Honey Caramel Popcorn

At this link is one of our favorite General Conference treats! Sometimes I add some blackstrap molasses for a richer flavor, but it is great as is. There is another recipe I use that uses baking soda and I also love that one!

Smooth veggie soup

This is what we had for dinner and it was delicious. My children loved it and asked for seconds and thirds! We loved it! It was inspired by a recipe someone else read to me, but I didn't have it written down, so here is what it was:

2 onions chopped with 2-4 TBS olive oil
12 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup of celery (I think I was pretty generous, I probably used 1 1/2 cups) chopped
1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped
2 cups cauliflower, chopped
1 1/2 cups asparagus, chopped
1 fennel bulb, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
juice of one lemon (about 4-5 TBS lemon juice)


Put the onions and oil in and cook until onions are translucent. Then add the broth and other veggies. I just started with the onions and chopped everything and added it, I didn't add them all at the same time. I also added to one blenderful about 1/4 cup flour to help thicken it and then mixed it all together. When they are all soft put into the blender and blend until smooth. My blender holds 8 cups and I had to fill it 2 1/2 times.

Favorite Whole Wheat bread recipe

My favorite recipe is found at: Urban Homemaker

I have never used it with dough enhancer, but I have used it with and without gluten. ENJOY! And if I can figure out how to do the link right then I will edit the post when I get a chance!

Blender pancakes

This is an easy breakfast that we love and are so easy that even my 6 year old can produce. Well, I do the pouring, but he can add all the ingredients and turn the blender on. You don't need a fancy schmancy blender for it either.

1 cup milk (any variety will do, cow, soy, almond etc)
1 cup uncooked wheat berries
2 eggs
2 TBS oil
2 tsp baking powder
2 TBS honey
1 tsp salt

Put in the first two ingredients and blend on high until smooth. This could be 4 minutes, with my blender it's about 90 seconds. Turn to low and add the remaining ingredients. If not using a non-stick surface I would choose to use oil.

Garlic Oil

With Spring coming, but nasty coughs and colds sticking around, I decided to post on garlic oil. This is something that has been FANTASTIC for our family by boosting the immune system, great for ear infections, it's awesome! For extra pain relief, you could make mullein oil first and then make the garlic oil.

For one batch, you will need:

1/2 cup FRESH minced garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup olive oil to be added later.

You will want to mix the first 2 ingredients well and then add in the other 1/4 cup of olive oil. This will fit perfectly into a half pint jar. Then we put it in the windowsill for 10 days. On the 10th day you can strain it and then put it in the fridge. You can strain it with paper towels, coffee filters, muslin, cheese cloth etc. You can then put it in the fridge. It will separate even more and then you can decant it and continue to store in fridge. If you have an ailment, you don't have to wait the full 10 days, but it gets stronger each day! We love this and rub it on our feet, put it in our ears, rub it on chests etc. Enjoy!

Zucchini Pizza Bites

Hey there everyone!

Okay, so this week I had a couple of zucchini and came up with this really yummy meal. My kids didn't like that I called them pizza bites, because there was no "bread" to speak of, however I am going to leave the name the same. These were a great snack/light dinner/appetizer type thing.

Slice the zucchini into medallions. Put a small amount of oil in the pan, salt them (at least I did) and then after slightly browned then flip. I didn't bread them or anything. Then I took some diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning and blended it in the blender. Had I had spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce, I probably would have used that. Then I topped with some Havarti cheese (I couldn't find the mozzerella) until it melted and then removed them from the pan.

They were pretty, they were tasty. We loved them! Well, most of us did. My picky eater felt tricked because they didn't taste like pizza to her.

Herbal Throat Lozenges

Hey everyone!

Making your own lozenges is a great thing! You know what is in them and you can make them for your own ailments. Remember, when cooking, sometimes things flop and sometimes they work out wonderfully. I love herbs and they make me happy. They have helped our family through some difficult times! Here is the basic recipe that I use. It isn't set in stone by any stretch of the imagination, but this is what I do. :)

Use 1 cup of honey or blackstrap molasses or a combination of both. Remember that molasses is VERY strong and so think of who your audience is. Will they take them?

Then you will use up to 1/4 cup of an herb, either cut or powdered. I love ginger and clove with some red raspberry leaf. I use the powdered herbs, but you can use cut herbs. Think about your herbs as well, if you are going to use herbs like cayenne and/or garlic type herbs then I would choose less herb to honey ratio, but that's just me.

Very first, butter some cookie sheets to put the lozenges on. Then to begin your exciting new creations bring your honey to the hard crack stage. On my thermometer it was 150c, it's okay to go slightly higher (makes them less sticky) but after burning mine in the past I am a little more cautious. After your honey is hot, then you can add your powdered herbs. If you use cut, then you will need to leave over the heat for an extra 10 minutes and then strain them out. I have never done this because I am lazy. I also don't mind the extra herb at the end to chew up after the honey dissolves away. My kids like it too, however some people that are more sensitive are less impressed. I intend sometime to try oils, but it's also important to remember that the more whole the herb the better!

Once at temperature and herbs mixed in, then either put them in little dots on the pans or you can pour them out and score them. I have never poured them out, though this might be pretty easy...maybe I will try that next

So, now in short:

Butter your pans.

Heat 1 cup honey to hard crack stage.

Add up to 1/4 cups herbs.

Pour onto buttered pans. Enjoy!

These can be frozen easily and are yummy right out of the freezer, it also helps with the stickiness.