Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Vanilla Pudding, Chocolate Pudding, and Warm Vanilla Soother ~ Share Your Story

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I love hearing your stories about how you’re using the recipes you find here at Heavenly Homemakers! Please take pictures and send them to me along with your stories so that I can share them with readers here for everyone to enjoy. :)

Share Your Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Story

I’m sharing two stories today since the recipes are quite similar. We’re going with a pudding theme today. Delicious comfort food in a bowl…or a mug.

From Erika:

I love your pudding recipes! They are so delicious and so much better than boxed instant pudding. I was never much a fan of pudding in general until I made your vanilla recipe. Great stuff! I attached a photo of our desert tonight: Layered Heavenly Homemakers vanilla and chocolate puddings with crushed oreos on top. The oreos aren’t exactly wholesome, real food so just look past that part! :)

pudding story

Oreos? I don’t see any oreos. That dessert looks beautiful though! ;)  My boys saw this picture, and what do you think they’re asking for now? I may just have to give in and make this. :)

Now for the warm, drinkable version of this pudding recipe, here’s a story of how Meredith served Warm Vanilla Soother to her family:

Hi Laura !! After a 2 a.m. tummy trouble tea party with a tremendously talkative two year old and waking to a dark drizzly Seattle morning, we decided that the warm vanilla soother would be the perfect start to our day !! I enlisted my favorite 3 1/2 year old to do the stirring :) I decided to try adding a bittle lit of imitation rum extract to try to make it a warm eggnog soother. We couldn’t really taste it but it was fun to experiment :) It was a hit ! Some of us really REALLY got into it.
Thanks again for another amazing recipe !! Meredith

soother story 1
This brings back memories of my little boys climbing on a chair to help me stir. {happy sigh}

soother story 2

I have yet to make Warm Vanilla Soother this fall. I am now very inspired to whip it up.
(Read: I’m totally hungry for it after seeing all the pudding and soother pictures.)

soother story 3

 She is soooo sweet! 

soother story 4

Could her grin be any bigger? I think she likes it, Mom.

You guys have no idea how thrilled I am to get a glimpse into your lives. Thank you for honoring me by sending your pictures and stories. Keep ’em coming! Send me your stories!

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A Nourishing Way to Warm Up

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warmvanillasoother2sm

Cold? Hungry? Need some energy? I have the magic potion.  And there are three variations to the recipe!

Have you tried my Warm Vanilla Soother? It’s the first of the three soothing drink recipes I concocted. Drinking this is like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold day, and I always feel nourished and energized afterward.

Once I realized how wonderful the vanilla drink was, of course, I had to try making a chocolate variety. Thus, the Warm Chocolate Soother was born. It’s like drinking a brownie that is warm right out of the oven. (Be careful that you don’t trip on the kids while rushing to make this. Yes, it’s that good. But your kids might need dinner or a diaper change first.)

Last, I created a Warm Pumpkin Soother.  It’s a holiday party in a mug. Ahhhhhh…..

So, let’s review. Delicious, satisfying, warm, nourishing, filling, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. Or pumpkin. Or vanilla. Take your pick.

Which is your favorite?

Warm_Pumpkin_Custard

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Why You Want Homemade Ice Cream

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Like I really need to give you a reason to want homemade ice cream? Especially the really creamy kind. The really creamy kind with homemade hot fudge sauce on it. (Now I’m just being cruel, aren’t I?)

I just wanted to remind you about the Ice Cream Experiment that I conducted about a year ago, in case you’re new here or in case you’ve forgotten.

To be inspired to make Homemade Ice Cream or to at least be encouraged to buy a more “real ingredient” variety of ice cream at the store, check out the following posts:

Here’s a little hint about why you want Homemade Ice Cream :

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This was Ice Cream Brand One after sitting for eight days on my countertop.
Mmmmm, ice cream that doesn’t melt. Tasty.

Let’s all give three cheers for real, whole food, shall we?

Now that I’ve shared all that, I have to tell you that I’m sitting here shivering while I write about ice cream. Where we live, we keep shifting from ice cream weather to hot cocoa weather. Some days I’m so confused I make hot cocoa to go with our ice cream .

Not really. But I am confused about what season it is here in Nebraska.

Do share…where you live are you experiencing Ice Cream weather or Hot Cocoa weather?

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Time for a Vanilla Shake

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Are you in the middle of making a batch of homemade vanilla extract? If so…might I remind you to get your jar down out of the dark cupboard where it is hiding and give it a shake? 

I always seem to forget to shake my vanilla during the months it is extracting. My husband reminded me this week that it is time for a “Vanilla Shake”. I thought maybe he was going to take me out for ice cream…but nope. It was really just time to get down our jars of “vanilla in the making” and boogy down. 

And so we did.

