Fibromyalgia blessed my life!?!

Strange but I realize this morning that when I count my blessings I had to include my fibromyalgia. Sounds weird but here's why. If I never had this pain filled diagnosis I would have never started down the path that has become my life. 

First I simply used Medical Marijuana to relieve my own pain with smoking and edibles. Over the course of those first years I researched and learned so much. I learned about concentrates and topicals. I learned how to extract the helpful cannabinoids using various techniques for various purposes. 

After a lot of trial (and error). I developed formulas and recipes that worked well for my pain, spasms and other symptoms.

Here's where the blessing comes in.... I began to share some of my lotions and potions with other folks who were having pains and problems and they worked for them too!  The blessing for me now is looking back and seeing how I've been able to help others with such varied health problems and looking to the future with the hope and knowledge to continue. 

I have a patient with a skin disorder who had tried every kind of rx cream his doctor could prescribe but nothing was working.  He tried a lotion I made with medical marijuana and sure enough his skin is healthy again and the pain it was causing is gone. 

I have another patient who contacted me through her granddaughter. At age 94 she has multiple health problems and was on loads of rx pain meds. She still struggled to have the quality of life and mobility she wanted. It turns out she loves candy so we tried a cannabis infused mint and a few other canna candies. Sure enough this more natural approach allows her to have more mobility and less pain. Best of all she was able to drastically reduce her use of rx painkillers and the nasty side effects that go with them. 

Another patient and friend of mine was diagnosed with lymphoma awhile back. His doctors told him to get his affairs in order because this disease moves quickly through the body and his prognosis was bad. He began making his own concentrated cannabis oil and taking this to treat his cancer. As his disease quickly progressed he became unable to make the oil himself. We were able to step in and help him with that project. He continued his cannabis oil treatment taking 1-2 grams per day. We watched him get better each time we visited. Now he has even amazed his doctors. About 6 months ago he had a full body scan. Where his lymph nodes had been swollen and diseased with cancer in the previous scan now were healthy normal lymph nodes. His doctor was amazed. They couldn't even find the cancer anymore. 

I have more and more stories from degenerative disc pain relieved through topicals to surgical scars diminished with topicals to anxiety and depression relieved through edibles

So this is why I count my Fibromyalgia among my blessings. If I had never become ill, I would have never looked for alternative treatments. Had I been healthy I would have had no reason to learn to make my medicines.  Had I not needed help myself I would have never been able to help others find relief. And helping others is really the biggest blessing of all. 

What are your blessings?  

THChristi

Fibromyalgia, Me and Medical Marijuana

So with all my cannabis recipes I thought it might be good to tell you all a little about my fight and why I am a medical marijuana patient. Here's my story:

A few years ago I began to notice a big shift in my general well being. First I started having a lot of random days where I would feel like I was coming down with a flu bug but they would pass after  a day or two and never really develop into a full blown flu. Another thing I noticed was the lack of energy I had available on any given day. Somedays I woke up full of energy only to be sapped and exhausted by lunchtime. I began suspecting something was wrong but with no health insurance I was not one to run into the doctor. I lived with these strange symptoms along with daily hip pain for over a year. I tried eating healthier. I tried getting more rest. I got a new bed hoping better sleep would allow my energy level to return to normal. All of these helped a small degree for a time but the lethargy & exhaustion always returned. My hip pain never seemed to lessen and I began to have random roving pain throughout my body.

One day out of the blue my pain levels escalated from bad to worse. One minute I was ok with background pain, the next minute I was in absolute agony. I tried meditation and deep breathing to calm myself down but the crippling pain remained. Then the spasms started. First in my face & hands. These mostly were an irritant but as they moved into my larger muscle groups they became very painful as well. 

That was the tipping point that got me to finally seek some medical help. 

First I saw a rheumatologist who sent me for a bunch of expensive blood work and X-rays. When my test results came in she  gave me a diagnosis of fibromyalgia and sent me home with muscle relaxers, pain pills and Vitamin D. 

I was on this rx plan for a couple of months but it didn't seem to help much at all. The pain pills masked the pain but made me edgy, itchy & irritable. The muscle relaxers helped to tame the muscle spasms but the side effect was low energy and then sleep for about 3 hours every time I had to take a pill. That posed an obvious problem when I had these spasms during the day. 

