Cinnamon Yummy Healthy Tea

Jason and his coworkers exchange presents every year at Christmas.  Most of the presents passed around are of the homemade variety (I love that!), everything from cookies, to candies, to BBQ sauces, to jellies.

We're always on the lookout for something yummy and healthy that we can share with Jason's work peeps.  Two different years now we've filled (many!) little amber bottles with homemade vanilla.

This past Christmas we decided on a treat that has become a favorite with our family this past year.

I labeled it Cinnamon Hibiscus Nettles Reship Tea on the gift tags...but around here we call it "That Yummy Cinnamon Tea."  Very specific and original, I know...but we all know what we're referring to.

I like to keep a gallon pitcher of this in the fridge at all times, so that we can grab a yummy and healthy, refreshing option when we're thirsty.  We've never actually tried this tea warm, but I am sure it would taste great that way also.

Everyone got in on the Tea gift-making action (except Jas...hmmmmm), with a big assembly line on the dining room table.  

We put the ingredients into the jars in pretty layers...and included tea balls with the jar, in case the recipient didn't already have one.  (And in case they wanted to make the tea in very small batches, which does not happen here.)

I can totally see by the set of my jaw that I was working hard to be patient with Gabriel's "helping"...but I did so good and let him continue!  (Spoiler: It does not come naturally to me to be as nice and patient as I would like. I have to work real hard at it.)

And...because I am totally anal...I included a very verbose gift tag, that had directions on one side...

...and educational info on the other side.  (read:  "Why-you-do-want-to-drink-this-stuff, because-not-only-is-it-totally-yummy, it-is-very-good-for-you-also!"):

I normally keep a jar of the tea ingredients already mixed in our cabinet...but ours is not in pretty layers:

I fell in love with both of these tea recipes (here and here) over the past couple years...and then once when I was premixing a batch to keep in the cabinet, I accidentally switched around/combined the recipes in my head...and a new favorite was born:  Cinnamon Yummy Healthy Tea!

This Cinnamon Tea has four ingredients:

Nettles are high in iron, Hibiscus and Rosehips are high in Vitamin C...and your body needs Vit. C in order to absorb the iron. Cinnamon is healthy...and just downright yummy also!

I buy the ingredients in one-pound bulk bags from our co-op.  

I go ahead and make a gallon at a time (too much for a tea ball), so I just dump the ingredients in my 8-cup measuring cup...

...pour boiling water to cover it...

...and then let it sit, covered:

I cover it to keep all the healthy goodness of the herbs in the tea

Then I pour the tea through a large strainer into a one gallon container, and add 1/4-1/3 cup (raw, local) honey.  (I let it steep for differing amounts of time: sometimes I make it just before bed and let it sit overnight, sometimes for just an hour or so.  It takes a bit more arm power to incorporate the honey when it has cooled down...but you don't want to add the honey when it is still hot, or it will kill the live goodies in raw honey.)

Wow, who took this totally lop-sided shot?!?  

To pre-mix a batch of the ingredients to keep on hand, combine:

Cinnamon Yummy Healthy Tea

2 parts Nettles

1 part Hibiscus

1 part Rosehips

1/2 part Cinnamon Chips

To make one serving of the tea, use 1 tbsp of mix.  Or, if making a gallon at a time, use one cup of the mix.  

My Long-Lost Friend

When you walk to the end of the hall to enter mine and Jason's bedroom, this is the view:

And yes, there is almost always clean laundry hanging out on the chair waiting to be folded.  

That is as far back as our door will go now, because this is behind it:

My Long-Lost Friend - My Treadmill!

I never could have imagine myself saying that seriously...and with such joy!

This treadmill is old.  Like, really old.  Like, at least 14 or 15 years old...and maybe older.  I remember reading/studying textbooks on it while Jas and I were both getting our MBAs back in Colorado, that is how I can date it.

I would just love to know how many hundreds of miles I have put on this thing.  I loved walking on it.  I would faithfully walk 2-3 miles on it most mornings.  It has a book stand and I would just read my little heart out while I walked, walked, walked.  I did it in Colorado.  I did it here before children.  I continued after each of our first four came home (but they were all sleeping through the night from their very first nights with us).  

