This weekend I made popsicles: roasted peaches and cream, strawberry moscato, cherry vanilla and kiwi lemonade. The cherry tasted like cough syrup. The roasted peach was fantastic.

I also made up bags of cappuccino bath soak:

Fine oat powder, whole milk powder, dendritic salt, baking soda, roasted coffee oil, cocoa and vanilla bean.

This was pretty much a sample run in the bags. The pulled out white is supposed to look like the foam if it’s put into a proper container.

Last night I made up three jars of vanilla extract. I came up with an idea of what to add with them for sort of a cool gift, so I am going to work on that tonight maybe. I think the products smells so lovely, that maybe you would want to make a cocktail out of it instead of using it for baking. You could also pour it over vanilla bean ice cream (especially homemade!).

Boiled the jars. Most recipes say you don’t need to, but I freak with worry about germs and bacteria.

This recipe called for light rum with the beans.

Slice the beans in half, and stuff them in the jars. I put nine beans per jar.

Pour in the rum, seal the jars and that’s it. You’re supposed to shake them daily for the first week, then once a week or more after that. It’s supposed to sit and steep for six months before you use it. Then, you can either strain it or just remove the beans and leave the seeds.

Valentine’s Project #2 – Home-made Lemon Extract

I made a delightful lemon and olive oil single layer cake a few weeks back. It is sweet without being too sweet, and is perfect for a cup of tea or even breakfast. The recipe called for lemon zest and lemon juice. That got me thinking about a book I just finished by Jennifer Reese called Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn’t Cook from Scratch.

One of the recipes was for a home-made lemon extract. I thought that you could replace the zest and juice with the same amount of the home-made lemon extract and have a more-lemon-y taste.

First, I got everything I needed. I found some food-safe jars, organic lemons and 100 proof vodka.

I boiled the jars; I am super-freaked about issues with food safety.

I scrubbed the lemons to get rid of any remaining dirt. Since you’re using the zest, it’s important that you use organic lemons. They aren’t as pretty and they are much, much smaller, but they aren’t covered with pesticides.

After I zested all the lemons, I squeezed out juice to add to the mixture.

Taking the jars out of the boiling water with tongs, I then put juice and zest in each jar and covered immediately with the vodka.

You are supposed to keep the jars in a dark, cool place (but not in the fridge), and shake them each day for ten days. Then, you’re going to want to use them pretty quickly – within a couple of weeks. It’s an excellent excuse to make that lemon and olive oil cake!