honey lavender soda For the honeycomb baby shower I served a lavender honey soda. It was my first attempt at herbal soda making and it was amazing! I made a second batch this week to drink myself, it is incredibly refreshing on a hot afternoon. To make the soda; combine 1 cup of honey with 1 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of lavender florets (find these in the spice section). Simmer until combined, about three minutes. Strain most of the lavender out and let chill until ready to use. PS. How To Make Natural Ginger Ale How To Make Natural Ginger Ale It turns out that soda hasn’t always been the high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavor concoction in an aluminum can that we know today. For hundreds of years (and probably much longer) cultures around the world have made various forms of naturally fermented “sodas” from sweetened herbal teas or fruit juice mixes. This version uses a fermented ginger culture to create a naturally fizzy soda! Ingredients -A 1-2 inch piece of fresh ginger root, minced. For Full Recipe and Instructions Click Here: How To Make Natural Ginger Ale What else do you use ginger for? 1. “Ginger is a natural immune booster and is considered to be a “hot spice”-meaning that, when ingested, it quickly has a warming effect on the human body. 2. Ginger has also been found to relieve arthritis-related joint pain. 3. “Ginger has been used for thousands of years as a natural treatment for colds and flu around Asia. 4. Ovarian Cancer Treatment. -Strengthens Immunity. 5. DIYGingerrecipes
Herbal Kombucha: Why You Need to Try It {Recipe} Kombucha is kind of a favorite around our home. When the kids see it in the fridge, they flip out and beg to have some. But herbal kombucha is another animal entirely…and an exciting one (at least to me!). By the way, if you’re not familiar, check out the Kombucha FAQ, or my kombucha video. Herbal Kombucha: Why You Need to Try It { Recipe} So, herbal kombucha. I’ve been pregnant and/or nursing for about the last 10 years straight. One of the ways that I protect my health is through drinking an herbal infusion of red raspberry leaf, nettle leaf, and dandelion leaf. But, I have so many things I was wanting to drink daily. Then I thought…what if I could combine the herbal infusion and the kombucha…and make kombucha out of those herbs?! A quick internet searched confirmed it was possible because those particular herbs ( dandelion, raspberry, and nettle) are high in the tannins needed for kombucha, but low in volatile oils (which can harm the SCOBY used to brew). Well. Why Herbal Kombucha? So!
Food Librarian Broken Glass Jello Ever since I made the 5-layer Jello for Valentine's Day, I've been craving Jello. Recently, my friend gave me great notecards from JustJennDesign. You have to check out her site! On her site, she has a recipe for Broken Glass Jello. Broken Glass Jello (Adapted from JustJenn) Printable Recipe Here 4 small boxes (3 oz. each) of Jell-O or store brand "gelatin dessert" in different colors. 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk (don't get evaporated milk) 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (that Knox stuff) For each flavor, dissolve one box of jello in one cup of boiling water. Please note: Only add 1 cup of water to each box of colored Jello. After chilling the four flavors, cut them into small blocks. Carefully mix the blocks in a 9 x 13 pan. In a separate bowl, sprinkle 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin into 1/2 cup cold water. Cut into blocks or shapes and serve! Thanks JustJenn for this fantastic recipe and inspiration!
