Lemon Ginger Honey Tea

Lemon Ginger Honey Tea

Hi! I’m just popping in with a quick post to share an easy tea recipe.

This tea is made using fresh ingredients. All of these ingredients are known to boost immunity, and what better time to enjoy a warm drink than during the cold and flu months of winter?

Lemon ginger honey tea recipe

For this receipt you will need organic ginger, organic lemon, local honey, a small jar, and some kind of utensil to use to get the honey from one container to the other. I used a small rubber spatula and a wooden stirrer. I’ll explain below why you want to use organic, instead of regular lemons and ginger.

Lemon ginger honey tea recipe

First, you will need to wash and thinly slice the lemon. Next you need to peel and thinly slice a finger length of ginger. The easiest way to peel ginger is to use the edge of a metal spoon and scraped the peel off. After everything is washed, peeled, and sliced, start layering your ingredients in your jar. You can either add honey in between layers as you go, or you can fill of your jar at the very end. (I layer the honey as I go.) Did you know that honey is the only food that will never spoil, as long as it is kept sanitary? If you don’t know where to get local honey, some Costco locations sell local honey.

Lemon ginger honey tea recipe

At this point your “tea” is done. You can keep it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Each time you want to make tea, simply scoop a spoonful of the mixture, including some lemons and ginger, into a mug and fill it with warm to hot water. You don’t want to use boiling water because it will remove some of the healthy benefits of the mixture.

Lemon ginger honey tea recipe

A few tips before we get to the printable recipe: The lemons and ginger need to be organic. Otherwise, a) the lemon will be coated in a preservative that you don’t really want to be brewing and ingesting, and b) the ginger won’t contain the healthy yeast it is known to have if it is organic. An alternative to putting your jar in the refrigerator is to allow it to ferment on the counter for 2-4 weeks before putting it into the fridge. Fermenting requires other steps, like burping the jar daily. I do not have experience with fermenting the mixture, so if you want to do that, you should do a quick Google search to find some directions.

Lemon Ginger Honey Tea

A soothing tea made with fresh lemon and warming ginger.

Credit: BelleAntiquarian.com

Ingredients

  • 1 small organic lemon, thinly sliced
  • 1 finger of organic ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
  • local honey to cover and fill your container
  • a clean small jar

Directions

  1. Wash, peel, and slice the ginger thinly.
  2. Wash and slice the lemon thinly.
  3. Layer the honey, lemon, and ginger in a small jar.
  4. Refrigerate your mixture until you’re ready to use it.
  5. When you want to make a cup of tea, scoop out some of the honey mixture, including some lemon and ginger, and place it into a cup. Fill your cup with warm or hot water and mix together. Don’t use boiling water or it will eliminate some of the health benefits of the ingredients.

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Winter Stovetop Potpourri

Hi! I’m just popping in with a quick post to share an easy stovetop potpourri recipe.

This potpourri is actually wonderful any time from autumn through winter. With citrus and layers of spices, it will warm up your home. This is a natural, non-toxic way to make your whole home smell heavenly.

A few tips before we get to the recipe: The amounts for these ingredients are flexible. However, Star Anise is very strong. I don’t recommend using more than 3 seed pods. The best place to find these spices is in the Hispanic area of your grocery store. Not only will the quality be wonderful, the prices will be, too. For example, the cinnamon I buy in the Hispanic area of the store is not only bigger, but it is much, much more affordable.

Winter Stovetop Potpurri

A warming potpourri scent filled with citrus and spice.

Credit: BelleAntiquarian.com

Ingredients

  • 1 small orange or lemon, sliced
  • 1 cup of whole, raw cranberries
  • 1 tablespoon of whole cloves
  • 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
  • 3 star of anise dried seed pods
  • 3 whole cinnamon sticks
  • water

Directions

  1. Add all of your ingredients to a large sauce pan.
  2. Fill the pot 3/4 way full of water.
  3. Put the pot on a stove burner on the low setting.
  4. As the pot steams or simmers, it will fill your home with a beautiful, natural aroma.
  5. Don’t allow the pot of water to boil. Don’t leave it unattended. You will need to add more water, depending on how long you allow the potpourri to simmer. Don’t allow the water to burn off completely.

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Pink Deviled Easter Eggs

Happy Easter, friends!

Today I am sharing a bit from our Easter menu. I realize it’s too late for you to serve these pink deviled eggs on your Easter table this year, since today is actually Easter. But I’m posting in case it is something you’d want to try in the future. In addition to these eggs, today we had homemade chicken salad on brioche buns (recipe here), roasted asparagus (recipe here), and ambrosia fruit salad (recipe here).

