Friday, July 8, 2011

Lori's Home Remedies

I've already shared this info with many of you.  Love learning how to use God's natural medicines.

Home Remedies: 

3 cloves crushed *garlic(a natural antibiotic) prepare a nice hot cup of tea and or 1 glass of water with lemon juice.  1 drop of olive oil on a spoon, place crushed garlic on the spoon.  Swallow, DO NOT CHEW or SWISH, swallow the garlic like a pill.  Drink one or both the water & hot tea.  Garlic has different levels of spiciness, some can make you nauseous. Hot tea will take the nausea away so drink more if this happens.  In the case of nausea, next time it'd be better to only crush one clove of garlic.  The smaller cloves are typically spicier.  We take it at night when going to bed, brush teeth like crazy.  Seriously, in the morning our breath doesn't stink.  After morning coffee, even less.  Garlic boosts the immune system and fights off all kinds of infections.   

Grapefruit Seed Extract(GSE):  we use Nutri Biotic and buy it at the health food store.  This stuff is great too...even for tummy bugs/food poisoning etc.  I've read that it works even better w/close contact to infected area.  The stuff is nasty, bitter tasting.  15-25 drops in a 8 oz glass of water, four times a day if you have to.  It's so nasty that we buy empty gel caps to put the drops in.  We have potentially a lot of food poisoning & tummy bugs in our area and this gets rid of those fast!  It's excellent for sinus and sore throat problems too.  But in that case it would be better to man up, hold your breath and guzzle fast! Have a tablespoon of local honey and another glass of juice to help get rid of that horrid bitter taste. (btw, although not natural, a dose a day of pepto bismol while traveling will prevent tummy problems)

Apple Cider Vinegar with the mother-Braggs is the best but I've heard Trader Joe's is now carrying a brand.  2 TBS of Apple Cider Vinegar w/1 TBS raw/local honey in 8 oz of purified room temp water.  You have to drink it in a min.  Man up!!! :D That's also great for colds, kidneys, gallbladder, nausea & tummy bugs, geez the whole body.  It cleanses.  Apple Cider Vinegar has a reputation for being the wonder drug.  Although it cures nausea, it can also give nausea if you're not able to take the 2 TBS.  if nausea happens, you'll still reap all the benefits but next time, try 1 tsp.  

Get plenty of natural unsweetened yogurt(probiotics).  Antibiotics, that you get from the doctor, kill not only your bad bacteria but the good ones.  That's why it's important to get your good bacteria going with yogurt.

Even when you're sick, you can eat honey.  God made honey!  Honey is amazing God food!  Honey is great for coughs & sore throats and it helps your body heal!  Great stuff, we buy local raw honey by the 5 gallon buckets.  So far have gotten 4 buckets this year!!! :D  We like it!  Local honey is like an allergy vaccine.  1-2 TBS of local honey a day, say bye, bye allergies!  Our guys put it in their tea, fresh bread, cereal, and our daily smoothy treat.(smoothy is natural yogurt, honey & fresh berries)  Totally beware that a lot of honey is sold mixed with corn syrup!!!!  Even the stands on the other side of the hill here locally, add corn syrup!  It crystalizes.  We've been getting our honey directly from a bee keeper.  The real liquid gold...although family will argue that Dad's apricot jam is :D well, that stuff is too! lol

"in addition to its reputation as Nature's nutritive sweetener, research also indicates that honey's unique composition makes it useful as an antimicrobial agent and antioxidant.
Raw Honey - An Anti-Bacterial, Anti-Viral, Anti-Fungal Substance" 
check out WHFoods for more great info on raw honey:  raw honey benefits  

I've become a bit of a health nut but we don't seem to get sick around here.  And if we feel it coming on, we'll be taking one or all three above.  *If you take the garlic at onset of a cold, you will most likely not get one.  It'll cut a 10 day cold into 3-5 days.  Cool stuff!  :))   

I'm always repeating myself  :D  It's very cheap and natural health care.  The garlic and GSE may interfere with heart meds.