After awhile I began to question this course of treatment. The treatments were having as bad of an affect on my daily life as the symptoms had.  I wanted to find a way to get my energy back and limit my pain without a lot of side effects. I decided to see a naturopathic doctor. It was at my first visit that my doctor suggested I try a treatment plan that included vitamin supplements and medical marijuana. It was that day that changed my life. 

Now I'm 100% free of the rx meds and their harmful not to mention inconvenient side effects. I am on a daily dose of Rick Simpson Oil which I take before bed. This allows me to sleep more deeply which has improved my energy level throughout the day. I use medicated edibles to keep my pain levels in check along with topical mmj treatments for pain. I've found several good strains of mmj that when smoked or vaped immediately stop my spasms and tremors!  ( Harlequin & UW both the purple and green pheno). And for the pain that even the pain pills couldn't suppress I use my vape pen with Honey Oil Concentrate. 

This amazing natural medication has given me back my quality of life. Where pain once kept me on the sidelines observing life around me I can now actively participate. I can spend time working in my garden again. I can play with my granddaughter again. I can enjoy walking my dogs again. Wonderful!

But aren't their side effects from using medical marijuana?  Well sure. I suppose there are. For example one side effect would be the cotton mouth  that is experienced when smoking mmj and that is easily solved with a nice glass of water. How about the munchies?  Yep medical marijuana can definitely stimulate the appetite but that's easily solved by medicating inline with  my regular meal time. Last but not least doesn't medical marijuana make you high?  Yes, sometime and in some forms of the medication I do experience a high or a general sense of well being and happiness and that's just fine with me. I'd rather have mood elevation as a side effect than the feelings of pain, sadness & despair that came with the pain pills. I'll take a few minutes of laughter as a side effect of my mmj over the 3-4 hours of uncontrollable sleepiness that came from my rx muscle relaxers. I'll enjoy happy hungries over not bing able to cook or eat due to pain any time. 

So that's my story at least the short version. I still suffer with the multitude of symptoms that come with Fibro but less frequently and a lot less intensity. When my bad flares come, as they do I, can treat myself with the appropriate form of mmj and continue on with my day, my tasks, my hobbies & my life!

Peace & pot! 

Dank Doggie Biscuits

I've had a few requests for my recipe for making medicated dog treats.  As many of you know, marijuana can be good medicine for our 4 legged best friends too.  This is a personal choice so please do your own research before deciding if medical marijuana is the right course of action for you or your pooch. 

Here's a couple of articles that endorse or support this type of treatment:

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/05/medical-marijuana-for-pets_n_3391770.html
• https://www.avma.org/news/javmanews/pages/130615a.aspx

I have also read some articles where dogs have become sick after accidentally consuming a human patient's medibles. Sometimes this can be detrimental if things that dogs shouldn't eat are in the medible (ie Chocolate & raisins).  The other problem is that most medibles made for humans contain high doses of THC which can be very disorienting and even dangerous to the animal. Please exercise caution and keep your medications up away from your pups.

In an attempt to limit the amount of THC in my dog biscuits I use the trim that remains after making infused butter or coconut oil  The key is to squeeze out all of the oil that remains in the cooked trim.  Once you have done this place the pressed trim in a small cooking pot and cover with boiling water.  Allow it to cool slightly and press again (I use a french press coffee maker to do this but you could also use a sieve and hand press it).  This will remove the water and any remaining oil.  Now you have the rinsed cooked trim material from which we will make our treats.

With all that said if you are wanting to make a medicated treat geared toward the canine in your life here's a recipe that I have created for my buddies.

Dank Doggie Biscuits

Ingredients you will need to make these treats:

• 1 Cup of rinsed cooked trim from making cannabis infused butter or coconut oil
• 1 Cup of dry oatmeal
• 1/8 Cup of water
• 1 1/4 Cup of whole wheat flour 
• 1 Tablespoon of natural peanut butter
• 1 egg -beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Here's how you make them:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
   
2. Place the rinsed trim, water and oatmeal in a blender and blend on high until the mixture is pulverized.
3. In a separate large bowl combine flour, salt and baking powder
4. Add the wet pulverized mixture, peanut butter and beaten egg to your flour mixture and stir together until the mixture begins to stick together.
   
