My new addiction

I have enjoyed honey for many years.  Before this year, I would put it on toast with butter, add it to peanut butter for a great sandwich, and of course drizzle it over cornbread.  I'm southern, after all!  I'd occaisionally use it if it was called for in a recipe.  It would usually end up getting hard and crystallized in its honey bear container before I could use it all up, though.  And, like so many food items recently, I heard you need to be careful and steer clear of honey from China.  Even if the container said U.S. on it, that didn't mean the honey absolutely came from the U.S.  So I sort of backed off from buying any.  Then for my last birthday, my sister-in-law and her husband got me a jar of what's pictured above.  A church nearby where they live has their own bees, and this is their thing.  Even though I was so happy to be given a big jar of local honey, it sat on the counter for awhile.  I didn't want it to go to waste, but I kept forgetting about it.

Enter the Fall and Winter Sinus Classic.  With all of the throats that need soothing around here, we are always looking for home remedies to soothe and/or heal what ails us.  When Jav took Jojo to the doctor one Saturday in January, there was a substiture doctor who recommended warm milk and honey for him before bedtime to soothe his throat and cough.  I had never considered this because I thought drinking milk wasn't such a good idea when having allergy problems.  BUT I'm starting to figure out the difference between allergy and sinus symptioms.  If we're only having sinus symptoms, the milk is ok.

So I gave it to them before bedtime a couple of nights, then added mornings.  After the ENT recommended I stay away from coffee, I needed something to get me going in the morning.  So I joined them.  Now we are all addicted to warm milk and honey in the mornings.  They have both stayed healthy since I started this routine.  I know it probably doesn't have anything to do with this, but who knows?

So I've expanded my honey use.  I put it in my tea, homemade stir-fry sauces and salad dressings.  I made a huge batch of sesame-honey glazed chicken.  We are going through it really quickly and are about to buy our third jar.  In fact, while typing this post I got a craving and had to go make some toast with butter and honey.  Yum!!!!!   Get busy, bees!