For these eggs you are going to prepare your deviled eggs using whatever your normal deviled egg recipe is. I’m just showing you a tip for a little twist. For our deviled egg filling I use Miracle Whip salad dressing, ground mustard, salt, and Everything But The Bagel seasoning. The measurements depend on your taste and how many eggs you’re using.

I’ve found that my eggs peel easier if I keep them at a full boil for 10 minutes, followed by a bath in ice water. I leave them in the water until the ice is nearly all melted. It doesn’t matter for this recipe how you prepare your eggs – steamed, instant pot, or traditional boil. Anything works.

After your eggs are cooked and cooled, you will need to peel them, rinse them, and add them to a ziplock freezer bag.

Drain the liquid from a jar beets into the ziplock bag filled with your peeled eggs. You can save the beets for another meal or add them on top of a fresh green salad.

The eggs are immediately dyed. You should leave them in for at least an hour. I left mine in the beet juice overnight because I didn’t have time to finish preparing them until the next day.

The eggs will look like this once they’ve been dyed by the beet juice. After mine were dyed, I continued to prepare them like I would normal deviled eggs.

I made some regular, white deviled eggs as well. I have some very picky eaters at my house, and they all say that the beet-dyed eggs taste the same as the white ones.

This is a fun way to make deviled eggs look festive for Easter. Have you had them this way before? Let me know what you think!

From our family to yours, Happy Easter!

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Black Eyed Pea Picnic Salad

A few months ago there was a guest “take over” on the Garden & Gun Instagram page. If you are aren’t familiar with Garden & Gun it is a southern cultural magazine, not actually about guns. It is the only magazine I still subscribe to and look forward to receiving in the mail. Anywho, the guest created a “Reels” and showed a copycat version of a recipe he serves in his restaraunt, Black Eyed Pea Picnic Salad. I had to watch it several times to make sure I got the ingredients all listed correctly. He doesn’t really provide amounts for the ingredients, so in the recipe below I have listed the amounts as I use them. For months I have used this recipe from a post-it note inside my spice cabinet. I am glad to finally have it down, officially on my blog, should something catastrophic happen to my post-it note!

If you follow me on Instagram (@ BelleAntiquarian) then you know a lot of times in my Meal Plan Monday posts I say that I meal prepped Black Eyed Pea Picnic Salad. This is one of my favorite things to prepare ahead of time to have for lunches and snacks. It is SUPER healthy and actually tastes better after a day or so.

The fresh ingredients that you will need for this recipe are celery, a bell pepper, and parsley. A lot of times people think of parsley as simply a garnish, so they omit it from recipes. The parsley adds a really important flavor to this dish, so be sure not to skip on it! Also, I just want to point out that there is no onion in this recipe. Did you know that a lot of times when people get food poisoning from picnic food, it is actually from the onions? Really!

You’re going to want to do a small dice on the pepper and celery. If you are using the Fullstar food chopper that is all the rage right now, use the smaller dice attachment. And if you don’t have the Fullstar, I recommend getting one. It can be easily washed in the dishwasher.

This recipe calls for canned black eyed peas. Not all canned black eyed peas are created equal. In this case, the recipe called for no-salt, canned black eyed peas, which I have never been able to find. This brand, Hanover, has the lowest sodium content that I can find. I also prefer this brand for this recipe because the liquid in the can is not thick and drains easily. (I use a different brand when not using them in a recipe.) You’re also going to need some Chow-Chow. If you aren’t from the south, Chow-Chow is a relish. Oddly enough, when all of the Covid shortages were happening, Chow-Chow was one of those items that you could not find anywhere. I can still only find it at one local grocery store, and I’m not telling where so that I can get it when I need it. HA!

Below you will find the complete recipe, which you can print or save to Pinterest for later. I usually double this when meal prepping and keep it in an airtight container. I hope you enjoy it! Please be sure to let me know in the comments if you like it as much as I do.

Black Eyed Pea Picnic Salad

  • Servings: 2-4
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

A fresh and flavorful salad with earthy black eyed peas.

Credit: BelleAntiquarian.com

Ingredients

  • 1 bell pepper, small dice
  • 1 stalk of celery, small dice
  • 1 handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 1 can of low sodium black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
  • 1/4 cup of Chow-Chow
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Dice the celery and bell pepper (small)
  2. Chop the parsley (fine)
  3. Drain and rinse the black eyed peas.
  4. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
  5. Cover tightly and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour, best if overnight.

