Make Your Own Cough Syrup

In following with my last blog about making raw lemonade, I saw another recipe using a fresh lemon.  http://www.thecabincountess.com/2016/01/raw-lemonade.html

 I didn't create this recipe, I found it on this link.
 http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/natural-cough-syrup.html 

If you don't want to read the whole link, I will paraphrase it.  It says if you get winter colds and don't like the Big Pharma cures, a good holistic medicine is pineapple.  You can use it for a cough syrup or a tablespoon a day for a healthy boost.  It says that pineapple has a special enzyme that controls mucus and inflammation in your throat and sinuses.  The enzyme is bromelain and has anti-inflammatory properties.  You must use fresh pineapple including the core to get the most bromelain.  Canned pineapple or pineapple juice don't contain the beneficial bromelain.

Other ingredients in the recipe are ginger which is also an anti-inflammatory, lemon which is filled with vitamin C and raw organic honey.  An optional ingredient is a little cayenne pepper for its pain relieving properties.  I left the pepper out mostly because I didn't have any.   More details on each ingredient are included in the original article. 
 
A batch of this syrup keeps in the refrigerator for a week to 10 days. You can take it as often as needed – even if you haven’t felt a cough coming, you can use the combination of pineapple, lemon, ginger, cayenne and honey to help prevent bacterial and viral attacks on your immune system.

This recipe yields about 1 cup.

Cut two thick slices of fresh pineapple.  Remove the peel from the outside of the pineapple but leave the core intact.
1 Tbsp raw honey
½ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
A thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced or rough chopped
1 lemon – juiced  I used the whole lemon with the peel taken off.

Rough chop the pineapple, including the core which is especially healthy.
Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
The mixture is now ready to use, but if you want a smoother syrup, push through a mesh strainer.

Keep in the refrigerator and take as needed.

We are testing this on my husband who has had a cough for two weeks.   Hopefully this will be a good alternative to other syrups which have side effects.  Even if it isn't that effective for the cough, it can't hurt unless you are allergic to one or more of the ingredients.  Snopes.com says that they couldn't find proof that pineapple juice is more effective than cough syrup, but they haven't tested this special concoction with all the other super foods added. 
 

Raw lemonade

Recently I read a recipe for a drink that was supposed to be healthy, boost your immune system and fight infection.  It said that lemons are rich in nutrients that can accomplish this plus they support digestion and cleanse the liver.  I thought it sounded easy and promising.  It is also a great substitute for drinking sugary high calorie soda pop.

The simple ingredients are two lemons, raw local honey, water and lemon essential oil.  The recipe says to peel two lemons.  I didn't want to waste the flavorful peel so I zested the lemons and cut off some of the white pith instead of peeling.

Raw lemonade

2 lemons peeled (I zest and cut the bitter white pith off)
2 cups of filtered water
2 Tablespoons unfiltered honey*
10 drops of lemon essential oil

Slice the prepared lemons and put all the ingredients in a high speed blender.  Add a few ice cubes and blend until smooth.  I used a Vitamix on high speed.  

It tastes delicious, and if it is half as good for us as it is supposed to be, that would be fantastic.  I imagine you can heat this lemonade if you stir in the honey later.  Heating honey too warm destroys some of its antibacterial properties.  It is very refreshing served on ice.  Adding a little booze wouldn't hurt either if you like an alcoholic drink once in a while.

*A word of warning with using raw unfiltered honey.  Some people can't use it.  My sister has a severe allergic reaction from it.  We think it is because all the pollen remains in the honey when it isn't filtered.  I felt terrible the first time I recommended this honey to her and she reacted. 

Use raw honey with caution.

Silicone Lids

I don't know how many of you are getting away from storing leftovers in plastic containers.  It never occurred to us that using empty plastic containers to store leftovers was a bad idea.  That is what we always did.  In fact, you still see cartoons showing people searching in the refrigerator for the butter, but all the containers look the same so they have to look in each one. Only one has the butter and the rest have other things.   I didn't think anything of using an empty lunch meat container or a cottage cheese container.  Now the trend is to use glass or at least a BPA free plastic.  Apparently bad cancer causing chemicals can eventually leach or migrate out into the food.  Heating food in plastic seems to increase the amount that's transferred to food.  Migration also increases when plastic touches fatty, salty, or acidic foods.  I have glass storage containers, but they seem to disappear or I don't have the proper size.  That is why I was so happy to get the gift I received from my sister this Christmas.  They were Silicone lids.

They work great.  How many times do you have a serving or so of something you don't want to throw away?  Now I can put it in a cereal bowl or any bowl or glass and put on a silicone lid.  The suction formed by pressing down, forms a seal.  It can be reheated with the lid on.  It's much easier than covering with foil or saran wrap, and they are reusable.  The best part is that you don't have to search for a lid or cover that fits.  As we know, all containers have a different size lid even if they look similar.

They seal so well I picked it up even though the instructions say not to do that.

This size seals a cereal bowl perfectly.

I have a lot of silicone items.  I have spatulas, cake and muffin pans and now these lids.  Hopefully they will continue to be deemed safe for future use.  I have eliminated my old plastic food containers which also eliminated some clutter.  These lids snap together for storage and take up very little room when not in use.  So far, I really like these silicone lids.  Anytime we can eliminate even a minuscule amount of bad chemicals from reaching our bloodstream, I'm all for it.  There are so many things we have no control over.  Even the food we eat is tainted more than the food we had fifty years ago.  It's too bad everyone can't grow their own food, but that isn't possible plus the seeds are probably treated anyway.  We only can help where we can and hope it's enough.  I think adding too many extra vitamins and supplements or worrying about everything only messes with the body's ability to regulate itself.  Enjoy life or it will be over before you're ready no matter what you eat or drink (within reason).  Someone once told me that moderation is the key to life.