<h3>Bagels Under My Belt and Before There Was Nyquil</h3>

A little lame to put all that in the title, I know! But with mama and daddy sick, and two of the three kids sick, I don't know when I'll have another chance to blog.

Last night, as Nate and I lamented over our sore throats, we started reminiscing about the honey, whiskey and lemon treatments of our childhood. I remember laying in bed crying because I didn't want to drink the horrible hot concoction that my father made for me. But, despite my crying, the treatment always brought relief and quality sleep. After a little research on the internet, Nate found a hot toddy recipe that we agreed upon. Since we are not whiskey drinkers, he headed to Meijer for the ingredients, along with some more medicine for the kids.

We decided to substitute apple juice for the water, figuring it would help it taste better. If you want to spend the money or have it on hand, apple cider would be even better. The hot toddy is strong, so it is definitely for sipping, not slamming! It thoroughly coated our throats, warmed the belly and made going to sleep a breeze.

Hot Toddy for Two

• 1 cup apple juice or cider
• 4 Tbsp. honey
• 2 Tbsp. lemon
• 1/3 cup whiskey

Heat apple juice, honey and lemon in a small pan until nice and hot. Remove from heat and add whiskey. Sip and enjoy the relief it will bring!

Since I am completely insane and I needed to do something with my sourdough starter, I decided to make bagels. The process started last night with making the dough, kneading it, letting it rise for a few hours and then forming the bagels. This morning I boiled and baked them. They turned out pretty good. Nate was happy and he has a thing or two to say about bagels. I was happy that I finally got around to this, as it is next to impossible to find bagels at the store without a long scary list of unpronounceable ingredients. We will be making these again. The kids gobbled them up too!

Whole Wheat Sourdough Bagels

adapted from several recipes

• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat four

Combine all ingredients and knead until smooth. Dough will be pretty stiff! Let rise for a few hours until doubled in size. Punch down dough and divide into eight portions and shape into ball. Stick your thumb through the middle and shape into bagel. Heat oven to 500 degrees and place a small pan of water on bottom rack. Boil bagels in a large pot of water with 1 Tbsp. of baking soda. Only do about four at a time. Boil for around a minute and turn them to boil on the other side for another minute. Place on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, seseme seeds, or topping of your choice. Bake at 500 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for a few minutes and enjoy!