You need:
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 cup water

Put ingredients in a spray bottle and shake well to mix, spray vegetables, scrub, and rinse before eating.

All photos taken by Fauna.

“That’s all,”
Lisa

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What you need:
4 cups dried herb(s) of your choice
4 cups water
3-4 cups honey
cream of tartar
candy thermometer
large soup pot
jelly roll pan or candy molds
parchment paper or non-stick spray
confectioner’s sugar or arrow root powder

Directions:
1. Make a strong tea infusion by using 1 cup dried herbs to 1 cup water. Our herb combination was 3 1/2 cups dried peppermint, 1/4 cup sage, 1/4 cup beebalm and 4 tablespoons thyme. Put herbs directly into the water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let steep for about an hour. Strain herbs from the tea. We were left with 2 1/2 cups of tea.

2. Put the tea back into a LARGE soup pot, add 1 1/2 cups honey for each cup of tea. I had 2 1/2 cups of tea so I added close to 4 cups of honey to the tea. Add 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar for each cup of tea.

 3. Turn the stove on high and bring the mixture to a boil. You want the temperature of the honey/tea mixture to reach 300 degrees. This is where the challenge came for us. Once the mixture was boiling, the bubbles wanted to go over the edge of the pot; I would turn down the heat, then the temperature wouldn’t rise. So I would turn up the heat again, more boil over…..vicious cycle. I thought about quiting at one point, but all that honey down the drain would be wrong, so we persevered. We finally found a temperature where the temperature would climb and the bubbles wouldn’t reach the edge of the pan. It took us about 45 minutes to get to 300 degrees!

 4. Finally, after reaching 300 degrees,  pour the syrup onto a parchment lined jelly roll pan (or use a non-stick spray, you don’t want your candy to stick). There are special candy molds you can use as well, just make sure it can handle the 300 degree heat of the syrup! You could use a spoon and mix the bubble layer into the thicker bottom layer, but I preferred to keep the bubble on top to create a pretty layered look when the candy hardened.

5. The hardest part for the little ladies was waiting for the candy to cool and harden! I eventually put it in the freezer to quicken the process, and to keep the little ladies out of the syrup! Sticky fingers were all around!

6. Once the candy hardens, break it into pieces and coat in confectioner’s sugar or arrow root powder to keep the candies from sticking to each other. Our candy is soft and chewy when it reaches room temperature so I store it in the freezer. The candies should keep for at least 6 months stored in the freezer.

It turned out very tasty and we will make more in the future. I’ve always wanted to make horehound candy, but I don’t have any of the dried herb right now; I need to order some along with the elderberries! If you are a candy maker and have any advice in this process I would love to hear it! We did do some research on the science behind cooking candy and found this fantastic website- The Accidental Scientist- Science of Cooking. All kinds of good stuff there!

 You need:
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 red pepper (diced or sliced)
1green pepper (diced or sliced)
1 yellow pepper (diced or sliced)
3 garlic cloves
1 medium onion diced
1 1/2 cup corn kernels
2 carrots (sliced in thin coins)
1 can black beans
1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes
2 or 3 (4 oz.) cans chopped green chilies, drained (since I make this for 2 youngins’ I  only use 1 can)
32 oz vegetable broth
3 tablespoons ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
tortilla chips
1 avocado- peeled and diced
large soup pot

Directions:
-Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Sweat the garlic, onions and peppers. Add the carrots and cumin; cook for 5 minutes until vegetables are tender. Mix in the tomatoes, corn, chili peppers, and vegetable broth. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
-Serve with tortilla chips. Top with avocado. 

*Even with only 1 can hot chilies it warms up the insides! Perfect for a cold Autumn or Winter day!

She is still very congested and this congestion is tiring her out. She spent all day yesterday in bed reading, she is inhaling Gail Carson Levine books right now (no complaints here).  Today was pretty much a carbon copy of yesterday. Araina now has the congestion and sneezing too.  Looks like we will be visiting the doctor tomorrow! I’m feeling back to my old self and so is Dave (after missing 2 days of work). So at least I am able to cater to their needs in a more cheerful way. Thank you all for the nice comments on the flu post. I LOVED reading the things everyone does to combat flu and colds in their households. If you haven’t had a chance to read all the comments I recommend you go back and read them, there are some GREAT tips there!

 Vegetarian Chili

Yesterday Fauna was begging for my vegetarian chili. Usually we don’t have it until Halloween, but when a sick body craves something I feel we should listen! Besides, spicy chili is a great way to open up those nasal passages. I adapted this recipe from Martha Stewart’s False Alarm Chili.

3 T olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large carrots, chopped in med. coins
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced or 1/4 c canned chopped green chiles
1 pound dried lentils, rinsed
1/3 C tomato paste
1 C or 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 C or 1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 C or 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
4 C stewed tomatoes or 28 oz. can
1/3 C chili powder
4 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Sweat the onion, garlic, carrot and peppers in the olive oil for about 5 minutes. Stir in stewed tomatoes, lentils, tomato paste, beans and about 7 cups of water. Add chili powder, cumin and red-pepper flakes.
2. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, simmer until lentils are tender, about 45 minutes. If the chili starts to dry out, add hot water as needed. Season with salt and pepper. 

Get Well Gremlin (work in progress)

I forgot to mention one more flu comfort the little ladies enjoy. They love to take a cotton ball to bed that has 2 drops lavender, 1 drop peppermint, 1 drop eucalyptus and 1 drop tea tree essential oils on it. This makes their breathing better and opens up those stuffy nasal passages. Now the problem is where to put the cotton ball, it tends to get lost in the bed? Today I came up with this little Get Well Gremlin. He has a pocket to keep the cotton ball in. They are loving this idea!  I will be sure to post them when they are finished and share the pattern. Now I just need to get off the computer and finish them!

Stay healthy everybody!