I love using homemade vanilla extract when I cook. The flavor and aroma of homemade vanilla is incredible.
I’ll take homemade vanilla over chocolate any day of the week.
Vanilla
A vanilla bean is actually a fruit from an orchid. And it’s the second most expensive spice after saffron.
This recipe only takes 2 ingredients. It just can’t get any easier than this.
I try to always use organic beans.
Jars
Since you get to choose, choose jars that you like. I don’t know about you but I have a collection of jars of all shapes and sizes. I liked these.
Use some cool looking jars that you really like.
I had 5 beans left, so I divided them evenly. I’ll just let it sit longer than I usually do before I begin to use it.
I generally like to use 4 beans per bottle. But I’ve used 2 to 3 before too.
Add your vanilla beans.
You can use bottom shelf vodka for this, but use the highest proof you can get. I think this was 80 proof. I would have preferred 90, but…
Make sure you fill to cover your beans. Then put in a dark place and let it sit for at least 6 weeks.
Cover your beans with high proof vodka.
This is my current bottle. You can pull your beans when it gets to the flavor you like. But I leave them because I don’t think you can ever have too much vanilla.
Finished vanilla.
Homemade Vanilla Extract
Ingredients
2-4 Vanilla Beans
1 1/2 to 2 cups (about a pint) of vodka
Instructions
Add beans to a glass jar
Fill the jar with vodka, enough to cover the beans
Sit in a dark place for at least 6 weeks.
I think the longer it sits the better it is.
Try using your new vanilla extract in a batch of lavender cookies from last week
I really hope you’ll give it a try. If you do, let me know how it turns out. If you have a different recipe, feel free to share in the comments below.
I hope you all had a fabulous Valentine’s Day.
Next week I’ll show you how to make a corn dollie. A fun craft for you and your kids or grandkids.
Until next time – Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey
Talking about lavender a few weeks back made me want to try something new. I buy dried lavender by the pound and just got my order in a few weeks ago as well. Something I’ve always wanted to try but hadn’t yet was cooking with dried lavender flowers.
The one thing that I’ve seen regularly when looking for lavender recipes, is cookies.
I had to give it a try. I read over many different recipes (a lot of which I had saved already, I’ve wanted to make these for a long time).
And, this is what I finally came up with.
These cookies use butter, sugar, honey, vanilla, flour, salt and lavender flowers. Pretty easy really.Mix together the butter sugar, honey and vanilla.Cream the butter mixture togetherMix your dry ingredients.Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and combine well. Roll your dough into a log using wax paper. You can shape it to a square or rectangular shape if you like. Then place the log in the freezer for about 30 minutes or in the refrigerator for more than an hour until good and stiff.Using a very sharp knife cut the dough in about 1/4 inch slices. Put the cookies on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet about 1-2 inches apart. These are a lot further apart than that, but this was my first batch and i didn’t know how they would act yet.Bake at 325 degrees for about 15 – 20 minutes. Cook until lightly golden brown. Be careful not to overcook or once they cool completely they will become really crunchy.
Now if you want to dip them in coffee, this might not be a perfect idea. I glazed most of these cookies.Make a nice cup of lavender and lemon balm tea and sit back and enjoy your cookies. It’s an awesome pairing.
Lavender Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1.5 Tablespoons raw local honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
small pinch of salt
1 teaspoon dried lavender flowers
Instructions
Cream together the butter, sugar, honey and vanilla.
Combine the flour, salt and lavender flowers and mix well.
Pour the flour mixture into the creamed mixture until well combined.
Roll out onto a sheet of wax paper and roll into an approximately 1″ to 1.5″ log.
If you want, flatten into a more square or rectangle shape.
Put in the freezer for about 20-30 min or in the refrigerator for an hour or more. You want the dough to be firm.
Cut the dough in about 1/4″ slices. You could probably roll it out and cut it into shapes if you wanted to.
Put on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet at about 1-2″ apart.
Cook in a preheated oven at 325 deg. for 15-20 min. Then cook until they turn a light golden brown.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.
I actually made a small amount of lavender tea and then used that to make a glaze.
Glaze
Mix together 3 – 4 Tablespoons of powdered sugar with 3 teaspoons of lavender tea. You can adjust that as necessary for the thickness you prefer.
