Homemade Herbal Cough Drops

• Powdered herbs
• 1 cup sugar, or honey
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup, or honey
• 1 1/2 cups water
• Powdered sugar, for easy handling

1. Steep your preferred soothing herbs in 1 1/2 cups of water to make a tea.

2. Mix sugar and corn syrup with tea. Cook over low heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved and mixture boils.

3. Continue boiling without stirring until the mixture begins to crystallize; reduce heat. Wash away crystals from the side of your pan with a damp cloth.

4. Remove from the heat after a few minutes. Drop some of the mixture from the tip of a spoon onto a greased surface. Allow to harden and cool completely before removing. Roll the candies in powdered sugar and wrap in waxed paper for storage.

For more information on the best herbs for a sore throat, check out these past articles:

• Seasonal Allergy Help by Kris Wetherbee
• Best Herbs for the Common Cold by Linda B. White, M.D.
• Culinary Herbs and Medicinal Spices by Amy Mayfield
• Herbs to Treat the Common Cold by The Herb Companion staff
• Kids Sore Throat Remedies by Linda B. White, M.D. and Sunny Mavor, A.H.G.

And try Kathy Azmeh-Scanlan’s recipe for herbal throat drops in Herbal Relief for Seasonal Allergies.



Read more: http://www.herbcompanion.com/herbal-living/herbal-cough-drops.aspx#ixzz1CJE9gxs6

Homemade Bouillon

This recipe requires a food processor. I have a 8-cup / 2 liter / 2 quart model, and needed every cubic inch of it. I found the best approach if you are tight for space in your food processor is to add a few of the ingredients, then pulse a few times. The ingredients collapse and free up more space for the next few ingredients. If you don't find yourself using much bouillon, I will suggest making a half batch of this. And for those of you wanting to do a version with no salt, freeze the pureed vegetables in small amounts - say, ice cube trays, just after pureeing them. Introduce salt in whatever amount you like later in the cooking process.

5 ounces / 150 g leeks, sliced and well-washed
7 ounces / 200g fennel bulb, chopped
7 ounces / 200g carrot, well scrubbed and chopped
3.5 ounces / 100 g celery
3.5 ounces / 100g celery root (celeriac), peeled and chopped
1 ounce / 30g sun-dried tomatoes
3.5 ounces / 100g shallots, peeled
3 medium garlic cloves
9 ounces / 250g fine grain sea salt
1.5 ounces / 40 g flat-leaf parsley, loosely chopped
2 ounces / 60g cilantro (coriander), loosely chopped

Place the first four ingredients in your food processor and pulse about twenty times. Add the next four ingredients, and pulse again. Add the salt, pulse some more. Then add the parsley and cilantro. You may need to scoop some of the chopped vegetables on top of the herbs, so they get chopped. Mine tended to want to stay on top of everything else, initially escaping the blades.

You should end up with a moist, loose paste of sorts. Keep 1/4th of it in a jar in the refrigerator for easy access in the coming days, and freeze the remaining 3/4 for use in the next month. Because of all the salt it barely solidifies making it easy to spoon directly from the freezer into the pot before boiling.

Start by using 1 teaspoon of bouillon per 1 cup (250 ml), and adjust from there based on your personal preference.

Makes roughly 3 1/2 cups.

Inspired by The River Cottage Preserves Handbook by Pam Corbin. The U.S. edition of the River Cottage Preserves Handbook will be available this summer.

Prep time: 40 min

Cherry Chocolate "Moose" Bark

Ingredients:

* 1 15 ounce can pumpkin
* 1 cup fresh cherries, pits removed
* 15 Tbsp cocoa powder
* ¼ cup warm water

Make a simple chocolate sauce by combining cocoa powder with ¼ cup warm water. Fifteen tablespoons may seem like a lot of cocoa powder, but I got the chocolate flavor I was looking for from this quantity compared to less.

Combine chocolate sauce with pumpkin and cherries in blender and blend until smooth.

Spread thinly on dehydrator trays covered with paraflexx® sheets or parchment paper.

Dehydrate at 135° for eight hours. Employ the flip trick as discussed above after five hours. Dried consistency will be more leathery than basic pumpkin pie bark which is brittle.

