Oh look! I've been up to something!! :)

Oh look! I've been up to something, again!! Vanilla extract and vanilla sugar has commenced! Begin the countdown! :) (due to the time it takes to mature, some may ship prior to completion!)

 

Madagascar bourbon vanilla beans from France...I got 30 on eBay for $17 including shipping... :)

 

Madagascar bourbon vanilla beans from France...they smell yummy!

My base is 80 proof vodka...for some reason the "cheap" stuff seems to make the best extracts... :)

Made it right in the little bottles...I think these are 6oz... :)

Vanilla sugar...the bean will remain when complete, so it can be used to make more by the recipients... :)

I put a bean, cut in half and sliced down the middle (not all the way through) in each bottle, so when it's empty, it can be refilled and started again by the recipients...I'll give them a shake every few days...I made a couple extra for myself and for my son's house...and also so I can see the progress... :)

Made a couple extra for myself and my son's house, too! :)

Finished product, will give them a shake every few days... :)

 I'll post more pictures as they progress over the next few weeks! :)

PEACH BRANDY STARTED TODAY!! :)

TODAY IS THE DAY!!...I'm starting my Peach Brandy today!!...28 days from now, I'll have some yummy goodness for Christmas gifts!!...gotta find some nice bottles for this and the Kahlua, too!
(See?! I'm not ALL mascara and makeup!) :)

PEACH BRANDY

2 GALLONS + 3 QUARTS WATER (44 cups)
3QTS PEACHES, EXTREMELY RIPE PLUS SEEDS (I'm using 18 large peaches)
3 LEMONS CUT IN SLICE
2 SMALL PKGS. YEAST
10LBS SUGAR
4 LBS. DARK RAISINS
Place peaches and seeds, lemons and sugar in crock.
Dissolve yeast in water (must not be too hot). Stir thoroughly.
stir daily for 7 days.
keep crock or vessel covered with cheesecloth
On the 7th day, add the raisins and stir.
Let mixture sit UNTOUCHED for 21 days, then strain through cheesecloth three times, then bottle or jar it.

*Notes: I'm going to dissolve the sugar in the water, dissolve the yeast in some warm water then add to the sugar water, then I'll add the peaches/seeds (sliced) and lemon slices. It will be much easier to stir that way. I'm using a 5 gallon, #2, food grade bucket, covered with flour sack cloth and a bungee cord to keep it on tight, but still easy to open to stir. I'll keep you posted! (Big THANK YOU! Goes to my friend Dianna for the recipe!)

Added 40 cups of water warm (not hot!) water to a 5 gallon, #2 food grade bucket...I saved 4 cups to dissolve the yeast...I have a 4 cup measuring cup, so it went pretty quick...so it's 44 cups total...

Added two packets of yeast to 4 cups of warm (not hot!) water, let it sit while I sliced the lemons, then stirred to dissolve completely...

Added 10 pounds of sugar to the bucket of water and stirred until it was dissolved completely...

Got three pretty good sized lemons to use...

Sliced lemons and added to the bucket with the sugar and yeast...the water isn't really brown...just the lighting I guess... LOL!

Went and got my peaches, which have been ripening for a week, sitting on and draped with flour sack cloth...worked like a charm by the way, these peaches were hard as a rock last weekend...

Cut the peaches off the seeds, right into the bucket, so no mess to clean up...as you can see, the peaches are very ripe from using the little trick I found...I'm curious if this would work with pears, too...

All stirred up...you can see that I have plenty of room left in this bucket...so this was a perfect choice over a crock...which are quite expensive, if you don't have one...

A little better angle on how full the bucket is now that everything has been added and stirred well...

Covered with the flour sack cloth and secured tightly with a bungee cord...we don't want to cover it tightly, due to the gases it will produce (My son Travis says "It's going to stink!" LOL!), but we don't want any unwanted visitors getting in there...and still need to be able to open it easily for our daily stir...we'll add 4 pounds of dark raisins next Sunday and then let it do it's magic for the next 21 days...gives me plenty of time to get some pretty bottles for gifting! :)

Day 2...it smells like lemony beer! :)

Day 7, before and after stirring...still smells like beer, LOL! This is the last day of stirring...tomorrow, we add the raisins...then we'll let it rest and do it's magic for 21 days! I can't wait!!

Day 8! Raisins go in today! That's a LOT of raisins!

This will give you an idea how many raisins are going into the mix.

Raisins are in!

Raisins are in, of course they sunk to the bottom. Now...we wait, 21 days for them to work their magic! I can't wait!!