5. Pour your mixture onto a floured surface and knead by hand until everything is well combined. (about 5 minutes). Add additional flour as necessary.  You want this mixture to be the texture of a roll out cookie dough.
6. On a floured surface, roll out the mixture to a thickness of about 1/4".  
7. Cut out biscuits using a small or medium dog-bone shaped
   
   cookie cutter or use a pizza cutter and cut into small squares.  Use a fork to make holed in the dog bones (this will vent out any of the steam created and keep your biscuits fairly flat)
8. Place these cut outs on an UNGREASED cookie sheet*** This is SO important!  If you add grease or oil to these biscuits
   
   they will be TOO strong!!!!
9. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes
10. When your biscuits are done, remove from the oven and cool on a baking rack.

For short term storage you can place the cooled biscuits in a sealed container and keep in your fridge for up to 2 weeks.

For a little longer term storage place in a sealed container in

your freezer.  These will be good for about 4 months.

To store them long term without refrigeration will require a few more steps.  To do so place your cooked dog treats in a food dehydrator for about 48 hours or until their is no residual moisture remaining in the biscuit.  Trapped moisture will cause mold so break open one or two

of the biscuits to see if the center has been fully dehydrated.  Once you've removed all of the moisture these can be stored in a cookie jar at room temperature and will last for a very long time.

NOTES ON USING THESE BISCUITS:

Just like humans, each dog will have their own tolerance to marijuana in an edible form.  Use caution when giving your dog these treats until you know how much your dog can tolerate.  So start out small!  Each batch I make is different depending on the starting material and strain of marijuana used so I like to give my dogs about 1/4 of a biscuit and wait 45 minutes to an hour to see how effective it is.  If I notice that the pooch is still in pain after this waiting period I will give another 1/4 and again wait to see what affect it has.  I do this with each and every batch that I make for the dogs that way I can determine the acceptable dose.  Always err on the side of caution.... you can always give more but you can't take it back.  Remember the goal is pain relief, not a high dog.

I use these biscuits for pain relief, to relieve canine anxiety and to calm my dogs during the 4th of July celebrations, thunderstorms and when going to the groomer or long rides.

Best wishes & puppy kisses!

THChristi & friends

Cannabis Infused Coconut Oil

Today I'm sharing my process for making a Cannabis Infused Coconut Oil.  The beauty of this medicine is it's versatility.  It can be used in creating both tasty edibles and healing topicals.

You will notice that my recipe uses a mixture of buds, sugar leaf trim & fan leaf trim.  I have found that using all parts of the plant is the best way to make this.  Each part of the plant holds cannabinoids in different concentrations.  By using a whole plant mixture (minus stems) it makes a well balanced medicine that is easily processed by the body in both a topical treatment and as an edible. 

What you will need:

Steeping the plant matter

• Crockpot
• RO (reverse osmosis) water, or distilled water
• Organic Coconut Oil
• Dried and cured medical marijuana buds, sugar leaf trim and fan leaf trim
• A french coffee press or other straining device that you can press out the liquid from the material
• A large bowl or pot
• Latex or nitrile gloves
• A gold coffee filter or fine sieve

Here's the recipe for 1 Cup of Coconut oil.  You can easily double, triple or whatever you like.

1. In your crockpot add 1 Cup of organic Coconut Oil.  Turn your crock pot on low and allow the oil to melt into a liquid.  
2. Once the coconut oil has melted add 2 ounces of dried plant material.  I like to use about 1/3 dried buds, 1/3 dry fan leaf trim, and 1/3 sugar leaf trim. It's not important to make these exact 3rds but it is key that your total dried plant matter is a total of 2 ounces for every cup of coconut oil.
3. add 5-6 cups of your RO or Distilled water.  IMPORTANT:  some folks make this without the water and just mix the fat with the plant matter.  I do not recommend doing it that way.  The water acts as a filter for a large amount of the chlorophyll as well as prevents your mixture from becoming too hot and scalding or cooking off the precious cannabinoids which you are after.
4. Turn your crock pot on high.  Stir your mixture every hour.  This will agitate the plant matter in the oil and help to infuse the cannabinoids into the oil.  
5. After 1 hour turn your crock pot onto low or warm and allow this mixture to cook and steep for at least 4 hours but up to 24 hours.  
6. Once you've reached the desired time, turn off your crock pot and allow this mixture to cool down to a temperature you can work with easily without burning yourself.
7. Using a ladle or large spoon, scoop your mixture into your clean french press coffee maker.  Press the mixture to strain out the plant matter and pour the liquid into a large bowl or pot.  This may take several pressings depending on the size of your french press.  If you are not using a french press you can use a wire sieve to strain out the liquid.  Be sure to glove up and squeeze out the liquid by hand.  
8. When you have strained out all of the plant matter cover your bowl or pot (which now contains a mixture of water and oil) and place it into the refrigerator overnight.
9. Once your liquid has chilled overnight it will have seperated into 2 layers.  Remove the hardened coconut oil from the top and drain on a paper towel.  Discard the water.
10. At this point you may notice there are still some fine particles attached to the bottom of your hardened coconut oil.  To remove these you will want to remelt the hardened coconut oil in a pot over low heat.  Once this is melted back into a liquid strain it through a fine sieve or your gold coffee filter.
11. Place this liquid back into the refrigerator to solidify.

