Archives for November 2013

Maty’s All Natural {And Effective} Cough Syrup {Plus Giveaway!}

November 27, 2013 By Anne Simpson

This is a sponsored post. Thanksgiving will be here in just one short day, and then in one short month… Christmas! Wow, it’s coming up fast!

And somewhere in the midst of all the festivities, another not-so-joyous season will creep in unwelcome and unannounced: I am speaking of flu season, of course. And even if you don’t get the flu, chances are you’re going to catch one of the many colds flying around this time of year, so now’s a good time to stock up on your remedies.

But forget those antihistamines, NSAID’s, and any other cold meds that line the drugstore shelves - you won’t need them. Trust me, there are a multitude of effective and safe natural remedies that quickly relieve cold symptoms while helping your body to heal faster without side effects.

Safe Natural Remedies from the Drugstore

As you know, I like to use essential oils whenever possible in treating various illnesses in my family. I also employ time-honored home remedies and the occasional homeopathic medicine when I find it useful. I also always like to keep a few ready remedies on hand for those winter illnesses that are sure to come: cough syrup and chest rub, for example. Sure, I could make them myself - I have before - but in this busy time of year, I like to have something on hand I can trust.

A frank little side note here: to be perfectly honest, I don’t always find the homemade remedies to be as effective as some store-bought ones. Just sayin.

An effective - but natural and safe - remedy I make sure to always have on hand this time of year is cough syrup. Tiger Cub in particular seems susceptible to coughs whenever he has a cold, sometimes with coughing fits that keep him up at night and make him miserable. I’ve found that while raw honey itself is only partially effective, a honey-based mixture like Maty’s All Natural Cough Syrup knocks the cough out almost instantly.

Check out the ingredients in this cough syrup:

buckwheat honey
zinc
grapefruit seed extract
celtic sea salt
lemon peel
lemon balm
apple cider vinegar
cinnamon
cayenne pepper

This stuff packs a punch! (And yeah, I have most of those ingredients in my kitchen, but do I have time to whip up my own cough syrup? Uh, no. Not hardly!) As a matter of fact, Tiger Cub has a cold right now, and last night his cough was keeping him awake: as soon as I gave him a spoonful of Maty’s Cough Syrup, his cough stopped and he slept soundly! In fact, I didn’t hear him cough again until earlier this evening, and once again, when I gave him a spoonful of Maty’s Cough Syrup it stopped the cough in its tracks!

Here’s some more information about Maty’s from the founder:

In 1996, my daughter Maty was born with severe heart defects. And to make matters worse, she was also born without a spleen. By age five, Maty underwent three complex heart surgeries.

For those first few years of her life, it was a challenging time for our family. We were constantly in and out of doctors offices. Although her heart was mended, she was left with difficult medical issues and a weakened immune system. Her condition made her vulnerable.

Desperate to help my little girl, I devoted my time to finding natural remedies that would help her get and stay healthy. And it soon became my passion. I started reading everything and anything to do with natural ways of healing. I took classes in natural healing and even got certified as a holistic health practitioner.

And along the way I discovered natural remedies that really worked and started using them on my family. Whatʼs even better is that I was now equipped with modern knowledge of healing and incorporated that into these old time remedies to make them even better. I bottled some of these remedies up and gave them to family and friends to help them get healthier. And they became popular.

Your Chance to Win

If you want to give Maty’s a try, enter our giveaway! The winner gets to choose one full-size version of any of Maty’s popular products:

All Natural Cough Syrup
All Natural Kids’ Cough Syrup
All Natural Baby Chest Rub
All Natural Vapor Rub
Breathe Better Nasal Ointment

This giveaway is only open to US residents and will end Sunday, December 1 at midnight.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

1 Comment Filed Under: In The Budget, Spend Wisely Tagged With: review

Sweet Potato Pumpkins - a Vintage Recipe from a Blogger Before Her Time

November 24, 2013 By Anne Simpson

I recently picked up another vintage cookbook at a thrift store, and it quite possibly has been my most favorite thrift store purchase of all time. Of all time, people. That’s saying something because, ahem, I’ve bought a lot of stuff at thrift stores.

A Blogger Born Before Her Time

It’s my most favorite thrift store purchase not because of the awesome recipes I found in it (although there are definitely more recipes and ideas I want to try) but because I felt a certain kinship with the author, an Ann Batchelder who was the food editor for Ladies’ Home Journal during the forties. Now, I am not and never will be a magazine food editor (although it sounds like fun!), so that’s not where the kinship comes in.

No, the kinship I felt came from the sensation as I read her cookbook (which truly is a cookbook you read, not just flip through or skip to the index) that I was reading a blog. I could not escape the feeling that Ann Batchelder was a blogger born before her time; her quirky dry humor combined with creative ideas and tips, not to mention the occasional poetic prose about topics having absolutely nothing to do with food or cooking, all combined to create the effect of a modern blogger. Seriously, if it weren’t for the occasional mention of outdated tools, ingredients, or methods, I would have thought I’d picked up a cookbook written by a blogger, not a food editor from the glamor era.