Tear bark into pieces and enjoy as a trail snack. Cherry Chocolate Moose Bark tastes like Tootsie-rolls® to me. To make pie, combine ½ cup bark with ½ cup hot water and stir until creamy. This pie reminds me of chocolate mousse. Try garnishing with chopped nuts and/or dried coconut.

Granny Smith's Pumpkin Apple Bark

Ingredients:

* 1 15 ounce can pumpkin
* 1 large apple
* 2 tsp apple pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice

Peel and core apple and cut into pieces. Combine with pumpkin and spices in blender and blend until smooth.

Spread thinly on dehydrator trays covered with paraflexx® sheets or parchment paper.

Dehydrate at 135° for eight hours. Employ the flip trick as discussed above after five hours. (“flip-trick” as follows: Place a spare dehydrator tray on top of the Bark and flip the two trays over so that the bottom side of the Bark is now facing up. This will ensure complete drying. The flip-trick is very easy with Excalibur Dehydrator trays. If you don't have an Excalibur, just peel the bark off when the bark is dry enough to hold together and turn it over.) Dried consistency will be more leathery than basic pumpkin pie bark which is brittle.

Tear bark into pieces and enjoy as a trail snack. To make pie, combine ½ cup bark with ½ cup hot water and stir until creamy. I like this dessert garnished with granola.

Pumpkin Pie Bark & No Crust Pumpkin Pie

Uses for Pumpkin Pie Bark:

* No-Crust Pumpkin Pie! Just add water.
* Makes a chewy snack while hiking.
* High in Vitamin A and fiber.

Ingredients:

* 1 15 ounce can pumpkin
* ¼ cup real maple syrup
* 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice

Combine pumpkin with maple syrup and pumpkin pie spice. Use real maple syrup for best results. Stir until ingredients are mixed well. You don't need to use a blender.

Spread thinly (about eighth inch) on dehydrator trays covered with Excalibur Paraflexx® sheets, parchment paper, or plastic wrap.

Dehydrate at 135° for eight hours until brittle. After about five hours, flip the bark over using the “flip-trick” as follows: Place a spare dehydrator tray on top of the Bark and flip the two trays over so that the bottom side of the Bark is now facing up. This will ensure complete drying. The flip-trick is very easy with Excalibur Dehydrator trays. If you don't have an Excalibur, just peel the bark off when the bark is dry enough to hold together and turn it over.

Yield: One 15 ounce can of pumpkin barks down to 1 ½ cups weighing four ounces.



No-Crust Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients:

* ½ cup Pumpkin Pie Bark
* ½ cup water

Pumpkin Pie Bark dissolves in hot or cold water. If you want hot pie, stir the Bark with hot water until creamy. I use my candle stove to gently warm the water for pumpkin pie.

Garnish with chopped walnuts or pecans if desired.

Amish Soda Cracker Pudding Recipe

by Back to the Basics--Hope for the best, Prepare for the Worst on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 8:57am

18 soda crackers
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbls. peanut butter
3 cups milk
2 eggs
2 Tbls. cornstarch
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup coconut



Melt butter and peanut butter. Add to brown sugar and cracker crumbs and mix well. Place in pan, pressing crumbs to sides and bottom. Reserve 1/4 crumbs for topping. In a sauce pan, combine milk, eggs, cornstarch and white sugar and boil over medium heat until thickened; add vanilla and coconut. Pour slowly over crumbs and refrigerate.

When cool, sprinkle remaining crumbs over top.

Tomato Gravy

Tomato gravy can be eaten over many things--bread, toast, biscuits, fried mush, pasta, mashed potatoes, waffles, meat, etc. It is almost a sauce but in many places, especially the south, it's eaten instead of white or brown gravy. Some recommend cooking in a cast iron skillet, but I don't like tomatoes cooked in cast iron. Here are several recipe variations...


Amish Tomato Gravy

4 cups tomato juice
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper



Bring tomato juice to a boil. Mix together flour and milk. Add to boiling tomato juice. Bring to a boil again and remove from heat. Pour over cubed bread.