A Few Of Our Favorite Things

We have had just a great streak lately of finding recipes that are huge hits here with us...and yes, I keep singing that "Sound of Music" song in my head.

First up, Homemade Chocolate Syrup.

Beautiful picture of a splattered-up bottle, I know.  This bottle sees quite a bit of action.

Daniel would be happy to drink straight raw milk all day, every day.  The boy is in heaven.  Elisabeth on the other hand, is more, ummmm.....motivated to drink milk if she can add some chocolate syrup to it.  Since store-bought chocolate syrup is not an option I'm willing to entertain, when I saw Danelle's post on easy homemade syrup, I knew we had to try it.  3 ingredients.  3 HEALTHY ingredients at that:  Honey, Cocoa Powder, Water.  Winner.  I've never actually even made this recipe myself.  Elisabeth always makes it, and she is happy to keep us "in syrup".  Daniel and LK help her use it up...and I've tried it myself, and it is really good.  They all mixed some into our homemade ice cream the other night also...and liked it that way too!.


Does Daniel like the chocolate syrup?

Yes...yes, he does!

Yes, Daniel's favorite color is orange...how did you know?

Next up is a new favorite item of Gabriel's....

...."Apple salad".  Or "Fruit Salad" as he alternately calls it:

Apples, walnuts, celery, raisins, ginger...with a Honey Lime dressing.

This stuff is addictive.  G and I could eat it three times a day, every day.  It is a perfect combination of sweet, tart, crunchy and chewy...all in one heavenly little bowl.


The recipe came from Health, Home and Happiness.  I changed it a little the first time I made it because I didn't have oranges on hand...but I did have lime juice.  We've since tried it with orange juice, and we like the lime juice better!

When G finishes his bowl, watch out...cause he'll be grabbing your bowl also!

The first few times I made this dish, I dutifully looked up the recipe on Health, Home and Happiness and followed Cara's directions...because I am a "rules-follower."  It finally occurred to me that if ever there was a recipe that I could just eye-ball, it is this one.  So now I just cut up LOTS of apples, some celery, throw in some walnuts and raisins, dice up some ginger, and then sprinkle in some lime juice and drizzle some honey over all of it.  Give the whole thing a stir....and enjoy!  

And then repeat the whole thing in a day or two, because it's time to make a new batch!

And finally, after all the eating we do....we now have a new toothpaste recipe that we're loving, to get our pearly whites pearly again.  And it is technically a tooth powder.  (First time I've ever used (or made!) a tooth powder...but  we're liking it!)

Back in July when we went and picked blueberries with Kathy, we all went hog-wild eating those things up (all nine gallons are gone now, [sniff]).

Well, in short order, my front teeth were stained.  Yuck.  

But...we also had just brought Missy home, so I tucked "need to look up that trick about using activated charcoal to whiten teeth" on a To-Do list in the recesses of my mind.  But it stayed in the recesses...until this recipe popped up on Mommypotamus.  And guess what it has as an ingredient.....charcoal.

I happened to have all the ingredients on hand, so I mixed up a batch pronto.  First time I used it....stains GONE!   

In fact, all of our teeth are brighter than they have been in a long time!

And I love the fact that it doesn't contain fluoride, and it doesn't contain glycerin.  

I used on the lower end of the amounts of baking soda and sea salt that she recommended, to prevent making the mixture too abrasive.  (I used straight baking soda for a very short while several years ago, and stopped immediately when it started making my teeth sensitive, which I'd never had a problem with previously.)  I also didn't use the stevia...it was optional and I didn't think we would find it necessary for the taste.

And with the cinnamon, cloves and peppermint in there, this stuff smells so good.