Honey For The Holidays!

What are your favorite ways to use honey for the holidays?

The holidays can bee a fun time to get together with family and friends.  There are different activities, cooking, watching movies, talking, playing games, and EATING!!!  We thought we would share some of our favorite ways to use honey for the holidays.  We love to use honey in everything we do; from cooking to gift giving.  Here are some helpful tips on how to use honey to keep everyone buzzing!

Breakfast:

• Fireweed honey, alpine wildflower honey, and apple cinnamon honey syrup are top picks for; pancakes, waffles, and crepes
• Pepper bee hot honey sauce is used for biscuits and gravy
• Blackberry, pomegranate, or blueberry blossom honeys are a must have for muffins
• Bumbleberry, black cherry, or peach honey jams are bee-licious on French toast or bagels
• Hawaiian Creamy Lehua honey is used to make honey butters and whipped cream cheese

Lunch:

• Honey mustard is amazing on finger sandwiches, soft pretzels, and potato salad
• Starthistle honey is used for coleslaw
• Peach, jalapeno, and apricot habanero jams are great for charcuterie boards
• HOT honey is used for chicken salad
• Orange honey is used for hot cross buns

Dinner:

• Lockhart honey for honey ham
• Coriander honey for lamb
• Rocky Ford honey for dinner rolls
• Rabbit Brush honey for sweet potatoes
• Clover honey for honey glazed carrots

Other uses for honey:

• Coffee and tea
• Homemade ice cream
• Cinnamon rolls
• With heavy cream for homemade whipped cream
• Raw food bars
• Yogurt

Gift Giving:

• Bumbleberry, mountain peach, and apple cinnamon whipped honeys are top sellers for gift giving (adults and kids love having their “own” jar)
• Honey Lollipops
• Honey Spoons
• Honey Sticks
• Honey Caramels
• Honey dark chocolate patties
• Stuffed honey bees
• Honey Lotion
• Honey

We hope this sparks some curiosity, experimentation, and excitement for honey this year! We LOVE using honey, but we also enjoy showing others how to use it too! Remember, at The Honey Cottage we do taste samples! So, you can find the right honey before you get home!

From Our Hive to Yours,

Bee Queen

How Do I Take Bee Pollen?

At The Honey Cottage we get a lot of questions about bee pollen and how to take it. So here is a few suggestions and that we tell customers on how much to take and how to take it.

It is best to start slow with bee pollen because of how much nutrition is in it.

Directions of use:

• Take 4 granules of bee pollen each day for three days.
• Then take 8 granules of bee pollen for three days.
• Then take 12 granules of bee pollen for three days.
• You will continue to double the amount until you get to 1½ tsp. of bee pollen per day.

Make sure to pay attention to what your body is telling you.  If you start with day 6 and you are feeling great keep going with the 8 granules of bee pollen and see how you do for a couple of days.  If you notice you need just a bit more do the 12 granules of bee pollen.  Most people notice they are good with a few granules of bee pollen each day.  Some have to take a few more.  Mixing the bee pollen with honey each day also will give a great boost to your daily health. 

Kids can take bee pollen, but it much smaller amounts than adults. Consult the child’s doctor to make sure they are okay and healthy enough to take bee pollen.

How to use:

• Put it in your mouth and swallow with water or juice
• Mixed in a smoothie
• Mixed with a teaspoon of honey
• Eaten on toast with honey
• Sprinkle it on top of plain yogurt
• Sprinkle on fruit salad
• Mix it into your serving of potato salad
• Sprinkle on top of your pancakes or French toast
• Add it to a peanut butter sandwich

Bee Pollen can be used in many ways and mixing it with food has made it easier for some people to take.

Bee Pollen needs to be refrigerated or frozen to keep it at its highest potency.  Try not to put it in anything hot; heat can kill all the nutrients it has.

Stay tuned for “What Are the Benefits of Using Bee Pollen?”

From Our Hive to Yours,

Bee Queen

Apple Cinnamon Honey Syrup and Quinoa Breakfast Bowl

Do you like variety for breakfast?

