Cough Relief Herbal Tea - Weekend Recipe

Coughs are very common in the winter months.  A cough remedy or cough drop is always a good idea, but in a hurry a cough relief tea is also quick and easy.  You can blend up this recipe of cough relief herbs way in advance and use just 3 tsp. per cup of hot water.  Allow the tea to steep for 5 to 7 minutes.  Drink this tea as often as needed.

This blend makes a strong tea to help relieve your cough as well as make coughs more productive to rid the body of toxins and heal quicker.  This recipe will make 5 1/2 cups which should be enough to get you through the winter.   Enjoy!

Cough Relief Herbal Blend

1/2 cup each:
Red Clover Blossoms
Horehound
Mullein Leaf
Nettle Leaf
Echinacea Purpurea Leaf
Marshmallow Root

1/4 cup each:
Thyme
White Pine Bark
Elecampane Root
Echinacea Purpurea Root
Wild Cherry Bark
Licorice Root

1 cup:
Peppermint Leaf

Combine and store in an air tight container.

How Tuesday - Making Rosemary Oil

Rosemary is a symbol of friendship, loyalty, and remembrance, which makes it a very special gift for a friend, especially those close to your heart.  This is a great housewarming gift but it must be kept in the refrigerator.  Although there are those that say this can be kept for up to 3 months.  I recommend keeping it only for 3 weeks. I've given you some recipes so you will have not trouble using it up!

You'll need:

• 1 cup fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 cup or so of good quality olive oil or grape seed oil
• A sterilized wide mouth pint jar

How to make it:

1. Let the fresh rosemary leaves wilt slightly, then strip from the stems and crush them with a rolling pin.
   
2. Then crush them with a rolling pin.
   
3. Put the leaves in a saucepan with oil and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
   
4. Remove from heat and pour into a canning jar or other heat resistant glass container and let cool to room temperature. Top off with any extra olive oil if needed.
   
5. Taste the oil and if the flavor is not strong enough repeat the process with fresh herbs.
6. If the flavor is strong enough you can strain the oil though a paper or muslin filter and press the herbs to extract all the liquid.
   
7. Pour in a sterilized bottle, seal, label and decorate.
   

Keep refrigerated. 

Use your Oil

Serve with sliced baguette for dipping. or use in these great recipes. It is great in an Italian dressing and used with vinegar as a beef marinade.  Experiment to discover other uses of the tasty oil. Rosemary is a good treatment for arthritis too, so put a few Tablespoons in a bath and soak.

 

Rosemary Bread

2 eggs

½ cup walnuts

¾ cup white wine or apple juice

Vegetable cooking spray

1 Tbls. lemon zest

¾ cup sugar

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ cup rosemary oil

¼ tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly coat a loaf pan with vegetable cooking spray. Stir together flour, sugar, walnuts, baking powder, salt and lemon zest in bowl. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, wine, and rosemary oil, then stir into dry ingredients. Transfer the batter into pan and smooth the surface. Bake 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

10 to 20 small red skin or yukon gold potatoes

10 cloves garlic minced (we love garlic so feel free to use less)

2 tablespoons rosemary oil

1 sprig fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

freshly ground black pepper

salt

Scrub potatoes well, and toss into a baking dish with the garlic and the oil. Roll them around so they are well coated. Season generously with salt and pepper and sprinkle on the rosemary and vinegar. Roast in oven 450 degrees F for at least one hour until potatoes are golden and cooked through.

Weekend Recipe - Green Tomato Pickles

The weather turned here almost overnight.  We went from 60s and pleasant to 26 degrees at night  in 24 hours. As a result many people harvested tomatoes before they were killed by the frost.  We used to do this too.  Anything still on the vine was removed even if it was green.  Then a week or so later when we recovered from all that harvesting we decided what to do with the green tomatoes.  This was a favorite recipe.

This is a canned recipe so if you have never canned before read up on it in the Joy of Cooking or this great new book I found on canning called Canning and Preserving with Ashley English.  She has a whole section on pickling.

Green Tomato Pickles

1 dry quart of green tomatoes (This is what will fit in half a peck basket or about 1/6 more than a liquid quart by measure.)
2 large onions
1/3 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups vinegar
3 red peppers, seeded and chopped
3 green peppers, seeded and chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped, not pressed
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard seeds
1 1/2 tsp. whole cloves
1 Tbls. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. celery seed
(I use 3 Tbls. of Backyard Patch Pickling Spice instead of these spices to make mine)

Slice the green tomatoes and onions thinly. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of salt and let stand overnight.  This removes the excess water and is important to the preserving process so do not skip this step.  Rinse and drain in the morning.

