HOW LONG DO SEIZURES LAST?

Thankfully, most seizures last only a few seconds to a few minutes and resolve on their own. However, seizures that last more than 5 minutes or happen so repetitively that there is no recovery in between them can turn into "status epilepticus", which is a serious and potentially life threatening condition that requires medical attention. If someone around you has a seizure that continues for more than 5 minutes, make sure to call for medical assistance. Tomorrow's post will discuss additional ways to help if someone has a seizure.

The recipe of the day, Hibiscus Vanilla Purple Ice Cream looks truly scrumptious! It comes from James, who makes the best homemade ice cream and created this recipe specifically for Epilepsy Awareness Month. Thank you, James!

Hibiscus-Vanilla Purple Ice-cream

Makes 1 quart

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

1 box of hibiscus tea bags (Trader Joe’s has a Pomegranate White Tea  with Hibiscus; works really well in this recipe)

1 tsp vanilla extract

¾ cup granulated sugar

Mix the milk, cream, sugar and vanilla in a medium size pot and gently warm

Add 6 of the tea bags into the warm mixture, turn off heat and let steep

After 30 min squeeze out the tea from each tea bag into the cream mixture the and discard the tea bags

Repeat by re-warming and adding additional tea to adjust color and taste to your liking ; it’s a mild tea so up to 15 tea bags can be used if you want a strong flavor and deep color; just add gradually.

When you have the taste and color you want transfer the cream to a bowl, cover and chill in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight

Follow manufacturer’s instructions for your ice cream maker to make a soft serve ice-cream (if you don’t have one, many kitchen stores sell them inexpensively)

Freeze the soft serve overnight for a firmer consistency

You can make a thicker ice-cream by adding a mixture of one teaspoon of cornstarch and tap water to the flavored cream and gently heating until it thickens; be sure to let the mixture cool completely (it will thicken further)  and then chill.

You can also make a custard style ice-cream by adding the barely simmering flavored cream (170 F) to a well whisked mixture of 5 egg yolks while constantly stirring.  Strain the resulting mixture and add back to the pot, heating gently until the mixture begins to thicken.  The result will be an even creamier texture and taste but in this variation it won’t be purple so you’ll have to save it for next month.