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

Lovely Dishes

My dear friend had a yard sale.  She decided to sell her china - I tried to talk her out of it but she said she never used them so she was getting rid of them.

I think they are just lovely so I bought them.  Now she can enjoy her china when ever she comes here because I  will use them.

She is right we do need to use our lovely things often.  Otherwise its just  stuff that takes up space.

So dear Karen I will use and enjoy your dishes often. And I look forward to your next visit so we can have tea in these lovely cups.

a little bird 

Where did June go...

Where did June go...?

I took the month of June off from work.   I work at a school so most of the school is closed for the entire summer but some of us need to work through the summer too.  :-)  So it is back to work tomorrow for me.

But I had a great time just being at home through June.  I did some cleaning I never seem to have time for through the school year (and yes there is still more I wish I would have gotten done.)  I helped in the garden and the yard,  I even got a camping trip in with the granddaughters.  I think that was the highlight of my time off; six days in the mountains with four little ones is time well spent!

I thought since I have been pretty much absent from blogging I would just share some pictures of June for me.

A day at the fabric store.

Relish - using Tattler Lids

Birthday party

Can you see the teapot in the middle?

Cilantro - Coriander 

Basil

Dill

Honey Crisp Apple

Leaf Lettuce

Second birthday party

Fresh honey straight from the hive that morning

Hiking with my four favorite little girls! 

This was my June in a nut shell.  What a great way to spend the month.

a little bird