Bring the vinegar to a boil and add the peppers and garlic and boil vigorously for 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes, onions and spices and simmer slowly for 20 minutes.  Pack while still hot into sterilized canning jars and seal immediately with hot sterilized caps.  Then process in a hot-water bath for 5 to 7 minutes.  Makes 5 to 6 pints of pickled tomatoes.

Bath Recipe of the month - Sunflower Soak

Cooler weather brings heated homes which results in dry and irritated skin. This recipe will help you soothe away itches and rejuvenate you.  The seasonal scents will help bring out your holiday spirit.

All you need to make this is a food grinder or food processor.  You can whip this up in a few minutes.  Sunflower seed powder can go rancid, so do not blend up too much in advance.

SUNFLOWER SOAK   

Yield: 4 ounces, enough for one bath

1/4 cup shelled, raw unsalted or roasted sunflower seeds

1/4 cup oatmeal

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon vitamin E oil

In a coffee grinder or food processor, grind sunflower seeds and oatmeal until you have a smooth

powder the consistency of whole-grain flour. Stir in spices and vitamin E oil and mix well. Store

mixture in an airtight container. 

To use: Pour bath soak into a warm tub of water and stir well to mix. Moisturize your skin after bathing with some sunflower oil or a rich cream.

Crab - Shrimp Boil - Weekend Recipe

During the recent government shutdown there was bad news about Crab.  No permits meant no fishing for crab.  With that on my mind, I thought we need to make the most of the crab we can get!  So I adapted my picking spice to make a crab boil.  It is truly awesome and I don't even care for seafood that much!

Crab/Shrimp Boil

• 2/3 cup Backyard Patch Pickling Spices
• 1/4 cup sea salt
• 1 Tablespoon celery seeds
• 1 Tablespoon minced dried chives
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 5 bay leaves

Preparation:

Add pickling spices, sea salt, celery seeds, chives, ginger, oregano, and bay leaves to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulsing, process until the mixture forms a coarse powder. 

For cooking shrimp, add 1/4 cup of the spices, along with 2 teaspoons salt, to a large saucepan of boiling water or half water and half beer. 

For lobster or crab, use 1 part distilled white wine vinegar to 3 parts water. Add the seafood and cook for 2 minutes, or until just cooked through. Remove the seafood and serve or chill. 

Yield: about 1 cup 

Upcoming Programs - Baking and Gifting

This November I have two very similar programs in two very different locations.

Be an Herbal Gourmet program in Vernon Hills

Tuesday, November 19 -- 7 to 9 PM

The first is Tuesday November 19th through the Vernon Hills Community Education Department of District 129.

On that night I will be presenting "Making Gifts with Herbs"  I call the program Sharing your Bounty. We will go over making spiced items perfect for the holiday decorating season as well as ways to craft vinegar, sugar and other dried herb and herb scented creations.  A special aspect of this program is what I call an Herbal Play Station where participants will be able to craft a few dried herb recipes to take home with them.

To register for this program being held at the Vernon Hills High School, just click this link.

Here is one of the recipes I will be demonstrating during this presentation.

Sofa Sachets

2 part rose petals
1 part lavender
1 part hyssop

Combine the dried herbs in a bowl or bag and mix thoroughly.  Measure 2 Tablespoons of the mixture into a large tea bag, coffee filter or muslin bag.  Tightly close the bag.  Give as a gift in groups of three with the instructions: Place beneath the cushions of your couch or chair and enjoy the sweet treat with every seat.

Saturday, November 23 -- 9:30 to Noon

On Saturday November 23rd (9:30 am to Noon) I will be at the Morton Arboretum presenting "Herbal Holiday Baking."  In this program we will explore ways to use sweet and savory herbs in baking and candy
 making.

The program will include techniques for making herbal sugar and honey, as well as herb butter.  Then we will use those materials to craft baked goods from scones to cookies to sweet and savory breads. Samples will abound and participants will take home a scone mix and some herb sugar.

If you are a member of the Morton Arboretum there is a $7.00 discount on the cost of the program.  To register, click here.

This is a recipe like those I will be sharing as part of this baking program:

Old Fashioned Rose Drop Cookies

1/2 cup butter or margarine

3 tablespoons finely minced fresh rose petals, organically grown

2/3 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon rose water

Cream together margarine and minced fresh rose petals. Add sugar and beat thoroughly.

Beat in eggs one at a time. Add rose water. Stir in flour previously mixed with baking

powder. Mix until smooth. Drop by tiny teaspoonfuls on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes. Cookies should be lightly browned just at the edges.

Makes about 80 bite-size cookies.

I will be presenting a Cleaning with Herbs program in December, in Vernon Hills.  For more details, follow this link.