Simply Rurban

How To Make Your Own Lung Tonic

Posted on December 2, 2014 by simply0637

It is that time of year again, with cold, congestion and rattles in your chest. It seems that I have been fighting something in my chest for a couple of weeks now and I did not want to go to the drug store and get any over the counter stuff. I decided to do some reading and see if I could find an “old time” recipe for lung issues and give it a try. There is something to be said about “folk lore” remedies or remedies that have been handed down for generations, we have become skeptical, but for the most part many of them really work.

I am not sure where exactly I came across this recipe – Facebook, in my morning reading, but I decided to give it a try. I used really good ingredients – the maple syrup I bought in bulk from our local health food store, organic onions and local honey. I figured if I was going to ingest this and I wanted my lungs to improve I needed to use the best ingredients that I could find!

Lung Remedy

Ingredients

2 cups pure maple syrup
1 lb red or purple onions
6 cups water
2 medium sized lemons
7 Tbl raw honey

1. In a soup pot, heat the maple syrup on medium. You want the syrup to be warm , but not boiling.

2. Peel and cut the onions and add to the maple syrup – you want this to cook for a few minutes.

3. Add the water and allow the mixture to come to a boil. Allow it to boil, stirring occasionally, until it is reduced by 1/3.

4. Let the mixture cool. While cooling squeeze the juice from the lemons.

5. Once cooled, about 10 minutes, add the lemon and honey – mix well.

6. Allow to sit overnight. In the morning using a colander drain the mixture. I drained the mixture, putting the liquid into a large mason jar and allowed the onion to drain for about 45 minutes more. I then squeezed the liquid from the onions and put the remaining liquid in the mason jar.

How to use:

Adults, take 1 Tbl before each meal until your lungs are better.

Children, take 1 tsp before each meal.

This mixture should last for awhile. Keep refrigerated. If you keep out on the counter the mixture will ferment (so be careful opening).

Posted in Health | Tagged colds, lung remedy, lungs, tonic | Leave a comment

I’m Back

Posted on December 1, 2014 by simply0637

It has been many months since I have posted, well it has been since April! Most of the spring, summer and fall were taken up with a restaurant that I started with 2 other partners. The food was great, our customers, well for the most part incredible, but the staffing and behind the scene issues were just too much. I won’t get into specifics, but myself and one other partner decided to close the restaurant in September. It was a sad day and very disappointing, but it was the right thing to do. I believe that we were onto something that is needed and wanted in out town, just how to do it with the employee base in a very small town is the issue and with neither one of us being chef trained – there lays the big issue.

I had all good intentions to start posting again this past summer and did much, but never quite got around to posting new recipes, new craft projects, gardening projects, etc – I guess they will have to wait until next summer.

The past couple of months the major project consisted of a new bathroom and bedroom in the partially finished basement. If I do not see a paintbrush for many, many months I would not be disappointed! But that will not be the case – other projects are being put together for other parts of the house for the winter….. Food was put up over the summer, bread made, knitting done, new recipes tried.

Who knows what will happen next, but I open and excited to see what it is. I am glad to be back to posting and creating and sharing!

Posted in Life | Tagged Life | 1 Comment

Make Felted Eggs For Your Easter Basket

Posted on April 14, 2014 by simply0637

Originally Posted March 30, 2012

As I promised yesterday here are the felted Easter eggs for your braided Easter basket or just use them for decoration. I am not sure mine will be packed away with the other Easter decorations – they may have to be on display all year long! Found another way to do felted eggs that does not necessarily involve a felting needle – so may have to try that one with Stella!

Felted Easter Eggs (thank you to http://livingfelt.com/blog/?p=3298 , they have all your felting supplies and are wonderful to work with!)

Materials Needed

Core wool
Colored wool
Felting pad
Felting needle

1. Taking your core wool, pull off a piece and roll it into a tube, folding the sides up as you go and rolling tight. If it is not quite large enough, add another piece of core wool and roll and tuck. Needle felt the loose ends and then needle felt the egg until firm to very firm – shaping as you felt.

