5 Uses for Vanilla Beans

Today I have five uses for vanilla beans.  I have friends who bring me back organic vanilla beans when they go to Papua New Guinea, much cheaper than you can normally get them in Australia, which I love, and when I've gone to PNG in the past, one of the top things to buy as I leave are definitely vanilla beans!

So here are the 5 ways I use vanilla beans

1.  Split one open length ways and boil in chai tea, sit in brewed coffee and or hot chocolate, oh yummy!

2. Steep five cut (lengthways) beans in 250ml of vodka in an old maple syrup bottle, and use this as vanilla essence.  This is the real stuff and little bottles of this make great presents. This can be added to tea, cakes, ice cream, whipped cream, custard, anything you like really.  I stopped using the fake vanilla essence from the shops when I discovered that it came from a beaver's anal glands.  Hmm yuk, no thanks.

If I can afford to, I make my vanilla essence in bulk,
directly in the vodka bottle.

3. Leave the beans out to dry in the sun for several weeks, put in the dehydrator or oven to dry and then grind up in a blender, pour into jar and use as vanilla sprinkles, for all of the above mentioned foods. 

4. Boil them with milk in rice custard, or just milk for a shake, though I prefer to use the ground up bits, or a splash of the vodka, for less wastage. 

5. Steep in a carrier oil, eg jojoba or almond for 6 weeks to make a scented massage oil. 

Do you have any other uses for vanilla beans?

 

3 Ways to Teach Children About the Trinity

Teaching your children the intricacies of the Trinity can be a daunting task, but by using a few simple tools, you can easily and effectively outline how God can be a three in one deity.  God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Thanks Mary Ann for photo

When I was teaching Sunday School, I was always praying for simple and effective lessons to teach the children, who ranged from age 3-13 all in one class!  Each week there could be anywhere from 3-23 children, so preparation was key, and each week I wrote my own lessons. 

To begin with we discussed power points, and how not to get electrocuted but also how they related to the Trinity.

Australian power points at least have three holes, in which to plug your appliance.   Some appliances however only have two prongs, but these are smaller appliances, which don't draw as much current.  In order for us to be fully effective in the Kingdom of God, we need Jesus, God AND the Holy Spirit, Who we sometimes aren't taught about.  

When we unplug from God by not spending time with Him we can't run for very long on our own, and we are angry, selfish and horrid creatures to be around whether we are children or adults.  This is a simple illustration in our modern world of how we need to abide like branches on a vine.  We will stop working well and run out of battery when we are not plugged into God.

2ndly we used Robyn Small's Quilt Chat, to really talk about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, how He directs us, and what His role was in the Bible.   These quilt chats are great as adult Bible Studies, but also as illustrations for Sunday School.  I would often print out a picture of a quilt chat and get the children to cut and paste the pictures into relevant sections on a worksheet.

My messy pouring versus Stephen's neatness.

That's why he's the sheet metal fabricator not me.

3rdly we made chocolate from a simple recipe of 1 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup honey and several tablespoons cocoa or cacao powder depending on what you have on hand, blended together quickly with a stick blender, and poured into moulds.   The time of year we did this was Mother's Day so this was a great activity, along with a gift for the mothers at the end of the service along with mother's day cards we made, with Lisa-Jo's gorgeous printables stuck on the front and a little prayer inside: 

I declare that (name of child) will become a mighty man/woman of God and will not miss their destiny. (Prayer from Katt Kerr's book Revealing Heaven)

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Titus 2 Tuesdays

Little Mashies, Pumpkin Bars & Rocket Stoves - All Yummy Things

 

(Thanks Laura for the photo. 

My cousin Laura makes beautiful and crazy jewellery from

polymer clay and sells it on Etsy.)

When I find some good things, they are far more enjoyed when shared!   This week I've been making Miss 2 a mixture of mango/banana or berry/banana or passionfruit/banana natural or Greek yogurt, coconut cream and honey iceblocks.  She loves them and eats several a day which I don't mind because they are good for her.  Now I've got a way to take them in the car, and it's called Little Mashies. 

These are strong, BPA free, reusable pouches made by an Aussie Mum!  I'm loving mine and so is toddles.  We pop in the mixture and throw it in the freezer, and then I put in  my bag for her to eat down the street when she always seems to be hungry, at church or in the car.   They are also good for older kids, and of course you could put all sorts of different things in them.  A friend gave us a pawpaw the other day so I whizzed it up with some banana and frozen mango and then put that in the Little Mashies, I've also put in homemade custard, and even mushroom soup. 

I wasn't able to give toddles anything like this when she was younger because all the commercial ones had at least 50% apple in them and she was quite allergic to apple at a young age and it would give her colic all night, and along the vegie line she was allergic to tomato, onion, cabbage etc.  So these will be great to make up when I have another baby. 

When you buy these they come with a free recipe e-book which looks great!

 

Another yummy thing we are enjoying are these delicious pumpkin bars.  I've made these up twice in 48 hours because it disappeared so fast.  I'm roasting a pumpkin in the oven, just chopped up, skin still on and then adding it to salads to bulk them up, pizza, or other meals, and of course these pumpkin bars.  Very yum. 

 

One more yummy thing is that my husband has been inspired to cook dinner for me 3 nights this week!   He has been inventing and fine tuning his design for rocket stoves that he's about to start selling online and at the markets.  This little beauty cooks a meal on a handful of sticks, it's fantastic obviously for inspiring fire loving males to cook and especially good for if you have no room for a BBQ, grill or for camping.  If you're interested in more info, leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

 

Ok, now I have to go clean my messy kitchen from all that yummy food!  Bye!

 

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