And then....G came home.  

And then my treadmill habit just went kaput.  I just couldn't bring myself to get up and get on there anymore.

But at the time we still lived in town, and the kiddos and I (and at night, Jas) would get out and walk/ride bikes around the neighborhood.  We loved doing that together.  

I have been missing walking lately.  I've had the itch for several months now.  I'd even mentioned it to Jas several times.  And I've been trying to figure out how to make this work.  Get up earlier and drive into town to walk around our old neighborhood?  I get up at 5 a.m now, so this didn't seem feasible to me.  Get a membership to the gym in town and walk there at night with my friend/fellow-homeschooling mom?  Meh - don't want to spend money or time schlepping back and forth to the gym.  

The final straw came when I started doing this Make Over Your Mornings course.  Crystal uses a treadmill at her house, and the little intro segment at the beginning of each day's lesson shows her on it...and it made me miss my treadmill so much!  And she talked about exercising every day, even if it is just 15-20 minutes.  That seems so very do-able!

And then I remembered that old beast of a treadmill.  It had been in storage at Papa's shed at his farm for over two years now - ever since we moved. Would it still work?

We hauled it home, plugged it in (holding our breaths)...and by golly, it still works!

I now read e-books and articles on my iPad while walking

I have happily hoofed it on there several mornings already.  I only do about 20 minutes...and I. am. loving it!

New and Improved - aka: I Have Very Smart Friends

For Christmas my dear friend Vicki gave me a beautiful jar with a beautiful red ribbon, containing a BEAUTIFUL homemade lotion.

This is NOT the jar that Vicki gave me....

...because that jar of lotion is already long gone.  We LOVED it!

The thing is, I could kick myself.  I am so stinkin' lazy.  The lotion Vicki made was essentially the same lotion/body butter that I make.  With one exception:  she whipped it.

I'd read about that many times.  But it seemed to me like a waste of time.  It was the same ingredients...same lotion...why would I want to waste time and bother whipping it?  That wouldn't change the lotion.


But, oh....it DOES change the lotion!


During the cooler temperatures of winter, the regular homemade lotion is harder.  It only takes a few seconds for it to start melting and be spreadable once I scoop it up in my hands.  But when you're dealing with two squiggly babies that don't want to be still for a few seconds...that time matters!

Another benefit:  Whipping takes the lotion from a great, healthy lotion to....extravagant feeling!

It seriously is like spreading cool whip on yourself.  Or icing.

Either of which would apparently be wonderful.

We use this on all of us...especially our youngest two, who have - by far - the driest skin in our house (and I actually use it on Abigail's hair also, but that is another post).

So here is the new and improved directions for homemade lotion - whipped!


Homemade Whipped Lotion

Equal parts:

Coconut Oil
Shea butter
Cocoa Butter (could use mango butter instead, etc.)


I used about 8 oz of each of them.  Just melt them together in a pot, stirring.  Then set them off the stove to cool  (I actually ended up putting my pot in the fridge to get the lotion cool enough).  Once it hardens back up, whip it up using either a stand mixer (that would be handy), or a hand-mixer (this is what I used).  You need to whip it for quite a little while (which is why I'd never tried it before...like I said, I'm lazy)...but my children think this is fun, so they took turns with me.

Then...enjoy the silky, heavenly deliciousness!




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I shared a while back how I use straight baking soda for deodorant.  At the time I was just wetting two fingers and dipping them in the baking soda to distribute in my pit.  (Sorry, no pictures of my pits...no need to thank me!)

Well, not long after that, my friend Mrs. Carol and I were talking at our monthly co-op pickup.  She and her daughter Abby had discovered a different and easier way to apply the baking soda:



Using a big make-up brush!

I picked up a brush at the dollar store...and I've been enjoying applying my baking soda this way ever since!

Thank you, Mrs. Carol and Abby!

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.

Miscellany Monday: September 8, 2014

Lot of miscellaneous little "stuff" floating around in my head that I need to get down....somewhere.

And here seems good.