Here's what it looked like when finished and bottled. It's pretty good for a first try. :)

Today's food projects are all done! YAY!

I started some cream cheese, sour cream and yogurt before bed last night...now they're all done and into the fridge!...how cool is that?!...I can make homemade food products for my family! :)

Wanna neat, easy way to do your nails?... :)

Go over and check out my friend's web page...she's got some really cool designs, that are fast and easy to apply to your nails with no mess and easy to take off when YOU'RE ready...they even have stuff for kids and "mother/daughter" sets, which I thought was too cute!!  Go check it out!! Great products over here:

This is just a few examples:

  Cute designs for kids:

Jamberry Nails

10 months cigarette FREE!! :)

TODAY...I am 10 months cigaratte FREE!!

I have stepped down my nicotine level from 18mgs to 6mgs as well and will be going to 0mgs within the next few days. I won a contest where I get 3 free bottles of eLiquid every month for a year...I asked for 0mgs beginning this month. :)

For those that don't know, I'm vaping instead of smoking and this is how I quit smoking, from the very first day. I was a two pack a day smoker and said "I'm so addicted to cigarettes, I'll smoke on my death bed." Well, now, I don't have to say that anymore, because I am no longer a slave to cigarettes! I'm FREE!!

This is what I used to quit, get yours here and QUIT TODAY:

Use my Halo eCig affiliate link on the left to get yours, too...that's where I got this little one, it fits right into my pocket...

 

Made some sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt and peach pie filling!... :)

I make my own yogurt, butter, cream cheese, jams, jellies and apple sauce...today I made sour cream...all I had to do was add some cultures to whipping cream and wait...I let this culture for 16 hours, put it in smaller jars, labeled them and put in the fridge to stop the culturing process (I added 1/8th teaspoon of sea salt as a preservative and it brought the flavor alive! I do that with cream cheese and butter, also!)...these things are SO easy to make...I'm stunned I didn't learn how to do this years ago...I've got cream cheese in the works as I write... :)

 

Got the cream cheese working, too...I added the culture to a half a gallon of whole milk, allowed it to sit overnight and then pour it into flour cloth 12 hours later and then tied it to a wooden spoon over a pitcher and have been letting the whey drain off all day...once 12 hours has passed, I'll remove it from the cloth and add 1/8th teaspoon of sea salt to help preserve it and then I'll put it in a bowl, label it and then put it into the fridge...it's just unbelievably easy to do!... :)

 Cream cheese is done! Added an 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt, stirred well, put in air tight bowl, labeled and into the fridge! Will keep for two weeks (if it lasts that long! LOL) :)

The yogurt has been in the fridge since this morning...getting chilled and to stop the culturing process...there are lots of ways to make yogurt, we use a machine that keeps the temperature even...I use UHT whole milk (2% is fine, I use this type because it cuts the steps of heating and cooling the milk out and it works GREAT!!), a half cup of powdered milk (I get less whey this way) and two tablespoons of my favorite plain Greek yogurt, I try to find 2% (milk fat), I don't use 0%, I don't even eat 0% yogurt, LOL!...I freeze it into ice cube trays now, so it takes one cube of yogurt as the starter...I warm the milk, dissolve the cube in a cup with a little of the warm milk, add it back, stir and then put into the cups and leave for 12 hours...I usually make it overnight or first thing in the morning...when finished, it goes into the fridge to end the culturing process...it's very easy...UHT milk is the box kind, comes in 2 quart size...I'm going to try the crock pot method soon...Google it if you don't have a machine... :)

I wanted peach pie filling to use as the "fruit on the bottom" but couldn't find any (got some blueberry, cherry and apple for later)...so I decided to make my own...I started with canned, diced peaches (1), mashed them up a bit in the juice, then added a little of this and that (sugar, brown sugar, salt, ground cinnamon, allspice because I don't have nutmeg on hand, lemon juice and cornstarch for thickening) brought it to a boil and viola! fruit filling for the yogurt...I used cornstarch instead of flour so the liquid would thicken and still be clear...if you feel like you don't cook well, learn which herbs and spices to use with which foods...find a few easy recipes and get in there and cook!...follow the instructions carefully, because most are tried and tested and written that way for a reason...don't turn up the heat to speed things along...you will ruin your project if you do...have everything you'll need out and ready to use...always measure and be careful with salt!! You can add a little more if you need to, but you can't take it out!!...watch and favorite some videos and bookmark recipes you like...ask for recipes from people that made something you liked...most of all? HAVE FUN!!... :)