Make Your Own Elderberry Syrup

This just might be by far the most “crunchy” thing I’ve ever done! I love making things on my own, I’ve recently been very into making my own elderberry syrup and broths- both so easy but broth is for another day. Today, we’re chatting about Elderberries! I’ve been using Elderberry syrup and gummies for years, I love the immunity properties it holds and its full of good stuff! A few things about elderberries you should know;

  • they are rich in vitamins & nutrients

  • relieves inflammation & supports immune health

  • rich in three types of flavanols — naturally occurring compounds in plants with antioxidant properties — they may help to improve heart health.

Elderberry syrup from the store is packed full of sugar and has other additives that I don’t want. Once you realize that and how easy it is to make it you’ll be doing it as well. It’s so easy to make and one batch makes a ton on syrup. I tried a few different recipes before landing on the one I use- it’s a combo of several I’ve tried. This is the one I make for my family. I’ll also link below some of the products I use along with the recipe, including of coarse the Elderberries!

elderberrysyrup

Elderberry Syrup Recipe

1 cup elderberries

5 cups filtered water

4 cinnamon sticks or 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 cup local honey

Place your cup of dried Elderberries in your crock pot, pour water over them, add the cinnamon and let it cook for 8-10 hours! All day! This is very important that you let it cook for this long, it removed the lectins from the berries - and lectins can harm the gut. It also removes the bitter taste from the berries as well. If you are using dried cinnamon instead of the sticks you’ll want to wisk all that together and let it cook.

After it’s cooked for the amount of time you’ll add the cup of honey. I suggest using local honey for it’s allergy benefits- but if you can’t find that use a raw organic honey that you can find. Add that to your elderberries while it’s still warm then wisk together. If you want your syrup to be sweeter, then you can add more honey to taste. Turn off your crock pot, and then begin to strain the elderberries out. Make sure you use a fine mesh strainer to get them all out. I’ll link one below I use.

Once all your berries are out, you can pour the syrup into glass bottles for storage. I link the ones I have below, you’ll store your syrup in the fridge for up to 3 months.

For dosage, I like to use these stainless steal shot glasses and line them all up in the mornings for all of us to drink when we take our daily vitamins. So easy. But a general rule is 1 tablespoon, once a day.

That’s it! So easy and like I said one batch makes so much! I love this because it is way more economical than buying it from the store and you get all the benefits without added sugars and junk! Everything I mentioned and use is linked here:

I hope you enjoyed this recipe, if you end up making it let me know how it goes! Hope you enjoy.

*affiliate links used.

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Four Ways I Keep Myself Motivated to Accomplish My Wellness Goals.

This post is brought to you by FlyJoy. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that help make this blog possible. 

As we end the year I wanted to share with you some tips that have helped keep me focused, on track and motivated with my health and fitness goals this year. When it comes to health and wellness I think it's important to try new things and figure out what works best for you. So today I want to share with '4 Ways I Keep Myself Motivated' when it comes to health & wellness.

1. Keeping track using my Fitbit.

My mom got this for me last year on my birthday. I didn't even realize how much I would love it, but my type-A, check things off my list personality loves this thing! It keeps track of everything, workouts, water intake, sleep and more! I love keeping track of my workouts using it and my water intake for the day. It helps keep me motivated and on track! 

2. New Gear.

This might sound crazy but nothing helps keep me motivated quite like getting new workout gear. I'm telling you if you haven't gotten yourself a new workout outfit recently do it! It's highly motivating, and I feel like when you look good you feel good and want to conquer your fitness goals. Also, getting a new water bottle makes you want to drink more water. Trust me. I recently picked up this Blender bottle with measurements on the side, again so I can see exactly how many ounces I'm drinking and adding it to my Fitbit. 

3. Get food/snacks that you enjoy.

Part of getting healthy for me has been changing my eating habits. A lot of times people struggle with diet because they feel like they have to give up a lot. So my approach is to find food and snacks that I enjoy and don't have to feel like I'm giving up anything. Dinner usually isn't a problem for me as much as snacks. That's why I love Fly Joy bars, they are all natural, gluten fee, non-GMO and they taste great. Cashew Cookie is my fave. My kiddos love the peanut butter and jelly and blueberry ones. 

4. Try New Workout Programs

I'm constantly trying new programs. I still run often, but also like to mix it up with different workout videos always trying new things and keeping myself from being bored with my workouts. 

As we end the year and head into a new one I hope these tips are helpful and you can take what you can and adapt it for your own life. To discover more about Fly Joy go here. 