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Spiced Cranberry Limeade Cocktail

Normally on Thursdays we have Thrifty Thursday over on Instagram. I post pictures of items I find in thrift stores and ask questions like, “How much is this worth?” or “Would you buy it?” But today I had a last minute change of plans, so instead we’re having THIRSTY Thursday! Hopefully next week THRIFTY Thursday will be back in full swing. (Be sure to follow me on Instagram to join in the fun. @ BelleAntiquarian)

One of the ingredients for this cocktail is sold at Publix Grocery Stores, which I understand is regional and not nationwide. But you can easily swap it out for OceanSpray Cranberry Juice Cocktail with Lime. It won’t be exactly the same because the juice we use from Publix does have a “spiced” flavor. In addition, the Jack Daniels “Winter Jack Tennessee Cider” is seasonal. You can usually find it after Halloween. If you haven’t had the Winter Jack before, the bottle says it’s a seasonal blend of apple liqueur and Tennessee whiskey. The alcohol percentage in the Winter Jack is much lower than original Jack Daniels, and their website suggests drinking it warm. But today, this cocktail uses it cold.

Spiced Cranberry Limeade Cocktail

  • Servings: 1
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

A quick holiday cocktail made with only 3 ingredients.

Credit: BelleAntiquarian.com

Ingredients

  • 1 part Spiced Cranberry Limeade (or replace with OceanSpray Cranberry Juice Cocktail with Lime.)
  • 1.5 parts Winter Jack Tennessee Cider
  • Freshly squeezed lime juice

Directions

  1. Pour the ingredients into a shaker.
  2. Shake well until blended
  3. Pour over ice into a lowball glass.

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Costco Rotisserie Chicken – Meal Plan Monday

The hardest part of cooking dinner is coming up with what to cook for dinner. I tell my family, “Just tell me what you want to eat, and I’ll cook it.” At the end of the day I’m tired, standing in front of a pantry full of ingredients, and no clue of what to cook.

A few years ago I started meal planning and meal prepping. Knowing ahead of time what’s for dinner, and knowing that I have all of the ingredients ready to go makes cooking SO much easier.

So each week, I’ll plan our Monday through Friday meals. If there are any shortcuts I can do ahead of time to cut down on cooking time or expenses, then I will plan those out, too. So here’s our meal plan for this week. (above) Two of the meals (Monday and Tuesday) are chicken dishes, and I thought I’d show you how I save money and time on chicken dishes. And here’s my secret…Costco Rotisserie Chickens.

Costco rotisserie chickens are much bigger than the average grocery store rotisserie chicken. I don’t substitute a grocery store rotisserie chicken, because it doesn’t give the same amount of meat, and they’re more expensive. Costco rotisserie chickens are $4.99. They aren’t priced per pound; it’s simply $4.99. So when you are buying them, buy the biggest ones they have set out. I love them because they’re cheap AND they’re already cooked.

After I bring them home, I immediately take all of the chicken off of the bones and put it into freezer bags. Depending on what meals I have planned and how much meat is on the chicken, I usually divide it into one or two pounds in each bag. And next, unless I am cooking with it that very same day, I put it into the freezer. Trust me on this – If you aren’t cooking with it that day – put it into the freezer. Think of all those bags of spinach and salads you throw away. The same thing will happen with meat. Life happens and plans change. When you are ready to use it, just put it in the mircrowave on the defrost setting. You can finish warming it up in a pan or in the oven.

We use this in a lot of ways. Sometimes I do leave some in the fridge for lunches. We use it for salads, soups, chilis, wraps, and much more. This week I am using this chicken for a chicken, broccoli, rice casserole and chicken enchiladas. Since both of those meals will also use rice, I cooked rice ahead of time, too. HERE is the link for the chicken/broccoli/rice casserole. And HERE is the link for the chicken enchilada recipe I use. I make the chicken/broccoli/rice casserole gluten free by using Pacific Foods brand cream of chicken condensed soup, and I top it with 4C brand gluten free seasoned bread crumbs. I also don’t use Minute Rice – I precook rice for the week. To save the most amount of time with the chicken/broccoli/rice casserole, prepare it completely ahead of time and put it the fridge. Put it into the oven when you’re ready to eat it.

I’ll talk about it more in another blog post, but I do all of our meal prep Sunday evening or Monday. I do our grocery shopping on Thursdays or Fridays. We try our very hardest to reserve Saturdays and Sundays as days of rest.

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Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies – Meal Plan Monday

Hi! I’m starting a new series called Meal Plan Mondays. Health and wellness are important to our family, and I thought I’d share a few ways we make cooking and eating more convenient so that we can be as healthy as possible. On Mondays I hope to share recipes I use to prepare convenience foods ahead of time. I may also share our menu for the week and show which ingredients I will prep ahead of time to make weeknight cooking as easy as possible.

