by kathilipp | Nov 10, 2014 | Foodie Friday, The "What's for dinner?" Project, Uncategorized |
I am a mass consumer of vanilla extract.
I have vanilla on my oatmeal every single morning. The problem? I can absolutely tell the difference between vanilla extract and imitation vanilla. And the real stuff? It’s not cheap. At our grocery store, the good stuff is $3 an ounce. Our family joke was that it would be cheaper for us to take a Baja cruise and get of in Ensanada to buy cheap vanilla than for me to get it at Costco.
So when I saw recipes floating around the web for homemade extract, I gave it a try. It is super easy (the hardest part is waiting the six weeks for the beans to masticate in the vodka.
Want to make this cheaper (and oh so delicious) version?
This is all you need:
1.75 liter bottle of Vodka
25 Vanilla Beans (If you want to just try this recipe out you can buy 25 beans here. If you want to go into mass production, here is where you can buy beans in bulk.)
1. Cut the beans lengthwise down the middle.
(This will open up the beans and let all the good “vanilla dust” soak into the vodka.)
2. Put the cut vanilla beans in the vodka bottle. Replace the lid and shake the bottle. Store the vodka bottle in a cool, dark place and shake the bottle once a week for the next six weeks.
If giving as gifts, you can order these adorable brown bottles off of Amazon. fill each bottle with four ounces of your six week old vanilla extract.
Add a cute label. (Anything can be elevated with a cute label.) This is an Avery kit with all sorts of pre-designed labels. All you have to do is add your verbiage and you are good to go!
The world’s cutest gift. With a personalized label:
Lipp Private Reserve
Vanilla Extract
Bottled 2014
Delicious and about 10% of the cost of store bought vanilla.
I’ve given vanilla extract to all of my kids and they have all demanded refills!
by kathilipp | Jan 20, 2014 | Home, Relationships, The "What's for dinner?" Project |
Meal time can be one of the most hectic times in a mama’s day. With today’s busy schedules, it is easier to drive through than dive in to your kitchen.
These easy steps will help you make meal planning easy so that you can get to the fun part of connecting with your family and not just the food!
Step 1:
Create a master list of meals for the month. Click here for a list of FREEBIES where you can find a shopping/inventory sheet to make your meal planning easy! Keep in mind your family schedule as you create meals for each day. Tuesdays and Thursdays tend to be less chaotic in our home, so I can plan a little more elaborate meal for those days. Now, some days, elaborate may mean that I just put a pat of butter on the green beans before serving, but usually it means that I can make something that might take a bit more time or preparation. The “What’s For Dinner?” Solution is a wonderful resource to create quick, easy, affordable meals.
Step 2:
Put each of the meals into categories for easy planning. A few that I use are Freezer meals – ones that I have on the freezer already, Slow Cooker meals – ones that I will need my crock pot for and create ahead of time, or LOOP meals – Left Over On Purpose. This might mean a turkey pot pie from the leftover turkey from the dinner the night before. Once you have the meals, you can organize what you need for each meal.
Step 3:
Create the calendar and make copies of it for the next couple months. Some things might change, but when you have a template to work from, it makes life a whole lot easier. After you use it, you can evaluate if the system is working.
Planning your meals ahead of time will help you feel more in control and less frazzled at dinner hour. Thinking ahead gives you the freedom to enjoy your day. To help you start planning right away, just subscribe to my blog right over there in the purple little post-it and get a free copy of The Ultimate Guide to Man Food. Easy Peasy!
by kathilipp | Mar 22, 2012 | Home, The "What's for dinner?" Project |
So as I’m writing this, Roger and I are driving over the Grapevine in So. California with snow coming at us sideways.
Naturally, my attention turns to gardening…
Actually, now is a great time to start planning and thinking about a garden. This is prime planting season for many of us (when it’s not snowing…) Let’s seize the opportunity together and eat healthier. It is more rewarding to eat the salad you grew yourself than from your favorite café. (Or let’s e honest – drive-thru. Where you intend to get a salad, but a salad doesn’t come with fries, so…)
Thanks to the internet there is loads of help for all of us. Mother Earth News is a great place to start o matter where you live in the US.
Here you will select the region you live in to find out what to plant and when. Everything has a particular time and season that it will produce great fruit.
This reminds me of one of my favorite Bible passages Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
A Time for Everything
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
There is just something so special about eating with the seasons. So check out their growing guide and start your planning (and dreaming…) Find out what works in your area, compare that to what your family loves, and go from there.
We always do a variety of tomatoes, peppers, green onions, and a ton of herbs. We call it our salsa garden (which can also be called a bruchetta garden,) and we eat from it for months.
Also, seed packets you purchase usually have the right time to plant for your region. You can also just start with buds you pick up from your local gardening center or health food store. The process is already started for you and you just need to transplant to its permanent home. It will take a few steps out of the process for you.
So are you a gardener? A wanna be gardener? How many are going to start this year for the first time? If you are an experienced gardener, tell me your advice, tips and tricks and what you plan to grow. Do what gardeners do – share your wisdom. Over the next several weeks, I will be sharing out gardening plans,container gardening tips, and watering plans.
by kathilipp | Mar 18, 2012 | Home, The "What's for dinner?" Project |
Hey friends – let me help you out by being a cautionary tale…
Last week Roger and I were out of town at a conference. As you know, I plan my meals in advance, but we got home on Monday and I didn’t feel like going to the store, so I figured, “Hey, it won’t kill us to eat out one night…” Well one night turned into four. All because I didn’t feel like going to the store.
