If you are anything like me, you have a little pile of magazines to go through before recycling them or passing them on. And, if you;re like me- they don’t usually get passed on because I tend to dissect them a bit.
How do I dissect them?
homemade vanilla extract
I am a vanilla girl. Not to say I don’t adore chocolate…I just have a certain fondness for vanilla. I think it’s in how it is portrayed as such a “plain” flavor, yet it’s compounds produce a complexity all it’s own.
For instance, vanilla beans as we know them in their pods come from a type of orchid that must be pollinated by hand.
If humans ceased to exist would vanilla also?
I doubt it- I am sure there is some area where nature does it.. but most of the vanilla beans we get as consumers were a-hem artificially pollinated. (ie; by hand)
Vanilla works really well in spicy dishes, believe it or not. And, even in wine.
Same way chocolate loves chile and cinnamon.
Trust me.
I finally got around to making my own vanilla extract, my friend Kira inspired me. Next is butter. She totally made me want to do that, too.
Vanilla is amazing. And it makes a great perfume. Remember back in the 1990’s when vanilla was hot? That was also around the same time everyone was “into” angels. Just after the “grunge” period….I think vanilla and angels were the ultimate counteraction of some marketers out there.
Everything was vanilla.
And people wore angels and decorated their homes with them…
mmm, vanilla angel cakes.
There was never a chocolate perfume rage….
at least not yet…
chocolate would have worked well with grunge, I think.
But I think that was when coffee got trendy.
Food trends.
I’m still waiting on sun tea to make a comeback.
As I said, I love vanilla and have a collection of it. Now I’m going to finally make it.
the actual vanilla beans look like tiny specs of dirt… can you see them?
while I made this, I also added to my vanilla sugar jar…. that was something I made back when angels and vanilla were hot…
you can see a recipe using that here (mmm, vanilla sugar tea cakes )that’s a EARLY post.
Homemade Vanilla Extract
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Recipe: Homemade Vanilla Extract
Summary: how to make your own vanilla
Ingredients
- 3 vanilla bean pods
- 1 cup vodka
Instructions
- Slice each vanilla bean lenghthwise down the center and place in an 8oz sterile glass jar with a tight fitting lid. (brown glass preferred) Top with vodka. Allow to age in a dark place for 8 weeks, shaking every few days. Top with more vodka as needed.
Cooking time (duration): 5
Microformatting by hRecipe.
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free houseplants
I’m sure you guys have done this before…if not, do it. It’s fun and everyone’s doing it. 😉
Take common houseplant-the Philodendron, you know the one…the one that is at every dentist,bank, doctor’s office waiting room, office desk…the one that is hearty. You’ll know it when you see it.
So, take a little snippet from the end of it, stick it in a pretty vase/jar/wine bottle/beer bottle…and fill it with water.
In a little bit, you will see a tiny root appear like this:
see it? how exciting. A free plant.
I’ve been on a houseplant kick lately…I have others than Philodendrons, and I should give y’all a botanical tour one day…
But when I have a hankering to have a new plant, and I don’t happen to have any loot to play with…this is what I do.
You can get free plants from a lot of species, violets, succulents, woody stemmed items…(rosemary is awesome to do)
Free stuff is fun.
This is the one I started the other day, I so love that container…it was a Goodwill find. Yep- I am a total Goodwill shopper. There are some treasures there. It’s like a garage sale store with no haggling. That’s just fine because I am terrible at haggling. Flea market sellers love me, because I’m always saying; “How much is this? Okay, I’ll take it.” Instead of “How much is this? I’ll give you a dollar.” Anyway, Goodwills rock. Go visit one. No, they’re not paying me to say that. I just think y’all should go out and explore…there is so much mass produced stuff at retailers-it’s nice to find that unique item nobody else has….for instance:
check ouy the copper kettle- ($3.09 ) and the blue vase (.79 )Heck…can’t beat that.
And this charming little cut glass number:
Another treasure for $1.49. Ooo, and check out that little root system. That’s a free plant there.
