Vanilla Extract

Here's how it looked after only a few minutes.

Everything you need: vanilla bean, alcohol, & jar.

Some simple to do.  All you need is some vodka and some vanilla beans.  You can ouse other forms of alcohol, but vodka will give you a very clear flavor.  My mind is beginning to jump to the other flavor possibilities and I am imagining a tequila based flavoring extract I might be making later in the day!  Anyway, for this vanilla extract the quality and flavor of your vanilla beans is the key ingredient.  I use a whole vanilla bean, organically grown in India.  It has a glossy fresh look and when I slice them open the seeds form a dense moist paste inside.  I used ten vanilla beans, sliced open, and 16 ounces of vodka.  I let it sit for a week and then pulled the beans out.

Chocolate bars

Success on the first try, Raw Cacao Truffles!

In my year of DIY, of eliminating that which I purchase prepared and replace it with that which I can make for myself from scratch, I have tackled bread, pasta, nut and grain milks, sauerkraut, Kombucha, raising chickens, tending honeybees, goat cheese, veggie gardening, whew!  It's nice to reflect, gives me a feeling of accomplishment!  As I look into my pantry and refrigerator, I seek out more opportunities by simplifying by increasing my repertoire of skills.  My husband loves chocolate, especially dark chocolate.  I'll buy three packs of chocolate bars every time I shop at Trader Joes to satisfy him, and he'll always let me know when the supply has run out.  Looking on the Internet it seems that true chocolate is a complex matter involving some equipment I do not possess.  But my taking my search a little deeper I began to find some recipes that would fit my kitchen.  What I ended up making was more of a raw cacao truffle than a true dark chocolate bar.  Here's the recipe I used homemade-chocolate.

1/4 cup sugar
1 cup cacao powder or nibs
1/8 cup coconut oil
1/8 cup cacao butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of Himalayan salt
Pinch if cinnamon

I have a small coffee grinder I use for espresso.  I gave it a good cleaning and then ground up the sugar for 15 seconds or so to a fine powder.  Then I added some of the cacao and blended it up some more.  That's all the capacity of my grinder so I dumped that powder out and ground up the rest of the cacao.  Next I added the salt and cinnamon.

Next, in a double boiler, which means a small pot floating in a larger pot of water over low heat, the cacao and sugar is slowly melted, stirring occasionally.  After a few minutes, add the oil and cacao butter and continue to stir until smooth and melted.  Next add the vanilla.  My chocolate got a little lumpy when I added the vanilla so I added another teaspoon of coconut oil and that helped smooth it out again.

Now pour this chocolate into a mold.  I have silicone molds I use for soap making, but you could just line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and make a big sheet.  I set the chocolate in the fridge and after maybe 45 minutes it had solidified and I popped the chocolates out.  It looked like it would melt if I left it out, so I stored them in the fridge.  They are really yummy, but a little grainy.  I would spend a little more time in the coffee grinder next time.  It would be yummy to experiment with coconut, rose petals, lavender, orange peel...stay tuned!

Just made these for the second time and had a lot of success using honey instead of sugar.  It made the consistency of the chocolates smoother and creamier here's my recipe for the honey chocolates.

Honey Pollen Chocolates with Blueberries

1/4 cup honey

3/4 cup cacao

1/4 cup mixture of coconut oil and cacao butter

pinch of himalayan salt

1 teaspoon bee pollen

1 tablespoon dried blueberries

I followed the same directions as above but I sprinkled the molds with the pollen and dried blueberries and poured the melted chocolate on top.

Sunflower Seed Truffles

Searching for new recipes on pinterest I discovered a food blog that promotes other food blogs and discovered this great recipe for a peanut butter cookie.  It was a flourless recipe, but the batter was so dense, it didn't make sense to me, so I added some flour.  I also thought it looked sweet enough and skipped the rolling in sugar and spices.  I used sunflower seed butter, which has been our home's substitute for peamut butter for years now.  they sell ot at trader joes, and its delicious!  They turned out so dense and delicious I decided they deserved the beautiful distinction of truffle instead of cookie.

1 cup Sunflower Seed butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup flour
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Mix it all up, roll into balls and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Advice for Raising your Energy!

So here's my advice on transitioning from low-energy to high-energy. I think what you eat is more important than what you do, so although you asked me about activity, I'm starting my advice with food.

1. Keep a food journal for at least two weeks. Write down every single thing that you consume all day long, try not to leave anything out. When we can be honest with ourselves about what we are actually eating, we can begin to make positive changes. Once you've kept your food journal for awhile, you can start to look it over and notice where your patterns or weaknesses are and make positive plans to help prevent your mistakes.

