Honey

Honey Cilantro Lime Shrimp

January 30, 2018 by Dana

Have you ever been eating shrimp and thought… wow…. I just ate half of what I cooked?!?! This Honey Cilantro Lime Shrimp will quickly vanish into thin air just like shrimp always does! This is a super simple recipe with a nice balance of sweet, acidic, and salty flavors. It is great for parties, game days, or a nice dinner with the hubby and kids. The sauce is customizable so if you aren’t feeling the balance, add some additional acid/sweetness to make it your own. You really just can’t go wrong with a beautiful pile of shrimp and a few fresh ingredients for the sauce!

Welcome to the paragraph on this post about my life in the current moment. I don’t have a ton to write today, other then the fact that I’ve been pondering how Mom’s ever stop looking at all the pretty little things for baby girls!?!

WHEN. DOES. IT. END.

You guys, if you haven’t been following I have 4 boys. For 11 years I’ve walked by the baby girl section longing to buy it all. Like every single cute headband and bow and delicious little onsie with the cupcake and sprinkles all over it. For a really long time I completely shut out that side of the clothing store because I had come to the realization that I was a boy Mom and that meant green and brown striped onesies covered in dump trucks. I didn’t even want to peek at what may be on the other side of the store because I had nobody to purchase the cuteness for.

Until I did! 🙂

Don’t get me wrong, boys clothing has come a long way since my first was born. PRAISE JESUS. However, for me it still just doesn’t even compare to the bows and leopard print and leggings and dresses. It is, in the end, just clothing that will be shat upon and peed in and thrown up on. But the baby girl waiting game has been getting the best of my lately and my internet browsers are filled with all the cuteness that is out there and able to be purchased. Lord help my bank account and self control! Who has a favorite place to shop for little girl’s clothing?

Honey Cilantro Lime Shrimp Recipe Tips

As mentioned above, if you need to balance out your sauce, go ahead and add more lime/honey to your liking.
I LIGHTLY sprinkled the shrimp with adobo seasoning, and went even lighter with the cumin. These flavors really bring the dish together though, so don’t skip out on them! If you aren’t familiar with adobo seasoning, I use Goya brand and it has never failed me.
If you don’t want to stand and peel two pounds a shrimp like I did, look for the pre-peeled shrimp! Generally I always buy frozen shrimp because… Hello… Mom of 4, soon to be 5 over here doesn’t have a million dollars to spend on seafood each week, so frozen it is! I was not able to find wild caught shrimp that was pre-peeled.
The fresh cilantro kicks this recipe up about a million notches so don’t skip out on it unless you are the 10% who thinks that cilantro tastes like soap. 🙂
I served this shrimp over rice with avocado slices on the side. It made for a fantastic dinner!

Honey Barbecue Bacon Meatballs

January 26, 2018 by Dana

The Super Bowl is right around the corner, and these Honey Barbecue Bacon Meatballs are a crowd-pleasing appetizer worthy of bringing to the big game!

Truth: I don’t care about the Super Bowl. I don’t follow football, my husband doesn’t follow football, and well… we just aren’t a sporty family. I GUESS I’m rooting for the Eagles because my Mom is a super fan and I’m close to Philadelphia. 🙂 We usually go to a family friendly party, and I’m strictly there for the food so don’t ask me about the game or even the commercials because I could care less!

My ALL TIME favorite Super Bowl appetizer is Buffalo Chicken Dip. It is addicting, delicious, and expected to be at every party. Wings are also right up there on the list of must haves, but you will always need a few other items to fill in for the folks who aren’t into spicy foods. Shrimp, meatballs, guacamole, pizza… you know all the good stuff!

