Monday, March 26, 2012

Homemade Vanilla

Hello everyone!

I recently head that you can make your own homemade vanilla for baking.
I was intrigued so I decided that I wanted to look into this.
Turns out good old vanilla is just basically the beans and vodka.
WHO KNEW??
I had no idea.

I went onto amazon and bought some Madagascar vanilla beans
There are two different kinds that I found Madagascar and Tahitian vanilla beans.
After doing some reading Madagascar beans were what we needed for the recipe.

First we need a bottle with a secure stop to age our homemade vanilla

Then we need whole vanilla beans for the recipe - I used eight beans

Then you need to cut the bean length wise and scoop out the pulp on the inside of the beans.
Both the pulp and the beans are going to go into the container but this helps the process to be sped along.
 

 After you get the beans and the pulp in the jar...cover the beans in vodka. I would suggest getting a decent brand according to the recipe I found. 
Then every 3 days or so you want to give the bottle a good shake to help the process along.
Don't open it for at least 3 weeks.
The longer you wait the better it will taste


Hope this is something useful if you want to try it.
Also to do this it cost me like 15 dollars and that is alot of vanilla. 
Not to mention the tiny bottle at the grocery store is almost 5 dollars.
Try it out :)

Monday, March 19, 2012

Homemade Irish Soda Bread

Hey everyone! 
I hope you are having a great weekend and that you all did something awesome for St. Patty's day.
I celebrated my heritage by making the family recipe of Irish Soda Bread.
Its is awesome

I'm not one of those people who will not give you the recipe.
So here it is.

IRISH SODA BREAD

INGREDIENTS:
3 T butter
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 and 1/2 cups flour
2 T sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup raisins

INSTRUCTIONS:
Mix all dry ingredients in to a bowl and then cut in the three tablespoons of butter until there are no butter clumps visible. Stir in the raisins and buttermilk to make a soft dough. Then turn it onto a floured surface and knead into a ball. Cut a cross into the top of the bread. Put a little butter on top layer of bread to help it brown. Then bake at 375 degrees for 35 mins or until top is golden brown.

Should look like this before it goes into the oven!
I mean to take an after picture but when it came out of the over warm I took a giant bite before even thinking about it!
Here is us...sporting our green and watching the buckeyes play in the tournament

Oh well...Have a great week.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Morning everyone!
Hope you all are excited as it is almost the weekend.
I wanted to give you an update.
I have been working at crossing some stuff off my 30 before 30 list.
Tonight on leap year day....I learned how to drive stick!

My girlfriend Lauren decided to take some time and energy and show me how to do this thing!
I will say...it was sorta nerve racking.
There is a whole lot more that goes into driving when you have a stick shift.
There is no way I would ever be able to talk on the phone or eat in my car.
It would be way to complicated.
That being said...it was mostly a sucess.
I drove to and from Yabo's Taco's without stalling.
I consider that an ACHIEVEMENT!

If you are in the Columbus area. We have this great little whole in the wall that has been blowing up.
Its called Yabo's Tacos.
It is awesome.
You can get fish tacos that are incredible.
I ordered three at 2.50 a piece and 2 would have been plenty.
great place, definitely worth a try if your in the area
Also, they have dollar drink specials.


Chips and Queso... delicious

Hope you all have a great end of the week!