Orange Spice instant Coffee Mix Recipe (Good gift in a jar)

It's rainy here in Texas. Finally. This weather makes me want to bake and make hot drinks. I have this recipe that I found and then changed to my satisfaction. You can make it with instant Coffee or instant decaf.

Take:

1/4 cup instant coffee or decaf (I use Tasters Choice, but any will do)
1 cup plain powder creamer
2 tsp. dry ground orange peel
1 cup of granular sugar, brown sugar good to.
1 tsp. dry ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. dry ground Cloves

Mix in medium bowl with fork or whisk. Put into a container with lid. This will store up to six months.

To serve: Put 2 T. mix in a mug and add hot or boiled water. Mix, sip and enjoy.

Banana and Chia seed leather recipe in Dehydrator

I love these. I found the recipe at Food.com which got it from Rawon.blogspot. I changed it to my liking so this recipe is a bit different.

So, update on my health. I am blogging more lately. My tooth pain gone, so no root canal needed. Just a permanent crown. The Birth control pills are managing my Adenomyiosis and the iron pills are giving me a little more energy. It will take about 6-8 months to get my Hemoglobin back up.

Enough of me, you want the recipe. Yes? O.K.

4 T. Chia seeds (1/4 cup)
1/2 cup of water
2 Bananas ( frozen and thawed good)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon ground

Put that all in a food processor and blend until smooth. Scrape the sides and bottom.
I put mine on a greased fruit leather plastic round. You can put it on greased parchment or wax paper to.You can split it into two racks if you want. Dehydrate at 135-145 for One hour then lower to 100-115 to keep it raw. Then dehydrate until leathery and or crisp and rip into smaller pieces to store and snack on. You can also flip it onto rack half way to ensure even dehydrating.

You can also dehydrate just at 135 until done.

These are so yummy, and give you a boost of Omega-3' from the Chia seeds.

Note: The Food.com gal said she had made these with Mango and vanilla instead of Banana and Cinnamon. Said they were good to, but just took longer to dehydrate.

Easier way to dry herbs

I got to the point where my dehydrator was in more demand than I thought it would be. It just took to long to dry herbs at 95 degrees. So, I found 4 old screens and cleaned them. You put your herbs on the screen and cover them with another screen. I tied them together. Then dried indoors with a fan on them. Make sure the larger stem are taken off. Otherwise it will take much longer to dry. Now, understand it still takes 3-4 days to dry. It does not take up dehydrator time and energy. Also, I tried drying in the sun and it started to burn the  leaves. If you must dry outdoors, I suggest in the shade. Make sure you are not in a high humidity environment and that there is a light wind/breeze or fan blowing on the herbs.

You can dry larger amounts to. I have dried Basil, Peppermint, Blackberry leaves and oregano. It beats wasting all that electricity on a noisy machine that produces heat. Yes, I am still using a fan. It helps circulate and cool the room during this warmer season. Having it do 2 things at once is great use of one mechanical device.

Rice Soup with Lemon and Eggs Recipe (A Greek Soup)

O.K. the pick is not the best, but this soup, so hit the spot. I have gotten the flu/cold from my toddler and it hit me hard. So hard that it has been years since I have felt this bad getting sick. My husband suggested that I make a chicken and rice soup for dinner and I made this. I found this recipe somewhere online and I am to foggy and boggy to even make the effort to know where. It is good.

You need:

4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup of rice (I used Botan rice, I am sure any rice will do)
2 eggs separated
Juice of one Lemon

This will serve 3 as a light meal or part of a meal.

Put chicken stock in a medium pot and add rice. Bring to a boil and simmer until rice is done. Turn off the heat when the rice is done. It was 20 minutes for my Botan rice. When the rice is done or about to be done, take the egg whites and blend them until white and fluffy. Then add egg yolks and lemon Juice while still blending. I used an electric hand mixer. I think you may be able to leave out the egg yolks if you are trying to avoid them. It does not hurt to try. I have been thinking about trying to see the difference.

Add a cup of hot broth to egg mixture,- very slowly, while mixing with a hand whisk. Then add the egg mixture to pot of hot broth and cooked rice, slowly while stirring at the same time. Serve and enjoy.

If it is not hot enough for you at this point. You can warm the pot slowly on low until hot while stirring, but do not let it get to a boil. You can add salt to taste if the soup is not salty enough for you.