Infuse this!

Woah. Seriously, I'm still alive! Life is busy, but it goes on, no?

I've been busy busy busy working working working. But I've been trying to be super crafty lately, inspired of course by Pinterest.

You can find me here

I attempt to actually recreate things I see on Pinterest to help justify all my time spent on the site...

So here's two recent adventures...

Home made Vanilla Extract

This was a super easy project, and smells so good!

I found these great little bottles at The Container Store for only $4 each!!

Then you just fill with Vodka (or Bourbon) and whole vanilla beans! I sliced the beans up the middle with some scissors and put them in the bottles! I used 3 beans per bottle. Some recipes online show way more vanilla beans per bottle of vodka, one even said SEVENTY for a half a gallon of vodka. Which seems a little steep! Especially considering vanilla beans are around $1.50 each.

I love how this turned out! I'm going to write a little note for each one letting the recipient know to wait 30 days before using it. The taste difference in your baking is outstanding! Plus most store bought vanilla extracts have a TON of added sugar. That's just bad news bears!

Infusion... commence!

Cranberry-Lime Infused Vodka

Secondly I found this awesome Cranberry-Lime infused vodka recipe, that also seemed like a great Christmas gift idea! It works out to be about $9 per bottle! Of course I found these awesome bottles at Grocery Outlet (a bargain grocery store) filled with some sort of fizzy pink lemonade for only #2.99, so I realize these bottles at this price may be difficult to find. Again, they sell 

something similar at The Container Store.

From there I just bought 2 pounds of whole cranberries, sat in front of the tv and proceeded to poke holes in all the cranberries and put them in the bottles. Around 2/3 of the way, I put the rind of one lime in each bottle. Then I put a few more berries on top! And of course, fill with vodka! yes! This smells SO GOOD! And I have more vodka left, so I'm going to make a few more bottles. I again bought a half of a gallon of Svedka, which is on sale for $20 in stores here, so I have enough left for about 2-3 more bottles of this goodness! I found this idea at The Fancy Napkin, and I'm also going to attach this recipe for Cran-tinis to the bottles when I gift them.

Hark! I bring tidings of great booze.

Crantini's

Ingredients:

1/2 oz. Triple Sec

1 1/2 oz. Cranberry-Lime Infused vodka

4 oz. Cranberry juice

Ice

Directions:

Shake with ice, and shake well. Strain and serve in a martini glass

Garnish with cranberries or a lime twist.

Hugs and kisses!

McGriddle Pants