Easing Coughs NaturallyWritten by Cathy O
Whether it be dead of winter or high life of summer, colds and allergies seem to pop up out of nowhere and “catch” us completely off guard. Hand-in-hand with these seasonal terrors come dreaded cough and there are two ways you can fight cold's comrade-in-arms----- with either over counter cough drops ----- or ones that you can make yourself.Make yourself, you ask? Why not! it's easy and many of ingredients within these little soldiers can be found right in your own kitchen. Sugar, corn syrup and water gently brought to a robust boil till they reach what is known as “hard crack” stage will give you "medium." The only secret to a successful drop is to use a tasty and simple combination of herbs "steeped" in water before adding it to sugar-syrup. This wonderful cough relieving tea along with your "dry" ingredients" are all you need to make your own natural cough confection-ators. Some herbs that are found in many of other natural cough drops you find on market that you may want to try alone or in combination are; Coltsfoot, Korean Licorice Mint (easy to grow; seeds are available from Seeds of Change), thyme, slippery elm, horehound, comfrey leaf, hyssop, marsh mallow and common mullein, to name a few. Many of these herbs are perennial so you will have them for your own personal “medicine cabinet” year after year. Use leaves only of these herbs either singly or in combination. It helps to try them out as a tea first, that way you know which herbs will taste best in your cough drops. About 2-3 tsp. of herb to 1 1/2 cups boiling water ought give you concentration that you need; let steep till cool.
| | Mr. Coffee Versus Bunn-o-Matic - The Coffee Maker Battle Heats UpWritten by Jon Butt
For coffee lovers, there are few things more appealing than being met in early a.m. hours by a perfectly brewed pot of coffee. That first cup sets mood for your entire day, doesn't it? If it's brewed up right, you'll feel that extra zing in your step from morning till night. However, if that first cup is too strong or too weak, too hot or not hot enough, you quickly find yourself spiraling into a first-class coffee crisis. So, how do you avoid a coffee catastrophe? It's simple, buy best coffee maker on market made especially for your coffee-drinking needs! Sounds simple enough, right? But, who makes best coffee maker today? In other words, who is All-Time Champion of Coffee Makers? Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to welcome you to our title bout of day where two mighty coffee making titans - Mr. Coffee and Bunn-o-Matic - will meet in kitchen to crown undisputed coffee making champion of world. Introducing The Coffee Maker Contenders In green corner, we have Mr. Coffee - long-recognized as undisputed champion of home coffee makers. Affordable with many models to choose from, Mr. Coffee currently has over a dozen models on market retailing from between $24.99 to $89.99. With makers serving up between one and twelve cups, he'll be hard to beat. In fact, Mr. Coffee is in great shape with an amazing array of features and settings, including single serve, speed brew, switch, programmable, and thermal models. In red corner, we have Bunn-o-Matic - king of commercial coffee making market. Found in restaurants and chosen by baristas around world, Bunn-o-Matic is known for his professional-grade machines. With a limited variety (e.g., currently seven models, with one single serve and 6-10 cup models), judges will need to pay close attention to details to see what kind of punch Bunn-o-Matic packs. One thing is for sure: with a starting price of $89.95, Bunn-o-Matic definitely tips scales as a higher-priced option for home consumers. For those of you who are new to clash of coffee makers, here's what judges will be looking for during brew-off: Cup size How many cups can your coffee maker cook up (say that five times fast)? Most brands today have single-serve and multiple cup models, with 10-12 cups being upper limit for most home coffee makers.
|