For these Honey Barbecue Bacon Meatballs, I did make my meatballs from scratch because it is super simple to do! HOWEVER…. if you happen to pick up frozen meatballs to make this recipe, no judgement here! That is what I love about this recipe, it is customizable and can be made in even less time if you are in a hurry. Getting all of my family ready and out the door for a Super Bowl party is stressful enough, so I totally get it. If you are running low on time or just don’t care…. GET THE FROZEN MEATBALLS. 🙂

Honey Barbecue Bacon Meatballs Recipe Tips

Again, this recipe is totally customizable. Don’t have time to make meatballs from scratch? Buy frozen! Want your sauce a bit sweeter? Add more honey! Really love ranch dressing? Drizzle some on there like I did!
If you are making meatballs from scratch, the meatball recipe is a basic tried and true recipe. There isn’t anything particularly different about it, because the sauce and the bacon are really making these meatballs.
The sauce is WAY better the next day. I would suggest maybe making it the day before, and letting all of the flavors come together overnight in the refrigerator. Here is the thing about homemade sauces like this…. they need time. Just like the sauce you buy in the grocery store has been sitting for a period of time, it is also good to let your homemade sauce sit and mingle together.
If you’d like to make these as a meal, they are great with a simple side like buttered egg noodles or jasmine rice. We have eaten them as a meal with rice and they were fantastic.
If your party is large, I would suggest making a double batch. If you’d like to stick with a single batch, you can always make them mini-meatballs to stretch them farther.
For the meat… I prefer to use a meatball/meatloaf mix of meats. It includes beef, pork, and veal. I know, I know. But listen, the meat matters! My local grocery stores do sell this already pre-mixed specifically for meatballs and meatloaf. If you can’t find a meatball mix at your grocery store, I would ask the butcher there to make you a mix, or just purchase 1 pound of each and make a large batch and freeze the extras.

Sticky Honey Mustard Garlic Chicken

January 13, 2018 by Dana

Hello! Welcome to my first post in 2018, and my first post under a brand spankin’ new name! This Sticky Honey Mustard Garlic Chicken is the perfect way to start off the new year, but first….

What gives on the name change!?!?!

I’m ready to drop a few truth bombs right now, and it may not be pretty but it is genuine and it is me. I was struggling with the name 3boysunprocessed. Struggling for a very long time. In 2018 one of my goals was to make this blog a more comprehensive look at my life. To do that I desperately needed to change the name and break out of the box of unprocessed eating.

Four years ago, my life was completely different! When I started this blog, I was so passionate about cooking with the least processed ingredients. What you saw was what I was feeding my family. It was fun to me then, it was my own little project that I loved and babied. It grew my love for photography, it gave me a reason to talk about my children and document my life, and it was great. I was stunned when people actually cared. But then….

Life happened. My husband started a new career that took him on the road and away from home 5 days a week, we had another baby (and have another on the way now), I started a photography business, and my wee little babes who would eat anything suddenly didn’t want my whole wheat macaroni and honey sweetened delicious treats anymore. Things were different, my family was growing and changing, and my blog needed to reflect that.

Life can be extremely busy at times. Every time I thought to myself that I’d like to post a new recipe, I realized that it may not fit into the unprocessed box I had put myself into. I want to share my love for food here, and ultimately I have to be true and honest that this is not how I cook anymore. Of course, I am still cooking fresh, homemade meals for my family. However I’ve stopped stressing over certain ingredients such as white pasta and cane sugar. My sanity needed a break from hyper obsessing over my kids going to a birthday party and eating a hotdog bun. So I let go a little, and it feels great!

Looking into 2018, I’m really ready to share more stories about life, my family, my cooking, my Lipsense business, my love for photography, and so much more! I absolutely love looking back at all of my posts from when my boys were all super tiny, and I want to keep sharing the special little details without the stress of being in any kind of box. Cheers to 2018!

Now that the cat is out of the bag, shall we move on to this Sticky Honey Mustard Garlic Chicken? It is oozing with delicious Asian inspired flavors, simple ingredients, and my latest pregnancy craving… Jasmine Rice and soy sauce! It combines a few simple ingredients to check off every box on the BEST CHICKEN EVER list… sweet, salty, perfectly crunchy, and smothered in a delicious and easy to make sauce.