Sunday, June 19, 2011

Lori's Whole Wheat Strawberry Shortcake for Father's Day!

Lori's Whole Wheat Honey
Whipped Cream Strawberry Shortcake
Tomorrow is Father's Day and one of Gary's favorite desserts has been Strawberry Shortcake.  I found a great shortcake recipe and made the whole wheat substitute.  If you can believe that we've eaten two 5-gallon buckets of raw honey this year, do!  There's about 2 cups left to last us through till Tuesday!  This shortcake was made with sugar!  Not something normal here but God made sugar too, right ;o)

Wishing everyone a very Happy Father's Day tomorrow!  Hope you celebrate in a big way and show your Dad some love!  :D  I love you Dad!  He's been a great man of God in my life & I appreciate his godly counsel.  Now if he were here in Mexico we'd be needing chocolate! haha  Both Gary and I have been blessed with great fathers that have been wonderful examples and I'm so appreciative to have a great father in law as well.  Happy Father's Day Dad N.  Thank you for everything you do for all your kids!  We love them both!

cutting butter into the flour mixture...thank you Mom for the pastry cutter

after butter is cut into mixture

brushed with cream before baking

I told Gary there are butterflies, little girls and hearts because Kalee has his heart ;)

fresh berries to slice 

I have Kalee's stamp of approval

Happy Father's Day Gary!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Birthday Celebrations, Mexican Style

Is it hard to believe that our youngest son turned 20?  Yes & no.  Gary & I planned our family young so that when they were grown, we'd still be young too!  Kind of funny how those plans changed, being that as soon as the possibility of facing an empty nest, Kalee was born.  I guess we really weren't ready yet for having an empty nest.  The nest is quite full since both of the boys still live at home.  

We've been celebrating Matt's birthday the past two days.   Yesterday, we really had a blast as he wanted carne asada(thin grilled steak)  All of Matt's close friends are nationals so we were doing this right!  The only thing we forgot were the frijoles(beans)...Matt forgot & I kept thinking something was missing until someone mentioned that this was just exactly how we do things(Mexican Style) except we have frijoles! oops ;o)

Hope you enjoy the pictures of his celebration:

Is there anything sweeter than asking his little to sister help him open his gifts? 

Whole Wheat Honey Vanilla Cake Mix
(not from a box)

Mexican Vanilla

ready for the oven

I've got one shot, hope it turns out well!

remember this?  The Ugly Dragon was finally found, deep inside one of Josh's shoes.
While baking Matt's cake it was thrown at me!! lol
Now it has disappeared & it's whereabouts are unknown. to be continued...

ever had a cake that didn't turn out right?
It fell, I'm not sure why...but I will fix it!

bringing fresh blueberry filling to a boil

Lori's Whole Wheat Honey Vanilla Cake,
Honey Whipped Cream with Fresh Blueberry Filling sweetened with honey of course! :)

this is what Matt really thought about it 

Happy Birthday Matt!


Celebrating Mexican Style!  It's all about enjoying the process  together.
Very stress free unless you're on a time limit. 

Mayra made yummy Mexican Chili de Jitomate!
or as we call them tomatillos(little tomatoes)

Vero made the guacamole! yum!

Matt & Mayra making some action there with the blender...
Gary not too impressed, haha

a little date on the terraza

the guys did the grilling :)

