Real vanilla extract is so expensive, and imitation vanilla is no substitute for the real thing, so now we make our own.
All you need is some vanilla beans and some alcohol.
Vanilla
The Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever
I can never make enough of these cookies, they always seem to go. I use this recipe and tweak it to my liking: butter instead of shortening (unless I need a pareve dessert), and chocolate chips instead of raisins and walnuts. Obviously you can but anything you want in them; I once tried dried cranberries.
Alton’s Tortellini
After watching the Good Eats episode “Use Your Noodle 2” (twice) I decided to try making my own tortellini. I had wanted to try homemade pasta for a while, but I don’t have a pasta maker. Alton said I can make these tortellini without one, so I had to try it. I spent a few hours making this batch, and ended up with a little more than 50 tortellinis (and messed up only four).
Raspberry Sorbet
It was Friday afternoon, we were having company for shabbat dinner, and we still had some leftover raspberries. Naturally, we broke out the ice cream maker in order to prepare a delicious pareve dessert; sorbet! We keep the bowl frozen for such emergencies.
Unfortunately, we didn’t take any pictures of this. But it was pretty.
Raspberry Boy Bait
Sure, it’s a silly name, but don’t let that stop you from trying raspberry boy bait. We adapted it from this recipe, substituting the blueberries for raspberries, since we had more than enough fresh ones on hand.
This cake, when it came out of the oven, smelled incredible. When we finally got to eat it, it tasted just as good. But really, We couldn’t get over how good it smelled. We should bottle and sell it; that’s sure to be a success!
Hand-Picked Raspberry Jam
What better to do on a day off from work than go berry picking? The farm near us had two options: red raspberries or black raspberries. We chose the reds; they were cheaper.
Six pounds of berries later we headed home, ready to use our brand new canning equipment.
It was surprisingly easy, considering it was our first time making jam. Continue reading
Greetings
Hello, all.
Here you can read about our kitchen adventures, all achieved without mixing meat and milk.