Vanilla Extract

I first made my own vanilla extract as Christmas gifts for friends and family 2 years ago...and I gave every jar of it away, so I never had a chance to test it out.  A few months ago, I decided to make myself a jar of extract. I don't think I can ever go back to the store bought stuff again! If you are looking for nice, homemade Christmas gifts, I highly recommend this one. You can make it as cheap or expensive as your budget allows. I've seen recipes where it is one vanilla bean in a half pint jar with one cup of very inexpensive vodka (probably the cheapest route) and I've seen versions that call for 25 beans in a pint jar with high-quality bourbon (definitely more expensive). Christmas is still about 3 months away, but if you want to give extract as a gift, I recommend starting now. It needs a few months (usually 3 or more) for the vanilla flavor and smell to really come through the alcohol.  I posted the recipe I used for this jar (which I've been using for about 4 months). In my experience, extract that uses vodka is ready to use sooner than extract that uses bourbon, since bourbon has a stronger flavor and scent.  The bourbon, however, gives the extract a much more rich and complex flavor than the vodka, so it really is up to you.  I also plan on adding more bourbon to the jar when it starts getting low.  I used quite a few beans and they still have a strong vanilla scent to them. When I have a recipe that calls for a split vanilla bean, or I make a glaze for a coffee cake, I like to scrape a few beans out of a pod from the extract, just to add a little something extra.  I order my vanilla beans online. People have strong opinions about vanilla beans...I don't. I ordered what was on sale the day I needed beans.  This is easy and worth the time and money. If you give it as a gift, make sure you save a jar for yourself!


Vanilla Extract
makes about 1 pint

8-12 large vanilla beans, split, with some of the little tiny beans scraped into the jar (I used 12)
14 ounces bourbon or vodka (I used bourbon)

Place the vanilla beans and alcohol in a pint-sized mason jar. Add the lid and place in the pantry for at least 2 months (3 if you are using bourbon).  Give as gifts or keep for yourself. Use in any recipe that calls for vanilla extract.

Easy Fajitas

I learned how to make fajitas in a cooking class I took in high school (Nutrition and Wellness I). To this day, I still think it was one of the most useful classes I took in high school. I love fajitas, but I've never really settled on one recipe. I've used bottled marinades, envelopes of seasoning mix, liquid smoke with lime juice and garlic, and a few other recipes. Last month, I was going through my Betty Crocker Bridal Edition cookbook, looking for something new to try. I came across a recipe for fajitas and decided to give it a try. My kids have never been huge fans of fajitas, and I think it was because of the liquid smoke flavor. When I made this recipe, the kids ate a ton of the chicken. My son made his own fajitas with chicken, lettuce, sour cream, and cheese...and he ate 3 of them! This is a great chicken marinade recipe. It would be great with yellow rice and chicken, chicken tacos, or even a grilled chicken breast with a baked potato.  I've shared this recipe with a few friends and they all loved it (and so did their children). If you love to go out for fajitas, but don't make them at home because you think they are too much work, I highly recommend trying this recipe. It is easy and very kid-friendly!


Fajitas
Adapted from Betty Crocker
Makes 12 fajitas

Fajita marinade (recipe follows)
1 pound chicken breast or thighs, pounded to uniform thickness
2 tablespoons oil
2 large onions, sliced
2 medium green or red bell peppers, cut into 1/4 inch strips
Optional Toppings:
Sour cream
1 cup shredded Monterey jack or cheddar cheese
Shredded lettuce
Diced tomato
Salsa
Sour Cream
Guacamole

1) Place chicken in a glass dish or bag. Pour marinade over chicken and refrigerate 4 - 24 hours.
2) Heat oven to 325. Wrap tortillas in aluminum foil. Heat in oven about 15 minutes, or until warm. Remove tortillas from oven; keep wrapped.
3) Set oven to broil. Remove chicken from marinade. Broil chicken 4 minutes, turn and broil 3-4 minutes longer, or until chicken is no longer pink. Discard any leftover marinade.
4) While chicken is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook onions and peppers until tender, but not too soft, about 6-8 minutes.
5) Cut chicken into strips before serving.
6) Assemble fajitas with chicken, onions, peppers, and your choice of toppings.