Why didn’t I want to go to the store? Because although I made the meal plan, I didn’t make my shopping list. That’s where the plan went horribly wrong.
So, in order to save those hours, (and dollars) do two things:
1. Make your meal plan (and share it here so you have some good peer pressure…)
Here is mine if you need a little inspiration:
Monday – Whole Roasted Chicken, Baked Potatoes, Roasted Vegetables
Tuesday – Chili, Salad, Corn Bread
Wednesday – Steak, Veggie and Brown Rice Bowls
Thursday -Whole Wheat and Brown Rice Bean and Chicken Burritos
Friday – Whole Wheat Pita Pizzas
Saturday – Every Man For Himself
Sunday – Chicken and Veggie Soup with Brown Bread
So tell us what you are having. But then, make your list. Make it right now before you move on to the rest of your life.
You will have the accountability of a whole tribe of women who are trying to get dinner on the table, and then a plan to get your food into the house so you will have peace each and every day at 4:00.
So what are you having for dinner?
by kathilipp | Mar 8, 2012 | The "What's for dinner?" Project |
Now that you are all sitting down together as a family eating a wonderful meal what do you discuss? How to do incorporate God talk into the family time?
Most families may say grace, a short prayer that is usually the same prayer every night before dinner or even bed.
But to spark more conversation and growth for little ears here are a few ideas to begin tonight.
Highs & Lows
Go around the table and have everyone share what their high of the day was and their low. Praise all the highs and talk about the lows. Why was it a low? What could have made that a high? How are you feeling about it?
Prayer
Encourage the prayer to be different every night. With little ones it may be hard and they may only know a few things to say. If everyone is taking turns that will help others learn how to pray. And, mom and dad take your turn too! Pray specifically for things and be thankful specifically too. There is not a better way to teach our kids to pray then to show them. They will repeat us and do as we do.
Easy toddler and preschool prayers can be a small song;
(Sung to the tune of Where is Thumbkin)
God our father, God our father
We thank you, we thank you
And our many blessings and our many blessings
Amen, amen
Other ideas are to keep all your Christmas cards in a bowl or box in the dinning area. Each night pull one card and pray for that family.
A friend’s husband said this little prayer when he was a kid, “Rub a dub dub, Thanks for the grub, YAY God!” Silly and short yes but for a real young toddler they will learn that God is the one deserving of thanks and can praise Him.
Just Talk
Dinner time is a great time to talk about the kind of day everyone had and the next days plans. Use the time to get your kids talking. Play a game or ask fun questions.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What is your favorite book and why?
If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?
Play guessing games. Think of a place and give clues and see who guesses the right place.
Talk about the Bible Story they heard in church on Sunday.
Your options are endless…but I am sure due to the busyness of life mealtime may be rushed in between work, practice, homework, etc. Just make a point to sit down without rushing a couple times a week. Turn it into family night on the weekends and include board games, puzzles or a movie afterwards.
Does you family have any favorite mealtime topics or activites?
by kathilipp | Mar 7, 2012 | The "What's for dinner?" Project |
Spring is here in California and right around the corner for the rest of the country! This is the prime time to start a garden.
Take the next week or two to start thinking about what you want to plant, where to plant, if you want a container garden or plant into the earth. In 2 weeks I will spend a week discussing gardening how to’s and tricks I have learned.
In the meantime you can s tart with a simple concept for the types of plants you purchase. For the past several years we have planted a low-maintenance “Salsa Garden” and have enjoyed the variety and simplicity of that assortment every time. Here is what goes in our salsa garden:
- A variety of tomatoes plants
- Peppers
- Cilantro
- Green Onions
Several years ago Roger and I decided to plant our own salsa garden in containers on our back patio, (we live in a townhouse, so my visions of sowing seed for crops and my own hen house have to be put on hold for a while.) We kept it simple the first year – just a few tomato plants, a couple of peppers, cilantro, etc. But boy oh boy did we enjoy the benefits of fresh salsa ingredients at our door step. Here is Roger’s famous salsa recipe. Give it a try!
Roger’s Salsa: Roger Lipp
Ingredients:
12 tomatoes (or two large cans of crushed tomatoes)
1 (15 oz) can of tomato sauce
1 bunch cilantro, chopped coarse down to the stemmy part
2 stems green onion, chopped medium
1 red onion, chopped medium (I use two slices from the center portion)
2 jalapenos, chopped fine (leave seeds in) — if you want mild salsa substitute Anaheim peppers; if
you want hot salsa substitute 4 habaneras.
4-5 garlic cloves, chopped fine
Directions:
Combine these ingredients in large glass bowl.
If tomatoes were room temp to start with, I add two ice cubes and mix in. The following seasonings are very approximate… I don’t measure.
Add the following seasonings to taste (measurements given are approximately what I use… ish)
2 T fresh oregano leaves, chopped
1 T cumin powder
1 T coarse ground black pepper
1 T fresh basil, chopped
1 tsp marjoram
I’d love to know, do you garden and what are your must haves each year?
