Congee

            A traditional breakfast food in China, congee is made by simmering rice with five times its amount in water. The result is a thin, nutritional porridge. Congee can be simmered from half an hour to five or six hours, with the longer duration producing the more powerful congee. Reputed to soothe digestion and tonify the blood, congee can be easily made at home and is a perfect first food for those recovering from the stomach flu. Congee is a soothing food for the chronically ill and is said to increase the milk flow in nursing mothers. The liquid from the congee can be poured off and administered to infants, as well as those who are unable to hold down solid food.

Burnet

            The cucumber-like flavor of this native European perennial herb will enhance any salad; in fact, it is often known as salad burnet. Easy to grow, burnet will provide leaves all year round and actually prefers dry, poor soil, so even those with brown thumbs can give burnet a try! It will also add a spark to iced drinks and creamed vegetable dishes. The tea made from its dried leaves is useful as a cleansing tonic; it also has certain antiseptic qualities, is soothing when applied to skin wounds, calms the stomach, and is said to stem the flow of blood. To brew burnet tea, steep 1 teaspoons dried leaves in 2 cups boiling water for about 15 minutes.