Chrysanthemum Soup/Soft Drink Recipe

This chrysanthemum soup or soft drink is great when you are feeling a bit under the weather. When you are having a nasty feeling in your throat or that you are having a cough, this helps you feel better and recover quicker. This drink has the ability to help clear your throat, enhance your skin elasticity, has vitamin C, and most importantly for my kids it tastes good. I make this drink sometimes not because I feel under the weather but just because it taste good too.


Ingredients:
1/4 cup of dried chrysanthemum
1 tbsp of honey
1/4 cup of rock sugar (more or less depending on your taste)
8 cups of water

Preparation:

Boil 8 cups of water in a pot.  Add all ingredients into the boiling water and let it boil for 15 minutes turn down the stove and let it cook for another half an hour on low.  Then serve cold or hot.

Ginger, Sweet Vinegar and Pig Feet Soup

This is one of my favorite soup.  I don't know why hated it when I was little.  Probably the same reason why my kids hate it now.  I have grown a taste for this soup and to know that it's very good for me it's a good thing.  It is also a good thing the kids don't like this soup, as this soup is not really that good for kids to drink.  The ginger and the sweet vinegar might be too much for the kids to handle.  Ginger also has a bit of a strong smell and taste where kids and some adults don't like.  This soup is traditional made for post natal (after preganancy) for the mothers to eat and drink to help them get their strength back and to help circulate the blood. 


Ingredients:
Ginger (8 big ones)
Sweet Vinegar ( One huge jug)
One whole pig foot
Black Rice Vinegar (optional)
Salt
Hard boiled eggs (optional)
Preparation:
Wash, cut and stir fry ginger in a big pan.  Put pig feet in a huge pot of boiling water.  After ten minutes take pig feet out and wash and clean.  Place ginger, pig feet and enough sweet vinegar to cover the pig foot and ginger add a pinch of salt then cover the ceramic pot and let it cook on high till it boils then turn down heat to low or medium and let it cook for serveral hours.  I usually let it cook for about 8 to ten hours.  Then, add some hard boil eggs into it if you like.  ***Note here don't use any other kind of pot to cook the last step but a ceramic pot.  I found the slow cooker to be the best option for me. 

Snow Ear, Red Dates and Apple Dessert

I love eating apples.  They do say that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I don't just like eating apples plan but I also like to cook with them.  Apples are known to be very good for you.  It may reduce the risk of certain cancer, help with digestion, has vitamin C, rich in antioxidant, help lose weight, and many other benefits.  Red dates  and snow ear you can read the benefits from the older posts on here.  This dessert with the three combo can help you keep fit (controlling weight), help with fatigue, balancing your complexion, and help nourish your skin.  This dessert is good for everyone in your family to eat.


Ingredients:
  1 to 2 apples sliced
small handful of red dates
one big snow ear
1/2 cup of rock sugar (more or less depending how sweet you like your dessert)

Preparation:
Boil 8 cups of water, place all ingredients into the boiling water.  Let it boil for ten minutes then turn down the heat and let it cook for an hour then turn off heat. Serve hot or place it into the fridge and serve as a cold drink.

Dried Seabed Coconut (Hoy Dai Yeh)

Dried seabed coconut (hoy dai yeh) is sweet and very good for you.  It can benefit you when you have a cough by moistening your lungs, removing heat and toxins from your body.  It can also help you naturally nourish your skin to give you that youthful glow like complexion.

I have used this herb to make my sweet herbal soup.  The ingredients calls for lean pork, apples and some other yummy herbs.  Have to say that this is one of my kids favorite soup.