Lemon Extract and a brief house update

My sweet and wonderful in-laws were here for the past almost-month helping with the house renovations and with my kids (I got to go shopping alone!!! and get Starbucks every day....sorry Mike...there's just something about their coffee that is so addicting!).  Not only is the house better than I imagined, I feel more relaxed than I have since Shiloh was born.  It was wonderful!!

Now, about the house.....here is a before and after picture of the kitchen in the house!  I am so excited about it!!!  

Before

After!!!  Yippee!!  

A few more things to do (painting cabinets, new cabinet drawer pulls and knobs, and backsplash), but it's so beautiful already!!  I love it!

Another wonderful gift Mike's parents gave us was a bunch of fresh picked lemons from their lemon tree.  And I mean A. Bunch (or maybe a bushel?  Anyone know how much a bushel is??)!

Anyway, glorious lemons!  They are so delicious!  So, Mike's mom juiced most of them and we froze the juice in ice cube trays.  So, I'm going to be making a lot of lemonade and recipes calling for lemons in the days and weeks to come. :)

Last year, Mike and I made our own vanilla extract.  It was so delicious and so easy!  I really recommend it!  So, Dru and I got to thinking.....why not make lemon extract?  So I googled it and found you make it the same way you make vanilla extract except with lemon rinds.  So, here you go....if you want to do vanilla, just replace the lemon rinds with 2 vanilla beans :)

Lemon Extract

8 oz jar 

The peels of 6 lemons

1c quality vodka

funnel

Peel the lemons with a vegetable peeler or a zester (I used a peeler because I didn't want a bunch of tiny pieces in my extract that I'd have to strain out).  Try to get as little as possible of the white part of the peel.  It is bitter so try and just get the yellow part.  

Place the peel into the jar and using the funnel, add your vodka.  It took just under a cup because I used an 8oz jar, so the lemons took up some space.  I just filled it as high as I could and called it a day.  

Now, about the vodka.  If you are gluten free, make sure you do your research.  There is a lot of conflicting information out there on whether the distillation process takes out the gluten or not, so to me, it's better to err on the side of caution.  It is a bit pricier but you can find vodka that is not made from wheat, barley or rye.  

**If you are making vanilla extract, then you can get a good quality bourbon instead of the vodka if you prefer and it makes a really good extract.  We did both and it was delicious.....I am not sure how it would taste with lemons though, so I'd probably stick with vodka on that.  

After adding the vodka, then close your jar and store in a dark place for 4-6 weeks.  It won't hurt if you store it longer; just make sure to shake the jars every few days or so.

And that's it!  Like my son Michael likes to say "Easy peasy lemon squeezy".  

Homemade Bone Broth....and a little house news

Ok, ok.....I know you've been waiting with bated breath (as have I!!) to know and see what that beautiful wood was being used for that I posted about in my last post.  Well, I can finally show you!  YAY!!!  It's done enough to get a picture, although the photos don't quite do it justice.

Here is our new almost completed dining room ceiling!!!

We've still got to complete the beams going to the sides, but I think this is just beautiful!  I huge shout out goes to Uncle Joe, Mike's Dad George, and to Mike!  They have worked themselves ragged to make our vision a reality!  I can't wait to see it fully completed!!  

.............So between the time I started this post and now, the ceiling was completed!  Here's the finished product!!!............Loooooove!

Anyway, I was planning on posting my way of making bone broth and my friend just happened to text me and ask me about it.  So, it turned out to be perfect timing.  A few things to know about bone broth.  Collagen/gelatin is very good for you.  It helps your nails, your hair, your skin, it helps seal a leaky gut (especially good for babies), and helps heal a damaged gut caused by food allergies or sensitivities.  I use it in many, many recipes (if the recipe calls for water or wine even, you can replace it with your broth if you'd like and it gives it great flavor!), I mix it in my baby's food, and we drink it warmed up in a coffee cup (it's surprisingly good this way).

This recipe is more of a "how to" rather than a measured out recipe because it's really going to be good pretty much no matter what you do to it.  So, I'll give you a guide as to what I do and you can tweak it and go from there.  

