Syrup and stuff

Greetings all, today sees high winds and rain here in middle TN.  I am missing our Indian summer : ( 
Yesterday I was as busy as a tick on a trampoline (I don't know what that means either, but it sounds good right?)!  Many of the things I worked on were in the kitchen, as usual.  I thought I would share a couple of good home made recipes and ideas with ya.

First,  I made my own pancake syrup.  I have done this before with a recipe that calls for brown sugar and cornstarch.  I tried a couple of different times and was unhappy with the results each time.  I just hate buying syrup, corn syrup, water and chemicals - yuck!  Well I stumbled on this one and just love it:

MAPLE SYRUP

Boil 1/3 cup water, than stir in 1 cup honey and 1/2 tsp. maple flavor extract.  Let cool and store in refrigerator.

makes 1 1/3 cups syrup

* You can also add a stick of butter to simmering water for 'honey butter syrup'.

I like this much better and as we buy our honey local, it's good for the allergies!
Speaking of allergies, syrup and honey:  I also stumbled on a remedy for home made cough syrup.  It got rave reviews and testimonies on the website.  Again, it is made with honey.  Go local and you can't go wrong.

Cough Syrup

Mix 1 part whiskey (about 1/2 pint) with 1 part honey (about 1 cup) in a mason jar or other glass container.  Crush 3 hard peppermint candies and add to jar.  Screw tight and shake vigorously until candy dissolves.  Take by the teaspoon as needed for cough.  No need to refrigerate.

I am thinking this is a good thing, again no chemicals and most likely give it a go with cold season soon upon us.  I know what your thinking, with those ingredients, who cares if it works!  LOL

One last thing to share with you, how to use up left over cooked grains; such as oatmeal, millet and amaranth.    One thing I like to do is pour the left over into my glass bread dish and refrigerate over night.  It takes on a nice molded shape that is easy to slice and fry.  Everything taste better fried in real butter right!  Oatmeal is great this way and served with either the syrup or honey.  However the millet and amaranth don't hold together well in the heat.  My husband has taken to making them into 'hashbrowns'.   Just smash them down and fry in butter like you would shredded hash browns.  Delish!   A great way to use up food and not waste in this economy, not to mention the health benefits of 'real' food and grains vs. packaged and processed.

OK, that's enough for now.  I think I have to go track down my lawn furniture that blew off my front porch.  I want to crack some joke here about Dorothy and Oz, but seeing as how that is the play my son has been working in for the past two weeks (one more to go), I believe I skip the irony.

Blessings, Beth Ann