THIS IS CHICKEN HEAVEN.

The Recipe

One of my favorite way to make takeout inspired chicken is to dip it in egg, coat it with cornstarch, and then cook it on the stovetop. It gives a deep fried texture without actually deep frying or ordering takeout from a place that may or may not be using trans fats to fry their food. I love me some Panda Express, but I hate the way I feel after eating mystery ingredients. This is the perfect way to make it at home and know exactly what you are eating.

The most important step when cooking this Sticky Honey Mustard Garlic Chicken is to make sure your meat is properly seasoned. Don’t forget to season your chicken before you bread it. I always use coarse Kosher salt to season meats, it has never let me down! A sprinkle over all of your chicken chunks will work wonders.

Coating the chicken is easy, but can be messy! One thing I learned while working in restaurants and coating millions of pieces of chicken is to get everything where you need it before you start, and use one hand to dip and the other to coat. No matter how bad you want to just go right from the egg to the cornstarch with the same hand… DON’T DO IT or your hands will be a hot mess.

The sauce is super easy to put together! Cook the garlic, then add the rest of the ingredients and viola! It is super versatile, so if you like it a little more sweet, add more honey. If you like it a little more salty, add more soy sauce! If you don’t have whole grain mustard, use dijon! The sky is the limit here, this is really just a base recipe.

Also, apparently is is really easy to burn Jasmine rice. That is all I’m going to say about that. HAHA

Buttery Garlic Parmesan Rolls

August 31, 2015 by Dana

I believe the name of these delicious rolls speaks for itself! These buttery, garlicky, parmesan cheesy, carb-o-licious rolls are perfect to eat with your next Italian dinner or just by themselves, because yes, they are that good. Slather on some extra butter, melt some provolone cheese on top, or just eat them plain, you can’t go wrong…I promise!

The real reason I baked these delicious babies up is because my son has a complex about his bread at school now. Yes, the 3rd grade pressure is really getting to him! I asked him if he wanted a sandwich in his lunchbox and his first question was “Well what bread are you using?” We pretty much only eat Food for Life Ezekiel bread because it is the best store bought bread I have found. I totally love the Ezekiel bread because it is loaded with natural nutrients and tastes great. It doesn’t include any ingredients that I can’t pronounce and it doesn’t contain any preservatives. My son is more of a processed, packaged bread lover (because I can’t shield him from everything!) so I’ve resorted to making my own breads and skipping the processed, unnecessary ingredients in store bought white breads and rolls (I also add in whole wheat flour).

Did you know that some brands of shelf stable breads can even include hidden trans fats??? I KNOW! Ridiculous! The hidden source will be labeled as mono-and-diglycerides, which can be found in a ton of processed foods. I’ve seen it in everything from dips, to ice creams, to most processed breads. I have even seen it in grocery store “bakery” breads, also know as “We are just pretending to bake this but in fact it came in frozen and isn’t really the fresh product you thought you were buying.” Those “bakery” breads can be super misleading because they look homemade but if you take a gander at the ingredients sometimes they are even worse then the pre-packaged stuff. I have looked and looked for a grocery store that carried a bread that doesn’t contain anything weird and I have only found ONE option at Wegman’s, their organic sourdough bread. I’ve noticed that it has been sold out every week so maybe Wegman’s will take the hint and come out with more options! That would be awesome!

With that being said, I wanted my son to be able to take something he wasn’t embarrassed about and would actually eat so here it is. 🙂 I settled for using mostly bread flour (King Arthur’s brand) and stone ground whole wheat flour which created a really nice end result. Bread flour has never failed me to create the perfect roll, so I highly recommend using it in this recipe. I baked the rolls in pie pans (10 per pan) right next to each other because I like that pull apart aspect I get from doing it like that, but you could certainly separate them and bake them on a sheet tray or in a rectangular pan.
*Recipe adapted from Almost Famous Breadsticks by Foodnetwork.com

Honey Mustard Baked Salmon

August 10, 2015 by Dana

Ahhhh… what a beautiful piece of Salmon! Not only is this salmon beautiful, it is SO TASTY and SO EASY!