So, how about it? Wanna join us for a Vanilla Shake?! :)

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Vanilla Muffins with Cinnamon Crumb Topping

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I wanted something cinnamony for our Christmas Brunch (the invented word is pronounced:  sin-uh-money;  not to worry, cinnamony has nothing to do with sin or money, it’s all about the smell and taste of Christmas). I also wanted to use my homemade vanilla. So I played just a little bit and came up with Vanilla Muffins with Cinnamon Crumb Topping. I made mine with a mini muffin tin, but you can use a regular sized muffin tin instead if you prefer.

These muffins are very simple to throw together and will make your house smell just like Christmas while they’re baking. That’s because they’re cinnamony. :)

Vanilla Muffins Yum

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sucanat (you can use brown sugar if you want)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup melted butter or coconut oil
3/4 cup milk

Cinnamon Crumb Topping

6 T. sucanat/rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar juice) or brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 T. butter, softened

Stir together flour, sucanat, baking powder and sea salt. Add egg, vanilla, butter and milk. Mix until ingredients are combined. Scoop into paper lined muffin tins. (24 mini muffins or 12 regular sized muffins)  Mix together Cinnamon Crumb Topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of each muffin. Bake in a 400° oven for 15 minutes (mini muffins) or 20 minutes (regular sized muffins).

Vanilla Muffins with Cinnamon Crumb Topping

These Vanilla Muffins with Cinnamon Crumb Topping go perfectly with Easy Breakfast Casserole. I also think the cinnamony-ness would taste great with Warm Vanilla Soother.

Up next during our Christmas Brunch:  a great giveaway from Tropical Traditions. Then, to add to our cinnamony pleasure…Gingerbread Cookies. Not only are they cinnamony…they’re gingerlicious. And full of molassessness.

You never knew our Christmas Brunch would be so full of new vocabulary words did you?

(Be sure to leave a comment again on this post for another chance to win one of our great Christmas Brunch Presents!)

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Why You Shouldn’t Use Imitation Vanilla!

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Maybe you knew this already, but just in case…check out this email from Lindsy:

Hi Laura! I was just telling some friends today about my adventures in making vanilla extract. I live near Appleton, WI and this area is sometimes referred to as the Paper Valley because there are so many paper mills in the area. Anyway, one of my friends was saying that her husband works at a paper mill and part of his job is to collect the “run-off” from paper pulp. They then sell this by-product to companies that make it into imitation vanilla extract. How disgusting is that!?! I did a little Googling to see if this is for real, and found this on Wiki Answers:

“Imitation vanilla is manufactured either from clove oil (eugenol) or as a breakdown product of lignin from a conifer (e.g., spruce, Picea).”

I really don’t want to flavor my food with the run off from paper pulp, so I’ll stick to making homemade vanilla… :)

vanilla

Pssst! Grab your vanilla beans from Olive Nation. They offer us a 15% off coupon code: home. And we get free shipping on orders over $50!

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Start Making Homemade Vanilla for Christmas!

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vanilla_beans

About a year ago, I told you about my vodka buying adventures. Fun times. It’s always neat to be carded when you’re in your 30’s. I was so honored. And also embarrassed. Hey, I was buying an entire gallon of vodka at one time. I looked like I was going a little overboard. Like a crazy lady who took her four children to the store with her at nine o’clock in the morning to buy a gallon of booze.

Well anyway, it was well worth it as I handed out nice bottles of homemade vanilla for Christmas last year. And as I continue to pull out bottles of homemade vanilla for our own use. Mmmmmm…it’s so delicious!

I know it’s a little bit early to be thinking about Christmas. Never mind – it’s never to early to be thinking about Christmas gifts. Starting now and planning ahead can save a lot of money. That’s why I’m writing this little post.

It takes six months to make good, strong homemade vanilla. If you’d like to give homemade vanilla to family and friends this Christmas…you’ll need to purchase vanilla beans and start making your vanilla soon! If you get all of your supplies in order now and get the vanilla started in June, you’ll be all set for Christmas!

Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Read this post about how to make homemade vanilla. (By the way, making vanilla is so completely easy!)
  2. Order Vanilla Beans (You’ll find details on the amount of beans you need here.)  If you order vanilla beans through Olive Nation you will receive free shipping, PLUS if you use the code home you will receive 10% off your order! I’ve been very pleased with the beans I ordered through Olive Nation!
  3. Buy some cheap vodka. (You’re on your own with this one. Best wishes.)
  4. Get ahold of a big jar to make your vanilla.
  5. Get your vanilla beans and put into your vodka (as directed here) to start extracting.

Then…in the next few months, you can

  1. Start thinking about purchasing small bottles for your vanilla gifts.
  2. Look into these fun Vanilla Recipe Cards to add to your gifts.
  3. Check out these pretty labels! They are customizable, and come in a variety of designs.
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