Oil Love

Yeah, don't get excited. I'm gonna tell you how to make the most yummy oil to cook with or give away as a gift (or both like me).

1st - get some clear bottles with a good lid - maybe like this with this

Once you have your bottles you'll need to sanitize them. This can be done with your dishwasher. If you don't have a dishwasher pour boiling water down into the bottle, while it is sitting in a sink of hot water (this way the bottle won't break from the shock). Then dry well (a hair drier will work well for this).

Now you'll need different herbs and spices for a variety of oils - here are a couple of options. (Feel free to substitute or add extras)

Herb Oil
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Thyme - 3-4 stalks
Rosemary - 1 nice stalk (6-10 inches long)
Garlic - 5-6 cloves sliced
Whole Pepper Corns (black or various colors is fine) - 2 Tbs
Salt - 1 Tbs for a large-ish bottle (16 oz or more) less for a smaller bottle.

OR

Hot Oil
Any kind of Vegetable Oil (the flavor of the oil won't matter too much)
Dried Chiles - 10-15 whole chiles - or - 1/2 cup crushed
Pepper Corns - 1/4 cup
Garlic - 8-10 cloves sliced
Salt - 1 Tbs for a large-ish bottle (16 oz or more) less for a smaller bottle
Sun Dried Tomatoes - 3-4 pieces (dry packed)
Thyme - 2-3 stalks

For either of these you'll need enough oil to fill the bottle you've chosen.

Okay now for the part that makes your house smell good...

For either of the oils, pour the oil into a pan that will hold everything. Heat the oil until it starts to shimmer. Put the herbs and garlic in first and let those fry? for 2 minutes or so, until the garlic gets a small amount of color (maybe kind of yellowish?). Then pull out the herbs and garlic and add everything else. Tongs work much better than fingers for this step. This step is where the oils differ, for the Herb Oil let the pepper corns go for maybe 2 minutes. But let the Hot Oil go for about 8-10 minutes. This way it will have a good heat.

Now strain these into your bottle and cork the hole (with whatever you have chosen). Once the bottle has cooled (wouldn't want to burn your fingers), wash the outside so there is no oily residue.

You can use these for a number of things. The Herb Oil is really nice to put on a pizza crust before you bake it, or use with some balsamic for your salad dressing. And the Hot Oil does really nice things for soup. Just sear your meat in the oil and go from there.

Note - If you give these away, make sure you label them. Wouldn't want anyone to get a hot mouth from their salad or anything like that. *evil laugh here*

I am totally Cheap...

Ok, I totally forgot to take pictures of the girl's costume for the blog (cause I am so blond like that). So, instead of pictures, you're going to get a cheap Christmas idea.

I am nothing if not totally cheap. Here you go: I take pictures for my own pleasure. I'm okay at this if I have enough time to really work with my camera, I am also totally enthralled with putting makeup on other people, and I love to do hair. (Do you see where this is going yet?)

So, for Christmas I am giving the girls under 16 certificates to have a photo shoot with me. Hair & Makeup included. I will then send an 8 x 10 & disc - with all the pictures from the shoot - home with them. This way the parents get a gift too! - See cheap.

However, I'm still not sure what to do for the boys in the family. The photo shoot would still be nice for the parents, but there really aren't too many boys in the family who would enjoy it. That makes it not a gift for them. - What do I do? Help me if you can, I'm open for original ideas.

Once again, I apologize for my blondness. I'll try for pictures this weekend.

Oh! I forgot to tell you... The Wonder Woman costume is coming along brilliantly! We got the top and bottoms sewn together. The belt is made and was being attached last night. I got the eagle drawn and cut out, it was also being attached last night. She's having to do a lot of the sewing on her own, because the band on the bottoms is so very stretchy she has to actually sew it while she is wearing it - very awkward. But once it was all pinned together it looked so good! Also she found these weird beer can coozies that are really 2 snap bracelets glued to foam, that we cut to fit her wrists and added gold lamé to them to make her wrist cuffs - or as she likes to call them - gauntlets - They look pretty good. So now all that needs to be done is - find her a skin toned body suit - make her crowny thing - finish up her cape (if she still wants it) - and add all of the stars to everything. Not really too much.

Then I have to sew the Man / Woman's clothes together so it will be easy to get into and voilá MIL will be done too! - We found her clothes this weekend at the goodwill. Yay! I'll let you know how everything else is going, Monday maybe? Who knows? Not me that's for sure.