Twist and Shout

Some are skeptical of my constant use of homeopathic or herbal or homemade remedies. I have a few friends and relatives that I have brought into the world of little to no antibiotics, no Nyquil or Sudafed or Tylenol Cold or whatever they call it these days. Don’t get me wrong we use these things sometimes, we use Tylenol and Advil, and cough syrup and antibiotics (always used with probiotics!) occasionally. It is just we don’t run to the “medicine cabinet” the second we feel a little sick and cover up the symptoms. We drink a lot of Emergen-C and Airborne, we quickly run to the cabinet for UMCKA when we feel a cold coming on or have a cold. I have other remedies for sleepless nights, and upset tummy, stress and anxiety. Feel free to ask me about any of the remedies we us.

But then there is the doozy. The doozy of a cold that has since turned into an ear infection or sinus infection or bronchitis. You just aren’t getting better and you want to try something else before you resort to antibiotics. I got a call yesterday from my friend Eric, remember the one in the band. He left a message saying he had a ‘mom’ question, he was sick, had a sinus infection and need a remedy, did I have one? Yes I do. But just as your cold is a doozy, so is this remedy, it is not for the weak.

Mix in a blender or food processor until the consistincy of salsa, then eat with chips or just drink it, whichever you feel is less evil

-Garlic

-Horseradish

-Habanero Pepper

-White Onion

-Ginger

-Apple Cider Vinegar

You will be on fire, but so will any infection in you. You might spike a fever and then it will break, making you sweat more than ever before. You might cry or scream. The pain will be over soon and you will feel much better, much much better.

So Eric used this remedy last night and he called. I missed the call, I was putting kids to bed. But I wish oh so bad you all could hear the message he left. His last words were ‘call me, I might be dead.’ Funny, but not funny. I am happy to report that when I called him back about 20 minutes later he was not dead and he felt much better.

It sounds bad I know, but 15 or 20 minutes of pain is much better than the toll that antibiotics take on our body. Plus, this is completely natural, finding everything (minus the Vinegar) in the produce department at the grocery store. Next time you are in need, give it a try.

One of my goals of our version of compacting was to bake bread weekly. Well I made bread on the 11th of January, so technically not in the first 7 days of January, but it was in the first FULL week of the month Also, I decided to get better at planning when I was going to make bread, so a week or two wouldn’t go by with my continually saying “oh, I can’t do bread today, we are too busy”. I went through the next two weeks and picked a day (or two) that would be available for baking bread. Then I wrote it in my handy-dandy planner, Family.Time.Mine. This planner has been the best thing for me. A little over a year ago my sister (AKA “E”) brought it home for me, saying that she saw it and it just looked like me, she was right. I bought a new one a few months ago. I love it.

Ok, back to the bread making. I am completely old-fashioned when it comes to breadmaking. I have no fancy gadget, no Bosch or Kitchen-Aid. My supplies were literally, a stainless steel bowl, measuring cups and spoons, a wooden spoon, 2 bread pans, my countertop (hehe) and the ingredients for the bread. Start to finish was about 3 1/2 hours, most of that was spent letting the bread rise and letting it bake.

Everyone in the family enjoyed the homemade bread, in about 12 hours the first loaf was GONE. Nick was full of compliments when he came home from work to a home smelling of freshly baked bread. I did fall a little behind on laundry on Friday, but hey I made two loaves of bread.

The dough, rising.

Obviously I need a little help in splitting the dough into two equal parts

Warm, homemade bread, plus butter = very happy children

Meal planning to the next level or crazy as my step-dad said. Tomorrow I am embarking on a new journey, an in-home, labor intensive journey. I will be assembling twenty freezer meals, yes TWENTY. For a long while I have wanted to take meal planning to the next level, but never did and it was for good reason. Our family is primarily vegetarian and all the freezer meal menus were for meat-eating families. So I bugged and bugged and poked and prodded the ladies at Saving Dinner and viola, TWENTY VEGETARIAN DINNERS, complete with start to finish instructions, shopping lists and recipes. Hooray!

So today I went to three stores to get all that I needed, such are the joys of living in a small area, not one store has everything you need. The kids were wonderfully behaved, they toughed through almost two hours at Fred Meyer. Then I did the next two store while everyone was asleep. I am wiped out and the preparing hasn’t even begun. Cool thing… I got everything I need for about $125.

Well I am off to bed. Please say a prayer for well-behaved children tomorrow, so I can complete this task without wanting to rip out my hair, haha.