AwesomeBites

Tag: Vanilla

  • Very Cherry Vanilla Jelly

    Very Cherry Vanilla Jelly

    Very Cherry Cherry Vanilla 2011 Ventura County Fair Honorable Mention!

    Very Cherry Cherry Vanilla Jelly

    Best Cherry pitter ever! Thanks Denny

    Cherries – Pitted, Chopped – 4 to 6 cups
    2 Cups White Wine or Water
    Juice from one orange and 1 lemon
    2 vanilla beans, sliced to release the beans
    1 tsp salt
    1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
    3 Cups Sugar
    1 Cup of Splenda
    1 pkg of low sugar pectin (the only stuff I use)
    Boil cherries in white wine with vanilla beans until the fruit is fork tender.

    Puree in a blender, remove the vanilla beans if you can before.
    Strain the mixture thru a small wire sieve. The color should be beautiful.
    Pour blended cherries back into heavy pot, add pectin and bring to rolling boil for 1 minute.
    Add sugar, bring back to rolling boil for 1 full minute. Pretty isn’t it!

    Ladle into sterilized jars and process for 5 minutes in water bath.

    Daughter Denny made Very Cherry Cherry Vanilla for the Ventura County Fair. Congratulations on the “Honorable Mention” Award! Very proud of you my baby!

  • Vanilla Fig Preserves

    Vanilla Fig Preserves

    Vanilla Fig 2011 Ventura County Fair Honorable Mention
    Sliced Figs

    24 figs sliced into 6-8 segments
    2 Cups White Wine or Water
    Juice from one orange and 1 lemon
    2 vanilla beans, sliced to release the beans
    1 tsp salt
    1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
    3 Cups Brown Sugar
    1 Cup of Splenda
    1 pkg of low sugar pectin (the only stuff I use)
    Boil sliced figs in white wine with vanilla beans until the fruit is fork tender.

    While you can puree the mixture in a blender, I love the chunks of fruit in the jam. If you do not, please by all
    means puree! Just remember to remove the vanilla beans before you puree.

    Once the figs are fork tender, add pectin and bring to rolling boil for 1 minute.
    Add brown sugar and splenda, bring back to rolling boil for 1 full minute. Pretty isn’t it! The brown sugar makes the preserves look great!

    Ladle into sterilized jars and process for 5 minutes in water bath.

    This was one of my son’s favorites, “This is like pie filling! MmmGood!”

    Very Cherry, Vanilla Fig and Cinnamon Plum
  • Homemade Vanilla Extract

    Homemade Vanilla Extract

    A couple of friends and I got together yesterday with some bottles of booze and had a great time. We sloshed a little vodka, rum, and bourbon into bottles with vanilla beans and made our own Vanilla Extract.

    My hubby the auction freak (buys everything at an auction that is a good deal) had several small bottles that we used.

    We cut the stem of the vanilla bean up the middle leaving the top together for easy removal, filled the 2 and 4 ounce jars and added one bean to the small jars and 2 beans to the bigger jars.

    Homemade Vanilla Extract – Day 1

    The house was alive with the smell of Vanilla.  It reminded me of baking sugar cookies and made me want to bake a  batch.

    Viki and Denise would do the filling of the bottles and poke the stem of the vanilla into the jar.

    We had  a lot of smiles, a bit of the spirits leftover and lots of Holiday unique gift prepared.

    Mmmm Good.

  • Baked Pears with Vanilla Ice Cream

    3 Tablespoons Walnut Oil or butter but remember the Walnut adds a richness that is exceptional.)
    6 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
    2 Pears: halved, cored, peeled
    1/2 C Chardonnay

    Mix ingredients in an oven proof pan or frying pan.
    Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or fork tender.
    Baste several times with sauce.

    Serve with Vanilla Ice Cream

    Heaven, I am in Heaven

    Simple, Elegant, Delicious.

    Denny, I made the pears we did in the cooking class. You should definately try this recipe.
    Serves 4, but very easy to double or triple this recipe. Great for a crowd.

    If you have leftovers, serve over cottage cheese in the morning for breakfast.