And making soap too

I am also making more soap. This is a violet-chamomile soap. It smells so good. I hope it turns out ok because it's dark and cold and dreary outside today.

I also made a spiced pear using the pumpkin spice recipe I love so much. I had some spiced pears I had canned so used some of those and some ground cinnamon and cloves. I hope this works. It was really dark when I poured it in the mold.

I'll make a Spiced Mahogany later.

I just love making soap. It's way too addictive.

Elderberry syrup

It's that time of year again. Itchy sore throat, runny nose, just general yucky feeling. So I make elderberry syrup and take a tablespoon every morning. I have not been sick in several years since I do this. And it's SO easy to make too. 

You just need dried elderberries, water, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, grated ginger and honey. So simple.

Here's the recipe. And I always double it to make about 4 cups.

1 cup dried elderberries
4 cups water
2 cinnamon sticks
10 whole cloves
10 T grated ginger (I just usually buy a big ole chunk of ginger and use it all. I don't measure.)
2 cups honey

So you start by putting the first 5 ingredients in a big pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, til it's reduced by about half. It takes a good 30 minutes or so. But ya know what? I have never let it get that far. That's what my recipe says, but I don't always follow directions.

Then you strain all that goodness into a bowl or measuring cup. Add 2 cups honey and stir til all dissolved.

I reuse all my little dark colored fish oil bottles for this. It says to keep in dark containers. These are perfect and hold 1 cup each. It makes 4 cups most of the time. Sometimes a little more, sometimes less. This time was a little more. I just drank it. It's so good!

A friend of mine orders the berries for me. But you could look up on line for places to order elderberries from. You all need to make this, right now, before you get sick. And kids can drink this too! Enjoy!

Collards!

When I was at market yesterday, there was a cooking demo. They were sauteing garlic in oil with chopped up collards. Just for a few minutes, til wilted. Then she put tahini in it. It was good. 

So just now, I chopped up garlic and I like to smash it several times to release the oils. I had sesame oil so I put the chopped garlic in the warm oil for a minute. Then added chopped collards. For just a few minutes til it's all wilted down. Then I added soy sauce. That's all I had. It is SO good! I could live on this stuff. Even my daughter liked it. 

                                               This was actually about 4 cups of collards.

  And this is it almost gone! Yum! Y'all have got to try this. You could probably add sesame seeds on top too.