Category Archives: Recipes

One of my favorite foods

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I was first introduced to Pho (pronounced Fuh) when we visited Vietnam in 2002. We made the journey to attend my brother-in-law’s wedding (lucky us) where I instantly fell in love with Pho and ate it every chance I got, a.k.a. daily. Pho is basically a rice noodle soup, a street food, a traditional a breakfast food, and how you start the day.  But, nowadays you can get it any time of day and almost anywhere. In Vietnam, it is eaten like we would eat cereal or eggs in the States. Pho Bo made with beef tends to be most popular but I prefer  Pho Ga made with chicken. On the way home from Vietnam, Mike bought a cookbook at the airport, so he could make delicious Pho Ga anytime – lucky me.

Mathew and his cousins

Mathew and his cousins

Last week my brother-in-law and his family came to visit us. We had a great time catching up. Mathew loved playing with his two cousins who are around his age. Whenever we visit with Eric’s family, we always eat very well and this time was no exception.  Lien, Eric’s wife really enjoys cooking and is a wonderful cook. While visiting, Lien made us some delicious dishes and Pho Ga was one of them. I asked Lien to write up her recipe and here it is.

Lien preparing the chicken for the Pho Ga

Lien preparing the chicken for the Pho Ga

Pho Ga (chicken pho) recipe:

Whole chicken

Dried rice noodle (banh pho noodle)

Fish Sauce

Shallots 4-5

Ginger 2 inches

Cilantro

Green onion

Salt

Pickled garlic (side dish):

Garlic

Red hot chili peppers

Rice Vinegar

How to do:

Put the chicken in a big pot with water covering up to one inch above the whole chicken. Roast ginger and shallots until brown outside. Peel the shallot and put ginger and shallots in with the chicken. Boil up, season soup with fish sauce, and salt to taste. Let the chicken boil in the soup for about 15 minutes, and then turn it to low and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Test by poking into the thick part of the chicken like the thigh, if no red juice comes out, it’s ready to be taken out. After the chicken is taken out, let it rest until the whole chicken is cooled, so the meat won’t be falling apart into small bits when being cut. When completely cooled, cut meat across the grains into small pieces.

Boil the dry rice noodle. Let the water boil up and then turn down to low, simmering until the noodle tested soft. Drain the water and run the noodle under cold water until cool if it’s not used right away. If the noodle is going to be served right away, put it into bowls. If used later, the noodle needs to be warmed up again by pouring hot water or hot soup over it before pouring the serving soup in.

Chop green onion and cilantro very small. Prepare the garlic vinegar by slicing the garlic and chili peppers and pour rice vinegar covering the pieces.

Arrange chicken pieces on top of the warm noodle in each bowl. Sprinkle green onion and cilantro on top. Pour hot boiling chicken broth in. Serve with a piece of lime or the pickled garlic peppers and chili sauce.

ENJOY!

Pho Ga -YUM!

Pho Ga -YUM!

 

Herbal Jello

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herbal jelloI was talking with a parent at Mathew’s school the other day. Apparently, her daughter suffers from numerous allergies that range from seasonal to food. Unfortunately, it has not only limited her daughter’s options but now she is scared to try most new things in fear that she may have an allergic reaction. Of course, I shared my experience with goldenrod with the mom. She was rather excited to try something new with her daughter. She did warn me though that her daughter was a very picky eater and may not try the goldenrod.

Since the girl was very particular about what she ate or consumed, I first gave them dried goldenrod to make tea. I wanted to start slowly.  Unfortunately, she had never drunk tea before and was not going to start with goldenrod. A while ago, I read about herbal jello in James Green’s “The Herbal Medicine-Maker’s Handbook,” and it seemed worth a try. Even though I have never made jello before, I took his recipe and adapted it.

Mathew and I were so amazed how easy it was to make jello. I decided not to use the official Jell-o brand jello since I was able find a healthier version in the local health food store. It has less additives and ingredients. Less is always better in my book. Moreover, I didn’t want anything unnecessary in the jello; remember the girl had a lot of food allergies.  I put the jello in a pan large enough that I could make each jello square equivalent to a half dose of goldenrod. This would allow for multiple doses throughout the day, if needed.

Goldenrod Herbal Jello recipe

1oz. goldenrod tincture

1 box of jello

2 cups boiling water

Mix all the ingredients together in a 6 x 8 rectangular glass dish. Put into your refrigerator until it sets, this may take a couple of hours. If you cut the jello into 1 inch squares, you should get 48 squares. Then cover and refrigerate them. I took a couple of squares out and left them uncovered in the refrigerator. I heard uncovered jello would get gummy – kind of like a gummy bear.

Mathew was again a great guinea pig and my chief taster. He decided that it didn’t taste bad but was able to detect a little goldenrod after-taste. He preferred the jello to the gummy jello. Unfortunately, the girl did not feel comfortable trying the goldenrod jello. We will never know if goldenrod would help her allergies. Nonetheless, it was a great exercise and I have another herbal tool available. I did discover that for myself, a goldenrod herbal jello square lasted longer than straight goldenrod tincture. Therefore, I needed less goldenrod throughout the day to solve my allergy problems. I suspect digestion played a critical role as it allowed the goldenrod to be released more slowly into my system.

All information is shared for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition.