Little Mama's Pico de Gallo

Gather your ingredients

• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 small jalapeno, remove seeds and ribs, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• juice of half of a lime
• cilantro, roughly chopped

Make it

To make my pico de gallo, simply combine all of the ingredients and let it sit to combine flavors for at least 30 minutes.  I like to do a fine dice on my onions and tomatoes and a fine mince on everything else.  You can alter the amount of jalapeno, cilantro, and garlic to fit your taste.

My Favorite Essential Oils

Good grief!  It's been ages since I've been on here!

I want to share some of my favorite essential oil recipes.  Keep in mind that I can not claim that essential oils are a cure or treatment for any affliction.  What I can say is that I have used them to help promote healing and soothing of various afflictions.

My first blend is one that I have used for eye irritation.  My eye was itchy, swollen, red, and painful.  I applied the following blend in a large circle around my eye.  The circle was along my eyebrow, to my temple, and then across the top of my cheekbone.  I then place a warm compress over my eye for about 20 minutes.
-5ml roller bottle
-3 drops Melaleuce (tea tree) Oil
-3 drops Lemon Oil
-2 drops Frankincense Oil
-1 drop Eucalyptus Globulous Oil
-1 drop Lemongrass Oil
-Top off with carrier oil, I use fractioned coconut oil

The next blend came about when my little girl got stung by a bee or wasp (we weren't sure which). It helped soothe the stings, and it helped me when I was bit by a tick. We just rolled it directly around and across the irritated area.
-5ml roller bottle
-10 drops Lavender Oil
-5 drops Melaleuca (tea tree) Oil
-5 drop Eucalyptus Globulous Oil
-2 drops Peppermint Oil
-Top off with carrier oil

Bed time can be so difficult with children.  I have used this blend many times to help encourage good sleep in my children, and my sister-in-law used it on my niece too. I rolled it on their big toe and down the arch of their feet. On older kids I usually put it behind ears too.
-5ml roller bottle
-10 drops Lavender Oil
-10 drops Cedarwood Oil
-Top with carrier oil

Before I had RC oil (Young Living Brand) in my arsenal, I used (and still use) the following blend to calm coughs.  During day hours I rub it on my kiddos chests, and at night I also put it on their feet. It has helped them tremendously.
-5ml roller bottle
-10 drops Lavender Oil
-10 drops Lemon Oil
-10 drops Theives Oil
-top with carrier oil
sometimes I also add a few drops of RC

Recently, my oldest had an earache after a weekend filled with lots of swimming.  I reached out to a friend who told me some oils that she uses for earaches.  I mixed up the following blend and rolled it in a circle all the way around the outside of her ear (never inside).
-5ml roller bottle
-15 drops Lavender
-15 drops Melrose
-Top with carrier oil

There are soooo many ways that I have found to use my essential oils!  These are just some of my favorite ones from my small arsenal of oils.

Knowing Your Knife Cuts

Knowing your knife cuts is a very important skill in the kitchen.  One reason is so that your food is aesthetically and texturally pleasing, but also because it affects the cooking time on the various foods.  Having uniform size and shape helps ensure that foods cook evenly.

Below are some commonly used knife cuts along with some of which you may have never heard.

Allumette (al-yoo-met) and Julienne (joo-lee-en) – I grouped these together because they are extremely similar.  While looking up specific definitions, I found both to be described as the size of a matchstick.  Both are about 2 ½” long.  The julienne is about 1/8” thick, while the allumette is about ¼” thick.

Batonnet (bah-tow-nay) – You could describe this as a large julienne.  It’s a similar cut, but it is thick strips, about ½” by 2 ½”.

Brunoise (broon-wahz) – This refers to cutting into about 1/8” cubes.  It can be easily achieved by cutting a julienne first, and then going back and cutting it down into the tiny cubes.

Chiffonade (shif-fo-nod) – A cut used on leafy vegetables or herbs.  This is to cut into long, thin strips.  I usually do this by stacking the leaves and rolling them before cutting.

Chop – Probably the most commonly used cutting term.  Chopping is cutting into coarse pieces, about ½” cubes. 

Dice – This refers to cutting into about ¼” cubes.

Mince –This means to chop into tiny, irregular pieces.  Often herbs and seasonings like ginger or garlic are done this way.

Slice – To cut into thin, flat pieces.

(References: BHG 12^th edition cookbook; Merriam Webster Dictionary; Culinary Arts About.com article by Danilo Alfaro, Culinary Expert: Basic Knife Cuts & Shapes)