This week I am sharing a recipe that I sometimes make so that we have something quick to grab for breakfast – Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies. I found this recipe a while ago from LeelaLicious. I’m not sure “cookie” is the right word for these, although the shape is reminiscent of one. These cookies have many granola type of ingredients, but they aren’t really crunchy or granola-like either. You’ll just have to try them! After I make them, I will put them in an airtight container. If I make more than one batch, I’ll put the second batch in the fridge. Ken just grabs one to-go, but I like to microwave mine for a few seconds before eating it.

With ingredients like oats, pumpkin seeds, and cranberries, these are delicious, gluten-free, and satisfy hunger all morning!

Tips: When I bake these I like to decrease the amount of pumpkin seeds to 1/3 cup. Also, I found Aldi to be the cheapest place to find gluten free oats, pumpkin seeds, coconut oil, and ground flax seed.

Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies

  • Servings: 12 cookies
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

A healthy seasonal cookie perfect for meal prepping your grab-and-go breakfast.

Credit: https://leelalicious.com/pumpkin-breakfast-cookies/

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 cup rolled old-fashioned oats
  • 1 cup quick cooking oats
  • 2/3 cup dried cranberries
  • 2/3 cup pumpkin seeds
  • 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
  • 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 eggs, beaten

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325*. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a small bowl, warm the coconut oil to melt it. (Microwave is easiest. It only needs to get hot enough to melt.) Add the honey, whisk together. Add the pumpkin puree, followed by the eggs.
  3. In a large bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients until combined.
  4. Add the wet mixture from the small bowl into the dry ingredients in the large bowl.
  5. Drop 1/4 cup sized scoops of the mixture onto your cookie sheet and flatten. (These will not spread while baking.)
  6. Bake 15-20 minutes until edges are lightly browned and centers are set.
  7. Let cool completely before moving to an airtight container.

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Fall Snack Mix

I’ve never been a busy hostess. For many years Ken worked nighttime 12 hour shifts. He also worked a rotating schedule with only one full weekend off a month. On top of all of that, he worked most holidays. That meant that hosting friends for dinner on a Saturday night was almost always out of the question. When he did happen to be off at night or on the weekend, we had household things to get done and family time to spend together. Over the years I found that my way of showing hospitality to people was not to bring them to me; it was for me to reach out to them. Sometimes extending hospitality means reaching out to show people how much we care and appreciate them.

…it’s the small things, the size of a mustard seed, that ultimately move mountains.

Cory Booker

I’ve delivered meals to a lot of people over the years, usually when someone is sick. But my favorite way to reach out with hospitality is to treat people out-of-the-blue, “just because.” This week I mixed up a giant bowl of a fall snack mix, and I put it into bags with tags on them. Ken took them into work on Monday and handed them out to his coworkers. There wasn’t an occasion or reason – It was just because sometimes Mondays stink, and who doesn’t love a little treat on their desk?

I’ve seen pictures of similar mixes on Pinterest and Instagram. I’ve actually never looked up or used a recipe. I just mix up a bunch of things that I think taste good together.

Here’s what I like to mix in:

  • Brach’s fall mix candy corn (It’s the bag that also has the mallow pumpkins and assorted fall colors in it.)
  • A jar of dry roasted peanuts.
  • A bag of mini pretzel twists.
  • A “share size” bag of M&Ms. (We like to use the caramel or cocoa flavors in the fall mix.)
  • Chocolate flavored Chex Cereal (Not the whole box.)
  • Caramel Popcorn (We like “The Mix”.)

You can use more or less of the ingredients so that you have the proportions the way that you like. You can add or omit items that you want in the mix. (This time around I didn’t have caramel popcorn, so I used Teddy Grahams.) This is great to set out at a party or to put into bags like I have.

I think there’s an assumption that in order to show hospitality we must invite people into our homes. And that is wonderful way. But it’s not realistic for everyone. If you really want to “invite people in” and show them kindness, sometimes a little gesture can open the door.

Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.

Mother Teresa

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Maple Glazed Banana Bread

I was looking for a “fall” type of banana bread, and I found a great one that I want to share with you! This recipe from A Latte Food was a winner for us because it didn’t call for nuts. Many banana bread recipes use walnuts or pecans, but we are a nut-free household. Ken doesn’t eat gluten, but he wouldn’t have eaten banana bread anyway, so no big deal there.