I grabbed inspiration for this recipe from my Crockpot Honey Mustard Chicken recipe because the flavor combo in that recipe is just spot on! I can easily say it is one of my all time favorite Crockpot recipes, so if you haven’t checked that recipe out yet it might be time to do that. 🙂 I’m telling you… you won’t be disappointed and seriously… does it get any easier?

Speaking of easy, there are a few consistent questions/comments I expect from people I chat with regarding cutting processed foods:

Isn’t it really time consuming? I just don’t have any time in my busy schedule for cooking!
Isn’t it really expensive? I just can’t afford to eat like that!
How do you get your kids to eat like that? I just know my kids would never touch that food!

This recipe really addressed the first point… Isn’t it really time consuming to cut processed foods? Do I spend my entire day in the kitchen just to make sure my family isn’t consuming a bunch of processed crap? In short… the answer is no. I absolutely do not spend a ridiculous amount of time in my kitchen everyday, and on days that I do it is because I have chosen to (I can get cooking ADHD at times). When I feel like I’ve spent a long time in the kitchen I usually plan the next day to spend almost NO time in the kitchen. This is exactly when I pull out recipes like this Honey Mustard Baked Salmon that take less than 5 minutes to prepare + baking time (that I spend preparing a side). If you kind of hate cooking, or you really are super busy and just don’t have a ton of time to spend preparing meals then this recipe is your solution. Mix 3 ingredients, pour over salmon, wrap in foil… viola!

Easy Homemade Hamburger Buns

May 22, 2015 by Dana

Today I’m ditching the whole wheat flour for a soft and fluffy Homemade Hamburger Bun made with unbleached bread flour (King Arthur’s brand). Let’s be honest here… the two are just not the same!

I’ve been experimenting a lot with baking breads lately and I’ve come to realize that using all whole wheat flour will NOT yield the same result as using bread flour. I used to think I could just sub whole wheat flour in for anything. The more and more I experiment the more I’m coming to see that making that substitution has been causing me to think I’m just not good at baking breads. I’ve been longing for a perfect result…and have come up short time and time again.

I’ve known bread flour was a completely different animal for years, after all I did spend $25,000 on Baking and Pastry School. You see, bread flour has a higher protein content which makes it better for gluten development. This is going to give you a nicer rise and a fluffier product. I’ve seen people making substitutions between all purpose and bread flour, however I strongly recommend using bread flour for this recipe because I promise….it is just perfect!

I know yeast breads are scary… and believe me… I know why. With all of my experimentations lately I fully understand the complete letdown you feel when you’ve dedicated time, energy, and money into something that just doesn’t produce the results you were looking for. Today I’m taking the “scary” out of Homemade Hamburger Buns because if you follow this recipe I promise you will get the same results pictured. All of my Hamburger Buns were perfect, and far superior to those processed, shelf stable buns you buy at the supermarket that NEVER mold!

A few other notes about these Buns:

Do not skip the egg wash! Egg wash is simply an egg + a bit of water brushed onto your buns before you bake them to give them that nice golden brown color. I have tried to cut corners by skipping the egg wash on yeast breads over and over again and every time I end up thinking “Gee I wish I would have used that egg wash” when my product isn’t nice and golden brown like I hoped it would be.
Temperature matters. Temperature is a crucial part of baking yeast breads. You can actually kill the yeast if your water is too hot, so be careful. I never take the temperature of the water with a thermometer, but when my water feels ever so slightly warmer then lukewarm, that’s what I go with. Obviously, that’s not the “professional” method of figuring out water temperature but it has never failed me. How quickly your dough rises also depends upon the temperature of the room your dough is in. My kitchen is always a little warmer then the rest of the house, which is great for rising dough. In the winter I turn my oven on and sit the dough on top of the oven. Again, nothing “professional” about this, just my own experience.
This dough can be turned into a number of things: Hamburger Buns, breadsticks, garlic bread, hoagie rolls…. you name it. I adapted the recipe from this Almost Famous Breadsticks recipe from Food Network. It is definitely my new favorite dough!