2. Take some colored wool roving, wrap the core egg, making sure to cover all the white of the core and needle felt evenly around the egg until all the roving is felted and it is smooth and even looking.

3. Now you are ready to add dots, stripes, flowers, etc. If you are going to do stripes or a zig zag line – take a piece of wool roving and role it into a tube of equal thickness, lay it on the egg where you would like it and the evenly needle felt it. For dots, take a small piece of wool roving and needle felt in a circle – you have a dot.

They look great in my braided Easter basket!

Posted in Crafts, Felting | Tagged easter egg, needle felting | 4 Comments

Make Your Own Braided Easter Basket

Posted on April 11, 2014 by simply0637

Originally Posted March 29, 2012

Easter is coming, Easter is coming. Easter is one of those holidays where the Easter basket and candy has nothing to do with the Christian celebration of Easter, but really from the pagan origins. If you look at many of the Christian holidays they coincide with Pagan celebrations. During the rise of the Christian religion the church coincided many of their celebrations with the pagan celebrations in order to condemn the pagan celebrations and rituals and to change and alter beliefs. I am in no way saying anything against the Christian religion and the celebration of Easter, just giving history.

I found this passage as I was researching the history of Easter and instead of paraphrasing, the following is directly taken from this site: http://rcg.org/books/ttooe.html:

Does the following sound familiar?—Spring is in the air! Flowers and bunnies decorate the home. Father helps the children paint beautiful designs on eggs dyed in various colors. These eggs, which will later be hidden and searched for, are placed into lovely, seasonal baskets. The wonderful aroma of the hot cross buns mother is baking in the oven waft through the house. Forty days of abstaining from special foods will finally end the next day. The whole family picks out their Sunday best to wear to the next morning’s sunrise worship service to celebrate the savior’s resurrection and the renewal of life. Everyone looks forward to a succulent ham with all the trimmings. It will be a thrilling day. After all, it is one of the most important religious holidays of the year.

Easter, right? No! This is a description of an ancient Babylonian family—2,000 years before Christ—honoring the resurrection of their god, Tammuz, who was brought back from the underworld by his mother/wife, Ishtar (after whom the festival was named). As Ishtar was actually pronounced “Easter” in most Semitic dialects, it could be said that the event portrayed here is, in a sense, Easter. Of course, the occasion could easily have been a Phrygian family honoring Attis and Cybele, or perhaps a Phoenician family worshiping Adonis and Astarte. Also fitting the description well would be a heretic Israelite family honoring the Canaanite Baal and Ashtoreth. Or this depiction could just as easily represent any number of other immoral, pagan fertility celebrations of death and resurrection—including the modern Easter celebration as it has come to us through the Anglo-Saxon fertility rites of the goddess Eostre or Ostara. These are all the same festivals, separated only by time and culture.

“On this greatest of Christian festivals, several survivals occur of ancient heathen ceremonies. To begin with, the name itself is not Christian but pagan. Ostara was the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring” (Ethel L. Urlin, Festival, Holy Days, and Saints Days, p. 73).

“Easter—the name Easter comes to us from Ostera or Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, for whom a spring festival was held annually, as it is from this pagan festival that some of our Easter customs have come” (Hazeltine, p. 53).

So what to do with all those eggs, which symbolize fertility, new life and resurrection, on Easter – put them in an Easter basket of course!

Braided Easter Basket

Items needed

3/4 yards of a cotton spring pattern
11 yards of 3/8″ cotton filler cord (I doubled the cord, so if you can find a larger size, get that)
Thread to match
Large safety pin
Masking or scotch tape
Rubber bands
Large sturdy needle

Fabric

1. From the fabric, cut 9 (1 7/8″ x 44″) strips for the basket and 6 ( 1 1/2″ x 19 1/2″ ) for the handle.

2. For the basket: Sew 3 pieces together to make 1 long strip. Repeat and make 2 more strips.

3. For the basket: With right sides facing and raw edges aligned, fold 1 strip in half lengthwise and sew along each long edge. Repeat with other 2 strips. Trim folded edge.

For the handle: With right sides together and raw edges aligned, sew along each long edge. Repeat with other 2 strips.