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We received our first rent check.  We're officially Landlords.  We've had at least 20 or 30 different people ask over the past year and a half (yes, our house has been on the market that long!) if we would rent our house in town.  We didn't want to.

But Missy is here.  And something had to give.  Had to.  Seriously.  And - actually - we'll be better off on a month-to-month basis (cash-flow wise) renting the house out rather than just selling it.

Still...we didn't go into this rental thing lightly.  But we feel like this is what the Lord has for us right now...and maybe this is what He intended for the whole last year and a half, when we kept saying "no!"


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The pasture has been sorely neglected the past few weeks.  About 9 weeks, actually.  We haven't had anything going on, so I don't know how we managed to neglect it so.  ; )



But the neglect has led to monster Pigweed.  Pigweed taller than us!

E and D demonstrating how tall the pigweed is

So we've all been spending quality time in the pasture again, pulling the pigweed out by the roots before we mow the pasture down again.

LK hard at work

Even the littlest among us is helping.  Well, not the very littlest (we'll give her another year or so), but the next-to-littlest has been helping....

...although he just thinks we're all having fun.  Shhhhhh! 

We're going to have to do better staying on top of the pasture, because we now don't know when we'll have any animals out there to keep it down for us.

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We have the cutest baby girl.  EVER.

And I'd much rather have Missy than a dairy cow any day!

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We also have the cutest little guy ever.

And he loves his lil sis.

Be still my heart.

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What is better than two sweet girls?

Two sweet girls making TRUFFLES for ME!

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On a recent trip to an out-of-state doctor's appointment...LK and A and I passed a (relatively) local egg hatchery (is that what you call it?).

They're expanding. Again.  And I've been wanting to take pictures as I drive by, but haven't been brave enough.

Until this time.

This.

...this is why we want to have our own chickens and eggs.

In this building - in these rows and rows and towers and towers of cages - chickens will sit.  They won't scratch around in the dirt and eat bugs and such, like the Lord intended.  They will never see the light of day once the building is finished and closed in (like the other 5 huge buildings just like this on the property).

This just ain't the way it's supposed to be.  Not good for the chickens...and not good for us.

And amen.

Homemade Lotion

Our children have drier skin than Jas and I do.  I thought our Asian cuties had dry skin...and then our brown-skinned babies came home!

Learning more over the years meant that I was no longer happy (or willing) to put Johnson's baby lotion on my babies.

Honestly, this made me sad...because Johnson's baby lotion smells so yummy.  But put all those chemicals on my sweet babes?  No way.

Don't put anything on your skin, 

(or your baby's scrumptious skin) 

that you wouldn't put in your mouth.

So....

I started making our own lotion several years ago.  It is so easy...AND (bonus)....it is yummy-smelling too!









Just 3 ingredients (easily found on Amazon if you can't find locally)::

Coconut oil
Shea Butter
Cocoa Butter

Combine in equal amounts in a saucepan and melt.

With this batch, my 4 oz container of Cocoa Butter was my limiting factor.  So I just also scooped out 4 oz of Shea Butter (1/2 of the package I had on hand) and 4 oz of Coconut Oil. 

When it has cooled down, I pour it back in jars or containers...

...and then slather away!

And my precious babies smell like chocolate because of the cocoa butter!

I apparently need to learn more about aperture or F-stops or shutter speed or something...if I want to catch a clear pic of my never-still 2-year old.

You can use Mango Butter instead of the Cocoa Butter. But then the babes don't smell like chocolate...and where is the fun in that???



Abigail likes the lotion.

How do I know?

Before I start spreading it on:

After I start spreading it on:

And G likes the "lo lo" too.  

But then he likes pink hammers....

And he also likes acting dramatic when mama asks for a picture of him...

How dare I ask for a picture of him???

Yes, I have cloth diapers and plan to use them again in the future.  Truly I do.
Some day.  When I don't have a 6-week old.

The moral of this post:

Make lotion - 3 ingredients, super easy.

Don't nibble on your yummy-smelling children - not so easy.

**UPDATE***

I know whip the lotion after I make it.  It changes the texture and makes it not only easier to spread, it also feels downright luxurious!   See the post with more info on this HERE.