Making Vanilla Extract

This is a gift from a family gourmet who put together Ina Garten’s vanilla extract recipe. The ingredients are pretty pricey initially but over time you’ll save. You’ll be making a larger volume and the price per ounce of your homemade vanilla will be much cheaper. Plus, as you use your homemade you can simply add more vodka (bourbon or rum) to your jar. Believe me, if you’re using imitation vanilla to save you might wish to read about the making of imitation vanilla. It will bring you back to this recipe. Here are a few of my suggestions. Vodka will give a more pure taste to the vanilla extract. For a change up flavor try bourbon or rum. While Madagascar beans are premium (and a little difficult to find and price may be prohibitive) you can use other vanilla beans or do a mixture of beans. Grade B beans, too, can add more vanilla taste. Grade B beans tend to be drier and broken. They may have split open from the dryness and have little paste inside if at all. But with this dryness may come more flavor.

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Vacation and Pork Belly

From my balcony of the Grand Floridian, DisneyWorld … an absolutely fabulous vacation. You might be thinking rides, and yep, I did rides but this was a vacation of great food too. We were lucky enough to stay on the concierge floor, meaning we had all day long access to food & drinks. Many of the taste treats were prepared in the kitchens of the Grand Floridian’s five star restaurants. But we didn’t just eat here.

Every night of our 8 day stay was a grand new food experience. If you’re into breads, we had every imaginable type of bread from Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pan de Queijo), Jiko’s flatbreads, Tiffin’s breads with sauces, yeasty breads to homestyle biscuits. So much food! Our first night was an Irish food experience. My Shepherd’s Pie recipe holds up competitively. Actually, their Shepherd’s Pie and mine are correctly called Cottage Pie, beef used instead of lamb. I even have a chicken version. Every night we consumed fantastic food, steaks, pork belly, fish, vegetarian, while being entertained by the beautiful views and firework displays that exceeded any I had ever seen before. It was all meticulously planned in advanced with perfect timing. Thank you Will for the perfect vacay!

What about the pork belly? This was a favorite dish in many DisneyWorld restaurants. Look for a recipe of Pork Belly soon along with the Brazilian Cheese Bread! In the meantime, enjoy my take on Irish and British foods.

 

Shepherd’s Pie-Beef

Shepherd’s-Chicken

Bangers and Mash


Pound Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pound Cake is so versatile. It’s a year around treat but in our family berry season is the most popular. It easily becomes a strawberry shortcake, or we slather it with whipped cream and an assortment of unsweetened berries. Then there’s George who really prefers no topping. That speaks volumes about this recipe.

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Family Vacation!

VacationWhat a son-in-law and daughter! Making me part of their yearly Hawaiian Island vacation! And I can’t thank them enough. The resort was fabulous … The food never-ending … The sites breathtaking. All this and with my daughter’s little family. It was perfect.

in flight

Snacks and manageable toys were a must for the little one on this six hour flight. My daughter is the ultimate traveler … packing all the right goodies, toys and clothing. And if you want to see her latest in beachwear give her blog a visit. I promise, you won’t be disappointed! Sapphirediaries

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I’m recouping from jet lag enjoy these recipes with a bit of Hawaiian flavor.

Hawaiian Muffins

Hawaiian Muffins

Coconut Cookies

Coconut Cookies

Pineapple Cream

Pineapple Cream

Linguica

Linguica

Coconut Cake

Coconut Cake

Kona

 

 

 

 


Max’s Sweet and Saucy Birthday Party

Sweet and Saucy BirthdayWe love a party! And when you add Sweet and Saucy Shop to the mix … It’s just amazing. Max’s 3rd Birthday and what a time we had. 

Sweet and Saucy BirthdayMickey pancakes smothered in berries with bacon and eggs on the side. Mmm. Then the delicious cake from Sweet and Saucy. Check out this shop here. It’s amazing!

Sweet and Saucy BirthdayWe picked up a few extra treats to have later too.

Sweet and Saucy

Happy Birthday Max!


Pumpkin Pie Spice Caramel Corn

Pumpkin Pie Spice Caramel CornButtery sweet caramel with just a touch of pumpkin spices … What a great Fall Tradition! Shape the popcorn while hot into balls add a stem for an extra treat. Or simply allow the finished caramel corn to cool then break it apart to serve in a dish. Beware, one bite and you’re hooked. This recipe makes 6 large popcorn balls or approximately 12 cups of caramel corn. You may modify this recipe by adding 10 ounces or so of nuts during the baking period … Or candies can be added after the baking as the caramel corn is cooling. This is just a great recipe to add to your Fall recipe collection!

 

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My Favorites

Hanford Portuguese Bakery

Tulare Portuguese Bakery

Portuguese BakeriesIt’s not always easy to find what I need for my Portuguese recipes … Or to find Portuguese confections and baked goods perfectly prepared. But here are two places I shop when I can. Hanford Bakery has speciality meats and fish too. Andy would always remark the Portuguese skinless and boneless sardines are the best. Right next to this on the shelf are other delicacies that are sure to please. Shopping here is a feel good experience. BTW, the Goulart Linguica as it sizzles on the grill or fries up in the pan smells most like our homemade. Still waiting to dig in and compare the flavors. Yum.

PS The Goulart’s not only smells as it cooks like my brother’s recipe it tastes very similar. Delicious! I say it’s in the smoking!


Miss and Me

Me and Miss

Here we are! My lovely daughter and me. I’ve had so much fun with my blog … And so excited my daughter has decided to begin her own. Missy is a great everything … mother, daughter, cook, organizer, decorator…. Hers is a personal style blog!

Her debut is April 13th! Put this on your calendar … And don’t let her know I mentioned you can preview. sapphirediaries.com

 



Portuguese Milk Mayonnaise

Eggless Mayonnaise

Milk Mayonnaise

Super Bowl 2015 is just around the corner and I’m making Portuguese Sausage Sliders dressed with this perfectly easy homemade mayonnaise. You heard it right … This is eggless!  My recipe is inspired by David Leite’s in his book, The New Portuguese Table. I’ve used the same proportions of milk and oil but little else in our recipes is the same.

My first try with EVOO was oh too olive! EVOO is generally not recommended in making mayonnaise at least not as the only oil used for two reasons … One, it breaks down during the emulsification and can become bitter … Two, the taste can be too EVOO. I used 2% milk because it’s what I had on hand but I recommend using 4%. There might be a slight thickness difference in the result. If you’re searching for vegan mayonnaise substitute coconut milk.

This recipe makes up in about 5 minutes. It’s a great recipe to add to your recipe box. It has so many uses!

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