Christmas in July – Homemade Vanilla Extract
With just under 5 months until Christmas, it might be time to start thinking about gifts for your friends and family. That’s what I was doing about a year ago. I am definitely a big planner and had decided early in 2009 to make as many Christmas gifts as I could. Some of these gifts required quite a bit of time and some were easy to throw together. This week I’ll be sharing the gifts that I gave our family and friends last year.
The first gift came about due to a sale on Amazon. There was a great deal on 1/2 lb of vanilla beans. I started with two bottles of vodka and the vanilla beans. Once the beans were split (but not scraped) and placed in the vodka, the bottles just had to sit in a cool dark place. Every couple of weeks Hubby would pull the vodka out of the closet and shake the crap out of it. A couple months later the vanilla extract was ready to go!
I ordered some bottles online and made some labels for the bottles to finish off the look. I also placed two vanilla beans into each bottle.
I love that the vanilla extract tastes so good, has the specks of fresh vanilla beans, and will essentially never run out. If the vanilla starts running low, you can just top it off with some more vodka. As you use vanilla beans, just throw the pods in the bottle to replenish the vanilla flavor.
One Year Ago: Goat Cheese Potato Salad and Salmon with Yellow Pepper and Cilantro Pesto
Two Years Ago: Champagne Cupcakes
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
White water rafting and Canadian kayaking will have you navigating powerful rivers in some of the most beautiful locations on earth. Deep, river-carved gorges that are teeming with wildlife…spectacular scenery…and man or women against nature, that’s what memories are made of. Explore the underwater sights while scuba diving in Canada. The Pacific Ocean in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east offer a wide variety of marine life and the Great Lakes are an ideal location for wreck diving. .
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Here’s my recipe and it’s a winner: cut apples in chunks, add a little water and a little regular sugar or splenda. But then add a handful or two of cinnamon red hots!!!!!. Bring the pot to a low simmer, stirring occasionally, but stop just before apples turn to much, in other words, they’re barely done. Remove from heat and serve. They really are delicious, hot or cold. The apple chunks are delightful. Try it and hope you also like it.