Bonks and Bangs

Early on I discovered that Geranium is one of my favorite essential oils. Why you might ask? Geranium is the "go to" oil for when you get hurt. Geranium stops internal damage decreases swelling get the body fluids moving to where they need to be, and helps to soothe the pain.

Three years ago I landed hard on my tail bone and crunched my rib cage, three days after the fact  and still in a great amount of pain, it finally clicked in my head that I should have rubbed Geranium on. Instantly I was rubbing on the geranium, sweet relief.  Recently I fell down the stairs while carrying my toddler, seriously sprained my ankle and put a small fracture in the end of my elbow. Ouch! Before I even got up from the fall my daughter was rubbing Geranium on my foot and elbow. Then there was the time.....you get the picture.

Geranium isn't just for big injuries, my children love our "Bonks and Bangs" mixture that we have put together. Anytime they fall, hit their head on the corner of a wall, drop something on a toes, jam a finger, collide with each other, etc. we rub this mixture on them and they feel loads better. To make "Bonks and Bangs" in a 4oz dropper bottle place 8-10 drops geranium oil and fill the rest of the way with a carrier oil (I prefer grape seed oil). If you want to boost the healing properties of this mix you can add 2 drops of Lavender oil to the bottle.

If it happens to be summer time and my children hit the asphalt a little too hard and they have an open wound, then instead of using the oil in a carrier oil, I take a mister bottle with filtered water and add Lavender, Tea Tree, and Geranium and we are as good as new. We honesty have not used neosporin, triple antibiotic, or any other such band-aid cream for several years.

A New Kind of Thickener

 A while back I got a large bag of arrowroot powder for making fabulous cookies for my soon to be teething baby. Well now that her teeth are in I still had that large bag of arrowroot powder, funny how that happens.  However I have discovered over the last few months that that arrowroot powder is a mighty fine tool to have on hand. If you are like me you are in the process of shying away from anything that is a gmo-corn product, cornstarch included.  Arrowroot powder is a great cornstarch replacer, and it has no flavor.

So here is how it works:
Use one Tablespoon Arrowroot powder per cup of liquid. So if you have a pot that has 2 cups of liquid you would add 2 tablespoons arrowroot powder. However you do not just add it too your liquid. First you get your liquid to the boiling point hot, and while your liquid is getting hot you make a slurry with your arrowroot powder and an equal amount of cold water. Once your slurry is made and your liquid is hot you mix the two together, within 30 seconds your hot liquid will thicken. It is important to not stir your liquid for very long otherwise it will go runny again.

We have used arrowroot powder for thickening chicken broth to pour on baked and mashed potatoes, mixed in with orange juice to make a sugar free sauce for pancakes,  I have mixed it in with soups to help them be a bit thicker, and in Asian cooking when you want your sauce to sit on the rice and not sink into the rice. I have a friend who told me that her brother, who is a baker in San Francisco, uses arrowroot powder to thicken glazes they pour on cakes. Yum!