The price of vanilla fluctuates so try and have some around when the price is down. One word of caution. Folks travel to Mexico and use to bring vanilla back from there because of the low price. Don't buy it or use it. They use a chemical (courmarin) that is cheaper but can be very dangerous to ingest. They also sell a lot of fake vanilla too. Costco has pretty good prices on vanilla so I pick it up there.
Food seems to be > There are probably more ways to produce banana pudding than there are to
I make my own vanilla. I buy a 2 or 3 vanilla beans at the local food coop and then a half pint of cheap vodka at the liquor store. Put the vanilla beans in the bottle of vodka and put them in the back of the cupboard for a few weeks. I leave the vanilla beans in the bottle while I am using from it. When it's almost gone, I repeat the process, so it's ready when I need it. It's lighter in color than what you buy in the store because it doesn't have any coloring in it.
Julia > There are probably more ways to produce banana pudding than there are to
Aha! Cheap vodka. That's what I was trying to remember. My remaining vanilla bottle has a bean in it and about a tablespoon of vanilla. I was thinking there was something I could add in and let it set for a while. We're too old to drink but I think my neighbor was experimenting with soaking raisins in vodka for her arthritis. No. Maybe that was gin. We're keeping me from mucking out the sewing room. Back to work. Polly
"Julia in MN" I make my own vanilla. I buy a 2 or 3 vanilla beans at the local food
Julia, this is intriguing! Is there any way to control or know in advance how vanilla-y the result will end up being? Can you get the vodka too vanilla flavored? I'd really like to try this. Oh! How do you know if a vanilla bean is 'fresh'? Maybe it could happen the beans have been sitting around for a long time and lost their oomph? Help! LOL
Sorry, I can't answer any of those questions. I suppose you could do some googling and maybe find the answers. If you learn anything, let the rest of us know. :) If you google make your own vanilla, you'll get tons of info.
Julia > Julia, this is intriguing! Is there any way to control or know in
My grandmother's banana pie meant cooking regular can milk with some sugar &
2 egg yokes and add vanilla before pouring it into a dish where you had already sliced bananas and put vanilla wafers. Beat egg whites until stiff (she put a little sugar), pour over the pudding and brown under the broiler. WOW! was it good! Barbara in FL
Raisins in vodka! I used to do that, had a spoonful for breakfast every morning and went to work feeling just fine thanks. Haven't done it since we retired and moved here, maybe it's time to start another batch. Roberta in D
I used the vanilla pudding recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook. I cooked the pudding and poured over very ripe banana sliced into the individual bowls. For a banana cream pie, same thing poured into a graham cracker crust. Reserve a few of the crumbs to sprinkle over the top. This was one of my family's favorites, especially my son's -- he'd rather have a banana cream or pumpkin pie than a cake on his birthday. I used to think he'd eat a lot of bananas for a while, then when I had a good supply, he'd quit eating them because he knew if they started getting too ripe, I'd make a pie. :)
Julia > There are probably more ways to produce banana pudding than there are to
When you have time, go to Alton Brown's section of the Food Network and see what's on the net on making your own vanilla. There's been a show on the procedure and he was quite thorough with it. I was concerned about the strength of something homemade like that, vanilla that's too strong would maybe overpower a recipe. Polly
"Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." Julia, this is intriguing! Is there any way to control or know in advance
If chocolate is what you want, this one is easy and VERY yummy. I found it in the Fat Quarter Shop's blog last year.
Chocolate Kahlua Cake
Ingredients:
1 Devil's food cake mix ( no pudding in mix)
1 Small package chocolate instant pudding mix
1 6-ounce package of chocolate chips
4 Eggs - slightly beaten
3/4 quarter cup oil
1/3 cup Kahlua liqueur
2 cups sour cream
Combine all ingredients, mixing well, Pour into well greased bundt pan. Bake for one hour at 350 degrees F. Serve with whipped cream or glaze with chocolate syrup and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Best if made one day ahead.
Rita L.
Pat > Hi! Some time ago .... probably last Spring .... we had a recipe here for a
******* I heard about this today, went home and made it and it works perfectly.
One cake mix -- any kind
12 oz of any kind of soda pop or seltzer water
Mix the two together, don't worry about lumps. Pour into any kind of microwave safe dish (8" square glass casserole, 9" deep dish pie dish, etc.). No need to put anything in the dish first. Put into microwave for 8 minutes. Presto! Perfect cake.
My experiment was a white cake and cream soda. After the cake finished, I sliced up two big fresh peaches, added a good squeeze of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of sugar and a sprinkle of flour (maybe a t ablespoon or two). Stirred up, nuked for just less than 4 minutes. Perfect.
Get a slice of cream soda cake, cut in the middle, spoon on the peaches. Yummmmmmmm. Easy, fast and impressive. To make it look impressive all you'd have to do is put on some mint leaves for garnish or a little lemon zest or something like that.
Can you imagine the possibilities: cherry coke in chocolate cake; orange soda in white cake; ginger ale in spice cake..... wow.
Ok, now go try this out. It really works and tastes good and you don't have to put eggs or oil or anything else in the cake or mess with beating for two minutes or anything. Just dump, stir and nuke. My kind of dessert.
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