Like I said, free things are fun.
getting crafty
Oh no… another day without food?! Yes, it’s not that I haven’t cooked, it’s just I have already done the posts before. So, I decided to show you other parts of my day, outside of the kitchen. Sort of…
Dollar store crafts!!!!
Woo-hoo!
I happen to have a rockin’ dollar store just up the street from me. I spent 4 bucks and got a ton of magnets.
Sure, I could have gone a bit further to the beach to find the shells and sea glass… but it’s tourist season right now- the tourists get to the beach at dawn. They get all the good stuff that washes up overnight. Oh well…glad I have my dollar store.
Do I need to explain how to make them?
Maybe a picture?
There. Just glue and stick. I knew you guys would figure it out.
So, as you know I have a little one with me during the day, while the bigger little one is at school. We have our at-home pre-school, our library days, our gardening days, our chore days, our baking days and our craft days.
It’s been really humid and sticky lately; so I haven’t baked much…and my hubby grilled steaks last night. Not much food going on around these parts.
Building, yes- 🙂 I designed some turtle and tortoise huts… does anyone out there have turtles? Maybe that will make a fun post.
For now, these little magnets make great everyday gifts..what’s an everyday gift?
You know when you’re at the store and see fresh flowers and want to buy them for your mom or sister or someone? But you don’t have the money or they live too far away? These are the perfect thing to send/give. 🙂
Everyday gifts are a nice surprise.
Anyway, those of you that come here to get some ideas for food- here’s what’s on my list:
turkey croquettes
cake for my finale in class on Tuesday
cookie dough balls
homemade pickles
tex-max pasta
CREPES! I am taking a course on crepes next week. Super excited about that.
how to sprout
some more videos
vanilla extract
apple infused vodka
…and, I have a birthday coming up. Which makes me want to make a list of 36 things to do this year. I need to get on that.
don’t eat these cookies
Mmm, cookies.
These cookies need a warning label.
DON’T EAT ME.
Seriously.Not that it’s a crappy recipe. They are “air freshener” cookies. It’s cinnamon and applesauce. Roll em out an let em harden, paint em up and you have adorable ornaments or rear-view mirror air fresheners. Crafty.
I made mine with 1/2 c of cinnamon, (hint: dollar store had 6oz for…well, duh-a dollar!)
add enough applesauce to make a dough. (3tbs or so)
roll it out- sprinkle with more cinnamon if it happens to stick.
allow to dry for 24 hours. I put mine in the sun on a nice crisp day and it only took 6 hrs.
paint with acrylic paints…
allow the paint to dry and hang up on your tree, your rear view mirror, your neck… wherever you want to smell cinnamon. 😉 That’s everywhere to me… mmmmm.
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Cinnamon decorating cookies
1/2 c cinnamon
3-4 tbs applesauce
mix to for a dough, roll out and cut with assorted cutters, if dough sticks- sprinkle with more cinnamon.
Allow to dry for 24 hrs.
Decorate with paints, attach ribbon to hang and enjoy the smell of cinnamon.
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best buttercream icing
Mmmm, is it icing or frosting? I am sure there is some sort of technical difference, and more than likely I am calling it the wrong one- but, you know either way just what it is, so who cares? Oh! If you came here looking for something to do with used coffee grounds….keep reading. You will love it. First my frosting-errr icing…hmmmm.
Maybe I will just call it fricing. Note: spell-check is mad.
Fricing:(noun): [frI-sing] A word created for creamy sweet substance by ignorant blogger who didn’t want to find the proper definition of both frosting and icing.
There. It’s a word now. I need to call Mr. Webster.
Drum roll, please.
It’s fluffy. It’s buttery. It’s sweet.
Cake, as I have mentioned before is one of my all time favorites. I don’t make them much, though. Why? Remember- my hubby tends to like desserts you eat out of hand.
Back to butter cream. Or buttercream. Or fricing.
It’s similar to my other recipe here. But….not exact.
