Tag Archives: homemade

Homemade Limoncello

I’ve been working on some homemade limoncello for about a month… it’s finally ready!  Limoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur mainly produced in Southern Italy, in the region around the Gulf of Naples, the Sorrentine Peninsula and the coast of Amalfi.  I was introduced to limoncello when I was living in Milan. Italian’s serve it chilled as an after-dinner digestivo (to aid in digestion) in small glasses. Limoncello is common in Italy but has recently become popular in other parts of the world.

The hardest part of making your own limoncello is waiting a 4 weeks (minimum) for the lemon rind to infuse into the vodka.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own.

  • 8 large lemons, preferably organic
  • one 750ml bottle of 100-proof vodka
  • 3 cups of water
  • 1 cup of white sugar

Scrub the lemons to get rid of any spray, wax or dirt.

With a citrus zester peel the zest (yellow part) from the lemons, leaving the white part behind.Put the lemon rinds into a large glass jar with the vodka, screw the lid on tightly, and store in a cool dark place (but not a refrigerator).  Let the lemon rinds and vodka brew for minimum of 4 weeks.  The longer they are together the better it will turn out.

Strain the vodka into a large bowl or container and discard the lemon rinds.

Bring the water to a soft boil and dissolve the sugar in it.  Set aside and let cool to room temperature.

Mix sugar water with lemon vodka.  Bottle the limoncello into glass bottles.  Let rest for 24 hours then refrigerate.

Serve chilled in decorative glasses after dinner.  I found four crystal glasses for 8$ at a second hand store! and they add that extra somethin’ somethin’.  ENJOY ♥

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Banana Bread

Making banana bread is easy as…pie?  No, definitely not.  Maybe as easy as eating pie.  Yes, that’s it.

Making banana bread is as easy as eating pie.

You can check in the reduced produce section of your grocer for old bananas, which are normally 50% off.  Over ripe bananas work great.  Normally I buy a bunch of bananas and before we can eat them all a few go bad.  I through the over ripe ones in the freezer until I have enough to make bread with.  Just make sure you thaw the bananas before you try mashing them.

Ingredients:

  • 3 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup melted butter
  • 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips or nuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the bananas, sugar, egg and butter together.  Make sure the butter isn’t too hot.

Mix in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips or nuts (if desired) until just combined and moistened.

Grease one 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan.

Spoon the batter into the loaf pan.

Bake for 55-65 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean (unless you’ve used chocolate chips the toothpick will come out chocolaty)

Let rest 5 min, slide a knife around the pan, and let cool on a wire rack.

ENJOY!

You can also make 10 muffins from this recipe which is good if you don’t have much time!  Grease or line 10 muffin cups with muffin papers and cook at 375 degrees F for 18- 20 minutes.

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Flour Tortillas

There’s no better wrap than one that’s made with homemade tortillas.

It’s super easy.

Yields approx 8

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 TBS baking powder
  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 1 cup hot water

Mix together in a bowl and separate into 8 pieces.

Heat a cast iron skillet on medium heat.

Roll out dough on a clean surface, use flour only if the dough sticks to the rolling pin.  It’s important not to use too much flour when you’re rolling it out or they will turn out ‘dusty’.

It was pretty difficult for me at first to roll the dough balls out into circles.

Drop the rolled out dough onto the warmed skillet.  Flip after about 30 seconds to one minute when the tortilla starts getting brown spots. Make sure you don’t cook them too long or they will get hard and dry making them very difficult to fold.

Fill with your favorites.  I love using these for fajitas.

Craftstache out.

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