Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

How to Finish Your Homemade Vanilla Extract

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How To Finish Your Vanilla Extract

I’ve talked about making Homemade Vanilla Extract just a little tiny bit on this site. You’ve seen:

Just in case you need MORE reasons to make your own Vanilla Extract, here’s a post about All the Nasty Stuff Found in Most Commercial Vanilla Extracts.

But for some reason, I never shared with you how to finish off and bottle your homemade vanilla extract. Sometimes I forget important details, such as the names of my children and telling you how to finish off your homemade vanilla. What’s his name – my youngest son – helped me bottle some vanilla last week and we took pictures. Finally. (Malachi…his name is Malachi.)

Once your vanilla beans  have been sitting in the vodka (or other alcohol of choice) for 4-6 months, it’s strong and ready to be bottled. Begin by lining a colander with a coffee filter or thin tea towel.

Place lined colander in a pot to catch the vanilla. If you don’t, you will have excellent quality homemade vanilla extract running down all over your kitchen table and floors. Your kitchen will smell great for months, but that will only be a long, sad reminder of the wasted vanilla. Put the colander in a pot.

Pour contents of your jar into the colander so that the coffee filter can strain all of the tiny vanilla specks out. The vanilla specks won’t hurt anything, but it’s nice to have speck-less vanilla extract.

Use a funnel to bottle up the strained vanilla. I have found amber bottles (recommended) Mountain Rose Herbs.

I, also, love these pretty labels! They are customizable, and there are several designs to choose from!

Lay your used vanilla beans on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels to dry. You can then put them into a container of sugar for 4-6 months which will turn that sugar into Vanilla Sugar!

Finally, FINALLY I have shown you how to finish up your vanilla. And now, if I can figure out how to call my children by the correct names without running down the list of all four boys before I get to the right one, I’d be all set.

This post was originally published November 28, 2010.

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Why My Mailbox Smelled Good Today

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I opened my mailbox and smelled vanilla. Hoorah…our new vanilla bean order has arrived! 

It’s amazing to me that these vanilla beans are such good quality that I could smell the vanilla beans through the thick packaging. I can still smell the vanilla scent on my fingers, JUST from opening the package. 

Here they are…my lovely vanilla beans from OliveNation:

I guess you know what’s going on in my house right now. We’re starting another batch of Homemade Vanilla Extract. We’ve also got another big batch that’s almost ready to bottle up for sale! I’ll keep you posted.

So, since the vanilla beans have arrived, you know what else we had to purchase, right?

I found it rather amusing that today at lunch time I said, “Here, let me move all this vodka so you can set the table.” It was a proud parenting moment.

This is the perfect time to get a batch of homemade vanilla extract going so that it will be ready to give as Christmas gifts! My favorite source for high quality and economically priced vanilla beans is OliveNation. You’ll receive free shipping on the vanilla bean order, plus us the coupon code hhm2011 for a 10% discount!!!!

Here are my Homemade Vanilla Extract instructions!

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Compromising Our Whole Foods Diet

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Tonight we’re hosting Elias’ 9th birthday party. 

You know how our house is always full of boys? Tonight there are even more of them. Right now they are all running around shooting each other with laser guns and Nerf guns and somehow I think there is a hallway basketball game going on at the same time. Now that takes talent.

We always let the birthday boy choose his party food. He usually takes into consideration what he thinks his buddies will like. And, surprise – surprise, he usually doesn’t choose “Tossed Salad” or “Spinach Smoothies”.

I was recently asked by one of you (but for the life of me I can’t find the comment to quote it exactly):  “Laura, can you tell us what foods you will occasionally buy at the store for convenience…and which foods you will NEVER buy?”

This probably doesn’t answer that question as specifically as the commenter was wishing for, but well…here’s what I bought for Elias’ birthday party dinner tonight…

If that’s not a compromise I don’t know what is.

I have to say that it was more than a little bit painful pulling them off of the freezer shelf and paying actual money for them. Incidentally, I also had TWO GALLONS worth of vodka in my cart on this shopping trip as we’re getting ready to start yet another big round of Homemade Vanilla Extract. Yep, it looked like one BIG party in my shopping cart tonight. ;)

The pizza rolls were Elias’ choice and while the ingredient list is longer than my hand (I am not even kidding), I have to say that it was a nice relief to just throw them in the oven and put out some paper plates and call it dinner. Besides, I was in the middle of baking his birthday cake and getting Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls ready for tomorrow’s breakfast for all the boys. The ease of dinner (if we can actually call it dinner) was really nice.

Here’s why I feel okay (not great, but okay) about buying and feeding my family these pizza rolls tonight:  We eat a really healthy diet about 357 days of the year. On those other few days or moments of the year when we are traveling, eating with others, hosting parties, going to parties or attending any event that has a meal comprised of chips and candy…we go with the flow. We don’t act all “weirded out” about the fact that we’re being served food that doesn’t meet our normal healthy eating criteria. If I’m offered Nacho Cheese Doritos at a get-together, you better believe I’m going to have a few and I’m going to enjoy myself.

We try not to go over-board and pig out because yikes…our tummies aren’t used to eating that kind of stuff. But we really cannot be enslaved by healthy eating.  Being paralyzed by these fears can be unhealthy in and of itself.  Compromising used to be a huge fear of mine, especially when I was first learning about what was healthy and what was SCARY and unhealthy. But I’ve “come down off the ledge” and realized that a few crazy junk foods here and there are not going to kill us. Especially when we follow it up as soon as possible with good, wholesome, nutrition-filled foods.

Which we will, by the way…tomorrow.  Those spinach smoothies will be making their appearance.

And for the record, while there are many things I just close my eyes and compromise on occasionally…I will never, ever knowingly or willingly purchase or eat margarine. Can’t do it. Won’t do it. Can’t even think about it.

Blech. Helgpaht. Mliiegylk. Pgvughhha.

Eeek, I get very gaggy when it comes to the thought of the yellowed tub of chemically created fatty-fattness spread that we’re told is better than rich cream whipped into golden goodness…otherwise known as REAL butter.

But a pizza roll or a Dorito…yeah…I’ll eat one here and there. That doesn’t even make sense does it?

So what types of “food” will you compromise on sometimes?  And which “foods” make you screw up your face and say Helgpaht-blephln?

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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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