Now you have a strong coconut oil infusion which can be used in edibles as well as topicals.  This mixture will store well in the fridge or freezer. 

I like to place 1/4 Cup premeasured amounts into zippered bags and keep it in the freezer.  When I'm ready to make a recipe I can just pull out the amount I need and thaw it out and add it to the recipe.

You can use this infused coconut oil straight on your skin as an effective topical treatment or add it into your favorite topical recipes like my THChristi Tub Treats

For edibles, you can easily substitute 1:1 solidified coconut oil for butter, or melted coconut oil for other oils in your favorite recipes.  Or try making my 99% Organic Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

Subscribe or stay tuned for more make your own medicine recipes using Cannabis Infused Coconut Oil.  

Have fun and stay medicated!

99% Organic Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

MMMMMM!  Today I made these at the request of one of my patients and they turned out so great I wanted to share my recipe with you all.  I'm calling them 99% Organic because the chocolate and peanut butter chips are not organic but everything else in the recipe is!

So here's the ingredients you will need to make these tasty treats:

• 2 3/4 Cup Organic White Flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 Cup of cannabis infused organic cold pressed coconut oil
• 1 Cup organic cane sugar (the light colored stuff)
• 1 Cup organic brown cane sugar (the dark stuff)
• 2 farm fresh organic eggs
• 1 Cup of organic quick oats
• 1/4 Cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 Cup Peanut Butter chips
• 1/4 Cup shredded organic coconut

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, oatmeal, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside.

Put your 1 cup of infused coconut oil in the microwave for 30-60 seconds to melt.  

In another mixing bowl blend together eggs and sugars then drizzle in the melted coconut oil.  Beat this together until smooth. Then add the dry ingredients from the other mixing bowl a little at a time until you have a well mixed dough.  

Now add in the coconut and chocolate/ peanut butter chips and stir them in by hand so as not to break up the chips.

Use about 1 tablespoon to form a nice 2" size cookies. Place the cookies about 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.   Use the back side of a spoon to flatten the dough on your cookie sheet.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. 

Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for about 2 minutes then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.  

This recipe will make approximately 48 @ 2" medicated cookies.

If you are new to eating medibles start with 1 cookie and wait about 45 minutes to guage the effect of the cookie.  If you still have pain then go ahead and have a second cookie.  Everyone's tolerance is different.

Enjoy!

420 Strawberry Cheesecake Bites

Happy 420!  In celebration of this marijuana movement holiday I made up a batch of these delightful 420 Strawberry Cheesecake Bites.  Packed with a double dose of medicated goodness these little treats will surely get your party started!

Here's what you'll need:

• 1/4 package of cream cheese (2 ounces)
• 1/4 Cup of Powdered Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/2 Cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 9 fresh ripe strawberries 
• 2 teaspoons of cannabis infused coconut oil (or Cannabutter)
• 1 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips
• 1/2 teaspoon cannaoil (or Cannabutter
• 6 chocolate candy melts (these are optional for putting a "lid" on your strawberries

Instructions:

1. Finely chop 3 of your strawberries.  Set aside.  
2. Carefully cut out the stem and core of the other 6 strawberries.  Place each berry with the cut side down on a cutting board.  Set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl combine your cream cheese and infused coconut oil.  Blend until well mixed.
4. Drain any liquid that has accumulated on your chopped strawberries and discard.  
5. Add your chopped berries, graham cracker crumbs, vanilla and powdered sugar to your cream cheese/coconut oil mixture and blend well.  
6. Place mixture in fridge for about 15 minutes to set up.
7. Now fill your cored berries with the cream cheese mixture.  The easiest way is with a pastry bag or put filling in a ziplock bag, cut off a small amount from the corner and squeeze the bag to fill the berries.
8. Return your filled berries to the fridge to chill.
9. While your berries are chilling out place some wax paper on a plate or sheet pan.
10. To prepare the chocolate coating you will want to use a microwave safe mug.  Add your milk chocolate chips and your cannaoil into this mug.
11. Microwave this mixture in 30 second intervals stirring between each time until you have a smooth mixture.
12. Remove your filled berries from the fridge.  One at a time dip these into your chocolate coating mixture and place on your waxed paper plate or pan.  