A 1940’s “Blogger’s” Thoughts on Thanksgiving

A few sample tidbits so you can see what I mean:

She begins her Thanksgiving Menu portion with thoughts on the traditions of Thanksgiving Day, as well as a few choice comments about the guest of honor: ” From some remote date, turkey has always been the Thanksgiving feast bird. If you can’t have turkey you may have ham or chicken or roast pig, but whatever it is that takes the turkey’s place on your table, have it in the spirit* of turkey. For that spirit is a very emanation of Thanksgiving Day itself!”

*I did not italicize. She did. Told ya she was a blogger.

She finishes up her Thanksgiving Menu with these thoughts: “Have a good Thanksgiving. Whether it be simple or “simply colossal” as they say, have a happy day. It’s always well to remember that things around this world might be worse, and that we’ve got as far as we have, so it’s perfectly possible that we shall make the next grade - if we keep going. And for one thing let us be extra thankful. Thankful for Thanksgiving Day. And so all together now, ‘Come ye thankful people come, raise the song of harvest home.’ Will someone please take the organ?”

When was the last time you read that in a dull ol’ cookbook?

One more thought on Thanksgiving from Ann: “Celebrated according to their means and light by the old New England families. Celebrated as a tradition handed down from the time the Pilgrim mothers did their stuff (ha!*) with the wild turkey and the woodland herbs, it became under Sarah [Hale]’s lively interest and persistence, a national holiday. And President Lincoln yielded to the Hale persuasiveness and sent out the proclamation which secured to this Pilgrim tradition perpetuation and a place in the sun. So now we are nearing what to my mind is the best holiday of all - Thanksgiving.”

*I added the “ha!”. In case you couldn’t tell.

A Vintage Recipe from a Vintage Blogger: Sweet Potato Pumpkins

One of the things about Ann Batchelder that tells me she would be a mega blogger if she “did her stuff” in today’s world is that she has such creative ideas. (Not to mention that if the photographs were in color they’d be totally gorgeous and perfect for Pinterest. Yes, I know she had a whole team of food stylists and photographers, but still.) For each holiday, she created an entire menu filled with both traditional food items, new twists on old things, plus a few ideas just for fun. The kinds of things that people pin on Pinterest, kwim?

One of those ideas leaped off the page at me and I determined that I had to make them for Thanksgiving: Sweet Potato Pumpkins. As you can see in the photo above, her instructions were rather vague, which is normal for vintage cookbooks (which assume that the average reader already knows how to cook). I was OK up until the point where she said “Shape the sweet potatoes into small pumpkins”. That’s where the blogger comparison totally falls apart. I mean, hello, where were the tutorials with step by step pictures?! And the links to where I can buy the tools on Amazon?!

Well, I’m not a perfect blogger, so sadly, I myself have no step-by-step pictorial tutorial for you today. However, I did my best at creating sweet potato pumpkins according to her recipe, and they turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself! So I can share with you in slightly more detail than Ms. Batchelder and you can try it for yourself this week.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Pumpkins

Ingredients

3 lbs sweet potatoes (about 5-6)
1 T. Coconut Milk (or any milk)
3 T. Coconut Oil (or butter or any oil), separated
1″ Piece of Ginger, grated
Grated Nutmeg
Salt & Pepper
approximately 2 T. sugar, any kind
1 celery stalk

Instructions

Peel the potatoes and chop them into hunks. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil until they can easily be pierced with a fork. Drain.
Press sweet potatoes through a potato ricer into a large mixing bowl. Add the coconut milk, 2 T. oil, and the seasonings to taste (start with a lesser amount, taste once it’s all mixed up and add as needed).
Beat the sweet potatoes and other ingredients in a mixer until a smooth mash is created. Chill until cool to the touch and slightly firmer.
Using moist hands, shape the mash into balls and place them on a greased cookie sheet. Smooth them with a rubber or silicone spatula. Use the tip of a table knife to create the ridges around the pumpkin. Smooth with moist finger tips as needed.
Melt the remaining coconut oil, and brush it onto the tops of the pumpkins. Sprinkle them with the sugar. Cut the celery stalk into approximately 1 1/2″ inch pieces and press one into the top of each pumpkin to form the stem.
Broil the “pumpkins” until the top of the celery stalk and the sugar are browned a little. My broiler was taking ridiculously long for some reason, but it should take about 5 minutes or so I think.

Note: Next time I might experiment with adding some type of flour (maybe coconut flour?) to the mixture to see if it firms up a little more so as to make slightly smoother, firmer pumpkins. I’ll let you know how it goes!

So there you go - a cute little vintage (but not) recipe for this Thanksgiving!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

1 Comment Filed Under: Celebrations, On The Table, Sides Tagged With: sweet potato, Thanksgiving

Real Food on a Tight Schedule

November 7, 2013 By Anne Simpson

Usually, I’m talking about real food on a tight budget, but today we’re talking about being tight on a different sort of commodity: namely, time. We are all short on time, yes?

