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The BEST Way to Keep Herbs Fresh

~ Midwest Storyteller

Here we all are with May about to burst on the scene and one thing that is likely overtaking the great majority of us is the desire to grow things.  Whether you are the person who goes all out and plants a full garden of veggies or the person who lines their porch and steps with colorful pots, this urge is one of the main symptoms of spring fever.

Today marked our second, and possibly our last, trip to a plant nursery.  Smuffy remarked that we are doing well at restraining ourselves this year.  He is still in search of a certain tree he wants to plant, so we’ll see if he can manage to come home with just a tree.

I have a soft spot for herbs and like to have a kitchen garden full of pots that boast basil, parsley, cilantro, sage, lemongrass, rosemary, oregano and a special pot of catnip just for Phoebe June’s enjoyment.  This year, however, a brand new grandbaby is on the way and the writing aspect of my life is going to take up all the hours that I am not snuggling her.  I’ve decided that a few colorful pots in addition to Smuffy’s veggies is all I can deal with.

That means I’ll need to use up the remainder of last year’s herb harvest that I dried and if I need fresh herbs, I’m going to have to purchase them. (Insert groaning noise here.)

I cannot adequately express my aggravation at going into a supermarket and paying a ridiculous sum for a half-handful of limp herbs that will still be too much for the recipe.  This scenario is almost always followed by the burial scene as I pull them from the refrigerator, wrapped in whatever shroud happened to be the latest sure thing recommended on a cooking show or blog, and lower their brown, slimy remains into the trash can.

But this story has a happy ending!  A little over a year ago, I happened to be watching “America’s Test Kitchen” and they were testing the best ways to keep herbs. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I thought to myself and then I nearly snorted with sarcasm as they recommended the Cole and Mason Herb Keeper and claimed that in their testing, this amazing little box kept the herbs fresh for – are you sitting down? – eight weeks!

Soon after, my family asked if there were any additional items I might want to put on my Christmas wish list. On a whim, I told them I’d like to try one of these miracle gadgets.  My wish was their command and after a few months of use I knew I would have to do a favorable review here on the blog (which, by the way, I am not getting paid for).

This herb keeper has gone way beyond my expectations. It truly will keep your fresh herbs fresh for eight weeks! The parsley in the photo you see here has been in the Cole and Mason Herb Keeper for at least a month and just take a look at it! I merely took it out of the refrigerator, sat it on the windowsill and snapped a photo without plucking off any unsightly leaves. As you can see in the photo, there are only a couple of leaves with a little yellowing that need to be removed.

It has a fill line so you know how much water to add. Just tip it over and dump out the old water and add new every week or so. There are removable dividers so that you can separate three types of herbs in one container.  Simply wash your fresh herbs, trimming the stems and any leaves that might fall below the water line, and insert them into the keeper.  Slide the outer sleeve up to the height of your herbs and flip the lid closed.  Keep them in your refrigerator and you’ll be snipping away on fresh herbs for weeks to come.

I found this fresh herb keeper at ColeandMason.com and at Amazon.com for the same price – $19.95.

As a certified lifestyle coach, I love to share great finds like this with my one-on-one clients and those who attend my weekly group sessions. Life is simplified when you can avoid extra trips to the store. You and your family are healthier when you can enjoy nutritious, healthy foods.  On top of that, you’ll have more money left in the budget to spend on feeding your family well when you stop having to throw food away.

I’ll take back that snort of sarcasm that I gave when I heard the claim that the Cole and Mason Fresh Herb Keeper will keep your herbs fresh for eight weeks.  It does and it will!

What great gadgets and helpers have you discovered to help around the house?  Leave a comment so we can all discover what is tried and true for you.

Need great healthy recipes?  You can sit on your porch with a glass of Lime Sillies here, make a quick skillet dish of Saturday Pasta any day of the week, or try my great copy-cat recipe for No-Carb Easy Bread.

Happy planting!

Introducing…Lime Sillies!

~ Midwest Storyteller ~ 2 Comments

I probably should have passed this one on to you at the beginning of summer so you could enjoy it in the summer months, but since we enjoy it year-round I decided to go ahead and share it now that it has a name.

Lime Sillies www.midweststoryteller.com

I’m quite a lot like Anne of Green Gables when it comes to names. I like a little romance or beauty in a name rather than something ordinary. I, like Anne, would never have called it Barry’s Pond when I could’ve re-named it The Lake of Shining Waters and what is a better name for a blooming orchard than The White Way of Delight? It’s like she’s in my head.

I gave up soda a long time ago – decades in fact. After a while, I actually grew to detest the stuff and the way it made me feel.  However, I do somehow miss the bubbles and had to content myself with the occasional bottle of sparkling water because I’m way too frugal to drink it all the time.

Then I did some bartering one day with a friend who was doing a rummage sale with me.  I traded her some tea tree oil I’d over-bought for a Soda-Stream.  We had lots of fun with successes and fails as we tried various additives and blends to flavor the sparkling water we could now just fizz up in our own machine. (There is a cartridge that you trade in when it’s empty so after your initial purchase you pay only half price when you make the swap.)

We found it to be economical.  We started our first cartridge around July 4th and didn’t run out of bubbles till the middle of September!

Flavorings seemed to be the sticking point.  Smuffy is super picky on taste.  I am super picky on healthy add-ins.  Some of the ones you buy turn your carbonated water right back into soda! 

After a while, I just threw something together one day as a “lime thing” and ended up loving it.  Then I started serving it to guests and they liked it, which is good because when they come to my house I don’t stock “junk” drinks.