Marinade
1/4 cup oil (I used grapeseed)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Mix all ingredients in a shallow glass dish.

Easy Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

I love biscuits. I do not love rolling out, cutting, reshaping, and re-rolling dough. That's why I love drop biscuits. I also lack the patience to use a pastry cutter to cut butter into the dough. I have a food processor, but I feel bad getting it down for biscuits when I have 2 pastry cutters (one of which belonged to my great-grandmother) in my kitchen.  I was a Bisquick drop biscuit girl for many years, but the price kept going up, so I really wanted to learn to make my own biscuits from scratch.  One day I was researching buttermilk drop biscuit recipes and came across this gem.  In this recipe, you melt the butter, then let it cool for a few minutes before mixing it with the buttermilk. The buttermilk helps the melted butter solidify just a enough before mixing it with the dry ingredients. There is no need for a pastry cutter, two knives, or a food processor. While I enjoy the ease of the recipe, taste is even more important. I am happy to report that these taste wonderful! They really aren't that much more work than Bisquick biscuits, and in my opinion, they taste so much better and are more moist. I've been making these for over a year and am convinced that I've found the perfect recipe! I've added cheddar cheese and garlic powder to these a few times for easy garlic cheese biscuits and my family loved them. A few weekends ago, I chopped up a few pieces of crispy bacon and added some cheddar and chives for a wonderful treat at breakfast (those are the biscuits in the picture). But my favorite way to eat them, is just he basic biscuit recipe with butter. OK, I also really like them with homemade sausage gravy. If you are looking for an easy biscuit recipe, I highly recommend this one!


Easy Buttermilk Drop Biscuits
from Pink Parsley

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup cold buttermilk
8 tablespoons butter, melted, and cooled for about 5 minutes at room temperature

1) Preheat oven to 475.
2) In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and kosher salt.
3) In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter and buttermilk, stirring until small clumps are formed.
4) Combine the wet and dry ingredients, and stir with a spoon or rubber spatula until the dough begins to pull away from the sides.
5) Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the dough into 12 biscuits. Optional- you can roll the dough into balls to make them look pretty and uniform.
6) Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, or until the tops are golden-brown. Optional: brush the tops with melted butter before serving.

For garlic-cheese biscuits: Add 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese with dry ingredients.

For bacon-cheese-chive biscuits: Add 4 strips of cooked, crumbled bacon, 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese, and 2 tablespoons fresh chives with the dry ingredients.

School Lunches and Snacks

My son started first grade yesterday (we start school really early in our county). After a summer of having the time to make fun/more involved lunches at home, it was time to start packing a lunch box again. Last year, I packed the lunches for the first part of the school year, then I decided I really wanted a few extra minutes of sleep, so my husband took over packing the lunch box. I know that my whole day is easier if I get up before the kids, so this year, I'm back on lunch duty. For the last few years, my son has had a snack schedule for his class. This year he needs to bring his own snack every day. My daughter goes to school twice a week and also needs to pack a snack, so I'll post some snacks with my list of lunch ideas. I try to do a mix of store bought and homemade things in lunches. It is exhausting to do everything homemade, even though I'd really like to. Baking the bread, roasting the chicken, making the dips, baking the cookies, making the crackers, and cutting all of the fruit take time. I try to find a balance because time in the kitchen (cooking and cleaning dishes) is time I'm not spending playing with the kids or doing other housework (have I mentioned that I have a messy house?).  My kids are fine with Publix whole wheat bread, so I tend to use that for sandwiches...but they love my homemade cheese-its and energy bites, so I'll take the time to make those. When my son started losing his baby teeth, sending whole apples and plums in his lunch was harder. If grapes, blueberries, or oranges aren't in season and he's tired of carrots, I'll send in applesauce (store bought).  I've checked Pinterest for lunch ideas and have even pinned a few things...but honestly, most of them are too much work at 6:15 in the morning. The bento boxes are cute, but really expensive (my son sometimes throws away his lunch containers). I still use ziploc sandwich bags for most things. I did find some really inexpensive ziploc divided lunch containers at Target and they fit in my son's lunch box.  OK, here's my list of lunch ideas. I hope this helps some of you that are looking for new ideas!

