Spice Up Your Cooking with doTerra Essential Oils!

Essential oils are a kitchen pantry essential for me and my family! I love cooking and baking with essential oils. There are so many benefits to incorporating these oils into recipes from their amazing flavors and smells to their immune boosting properties.

Essential oils are the natural aromatic nutrients from bark, flowers, leaves, roots, stems and seeds. 

Unlike herbs which can lose up to 90% of their nutrients, essential oils retain their nutrients. In fact, they are 50 to 70 times more concentrated than herbs. For example, one drop of peppermint essential oil is 28 times more potent than peppermint tea!

Having a variety of essential oils in my pantry is like having an herb garden in constant full bloom with year round access. Essential oils can be stored in the cabinet for years (with the exception of citrus oils which are recommended to be refrigerated once they are opened). They also save me money as a little bit goes a long way. I don’t have to worry about my fresh basil going bad if I don’t use it up in time.

Please do not use just any brand of essential oil for flavoring your foods as most essential oil brands are not safe for internal consumption. Personally, I have only one brand that I love and trust for small amounts of internal consumption.

My top 10 go to essential oils for incorporating into recipes are lemon, peppermint, wild orange, lime, lavender, cinnamon, oregano, ginger, rosemary and clove. I drink lemon, lime, or wild orange oil in my water each morning and throughout the day. Citrus oils help to gently cleanse the colon and liver from the body and lift the spirits.

 Clove is fantastic combined with ginger and cinnamon for baking holiday pies.

An important cooking tip is to add essential oils at the end of cooking as high heat destroys their benefits. For stronger spices such as basil, oregano, thyme, cinnamon, and marjoram, dip a toothpick into the oil and stir it in the recipe after cooking.

Some of my favorite recipes that incorporate these essential oils include:

•         Pistachio Gelato

•         No-Bake Key Lime Pie

•         Cinnamon Roll Shake

•         Wild Orange Chocolate Balls

•         Chocolate Peppermint Candy

•         Raw  Lemon “Cream” Bars

Helpful Tips to measure essential oils as ingredients in your recipes:

•         1-2 drops = 1 tablespoon of dried herb.

•         1 teaspoon =  1 tiny drop of oil

•         ½ teaspoon herb = 1 toothpick drop of oil

•         Example: 2 tsp. dried oregano = 1 regular drop oregano oil

•         Citrus extract and zest: 1 tsp. lemon extract = 1/8 tsp. lemon essential oil = 16 drops

•         1 Tbsp. lemon zest = 1/16 tsp. lemon essential oil = 8 drops

•         Extracts are generally artificial flavorings made to taste like the fruit.

•         Make your own flavoring extract-use 5 drops essential oil with 1 ounce carrier oil

 Common essential oils to help support gut health include Digestive Blend, Frankincense, Protective Blend, Lavender and Peppermint.

Digestive Blend is the ultimate tummy tamer!  It contains 7 fabulous essential oils for optimizing gut health: Ginger, Peppermint, Tarragon, Anise, Fennel, Caraway and Coriander.

Frankincense aids the digestive processes by speeding it up.

An easy lemon liver detox beverage to drink over a 2 week period is:

10 drops each Lemon and Peppermint essential oils

2 drops Protective blend

Juice of 1 organic lemon

8 ounces of purified water

Instructions

Add oils and lemon juice to a glass of purified water. Stir and drink upon rising to cleanse the GI Tract.

To learn more about our favorite essential oils and/or to order, please email us at GreenLivingLadies@Gmail.com.