used for centuries as an anti-bacterial agent and for disinfecting medical tools and instruments. When anti-biotics became prevalent in the 1940's, the use of colloidal silver declined dramatically until in 1975, the medical establishment declared that oral ingestion of the silver had no substantiated claims to helping build up immunities and clear out viruses for colds and flu.

*Now I am not medically trained and I don't have sufficient background to refute or endorse those claims. This is why I put it as optional in your tonic. We use it because we have talked to a couple people who have used it to great success in killing off all variations of the sorts of colds that hit people this time of year. Two actually are trained medical professionals and therefore gave us peace in allowing our kids to have a sip of this unique water.

Something to note here is that we swear by raw milk and will always drink raw milk, which has been consumed by humans for millennia. Only in the 1930's did they decide that maybe it might not be the best and then as the the years passed, it became a "serious public health risk." We have done our research on that and have decided to go with the alternative health community and drink to our hearts' content the un-cooked milk product the medical establishment so adamantly abhors. Not everything the medical community deems “worthless” is actually so.

Elderberry Syrup

This is far less controversial and I only looked it up after two moms in my world recommended it for our kids' colds. Knowing a tad bit on the herbal remedies that elderberries are known for, I looked into it further, lamenting that I had missed the season of harvest right here in my area by only a month or two. (Next year, baby!!)

Elderberry syrup alone is known for its ability to treat those with colds and flu, causing their symptoms to subside days earlier than those who did not take the elderberry. It has strong antioxidants and has even been used for anti-cancer properties in patients. Because it is readily available in the northern hemisphere, it makes sense to me that the berry has been used for so many centuries in North America, Europe and Asia for the curative remedies. Even the medical establishment is beginning to green light this one. :-)

Below is a link to a two minute video put out by Fox News just this past March on the health benefits of elderberry. Enjoy!

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1526868241001/health-benefits-of-elderberry/

When asked about her potato salad recipe, Mom said, “As many eggs as potatoes,” and she went on to explain the rest of her recipe: celery, onion, perhaps celery seed (something Nanie, my grandmother, used most of the time), mustard, real mayonnaise, salt and pepper.

“I prefer chunks of potatoes,” Mom says, “kind of on the large side, and not overcooked.” She doesn’t like too much mayo, adds everything to taste, and uses mustard for its flavor.

When I asked Aunt Jean for her potato salad recipe, she said, “An egg for every potato,” and Mom and I laughed, then explained. Sisters!

Aunt Jean uses mayonnaise, mustard, a little onion, sometimes onion powder or celery seed, and she sometimes adds a little pickle juice in the mayo, and salt and pepper to taste. She says she always chills it a while before serving.

Next to be on the receiving end of my potato salad recipe questions was Aunt Mary Ethel. She prefers using new potatoes, peeled and chopped, a couple of boiled eggs, a tablespoon or so of dill relish, a half-and-half combination of real mayonnaise and sour cream, a good squirt of mustard, a half tablespoon of celery seed, and salt and pepper to taste. She says when she has fresh onion, cucumbers, celery or tomato, a bit of that will find its way into the salad, but not often. She likes a full bite of potato, so she doesn’t chop them much.

“There’s a different flavor with new potatoes,” Mary Ethel says. “They’re firmer and don’t need as much dressing.”

She doesn’t mind sweet relish in someone else’s potato salad, but she doesn’t use it.

Off to talk with Aunt Mary Kaye. One note before I go on, Mary Kaye makes the best pickles, particularly hot pickles. They’re terrific on a turkey sandwich!

 Mary Kaye’s recipe for potato salad goes like this: leftover potatoes, cool, and mushed with a potato masher. Add hardboiled eggs, onion, sweet pickles, dill pickles, hot pickles (I love this recipe!), some pickle juice added to the Miracle Whip (light), mustard, a “strinkle” of sugar to cut the tangy mustard, and salt and pepper.

My sister Katherine was next on my list. She leaves the skins on her boiled potatoes, adds hardboiled eggs, onion, dill pickles (yes!), as much mayonnaise as needed, a squirt of yellow mustard, maybe a little pickle juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Katherine likes her potatoes in larger pieces, and her salad with lots of eggs, dill pickles and onion.

Two e-mails later, and I am now the proud possessor of recipes from my sisters Tricia and Mary.