**Optionally add 1 candy melt as a lid to your filling on each berry.

Return dipped berries to the fridge and allow to set up for 1/2 hour or longer.

Serve and enjoy!

Stay Safe & Have a Happy 420!

Gooey Ganja Smores Bars

Oh yeah!  I just whipped up a test batch of these and after the first bite I could tell that this is a recipe worth sharing.  Now to get the blog done before the medicine kicks in and slows my typing to a crawl :0).

Ok so to make my Gooey Ganja S'mores Bars you'll need the following ingredients:

• 1 C Chocolate chips.  I used a combination of semi-sweet, peanut butter, dark chocolate and some pink chocolate chips I had left from valentines day.  You can use whatever kind you prefer or mix up a batch like I did.
• 3 Cups of Golden Grahams Cereal
• 3 C mini marshmallows
• 1/2 C mini marshmallows cut in 1/2
• 5 T Canna butter
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp mexican vanilla extract (or use regular vanilla extract)
• 1 Cup of Wiltons milk chocolate candy melts

You'll also need a 9x13 pan greased with cannabis butter with a little canna butter reserved for greasing your hands.

A large mixing bowl and a medium microwave safe bowl & a small microwave safe bowl. This is a pretty easy project, but still takes anywhere from 15-30 minutes.

So let's get started!  

1. Place your Chocolate chips in the freezer (they need to be cold for about 10 minutes to keep from melting when we mix the bars together.)
2. In your large bowl mix together the Golden Grahams and the 1/2 Cup of mini marshmallows that you cut in 1/2.  Set aside.
3. In your medium bowl, mix together 5 T of Canna butter and 3 Cups of mini marshmallows.  Place in the microwave for about 1 minute.  Remove from the microwave and stir.  If your marshmallows haven't melted all the way, return to the microwave in 30 second intervals and stir each time. 
4. Once the marshmallows and the Canna butter have melted and blended together fully, add the salt and the vanilla and stir until well blended.
5. Add the chocolate chips to your cereal mixture and mix it up
6. Pour the marshmallow mixture over your cereal mixture.  With greased hands mix it well together and press it into your greased pan. Press it in well so that as it cools it will form nice bars, but not so hard that you break up your cereal.  Set aside.
7. Place your candy molds in your small microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute.  Stir.  Return to microwave in 30 second intervals stirring between each.  Do this until it is fully melted.  ***TIP:  Candy melts cannot get even a drop of water in them or they will freeze up into a nasty lumpy clump.  Be sure your bowl, hands and spoon are completely dry!
8. Pour your melted candy melts over the top of your cereal bars.  Spread with a knife to get a nice even top.
9. Place your pan into the fridge to set up for 20 minutes or until they have chilled.
10. Cut and serve.

To store, place indivindual bars into ziplocks.  Can store in fridge or in the cupboard.  These will store about as long as homemade cookies, about 5 days to a week, so eat them up.

Enjoy!

Cannabis Cookbook Update

It's been a couple of months since I started the process of making this cookbook.  I thought I better get the update out as I've been getting a lot of questions online about WHEN it will be ready for ordering.

The short answer.... I'm not sure.  The long answer is I've got the recipes I'm going to publish narrowed down with a few recipes in each category (ie: topicals, sweets, savory etc).  I've been working on getting them all entered & formatted as well as getting pictures of the final product.  Next phase will be editing and proofing.  Once that is completed I will order a single copy so that I can make sure that everything is looking good from the printer and then I'll let you all know how you can order your own copy.

I had a few polls to see what you all would rather have: a bigger book coming in at $40-$50 per copy or a smaller book coming in between $20-30 and the smaller book was overwhelmingly more popular so that means I'm able to include about 20 recipes.

I really appreciate all of your encouragement and enthusiasm about this project.  If so many hadn't requested this I would have never taken it on.  I can only hope that you all will be just as excited when the book is in your kitchens.  :0)

THChristi

THChristi's Tub Treats

These little tub treats can turn an ordinary bath into medicated moisturizing magic. They're easy to make and give bath time a special spa feel.  You'll get out of the tub relaxed, refreshed and fully moisturized!