Homemade Bone Broth

4-6 lbs chicken, beef, and/or pork bones (you can use chicken feet, neck, marrow bones, steak bones, etc....you can separate them by animal or you can mix.  whatever you prefer)

1Tbsp apple cider vinegar 

2 carrots (you can even use baby carrots if that's all you've got) 

1 large onion

4-6 cloves of garlic

2 stalks of celery (leave on the tops...lots of good flavor)

salt and pepper to taste

a bunch of fresh herbs (I like either cilantro or thyme, or you could do a mixture like sage, rosemary, and thyme, etc)

So first of all you want your bones.  I like to use a mix of chicken and beef bones.  We generally purchase a half of a cow that has been butchered, so I have a ton of beef bones and then I save all my chicken bones from when I buy a whole chicken on sale or if I happen to buy bone-in chicken.  I cook whatever meat it is, take the meat off of the bones, and put the bones in the freezer until I am ready to use them.  You get a lot of extra flavor when the bones have been cooked.....it's especially delicious when you have cooked steak on the grill.  If you have fresh soup bones from the butcher, then you will want to sprinkle them with salt and pepper and roast them on 350 degrees for about  30 minutes before you start your broth.

Ok, so then I take the bones I want to use, put them in a large stock pot (do not use a cast iron pot for this.....we will be adding apple cider vinegar and it will be too acidic for your cast iron pot and will make your broth taste like metal.....stainless is probably your best bet here), and fill the pot 3/4 of the way full with water and turn the burner onto high.  Add the apple cider vinegar.

Then chop the carrots, onion, celery into large hunks and throw into the pot.  Then smash your garlic cloves, remove the peel, and add to the pot.  Add about a tsp of salt and about 1/2 a tsp pepper and bring to a boil.  Once you have a good rolling boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 3-4 hours (check your marrow bones and make sure the marrow has come out...the longer the better).




When you have about 10-15 minutes left, add your fresh herbs.  If you add these too early, the flavor can cook out, so you want to make sure you don't cook them too long.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  When you are happy with your flavor, get another large pot and set your colander in it.  Pour the broth in the colander and strain out the bones and the veggies.   Then, I take the broth and run it through a fine mesh strainer a few times to make sure I get all the little pieces out.  Serve immediately, use in a recipe, can it, or cool and store in the fridge or freezer.  Enjoy!

Progress and Baby food

I love this season in our lives.  Yes, it is stressful and hectic and there are days I want to just sit in the closet, eat chocolate and cry, but I really wouldn't have it any other way.  I love to see my children growing and learning and loving our new land.  I love to see my husband working on our new home and creating and turning it into our perfect place with our fingerprints on it.  I'm so excited about what is in store.

So, our property we bought has a quaint little ranch house on it that was in need of a lot of TLC.  It's an outdated home with paneling, walpaper, blue bathroom furniture (sink, tub, and even toilet!  like baby blue....whaaaaat?!  lol), and popcorn ceilings!  The hubs and his dad (and today Uncle Joe joined the party!) have been working diligently on prepping the house for bigger and better things.  I feel like we are on an episode of "Flip or Flop".  Here are a few pictures of some of the work.



Before of the living room.....popcorn, fake stone.....








paneling.....








Adios paneling!!














Hello, smooth ceilings!!

 

The kitchen before....florescent lighting and popcorn ceilings.....

And after.....can't wait for texture, recessed lighting and an island light!!  

 And this beautiful wood......well, I'm excited about this....but you'll have to wait to find out what it is for!  ;-)

Ok, so another milestone in our family is that my sweet girl has started baby food.  I wanted to let her follow baby led weaning and just give her chunks of food to gnaw on, but she is almost 7 months and still has no teeth, so I went with purees.  We don't do grains, so I skipped that and started her on avocado.  She liked it the first day.....the second, not so much.  So,  I made some sweet potatoes with homemade bone broth and she loves it!!  Plus, bone broth is great for aiding in the sealing of an infants leaky gut, so she's getting that in addition to flavor and good nutrients.  Tonight, I've steamed some carrots and will get those blended with some bone broth tonight.  Here is a video of my cutie pie trying out her first bites of food....enjoy!  (This is new for me and I'm not sure if the video will work.....hopefully it will!!)