Okay. Here’s a totally different use for these wonderful essential oils: homemade Organic Gourmet Ice Cream! A ‘healing’ indulgence for your inner child and children (if you’re a parent) or lucky family members, friends, and neighbors.

This Philadelphia-style eggless Strawberry-Blushed Lemon Ice Cream is truly INCREDIBLE! A delectable treat that makes everyone “ooh and ahh” at first bite….savoring every frosty melty mouthful ’til it’s gone.

I use a Cuisinart Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Maker (approx. $50) - a no fuss, no muss, super easy-to-use machine purchased from www.Chefs.com and also available at www.Amazon.com
*Comment: Chef’s on-line catalog puts them on sale fairly often with a deal where you can buy a second freezer canister for free or a reduced price….so you can always have one in the freezer, when inspiration strikes!

The recipe is adapted from my favorite ~ wildly creative ~ ice cream cookbook, The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein (1999, William Morrow and Company, New York).

Making your own ice cream allows for modifying recipes to your taste. Most commercial ice creams and gourmet gelatos, and even this cookbook’s recipes, overdo the sweetness…and sometimes the flavorings, especially when it comes to lovely subtle ingredients like vanilla, or add-ins like candies, jams, and liquors.

I’ve learned how to get the perfect balance of sweetness, often adding a pinch of salt to enhance flavors, and cutting the author’s liquor (Rum, Kirsch, Grand Manriner, etc.) suggestions by half - otherwise you’ll have ice cream that tingles your tongue with excess alcohol content!
*Comment: I make recipe notations right in my cookbook (color coordinated to the flavor for fun and future reference).

* * * * *
INGREDIENTS (Makes about a quart):
~ 1 pint (2 cups) sweet, ripe, organic Strawberries
~ 3/4 cup organic Raw or Turbinado Sugar
~ 1/2 cup fresh Lemon Juice (3-4 organic Meyers Lemons are best / 5-6 large organic lemons of other varieties will do when you can’t find Meyers)
~ 2 tablespoons organic Butter (optional)
~ 1/8 teaspoon salt
~ 2 cups organic Heavy Cream
20 drops Lemon Essential Oil (I use Young Living brand)

* * * * * *
INSTRUCTIONS:

Thinly slice the strawberries into a bowl. Toss with 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Let the fruit macerate at least 2 hours ’til juicy.

COMBINE:
Lemon juice, sugar and butter in a non-aluminum sauce pan. Heat over low flame until the butter & sugar have melted into the lemon juice. Stir in the heavy cream, macerated strawberries, and drops of lemon essential oil. Mix well. (The strawberries will color it a beautiful pink.) Cover the pan and refrigerate until cool or overnight.
*Comment: I always do this part in the evening, letting the ice cream mixture cool to room temperature before refrigerating it overnight.

First thing the next morning, I set up my beloved Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker.
Get the frozen canister out of the freezer and set it on the motor knob. Carefully pour in the chilled ice cream mixture, so it doesn’t splash (and freeze) on the rim or edges of the canister. Set the mixing paddle into the mix and pop on the clear lid.

Turn on the ice cream maker, then set your kitchen timer for 25 minutes. Occasionally, the freezing process takes 35 minutes, but rarely. Once you’ve made several batches, you’ll be able to tell when the ice cream’s done and soft-frozen by the sound of the motor as the mixture thickens and freezes.

Transfer the soft-frozen ice cream to freezer safe containers. And chill all day. The ice cream will be firm-frozen by mid-afternoon or by dinner time.
*Comment: A soft rubber spatula comes in handy so you don’t scratch the canister’s non-stick coating. Enjoy licking off the beater & canister drippings before clean-up!

Once you experience how EASY it is to make your own organic gourmet ice creams…and discover what an astonishing difference cooking with pure essential oils makes…your cooking creativity will run wild! You’ll be hooked.

For other astonishing gourmet ice cream recipes, read www.FigsWithBri.com:
Search for Jasmine Pearl Green Tea Ice Cream and Lemon Verbena Ice Cream.

A few years ago I heard a testimonial about someone who used undiluted Young Living Lavender Essential Oil applied directly to the skin to help with a terrible case of poison oak. When this person ran out of YLO Lavender, he tried ALL the quality essential oil brands available in local stores…and NONE even came near to relieving the horrible itching, except for the YLO Lavender.

- Something else to do is put More

One of the best ways to gain experience - and confidence - about the healing benefits of essential oils is to practice on yourself! We all have day-to-day or out-of-the-blue health issues that crop up.

I have an interesting variety of minor health issues, so have decided to be my own patient in my self-healing experiment. Have assembled a journal of notes on my trial-and-observation method of learning.

12-8-2006 Notes from an email exchange with a friend

Interestingly, I, got “a raging yeast infection” (haven’t had one in years) a month ago - the last full moon around NOV 1st (2006). Just had another full moon on DEC 4th-5th. Is that when yours started? Wonder what the moon has to do with yeast infections? Am sure there must be a relationship…

Used the Young Living Essential Oils and nutrition to clear it up incredibly fast in a few days. Here’s what I did: More

I’m a gardener. Backyard gardening is wonderfully creative, therapeutic and soul-nourishing. It’s a fairly low-risk hobby, but some potential dangers lurk…in the insects - spiders, wasps (yellow jackets), bees (for those who are allergic), and snakes; soil-borne pathogens (tetanus / staph); and accidental injuries from tools & wires /nails.

June 5, 2007
I noticed 2 or 3 spider bites on my inner left arm just below my elbow after carrying an armful of summer pruned fruit tree clippings. I’m prone to insect bites of all sorts - fleas and mosquitoes find me absolutely yummy! So, I know what those bites look like. These were definitely different.

Didn’t do anything for the spider bites at first. By 2nd or 3rd day, the reaction was getting worse, More

As long as we’re chatting about insect stings & spider bites, thought I’d include another therapeutic essential oils self-help success story:

Notes from 9-5-2004
My girlfriend Pam got stung by a mad yellow jacket right on the tip of her big toe, while she was on the phone with me. Must have hit a nerve ’cause Pam said it felt like the toe had been smashed by a hammer!

Suggested she put Lavender essential oil and a great Young Living Oils blend called Purification on it immediately…. or as soon as she could.

Pam told me later the pain from the sting diminished instantly with the therapeutic essential oils applications! How’s that for a great summertime essential oils first aid tip!!

Medical professionals & insurance companies are well aware of the staggering number of patient deaths that occur EVERY year due to medical professionals’ misjudgment & errors, and adverse drug reactions - estimated to be in the range of 95,000 to 2,000,000 deaths. The term for this is “iatrogenic disease.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What does the word ‘iatrogenic‘ mean?
The website: www.iatrogenic.org has some excellent articles discussing this frightening issue and a superb definition of the term - iatrogenic.

“Iatros means physician in Greek, and -genic, meaning induced by, is derived from the International Scientific Vocabulary. Combined, of course, they become iatrogenic, meaning physician-induced. Iatrogenic disease is obviously, then, disease which is caused by a physician.

Or perhaps it is not so obvious. The growing complexity of modern life (and medicine) has promoted the elasticity of language. In common usage…iatrogenic disease is now applied to any adverse effect associated with any medical practitioner or treatment. The practitioner need not be a physician, More