The RAnts of RA

I was feeling ambitious yesterday, so I made some Apple Butter, then some Garlic Jelly and what the heck, I still had some time… I decided to make some Apple Sauce.  I should have stopped while I was ahead.

When I was done I turned the burner off, or rather I thought I turned it off, and actually turned it to high, where it cooked all night long. 7 hours it boiled on my stove.  I was afraid to open the pressure cooker. It was bone dry. Boil might not be the right word, since it wasn’t really liquid anymore.

These jars were actually full when I started out.  I used only the best spices and it tasted so good, the texture was perfect.  Tomorrow, I get to start all over again. The entire batch ruined.

So, if you ever wondered what would happen if you boiled something all night long, wonder no more. Actually, the apple sauce doesn’t taste too bad as long as you don’t scrape the bottom of the jar.

I can’t wait to try my Garlic Jelly.  Not only did I leave the garlic in the jar (instead of straining most of it out) but I used Ultra Gel to thicken the Garlic Jelly.  I had made some last week that was incredible but I made it with liquid Pectin.  My bad, it’s full of GMO’s!    It didn’t even occur to me to check.  I mean it’s for canning, it must be all natural, right?  Wrong.

This might just be the answer to prayer…  I’m going to try it out.  By the time I get to the bottom of the package, I’ll either order more or find something else.  What’s important to me is it’s GMO free.

Ultra Gel is a gluten-free, non-GMO cornstarch that can be added directed to any liquid, hot or cold, for instant thickening. The Ultra Gel Starter Kit includes one 16-oz pouch of Ultra Gel and one Ultra Gel Answer Book with 150 pages of easily prepared, delicious recipes.  From dips and dressings to dessert, the recipes are friendly for chefs of all skill levels and include nutrition information and tips and tricks for special diets and make-ahead preparations.

Of special interest are the sections on Canning and Jams and Jellies. Since Ultra Gel can be refrigerated, canned or frozen without losing quality, there are plenty of recipes for bottled pie fillings and sauces. [Get Ultra Gel]

Did you know you can make your own Pectin?  In fact, there are several methods.  I’m going to try this method soon:    Harvest: Making Your Own Pectin!  Be sure to check out other recipes, too.

Apple Pectin: How to Make It, How to Use It, and Why I Don’t

Homemade apple pectin seemed like such a frugal and healthy idea –  an all natural, chemical free alternative to store-bought pectin that I could make from apple scraps I would normally throw away.Brilliant, right?

Imagine my dismay when my experiment was a complete and total flop.  Oh, my jam “set” just fine.After I had almost completely boiled it away, that is.  And added way more sugar than I usually do.

She recommends using  Pomona’s Pectin, but what about those nasty GMO’s?  I won’t feed them to my family.  We are using Ultra Gel. My jelly setup just fine.  So, we shall see.

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• An Apple a day… for a whole month.
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Inside the Saint Thecla Monastery, Ma’loula, Syria

I’ve been reading “Behind the scenes: Media interview following a Senate Intelligence Committee briefing on chemical weapons attacks in Syria” on Dianne Feinstein’s Facebook page. It really is heart breaking, people from Syria are tell us it’s Al-Qaeda, and Ms. Feinstein says she knows better.

In fact she says,  “They don’t know what I know. They haven’t heard what I have heard,” Feinstein said. “I like to believe after 20 years, I have some skill at separating the wheat from the chaff.” She thinks we are idiots and don’t have a clue.  Who doesn’t have a clue?  Read what one Syrian had to say…

 Al-Qaeda  had entered Maloula 2 days ago, Maloula is the only village in the world that speak the language of christ (Aramaic – Syriac).  Maloula is known with its churches and monasteries that strike deep in history in the monastery of Saint Takla «first martyrs of Christianity » this phrase is at the entrance to the monastery.

When you enter the monastery one of the nuns with her black clothes explain to visitors about Saint Takla and the history of Maloula .  Did the killers by the name of God (Al-Qaeda  freedom fighters)  read the phrase .. where is this nun now …. did that suicide bomber who blew himself up in the town look into her eyes?