Lunch in the picture- carrot chips, no-bake energy bites, ham and cheese roll-ups, and 2 wedges of laughing cow cheese.

Lunch Ideas:
Homemade lunchables- stacks of crackers, lunch meat, and cheese cut to match the size of the crackers
Soup in a thermos- we tried this yesterday and it didn't leak!! Use canned or homemade (our favorites are chicken noodle and turkey soup)
Rollups- lunch meat and cheese of your choice. I packed 6 roll-ups today
Tuna salad and crackers (if your school doesn't allow plastic knives, just send a spoon)
Crackers with peanut butter
Peanut butter and apple wrap- I haven't made this one yet, but my son enjoyed it in a Publix Deli kid's meal
Hard-boiled egg, peeled (my son likes these with ranch dressing)
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich- it's easy and often overlooked when packing lunches
Sandwiches made with leftover roasted chicken, turkey, or roast beef
Note about sandwiches- Sometimes I take my son to the store to pick out the deli meat, cheese, and bread. It gives him some freedom, and ownership in his lunch, and it shows me that he's willing to eat things I'd never thought of.

Snack/Side Ideas:
Homemade crackers- I have quite a few variations on homemade-cheeze-its (King Arthur Flour Cheese Pennies (my favorite), my variation on cheese pennies (different cheese and flours), cheddar cheese crackers (mixed grains), and homemade cheeze-its (similar to cheese pennies, but with less butter).
Chocolate peanut butter energy bars (similar to KIND bars)
Fruit and nut bars (similar to LARA bars)
No-Bake energy bites- I have my kids convinced that these are dessert
Carrots and ranch or carrots and peanut butter
Applesauce- I recommend this one if you are making homemade
Carrots or pretzels with laughing cow cheese- my son's favorite snack
String cheese
Chex Mix-I love the recipe on the back of the box, but double the amount of sauce

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dip with Greek Yogurt

My apologies for the shadow in the picture. The lens on my camera isn't working at all right now. Until I get to a local camera shop to have it fixed, my blog photos will come from the iphone 4. I promise not to make them too artsy with Instagram.

I am NOT anti-ranch dressing/dip at all.  If it gets my son to eat broccoli, it's fine with me. He's still eating broccoli. How many of us grown-ups regularly eat steamed or raw veggies with no oil, butter, dip, or salt? That's what I thought :) OK, that's not my point. We are a family that loves to dip our veggies. The kids even like to dip everything, not just veggies.  I decided that my job as a mom was not to protect them from the delicious flavor of veggies dipped in ranch. Instead, it is to make sure that they get some quality ingredients from their dips. I do have bottles of thousand island and bbq sauce in my fridge because I'm sometimes missing an ingredient or two for a homemade dip. And some nights I either forget or run out of time to mix up something, but I really do try to make most of their dips. It helps that most commercial ranch dressing gives my son a rash around his mouth, so I have to make the real stuff.

I kept seeing ideas on Pinterest for ranch dip using Greek yogurt. We love greek yogurt and it tastes like sour cream, so I figured it was worth a shot. Ranch dressing packets are pretty expensive, so I decided to use some spices I had around the house to make a dip.  I ended up adding a little bit of buttermilk. I keep it on hand because I cook and bake with it quite a bit. If you leave it out, the dip should be fine.  When I tasted the dip, something was missing...lemon juice. I was out of lemons and didn't feel like thawing the one of the cubes of Meyer lemon juice from the freezer, so I grabbed my Penzeys lemon pepper seasoning. It was perfect! I think this will become a permanent addition to my ranch recipes. This ended up being very kid and adult friendly. We had some for snack and with dinner. Now I need to make more!

As you can see from the picture, my son couldn't keep his fingers out of the dip, even while I was taking pictures.