I have more gratitude for breakfast now that I am an adult.  I really like that I can make different things for breakfast depending on my mood or my activities for the day.  I will eat more protein on the mornings after working out or if I know the day is going to be super busy.  I find that certain meals will help me have a clear mind because I am not constantly thinking about food.  This is one of my favorite meals because it is a hearty breakfast and the quinoa is a different consistency from oatmeal and malt o’ meal.  Quinoa has a nuttier flavor, is a complete protein, and goes well with many different meals.  This recipe is also one of my favorite ways to use Honeyville’s apple cinnamon honey syrup.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

1/3 cup blueberries

Half a banana

1/3 cup walnuts crushed

2 Tbsp. apple cinnamon syrup

1 Tbsp. of butter or a sprinkle of sea salt

Directions:

-Clean the quinoa; place the quinoa in a bowl and pour water on top.  Use a spoon to move the water around washing the quinoa.  Place the quinoa and water in a strainer, rinse the quinoa.  Then, place the quinoa back into the bowl.  Poor water on top again and stir with a spoon; let this sit for 10 minutes.  Put the quinoa into the strainer and rinse one last time.

-Place the quinoa in a pot with 2 cups of water.  Turn the heat to medium heat and let cook for about 15-20 minutes.  All of the water should be gone and the quinoa should be nice and fluffy.

-Depending on how hungry you are; dish ½ c- ¾ c of the cooked quinoa into a bowl. 

-Add the blueberries and sliced banana

-Drizzle the apple cinnamon syrup on top.

– Add a little butter or a sprinkle of sea salt on top

-ENJOY!

Tips:

-Try this with dark chocolate chips

-Try raspberries and blackberries

-Try with chokecherry honey syrup

Buzzing by from,

Bee Queen’s Kitchen

Chocolate Bee Candy Bars

What is your favorite candy bar?

There have been a couple of times where I have really wanted a candy bar.  I cannot eat normal candy bars anymore because I am allergic to many of the ingredients.  Plus, there are a couple of candy bars that I just would not put in my mouth if I had to.  This recipe came from wanting to solve three problems; there are not many honey sweetened candy bars, the price is ridiculous for just one candy bar, and there is not much nutrition.  Many of the products I have found have added sugar to the product.  We bee-lieve that honey should not have added junk to taste amazing!  I also struggled with paying too much money for a special treat.  The nice qualities of this recipe are; I can add different ingredients to make them healthy, control the size of the bar, the quantity I eat, and not feel guilty!

Ingredients:

2 cups of dry oatmeal

1 cup of shredded coconut

½ cup hemp seeds

½ cup of chocolate chips

½ cup cocoa powder

2 tsp. Ceylon cinnamon

1 cup peanut butter

½ cup coconut oil (unrefined is best, it has not been processed)

½ cup Fireweed honey

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Put the oatmeal, shredded coconut, hemp seeds, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and cinnamon in a bowl.  In a small sauce pan; put the peanut butter and coconut oil in and warm it on the lowest setting possible (#1, low, or melt).  Once it is warm enough, it will thoroughly mix together.  Turn off the heat and add the honey and vanilla extract and mix until combined.  Pour the honey mixture over the dry ingredients and mix together.

Take a 9” X 13” sheet pan and line it with parchment paper.  Pour the candy mixture on top and flatten the mixture until even.  Place in the refrigerator for approximately 5 hours.  Lift the parchment paper up with the candy bars and cut into 2”X4” pieces.  Place in an air tight container and pull out when you need a candy bar fix.  ENJOY!

*They will start to melt when they start getting to room temperature; make sure to keep them refrigerated.  If you are taking them for a picnic or lunch; keep them in a cooler to prevent them from getting to hot.

Tips:

• Add ¼ cup of Honeyville’s honey caramel sauce at the final stir
• Add ¾ cup crushed walnuts or pecans
• Add lemon or orange extract instead of vanilla

Buzzing by from,

Bee Queen’s Kitchen

WELCOME TO 2024!!!

