Calendula infused Coconut Oil with French Lavender

Mary’s Gold: I use Calendula in my super popular Healing Honey Butter.  Why?  Calendula has been used since ancient times for cooking, making clothing dye, and for medicinal use.  The earliest records claim that the tea from the Calendula Officinalis can help with women issues, gut issues, and many others.  Topically Calendula flowers were placed in open wounds to staunch bleeding, help heal and to avoid infection.  It was also used in tinctures and balms to heal the skin, treat acne, reduce inflammation, help heal cuts, scrapes and bug bites to name a few. 

Most everyone is familiar with Lavender.  The soothing scent has been used to reduce anxiety and induce sleep for ions.  It was also used as an antiseptic and anti-inflammatory.  I have used Lavender on my skin to help take the sting out of sunburns.  We take the Healing Honey Butter on all of our trips, especially our last trip to visit my Mom in Florida.  Where my Mom ended up with a bad sunburn.  She put on the Healing Honey butter, and while her skin remained red through the next day, she did not hurt or itch at all.  I usually burn one time a year, I know it's bad I don't mean too.  I used my Healing Honey Butter and no longer felt the sting and itching of my damaged skin. Below is a picture of my sunburned shoulder, I posted on Instagram. 

How many times have you seen a commercial that touts their Lavender product will help you sleep, will calm your child and help them sleep, will reduce your anxiety and stress levels?  There's a reason Lavender has been used since ancient times.  It works.  Not the chemically processed versions sold on tv and in commercial skin care and bath products.  Pure Lavender from the actual Lavender plant.  Distilled into pure therapeutic essential oils.  The real lavender.  True and pure lavender.  Essentially and Purely Lavender oil.  Once you smell true lavender, you will be able  to detect the imposters and reject them.  

How do I make this amazing, Healing Honey Butter?

I infuse my Organic Coconut oil with Organic, dried, Calendula Officinalis flowers and beeswax. I like to take my time when making an infusion, I want to get the absolute most out of the flowers I use.  I want to sell my Customers the highest quality product. So I start my infusion and carefully monitor it, stirring the coconut oil to allow a perfect mixture of oil to healing benefits of the calendula flower.  

Once the infusion has reached maturity I then start the process to whip it into a frothy state to keep it from hardening into a big lump that is difficult to get out of it's container.  This has to been done several times as the butter cools and hardens.  After it has cooled sufficiently, I then add the pure French Lavender Essential oil.  Blend and pour into the containers. The smell is heavenly and the result is divine.  I should have named it Heavenly Honey Butter.  

I like to add beeswax as it helps the coconut oil set up and seals in the skins moisture along with the healing power of the Calendula.  By adding Lavender, the skin healing/soothing benefits gets a real boost, plus the scent of lavender is soothing and calming.  Healing Honey Butter has a light fragrance and goes on smoothly.  Your skin will be soft and supple all day long.  Try some today, see how much your skin can benefit from this ultra moisturizing and healing butter.  I promise your skin will love you for it!

I use all the products in my line of skin care.  All of them, I wouldn't sell anything that I don't love. If you would like to make a purchase go to my website: www.essentiallypurely.com or visit my Etsy store.  

Legal mumbo-jumbo:

These Statements have not been evaluated by the food and drug administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, mitigate, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Avoid if pregnant. Avoid if allergic to any ingredients, or if allergic to the Daisy family.  Pictures from Wikipedia, except the one of my shoulder.  That's mine. 

Tortilla Tuesday is here!

Tortilla Tuesday is here!

Who doesn't like Tacos and Tortillas?! My family loves them. For those of you that follow me, you know I try to make healthy choices and avoid GMO and GE foods at all costs. Sometimes we make exceptions which leaves me guilt ridden because I fed my family pesticides. Ugh. Sounds so dramatic, however I have food allergies and have to take every ingredient in our food seriously. I understand how, even insignificant, ingredients can cause someone a problem. 

