Modern Wife

Author: Modern Wife

  • Honey Lemon Ginger Tea

    Honey Lemon Ginger Tea

    It’s a lifesaver. Ginger is known to alleviate headaches, stomach aches, nausea and many other pains. In addition, raw honey is an antibacterial elixir and lemon is rich in vitamin C, which boosts the immune system.

    Ginger Lemonade

    Here’s the recipe for Honey Lemon Ginger Tea (or Ginger Lemonade, if you like it cold):

    sliced organic ginger
    juice of 1 organic lemon
    raw honey to taste

    Heat 1 quart of water to just before boiling point. Add ginger slices and let it steep for 20 minutes. Add lemon juice and sweeten with raw honey.

    Serve warm right away. Store the rest refrigerated in a quart jar.

    I like to keep the ginger slices in so it steeps even longer and brings it a stronger ginger flavor day after day.

    If reheating for tea, take it off the burner just before it boils. It’s also delicious served cold.

  • Organic Easter Eggs

    Organic Easter Eggs

    For weeks now I’ve been walking past grocery aisles seeing brightly colored plastic Easter eggs that pop open to contain candy. We’ve been saving our set year after year, and called it the eco-friendly way because they’re reusable. But a basketful of candy is hardly the celebration of spring I would like to encourage as a healthy family tradition.

    At one point we also brought home an Easter Egg dye kit from the local convenience store. It came with little tablets of dye and a bunch of stickers for decorating hardboiled eggs. Although the package states it’s non-toxic, the list of ingredients contains synthetic chemical dyes that have been found to cause allergies and behavioral problems in children.

    So this weekend we are starting a new old tradition of making Easter eggs out of vegetables that are naturally staining.

    Like beets!

    Easter Eggs dyed with beets

    And red cabbage!

    Easter Eggs dyed with red cabbage

    And turmeric!

    Easter Eggs dyed with turmeric

    The recipe is easy.

    You need:
    1 tablespoon of distilled white vineger for each cup of water
    white organic eggs

    So if you need 3 cups of water in a saucepan to cover your eggs, then you will need to add 3 tablespoons of vinegar.

    Then chop up and add your staining vegetable of choice. Put them in the vinegar/water combination with the eggs. Bring to a boil, turn off the stove, then cover and let sit for 15 minutes. Transfer the whole soup into a quart mason jar or any quart-sized recycled plastic container you don’t mind getting stained. Some people strain the vegetables out but I decided to keep my vegetables in the soak, in hopes there would be some patterns stamped against the eggs. Let it sit overnight.

    Get the eggs out and let it dry on paper towels or old newspapers. This is how my eggs looked just out of their color soup. Turmeric made yellow, red cabbage made blue, and beets made red.

    Easter Eggs dyed with beets, red cabbage and turmeric

    After they dried, more patterns emerged.

    Easter Eggs dyed with beets, red cabbage and turmeric

    Transfer the dried Easter eggs back into the egg cartons they came in originally. Refrigerate until Easter morning.

    Here are other ways to do this:
    Recipe from Full Circle
    Go Eco when Dyeing Eggs

    Have a great week and an egg-cellent Easter!

  • Play Music

    Go on, you know you want to. Just pick up a musical instrument and play it. If you don’t have an instrument, just sing. Or beatbox.

    Don’t worry if it’s not good enough for anyone else to hear. Just sing. Sing a song.

  • Lemon Vinegar Cleaner

    Lemon Vinegar Cleaner

    I love my scented vinegar cleaner. I’ve been using the Orange Vinegar Cleaner now for a year and it is fantastic. It has all the benefits of cleaning with vinegar: non-toxic, food-grade, environment-safe, non-allergenic, inexpensive, gentle on hands, deodorizing and effective on all surfaces (except granite or marble) – all while giving me that sweet citrusy smell of orange.

    In preparation for spring cleaning this year I am making Lemon Vinegar Cleaner for a stronger, tangier citrus scent. Fill a quart-size glass jar with lemon peel. Make sure the peels are clean. No need to scrub them or anything; just make sure there are no lemon sacs, membranes or seeds getting lost in there. If you don’t have enough to fill a jar yet, freeze it and keep adding to it until it’s packed tight.

    Pour white distilled vinegar into the jar until it covers the lemon peels, not quite to the rim but pretty close. Screw the lid on and store in a cool dark place for two weeks.

    After two weeks of soaking lemon peel in vinegar, it’s time to get it out. Set up a funnel into a HDPE 8-oz spray bottle. Pour the lemon vinegar a third of the way into the spray bottle. Top off with water.

  • Take a walk

    Spring is just around the corner. The snow and ice is melting. The sun is shining brighter. This past weekend we took a 2-mile walk to the village and back. It was great to get some exercise, fresh air, sun and sightseeing at Camden Village. Come along with us.

  • Guacamole & Salsa

    Guacamole & Salsa

    I make the easiest and most delicious Guacamole & Salsa east of the Mission. Or so I think. Give it a try and see if I’m right.

