Raw Honey: Natures allergy med and a few facts

Sniffle, sneeze, snort and snuff. Those are the sounds I hear during pollen season, which this year came early to Alabama.My husband has terrible allergies. The watery eyes, the runny nose. The whole nine yards.

He is miserable and in turn I am miserable. Bless him. So, I have been researching natural ways to help with his allergies.

I have long heard the benefits of local honey. In fact, my friend Tricia, has always joked that local honey cured anything. As long as local honey was in something it was healthy."Try this cup cake, it's made with local honey," she would say with a wink.

But was Tricia on to something? I think she was.

So recently when perusing my local farmer's market I came across local RAW honey.

So what's that? The most delicous thing nature ever made I tell you! Expensive as all get out, but worth every penny.

It's pure, 100 percent, unprocessed honey. It's unpasteurized and pretty much direct from the hive. It is not strained, filtered or ever heated and retains all of the pollen, royal jelly, enzymes and vitamins. I am, needless to say, a believer.

It is loaded with amino acids, B complex vitamins and vitamins A, C, D, E and K. (Also, iron, calcium and potassium. The list goes on and on.)

I have been putting it in everything from coffee to smoothies to shrimp. I love it.

There are some people who are sensitive to it. You can read about allergic reactions here.

Surely the raw honey I consumed in my coffee will balance out the two (small) cinnamon rolls I had for breakfast. Right?

Idiot proof shrimp

Need a dinner in a hurry that is sure to please? Try idiot proof shrimp! There are only three ingredients (four if you count olive oil, which you shouldn't).

My mother makes something similar and I pulled this together one night when cooking for my husband for "date night." (When you have an infant date night usually means you just eat off the good china.)

What you'll need:

A pound of shrimp (pealed and deveined)

1 cup white wine

4 tbs (1/4 cup) minced garlic

I love the look of the oil mixed with the wine.

Warm up a little olive oil over a medium heat. Add in the shrimp. Once they have just started to turn pink pour over the wine and add the garlic. Be sure you continue to keep everything moving in the pan or else the garlic will burn and be gross.

After the shrimp are good and pink remove from heat and serve immeidatly. This is great over pasta or paired with a salad. And if you want to finish off the wine you cooked the shrimp in, have at it!