Here's how you can make a batch of these little medicated melts.


Supplies:

• a large glass or stainless steel mixing bowl ( plastic will scratch and absorb the essential oil in this recipe)
• wire whisk
• measuring cups
• silicone ice cube tray (or some other mold that will hold about 1 Tablespoon per cavity like a candy mold, mini muffin pan, regular ice tray)
• wire sieve
• nitrile gloves

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cannabis infused coconut oil  ** use recipe for cannabis butter substituting coconut oil to make your own or pick some up at your favorite dispensary
• 5-10 drops essential oil (I used lavender but you can use whatever scent appeals to you)
• 1 Cup baking soda
• 1/4 cup citric acid (I found this at Walmart with the canning jars)
• 1/4 cup corn starch

Instructions:

1. Measure out baking soda, citric acid, and corn starch. Sift these together through your wire sieve. This will help to evenly mix these dry ingredients and catch any large clumps

2. Measure out 1/2 cup of cannabis infused coconut oil into a microwave safe dish. Microwave for 30 seconds. Stir to melt any still solid coconut oil. You want this melted but not hot.

3. Stir your essential oil into your meted cannabis oil.

4. Slowly drizzle in the oil mixture into your dry ingredients whisking it as you go. This should make a loose mixture.

5. Glove up! Now get in here with your hands and mash, knead, & mix until this mixture is fully and uniformly mixed

6. Fill your molds with this mixture and place in the freezer to set up. This will take about an hour.

7. Remove from freezer and remove from molds. Place finished tub treats in a resealable container and store in a cool cupboard or in your fridge. Coconut oil will melt at around 75 degrees so if your house is warm you definitely want to keep this in a fridge.

To use:

Run a warm bath. Drop in 1 or 2 tub treats. Relax and soak for at least 20 minutes.

Breakdown of ingredients:

Cannabis infused coconut oil: Cannabis has many healing properties. In a topical application it is known to be pain relieving, anti inflammatory and helpful for skin issues such as psoriasis, eczema, rashes and irritations. Coconut oil is also known to have healing qualities when applied topically. It is an anti-oxidant, UV blocker, anti-microbial, and is high in vitamin E.

Baking soda: It's skin soothing and softening properties help with itching, acne & rosacea.

Corn starch: In bath formulas corn starch softens skin and offers relief from itching

Citric acid: The effervescent action of citric acid in the water helps to distribute the coconut oil throughout your bath. In skin care it is an anti-oxidant, astringent, and adds vitamin C to the skin.

Lavender essential oil: This oil relaxes and calms nerves, can help relieve headaches, helps with muscle pain, has anti-fungal and anti-septic properties.

Enjoy!

Hash Hard Candy

I had a request for my recipe for Hash Hard Candies.  To be honest this recipe is just the recipe from LorAnn Oils with the addition of some decarboxylated kief hash.  I've used their flavorings and recipe for awhile and have been pretty happy with my results.  Check out their website if you want to purchase LorAnn Oils candy making supplies.

So here's what you will need for this recipe:

• A Candy Thermometer (absolutely necessary)
• A heat gun (recommended but not necessary if you have a reliable candy thermometer)
• A heavy pot for cooking
• Hard candy mold or mini muffin pan with foil liners
• Patience and lots of time!
• 2 Cups of Sugar
• 2/3 Cup of Corn Syrup
• 3/4 Cup of water
• 1 dram (1 small bottle) Candy flavoring oil
• 1 teaspoon Tart n' Sour flavoring
• decarboxylated kief (amount will depend on how strong your dosing your candies)  This time I used 1/8th gram per candy in my mini muffin tin.
• extra sugar for dusting your finished candies

Ok so here's the thing with making hard candies, you have have have to be patient.  This process takes a long time and if you try to speed it up you will run the very real risk of scalding your sugar and ruining the whole batch, so please be sure you have the time before beginning this process.