2. Begin with one meal at a time and try to make improvements on the quality of your nutrition. Breakfast is a great place to start. If you can get that one meal right, you can set a positive tone for the rest of your day. I recommend fresh fruit smoothies, vegetable juice, home made oatmeal (not the instant kind), an egg with a side of steamed spinach, brown rice and some salad.

3. Begin with one weakness at a time and try to make some improvements. Don't over do it, or your body will revolt. Maybe you drink soda, start but cutting your portion sizes in half. Maybe your portion sizes at meals are too big, try using a smaller plate. Do you eat junk food with your kids, maybe you can have more healthy snacks readily available like chopped veggies. It will take awhile for your taste buds to get used to different flavors, so give yourself time.

4. Try to eliminate packaged food and fast food. Avoid diet foods and fat free foods and try to eat natural whole foods instead. Diet soda is not better than real soda, its worse! All this stuff is full of salt, chemicals and not a lot of nutrition. They make your body swell up, clinging to every calorie in the hopes of finding some nutrition.

5. Drink lots of water! First thing in the morning have a big glass of warm water with half a lemon squeezed in it. Before each meal drink a glass of water, this will help you eat less.

As for activity, I recommend walking. Walk anywhere you can. Is it possible to walk your kids to school? Can you walk to the store and carry your groceries home? Start with small amounts and increase your time as you feel up to it. Try to be active in different ways throughout the day. Wash your car, pick some weeds, make some bread from scratch. As far as stretching and getting limber, just do it! Put some music on, roll around on the floor and just put your body in different shapes. If you need inspiration of course there is tons of stuff on the internet and probably some free classes in your community you can find, but I don't have any specific recommendations on this.

You can read this post I wrote on yoga for some ideas. And you can read this post for lots of healthy food ideas from a 30 day cleanse I did last fall. And read this post to learn about an educational movie that will get you motivated to eat healthy.

Good luck, and let me know how you-re doing!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies with Horchata Ice Cream

Last week I posted a favorite brownie recipe I've made now a few times and decided to include it in a family dinner but with a twist.  I have been experimenting this week with nut and rice milks and one of my dinner guests had been over earlier in the week and really liked my horchata, a mexican rice milk.   So I thought I;d try giving the horchata a whirl in my vintage ice cream maker.  It was a success!  For the brownies I changed my original recipe only slightly, substituting half the chocolate with mexican chocolate, reducing the sugar and slightly increasing the flour.  In San Diego it is very easy to find the mexican chocolate used to make a traditional hot chocolate drink.  This chocolate usually comes in round bars and has sugar and spices such as cinnamon.  I purchased mine at trader joes.  Common brands are Ibarra and Abuelita.  For the horchata ice cream I simply ran one batch of my horchata in my ice cream maker.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies

2 ounces of dark chocolate
2 ounces of mexican chocolate
1 stick of butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour

Het over to 350' and prepare 8x8 baking pan by greasing and flouring or lining with parchment paper (I love parchment paper).  In double boiler (a smaller pot in a larger pot of warm water) melt chocolate and butter, stirring occasioanlly until smooth.  Do not overheat.  Once smooth, cool slightly and then beat together with sugar, eggs and vanilla.  Gently stir in flour.  Pour your batter in to prepared baking tin and bake for 10-20 minutes until you can insert a butter knife and no batter remains when you remove the knife.

Horchata Ice Cream

1 cup of rinsed basmati rice
4 cups of water
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Soak rice in water for 12-24 hours.  Blend on high for several minutes and then strain, discarding the pule.  Blend again adding the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt.  Place this in your ice cream maker.  The resulting treat will be more similar to a water based gelato or sorbet.

Brownies...a great way to eat Chocolate!

I have used this recipe a bunch of times now.  The brownies are chewy and delicious!

3 ounces dark chocolate
1 stick of butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup flour

Melt the chocolate and butter together.  I use a very small pot placed in a larger pot of warm water.  Beat together melted chocolate and sugar then add in eggs one at a time and vanilla.  Combine flour and salt and add this to the batter.  Pour into a greased 8"x8" pan, I line mine with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 for 20-30 minute.  Try not to eat them all at once!

Waffles are Easy!

I've been having so much fun with my Pizzelle Cookie Iron that I have become inspired to dust off my Waffle Iron.  I have the thinner, round form.  It's one of the many kitchen items that I have inherited in my husband's well-established kitchen.  I looked on-line for a recipe but made some substitutions and cut the quantities in half for a breakfast for two.

1 egg
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup horchata (rice milk)
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk together egg, sugar, and milks.  Mix together flour, baking powder and salt and whisk together the flour mixture and the egg mixture.  Bake in your waffle iron until golden brown and top with butter, jam, maple syrup, fresh fruit or even whip cream!