Stop Coughing on meeee!!!!

Oh man! Ladies and gents, it's been awhile....over 6 months in fact! I have had so much going on, good and bad, and this little blog has definitely been on the back burner. But now that I've cleaned other things out of my life I needed my "creative outlet" back again...you know you're excited!! :)

So...in case you haven't realized because of the abnormally warm temps we've been having here in Western Michigan, it's fall people! Time to drag out the leaf garlands, pumpkins, corn stalks, gourds and fall-ish arrangements to spruce up our house!! It's also time to drag out the Nyquil, Claritin and tissues...because yes, fall is upon us....which means cold season is upon us.

Dangit! Just one year I would love to not have day after day after day of runny noses, sneezing, coughing and itchy/watery eyes. And for someone like me with allergies AND asthma...this is not a pleasant sight.

My, now 4 year old daughter Vaelyn, has been down and out with a nasty cold. Coughing, coughing and more freaking coughing. It's going around folks...so if you're reading this thinking "well, I for sure won't get this cold" umm...think again. My kid will probably be the one to accidentally cough on you and share her lovely cold with you. And when you DO catch it, you'll know how much my poor little pumpkin has been suffering. Sneezing a bit, but the cough and itchy throat is what's been bothering her the most. I debated about cough syrups back and forth and I just didn't feel right about putting such strong meds/chemicals in her little body...thought I would try a more natural approach first. I had made something similar about 5 years ago or so, and thought I would experiment with it again and see what happened.

This recipe below is for my homemade cough remedy/cough syrup/allergy relief tonic or whatever you need it to do. It's sweet, all organic and natural and most of all...it tastes good and is GOOD for you. So, without further ado, I will share this wonderful recipe with y'all and hope that it works wonders for you and your family as it has with me and my kids tonight. V hasn't coughed in quite awhile now, so here's hoping! Ok wait....I literally just heard her cough twice as I finished that sentence. Ha! Make me a liar Vaelyn...thanks. :-)

Here are the instructions and recipe for this awesome remedy...

You will need:
- Raw, organic honey
- Coconut Oil (cold pressed, organic)
- Juice from 3 lemons
- 2 jars that close well
- Dried cranberries/cherries (optional)

This is my coconut oil I get from Costco for under $16. AWESOME!

1. Measure 1/4 cup of coconut oil and put it in your pan on medium heat until melted. 

2. Once your coconut oil is melted, add 3/4 cup of organic LOCAL honey. The local honey is so important because that will help build up antibodies in your system against local trees, shrubs, pollens etc that we develop allergies to. Stir together until well blended. 

Local, organic honey to help build up immunity to local allergens

I know this looks gross, but it's how the magic happens

3. Once well incorporated in your pot over medium heat, add the juice of 3 fresh lemons to your honey/coconut oil mixture. Make sure to stir consistently so you incorporate the ingredients together while heating evenly. 

To get the most juice out of a fresh lemon, roll it on the counter like a rolling pin to help loosen up all the juices inside 

4. Continue to stir and blend your three ingredients together until it's steaming and slightly bubbly. Once you start seeing bubbles, immediately remove your pot from the heat and set aside to cool. 

If you do get some seeds from the juice as you can see I did, just strain them out. Or keep them in for some texture!

Perfect heating temperature, this is when you need to remove from heat

Slightly cooled and ready to put into jars

5. Your pot should now look like the above pictured pot while it's cooling. Let it cool for about 5 minutes before transferring it to a well sealed jar for storage. I recommend not keeping it in your fridge longer than 3 months after making it...but it works so well, it'l be gone well before 3 month time has passed! :-) I usually do two different jars of the remedy...one plain and to the other one I usually add a handful of dried cherries or cranberries for extra flavor for the kids. 

"Cherry" remedy

Plain flavored

6. Wait for it to cool, and always shake and check the temperature before serving...especially to children. I like to serve it slightly warm, especially for a sore throat from coughing. You can do a teaspoon or a tablespoon, and take as often as you'd like...because it's made from REAL ingredients. And the best part? It works. 

I like to take a few tablespoons of this when I feel a tickle in my throat, feel a cold coming on, when my allergies are crazy bad, after raking leaves in the cold or sledding in the winter time. It's great to mix into a cup of tea, spread on toast or mix into a steamy cup of hot cider. The reason this works so well for allergies is because coconut oil alone does some amazing things for allergy sufferers. Read about all the awesomeness of coconut oil on this post here. That paired with some local, organic honey? Forget about it. Perfect. :-) Just try it. And for those of you that are eating raw, go ahead and blend all 3 ingredients together in a blender and don't worry about heating it up. It'll be a different consistency but it will still work!! Enjoy! 

Muah!!! XOXO

Anna