DIY Cough - Throat Drops

I have been meaning to do this for months.  Last fall we bought some herbal cough drops and they were very nice. (Swiss Alps yodeling man) I also have a friend that buys the essential oils cough drops they were wonderful but very pricey ($.60 per drop). Or at least  I thought that was a lot to pay for a cough drop.  So ever since then I thought certainly I could make these myself.   So today was the day.

The first thing I did was to steep some STRONG herbal tea.  I used chamomile, rose hips, peppermint, and orange rind.

After steeping I stained through a coffee filter because I wanted it completely clear.

Cough drop recipe:

1 cup of herbal tea

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup honey

1 tablespoon butter

Bring to a boil to a hard crack, 300 degrees

When your syrup is at 300 degrees remove it from the heat and let it cool just a bit. 

Then add  1.5 tablespoons lemon juice.

Be very careful - it splatters!

At this point these are very good herbal drops.  You can stop right here if you want to.

(Swiss Alps yodeling man type)

But I wanted to duplicate the pricey essential oil drops so I added some LorAnn's oil.

I used Anise, Spearmint, and Cloves.

I have to say these are wonderful!

I really do think they are every bit as good as the $$ drops.  

Since I haven't yet purchased molds I needed to make my own.  

Below is powdered sugar in a cookie sheet pressed firmly with a second pan.

I used the end of a whisk to make indentations in the sugar.  It was a good size for the drops.

When the drops were hard I sifted them out of my powdered sugar so it wasn't a waste of all this sugar.

These are the finished drops.

I think these are worth investing in some good silicone molds.  I think that would be a lot less work and clean up.  But I really wanted to try this before spending the money for the molds.

Store in an airtight container.

a little bird

Cute new summer dress

I have sewing on my mind.  And I came across this darling idea from County Living DIY.

From this:

to this:

So CUTE!!  Some people are so creative.  If you would like to see all the steps for this transformation click HERE.

Luscious Lotion

I don't know if this picture does justice to this wonderful lotion.

This is the time of year that our skin seems to be dry from the cold winter winds.  I'm always on the lookout for a rich lotion that moisturizes but isn't greasy.

Well I found it!!

My Mother-in-Law shared this recipe with me.

7 ounces petroleum jelly

7 ounces vitamin E cream 

14 ounces baby lotion

I add a tablespoon or 2 of raw honey too (it has so many antioxidants).

Whip well with your mixer. 

Be sure to wash your beaters and bowl well when you're done so your next batch of cookies  doesn't taste like lotion... :-)

It smells very light - the baby lotion is all that has scent.  You do NOT need to buy name brands.  You can go to the dollar store for these items so for $3.00 you have a wonderfully rich and skin quenching moisturizer.