You could use a mixer to cream the butter-sugar mixture and then to mix in the flour. This recipe is really small enough, it was easy enough to use a short wooden spoon.
These things were really awesome. An amazing test for anything like this that I make is if my husband likes them. He’s a chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies and milk kind of guy.
And…he really liked them!!! For me that makes this a recipe card recipe that will stay on the side of my fridge for later use.
I hope you’ll give this a try or make your own version of it. If you do, please come back and let me know how it turned out.
I plan on making some different versions of this one in the future. One with lemon and one with slivered or chopped almonds. If you get there first, I hope you’ll come back and let me know what you did and how it turned out. I really want to hear how it worked.
Until next time — Health, Wealth & Blessings!!! ~Tracey
In that article I told you I would go over the herbs we used in those gifts.
I thought I’d start by telling you some of the awesome benefits of lavender, a very old and well loved flower/herb.
Here’s just a few of the benefits everybody should know about this beautiful flower.
Everybody knows lavender for its beautiful scent and relaxing qualities. It’s said to relieve stress, lift moods and relieve the agitation that comes with dementia. I wish I had known that years ago.
Germany actually has patented a product called Silean that’s been shown to be as effective as Ativan in helping adults diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorders.
Drying lavender. You can only imagine how lovely that lavender smells. Picture courtesy of Prairie Lavender Farm.
Another study showed when the essential oils were used in nursing homes and was shown to decrease falls. Now that’s pretty cool, says the old lady writing the article.
All these things have long been Lavender’s claim to fame.
But did you know, there’s a lot more uses for lavender and some you might not have thought or heard of before.
It’s good when it’s used as an antiseptic and antimicrobial. Both of which help prevent infections and decrease pain.
I’ve used the essential oil to relieve a minor burn I got from pulling something out of the oven. I read about that somewhere and decided to give it a try and was shocked at how well it worked.
A few days later I read a little more on the subject and found out it promotes tissue healing too.
Then I found this study that showed that kids who had their tonsils taken out took less Tylenol (or its equivalent) when they inhaled lavender essential oils after surgery. That’s pretty awesome, cause I know how bad that hurts. **(“Evaluation of the Effect of Aromatherapy with Lavender Essential Oil on Post-tonsillectomy Pain in Pediatric Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” International journal of pediatric otorhinolaryngology 77, no. 9 (2013): doi:10.1016/j.ijporl.2013.07.014 )
Lavender’s considered a warming herb which means it makes a great tea when you’re a little under the weather and have a bit of a chill.
And on top of everything else it can help promote digestion. Who knew!!
And here’s a little history.
Did you know Cleopatra was said to have used lavender as one of her secret weapons for seduction? It seemed to have worked on Mark Anthony and Julius Caesar.
And at one time, the sprigs were hung in doorways to protect against evil spirits. And added to baths to drive evil spirits and demons away from cranky kids, then used to rejuvenate adults (probably after giving those cranky kids a bath and putting them to bed).
There’s one more thing it’s good for.
Lavender is an edible flower and there are a ton of recipes out there, which is great since it’s so good for digestion.
Dried lavender. Great for teas and cooking.
What I love most and make regularly, is my most favorite way of using lavender and that’s in a loose leaf tea.
I use it together with a lot of different herbs but what I mix it with most is lemon balm tea. 3 parts lemon balm and 2 parts lavender is the best.
It doesn’t only smell divine but it tastes great.
So, the next time you need to kick back and relax, grab a cup of lavender tea. Enjoy the warm feeling it gives you and its lovely scent.
Remember to use organic UNSPRAYED herbs or flowers of any kind for whatever your using. You want to put the best quality products in and on your body that you can afford.
If you’ve tried anything lavender, let me know how it worked out for you and what you loved about it. I’d really like to know.
I want to thank Prairie Lavender Farms for letting me use the beautiful pictures taken on their farm. Please visit them online here and if you live nearby, I hope you can get by to see them in person.
When you make your coffee in the morning, do you just put coffee grounds in the filter? Did you ever consider adding spices to your filter to jazz up your coffee in the morning?
Spices in your morning coffee.