sharing the table

Saturday, May 28, 2011

My Pack

Some people like dogs...I do, but I NEVER EVER dreamed we'd own FOUR at the same time!   We ended up with four dogs!!!  The first one in our pack was the mini/standard schnauzer, she's 2 years old.  After we had a break in, I needed a large outdoor dog to protect us!  A friend gave us the big boxer and I was happy.  Happy until the schnauzer always wanted to be outside and brought things into the house at night, so she sleeps outside.   A couple of months ago, I'd decided that if anything ever happened to one of the dogs, I'd like to have a toy poodle.  A few days went by and a toy poodle pup was brought home.  Things were fine.   Two outdoor security dogs, one lap dog to tote around.   A few weeks went by and we thought the older boxer was going to have to be put to sleep!!!! Long story short, Gary had compassion on me and bought me a 6 week old male boxer pup!  His idea was that it would be easier on me to bring the pup home before putting the adult boxer down.  As we were calling to make arrangements, we found out that he could live!  Oh boy!  4 dogs!  2 males!!! Not my plan!!!!  I was thinking one had to go!!! 

But the schnauzer is the alarmist, she has to stay.  
The boxers are big and scary to keep bad guys away.  
The toy poodle is tiny, furry and cute so that means 
that there is no one left to boot!

What did I do??? I changed their diet!  Yup, these carnivores are eating raw meat and boy does it make things neat!  :D

I'm not that great of a pet photographer but these dogs are cute & entertaining!  So here's a few pictures of my 4 dog pack!



Puppies!

Bruno was not going for all of this wrestling mess, he got up & walked away :)

Puppies & Jazz lol

I have failed as a pet photographer!

I'm not sure how old she is.  Either 15 or 19 weeks

looking better after her fur has grown out

my lap dog/toy poodle

handsome boxer pup 10 weeks

they all get along

too bad I can't get them arranged nicely long enough for a pic


Monday, May 23, 2011

Lori's Mayo Free Creamy Potato Salad

Lori's Mayo Free Creamy Potato Salad
Yum! A side dish that Gary loves is creamy potato salad.  This is smuliscious!

6 med potatoes (2 pounds) boiled & diced
1 cup thinly or shredded celery
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp dried dill
1 cup natural unsweetened yogurt
2 tsp raw honey
2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp ground mustard
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
2 hard cooked eggs chopped
Gary's dish that he wanted a picture of ;o)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Whole Wheat Honey Berry Shortcake & Our Precious Birthday Girl!

Today is someone's birthday.  Our little someone turned two and we are so blessed that she is ours!  To celebrate her special day I wanted to bake my sweetie angel girl something that would be good for her.  It was also important to serve her favorite foods which include berries, pineapple, cantaloupe & filet mignon.  I'd been craving raspberry filling and strawberry shortcake.  Heavenly Homemakers had the perfect Healthy Shortcake recipe made with honey & whole wheat flour.  I couldn't be more pleased with the delicious results.  In fact, I must buy a cake plate to serve it on as this will be a new favorite dessert in our house.


Kalee's big day started yesterday for us.  Her big brother assembled her new kitchen & hid it in his room.  Daddy came in to see if there was anything he could do to help.
Josh assembling Kalee's kitchen 


Last night I carefully made the healthy pound cake.  I quadrupled the recipe and had a little extra that I baked in a little round pan.   We all waited hoping that it'd stick so we could try it and it did! :D                                                                                         
I asked for raspberries & was excited to have gotten 3 types of berries to decorate with

mixing whole wheat flour & baking powder

8 eggs...can you tell which one our hen laid? 

2 cups of raw honey

mixing well

buttered pan
Mommy adores her little girl

birthday pictures before church

Mommy & the birthday girl!

birthday glasses & braclet

Helping Daddy give the announcements in church...of course announcing her birthday :)

I enjoyed singing with my kids again ;)

Big brothers & their girlfriends help to celebrate the big occasion!

there was a little bit of kissing :)

and some more kissing

Kalee's kitchen is a big hit!

a rose for our rose & she appreciated it

Lori's 3 Berry Shortcake w/honey whipped cream &
honey raspberry filling

Honey Wheat Shortbread, honey raspberry filling
w/honey whipped cream! yum!

Daddy helping our little girl to blow out her candles

the birthday girl enjoying her balloons
Our daughter's big day has arrived and we are so excited to bless her today!