How to do it:

1. Spray your mold or muffin tin with a very light shot of cooking spray.
2. Measure out your desired dosage of decarboxylated kief and add that to each section in the muffin tin or mold
3. Add the Sugar, Corn Syrup, & Water to your heavy pan. DO NOT STIR!
4. Place your candy thermometer in your pan.  Be sure that it doesn't rest on the bottom of your pan if it does, it will break and ruin your thermometer and your candy.
5. Place your pan on medium heat.  
6. Pull up a chair and be prepared for the wait.  Watch your candy  in the pot, but do not stir it or turn your heat up past medium. 
7. Watch for the sugar mixture to begin to boil.  Now allow it to boil together until it reaches 300 degrees F (hard crack stage).  This takes anywhere from 20-40 minutes depending on your oven.  Here's where the heat gun comes in handy.  I use it to check the temperature of the boiling candy in different parts of the pan.  I do this throughout the boiling process.  Inevitably there will be a hot and cool spot in the pan.  When any one spot hits 300 degrees F immediately remove the pan from the burner.
8. Quickly add your flavoring and Tart 'n Sour.   It will incorporate with the boiling action of the candy mixture. DO NOT STIR! Stirring will create bubbles in your candy. 
9. Add your candy mixture to your prepared molds.  I use a metal tablespoon and quickly spoon it into the mini muffin tin.  Whatever is left over I pour into one of my hard candy molds. (Be sure you are only using molds that are rated for high heat.  Chocolate molds are NOT and WILL MELT if you add this molten sugar into them! Ruins your mold and your candies too!)
10. Allow your candies to cool completely
11. Carefully unmold your candy
12. In a small bowl add about 1/4 Cup of granulated sugar.
13. Place each candy into sugar and flip the candy over so both sides are coated with sugar.  You may spray a fine mist of water on the candies to help the sugar to adhere.
14. Place candies on a plate and allow to dry with the sugar coating in place.
15. Package and enjoy your Hash Hard Candies.

***Please note you are working with REALLY HOT sugar and this can burn really bad.  Use extreme care to keep this away from your skin!

OK so I hope you have fun making your own Hard Hash Candies, just remember to have lots of patience & time.  And again please be very careful.  That molten sugar can do a lot of damage to your skin.  I recommend doing this entire project BEFORE medicating so you are able to give this your full attention.

Stay Elevated!

Decarboxylating Kief For Medibles

Decarboxylating kief makes it more potent in medibles

OK here's a quick DIY and Why for decarboxylating kief for medibles.  The main reason to do so is by decarboxylating the kief you convert the THCA in THC which is activated for the body to process through oral administration (eating).  When I first began making my edible medicines I didn't know about this crucial step.  After all my hard work making my medibles sometimes they just didn't seem to kick. I did a little research and found that by decarboxylating the starting plant matter (in this case kief) you could convert the THCA to THC and make sure that your edibles were made with the fullest absorption into your body.

So here's how I do mine.  First using a kief box, shake out some kief from your buds or other plant matter.  For cooking it's ok if your kief material is yellow to yellow/green in color, so you may want to shake twice.  The first shake (yellow) you may want to save for smoking.  The second shake (yellow/green) you can use for all of your cooking needs.  Remove the kief from the base of your shake box and place in a baking pan.  Place this kief in a 250 degree oven for about 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  Now your kief is decarboxylated and ready to be added to all of your delicious medible recipes.  I store my decarboxylated kief in a small mason jar in a dark cupboard and use it as needed.'

Here's a fantastic article about decarboxylation.  In the article they say 240 degrees F for 30-60 minutes.  I still do mine for 30 minutes at 250 F.  You can decide what works best for you.

Stay elevated!

THChristi's 5 Minute Marijuana Muffin

THChristi's 5 Minute Marijuana Muffin

Because sometimes you don't have a lot of time for cooking fancy medibles I wanted to share one that I make when I need a no nonsense medible.  This recipe only takes 5 minutes start to finish and is cooked in a mug in the microwave so no big clean up.

Here's what you'll need:  

• 2 Tablespoons of all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons of Cannabis Sugar *
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons of milk* (I use evaporated from a can but you can use whatever milk you prefer)
• 1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons vegetable oil*
• 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla
• Yogurt for topping the muffin

Here's how you do it:

1. In a small mixing bowl combine your dry ingredients.  Stir them together with a fork until well mixed.
2. Add milk, cooking oil & vanilla.  Stir well
3. Spray your mug with cooking spray
4. Pour mixture into mug
5. Microwave on high for 1 minute.  Check to see that center of this muffin is done by inserting a toothpick.  If the toothpick comes out clean its done.  If the toothpick has wet batter on it, microwave again in 30 second intervals until it's done.
6. Remove from the mug.  Allow to cool for a minute or so.  Serve with a scoop of yogurt over the top.

