Make your own herbal cough syrup

1 cup pure water
6 tea bags*
1/2 cup molasses
1 tablespoon natural sugar (raw sugar, turbinado, sucanat- just please, no white sugar!)

*Use tea bags according to the symptoms being treated. For instance my sister was having a sore throat and coughing, so I took 3 tea bags each of Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat and Herba Tussin. I love TM teas!

Place tea bags and water in a small pot and boil, covered, for 15 to 30 minutes, being careful not to let the water boil out. Then remove the tea bags, squeezing each between two spoons to release every bit of liquid. Strain the tea through a very fine strainer or cheesecloth and return to pot. Add molasses and sugar and boil for at least 10 minutes to reduce by one third. (You want to end up with one cup). Let cool completely and bottle tightly in an amber glass bottle. (I reused a Solgar bottle, and what didn't fit I stored in a clean babyfood jar to be used first.) Store in a cool, dark place, or a refrigerator.

To use:
Children 2 years and older, 1 tablespoon every hour or as needed.
Adults, 2-4 tablespoons every hour or as needed.
Read the labels on your tea to determine if your cough syrups will be safe for children.

Please note!
I am not responsible for any contraindications you may experience as a result of this syrup. These statements have not been reviewed by the FDA. This syrup is very safe, but I just had to put this on here so nobody can sue me if they do something wrong. I am not a medical doctor nor have I ever been to medical school.

Egg-citement

(Sorry, everyone, that's my corniest post-title ever.)

Last Saturday I adjusted a quick bun recipe that can make hamburger rolls if you make them the right size! That was a fun one for me. The recipe called for an egg (we were out), and I was making it while my stepdad was at Wal-Mart buying the eggs, and I unfortunately couldn't wait for him (if I only had my chickens!!). So I ran down to the computer, did a quick Google for "egg substitutions" and came across a really quick, inexpensive, extra-nutritious replacement for eggs in baking recipes. All you do is take a tablespoon of whole flaxseed, grind it up finely in your blender, and mix it with 1/4 cup of almost-boiling water. "Whip" it with a fork for 30 seconds to a minute and let it cool and thicken up a bit. Then stir it into your recipe as you would a beaten egg. The resulting product has a little more fiber and essential fatty acids, not to mention nice little brown flecks for an impressive "whole grain" appearance! (But of course my rolls were whole-grain to begin with- : ) ) ...Now I only need to see which is cheaper, flaxseed or egg...

But back to the recipe- it takes only 45 minutes, from flour to buns, including rising and baking times! I halved the recipe and made 12 rolls, which had I divided it into 8, they really would've been hamburger buns. So I could make a whole batch, yielding 16 buns, and freeze the other 8 for another day. The texture was just right, and they even turned out with little bottom halves so it was obvious where to cut them apart! They were so cute : ) (Okay it's pretty pathetic for me to get so excited about bread. I won't mention that when I pulled them from the oven I ran around to everyone in the house to show them and exclaim, "I can make hamburger buns with this recipe!! Hamburger buns! See??" *shy grin* I even told the one year old.)

(recipe forthcoming)

________________________

[My apologies to Susan- you've read this before! But after typing it all out to you I realized that I really could post it on my blog too. I'm making up for lost blog-time today. I'm terrible about going through a day thinking, "oooh- I ought to blog about that" and then when I actually have time on the computer (if I have time) I never can remember what it was I was going to say! tsk-tsk]

A Love Letter from my Valentine

What a beautiful love-note I received today, from my Husband. He loves me so much!

"Dear Jessie,

Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, [and] not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children."

Isaiah 54:5-13

Wide, wide as the ocean,

High as the heavens above,

Deep, deep as the deepest sea

Is my Savior's love!
I, though so unworthy,

Still am a child of His care.

For His word teaches me

That His love reaches me

Everywhere!

I've been meme-tagged

Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so.
1) Bright Star
2) Ink and Incapability
3) The Happy Feminist
4) Space Station Samara
5) Everything Domestic

Select Five People to Tag
- Susan of An Old-Fashioned Girl (now you've been double-tagged)
- Amy of Amy's Humble Musings
- Sabine from Sabine's Garden
- Miss Kelly and Miss Andrea of Ah the Life...
- Barbie G., but I don't know if she has a blog. I need to e-mail her again.

What were you doing ten years ago?
- Wishing my then-newest brother a happy one-month birthday!

What were you doing one year ago?
- Hmmm.... finishing up a fuzzy white scarf to match my fluffy hat. I had just learned to knit.

Five snacks you enjoy
- blue corn chips
- peanut (or other nut) butter and all-fruit spread sandwiches
- nuts and fruit
- half an avocado with homemade balsamic vinaigrette
- yogurt

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics
- He Was Despised and Rejected of Men
- Comfort Ye My People
- O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion
- For Unto Us A Child Is Born
- Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates
And most of the other songs in Handel's Messiah. (tee hee) : )

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire
- pay taxes
- tithe/donate money
- buy a new car (nothing fancy, and not necessarily "new," just new-to-me), purchase a ton of books and media, build a car wash (long-standing dream of mine- bet you never knew that!), open a fabric store, and probably buy out that beautiful house I've always wanted to live in, if they'd sell it to me. Oh, and of course, I'd start my farm.
- share with my family and friends
- save/invest the extra

Five Bad Habits
- flitting around between projects ("Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.")
- being in a hurry when I cook, being in a hurry in general ("He that believeth shall not make haste...")
- giving in to my sweet tooth ("Whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, who mind earthly things.")
- staying up too late ("It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late...")
- not keeping my room tidy ("Let all things be done decently and in order.")
- (I know, this makes six) Not e-mailing my friends or posting on my blog as often as I'd like to/should. (And I guess the verse for this one is "The [girl] that would have friends must shew [her]self friendly.")

Five things you like doing
- reading everyone's blogs
- poking through other people's bookcases (me too, Samara!)
- trying to live the way people did in the past
- sewing, crocheting, knitting, embroidery, baking, cooking, having a clean house, teaching Sunday School, being healthy, looking at books (sorry, that's way more than five)
- getting as much as I can for as little money as possible

Five things you would never wear again
- blue jeans
- khaki jeans
- black jeans
- any other form of pants meant to be seen (besides ski bibs. I haven't tried skiing in a skirt, though I've seen it done, but it's hard to be immodest in the puffy-fat bibs I've got!)
- skirts that aren't obviously long, or any immodest clothing

Five Favorite "Toys"
- the computer
- the internet
- my brother Matthew
- hmmm, I don't have any more. That's sad. I must not ever get to play... oh well. Such is my life. At least I don't mind. Work is fun, too.
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