Tag: favorite recipes

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Blackberry Cream Shortbread Cake (GF)

This will give you a good reason to go blackberry picking!!

I made this for my friend’s birthday, BBQ and dance party! There’s nothing like fresh cream and locally picked blackberries on a shortbread cake to top a perfect summer afternoon!

I used Gluten Free flour and coconut sugar to create a more shortbread style cake that wasn’t too sweet, but regular flour and sugar are fine, too!

Ingredients for the Shortbread Cake:

  • 2 Cups Organic Brown Coconut Sugar (Big Tree Farms)
  • 1 Cup Butter (2 sticks at room temp)
  • 4 Eggs
  • 3 teaspoons Vanilla extract

Grease and flour 2 x 9″ pans. Mix the coconut sugar and butter together until creamy. Beat in the eggs, ONE at a TIME, and add the vanilla extract.

  • 3 Cups Flour (Bob’s Red Mill GF 1 to 1 baking flour)
  • 3 teaspoons Baking powder
  • 1 cup Half & Half or whole Milk
  • 2 tablespoons Apple sauce

Mix the baking powder into the flour and fold into the creamed mixture. Add the milk and apple sauce. Keep mixing until smooth and creamy! Pour into pans and bake at 350 for 30 mins! Let cool.

  • one egg at a time
  • fold flour into mixture
  • Add cream or milk
  • Blend until creamy

Ingredients for the frosting & filling:

  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 cups blackberries
  • 1.5 tablespoons maple syrup if the blackberries are too tart

Heat the blackberries in a pan until simmering, keep stirring until you have a nice thick reduction. Cool in the fridge and strain into a bowl.

  • 1 pint heavy whipping cream
  • 1 cup organic seedless blackberry fruit spread / jam


Whip cream until fluffy. Set aside 1/4 cup reduction. Add remaining COLD reduction to the cream and stir. Keep the blackberry cream in the fridge.

  • Heat blackberries
  • Strain
  • Reduction
  • Add reduction to fresh cream

Filling: Tap the COLD cakes out of their pans. Spread a very generous amount of seedless blackberry fruit jam over the bottom cake and a layer of blackberry cream. Then spread a generous amount of blackberry fruit spread on the BOTTOM of the top cake before you place the layers together.

Frosting: Cover the cake with fresh whipped blackberry cream and drizzle the 1/4 cup of reduction over it. Cover it all all with fresh blackberries; et Voila! Delicious Blackberry Shortbread Cake ~

Recipe by Sooz at Melinas Garden! Please let me know how yours turns out! 🙂

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Turmeric Golden Honey

Nature’s cure for cold and flu season!

Golden Honey for balancing Immunity during cold and flu season!

Turmeric, which contains the active compound curcumin, has become widely known in the last couple of years as an anti-inflammatory, immune booster, natural antibiotic and blood pressure regulator amongst many other remedies. Golden Honey (a mixture of turmeric, honey and black pepper) is a natural remedy that can be taken by the whole family. (Check with your physician if you are taking medications for blood pressure or gall bladder disease before consuming)

Golden Honey Recipe and how to use:

At the first signs of a cold, flu or feeling run down, make Golden Honey and consume it in this way.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of raw organic Honey
  • 1 tablespoon of organic Turmeric powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon of black Pepper (do not omit this ingredient. It’s necessary for the benefits of Turmeric to enter your bloodstream)

Mix together and store in a glass jar.

  • At the onset of a cold or the flu, take 1/2 a teaspoon of the Golden Honey every 2 hours until symptoms are alleviated. Let the honey sit in your mouth for a few seconds before swallowing.
  • Use as cough mixture. Take 1/2 a teaspoon for annoying tickling coughs or sore throat.

This Golden Honey also makes a great cup of Golden Milk to give you a good nights’ sleep! Just add a spoonful to a cup of warm milk of your choice (cow’s, coconut, almond, etc.)

Stir and enjoy!

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House Calls Anyone?

Are you old enough to remember the days when your doctor would come over to your house? House calls were a given in country villages all over Europe. Close connection to your doctor and midwife is potent medicine in itself.

An Ayurvedic Practitioner, just like a doctor in those golden days, will ask to see your tongue and read your pulse. They will study the texture, temperature and color of your skin, too. As a Practitioner, I’d like to know you personally to delve deeper into understanding your constitution and what is beneficial to your good health.

I am available to come to your home and organize your kitchen with you according to your constitution.

I can teach you how to make Ayurvedic staples, such as Ghee and Kitchari, and smoothies appropriate for your constitution.

I’ll share favorite recipes and ancient methods of lifestyle, and leave you feeling like you have a grasp on how to change your diet, your health and your life through these nutritional and lifestyle suggestions.

Please pass this on to family and friends who may need this service! I can travel anywhere – well just about anywhere!

In appreciation ~ 🙂