Equipment I Used

Products from Amazon.com

Coconut Chicken Fried Rice

December 29, 2014 by Dana

Well Christmas just flew right by, didn’t it? Of course the last few days have been an absolute hurricane at my house, however today I managed to get a few things in order. My oldest son is home from school this week, so you know what that means, I’m officially a referee now! I think I heard the words “He hit me” more times today then I ever really wanted to hear them. Actually, I’d be totally fine if I never had to hear those words again! 🙂

Amongst all of the chaos I somehow managed to muster up the energy to put dinner together tonight and it was one of those Ohhhh-Soooo-Takeout inspired dishes that did the trick BUT was made with all real, healthier ingredients then you would typically find in takeout food. I was surprised how great the consistency of the sauce turned out because it reminded me of something JUST LIKE you would get from Panda Express. Three Cheers for creating a great sauce with a few simple ingredients that would surely rival Panda Express!

Speaking of Panda Express, I actually looked for their ingredients online and wasn’t able to find ANYTHING. Being tight-lipped about ingredients? Not cool Panda Express! Of course, I know their food is GMO-laden, and probably contains a lot of soybean oil and high fructose corn syrup, but I’d be curious to see what else is hiding in there. They do claim that they only use “natural forms” of MSG so that makes me think they use yeast extract or other flavor enhancers instead. Tricky, tricky! If anyone knows where to find their ingredients shoot me a comment! 🙂 Or better yet forget about them all together and make your own!

I put this delish Coconut Chicken over fried rice, but it would also go great with sticky white rice (GASP!) or brown rice. Ok, I know… the white rice. But there is just something about it that is so wonderful and amazing in every way that makes it perfect for a sticky sweet/spicy/salty sauce. Food heaven is that you???? I have to admit I can eat 100% whole wheat bread and pasta all day every day and never miss the bleached/refined stuff but the sticky rice with takeout-style food is my bleached grains pitfall. Just being honest! If you decide to forgo the extra fried rice steps I would recommend doubling the sauce recipe so that you have a little extra goodness for the rice.

Cooking Tips and Techniques

For best chicken results filet chicken (cut in half lengthwise) first, then cut into small chunks, and finally thin slightly with a meat tenderizer. This will ensure your chicken will cook through easily because it is thinner, and it will be nice and flat for a crispy finish. It sounds like a lot but I promise the extra few minutes of effort it takes will save you cooking time and yield a perfect bite of chicken!
Rinse pan after each batch of chicken is cooked (unless you are using a non-stick surface, then you can just wipe down with a paper towel, and add more olive oil). I used two chicken breasts, and only had to rinse pan one time. This ensures none of your chicken will end up stuck to your pan!
Heat your pan well in advance. I put my oil in the pan and allow it to heat up on low while I’m breading my chicken. When I’m about to cook my chicken I turn it up to medium. I don’t go any hotter then medium/medium low because I’m using olive oil.
Sauce can be cooked in the same pan as your chicken! Save yourself a dish, and use the flavor of the stuff on the bottom of your pan for a delicious sauce. Yumm!
Any veggies you have on hand can be used in the fried rice. Have a ball, throw in them all! I went broccoli heavy cause that’s just how we roll. Hello Cruciferous veggies!