4. Using a safety pin turn strips right side out. Fasten a safety pin to one end of the fabric and place inside the tube, slowly inch your way up the tube pulling the fabric down and you go.

5. Take the filler cord and wrap the ends with masking or scotch tape. For the basket: Match up the two ends and put the safety pin through both ends. Thread the safety pin into one strip and pull the safety pin through the the other side. Trim the cord 3/4″ shorter than the fabric and stitch cords to fabric. For the handle: Thread the safety pin through one piece of cord and pull the safety pin through the fabric tube. Trim the cord 1/2″ shorter than the fabric tubes and sew cord to fabric.

You will inch you way along, make sure to firmly hold the safety pin while pulling the fabric down the cord.

6. For both: Repeat steps 4 & 5 with the other two fabric strips.

7. For the basket: Align the 3 strips (tubes) at 1 end and stitch together. For the handle: Align the 3 strips and rubber band together.

8. For both: Taking your safety pin, thread all 3 tubes onto the safety pin and pin to a surface. Braid the tubes, making sure to keep flat and not to twist tubes. When you get to the end of braid, rubber band the ends together.

9. To make the basket, lay the stitch end of the braid flat on your work surface. The first 6 1/2″ of the braid will be the base of the basket. Coil and make a flat oval, slip-stitching the edges of the braid as you go to keep it together.

10. Once the oval base is completed, start stacking the braid to form the sides, slip-stitching as you go. When you get to the end, remove the rubber band, tucks the raw edges of the fabric tubes inside coils and stitch to inside of basket.

11. To attach the handle, remove the rubber bands, pin handle to basket, tuck each cut end under coils inside of basket and stitch securely.

This makes a nice center piece for your table or to put with your Easter decorations. Tomorrow we will make eggs to put in the basket!

Posted in Crafts, Sewing, Uncategorized | Tagged basket, easter, sewing | 5 Comments

Roasted Cauliflower Bites

Posted on April 7, 2014 by simply0637

This weekend the sun was shining and the weather was warm – so of course I spent as much of it as I could out in the yard. After working out in the yard I was hungry for a snack, but did not want to spoil dinner – so roasted cauliflower bites sounded delicious! Each week I get several recipes from the numerous lists I am on and remember seeing this one and I had everything in the house to make it! Wonderful!

Roasted Cauliflower Bites (Thank you Humane Society )

Ingredients

1 head cauliflower, cut up into bite size pieces
2/3 cup organic bread crumbs or panko
4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 tsp+ olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.

2. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with olive oil or rub olive oil on parchment paper.

3. Cut up the cauliflower.

4. In a glass mixing bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, herbs, salt, and pepper. Drizzle in the 2 tsp olive oil and use your fingertips to rub it into the bread crumbs.

5. In another glass bowl, place the cauliflower (I did it in batches) and drizzle with olive oil – mix to coat all pieces.

6. Roll the cauliflower pieces around in the crumbs, then place them in a single layer on the baking sheet.

7. Sprinkle any excess crumbs over the cauliflower.

8. Bake for 12 minutes, or until tender and lightly browned.

Serve – these are great to just snack on or as a side to a meal. I loved them, Stella thought they were ok.

Posted in Recipes, Sides, Snacks | Tagged recipe, roasted cauliflower, side dish, snack | 3 Comments

Kids Craft Corner: Learn To Finger Knit

Posted on April 2, 2014 by simply0637

Stella has been going to the local knitting store every other Friday to improve on her knitting. The last time that I picked her up she had a knitted necklace on and had taught the owner, her aunt how to finger knit – well I wanted to learn.

Learn How To Finger Knit

Items needed

Fingers
Yarn

1. Wrap the yarn around your thumb, so that the yarn forms an upside down “u”. Tie a knot, not too tight – you want the yarn to be able to slip off your thumb easily.

2. For the first weave, weave the yarn between your fingers – in a front to back pattern. In front of one finger and then in the back of the other finger and then around and back to your thumb – this is the only time you will weave around the thumb. Each finger will have two strands of yarn on them.

3. Taking the lower strand of yarn, lift it over the upper strand and off your finger. Do this will all fingers on your hand but not your thumb.