I knew this was ready to pass on to you when Lil’ Snookie gave it a name.  All on his own, when he was still two years old, he began to say that anything with carbonation in it had “sillies” and would ask Pookie, his mama, if he could have sillies in his drink.

Now he’s grown to love my invention and almost every day asks me if he can have “Lime Sillies”.

And there you have it!  It needed the perfect name and now it’s ready to share.  No free printable necessary for this recipe because this is all you do –

Lime Sillies

1.  Pour 1” to 1 ½” inches of Real-Lime or fresh lime juice into the bottom of your glass.  (Everyone has a different preference as to how much lime they prefer.)

2.  Add a tiny pinch of mineral salt (not the table salt gunk).

3.  Add 1 doonk of THM Pure Stevia or any on-plan natural sweetener.

4.  Add a couple of drops of pure vanilla extract.

Swirl the glass well or stir the mixture with a spoon before filling the glass with cold, carbonated water.  Add ice if you wish.

NOTE:  You cannot add the ingredients to the water.  You have to add the water to the other ingredients.  For some mysterious reason, dropping the sweetener into the carbonation makes the contents of the glass explode all over the counter.  Ask me how I know.

Also, with a SodaStream, you must carbonate only plain water.  Adding any ingredients to the water prior to pumping in the carbonation will result in more exploding things.  Ask me how I know.

There you have it – Lil’ Snookie’s Lime Sillies!  Fix a glass and head for the porch on these beautiful autumn days.

If you’d really like to see me explode things, check out “Don’t Blame the Cat – The Spaghetti Squash Did It”.  I can’t let Smuffy have all the fun, you know, and you can get a taste of what it’s like to live my Life With Smuffy here also.

I fully disclose that I am a THM Certified Lifestyle Coach and at times receive financial compensation as such.

If you need support in your journey to better health and weight loss, head to the Contact page or my Food Freedom pages on Facebook and Mewe and let me know.  I’ll give you all the info on group sessions which I conduct locally in person on a weekly basis.  Private coaching can be done in person or by phone.  Share with friends and let’s see how many are ready to get Trim & Healthy!

The Trim Healthy Mama Plan is a great way to boost your immune system, reduce inflammation, and certainly to lose weight safely and sustainably if you need to do that. 

Leave a comment after you sip your Lime Sillies and let me know how you like it.  Do you have a carbonation machine of any kind? What are your favorite flavors to add that keep it healthy and make it tasty?

Hoping the Feeling is Mutual!

~ Midwest Storyteller

Today’s the day! Find an extra special way to tell those you love how much they mean to you today.

I have to admit that every once in a while, when the stuff of life overwhelms me, I question whether or there is room in my world for this blog. Then, snippets of readers’ comments start floating to the forefront of my mind and I realize I may not be the only one enjoying myself here. Whether here on the blog or in line at the check-out, you’re letting me know that you’ve tried that recipe or that your eyes have been opened to a whole new side of Smuffy or that you think Phoebe June is as much of an adorable character as I do.

Happy Valentine's Day Cup of Tea www.midweststoryteller.com

To date, (other than episodes of “Life with Smuffy” – and who can resist those tell-alls – and the best soup recipe I ever invented) the post that has gotten the most views and shares is one about love – a tribute to my wonderful mom. Missing someone as much as I miss her is a great reminder to show people you love them while they’re still here.

Have a big, fat, chocolaty, lace-covered, huggy, kissy day filled with mush!

Life is good. It’s short. It flies by fast. It’s meant to be shared and love is all that matters.

“If I speak in the tones of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing…It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” -I Corinthians 13:1-3,7,8,13, The Holy Bible

I don’t know about you, but that seems to make Valentine’s Day worth celebrating!

We’ve Only Just Begun

~ Midwest Storyteller

It’s our first day together here at Midwest Storyteller, and to be honest, I have a bit of that “first date” feeling. Having counseled myself that it’s silly to run downstairs to the mirror, fluff the hair and freshen the lipstick, I suppose I’ll push on. You really can’t see me, can you?

New Blogger Complex

Now comes the part where I say something fascinating.

Okaaaaaaay…

First of all, I’d like to say “Thank You” to Jillian Danielle, my daughter and fellow blogger. Having picked her way through the blogworld’s minefield ahead of me, she helped me get started. Were it not for her patient assistance, I’d still be banging my head against the wall, muttering things about the fine folks at Bluehost and WordPress that they might consider just a shade unkind.

Killing Cyberworld

Jillian Danielle’s blog has a wealth of information, reviews and tutorials to help you with make-up, skin care and hair, as well as travel, lifestyle and creative ideas. Be sure to check it out at www.jilliandanielle.com.

www.jilliandanielle.comIn the days ahead, I hope you’ll join me. We’re going to enjoy ourselves! Life rarely brings us a day that doesn’t make a great story. I’ll be sharing many of mine with you. If you’re looking to improve your health, try great recipes, find some great products or timely tips, or maybe just stop for a moment and smile – you’ll find a healthy dose of all that here at Midwest Storyteller. Hop on over to the sidebar and “subscribe” so you don’t miss a thing. You’ll be notified each time a new post appears, which will be a couple of times a week. Posts will vary in length.

Next up: An interesting tale about Smuffy, that darlin’ man of mine. I should have realized that dull moments would come few and far between when I married him, for our honeymoon got us off to what I’d have to say was a “blazing start”! You might want to fix yourself a cup of tea, sit back and enjoy this one.

Cup of Tea & Midwest Storyteller

With that, I’ll leave you for now, but do comment, “like”, share and subscribe. Then, you won’t miss Life With Smuffy (Episode 1): “The Smokin’-Hot Honeymoon” (or, “Where There’s Smoke, There’s Not Always a Fireman”).