Pioneer Woman at Heart

  The process to make homemade vanilla requires vodka.   Here is how I make ours. 1 cup vodka (I use a good quality brand, organic) 5 organic vanilla beans, cut in half and sliced open Place the ingredients into a glass jar, and shake.  Keep in a dark, cool location, and shake often, letting the jars infuse for several weeks.  Strain and store in amber bottles to use for baking. I buy my vanilla beans online, but they have gone up in price like everything else.  Some stores offer organic vodka, while others do not. I use good quality vodka for the making of our vanilla extract. Homemade vanilla extract makes a nice homemade gift. You can buy amber bottles online, or at some health stores, and add a homemade label. Homemade Vanilla Extract  ©  March 2025 by  Kristina  at  Pioneer  Woman at Heart

Rhubarb is in season now.  Guess what concoction I made?  Well, the title of this blog sort of gave it away, ha ha!  I created rhubarb vodka. You can find the recipe online just about anywhere.  I used the recipe from BBC recipes online, adapted with homegrown and organic ingredients.   Rhubarb Vodka ·          1¾ pints (3 1/2 cups) organic vodka ·          2 stalks of homegrown rhubarb           3 Tbsp sugar ·          Lemon zest from half of one organic lemon or homegrown ·          3 organic whole cloves ·          1 organic cinnamon stick ·           (right after adding the sugar - shake it up when you sprinkle it on the rhubarb) 1.  I used my food processor to chop...

The process of this spring jelly is so intriguing.  It starts out the color of this (above). Wild Violet Jelly 2 cups freshly picked wild violets 2 cups of water, boiled Place violets in a quart canning jar and pour boiling water over it.  Seal with the canning lid, allow to cool, and refrigerate overnight. Day 2 Strain the violets from the liquid and add juice of one lemon or 3 Tbsp. of organic/non-gmo lemon juice.  Pour liquid into a steel pan and add 1 pkg. powdered pectin and bring to a boil. Add:  4 cups of sugar, bring to a boil and boil 1 minute. Power into sterilized jars, wipe rims, add lids and rims and place in canner pot to boil for 15 minutes.  (1/2 inch head space) Cool for 24 hours. Yield:  approx. 4 - 1/2 pint jars or 8 4oz. jars. (3rd time I made this, I squeezed the liquid from the violets, getting 1 more 1/2 pint jar of jelly. Note:  I break this up into 2 days, since it takes a bit of time to pick all those vio...