I can’t remember where I heard it or when, but I was told once that cinnamon in your coffee was good for helping to regulate blood sugar levels. After looking into it I found that was a true statement about cinnamon.
Use a cinnamon stick to stir your coffee.
So I tried it and guess what, it was good.
I regularly drink my coffee black. So where some people get extra flavor from sweeteners and creams, I found adding spices can give a lot of extra flavor without the extra calories.
The Research
As I did a bit of research for this article I also found that cinnamon is also good for rheumatoid arthritis, great for relieving tooth pain and helps boost the immune system. You can’t beat that!!
Just start with a half to a full teaspoon for a pot of coffee. It’s always best to start small and work up to the flavor that suits you best.
The Whimsy
Then on the more whimsical side of things I also found that cinnamon was also good for success, healing and protection.
The Taoists regarded cinnamon as the food of the Gods. I’m sure there are some that would tend to agree with this assessment.
A 5000 year old mythical Chinese emperor, hero and herbalist known as Shennong spoke of cinnamon too.
And the gypsies are said to have used cinnamon for lust and love spells.
So Now You know
Now you know some really awesome reasons to give cinnamon in your coffee a try. Let me know what you think.
If you use something different in your coffee, let me know what it is. In the reading I’ve done, I found there are several spices to be tried. Maybe give nutmeg, ginger, star anise, or even clove a try. These are all warming spices. Spices that make you think of curling up on a couch with a blanket.
Cinnamon sticks, star anise, whole clove and nutmeg.
If you know someone who might like to give it a try, be sure to share this with them. And be sure to let me know in the comments section below if you’ve used cinnamon or any other spices in your coffee to add that little bit of extra flavor to your morning.
Until next time, Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey
Canned meat can make your life so much easier, especially in the winter.
I don’t know about you but I seem to be getting extremely lazy this last month of the year. Maybe it’s because it’s dark so much.
I’ve not been on the treadmill for a month now and don’t see it happening till next year. It’s so wrong for that kind of mindset, I know, but I do know I’ll get back on it, just not now.
Coming home from work in the dark makes me feel like I want to go straight to bed, so fixing supper is definitely not first on my mind. And I’m terrible at planning ahead enough to thaw meat the day before.
So I’m really grateful that I canned so much ground deer. Now I can grab a few quarts of that, some of my canned stewed tomatoes, and depending on the spices I want to use I can have supper in about an hour and there’s no thaw time.
Canned meat seemed pretty scary at first, but turned out to be no harder than anything else. You just leave it in the canner for 90 minutes.
I did cook mine a little first and then rinsed it to get as much fat out as possible. My husband used to have our deer processed at a commercial meat locker and had 10% tallow fat added. We don’t do that anymore, I don’t see the need.
Canned ground meat
Next time, I don’t think I’ll cook it, I’ll just crumble it. I’ve also cubed up the roast parts and cut the fat off the scrap pieces and canned those as small cubes. This give a little more flexibility in what you want to use them for.
I’ve also done this with chicken. It’s usually cooked first just because it’s much easier than trying to cut chunks of raw chicken. That makes for an easy chicken and noodle supper.
Other things you can try are ham and beans. Canning them makes them taste like it’s a day or two reheated. I don’t know about you, but I always think ham and beans are better the 2nd or 3rd day anyway.
You can always add spices to the meat. Preferably something that won’t be hurt by the heat, maybe some Worchestershire sauce or something of that nature. The canning process pulls the fibers of the meat apart to some degree. This allows any spices you may add to really get into the meat, so it taste spectacular when it’s time to eat it. Some meats don’t need anything and are awesome just the way they are.
This gives me a ton more freezer space and like I said, when it’s time for supper there’s no thaw time. YAY!
Next time you need to make room in the freezer and if you like to can, give it a try. Just make sure all your meat chunks are an inch or so in size or smaller. This allows enough heat to get through the meat to stop any bacteria from growing.
Leave it in the pressure cooker for 90 minutes at pressure. And there you have it, canned meat ready for those nights you don’t have time to thaw meat.
If you’d like me to do a DIY How-To on canned meat, please let me know in the comments below.
If you have any other ideas of canned supper or supper fixings, please share them. I’d love to hear from you.
