spicy hot chocolate

Recipe here......READ MORE.

blissful domesticity

Friday's flowers, a granola recipe, and thrifty finds......READ MORE.

blissful domesticity- mint orange tea and raspberry oatmeal bars

Wow, Ohio has been a scorcher this week......READ MORE.

blissful domesticity- falafel and diy laundry detergent

I'm loving the fact that we can now bring in fresh flowers daily from our garden.....READ MORE.

blissful domesticity and berry syrup

I love days where I can be really domestic, today was one of those days....READ MORE.

violet syrup, violet cooler, and violet lemonade

Recipes using violets......READ MORE.

candied lemon peel shortbread- outdoor challenge

Today, we made some lemon peel shortbread cookies......READ MORE.

marsupials, hummus, cheese crackers, and friends

Yummy recipes for cheese crackers and hummus HERE.

valentine review

I’ve been blogging a little over a year now (Jan. 24 was the year date). Some of you have been with me since day 1, but for those of you that haven’t here’s a review of Valentine’s 2009.
Valentine pocket hearts- made from sweaters.......READ MORE.

oatmeal-honey face mask

Here is a great gentle oatmeal mask for those of us that have sensitive skin. I guarantee this will leave your face feeling clean, soft, and smooth. READ MORE.......

cornstarch dough and watercolors

We had some friends over on Thursday and played with cornstarch clay; since Thursday I have made 3 more batches of this fun clay for the little ladies to create with. Anytime you bring cornstarch and water into play you know you’re going to have a good time! READ MORE......

peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies

I hide my head in shame with this recipe, but I don’t think I’d be a very good blogger if I didn’t share this recipe with those who don’t mind sugar from time to time. If you crave peanut butter and chocolate, this is the recipe to make! CLICK HERE for recipe.

herbal honey candy/cough drops

We made herbal candy (medicinal drops) for the first time last week. Little bit challenging I must admit, but fun and tasty! Our candy was basically a peppermint candy with a bit of beebalm, thyme, and sage added for a cold fighting punch......READ MORE for the recipe.

vegetarian tortilla soup

Another soup to open up those sinuses. For the recipe- READ MORE.

Elderberry Syrup for Immunity and Flu

The American Elder, or common elderberry, (Sambucus canadensis) is a shrub that grows up to 13 feet high. It is a member of the honeysuckle family and is found in moist places along riverbanks, roadsides, woods and thickets. We are lucky to have it growing in our brush pile among the blackberry brambles and young volunteer walnut trees in our backyard. It was a favorite herb of Hippocrates; love making medicinals that the great Hippocrates would make for his patients! The berries of the elder are very nutritious. They provide large amounts of potassium, beta carotene, calcium, phosphorus and vitamin C. It works amazingly well on colds, excessive mucus, sore throat and the dreaded flu.



Last year when Fauna came down with the flu she took a couple tablespoons the first day and it zapped the fever and all symptoms within 24 hours! Usually, when Fauna gets sick she is sick for 3-5 days. Really amazing stuff!




I use Rosemary Gladstar's recipe for elderberry syrup because it doesn't use white processed sugar or alcohol. And it is quite tasty!

What you need:
1 cup fresh or 1/2 cup dried elderberries
3 cups water
1 cup raw local honey

Glass jar with lid

Steps:
1. Heat the berries and water to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 30-45 minuets.
2. Mash the berries, strain, and add 1 cup of honey. I add a half cup of the purple liquid to a measuring cup, then pour in honey until the total volume is 1 1/2 cups. Then stir to mix well, and add to the rest of the reserved liquid.
3. Bottle and store. Keeps in the refrigerator for 2-3 months.
4. Enjoy a tablespoon daily to keep the immune system strong. If sick, take more often at first signs of the flu. If you drink peppermint tea along with it, you increase the fighting punch!

*Caution, I am not a doctor and don't pretend to be one. I am 100% sure of the identification of the plants I harvest and research like mad before posting a recipe. Some books say Elderberry leaves, seeds, bark, stems and root are toxic. Only the berries, which must be cooked first, and the blossoms are edible.Use your best judgement when using plants from the wild.

Easy Herbal Syrup (Lavender)

You Need:
1/3 cup dried lavender
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups water

Steps:
1. Combine lavender, sugar, and water in a medium saucepan.
2. Bring to boil, turn down the heat to a simmer.
3. Simmer until syrup thickens and is bubbling in a thick frothy manner (about 45 min.).
4. Cool and strain.
5. Discard lavender.
6. Very good drizzled on soy vanilla ice cream.

*This recipe can be used with any herb of your choice.

Brown Cow, Black Cow or Root Beer Float?

Hansen's Root Beer +

Soy Vanilla Ice Cream=

The perfect cool down after a warm summer day of playing hard with friends!

Will it overflow??

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Then comes the clean up!

Brown Cow, Black Cow or Root Beer Float?

A root beer float is traditionally made with vanilla ice cream and root beer, but can also be made with other flavors. The definition of a black cow varies by region. For instance in some localities, a "root beer float" has strictly vanilla ice cream; a float made with root beer and chocolate ice cream is a "chocolate cow" or a "brown cow."