Al-Qaeda and Al-Nusra are now occupying Maloula and the USA are fighting in there site …  people of Maloula and Syria now have now few cities to live in peace  in without Al-qaeda. If the USA bomb us they will bomb us with Al-Qaeda  in the same site and we’ll lose the last secure part of our country.

It was a revolution against the dictatorship and It turned now to a revolution against humanity.  Keep your army out of our lands and seas please  and try to find a peaceful solution with Russia to end Syrian people suffer.

Vote NO please!

Ammar Nacio

I personally think Senator Feinstein should have retired a long time ago. She is out of touch with “we the people” and she doesn’t have a clue.  Call her today.  Tell her to vote NO on the war with Syria.

Related articles

• Cranmer: Syria’s al-Qaeda freedom fighters invade Christian village
• NYT article raises questions about possible US allies in Syria as rebels ransack Christian village
• Violent clashes are still ongoing between the Syrian Arab Army and armed terrorists in the historic Aramaic town of Ma’loula
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• USA funded Al-Nusra Attacks Ma’loula in Damascus, Destroys Aramaic Church and Institute

A heart broken mother, speaking about medical marijuana…

“I didn’t try to give it to her again,” Maxim recalls. “The only thing that I look back and say I wish I’d done something different is I wish I started medical marijuana sooner, I wish I continued it, I wish I wasn’t so scared.” [Read Hailey’s story  by Valerie Vande Panne]

What right does anyone have to tell us what we can and cannot put into our bodies? I can’t even imagine how this mother feels, watching her child die. How can you look into that little face and not be moved?

WHEN SHANNON MAXIM was struggling to help her daughter through leukemia, medical marijuana was still illegal in Massachusetts. On November 6, 2012, 63 percent of Massachusetts voters approved the use of marijuana to treat conditions in circumstances where a doctor thinks the benefits outweigh the risk. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia  recognize medical marijuana, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and all but two of those jurisdictions permit its use in children. The federal government still considers marijuana a banned drug and has targeted medical marijuana clinics and dispensaries, primarily in Western states, for prosecution.

…

“I’ve been studying marijuana since 1967,” says Grinspoon. “I started to study it because I was so concerned about all of these young people who used marijuana, that they were harming themselves. I believed all the things everybody was told about it. My best friend at that time was Carl Sagan, and I would tell him not to smoke it, and he would say, ‘Oh, Lester, it’s harmless.’ ”

Grinspoon changed his mind after his own teenage son used marijuana when he was undergoing treatment for lymphocyte leukemia in 1971; the boy, Danny, died of the cancer in 1973. Danny found that medical marijuana eased his suffering from chemotherapy. That inspired Grinspoon to learn more. “I went to the Harvard library and started reading,” he says. “It fascinates me: one, the properties of the drug itself, and two, that I and so many others had been so misled about it.”

Trying to  contact your legislator is a nightmare.  You get that same party line: it’s a gateway drug, it kills brain cells. You know the routine.  It’s all been proven false, but hey, these are politicians who can’t just let the facts get in the way.

Heck, I’ve even contacted California congressman Tom McClintock  and received the very same spiel from him. I tried educating him on the subject.  I tried to impress upon him how important it was that he pass legislation to end the drug war.

Hopefully, you know that the state of California can, if it wants, nullify the Federal law.  Why it hasn’t, I don’t know.    Nullification is the last great hope of liberty in America, and all the states have the power to nullify any federal law they don’t like…well almost any law. The point is, California should have protected all the dispensaries, and they just sat there and did nothing. Only a small handful of districts have done anything to preserve the voter-approved Prop 215.

Some doctors argue that there may be “special dangers” for young people using medical marijuana.

Like what? The alternative is that they will die. That’s happening all too needlessly anyways! None of us are going to live forever, but for a child to die needlessly — shame on us.

Please share this. This child was killed by the medical community. They murdered her as sure as I’m sitting here typing this. Someone should be held accountable… but who? The courts, the judges, the police, the legislature?

It’s got to stop. People have a right to be healthy. Medical marijuana for anyone in need is the right thing to do.

Marijuana for kids?  Hell, yes!

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