Is it just us or is time flying by?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! It seems the older we get the more time is just whipping by!  We hope everyone had a wonderful 2023 and that 2024 is more amazing!  We want to take a moment and say thank you for shopping with us at The Honey Cottage for the last ten and a half years!  We had quite a year celebrating in 2023 and are thankful for our customers.  We also thank everyone for sharing us with family and friends.  We were super happy to be called their favorite honey spot!  We are fighting super hard to keep working hard for our customers.  Whether it is to come and get honey, just talk about bees, or talk about projects made with bee hive products we are buzzed to see you!

We do have an exciting change on The Honey Cottage website that has been working wonderfully!  There is a button at check out that will allow for pick up at The Honey Cottage so you don’t have to pay for shipping, but allows you to make sure that the honey you want is reserved.  Also, we started doing special orders on the website and will now be adding a special order page so people can find their orders better.  Sometimes we only get a small quantity of specific honeys and trying to put it on the website has not worked well.  So, what customers have been doing is calling us for specific items they know we have.  They place the order, we double check the shipping, add it all together, place the order on the website for purchase, and get it sent.  If there are any other changes we will do our best to keep everyone updated.

Some other changes that we are making for this year is to make sure people know when The Honey Cottage is open or closed.  We had a couple of emergencies last year and it was difficult to get a note to the shop.  It is also that time of year where snow and cold weather are happening. 

-So, if District 11 is closed we will bee closed. 

-The late starts do not affect our time in the shop so we would be open.

-If District 11 cancels their afternoon activities or shuts down early; we will be shutting down early.  

If for any reason we feel it will not be safe to be in the snow or if we have emergencies we will put updates on:

-Facebook

-Instagram

-Twitter

If hours will change for the month we will have it posted on these platforms too. Please make sure you are following us on one of these platforms. We will have our holiday closures up on the website and ready to go by the end of January.

Thank you for your support and may 2024 bee AMAZING!!

From Our Hive to Yours,

Bee Queen

Maple Hazelnut Whipped Honey and Sweet Potatoes

I am so excited to say I learned a lesson after Thanksgiving last year.  I had made sweet potatoes, like I always do, for Thanksgiving and we had leftovers.  So, one day I took some of Honeyville’s maple hazelnut whipped honey and drizzled it on top and oh man was I sad I had not done this before.  The little bits of the hazelnuts, mixing with the sweet potato, and a hint of honey made it so tasty. I am absolutely going to have this on the Thanksgiving table this year.  This time I adding crushed pecans and am really excited to see how they turn out.  I hope you enjoy this on your Thanksgiving table this year!

Ingredients:

3 medium sweet potatoes

¼ cup butter

½ cup of Honeyville’s maple hazelnut whipped honey

1 Tbsp. Ceylon cinnamon

½ cup crushed pecans

Directions:

Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Wash the sweet potatoes and then pat them dry.  Take a fork and gently poke holes into the sweet potatoes.  Wrap with foil and place in the oven.  Bake for about 60 minutes.  With an oven mitt on; give the sweet potatoes a squeeze.  If they are soft, they are done; if they are firm let them cook a few more minutes or take them out if you prefer more firmness.

When they are done to your liking; put an oven mitt on and pull the sweet potatoes out of the oven.  Place them on the counter to cool; you want them to be warm, but not hot when you are working with them.

After about 10-15 minutes take off the foil surrounding the sweet potato and start to peel back the skin.  Put the peeled sweet potatoes into a bowl. 

Mash the sweet potatoes with a masher or a spoon. 

Add the butter, honey, and Ceylon cinnamon.  Give the sweet potatoes a good stir making sure everything is mixed together. 

Dish the sweet potatoes into a serving bowl and sprinkle with the crushed pecans. 

ENJOY!

Tips:

-Try this recipe with the cinnamon whipped honey or winter spice

-Use walnuts instead of pecans

-Sprinkle a few marshmallows on top before serving

Buzzing by from,

Bee Queen’s Kitchen

What Is Bee Pollen?

