Homemade Vitamin Water

I used to love vitamin water, but I had an incident where someone slipped drugs into mine and it left me unable to stand the taste of it. Years before that even happened my husband, a die-hard sports nut, told me that under NCAA guidelines vitamin waters contained banned substances and that college athletes were being told they couldn't drink it.

These banned substances included taurine, L-theanine, green-tea extract and glucosamine. Withing a week of the link I provided you above vitamin water was given the green light. Hmmmmmm.

After dealing with the intense thirst that accompanies gestational diabetes I decided to try my hand at making my own.

For starters I chose to only make two.

One contained frozen pineapple and mango chunks along with some fresh mint.

The other contained a frozen mixture of berries (raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries).

Making these was simple. Just put your fruit in your chosen glass container, fill it with water, and then put it in the fridge for a minimum of 1 - 4 hours to let the water infuse. I left mine overnight.

The resulting concoction was okay but not what I was hoping for. We did however find that the drink tasted even better later in the day than in the beginning.

Still very interested a few days later I made a couple more.

The one on the left has (frozen) blueberries, line, and cucumber. The one on the right has cucumber, lemon, mint, and ginger. These were pretty disgusting. The one on the left had way too much lime and the one on the right was just a bit of an amalgam of nasty.

I'm going to have to try this again with fresh fruit.

Pintesting - Chemical Free - Detox Bath

I have been suffering from the worst pain off to the side of my back (I'm sorry I can't really think of a better way of explaining where it is right now) for the longest time now. I wasn't sure if it were the pregnancy, all the bending over while cleaning, our need for a new mattress - or all of the above.

Today's pintest comes via this pin and the info found here.

I used half of all of the called for ingredients because I was going to be using a quart sized Mason jar.

Detox Bath- Take II
(Bulk recipe)
2 C epsom salt

2 C sea salt

2 C aluminum free baking soda

 5 TB ground ginger

1 C vinegar

Combine all dry ingredients, store in a closed container.  During bath time, add 1 cup of dry ingredients mix and 1 cup vinegar to hot running water.  Soak 20-40 minutes.  Enjoy!

Benefits:
Epsom Salt draws out toxins from your body while relieving aches and pains.
Sea Salt soothes and heals blemishes and open wounds.
Baking Soda balances and over acidic system, leaving you refreshed, energized while softening the skin.
Ground Ginger increases circulations, aiding in the eliminations of toxins.
Vinegar soothes and soften dry, itchy skin while balancing the bodies and neutralizing the bodies pH.

My husband and I had a pretty full weekend of working on our house. Cleaning, moving things, throwing things out - it was a lot like when you've just moved into a new place. I had my usual aches and pains but knew he'd most likely really be feeling something in t he next couple of days. This seemed like the perfect time to suggest he take a nice, long, hot, relaxing bath.

I read someplace that you should sit in this bath for around 40 minutes. The first 20 minutes are supposed to relieve you of toxins and the last are to help you absorb the minerals. I told him not to worry about that but to sit there are long as he wanted and just enjoy and relax.

When I asked him how the bath was here was his response: "I mean it was good but it's been so many years since I've taken a bath I can't tell you if it were any different from a regular bath."

Guess I'll have to try this myself.

Kitchen Testing - Kimchee For Mommy

As long as I have been able to remember, my mother has loved kimchee. With all of my pickling and canning adventures recently it seemed like a good idea to at least attempt to make some kimchee for mom.

I made sure ahead of time to stock up on mason jars - I'd run out after the roasted red peppers, pickled red cabbage, and pickled Vietnamese vegetables.

I picked out a few kimchee recipes that sounded do-able and picked this one as my final choice.

Begin with a nice head of Napa cabbage.

Remove the outer leaves.

Cut it into quarters.

The next part of the instructions says to remove the tough inner core. There are two ways you can go about this. First the way you can do this if you really aren't sure where or what the tough inner core is for sure.

Slice you quarter piece as is.

Once it is sliced you will see the difference between the cabbage and the core and can separate it manually.

The second way is still pretty good for those who aren't 100% sure but would like to try to remove the core a bit faster. Diagonally cut across the butt of the cabbage.

When I say diagonally I really mean it. In addition to the general angle you are using from top to bottom, cut at a 45 degree angle.

By now you should have a nice pile of shredded cabbage.

I chose to separate mine into two colanders so that I could make sure that I wasn't going to end up losing a bunch of cabbage into the sink while I cleaned it.

I put all the cabbage into a large bowl and salted it in portions. I'd salt it, mix the cabbage up, salt it, and continued this general way until I used up all of the salt called for.

Here is what the cabbage looked like after I let it sit for two hours and wilt.

While I waited for things to wit I prepared the "sauce" I would need.

Because it's my mother I made sure to use "the good" hot chili paste.

Remembering that some of the other recipes called for daikon I bought another piece. Then once I was putting things together realized that my chosen recipe didn't include the use of daikon. I turned to my second choice recipe to make sure I didn't over-do it with the daikon.

Once everything was ready I thoroughly rinsed the cabbage and packed a mason jar as tight as I dare.

My addition of the daikon made it impossible for the sauce to mix in properly so I poured it back into a bowl.

Added some more sriracha.

And then managed to be able to pack it all back into the jar.

I hope this turns out delicious and that my mother loves it.

Kitchen Testing - Winter Sore Throat "Tea"

Some months ago it seemed that a great deal of the women I know on Facebook were all "like"ing the same "Farmer's Pal" post. But of course, that's really how it works isn't it? One person "like"s it and then we all see it and then people start following suit.

What was all the hubbub about? "Winter sore throat 'tea'"

I mentioned recently that my little lamb and I got sick. My sore throat far outweighed the annoyance of my ever dripping nose.

This is a recipe you should really make months in advance but who can really remember what you had going on months ago that kept you from doing it? Besides - there are still more winter months to go!

I bought ginger with the intention of using it in some kimchee for my mother, but my piece was large enough that I could spare half to make some tea.

I sliced it up and then got out my lemons.

Layer lemons and ginger.

Then pour honey over top and watch it drip through the open spaces.

Now I play the waiting game. This mix looks so wonderful I almost hope for a sore throat. By the time this post goes out it will only have been in the fridge six days. The original post says to wait months but I'll be trying to keep an eye on it to see when it congeals.