1/2 c salted butter-softened but not too soft. Let’s aim for a “perfect” banana “softness”
1/2 c butter flavor crisco (I know that stuff is unhealthy- sometimes you just have to live a little!)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract (use the real stuff)
4 cups shifted powdered sugar
3-4 teaspoons cream (or half and half)
To make:
cream together the butter and shortening until they are fluffy, add in the vanilla and almond extracts.
Fold in the sugar and cream slowly by hand, when it is incorporated, return to mixer and continue to beat until fluffy.
I can’t wait to make homemade cream filled cookies with this fricing. Gotta finish the cake first.
Y’all want to see some highlights?
My mom got her Pillow Pets. She loves them. Why didn’t I invent that?
These are treasure rocks. Something to do with leftover coffee grounds.
To make them, take 1 c leftover coffee grounds, 1 c flour, 1/2 c salt and enough water to make a dough. Hide little trinkets inside and bake at 150 for 15-17 minutes. Or, set them out in the sun all day. Cool, huh? Have a rock hunt. If I were a guy, I would hide a diamond in one. How cool would that be?! A rock in a rock. So clever.
* the craft “recipes” have been adapted from a DVD called “Kid Concoctions”
bug cake and glob
I have a three year old. It’s official today. Three years ago, after 16 hours of labor and 4 hrs 52m minutes of pushing (she was stuck) my “baby pine cone” came here to earth. Yeah, I didn’t know humans could give birth to pine cones, I found that out when she started calling me “mommy-pine-cone”. We don’t even have a pine tree. Hmmm.
As you all know, she loves cockroaches, monsters and wax rings. I have a weird little kid. I think it’s because I was a weird little kid myself. I used to eat fish food. And paste. And tubs of butter behind my dad’s chair in the corner. And green stamps. Those were tasty. Mmm.
So at her request for a cockroach-monster-rainbow cake I made this:
boy- it took 3 days. One for the cake bugs and monsters, another buying supplies and another baking the cake.The monsters and cockroaches are obvious, and the rainbow is inside (shhh…)
But it was fun. I’m not complaining. I will complain, however about how much I hate hearing the words “I don’t know” Especially when I walk into a room to find my toddler gushing blood from her temple. Not the response a mama wants to hear. Grrr. Turns out a trophy hit her in the head-accidentally.
She’s okay- but you know how scary it was. I won’t describe the mess. But, that was my night last night. See- my life isn’t all palm trees and sunshine. I have my crap, too.(drug-addict moms, psycho exes, too many bills, broken houses,etc,etc….) I just prefer not to dwell on it, because it’s lame. We are talkin’ cake here.
This was my favorite roach. WOAH. I just said my favorite roach. That could be taken way out of context.
Is that your favorite roach, too?
Uh-oh. We need an intervention.
Meet the interventionist:
He knows his stuff.
Listen to him- he will take you to his leader.
Make that-leaders.
I have way too many leftover bugs and monsters.
To make these monsters-bake up a box (gasp!) of cake mix. Doesn’t matter what pan because when it’s baked, you will do this to it:
Yes. Destroy it. Release that tension. Do it while the cake is warm, and mix in (gasp!) one can of frosting- any flavor.
Then, you can make shapes. Be forewarned, ladies- take your rings off. It’s messy. Place your shapes in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour. During that time, melt some of those candy melts that they sell in craft stores. The instructions are on the bag.
I am not the best dipper, or else the coating wasn’t melted enough. Hmmm. I need more practice, I think. It should have been smoother.
The legs were black licorice, the eyes were fondant balls with dots of black frosting. Yummmmy eyes.
Now- glob. Gloop. This is so fun to make.
Take two bowls: In one, mix 1c water with 1 c white glue. I added 3 drops purple coloring, too.
In the other bowl mix together 1 1/3 cups warm water and 4 teaspoons borax laundry booster. Mix to dissolve the granules. Now- amaze your friends and family by making two liquids a solid. Combine both mixtures, roll around a few times and lift out. Dab off excess water and it will look like this:
fun. glop.
I also made some treasure rocks and fizz stones. I will share those with y’all, too. Oooo- a craft segment. Craft recipes are fun, they don’t affect your booty as much. 🙂