Saturday, April 26, 2014

Healthy Homemade // Vanilla Extract

With consumers gaining more and more knowledge about what's really in their food and knowing how to read food labels, some of us have turned to homemade alternatives. As a mom, homemade gives me the feeling of security that I know what's in the food I'm feeding my family...but it sometimes gives me this tense sigh that makes me think and when exactly will I have time for that?  When I come across a solution for a healthier food staple for my pantry that takes pretty much ZERO effort, I am thrilled!  (Read more about why regular store bought vanilla isn't what you think it is and another article on how to make it yourself here.)
A perfect gift for a healthy foodie came in the form of beans...delicious smelling vanilla beans that is. For Christmas this past year my mom gifted me a Vanilla Infusion Kit from Salt Sisters, which included a unique glass bottle with three fragrant organic vanilla beans. (Well, my kit actually included extra vanilla beans so I could make multiple batches.) And my clever mama found more bottles for me to make the extra batches. Yay, a gift that would lead to more gifts! I love it.
After several months of waiting for the infusion to take place, I finally have my very first bottle of homemade vanilla extract. It was finished infusing just in time to make a special birthday cake for my hubby. Perfect! It was divine and had just as strong flavor as any store bought vanilla I'd ever used but at a fraction of the cost. See the breakdown below.

What you're saving:: 

Salt Sisters Vanilla Infusion Kit:  $31.25
Extra vanilla beans for two more bottles: $7.95
Cheap, bottom-shelf vodka: $6.99
Grolsch 4 pack of beer to use the bottles: $7.99
Total: $54.18 for 3 16oz bottles (48 oz)

Grand Total: $1.12/oz

Store bought Simply Organic Vanilla, 4 oz
Local grocery price:  $9.89
Online health store, Vitacost: $8.09

Grocery cost for 48 oz (12 bottles): $118.68
$2.47/oz

Online cost for 48 oz (12 bottles): $97.08
$2.02/oz


Instructions::
1. Have your hubby drink 2 Grolsch beers. (He loved this idea already!)
2. Clean your beer bottles and dry them. Add 2 beans to each bottle. (The Salt Sisters bottle came ready to go.)
3. Fill bottles with Vodka.
4. Store in a cool dark place for several months. This could take anywhere from 2-4 months. Mine took three and a half months before there was no alcohol smell.
5. Use, gift and enjoy!

Food Freedom // Health + Happy Juice Fast Day 4

Ahhh, the glory moment came...the feeling of a new you, the moment you remember where you're standing, what you're wearing, your total surroundings. You can close your eyes and be there. The clouds give way to clear skys and you see the revelation. 

Day 4 was my revelation. I don't need food. (Okay, okay, I need food to live, yes.) But I'm talking about the desire to need certain foods that you don't really need...do you follow? I don't need a bowl of ice cream, a brownie, a hamburger, a french fry (oh sweet french fries!). Many of us know this in our rational mind. You don't need the things that aren't really good for you. But you're thirsty and want a soda, OR you're craving a sweet so you'll have just a little bite..., OR... whatever it is wr think we need. We justify the non-need. 

However, we don't actually need food at all for quite some time. We won't die if we don't eat for even several days at a time. In fact, by Day 4 I hadn't even experienced really any side effects to juicing. Some do, some don't. It really depends on the diet you were giving up to do the juice cleanse in the first place and what your body needs to purge. I purged cravings. I purged the idea that I would suffer without food. I purged the idea that I had to eat at a certain time or the world would end and you better get out of my way to that fridge! (Aka, hanger!) See I had fasted before but not in a healthy way. I had starved myself - unintentionally - out of busyness and lack of attention to proper nutrition; skipping breakfast, eating a late lunch, or eating no lunch, then eating a big I'm-hangry-don't-bother-me dinner. Not all the time, but it was a bad habit that would come and go depending on the circumstances of the day.

After four days of a regimented and completely clean download of amazing antioxidants and complete whole nutrition (in the form of juice) feeding my system for four days, I remember where I was standing, what I was wearing, and where I was in the house when the lightbulb went on. God gave us everything we need to thrive. Yes, I know this... But to realize he designed a perfect system within us made to function in harmony with elements of the world around us, and to realize that benefit and be living it is such a good feeling. It's a feeling you don't forget. 

While I don't need a brownie, will I ever eat one again? Yes, of course. Life needs to be lived with joy. Yet, now I choose it in a different way. I care about the design of my creator within and I am more in touch with the importance of my daily nutrition because it really does dictate my overall health in the grand picture of my life. One little brownie might not hurt me today, but many of those choices over time do. When you partner with your purpose to thrive within you, your desire for better living overcomes all the other negative desires.

I don't need food, but I am so incredibly glad I get to enjoy it.