Foodly speaking blog...

Proudly announcing (drumroll please) a brand new blog...Hi friends,

I have decided that I don't blog very often for one main reason, I need a purpose to blog! After some soul searching, pondering, yogaing, and running a few long runs, it has come to me. Inspiration at it's finest! A blog all about my favorite passion: FOOD! Now, I recognize this has been done before, many times, but never has a blog been created about my very own favorite recipes, my favorite restaurants, my obsession with vanilla extract, and my cooking catastrophes. Food fascinates me on so many levels, from growing it, finding it, choosing it, preparing it, feeding others, and eating it, I find great joy in the journey of food. So that's it, a blog all about FOOD!

It will include but not be limited to: lots of recipes featuring gluten free, vegan, everything from main dishes to cookies and baked goods, new food projects (making vanilla extract), local restaurant reviews, product reviews! Check it out at foodlyspeaking.blogspot.com.

Hip Hip Hurray for food!

Vanilla Project

I have dreamed about, thought about, read about it, prepared for it, but I have never as of yet done it! What, you might ask? Make my very own Vanilla Extract, with real vanilla beans, and real alcohol. Homemade has never been so great!

It is so simple:

Vanilla Beans (grade B or better),

Vodka (or 80 proof alcohol)

A bottle

I read lots of different websites and decided upon about 6-7 beans per cup of alcohol, for a 2 fold strength, given 3 beans is FDA standard. I already bake with 2 fold strength, so I would hate to step down. This little experiment became a realization when Vanilla Products USA (ebay) sent me free Vanilla Beans with my purchase of 2 fold strength Madagascar Vanilla Extract (which is fabulous)! Thanks Vanilla Product USA, I highly recommend you to everyone.

So, I sliced the beans down the center with about an inch still in tact at the top, for ease of removal later on. Some websites recommended scraping out the caviar, as it enhanced flavor. It mentioned this if you were trying to produce extract in 6 weeks. Since I have time on my side, 6 months, I opted out of that messy step, trusting these little guys to have plenty of time to seep!

Most places recommend a glass bottle, I got lazy on this step. I had a 32 oz. bottle that formerly housed Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract, and deemed that a worthy enough container. I filled it without about 20-22 beans and 3 cups of Vodka, immersing these guys completely.

I gave it a good shake, then I kindly placed the bottle in my cool, dark cupboard, and patiently (key word, patiently) will wait for the vanilla to seep into the alcohol producing a most happy extract. Oh joy, Connie's Cookies can hardly wait for your flavor to enhance, embolden, and empower!

Fresh from the garden...

Nothing makes me happier than watching, caring, loving, nurturing, admiring, and ultimately consuming a fresh little item from the garden. After 3 summers in NYC I discovered the only healthy patch of live green grass lied in central park along with the other millions of bodies that shared in it. As you might imagine, I was simply thrilled this year to have the opportunity to plant a small garden with my sweet hubby Micah in our spacious pastures. 

I can think of no better way to honor mother earth than take advantage of the wonderful nurturing she provides in producing such lovely sustenance. We get so disconnected to food when everything we eat comes from a box, mix, or plastic bag. I think it becomes easy to forget that real food does ultimately come from the earth and what roams it.  So this little garden is truly a humble, happy garden! 

Before

After

and after the after! (Holy crap batman, those tomato plants have taken over!) (Not to worry Robin, they have fallen over at least 4 times in the storms, they pose no threat!)

Overgrown seeding lettuce

Our first and second zucchini (My Gluten Free cookies thank you!)

A cornucopia of little treasures!

The apple tree produces cute little guys, but bitter to the taste, showcased in the fabulous pink/green stoneware I bought at summerfest! (In my humble opinion, green and pink is the fusion of perfection in color! I mean really does it get any better?)

And with all these colorful, beautiful veggies to consume I love the fact that a serving of vegetable hasn't changed for Micah!

Micah is on the left, me on the right!

Thanks Halling's for sharing your lettuce!

And after working on our little garden we were still eager enough to work a bit on our landscaping!

And yes, I know its humble, but it sure beats the hot glued snowflakes and flowers in my mothers front yard (yes your heard me right, snowflakes, and yes it is hot glued onto the branch), I suppose we do have the benefit of it not dying...