I make my own garlic oil. I'm not sure how long fresh garlic oil is good for, but I keep it for about a month or so.

I put maybe 1/4 c. olive oil in a pan, and put it in a slightly bigger pot of boiling water. Be careful the water doesn't get into the oil pot.

I take a few cloves of garlic, smush them with the end of my ice cream scooper (because we're fancy like that around here - use a garlic press if you're Martha Stewart gene can't handle improvisation) and put them in the cold oil, skins, stems and all. Oh, you're garlic doesn't have green shoots? Well, maybe our garlic sits around for a little while... (Note: Garlic powder will not work)

Let the oil warm up in the double boiler for about an hour, more or less. I don't know how hot the oil gets; it gets hot but not boiling hot. You don't want to actually cook the garlic, you'll kill the good stuff called allicins, that do the healing.

I strain it through a coffee filter into a little bowl or coffee mug (use a glass one - so much easier to clean the oil out of and won't absorb the garlic smell!) You know, whatever's clean in the cupboard.

The I put it in one of these bottles, which I order when I order my kids' vitamins. I use natural vitamins because Super Spiderman chewables are full of fake food coloring. This site has the cheapest vitamins and supplements I've found anywhere! The Coromega Mr. R takes costs $19.98 for 90 packets - it's over $40 at the health food store.

I've also heard of people make garlic oil by cutting an onion in half, scooping out the middle to form a bowl, and placing in a small pan of water. Fill the onion hollow with the oil and garlic, and simmer (add more water if needed). Throw the onion away when you're done.

Anyway, these little glass dropper bottles cost less than $1.50 each. I have one I use for the garlic oil, and a couple of others I use for the kid's school work. This Montessori exerise will entertain them for hours, and help them develop handwriting muscles! Use a baster first, the eyedropper next. Another favorite activity is putting drops of water into indentations - I use those suction cup shapes for the bottom of the tub, but turn them over so the suckers are facing you - Mr. S puts one drop of water in each suction cup. Water crackers, Ritz crackers, or other dimpled food works as well.

And don't forget the old "markers on a coffee filter, put drops of water on it" art project!

I also have some links to several home remedy sites for your general education (just remember that these are tried by amateurs at home - you might take it with a grain of salt) but please e-mail me if you want them, because several of these sites support themselves with advertisements that are NOT family friendly, so I won't directly link with my blog. I get enough of that stuff in my spam folder, thank you very much.

Labels: education, Frugal, health, Montessori Mondays, therapeutic diet