Vanilla Extract

Ingredients/Supplies
1.75L Vodka
25 Vanilla Beans
12 - 4oz bottles (Boston Round Bottles work best)

Directions
Cut the vanilla beans in half, then cut each half in half again the long way. I used scissors to do this part because it's way easier. Next put 8 pieces in each bottle (you'll have three pieces left over, just put them in whatever bottle you want), then fill the bottle with vodka. Put the lid on and allow to steep for one month. The vodka will turn from a clear to a dark amber color.

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My Take
It's really an easy project, I was done with the entire process in about a half an hour. I'm making them to sell to raise money for Relay for Life, but these would make a great gift any time of the year, plus the longer they steep the better they are! I found the vanilla beans on eBay for WAY cheaper than what you can purchase them at any grocery store. And I got the Boston Round Bottles from U-Line, but they're also available on Amazon and other sites. I'll post an update with the finished product in a month.

Father's Day BBQ Sauce

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups ketchup
2 cups tomato sauce
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 1/4 cups red wine vinegar
1/2 cup unsulphured molasses
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
4 teaspoons hickory flavored liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:
In a large saucepan, over medium heat, mix together all the wet ingredients and then add the seasonings. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken as it simmers (and then as it cools). I try to plan ahead and simmer for at least an hour. Use the sauce to brush onto meats the last ten minutes ofgrilling or for any other recipe where barbecue sauce is used. Once cooled, the sauce can be frozen. Thaw in the refrigerator and use as needed. Yields approximately 7 cups.

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My Take
This one was quite the challenge, I wanted to do something cool and homemade for my dad for Father's Day and found this recipe on Pinterest. I thought it would be easy enough...wrong. Well, for me it was hard, but for the normal person that knows how to cook it would probably be really easy. So lets go down the ingredients that I didn't include in this because I couldn't find them at the store or altered it (it really helps when you know what you're looking for):

• hickory flavored liquid smoke (what is that?)
• onion powder (I thought I had this already and didn't)
• celery seed (I picked up celery flakes instead...oops)
• cayenne pepper (I couldn't find that at all)
• red wine vinegar (I read that wrong and just used red wine)

So that was just the first half of the adventure. I start to make it and I only have one pan and one skillet, so I thought my pan would be big enough. Of course not! So I ended up cooking this in the Crock Pot, which worked beautifully! I put it on high and stirred every 10 minutes for about an hour, the consistency was pretty thin so I figured it was okay. Then I put it in the large Mason jar and screwed the lid on. I still had quite a bit left over and was able to fill up two small salsa jars as well. Because of the heat, the jars sealed! I was probably more excited about this than I should have been, but it was cool regardless. I designed the label and bought the brush and voila! My dad had a super cool, homemade gift for Father's Day.