Organic Granny

Joyeuse Noel!  Soon you will be able to say this-- in a variety of languages-- and really know that you are into the Christmas season. I said "Merry Christmas" to a woman upstairs at Step Above coffee shop today, and she said the same back, so maybe it's begun? If you have missed the previous 3 days of crafts / gifts made from various household items, you can check them out here:   Day 1      Day 2       Day 3      You will notice that we have built in some Gluten-Free Christmas Cookie Recipes as well!   ⁹ Ugly Christmas Sweaters At some point in the 80s or 90s there was a run on really cute Christmas sweaters.  People knit them as gifts and some people spent a lot of money to buy them in fancy stores.   Then the tide turned, and the sweaters were proclaimed "ugly" and ever after people wore these sweaters as some sort of indicator of how trendy they were.  Or something? Now I am happy to say that today's craft makes use of any ugly sweaters-- or perfectly n

I hope you are having a pretty mellow day today. The more mellow you are (that includes smiling, (even if you don't particularly feel like it), the more healthy it is for your brain. Not kidding-- read all about it in " How God Changes Your Brain " by neuroscientist, Andrew Newberg, MD and Mark Robert Waldman.   Today we are going to do a Christmas craft / gift that relies on your having baking soda on hand as its main ingredient. You definitely will need some other supplies for this craft / gift, but the result will be pretty minimally costly, I promise. And you will feel great!   I am referring to, of course, CHRISTMAS BATH SALTS as today's crafty item.   This is one that you may let your child help you with, unless, of course, Santa opts to give them the Grinch Bath Salts in their stocking... in which case, you might want to do this activity by yourself again. (sorry) Get the recipe for the Grinch Bath Soak  HERE                                      I like t

These 10 Days of Christmas on Organic Granny's site are henceforth dedicated to readers who are making a valiant effort to celebrate the Season without consuming gluten!  I was thinking.  When folks are gluten-free during a holiday season, like Christmas, there seems to be an awful lot of time given over to baking and the like.  For the gluten-sensitive person, that might entail a lot of temptation and / or a lot of expensive ingredients used to sub in for something that might not necessarily smell or look or taste like the "usual" item.  Disappointment. So, why don't we just branch out here and do something else creative.  If you have kids you might want to involve them in the activity (no pressure-- you can also do it while they are at school or asleep), A few (maybe up to 10) ideas for crafts or gifts made from stuff you already have about-- old Christmas cards, scraps of wool, mismatched ornaments... we'll see as we go.  One craft a day with a reflection, and

  I am totally thrilled by this recipe-- it rolls out great and the house smells like Christmas as the cookies bake, and then, of course, they taste delicious.  (See notes and attribution at bottom of recipe.) INGREDIENTS 2 cups  organic   brown rice flour 1 1/2 cups  arrowroot powder 1 1/2 cups  amaranth flour 3 T.  organic   baking powder 2 t.  organic cinnamon 10 drops  Young Living Ginger Essential Oil* 5   drops  Young Living Nutmeg Essential Oil* 5   drops  Young Living Clove Essential Oil* 1 1/2 cups  Organic Cane Sugar 1/2 cup  organic applesauce 1/3 cup  Extra Virgin Coconut Oil,  melted in a cup in a bowl of hot water 1/3 cup  blackstrap molasses 2 T.  vanilla coconut oil, for oiling cookie sheets or you can use a silicone sheet on top of a pizza pan like I did-- no extra oil needed and the cookies don't stick at all. *ONLY USE ESSENTIAL OILS THAT ARE SAFE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION AND ONLY IN SMALL SMALL QUANTITIES!!! If you do not have Young Living Essential Oils, I would s