Pioneer Woman at Heart

I drained the last jar of lemon extract I had in the making.  this will last about a year or longer in our house.  It's not used as much as vanilla extract, which we go through a lot faster.

I spent the evening baking a cake for our daughter who turned 17 today.  We made homemade frosting and added homemade lemon extract this time (vs. vanilla).  I also splurged and picked up two half gallons of organic ice cream.  It's so hot and humid here, I did not want to attempt homemade ice cream.  It was so hot in the house, that the frosting was drooping.  We put the cake in the refrigerator last night.  We only have one air conditioner unit in downstairs and the kitchen is pretty warm.   Our  now 17 year-old, frosted the cake after I added the first layer.  The kids love to learn how to do this, as I learned from my mother.  In fact, Mom donated all her cake decorating supplies to the girls, and a two layer 9-inch round cake is traditional here. Last night we also received rain.  Woo hoo!  Finally.  The storms, thankfully were not too bad, and the rain came down.  I am so thankful.  The g...

I didn't think it was possible, but I decluttered while walking my daily miles on the treadmill.  There is a nearby bookshelf (we have to move things around when we start burning wood for heat) and I simply pulled books off that I no longer need. I offered these to Youngest who loves to write like her Mom, and a few went into the "thrift" box I am slowly filling up.

Yesterday morning there was a layer of fog over the fields.  Kind of pretty and perfect for a Halloween-ie type photo.   Walking to the mailbox I discovered

It felt good to have time to de-stress yesterday.  Even the animals looked so relaxed.  Here is Jasper, sleeping in my kitchen window, hanging his head over the computer printer.

Our homemade lemon extract is ready to use.   We melted white chocolate, added our lemon extract, and made Lemon White Chocolate.  I used 2 tsp. to 1 pound of white chocolate.  Later, we tasted it and I will add 3 tsp. next time. ....this is another long post.  Grab a cup of steaming coffee or herbal tea and sit for a while.  You are graced with my gabbiness, because I woke up at 5:30am.  I found that Hubby was not home, and most likely called in during the night (to work).  He's been working 12 hour days all week, and was looking forward to having today off.  

We love lemon here.  We can't grow them, but we can buy them organic, and thus we made lemon extract. This will be ready to use about March 28th (I'm waiting at least 8 weeks to try this first batch).