Home Remedy, Lemon Honey Tea

I’m sick….grrr!  What a pain in the you know what.  I really thought that I was going to be lucky enough to not get sick this year.  Last winter I was sick 4 times before Christmas.  This year, nothing.  I had a few scratch throats that didn’t last more than a day.  I kept beating it, fighting the common cold and winning all winter long. Today, the cold won. 

I’m hoping that with a day of rest I can get back on track and I’ll be as good as new tomorrow.  So this morning I woke up and made a pot of Lemon Honey Tea.  I wanted something that would soothe my sore throat.  I grabbed a pot and added 4 cups of water; while it started boiling I peeled a 2 inch piece of ginger and the rind off of 1 lemon and tossed it into the pot.  I let the mixture simmer for about ten minutes.  Then I added 1-2 tablespoons of honey, depends how sweet you like it, and 2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice.

It works!  It tastes good, although I think my taste buds are a little off right now. Most importantly it feels great on my throat. I plan on drinking this tea all day and getting a lot of sleep.  I hope none of you have to try this tea and you can avoid getting sick but just in case I’ll leave the recipe for you.

Lemon Honey Tea

Ingredients

• 4 cups water
• 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled
• Rind from 1 large lemon (just use a knife and peel it off like a potato)
• 2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1-2 tbsp honey, to taste

Directions

1. Add 4 cups of water to a pot and bring to a boil over high heat
2. Add lemon rind and ginger to pot.  Once the water is boiling reduce to medium heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes. 
3. Remove the pot from the heat and add lemon juice and honey.  Pour the tea into a teapot and serve.

ENJOY!

This One's For You Dad

About a week ago I asked all of you to let me know what I should cook/bake.  The results are in….NOTHING!  I didn’t get any suggestions so there was no picking a dish out of a hat and no coming up with a new recipe.  Instead I decided to make something for my Dad, to thank him for the giant stock pot that he gave me on the weekend.  It would have come in handy a couple of weekends ago when I was making my mega batch of Bolognese sauce.

When I was at my Dad’s house on the weekend he asked me how to make chicken stock.  I proceeded to explain the details and he looked at me with a bit of a blank stare.  When I left I thought, I’ll have to go back to my Dad’s house soon and make chicken stock with him.  Then I thought maybe there are a few - more people that want to learn, I should put a step-by-step on my blog.  Here it isJ

It really is quite simple and is another one of those things that I like to make in large batches to bag and freeze for later use.  Here’s what you’re going to need 2 whole roaster chickens, 4 carrots, 4 celery stalks with leaves, 3 onions, 1 head of garlic, fresh thyme, peppercorns and salt.  That’s it!  Sometimes I through in other herbs like rosemary and dill but all I had was thyme so that will do.  Also, I got lucky and Metro had buy one get one free roaster chickens this week. 

I start off coarsely chopping all of the veggies.  I don’t bother peeling the garlic, carrots or onions.   It will all look something like this.

Then I dump all of this into a large stock pot, I put the chickens on top and fill it up with about 6 liters of water. It will look like this

Bring to a boil then reduce the temperature so that the stock simmers.  Let simmer gently for at least 3-4 hours.  It will start to look like this

Then strain the stock into a clean bowl or pot and let chill overnight. It will look like this

I hope anyone who has always wanted to make a chicken stock gives it a try.  There is no comparison to a box stock and it will make you a mean pot of chicken noodle soup.

Just to recap I’ll put the full recipe below

Chicken Stock
Yield about 3-4 liters

Ingredients

• 2 roaster chickens
• 3 onions, cut in half, not peeled
• 4 carrots, tips removed and cut in half
• 4 stalks of celery, leaves included
• 1 head of garlic, cut in half
• 1 bunch fresh thyme
• 20 peppercorns
• 1 tbsp salt
• 6 liters of water

Directions

1. Prep all of you veggies and add to the bottom of a large stock pot
2. Place chickens on top of veggies and add 6 liters of water.  The water should just cover all of the ingredients
3. Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 3-4 hours.
4. Strain the stock to remove all of the solids.  Cool stock overnight in a large bowl or pot and discard all of the solids.
5. Stock can stay in the refrigerator for about 3 days or can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for 2-3 months.

ENJOY!