Snowed in Mexican Fiesta ~ Monkfruit Sweetener ~ Organic Vodka

We had snow emergency levels on Saturday, so as I said Saturday morning, our "Mexican" themed meal get together was canceled. Well, not canceled, but those who could make it there safely did. We didn't want to drive back home on icy roads with all the slush re-freezing.

Our dinner Saturday night was a Mexican themed dinner.

Mexican chicken (using quinoa based tortilla chips), Mexican street corn with our corn off the cob from the freezer, and of course, Hot bean taco dip. Oh, and Sangria. I had purchased it to take to the gathering, so we got that out and enjoyed it too. I will try and get photos of leftovers.

It's always nice to be "snowed in" but that means nothing on the list gets done, other than housecleaning. I did mention one job in the utility room for Hubby, but his response was more like, "I need a siesta day."

Today we awoke to "feels like" -1° outside.

I just cleaned out my inbox. Whew. I had over 4,000 emails hanging around. I have not been good and hitting the delete button. I will be much better about that this year. Goodness.

I picked this up to use in place of regular brown sugar in recipes. It's expensive, and you don't get much, so my baking will be a lot less this year. Has anyone baked with this? It states it does not affect glucose levels.

Being snowed in, I decided to try it in our Einkorn peanut butter cookies.

The results? It made the cookies taste different. Not bad, but not as good as good 'ol real brown sugar. I'll stick with the real stuff, and just not bake them as often.

Organic Vodka has returned to the liquor store. The brand "Rain" stopped making their's organic. It's not cheap either. That small bottle is $27.21! It's made from sugar cane vs. grain/potato. It will work for homemade vanilla extract, but not sure about using it for a tincture. Unless I am wrong on that note. I believe tinctures must be made with a grain alcohol.

Update on the low carb homemade bread. It does not toast well. We have breakfast sandwiches and toasted the bread. It falls apart on you.

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Horsetail Salve ~ A "first" this Year

We purchased some horsetail salve to try last year. It is said to help with severely dry, cracked skin. My husband was the first to try it, with very, very dry and cracked hands from work. He loves it! He joked I could not have it back. I started the infused, horsetail oil the last part of March. Something I learned: horsetail is also called shavegrass. I infused horsetail in oil, and strained it. I then made horsetail salve. I remembered to label my jar with what oil(s) I used, so I can journal this all in my "Herbal Remedies" journal. I often forget to write the oil used. Now, the one we bought, has more in it than I put in ours, as far as ingredients (the purchased salve had lanolin, and aloe). We'll see if ours works just as good. I added the sage essential oil, and vitamin E oil. A "first" time experience for us this year. I bought the larger tins at a seed store in an Amish area last year. They a...

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New Recipe Tried and other Bits

I tried a new granola recipe and boy it's good. First, it's a recipe from Mennonite Girls and Cook, and called "Backpack Snacks" online. It calls for granola, so I used my homemade granola that we love. Picture is the dry ingredients. Second, I pressed the final mixture into a 9 x 9, parchment lined baking dish instead of rolling it into balls. The color of these photos are all different, because of the time of day, and how dark the house was from the thick Canadian smoke that was still outside at the time. These cut very nicely, and were very good, straight from the refrigerator. It was hard to eat just one of them. I will be making this again, and switching out the peanuts with walnuts, and switching out the raisins with dates. Oh my! The binder is honey and peanut butter. These are perfect for your hiking days, camping, your grandkids, or just for snacks when you want one. The rain arrived thank goodness, and washed the smoke in...

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Chit Chat

The pickings are slim right now, but we'll take anything we are blessed with. I made a salad and cleaned the beans. The rain will give us more for a meal in a day or so. The green beans are every so slowly coming on this season. I made a batch of homemade granola, and instead of my homemade vanilla extract, I used my homemade Christmas Spice Extract. It smelled so good in the oven, and while cooling. I picked some purslane, and am doing an experiment with it this time. Update soon. Chit Chat © August 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

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