How To Make A Milkshake Without Ice Cream 6 Ways My children love milkshakes and are quite picky about them. There is nothing wrong with that, except I often find myself trying to figure out how to make a milkshake without ice cream as we don’t normally have a container of vanilla ice cream sitting in our freezer. I would typically go and buy ice cream when I know I would be making milkshakes. I suspect this is the case with many people. Necessity is the mother of invention as they say. For quick and easy milkshakes without ice cream you need the following three basic ingredients: ice cubesmilksugar This is what the majority of no ice cream milkshake recipes you will find use as a base. Tools And if you are also into smoothies, this blender can’t be beat. That said, any inexpensive blender or even a Stick Hand Blender will suffice. I think the statements above are a little bit of an exaggeration, though. Basic Milkshakes The basic milkshake without ice cream requires milk, sugar and ice cubes. Basic Milkshake Without Ice Cream Prep time:
Lavender Lemonade with Honey 1134StumbleUpon Lavender is beginning to bloom now in my garden, not only looking and smelling beautiful, but attracting bees and other pollinators to the rest of my plants. I harvest it for its beauty, and dry it for use as food and medicine. Growing Lavender Lavender is easy to grow in full sun and any well-drained soil, and is a relatively drought tolerant, perennial plant that adds interest to any garden with its grey leaves and tall, purple blooms. Like many plants grown for their essential oils, a lean soil will encourage a higher concentration of oils. While you can grow lavender in USDA Zone 5, it is unlikely you will ever have a lavender hedge. It is dampness more than cold, that is responsible for killing lavender plants. Lavender planted where the ground routinely freezes and thaws throughout the winter will need a thick layer of mulch applied after the ground initially freezes. Using Lavender Lavender Lemonade with Honey Ingredients Directions
Kimchi Recipe If I had to name my favorite cuisine, it would be a toss-up between Vietnamese and Korean. Both offer charbroiled meats, pickled or marinated vegetables, and a lively and sometimes spicy array of seasonings. What’s not to like? Most unfamiliar ethnic foods become instantly accessible if you take a trip to a local shop to stock up on a few specific ingredients. Ok, and a nice hunk of pork shoulder as well. Every time I go to a specialty market, whether it’s Mexican, Japanese, or Chinese, I invariably lug back bottles of vinegars, odd herbs, specialty sugars and some sort of backside-burning chili pastes home with me. It was a little strange: unlike the usual voices I hear in my head, this one had a Korean accent. Then yet another voice chimed in and reminded me that I’d bookmarked a recipe that Aun at Chubby Hubby made: the most amazing-looking Vietnamese Pork Ribs in Caramel Sauce from Molly Steven’s book All About Braising. But I couldn’t find any. Zip. Related Posts and Recipes Jook
Why I Never Drink Green Smoothies & What To Drink Instead - Cheeseslave I never drink green smoothies. If you drink green smoothies, it might be time to step away from the kale. Those green smoothies could be causing your hypothyroidism, kidney stones, acne, or migraine headaches. Disclosure: I include affiliate links in many of my posts. Note: There are affiliate links in this post. Seems like everyone these days is drinking green smoothies. Green smoothies made with raw green vegetables are actually not very good for you and I'll explain why below. What's Wrong With Green Smoothies? Green cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and kale are good for you, but they are not good for you when they are raw. Vegetables like are broccoli and cauliflower are goitrogenic. Raw kale and spinach also contain a lot of oxalic acid, which binds with minerals such as calcium and magnesium in the body. Raw Vegetables That Contain Goitrogens and Oxalic Acid The following vegetables contains goitrogens and oxalic acid: Don't eat any of these foods raw! Makes 1 serving Save Google+
Rain Barrels, Chicken Coops, and Solar Panels To make all of these Instructables, download this collection of How To’s as an ebook. Download » Welcome to Rain Barrels, Chicken Coops, and Solar Panels: projects to get you off the grid, a collection of awesome do-it-yourself projects from Instructables.com! The Instructables editors have chosen some of our best do-it-yourself off-the-grid projects to educate and inspire you to make great things with easily-available tools. Instructables is the most popular project-sharing community on the Internet.
How to Brew Beer - Home Brewing Getting Started Serious about making large batches of beer? Splurge for a propane-powered rig with a three-tiered brew stand. This setup, by Indiana-based Blichmann Engineering, costs about $2000 and features a trio of 20- to 30-gallon pots and gas burners that put out 216,000 Btu per hour. (The high heat quickly boils large amounts of liquid, shaving hours off the brewing process.) More casual or budget brewers can make do with one big pot, heated on a common kitchen stove. Sanitize Yeast and sugar are beer's building blocks—but they're dinner for flavor-spoiling bacteria. TIP: Use a large container (a wallpaper tray will do) filled with sanitizer to douse hard-to-wash items, such as tubing.
DIY Healthy Soda - Simple Life Abundant LifeSimple Life Abundant Life Once upon a time I was addicted to Coca Cola. When my eyes were opened to the world of real food, I learned to start reading ingredients instead of calories, and here is what I found: Carbonated waterHigh fructose corn syrup (A probable GMO)Caramel color (A probable GMO and linked to cancer)Phosphoric acid (derived from a rock. Seriously! But don’t worry, they remove the arsenic compounds before they put it in your drink.)Natural Flavors (A probable GMO/excitoxin/addictive element from “natural” sources including bugs, beaver butts, and other deliciously savory things.)Caffeine Ya’ll, there is not one redeemable quality about drinking conventional soda. But don’t despair my friends. Score! Water Kefir This homemade soda is made with water kefir grains (not to be confused with milk kefir grains). They are clear, gummy-like “grains” that when placed in a sugary solution like sugar water or juice, eat away at the sugars creating a probiotic-rich, lacto-fermented beverage that is carbonated.