Whole Wheat Gingerbread Pancakes

November 19, 2014 by Dana

I am telling you…these Gingerbread Pancakes totally exceeded my pancake expectations! So much so that I’ve made them for my kids 3 times in the last week. You know, because I just love hearing the words “We want pancakes” before I even step foot out of bed! #mommyproblems

I just read a meme that said “Honesty trumps sugar-coated bullshit.” YES! This is exactly how I feel today as I’m writing this because truth is, I am having major technical issues. ~~Scratch that~~. I’m having massive technical issues. The kind of issues that warrant taking my computer outside with a shotgun, or maybe a baseball bat. Either way, I have no idea what is wrong with my computer and it is driving me insane! Meltdown anyone?

These computer issues also warrant a big coffee, a good cry, and some chocolate. You know, because there’s nothing chocolate can’t fix, right? But seriously, if you don’t see any new posts this week just know that I’m undergoing massive reboots and techie stuff that I don’t really understand and I’ll be back soon. 🙂 Praying I can figure it out soon because my computer is virtually un-usable and SLLLOOWWW.

In (better) news, I took all 3 boys to the dentist today and nobody embarrassed me. That’s right… nobody ran away from me, I didn’t have to chase anyone down the hallway, or pull anyone off the decorations they just love to try to climb on. There were no looks from strangers, or older folks judging me. We came, we dentist’d, we conquered. Yes!!!! 🙂

Ok, now let’s get to the fun part, these Gingy-Men pancakes! I even busted out my naturally dyed sprinkles I’ve been saving just for Holiday baking to dress these pancakes up a bit, and how cute did they turn out? I’ve been known to hate on sprinkles in the past (among other things like bunnies) because they are nasty *ahem partially hydrogenated oils and artificial color-bombs.* However I can totally get down with a few naturally dyed sprinkles on some festive pancakes to put a smile on my boy’s faces! They thought it was something really special and I got to enjoy a pancake with my coffee. Win-win all around!

*Recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma

Crockpot Honey Mustard Chicken

October 12, 2014 by Dana

Dana Carvell (3BoysUnprocessed)

Remember when I said I hated crockpot meals, then kept making more crockpot meals? Seriously.

But you know how indecisive women can be so I’m totally blaming my gender on this one. In real non-food blogging life I’m actually pretty indecisive too. Like when my husband asks me a question and I say “I don’t care.” But somewhere inside I care, I do! I just can’t for the life of me make a decision! It is just too mind consuming to actually pony up and say what I want. No…clue…why!

But this CROCKPOT chicken though! It is so yummy and delish in all of it’s mustardy and honey-y glory. Yes, that’s two y’s because honey already ends in a Y. Yeah. So I hyphenated. And all the grammar people go nuts!

I hate to say this…but you know what else is really great about crockpots? The word *freeeedddoommm* singing in my head as I put the ingredients in the crockpot and walk away. Yeah, like knowing you totally have the next 4 hours to NOT spend in your kitchen piddling around over the stove and knocking over spices. Until I decided to make chicken stock.

Did you notice I said the words “knocking over spices?” Who else has a big pile of spices stored right beside their microwave in the most unorganized and clumsy fashion ever? You’d think being a food blogger and all I’d have a really nice spice organization system, like those little jars with magnets that hang right on the wall in the prettiest way ever. But no, I have this heaping mess of spices that is ever-growing and seems to get in the way all the time. Not to mention, try finding something in that mess! Where’s the pepper? Where’s the paprika? Heck, I can’t find it, so I’ll spend the next 15 minutes looking for it, only to find it right in front of me, on top of the microwave, where it was never supposed to be in the first place. Who put it there? Oh yeah.. I did yesterday. *sigh for all of those unorganized folks like myself* Just incase my husband is reading this… my birthday is next week *ah-hem* 🙂

So I’m using whole grain mustard in this chicken because my wonderful husband kept buying it, and I kept putting it into a bunch of random recipes and realized it’s kind of a big deal (are people still saying that?). Now if you aren’t keeping whole grain mustard stocked in your refrigerator at all times already, I’m suggesting you do so. You’ll find a ton of ways to use it, in recipes not just as a condiment, that will make you wonder where it has been all your life. I’ve been using it in pasta salads all summer, in chili, sauces, and now in crockpot meals. So yeah, you can’t go wrong with whole grain mustard!