For instance, I have a sensitivity to pomegranates, I ordered a popular protein shake made from real fruits and vegetables.  One of the mid, to last ingredients, was pomegranate powder.  I thought, "well, it's not a prime ingredient, I should be fine."  

I was wrong.  I had energy and wasn't hungry for the first few days, but then I just started feeling bad.  It's hard to explain, but mostly I just felt.... bad.  I started feeling sick and grumpy and I couldn't concentrate.  I felt heavy inside and couldn't get myself motivated to do anything but sit on the couch.  I thought back to how my diet had changed, which led me to realize it was the shakes.  It took a couple days to get all of it out of my system, but then I felt like myself again.  It's funny how one small ingredient can cause so many problems. 

That said, I believe that if we are using the foods laden with GMO/GE ingredients, and artificial colors we are hurting our bodies, not to mention the environment.  While I can't cut out all GMO's, mainly because our country does not require food distributors to disclose that information on the labels, I do try very hard to minimize our intake.  (That's why it's important to buy Organic and Non-GMO certified. Here's a link to the GMO dirty dozen.)  

All that said, we love taco's and tortilla's in our house.  Every time I get a box of taco's or bag of tortilla's I read the long list of ingredients and cringe a bit inside.  My friend Ana is from Chile and she makes tortilla's by hand, with 3 ingredients.  Yes, THREE.  I thought I'd give it a try.  We gobbled them up, they were delicious.  Hard, but good. So I modified my next batch and they were fantastic.  Soft, delicious, and good all by themselves.  

Here are a couple of tips:

Don't roll the tortilla's too thin or they will become brittle and hard.  

Adding Organic Sunflower lecithin helps them to be soft while adding nutrition and health benefits.  

To make a burrito, thin the batter with more water and then pour on the griddle. (I have not tried this yet, but Ana said it will work.)

Healthy Tortilla's at Home

3 cups organic flour +more for rolling dough

1 cup  hot water

1 tablespoon Kosher salt

2 teaspoons Organic Sunflower Lecithin (optional)

Coconut oil (optional)

Mix flour and lecithin in a bowl

Heat up griddle or skillet to about 350 degrees

Mix salt and water and stir until dissolved.  (taste the water, if it's too salty, just add more water and next time cut back on the salt.  The water needs to be salty though, it will flavor the tortilla's.)

Add salt water, a little at a time, to the flour and mix until it is no longer tacky or sticky

Pinch off a golf ball size roll of dough

Sprinkle flour on board and then roll out until about 1/3" thick (you may have to just experiment a bit to get it to the thickness you like. Too thin will be hard and brittle)

You can put the tortilla directly onto the griddle as is, or add some coconut oil to give a nice golden color.

Flip when the tortilla starts to brown

Place on a plate and cover with foil or a towel to hold in heat.  I just place mine in the oven. 

These are really good.  

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Caribbean style Jerk Pork Chops with Grilled apples and Fresh Strawberry shortcake

Caribbean style Jerk Pork Chops with Grilled Sugar Spice Apples and Fresh Strawberry shortcake

The only thing lacking at my house tonight? The steel drums singing with the roar of the ocean. It was a Caribbean style meal at our house, and it smelled so good!  I adore the Caribbean, the food is delicious, the people are fantastic and fun is in the air.  There is nothing like the sound of steel drums to make my spirit soar and my feet move.  We've had a crazy winter and we're having an unseasonably warm day.  To have the last two days be so nice, I had to break out a summer meal.
My little boy and I picked two baskets of strawberries on Wednesday.  We stopped at a "pick your own" farm.  Neither of us had ever been to a "pick your own" farm, it was a lot of fun!  We were both very proud of our baskets of strawberries.  My little boy loves to make "the plan", so, the plan was to make a strawberry shortcake and strawberry milk when we got home.  So far, there's been a lot of eating strawberries, along with the strawberry shortcake, but not so much the strawberry milk. Maybe tomorrow.