I’ve been transitioning from a work AT home mom to a working AWAY from home mom for the past few months, and it’s not been without its challenges on many levels. Sticking to a real foods diet has been a little more stressful in terms of preparation, and I’m finding that too much of my at-home time has been spent slaving away in the kitchen when I could be spending time with my family.

I’ve slowly been figuring all this out, though, and I’ve come up with a few strategies that have cut down my kitchen time without sacrificing the quality of the food I serve.

1. Keep it Simple, Sister

This has always been my mantra, and even more so now. I’ve had to pull myself out of the mental box that says, “all meals must include a main dish and several prepared sides”. That’s simply not true! Here are some ways to simplify your menu (particularly your dinner menu):

Try one-dish meals or casseroles (I’m partial to stir-fry’s myself!). If they are well balanced with the appropriate amounts of proteins, carbs, and fruits or veggies, then you don’t need to have any additional accompaniments to the meal. Just make sure you have enough of it to satisfy everybody’s hungry tummy!
Forget prepped and cooked side dishes. There’s nothing wrong with a simple sliced apple or a pile of freshly chopped veggies (although I do like to experiment with different kinds of yummy apple side dishes!). Clearly, I still prepare more involved side dishes, but I’m learning that the fact my family eats fruits and vegetables is more important than the way they are served.
Think outside the box when planning meals: try an assortment of finger foods or a cold plate instead of an actual “dinner”.

2. Process Your Groceries

When you get home from grocery shopping (or from the farmers’ market), immediately prep all the food that you can. Obviously, some things cannot be sliced or chopped or otherwise prepped ahead of time, but do process whatever you possibly can. This will save enormous amounts of time when you’re getting ready to put dinner on the table.

Here are some foods I try to prep ahead of time whenever I can:

pineapples (won’t keep for long, but they don’t last for long around here anyway, so that’s not a problem)
kefir or yogurt (when you bring milk home, set a batch going right away)
rice, pasta, or other grains (cook them up and store in the freezer)
beans (soak and then cook in the crock pot)
winter squash (cook it in the crock pot, puree, and refrigerate or freeze)
onions (chop and freeze - thawed onions aren’t great in raw dishes but work perfectly for anything cooked)
meat (separate it into portions that will work for your recipes/meal plan; you can also brown ground meat for use in recipes like spaghetti and the like, or fry up bacon)

3. Take Ten

Build ten minutes into your night or morning routine to take care of various kitchen chores like:

culturing kefir, yogurt, sour cream, and anything you like to ferment
feeding your sourdough starter
defrosting meat (or whatever you need for the next day that is in the freezer)
soaking beans
cooking broth (or anything, really) in the crock pot

4. Utilize Your Tools

Make friends with your crock pot, your food processor, and your Vitamix (if you have one) because those babies will make your life a lot easier and will save you so much time! I actually don’t have a food processor, although I want to get one eventually, but I use my crock pot and my Vitamix all the stinkin’ time. I don’t know what I would do without either one!

The crock pot might take longer to cook something, but it’s completely hands off for the most part so it saves time in that regard. If you cook soup on the stove top, it might take less time, but you have to be present and constantly checking on it to make sure the pot doesn’t boil over or the liquid evaporate too much. A slow cooker cooks slowly (funny, huh?) and safely so that you can let it do its thing while you do yours. You can let it go overnight, or you can let it go all day, whichever is more convenient for you.
Crock pots are not just for roasts! As I mentioned before, I cook my pumpkins and other winter squash in it all the time. I also use it to make broth on a regular basis. I have used it to make granola, and steel cut oats, too. I’ve even baked bread in it!
And a Vitamix is not just for smoothies. Sure, it makes a mean smoothie, but it does a lot of other stuff, too. It will puree anything you need pureed, which seems to happen an awful lot in real-food-cooking for some reason. It’s also great at making your own sauces - savory sauces, sweet sauces, fruit sauces, any kind of sauce! It will even cook the sauce for you! I also occasionally use my Vitamix like a food processor, especially for grating carrots or potatoes. It works so fast and is so effective!

5. Have a Meal Plan

This is the oldest trick in the books, and for good reason: it works! I have to admit I struggle with consistency with this one, but there is no denying that food prep goes a lot more smoothly - and quickly - when I’m working from a menu. My favorite menu planning tool is Plan to Eat, an online program I highly recommend, and consider to be totally worth it in terms of how much time and money you save when using it. (By the way, that’s my referral link, and you can try it for free for 30 days.)

Above all, keep in mind that some things in life are more important than real food. I’ve learned to make concessions along the way; for example, I keep a bag of flour in the cupboard for those occasions (that occur on a regular basis) when I simply don’t have time to grind my grain. I also am not ashamed to buy store-bought healthy (ish) treats for my kids when I don’t have time to make cookies from scratch. We eat out at least once a week, and although we try to eat at healthier restaurants and make healthier choices when dining out… it’s still eating out and it’s still not very healthy! But it’s a necessary break for all of us, and one we look forward to, and so we consider it worth it. Your concessions might look different, but don’t be ashamed of them or embarrassed by them.

How do you serve your family real food when time is short?