Just in case you are looking for more dips and dressings to make from scratch, here is a list of some of the recipes I've posted:

Thousand Island Dressing
Parmesan Peppercorn Ranch 
Peanut Sauce (really good with chicken)
Blue Cheese (my favorite)
Honey Mustard

Ranch Dip
Makes 1 cup

1 cup Greek yogurt
1 - 2 tablespoons buttermilk (I used 2)
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt (start with 1/4 and add more if you need it)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon lemon pepper (or 1 teaspoon lemon juice + 1/8 teaspoon pepper)

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use.

My Favorite Chocolate Cake

I know that "favorite" is a strong word. But I mean it when I say that this is my favorite chocolate cake.  Last fall, I was on a very low carb diet. It worked, but at the end of 8 weeks, I really, really wanted chocolate cake. When my chocolate cake craving was at it's peak, friends invited us over for dinner. That's when I discovered this cake. I've made it at least 4 times since November- which is a lot for a cake this rich.  It is a simple recipe- it's the one off the back of the Hershey's Cocoa can. I had the "Special Dark" cocoa the first time I made this, and loved it, so that's the type of cocoa I've been using. The cake is almost black inside because there is so much cocoa.  The recipe calls for vegetable oil. I decided to use coconut oil because it makes more moist baked goods. Just make sure you melt the coconut oil first....otherwise you will be mixing forever. I also use the frosting recipe on the back of the can. You don't even need a mixer for it since the butter is melted.  Once this frosting is cooled in the fridge, it is really hard to work with. I like to bake the cakes in the evening and wrap them in plastic wrap overnight. Then I mix up the frosting in the morning and frost the cake as soon as I've made the chocolate frosting. To add a little something extra, you can be creative with toppings. The one pictured has shaved white chocolate on top. I've considered trying a peanut butter frosting recipe for the middle of the cake. I think my next experiment will be toasted coconut on top. My husband doesn't like coconut, so I guess that means more cake for me!

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake
from Hersheys.com 

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I use unbleached)
3/4 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk (whole milk)
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Frosting (recipe follows)

1) Heat oven to 325 (cakes cook more evenly at 325 than 350). Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2) Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat with a mixer, on medium speed 2 minutes (start on low, otherwise you'll have cocoa powder all over your kitchen...true story). Stir in boiling water. The batter will be very thin. Pour into cake pans.
3) Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes before removing from pans. Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.

"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting
makes 2 cups of frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
2/3 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add a small amount of milk, if the frosting is too thick. Stir in vanilla.

Rainbow Veggies

My friend Kayla sent me this recipe a few months ago.  Once I made it, I was kicking myself for not making it sooner! It was really easy and tasted amazing.  I served it with a sweet pork tenderloin (recipe coming soon, I hope). The leftover veggies were really good with eggs and sausage the next morning. This wasn't the most kid-friendly side dish for my kids. My daughter loved the purple potatoes and my son ate enough bell peppers to get a second serving of pork. My kids tend to me more into broccoli, carrots, spinach (my son), corn, peas, sweet potato, winter squash, and green beans. This was the perfect side dish for my husband and  I- especially since everything except for the purple potatoes is in season in Florida right now, so it was cheap and really fresh. The original recipe called for vidallia onions. I accidentally left them out and thought it turned out great without them.  I may add cauliflower next time since I've recently discovered how amazing roasted cauliflower is! The biggest change I made from the original recipe was the cooking time. It called for cooking everything together for 40 - 45 minutes. I knew that in my oven the peppers would burn and the squash would be "mushy." Since we prefer crisp peppers and squash, I changed the cooking time a little bit.  I will definitely make this again while these veggies are cheap and in season!

Rainbow Veggies

Serves 3 adults

1 red bell pepper

1 orange bell pepper

1 yellow squash

1 zucchini

4 – 6 small purple potatoes (I used what was in a bag of mixed potatoes)

Olive oil

Seasoned Salt

1) Heat oven to 400.

2) Quarter the small potatoes and cut other veggies to roughly the same size.  

3) Toss the potatoes in about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season generously with seasoned salt. Bake for 15 minutes. 

4) Add remaining vegetables, 1 more tablespoon of olive oil, and season with more seasoned salt. Bake for 15 minutes.