Natural Ginger Ale

Katie WellnessMama

 

It turns out that soda hasn’t always been the high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavor concoction in an aluminum can that we know today.

For hundreds of years (and probably much longer) cultures around the world have made various forms of naturally fermented “sodas” from sweetened herbal teas or fruit juice mixes. These natural fermented drinks contained beneficial enzymes and probiotics to boost health and were a far cry from the unhealthy versions we have today.

This version uses a fermented ginger culture to create a naturally fizzy soda! Ginger is and delicious herb that has been used in many cultures for its health-boosting properties. From my herb profile of ginger:

“Ginger has been used in Chinese Medicine for thousands of years and is said to help:

• Soothe digestive disturbances
• Alleviate nausea (great in early pregnancy)
• Reduce fever
• Calm coughing and respiratory troubles
• Stimulates the circulatory system
• Helps relieve muscle aches and pain
• Can help get rid of dandruff
• Emerging evidence shows it helps lower cholesterol
• Japanese research has found Ginger is effective in lowering blood pressure and cancer risk”

Great deal & the perfect time of year to use flamless tealights everywhere around the house! I'm thinking pumpkins, Halloween display, walkway for parties, outdoors, patios, boating, camping and not to mention all the Christmas uses! Hurry, these won't last!!! CLICK THE PICTURE FOR LINK! 12-Pack Tealight Candle LED White, Yellow Flickering Flame Price: $4.60 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Homemade Coffee Creamer – Over 2 Dozen Flavor Varieties!

~ Homemade Coffee Creamer ~ 

I like a good cup of light, sweet coffee. I simply cannot drink “cowboy coffee.”.  I don’t like my coffee black. I prefer a smooth breakfast blend made with my Keurig, with honey and an array of coffee creamers.

Found this on Mrs Happy Homemaker while looking for alternatives to store bought creamer and just had to share! 

The whole point really is that coffee creamer is luxurious, and expensive. I’m lucky if I can find it on sale for $2.59 for the bigger bottles of the store brand. Anyway, for me to enjoy a good cup ‘o joe in the morning, it needs to be at least 10% French Vanilla coffee creamer. So that all adds up. Oh, and have you ever actually read the ingredients of the back of that store-bought creamer?  It shouldn’t even be called creamer. I don’t think there is actually any cream in there at all.

Lets look…

Nope, nothing that says “cream.” here! 

There is a whole boatload of other stuff in there that shouldn’t be though. Like partially hydrogenated soybean oil, sodium casinate and dipotassium phosphate. What the heck is all that STUFF? And look at that one in parenthesis: Titanium Dioxide. That is added to make it more white. Go check your toothpaste. Unless you buy the blue or green gel toothpaste, your tube might have titanium dioxide in it. Go ahead, go check. I’ll wait….

Isn’t that gross? And possibly cancerous to boot!

So, I’ve been thinking about the psuedo-creamer for a while now and I recently read on Facebook that one of my friends successfully made her own coffee creamer. So I did a little research and a little tweaking and came up with a long list, flavors and many pretty darn good DIY creamers.  With actual dairy products! Imagine that!!

Up-cycle Broken Clay Pots

by Kathy @ http://raisinghomemakers.com/2013/up-cycle-broken-clay-pots/

 

As we are getting ready for the gardening season, here is an easy way to make plant markers with pieces from broken clay pots.

 

 

I try to find new and creative things to use for plant markers each year. I've done chop sticks and wine corks! If you came to my pool last year all the potted flowers and herbs had chop sticks with wine corks identifying the contents of the pots, LOL They were a fun conversation starter.

 

I found Kathy's Blog, Raising Home Makers, and thought I'd share her creative idea. So much for buying all those expensive plant markers, just up cycle your broken clay pots or use anything around your house that will be attractive and creative like rocks.

 

  These will also help with plant identification for your children, they could even write the scientific name on the back.

The Bitter Truth About Splenda

I am so surprised when I see the number of people that still use SPLENDA! Maybe they haven't read that Splenda is a biologically alien chemical and whose structure is only a few atoms away from the deadly pesticide DDT!

I personally use honey or agave in most drinks I consume. I purchase local honey from honey growers listed by state; http://www.honey.com/
(More on Honey below)
 

Now, let's talk about Spenda and Aspertame! After you read this let me know it you want to continue to consume it. If you are still not sure, just google and read the 100's of pages of negative studies and the harmful effects of these chemicals!

 

Written By: Sayer Ji, Founder

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/bitter-truth-about-splenda

 

If you were told to ingest a biologically alien synthetic chemical whose presence on this planet did not predate 1976, and whose structure is only a few atoms away from the deadly pesticide DDT, and you knew that not only were there no long term human safety studies performed on it, but that it had been already proven in tests to have following adverse health effects:

· Shrunken thymus glands (up to 40% shrinkage) 
· Enlarged liver and kidneys.
· Abnormal histopathological changes in spleen and thymus
· Increased cecal weight 
· Reduced growth rate
· DNA Damage
· Adverse changes to gastrointestinal bacteria
· Abnormal Pelvic Mineralization
· Decreased red blood cell count 
· Hyperplasia of the pelvis
· Aborted pregnancy (Maternal & Fetal Toxicity)
· Decreased fetal body weights and placental weights 
· Bowel inflammation/Crohn's Disease
· Triggering migraine
· Increase glycosylation of hemoglobin (HbA1c) for diabetics

...would you still consume it? Of course not! And yet, millions of Americans (including our precious children!) are doing exactly that by consuming Splenda.

The Medical Benefits and Uses of Turmeric | Patient Talk

The Medical Benefits and Uses of Turmeric | Patient Talk
Primary Component of Turmeric Kicks Off Cancer-Killing Mechanisms in Human Saliva

 

Faculty: Eri Srivatsan, Ph.D., Marilene B. Wang, M.D.

Marilene Wang, M.D.	Eri Srivatsan, Ph.D.

Curcumin, the main component in the spice turmeric, suppresses a cell signaling pathway that drives the growth of head and neck cancer, according to a pilot study using human saliva by researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The inhibition of the cell signaling pathway also correlated with reduced expression of a number of pro-inflammatory cytokines, or signaling molecules, in the saliva that promote cancer growth, said Dr. Marilene Wang, a professor of head and neck surgery, Jonsson Cancer Center researcher and senior author of the study.
“This study shows that curcumin can work in the mouths of patients with head and neck malignancies and reduce activities that promote cancer growth,” Wang said. “And it not only affected the cancer by inhibiting a critical cell signaling pathway, it also affected the saliva itself by reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines within the saliva.”
The study appears Sept. 15 in Clinical Cancer Research, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Turmeric is a naturally occurring spice widely used in South Asian and Middle Eastern cooking and has long been known to have medicinal properties, attributed to its anti-inflammatory effects. Previous studies have shown it can suppress the growth of certain cancers. In India, women for years have been using turmeric as an anti-aging agent rubbed into their skin, to treat cramps during menstruation and as a poultice on the skin to promote wound healing.