    Guacamole & Salsa, when made fresh with organic ingredients, are a super healthy combination. Avocado has more than two times the potassium found in a banana, and is rich in the B vitamins, folic acid and vitamin E. Tomatoes contain lycopene, a powerful anti-cancer nutrient. Cilantro is excellent for removing toxic metals such as mercury from the body. Red Bell Peppers are rich in antioxidants, vitamins A, B, C and E, and a number of beneficial minerals.

    Guacamole

    Ingredients:
    2 organic avocadoes
    1 organic tomato, chopped
    a bunch of organic cilantro, chopped
    salt and pepper to taste

    Mash the avocadoes with a fork. Add chopped tomato and cilantro. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix together.

    Salsa

    Ingredients:
    2 organic tomatoes, chopped
    1 teaspoon lemon juice
    1/4 cup organic bell peppers, chopped (I used red in this recipe, but any color will do)
    a bunch of organic cilantro, chopped
    salt and pepper to taste

    Mix all ingredients together. Squeeze a little lemon juice.

    Serve either or both Guacamole & Salsa with organic and/or non-GMO chips, such as Garden of Eatin’ Blue Corn chips, as seen in the photo above. Enjoy the fiesta!

  • Wash Your Hands

    It’s only about 3 more months before my husband turns 50 in May. Just late last summer we started a video series called Countdown to 50, in which Jay shares lifestyle tips on good health and longevity. This past month we made a video about a couple of the most overlooked habits that make such a big difference in one’s health. Have a look!

    See also Vodka Sanitizer and 5 Ways to Fight Off Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria.

  • Yogurt with Granola Bar

    Yogurt with Granola Bar

    I’ve been buying only organic raw plain whole milk yogurt since last summer. I found some in my local health food store and now I’m hooked. Let me break it down:

    Organic: means the milk comes from cows that are not given antibiotics or hormones, and are fed organic grass and not GMO corn raised on pesticides.

    Raw: means the milk is not pasteurized, fresh as fresh can be right out of healthy cows. It has not sat in a giant vat with who knows how many other cows’ milk to get pasteurized. Also, raw milk still contains the nutrition that is the reason why we drink milk in the first place. (Raw milk is illegal in some states. Because the government wants you to buy their crappy milk.) Here’s more info about real milk.

    Plain: means I don’t have to put up with overly-sugared yogurt from questionable sugar sources. It means I don’t have to eat old fruit that’s sat in that container for who knows how long. I’ll add my own fresh fruit, thank you.

    Whole Milk: means I want the fat. Yes, I do. Real fat, not saturated fat, is good for you.

    I’ve served it with Maple Cranberry Sauce, but mostly I serve it with apple. Here’s the recipe:

    Ingredients:
    organic raw plain whole milk yogurt
    organic apple, peeled and chopped
    organic maple syrup
    Nature’s Path Organic Crunchy Granola Bars, Apple Pie Crunch Chia Plus

    Scoop out yogurt into breakfast bowl. Drizzle maple syrup and top with apple. Finish with granola bars.

    Apple Yogurt with Granola Bars

  • Lime Candle

    Lime Candle

    I love this! Look at how the light comes prettily through the green lime peel. My daughter came up with this clever little decorating idea of turning lime peels into candles. She must have seen a tutorial on YouTube. The kid loves YouTube tutorials.

    Just clean out the inside part of the peel, leaving the center intact to serve as a wick. Pour a little oil into it. I used safflower oil because that’s what I have here at home. Then light up the wick. It may take a while before it catches a flame. The wick isn’t as dry as a cotton candlewick, so be patient. Once the wick browns it will start to catch a flame.

    Lime Candle

    This would look awesome as a table centerpiece for a romantic candlelit dinner. Valentine’s Day is coming up, and it’s on a Friday! Consider setting your dinner table with one of these. Better yet, float it on a wide vase of water to keep it safe.

    Make lime candles for spring, lemon candles for summer and orange candles for fall.

  • Green Eggs

    Green Eggs

    I started making green eggs when my daughter was a Dr. Seuss-loving toddler. I started out serving it as a sandwich spread, but now that my family is on a gluten-free diet, I serve it with salad. Let’s start with the recipe.

    Green Eggs

    Ingredients:
    1 organic avocado
    2 organic eggs
    salt and pepper to taste

    Boil eggs. For perfect yellow yolks, put eggs in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a rolling boil on high then turn the burner off. Let eggs sit in hot water for 15 minutes. Pour out the hot water and replace with cold water. Let it sit for a few minutes, until eggs are cool enough to touch. Peel.

    Mash the avocado, then add eggs cut up roughly with a spoon. Mix together. Salt and pepper to taste.

    Here’s how I serve it nowadays:

    Green Eggs on salad

    Mine, left, on a heap of green salad – spinach, cucumber, red pepper.

    My daughter’s, top, on the side of 9 spinach leaves (for every year of her age), cucumber slices, and 5 tiny bits of red pepper.

    My husband’s, right, no green eggs. Just a salad and slices of deli turkey. He does not like green eggs and ham. He does not like it, Sam-I-am.