In addition to the whole grain mustard I added raw honey, soy sauce, and chicken stock. How simple is that? Believe me, it doesn’t sound like much but this chicken is out of this world! The addition of the soy sauce kicks it up 10 notches and goes perfectly with the other ingredients.

*Just check ingredients before purchasing! I have seen some companies sneak random things like high fructose corn syrup and preservatives in mustards. A good mustard should not contain anything that you wouldn’t keep in your own home.

Whole Wheat Greek Pasta Salad

June 14, 2014 by Dana

I have been eyeing the beautiful packs of multi-colored cherry tomatoes at the grocery store ALL summer long. Each time I go, I put the pack into my cart and walk away. My kids scream, we grab a few other things, and inevitably I always end up back in the produce section talking my little self out of my way kewl pack of multi-colored tomatoes. Until today… when I put them in my cart and told my colorful produce loving self that today was the day I was taking these babies home! *yessss*

Little did those colorful cherry tomatoes know they were going home with a Greek Pasta Salad loving food blogger, and in their near future they would be slathered with an amazingly delicious homemade vinaigrette and made to mingle with some feta cheese. After that they would be gobbled up for lunch, then again for an after school snack, and again for dinner. Yes, I ate this 3 times today! I shamelessly pulled that bowl out of the refrigerator and devoured those cherry tomatoes and all of their friends like it was going out of style… FAST! So fast I left 4 noodles for my son’s lunchbox tomorrow. *SMH* So now, due to my shameless lack of self control, I will be up earlier tomorrow to prepare something else for him. Might be time to break into that freezer stash of hot lunches… on the 2nd day of school. 😉

The pasta I use in this recipe is whole wheat, because if you’ve been following along you know we don’t mess with that refined stuff. I used a pasta that I could not find a link to on Amazon, Whole Wheat Gobbetti made by Bionaturae. I love their products, and highly recommend any of their varieties if you can’t find the Gobbetti. And seriously.. what the heck is Gobbetti anyways!?!?!

Fresh and Easy Peach Preserves

June 13, 2014 by Dana

The Preserves

Welcome to peach season! Peach season means summer, barbeques, and tons of goodies that include peaches. Right now I am working on a few different recipes that include these preserves but for now here is the preserve recipe.

The best part about this recipe is it makes a pretty good amount for only using 4 peaches, and it doesn’t contain any refined sugars. I do not believe in making sickeningly sweet preserves and jams loaded with refined sugars so don’t worry, this recipe is not one of those! I sweetened these delicious peaches with raw honey, and only used one other ingredient, lemon juice. These preserves keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks but they didn’t last nearly as long in my house! 🙂

Peeling The Peaches

Before you put the peaches in the pot to make the preserves you have to take the fuzzy skin off of them. It is really easy to do, just boil a pot of water on the stove and put the peaches in the boiling water for 30-45 seconds. Take them out of the water and run them under cold water while attempting to peel away the skin. If it isn’t budging, return them to the hot water and give them a little more time. It shouldn’t be hard to peel the skin off once it is ready.

Passion Fruit and Lime Tea

May 14, 2014 by Dana

If you have ever been to Starbucks you know they have a really popular Passion Fruit Tea drink. It is also really expensive, and if you get it sweetened it contains refined sugars and preservatives from the syrup. I found these Iced Passion tea bags by Tazo at Target one day, and they are awesome! The tea bags are huge, and when you brew them you end up with 64 oz. of tea to put in your refrigerator. When my husband brought home limes one day a light bulb went off above my head and this recipe was created.

If you are trying to cut sugary drinks, especially for children, this is a great way to get them to try something with natural flavors that isn’t sweetened to death. It is refreshing on a hot summer day, and would be great to freeze in ice pop molds for a treat at the pool. I recommend allowing it to sit overnight to get the full flavor of the lime zest!