Grilled Apples:

Wash and thickly slice two apples
Brush with coconut oil
Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the apple slice
Then place on grill until sugar is warm and bubbly


Caribbean style Jerk Pork Chops:

4 thick sliced pork chops
Spiced rum
Jerk seasoning
Salt and pepper

Let the chops marinate in the spiced rum for about 30 minutes then rub the jerk seasoning in
Grill until done

Strawberry Shortcake:

Strawberries
Angel food cake
Honey
Dark Chocolate sauce
Cinnamon

Slice the strawberries and place in a bowl
Drizzle with honey, liberally
Sprinkle with cinnamon and stir
Let sit for a while at room temp so the juices mingle
Break up some angel food cake
Spoon strawberries over and drizzle with dark chocolate sauce

Rice Krispie Treats for Spring using Coconut Oil:

Coconut Oil Rice Cereal Treats for Spring:

I have been using Coconut oil for a lot of things these days.  It has been shown to help Alzheimer's patients by slowing, even reversing some of their symptoms.  It is being touted as a miracle food.  In the South Pacific & Caribbean, the coconut tree is called the "Tree of Life", this link will also provide you with a large list of the benefits of the Coconut.  On the t.v. show, "The Doctors", it is named as something that will help rid women of unwanted belly fat, along with Dark Chocolate, Olives, Avocados and Almonds.

Since discovering this information, I have been finding many ways to use coconut oil.   When I fry an egg, I put a pat of olive oil butter, and some coconut oil.  On my sandwiches, I smear on coconut oil before the olive oil mayo.  I put some in my oatmeal, veggies, spaghetti anything that requires a little bit of butter or that the coconut oil will melt in. My husband and I were discussing the Coconut Oil praise, and he made a comment that he would just lose his mind since he's not been using the Coconut oil.  I laughed and said, "That's what you think!".  Yes, I put it in his food and our sons food as well!  They have no idea, and it's good for them.   As with anything, too much is not good, so always use in moderation. Too much coconut oil can have a laxative affect, so be aware of that.

In fact, my husbands Aunt Deby is the caretaker for her mother, who has Alzheimer's.  She has been using the coconut oil with Grandma, and has told me of several improvements she has noticed.  She also told me that the stress factor in their house has diminished since the use of coconut oil started.  Grandma can now follow simple instructions, she can dress herself without confusion, she understands which garments she is asked to put on.  At a pancake house, Deby said that Grandma could not get the paper holder off the silverware without destroying the napkin.  Last time they went, Grandma had no problem removing the paper from around the napkin covered silverware.  Not only that, she had the napkin laid out, in its proper place.  Isn't that  wonderful?!  Am I going to use Coconut Oil? You bet 'cha!

I use the refined Coconut oil because there is no coconut taste.  My guys do not like coconut flavor.  I like it, but think that the use of the Coconut Oil that tastes like coconut will be diminished.  I don't want Coconut eggs.  Make sure you get the NON-Hydrogenated oil.  I have found the Organic Coconut Oil and a brand called LouAna (shown in the Alzheimer's video referenced above) at my local grocery.  My Mom didn't realize it could be found in the local grocery, and spent a lot of money at a Natural Food Store.  I found mine in the baking goods aisle, with the shortening and Olive Oil.

My husband loves Rice Krispie treats, but doesn't like the batches I've made, until now.  He and my son finished the entire lot in no time flat.  When I told him I used Coconut Oil, he couldn't believe it.  This recipe is a keeper!

Rice Krispie Treats for Spring using Coconut Oil: 

Follow the recipe on the Rice Krispie box, shown below, but substitute the butter for coconut oil 

Grease the 13 x9 x 3 pan with a little coconut oil

3 Tablespoons Coconut oil
4 cups miniature marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispie's Cereal

Blue food coloring
Green and Yellow M&M's
Decorative Gel
Flower shaped candies

Melt Coconut oil in a large saucepan
Add the marshmallows and stir until melted and combined
Drop in a couple drops of blue food coloring
Add Puffy rice cereal and combine
Pour into prepared pan and press lightly

Use green M&M's as the grass, yellow for the sun
Decorate with candy flowers and decorative gel for a spring time treat