*If you don't have Cannabis Sugar, use regular sugar and either substitute CannaMilk for the milk in the recipe or substitue CannaButter or CannaOil for the cooking oil in this recipe.  If you don't have any of these Cannabis cooking items on hand you could add a measured dose of decarboxylated kief to the recipe too. 

There are several variations you can do on this recipe......

• Add 1/8th Cup of dried fruit &/or nuts to the recipe
• Add 1 Tablespoon of cocoa powder for a chocolatey muffin and topp with a few chocolate chips &/or nuts
• Add 1 Tablespoon crushed pineapple & substitute 1 teaspoon brown sugar to make a pineapple upside down muffin.  Serve topped with a maraschino cherry 

Stay elevated!

Cup o' Cannabis Instant Oats

Medical marijuana for breakfast? Well yes!  Pain doesn't care what time it comes calling.  

Some mornings I wake up feeling like I've been run over by a bus in my sleep.  Chronic pain from Fibromyalgia is like that for me a lot of mornings.  I needed an edible option that was easy but effective.  This is a fairly healthy breakfast option too. I came up with this make ahead instant breakfast treat to do the trick.

THChristi's Cup o' Cannabis Instant Oats:

What you'll need:  

• 5 Cups Quick Oats
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Cup Cannabis Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Powdered Creamer
• Large mixing bowl
• Food processor
• 12 snack sized zip lock bags
• Optional add ins like nuts, raisins, brown sugar, dried fruit, cinnamon, nutmeg etc.

Here's how you do it:

1. Measure out 2 1/2 Cups of Quick Oats and place in the food processor with the blade attachment.  Run until you've ground the oats into a fine powder.
2. In your mixing bowl add the ground oats and 2 1/2 Cups un-ground quick oats.  Add in Cannabis Sugar, Powdered Creamer and salt.  (Add in up to 3/4 Cup of any of the above listed add ins)  Mix well.**
3. Now measure out 1/2 Cup of your mixture into snack sized baggies.  This will make about 12 servings. 

**For stronger medicine you can add a measured dose of decarboxylated kief into each bag.

To make your Cup o' Cannabis Instant Oats:

Empty packet into a coffee mug. Add 3/4 Cup of cold water and microwave for 1-3 minutes or add 3/4 Cup of boiling water and let stand for 3 minutes.  If you made your packets plain, add in any toppings you like now and enjoy!

Cannabis Sugar

As promised, here's an easy recipe using the medical marijuana tincture I taught you to make last month.  Cannabis infused sugar!  I love this recipe because it is so easy to make and to use.  I package in small ziplocks from the bead store and keep these in my purse.  When I'm out and about and need to medicate, I can order up a coffee or tea and stir in a packet of my cannabis sugar.  You can also make and use in place of sugar to make any recipe a medible.  I  like to use as an extra layer of medication by sprinkling on top of my medicated sugar and/or peanut butter cookies. 

What you will need:

• Mixing Bowl
• Measuring Cups & Spoons
• Baking Sheet
• Alcohol Based MMJ Tincture 
• Granulated Sugar
• Optional: sugar/candy molds

Directions:

1. Place 1 Cup of granulated sugar in a mixing bowl.  Add 1 Tablespoon of tincture.  Mix well to fully incorporate tincture into sugar.  Mixture will still be grainy.  This is fine.  
2. Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet pan in a thin layer ****
3. Place in a 200 degree F oven for 30 minutes.  This will evaporate the alcohol from your sugar.  
4. Remove from oven and allow to completely cool. Sugar will be clumped up on your baking sheet, this is normal 
5. Place clumped sugar in a sieve and press through with a metal spoon to re-granulate the sugar
6. Place sugar in an airtight container for storage

Uses:

Use Cannabis sugar in any way you would use regular sugar.  I like to add it to my coffee, iced tea, hot tea, oatmeal, cereal, on a halved grapefruit,  in a fruit salad & anywhere else where I would use granulated sugar. Use in recipes to make medibles.  Keep a container at your desk at work or package in single serving sized bags for convenience.

****Optional:  To create pre-portioned sugar cubes, press sugar mixture into a teaspoon or sugar mold.  Place onto a baking sheet and follow above directions for baking.

I hope you will find this recipe an easy way to get your medical marijuana for home and on the go.  

Stay Elevated!