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Starting and Maintaining Healthy Routines.

 

I have been compensated by Sundown Naturals® and Pollinate Media Group for this post as part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Sundown Naturals® but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #GoodnessGiveaway #sharethegoodness http://my-disclosur.es/OBstV

My body needed a reset a couple of weeks ago, I’m a big fan of doing fasts and cleanses as a way to reset your body and start new with your diet and exercise. I don’t know about you but this Summer with vacations and different things I haven’t been the best with my eating habits so I decided to do another round of Whole30. I did my first round of Whole30 over a year ago and loved it. I’ve been pretty much dairy free since before that and I’m slowing cutting out a few other things from my diet as I see how certain foods are affecting my body.

I’ve been wanting to add a regular vitamin routine into my diet for a while now. Recently I was shopping at Walmart for school supplies and thought I’d take a little walk down the vitamin aisle and see what they had. I came upon Sundown Naturals® in a whole bunch of gummy flavors, so I grabbed a few to try. I stocked up on Fish oil (for heart health), a probiotic and melatonin. They have a great selection at Walmart of Sundown Naturals® for yourself and the whole family. You can take a quick quiz here and see what gummy vitamins would be best for you.

One of the things I loved is that they are gluten free, dairy free and free of any artificial flavors◊! They are perfect for keeping within the diet restrictions that I am sticking to, along with using probiotics in yogurt. Also as I change my diet I wanted to start taking a multivitamin to make sure I was getting all the nutrients I could. Here’s the thing though, I do not like taking pills at all. It makes me choke every time. My kids take a gummy multivitamin, and I thought I need to search for an adult gummy! That would make everything so much easier, which is why I am so thankful to have found Sundown Naturals® adult gummies!

I also make it a point to continue to add in my daily workouts of running and weight training into living a healthy lifestyle. My Mom got me a Fitbit last Fall for my birthday and I’ve loved tracking my workouts there and keeping track of water intake as well. I love checking things off my list and seeing the little lights turn green once I’ve completed my goal!

Interested in trying Sundown Naturals® for yourself? Enter the Goodness Giveaway Sweepstakes today! Head into Walmart and purchase at least 1 Sundown Naturals® vitamin product for a chance to win weekly prize packages and a grand prize! Every week, one winner will be selected to choose from 1 of 4 prize packs – Yogi Pack, Fitness Pack, Foodie Pack, or a $100 Walmart Gift Card. Simply upload a picture of your receipt here and you are entered for a chance to win some incredible prizes now through 11/1!

What types of things do you add into your daily life to keep yourself on track? Drop them in the comments below I’d love to hear your suggestions!

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. ◊Applies to all products manufactured after 5/1/15. Please check back of label as manufacture dates may vary.

Essential Oil Storage

Happy Monday friends! I wanted to share with you my new storage solution for my essential oils! It's so pretty now and functional! 


Here's the before. A giant mess of everything in the cabinet. I knew I wanted to find a better solution for them, here's what I did.

All my oils were in these skinny baskets from the Dollar Tree. I had some in my kid's bathroom, some in ours and some in the cabinet in the kitchen. What seemed like a great idea to have oils all over the house quickly turned into chaos as I couldn't ever remember what oils were where. So I knew I wanted a solution to organize them and keep them all in one place. 

I found this acrylic nail polish organizer on Amazon. I looked up the measurements in the listing and it was an exact fit for my cabinet in my kitchen. Sold! I knew this was a great way to store my oils and keep them all in one place in the kitchen. 

I pulled them all out and went through them, this was a good time for me to take stock as well and see what I had and what I need to re order. I then placed them all in alphabetical order, because I'm cool like that. 

Here's what they all look like in my cabinet in my kitchen! I love how it turned out. All in one place, sleek and stylish. If you're looking for a similar solution I suggest this. You can get yours here.


*affiliate links used. 

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Night time Foot Rub

Happy Monday friends, I'm back today with another essential oils post! I made this night time foot rub for my kiddos and I put it on them nightly to help them sleep better and relax. It's become such a calming part of our bed time routine and my kiddos are sleeping better and faster because we have this as part of our routine. 

Mix all together well and store in a glass jar. I like these mini mason jars I found in the Target One Spot, they are so cute. 

Have you made any fun oil blends? Share them in the comments below. 

Need help or have questions about essential oils? Shoot me an email (andreaworley@live.com) and I'll try to help answer your questions.