4. Weave the yarn through your fingers again, so that each finger, again, has two strands of yarn.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you reach the length you want. You may have to pull on the yarn attached to the skein of yarn every so often.

6. When you have reached the length desired, starting with the thumb loop, take it off your thumb, then take the next finger, ending with your pinkie finger. After you take each loop off hold them together with your thumb and pointer finger.

7. Cut the yarn leaving a 2″ tail.

8. Take the tail and put it through all the loops and tie a secure knot (knot twice).

Your finger knitted necklace is done!

Posted in Crafts, Kids Crafts, Knitting | Tagged finger knitting, kids crafts | 1 Comment

Cheddar Crackers

Posted on March 31, 2014 by simply0637

My aunt has been making some delicious cheese crackers and they are on my list to make, but when I came across this recipe I decided to give it a try. I like cheese, but it does not always like me. Stella loves anything cheese! This recipe is a little lighter on the cheese and I thought it might be a little better for me and my stomach. It is not something you can just whip up – you need to do a little planning since the dough has to be refrigerated.

Cheddar Crackers (thank you to www.tomandkatiew.blogspot.com)

Ingredients

2 cup flour (I did half white and half wheat)
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard
3/4 cup organic butter, cold
1/2 cup organic cheddar cheese, grated (raw milk cheddar even better) I really packed the cup
6 + Tbl cold water

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a glass bowl.

2. Add the butter and then either with your hands or a fork, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles corn meal.

3. Grated the cheese and then add to the mixture.

4. Add 1 Tbl of water at a time and mix. I found towards the 5th Tbl it was better to use my hands to mix the dough.

5. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

6. Preheat the oven to 350 and line a cooking sheet with parchment paper.

7. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle that is approximately 16×12. The rolled out dough should be about 1/8″ thick.

8. Cut into 1″ x 3″ pieces and place on the baking sheet, 1 inch apart.

9. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes – you want them to be golden brown and crispy. Cool completely before serving.

These taste more like a cheesy pie crust cracker – I really liked them! Stella did not like them, which is fine since I think I could eat these with almost every meal and as a snack! I would roll them out even thinner next time – so they were crunchier and cut them a shorter length.

Posted in Recipes, Snacks | Tagged cheddar cheese, crackers, recipe, snacks | 1 Comment

Kids Craft Corner: Make Your Own Minions

Posted on March 28, 2014 by simply0637

Stella was given an assignment at school, put together a project that could be presented to the class. I am sure the directions were a little more detailed than that, but that is pretty much the gist of it. A couple of months ago, Stella came home with a stress ball that she had made – so her project would be a take on the same concept – but she would be making minions. If you are not familiar with minions, they were little yellow characters from the movie Despicable Me. They were so cute. I was given a list of supplies to get and was shocked that I was able to find everything needed in town and did not have to drive to the “big” city 45 minutes away! The supplies in hand – she went to work. I was amazed at what she created.

She practiced her presentation, with me as the audience, several times – and I was impressed. She had to create and present her creation in 5 minutes or less. She was quite nervous when the day came for her to present to her class. This was a 4H project and the next day she received a letter home stating that she had been chosen to take her creation/presentation to Nationals! Let me explain Nationals… in our school district there are 4 elementary schools – so Nationals is a competition between the 4 elementary school. She is looking forward to Nationals which are being held on April 17.

Creating Your Own Minions

Items Needed

Flour
Sandwich bags (the ones that have the fold over tops)
Flour
Yellow balloons
Scissors
Rubber band
Elmers glue
Tape
Googlie eyes
Blue felt
Black sharpie marker
Silver marker

1. Cut the top off your sandwich bag. Fill with about 1/3 cup of flour. Seal shut with a rubber band.

2. Cut the “stem” of your balloon off. Wrap the balloon around your bag of flour. Tape the balloon opening shut.

3. Cut two strips of felt, one thicker and shorter and the other narrower and longer. Secure one strip from front to back on bottom of shape with glue and then secure the other strip around the middle of the shape again with glue.

