Homemade Vanilla and Vanilla Sugar

I’ve been processing some things for several days now and apparently I’m still not done, so I really have nothing to blog about.  When I have nothing to blog about I usually revert to food.  I have juiced every day since the juicer came home with me and I love it.  Everything I have tried, we have loved, however, beats do not agree with my tummy.  I read that they have a natural source of chlorine that stimulates the muscles in your abdomen.  In other words, they make you poop when consumed raw.  In my case, they made me throw up and have severe diarrhea.  TMI I know!

I love mixing fruit juices with my greens.  Spinach is awesome juiced with some green apple, pineapple, and cucumber.  My favorite is still carrot, orange, and pineapple with a gala apple tossed in.  On mornings when I juice I drink less coffee and feel much more awake.  This morning I have been too lazy to juice so far and have noticed a HUGE difference.

I am doing another food experiment.  I am experimenting with making homemade vanilla.  I love Mexican Vanilla, but it’s hard to find the real stuff.  The closest match for it is Rodelle’s organic vanilla, but at 12 bucks for a 8oz bottle (that was on sale) I am not as free with its use.

So I took a basic recipe from Cook’s illustrated and I’m experimenting with it.  I changed the proportions just a little bit.  I took 2 and a half whole vanilla beans, split them in half and scraped out the vanilla caviar.  I placed the beans and seeds in a ball jar for jelly.  Then I heated one cup of Vodka in a small sauce pan until it was just starting to bubble.  I poured this over the vanilla beans and then let it sit till it cooled to room temp.  I put the lid on and gently turned the jar back and forth about 4 times.  This jar will sit on the counter at room temp for the week and each day I will gently turn the jar over to agitate it and allow more of the vanilla to infuse into the vodka.  On Monday I will strain this mixture through cheese cloth or coffee filters and then I will bake the most awesome chocolate chip cookies on the planet!

I also got another jar and placed two scraped beans with their seeds with sugar to almost fill the jar.  I left about an inch at the top to leave room for shaking.  This sugar I shook violently in the jar and will continue to shake it each day for about a week.  This sugar can be used in coffee, tea, mixed with cinnamon for toast…whatever suits your fancy!

This weekend I am going to buy some amazing croissants at a cute little French bakery up the street and then I am going to mix softened butter with apricot preserves for an awesome breakfast treat.  My family will immediately be in love with that!

Juicing

I have always wanted a juicer, I liked the idea of getting my veggies and fruits from juice and I didn’t want to buy pre-packaged stuff because it usually has more sugar and more sodium and preservatives in it.  That sort of defeats the purpose.  So yesterday I bit the bullet and bought a juicer.

Today I am going to buy some unflavored protein because I HATE PROTEIN drinks, but I must have them and so if I can sneak them into my diet through juicing and every now and again have a chocolate one, well that won’t be so bad.  I have to say that I also hate paying the price of a juice at the juice bar places.  After purchasing the juicer I stopped by the store for apples, oranges, pineapple, and carrots.  Bean and I indulged in making a glass when we got home and can I just say it was the best juice I have ever tasted!!  WOW!  So I have a goal of getting my kids to get more veggies too because you can juice spinach and broccoli and kale with some low glycemic fruit and you have some daily servings from that group.  My family, not so hot on the veggies, Matthew only eats them because he knows they are good for him.

So far I haven’t juiced the veggies, other than carrots, going to research and see exactly which ones are the best for juicing and which ones give you the best benefits.  I know spinach and broccoli are top choices, but I’m thinking zucchini would be good also.

This morning I took this plate of fruit.

It has a pineapple spear, apple wedges, oranges,  carrots, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and I added a half of a banana at the end.

The juice, in my not very well-lit living room, looked like this.

I shared it with Matthew and he said it was good.  Now to start replacing my morning coffee with fresh juice, get my protein in at the same time and I should be good.  I feel more awake this morning than I have in some time so I’m off to a good start!