Some Root Beer Float History from Wikipedia:
The origin of the name "black cow" has always been of interest to food and beverage experts and apparently dates to August of 1893 in Cripple Creek, Colorado. Frank J. Wisner, owner of the Cripple Creek Cow Mountain Gold Mining Company had been producing a line of naturally flavored, naturally carbonated premium soda waters for the citizens of the then booming Cripple Creek gold mining district. He had been trying to create a special drink for the children of Cripple Creek and came up with the idea for his concoction on a moon-lit winter's eve while staring out at his properties on Cow Mountain. The full moon's glow on the snow capped Cow Mountain reminded him of a big dollop of vanilla ice cream floating on top of his blackened Cow Mountain. As he told the story later, he was inspired by this view to hurry back to his bar and add a big scoop of vanilla ice cream to the one soda water he produced that the children of Cripple Creek seemed to like best - Myers Avenue Red root beer - and served it the very next day to a horde of thirsty youngsters. It was an instant hit. And while Mr. Wisner couldn't quite come up with the right name, the children had no problem christening it a "black cow" in homage to the rich, dark color of their favorite soft drink from Mr. Wisner (Myers Avenue Red root beer) and Frank's famous claims on Cow Mountain. Mr. Wisner was known to say many times in his later years that if he had a nickel for every time someone ordered a black cow, he'd have been a rich man.

Homemade Popsicles

We have been obsessed with homemade popsicles this summer. We are experimenting with every herb/juice combination possible. We don't have any of those fancy popsicle molds so we made do with what we had- good ol' ice cube trays, parchment paper and craft sticks. The set up is pretty self-explanatory.

Here are some of our favorite flavors:

Strawberry Lemonade Lavender: strawberry lemonade and a sprinkle of lavender buds per pop then freeze.

Orange mint: orange juice with 1 peppermint leaf per pop. These have a lovely refreshing taste (my favorite).

Super Healthy Smoothy: equal parts soy milk and orange juice, 1 T nutritional yeast, 2 T flax seeds, 2 T wheat bran, 2 C soy yogurt (plain), 1 bag mixed frozen berries, and a banana. Blend together then put in pop trays and freeze. These pops are the Little Ladies' favorite!

Watermelon Raspberry: 2 C watermelon, 1/2 C raspberries, 1 C orange juice; blend, then freeze.

Sparkling Lavender: 2 cups sparkling water and 1/3 cup lavender (or other flavored) syrup. Mix, stir until syrup dissolves in the water and freeze.

Lavender Lemonade Elderflower: 2 cups water, 1/4 cup lavender syrup (or honey), juice of 3 small lemons, elderflowers. Mix, stir until syrup dissolves and freeze, sprinkle elderflowers on top of each pop before freezing.

Peanut Butter, Banana and Honey: 2 C soy milk, 1 C peanut butter, 1/3 C honey and 1 banana; blend, then freeze.

Rootbeer Float: 1 bottle of rootbeer and 1 C vanilla soy ice cream; blend, then freeze.

Coffee Pops: For the mommies like myself that need a refreshing cool boost; Fauna actually suggested this pop idea! My favorite is Bali Blue Moon coffee and soy milk, mix, then freeze. YUM!!!! Visit MUS, from the Netherlands; she made some beautiful flowery pops. Enjoy!!!!

Lavender Chocolate Cake

A blogger friend, Such Lovely Freckles, mentioned a delicious lavender chocolate candybar on a post a while back. I thought the combination of lavender and chocolate sounded heavenly! I was talking to Rainy about her birthday cake; she always picks unusual cakes for me to bake (I am not much of a cake maker at all, Rainy LOVES to challenge me). I mentioned the chocolate lavender to her, did a recipe search and found this recipe for Lavender Chocolate Cake at Bake Space. Rainy loved the idea!

What you need:
3/4 cup milk (I used soy)
2 tbsp. dried lavender
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 egg whites
3 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

To make the lavender milk:

Bring milk and lavender to a boil in a small saucepan. Turn off the heat, cover and let steep until you are ready to use. Strain and discard the lavender before adding the milk to the cake.

To make the cake:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Cream butter and sugar, then add lavender milk, baking powder, salt, egg whites, and vanilla extract.
-Blend in cocoa and flour.
-Pour into 2 greased 9-inch cake pans. Bake 30-35 minutes.
-Let cool.

Cake Assembly:
Level each cake by carving off the extra on top. Top one layer with fudge icing, then assemble one layer on top of another; ice in more fudge and decorate.

*2 T lavender buds was the perfect amount of lavender in this cake. With each bite you could taste a hint of lavender without it tasting like you were eating a "cleaning product" (as my sister's co-worker would say). It went very well with the vanilla soy ice cream! Enjoy!

Lavender Lemonade

When life hands you a bowl of lemons, what do you do? We like to make lemonade of course. Then comes the struggle of how to get all of that yumminess out of that golden rind.

I used to use the good old fashioned glass reamer, until my Granny gave me this vintage, super kitchy appliance-The Sunkist Juicit! It is the coolest kitchen appliance in my kitchen now! You simply plug it in, cut your lemon in half, push it down on the fast turning reamer and out comes the juice! We were able to get every last drop of juice possible from those poor little lemons! We had a blast juicing 11 lemons for the following lemonade recipe.

Now on with the yummy lavender lemonade recipe. Here's what you need:

2 1/2 cups water for the simple syrup

1 1/2 cups sugar (I used cane sugar; honey or agar would work just as well)

1/4 cup fresh lavender leaves or 1 tablespoon dried lavender flowers

2 1/2 cups cold water
2 1/4 cups lemon juice or 10-14 freshly squeezed lemons, depends on the size

1 lime

Fresh lavender flower stems for garnish

To make the lavender syrup:

In a medium saucepan, combine 2 1/2 cups water, 1 cup sugar and the lavender; bring to a boil, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes; remove from heat; cover and let cool. When the liquid is cool, strain into a large pitcher.

The Lavender Lemonade:

Add the simple lavender syrup to the remaining 2 1/2 cups cold water and lemon juice stirring well. Add a couple squeezes of lime juice (to your taste, we added the juice of 1 medium sized lime).

Add ice cubes just before serving. Pour into chilled glasses and garnish with fresh lavender stems.

This is such a lovely and refreshing drink. Try it at your child's next lemonade stand, the lavender taste will leave people pleasantly surprised. Enjoy!