4. Attach your googlie eyes with glue. There are minions that only have one eye and some that have two eyes – so your choice.

5. Using your silver marker, draw a circle around the eye(s).

6. If you have two eyes, draw a nose piece with your black marker connecting the two circles and then draw a line connecting to the two circles around the back of the “head”. These lines represent goggles.

6. Using your black sharpie marker, draw hair, a nose and a mouth – make them expressive.

And there you have your very own minion. This have been a hit and everyone that has seen them has wanted one. Mine is sitting on the window sill above the kitchen sink, but I think I might had velcro to the bottom and attach my minion to the dash of the car. So cute!!

Her posters used in her presentation.

Posted in Kids Crafts | Tagged kids craft corner, kids crafts, minions, stress ball | 2 Comments

A Knitted Washcloth – Yes Another One!

Posted on March 26, 2014 by simply0637

I have several knitting projects going on, but they are take concentration – but sometimes I want to knit but not concentrate. Knitting for me is like meditation and some evenings I just want to get lost in my knitting. I found this pattern off one of the knitting pattern emails I receive and thought I would give it a try. It is simple, fast and takes very little concentration! This can also be used as a dishcloth.

Knitted Washcloth

Items Needed

Size 6 straight knitting needles
Cotton yarn
Darning needle

1. Cast on 41 stitches.

2. (RS) Knit 3, *Purl 2, Knit 1, repeat from * until 2 stitches left, Knit 2.

3. (WS) Knit all the way across.

Repeat steps 2 & 3 until your washcloth measures 8″ or the length you desire.

End with a right side, cast off and weave in all ends. Block if needed.

Posted in Crafts, Knitting | Tagged dishcloth, knitting, pattern, washcloth | 2 Comments

Toasted Almond Sandwich Cookies

Posted on March 24, 2014 by simply0637

Thank you Martha Stewart! This recipe came from Martha Stewart Living magazine – usually I do not try her recipes – they seem so labor intensive, but this one I had to try. I am now a partner in a restaurant and we are trying all sorts of new recipes and I thought this might be a good dessert for our menu. I have had many people try this recipe and the consensus it a big YES – these need to be on the dessert menu. They are labor intensive, but you can make the dough and keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months, fantastic and you can make the cookies (without filling) ahead of time and store for about a week – which is also a very good thing!

Toasted Almond Sandwich Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp coarse sea salt
1 stick, unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup creamy almond butter (I used sprouted)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted and chopped (I used crispy almonds)
16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup honey
1/2 – 1 tsp vanilla

1. Mix together the flour, baking soda and sea salt, set aside.

2. Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 1 minute.

3. Add the almond butter and beat until smooth.

4. Beat in the brown sugar and then add the egg.

5. Gradually add the flour.

6. Toast and chop the almonds.

7. Add the almonds to the dough and mix by hand.

8. Form the dough into logs. I ended up making several logs and smaller than the original recipe called for (1 – 11″ log, 1 3/4″ in diameter). Wrap in parchment paper and freeze until firm, about 1 hour and will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.

9. Preheat the oven to 350.

10. Slice the log into 1/4 inch thick rounds. Arrange rounds on a parchment lined baking sheet, 1 1/2″ apart. Press into shape.

11. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan set on a rack.

12. Combine the cream cheese, honey and vanilla with an electric mixer.

13. Spread filling onto one cookie and layer with another one. You want to put the filling on just before serving so that the cookie stays crisp. After awhile the cookie will moisten some, but still very good!

The filling stores well in the refrigerator and the cookies will store up to 1 week in an airtight container. These are so good and the size I made are great to satisfy your sweet tooth when it hits!

Posted in Cookies, Dessert, Recipes, Uncategorized | Tagged almond sandwich cookie, cookie, dessert, recipe | 2 Comments

How To Make Your Own Lung Tonic

I’m Back

Make Felted Eggs For Your Easter Basket

Make Your Own Braided Easter Basket

Roasted Cauliflower Bites

Kids Craft Corner: Learn To Finger Knit

Cheddar Crackers

Kids Craft Corner: Make Your Own Minions

A Knitted Washcloth – Yes Another One!

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