“Be happy to share my recipe except I don’t use one,” Tricia writes. “My typical potato salad is made with cooked red potatoes (sometimes new), hardboiled eggs and green onion. Use half mayonnaise and half plain low-fat yogurt with mustard, Mrs. Dash, salt and pepper. I try to cut the potatoes into bite-size piece before cooking them, and I try not to overcook the potatoes, but usually that’s just a dream. Nothing fancy, but it usually tastes pretty good. A little different because of the yogurt.”

Mary says she’s the only one in her family to eat potato salad. “I like it simple – boiled potatoes, mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper. Then I dress up the leftovers with diced ham, and maybe a bit of grated cheese.”

She, like others in my family, doesn’t buy potato salad in stores. Mary says it’s always way too sweet. Mom says another of her sisters, Anna Mae, used to bring store-bought potato salad home, only to doctor it to suit her taste.

My try (in photograph) this weekend came out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Red-skinned potatoes, hardboiled eggs, a few dill pickles (it really needs more), mayonnaise, a dash of pickle juice, and a large squirt of spicy mustard. I cooked the potatoes in the microwave, for about 15 minutes (in increments of 5 minutes), and they’re not too mushy this time around. I used four fairly good sized potatoes, and five hardboiled eggs – didn’t want to end the family tradition! I also didn’t go overboard on the mayo, something I struggle with when making these types of salads.

Until I asked about family recipes, I’d never thought to cut the mayo with pickle juice, sour cream or yogurt. Since I tried the pickle juice this time, with good results, I’ll try sour cream or yogurt the next time around. It’s time to expand my horizons!

 

Kate and I enjoy a relatively calm existence at home, but when it comes to potato salad, there’s nothing calm about it. Kate really loves traditional German-style potato salad – I like the stuff well enough, but in my book, it just isn’t salad. It is potato casserole, no doubt about it. And I can say that because I am pretty close to half German. Whoever heard of a salad that was served hot? It will wilt all the fresh greenery if you give it half a chance. Oh, wait, that sauerkraut is already pretty well wilted, isn’t it? Don’t get me wrong, I love so-called German Potato Salad; it just isn’t salad.

The way I see it, when it comes to potato salad, there is only one approach. The recipe calls for potatoes, preferably new, red, thin-skinned potatoes; hardboiled eggs, preferably sliced or diced whole; garden fresh yellow- or white-skinned onion; fresh dill weed; celery; and any other interesting looking green garden herbs. Finally, you need some sort of dressing. I prefer Newman’s Own Italian (Caesar will do if your wife has thrown the Italian out). Oh, did I mention that Kate doesn’t like Italian dressing? What?

OK, so you boil the spuds whole (with the skins on) until they are firm … not soft and not crunchy. You can tell when they are done by periodically testing pieces with a little butter and pepper on them. Once the potatoes are just right, run cold water into the boiling pot and let them sit until cool. This is a good time to go pull an onion or two and some fresh celery.

Once the potatoes are cool, cut them into the right-sized pieces. I leave the skin on. I usually shoot for cubes roughly ½ inch across. Place them in a bowl and gently toss them with Italian dressing. Newman’s Own is a little too red for my ideal potato salad vision, but I like the stuff and what it stands for. When you have enough dressing … you will know (trust me) … cover the bowl and let it sit while you consume a frosty beverage under the hackberry tree.

On the way back into the house, cut some chive if you want a little more onion flavor. Chop the onion, celery and any other greenery into appropriately sized pieces and toss them into the bowl of marinating potatoes. Add as much mayonnaise as you like and mix the whole works gently. I like freshly ground black pepper, so that’s what I top this salad off with.

I can’t give you exact quantities for my favorite potato salad, because I never know exactly how many potatoes I will have the energy to dig. And if I am short a tablespoonful of mayo or Italian dressing, there’s no harm – you can’t tell Kate though, because if you don’t follow the recipe exactly, it just isn’t right.  

One thing about me that I know Kate and I both agree on is that wherever we wind up eating, if there is potato salad on the menu, I have to try it. I tried some the other day at a friend’s house, and it was yummy. Yummy enough that I asked for the recipe – it wasn’t German or French potato salad – it was lovely and delicious, the way potato salad is meant to be.  

What do you think? Is German potato salad really salad? Does mustard belong in potato salad? How about sour cream? What’s your favorite recipe for this ultimate summertime comfort food?