Have you ever heard of Bee Pollen?

At The Honey Cottage we have had an increase in customers coming in and asking questions on bee pollen.  Either they came upon this fascinating product because of friends and family recommending it or they found it by doing research for natural allergy relief.  Whatever the reason you find out about bee pollen, we are happy to show you this exciting beehive product. 

Many people do not realize how much we really need bees to help us eat food everyday.  Bees pollinate the flowers that we use for teas and essential oils. Bees pollinate the flowers that produce the seeds that we use for the next season of crops.  Bees pollinate the fruit and vegetables flowers that turn into food we eat.  Without bees we would not get enough food to feed people.  Bees are able to carry enough pollen, from flower to flower, to visit approximately 5,000 flowers.  Bees are able to pollinate more flowers than humans could in a day.

Bees not only spread flower pollen and collect nectar; they also make bee pollen.  The bees that leave the hive to collect nectar and pollen are called field bees.  When a field bee goes from flower to flower, they do their normal work of collecting the nectar from flowers.  They also take the flower pollen, mix it with the bee spit, make it into a ball, and place it in their pollen baskets on their back legs.  Once their honey stomach is full of nectar, they fly back to the beehive.  Once at the hive, the field bees will transfer the nectar to the worker bees.  A few of the other worker bees will clean the pollen off of the field bees to get them back out faster.  The worker bees then take the bee pollen and put it into the cells.  Some of the pollen is mixed with honey to make bee bread.   

Stay tuned for “How do I take bee pollen?”

From Our Hive to Yours,

Bee Queen

The Honey Cottage Goes To Honeyville

Have you been to Honeyville?

O…M…G…!!!!  Anyone who has come in and talked with me here at The Honey Cottage knows how OBSESSED, in a positive good way, with Honeyville I am!  I am ALL about their whipped honeys, jams, syrups, sauces, BBQ sauces, hot sauce…well you get the picture.  Now, I can actually say after 10 YEARS of wishing I could go…I ACTUALLY GOT TO GO!! 

If you have not made it to Durango Colorado to see Honeyville you totally need to make it at least once.  When you get there, you see this huge, amazing building and boy is it packed with honey from top to bottom.  When you go inside it is like an explosion of bright colors, smells, gifts, and honey everywhere.  They have a beehive observation window where you can see the bees putting honey in the cells.  They have an observation window so you can actually watch how they make and package their products.  They even have an observation window into their distillery room.  They have samplings of their products at a specific counter.  This is a place you could really spend at least a good two hours in just looking at everything.  Not to mention if they are bottling that could take a good hour by itself.  I was so excited it was hard not to scream and do cartwheels. 

I was allowed to get a sneak peek bee-hind the scenes and meet some of the people I bug every week.  I have to say these folks work extra hard to make customers happy.  They are always trying new ways to make their products better and I am so happy to say they are doing a great job!  Honeyville has been making their products for 105 years and are still going strong with everyone’s support.  For me; Honeyville is more than a product.  It is what brings people happiness and joy.  Their products are super user friendly and really help make many customer’s days much easier. 

We are proud to carry and sell Honeyville products here at The Honey Cottage!  We do samplings of the whipped honeys and hot honey every day we are open.  We encourage try before you buy so you get the best product for your taste buds.  We do not want customers going home with products that they are not using and then having them go to waste.  We bee-lieve a good product should never go to waste and that is no exception with honey.  I also have a habit of letting customers know how to use the different products that we carry.  So, bee prepared for your mouth to be watering by the time you leave.  We also honor Honeyville’s buzzin’ dozen; this means if you buy 12 jars of whipped honey or jam in one transaction, you get a jar FREE!!!  This is a great way to shop for friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, and even clients.

From Our Hive to Yours,

Bee Queen

P.S. I FINALLY have proof that I am their #1 fan!!!

Honey Wheat Berries Salad

What is your favorite salad?

I really love this salad and it is probably one of my favorites!  The fruit, nuts, and nuttiness of the wheat berries just makes this salad sing in my mouth.  I do add a little more balsamic vinegar to this salad because I enjoy the sharp flavor with the fruit.  So, if you need the dressing to be lighter on the sharpness of vinegar only do 1 Tbsp. with the dressing.  You can also mix up the greens too to add a different flavor.  Sometimes I like to use spinach with the oak leaf or sometimes I will use spinach with romaine or sometimes I just use a spring mix.  Just depends on what is premade and available in the house. If you are using this salad for a meal later in the day make sure to put the dressing on the side in a separate container.  I hope you enjoy this salad as much as I do!!

Ingredients:

½ cup cooked wheat berries

1 cup chopped oak leaf lettuce

5 strawberries

7 grapes

¼ cup walnuts

¼ cup pecans

¼ cup feta cheese

2 Tbsp. Colorado Fireweed honey

1 ½ Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Take a cup of wheat berries and soak them overnight.  In the morning rinse them and add about 2 cups of water to the wheat berries, cover the pan with a lid, and cook for about 30- 45 minutes until they are soft and tender.  Drain the water and place in a bowl to cool.

Chop up a cup of lettuce and add it to a bowl.

Wash and cut up the strawberries and grapes into bite sized pieces and place on top of the lettuce.

Crush the walnuts and the pecans in a bag and add to the salad.

Add the feta cheese and the cooled wheat berries.

Mix together the honey and balsamic vinegar until thoroughly mixed and drizzle on top of the salad.

ENJOY!

Tips:

-Try the dressing with Honeyville’s cranberry orange whipped honey

-Add about ½ cup of shredded chicken

-Add about 5 small chunks of honeycomb

Buzzing by from,

Bee Queen’s Kitchen

National Honey Month 2023

Do you know what month it is?

That is right it is National Honey Month!!!  We get so buzzed about talking about bees, honey, beekeeping, flowers, gardening, and all things related.  For us, each year brings about something new to learn or explore.  This year we have been learning A LOT about plants and how they work.  We decided it was time to share more about what the bees eat and why it is important for them to have a sustainable food source.  We are so happy to share some new facts with you and hope you learn something new too!

1- There are some fruits and vegetables that self- sow during the fall.  If the flowers drop their seeds into the soil, they will grow the next spring.  Pumpkins, tomatoes, carrots, and lettuce are just a few that do this.    

2- Honeybees make everything in their hives from propolis to honey their job is constantly going.  One of the best treats that you can get from the beehive is called honeycomb.  It has a chewy texture, is sweet, and is fun to eat!  Some people are not used to the waxy texture.  If that is the case try using it with food; some things we use it for are charcuterie boards, fish, French toast, or pancakes.

3-Bees have pollen baskets on the back of their legs.  Bees will collect pollen, add bee spit, and then place the ball of pollen into their baskets to take back to the beehive.  

4-Many people love using honey in tea and coffee to sweeten their day.  The best way to keep all of the benefits of raw honey is to add it to the tea or coffee when it has cooled down.

5-There are no drone bees allowed in the hive for winter.  Drone bees do not work and they become another mouth to feed in the winter time.  So, the ladies force the drone bees out of the hive and it becomes a girl party until spring!

6-Pesticides are not the only chemical that are killing bees.  Herbicides are just as harmful because they contain glyphosate.  It is harmful for the bee babies, affects the bees ability to stay healthy, and it is actually harmful for humans too.

7- Bee pollen are little pellets of flower pollen, mixed with bee spit, and then taken and used as food in the beehive.  Many people use this amazing gift from the hive for their health.  Some ways that people use it is in smoothies or just swallow with some water.  We recommend all of our customers to start super small to avoid health issues.

8- Some countries will have a frame of honeycomb hanging with their food buffets.  People can cut off small chunks to eat with their meal!  What a buzzing idea!

9- Did you know that bees have little hairs all over their body…including their legs?  This is how honeybees are able to carry so much pollen from one plant to the next!

If you learned something new please share with everyone you know and spread the word about how special bees are!! Help save the bees with us!!

From our hive to yours,

Bee Queen