The maple syrup in the glaze was the touch of “autumn” I was looking for. Sometimes I substitute the vanilla extract in the glaze for imitation rum extract, and that is a delicious fall flavor, too! But here’s the great thing about this recipe – it’s fantastic even without the glaze! If you want to skip on some of the sugar, skip the glaze and just make the banana bread.

Something that I like to do with baked goods or desserts is to split the recipe in two, and share the second one with a friend or neighbor. Not only do I feel like I am showing some hospitality to others by sharing goodies, but I am also keeping it out of the house so that I won’t overindulge!

A great way to share is to bake into foil pans with a lid. This is great because no one has to worry about returning a dish to you. I put this bread into a pretty bag with a tag. It’s the little touches that will make the recipient feel special and let them know they are cared for.

Maple Glazed Banana Bread

  • Servings: 12 slices
  • Difficulty: moderate
  • Print

A flavorful banana bread with maple glaze.

Credit: BelleAntiquarian.com

Ingredients

    Bread
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 3-4 medium ripe bananas
  • 2 tbs. brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
    • Maple Glaze
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract *OR* imitation rum extract
  • 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350*. Grease two 8×4 pans.
  2. In a small bowl, mash bananas, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and ground cinnamon.
  3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
  4. Add eggs to butter and sugar mixture, beat until mixed.
  5. Add the mashed banana mixture to the large bowl with the butter, sugar, and eggs.
  6. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
  7. Slowly add a little of the dry mixture to the wet mixture until it is all incorporated.
  8. Bake at 35-40 minutes (for two 8×4 pans) until cake tester comes out clean with just a few moist crumbs stuck to it.
  9. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Move to a wire cooling rack.
    10. Maple Glaze
  10. Melt butter, maple syrup,vanilla (or rum) extract, and cinnamon over low heat. Once melted together, pull the pan off the heat. Sift in powdered sugar, and whisk until fully combined. Allow to cool for 8-10 minutes so the glaze can thicken.
  11. Once the glaze has thickened, give it a quick stir and pour it over the breads.
  12. Allow the glaze to harden completely before cutting into slices.

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Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos

Here I am again with another fish recipe! We had a few more of our favorite frozen Mahi Mahi fillets from Costco in the freezer, and we love anything in a taco, so I thought I’d give this recipe from Jessica Gavin a try.

The recipe calls for a homemade Avocado Lime Sauce. But I have something easier and better to recommend. If you haven’t tried this dressing from Aldi, you need to! It is perfect on fish tacos, and it saves time when putting these together. You can find it refrigerated in the Aldi produce section.

This is a really fast dinner. We paired our tacos with some Spanish rice and Ken’s homemade guacamole. Ken doesn’t cook many things, but he LOVES avocados and guacamole, so he has a go-to recipe that can be found here.

After you rinse and dry your Mahi Mahi, liberally coat both sides with a seasoning mixture of paprika, brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, cumin, chili powder, and black pepper. Cook them 3-4 minutes on each side in a pan coated with vegetable oil.

Okay, here’s another time and money saver for you. This recipe calls for shredded red and green cabbage and cilantro for garnish. I found a southwest salad kit at Aldi that has those ingredients. It’s cheaper to buy the salad kit for the cabbage than it is to buy two heads of cabbage and cilantro. Either throw out the dressing and toppings from the salad kit or save them for something else.

The recipe doesn’t call for cheese, but….why not? Half of us used cheese on our tacos, and half of us didn’t. I always opt for cheese. The printable recipe is below. You can always use the PinIt button to save it for later, too! Enjoy!

Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos

  • Servings: 8 tacos
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

A delicious, easy recipe for Blackened Fish Tacos.

Credit: BelleAntiquarian.com

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 1/2 tsp dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp chili powder
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 4, 6oz Mahi Mahi fillets
  • 1 tbs vegetable oil
  • 8 corn tortillas (taco size)
  • lime wedges for garnish
  • diced tomatoes for garnish
  • shredded red and green cabbage for garnish
  • cilantro for garnish
  • Avocado Ranch dressing (We like Aldi’s!)

Directions

  1. Combine paprika, brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, cumin, chili pepper, and black pepper in a small bowl.
  2. Rinse and pat Mahi Mahi fillets dry.
  3. Sprinkle spice seasoning evenly over both sides of the fish fillets.
  4. Heat oil in a large skillet or saute pan over medium-high heat.
  5. Add fish to the pan and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side until it reaches your desired degree of doneness. The spices will blacken, so watch carefully for burning.
  6. Warm the corn tortillas according to package directions.
  7. Divide the fish evenly over the warmed tortillas.
  8. Garnish with desired toppings of cabbage, cilantro, limes, tomatoes, and/or avocado ranch dressing.

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