Sore Throats

Sore Throats are never fun. Feeling a sore throat coming on is a very daunting feeling. Being in the throws of a sore throat and not getting to enjoy anything tasty in your mouth let alone the feeling of it going down your throat is the worst.

So here is what we do when it comes to sore throats:

Tea Tree Lick Trick
The moment you feel the sore throat coming on place one drop of Tea Tree Essential Oil on the back of your hand lick it off swirl it around in your mouth and hold it at the back of your throat for a few seconds before swallowing. You repeat this method every minute for ten minutes. So by the time you are done you have licked ten drops of tea tree in all. Tea Tree kills anything virus.

And just for the record I am not a fan of this method, Tea Tree hits my gag reflex every time and I am usually only able to make it 3 licks. However I have seen others make it the full ten licks, with great success.

My preferred method when it comes to sore throats  to place three drops of tea tree on my palm and rub it all over my neck making sure to include my mastoid process. When I am getting into bed this is when I do this method, and then I pull the covers up to my nose and inhale moist Tea Tree air. By morning the Sore throat is gone or very minute. If I wake during the night and my throat is feeling sore from nasal dripage that has happened during the night I quickly rub tea tree on and get under the covers.

During the day if I feel the sore throat coming on I quickly make up a batch of Traditional Medicinals Lemon Echinacea Throat Coat Tea. That tea works mircales. Evening if your throat is feeling the worst pain the tea helps to soothe your throat.

If your throat hurts from an abundant amount of cheering and screaming or reading out loud for 8 hours straight Lemon Honey Water is very soothing.

Raw Cereal

I am so excited! I just had a dear friend send me an ingredient list for a raw cereal and the basic directions for how to do it. So we got to try our first raw cereal. It was delicious.  I was completely shocked that we had never eaten it before. The idea was so simple, extremely easy and very tasty. We have not had box cereal in a very long time. So it was nice, especially now that it is summer again, to be able to have a cold cereal that we could pour milk over and enjoy.

The concept is very simple and portions don't matter. You can do this however your family likes. What I am saying is that there is no wrong way to do it.

In my cabinet I have a variety of dried berries and nuts, along with several different grains and seeds. Our first raw cereal included: hulled buckwheat, sunflower seeds, almonds, cinnamon, dried apples, goji berries, cranberries, and currants. Really simple.

The best way is to prep the mixture the night before. Put the mixture you want into a bowl, toss in a dash or two of cinnamon, and then cover with water and let soak overnight.  In the morning, drain off any excess water, dish into bowls and serve with milk or fruit juice. Grab a spoon and enjoy.

From Stale to Wow

So we seem to be on an old food kick lately, or maybe it is that I am finally clearing out the back corners of my cabinets. In all I found 5 opened and never finished bag of tortilla chips. More than stale, and in some cases like trying to eat bark. So I whipped up some home made enchilada sauce and layered chips, cheese, chicken, chips, and cheese in a rectangular baker.  Poured the warm enchilada sauce evenly over the top of it all,  topped with more cheese, covered and let it set for 30 minutes. After it looked like the chips had absorbed a lot, I stuck the pan in the oven and baked it covered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Tasty and very easy.

More Than What You Think of as Edible!

 

It is incredibly fun to forage in the yard and around in the garden for a meal. More than what you think in your yard is edible, more than what I know of out there is edible. Everyday I seem to learn about something new out there that can be eaten.  

We eat our weeds, my husband likes to tell people "we take our revenge out on the weeds by eating them. " I remember a time when we would pull up every weed muttering curses at the birds that spread the seeds in the yard. Now I find my self purposefully not pulling every weed and making a mental note of where to go in the yard the next time I am foraging for a salad.  

Weeds in our yard that we eat:

Dandelions

Lambs Quarters 

Purslane

Flowers in our yard that we eat:

Dandelion

Nasturtiums

Squash 

Chive (Ten times stronger and only good before they dry on the stem)

The other part of the Garden you can eat:

Carrot tops (preferably when they are still young and tender)

Broccoli Leaves

Beet tops (preferably while young and tender)

Grape Leaves

Truth be told not everything that is foraged and edible taste good. Some definitely fall into the bitter herb category. And there are certain ones that I will never throw into a smoothie again. I love green smoothies, but sometimes that "green flavor"  can be a little too green. 

They say there are people who go to bed hungry while there is a whole meal in their backyard.

Serendipitous Old Beans

I cooked up some old white beans the other day and they never went soft during the cooking process, and oh boy did I cook them. So while the beans were warm I threw them into the blender with dried onion, dried parsley and created a delicious bean puree/paste.  I served the bean mixture on top of brown rice with shredded cheese, chopped tomatoes, and chives = very delicious! And everyone begged for seconds, thirds, and even a few fourths.

Keeping Us Healthy One Dish at a Time!

I am a hand washer when it comes to doing dishes. I did own a dishwasher for 9 months before giving it the boot. So call me an antique I love to hand wash. I take this opportunity while hand washing the dishes, to help keep us a little healthier.

So here is how it works:

Tea Tree kills Bacteria
Euclyptus kills Virus

Whenever I wash dishes and especially if I am worried about some serious sick germs on the dishes I mix in a few drops of Eucalyptus Globulus in with my dish soap before filling the sink with water.  The extra added benefit to doing this is the wonderful aroma that surrounds me while washing dishes. Mixing the oil in with the dish soap makes it so that the oil gets fully dispersed into the dish waster, and doesn't just float on top of the water.

This is also doable if you have a dishwasher. When you fill your soap dispenser just mix in a few drops of essential oil with the dishwasher detergent.