homemade – Francois et Moi

How to Make: Grapefruit Lavender Bitters

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 12:23:57 +0000

Part two of our homemade bitters extravaganza takes shape in the form of grapefruit lavender bitters. Seriously, what could be better than the combination of these two flavors?! Combining them in the form of a cocktail? Bingo. Grapefruit lavender bitters is essentially 100 proof vodka infused with a melange of zest and herbs to achieve a high flavor potency, and thus only a few drops are needed to add a complex kick of citrus to any cocktail, my most recent fave being the Sparkling Lillet & Grapefruit Cocktail. As with any homemade bitters, the flavor and potency is a matter of taste and preference. Below is where our taste buds lead us, but feel free to experiment to find your perfect ratio. There’s no wrong answers here! Happy weekending. Ingredients: We ordered most of our herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs. Great quality and fast service! zest of 3 grapefruits, removed with a peeler 4-1/4 c 100 proof vodka or Everclear (divided into 2-1/4 c & 2 c) 1 tbsp culinary lavender 1/2 tbsp juniper berries 1/2 tbsp gentian root 3/4 tsp black walnut leaf 1/2 c water 1/2 c sugar Materials: 2 mason jars lots of cheescloth for straining strainer 2oz or 4oz dropper bottles a funnel […]

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Mind Your Beeswax: How to Make Beeswax Tea Lights

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 13:01:17 +0000

Happy Monday! Over the weekend I pulled out the bag of raw beeswax we collected from the honey harvest, cleaned it, melted it down and made some beeswax tea lights out of it. We brought home a pretty blue lantern from Italy earlier this year, and I thought tea lights would be the perfect way to light it up. I’ve been reading up quite a bit lately on how to make beeswax candles and learned a lot of fun factoids along the way. Did you know that beeswax candles, in addition to being non-toxic and clean burning, they also purify your air (!!) by producing negative ions that clean the air of odors and allergens. How cool is that? Beeswax also has an inherently clean and pleasant aroma, so I decided not to add any additional scents to it. I felt it wasn’t necessary, but it sounds like you can add essential oils to the wax once it’s cleaned and melted if you’d like. Materials List: raw beeswax from a hive or pre-cleaned beeswax heatsafe pouring container (Thank you Scott & Caitlyn for loaning yours to […]

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Weekend Blueberry Granola

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 12:39:54 +0000

Classic granola takes a ride on the wild side teaming up with dried wild blueberries in this easier-than-you-think homemade granola. The ingredients are simple, but the melange of flavors is complex: savory toasted almonds, sweet honey and blueberries and hints of cinnamon and vanilla. I like to make it the night before so we can just roll out of bed on Saturday morning and build up parfaits in a snap. Ingredients: 3 c Old-fashioned oats 1 c Raw almonds 4 tbsp Brown sugar 1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon Generous pinch of salt 1/3 c Honey 2 tbsp Unrefined virgin coconut oil (Whole Foods) 1/2 tsp Vanilla 3/4 c Dried wild blueberries (Trader Joe’s) Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine in a bowl, oats, almonds, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Combine in a saucepan over low heat, coconut oil, honey and vanilla until smooth. Pour honey mixture over oat mixture and use your hands to evenly cover oats. Turn out onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, tossing the granola every 15 minutes until golden brown. Remove pan from oven, place on a cooling rack and stir in dried blueberries. The granola will take on a crunchy […]

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How To Brew: Root Beer

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 13:34:58 +0000

With National Root Beer Float Day coming up on August 6th, I asked my brewmaster husband, Ken, to show me a thing or two about how to make root beer at home. Though now that it’s ready, I have a feeling it’s not going to last until August 6th! I’m not typically a huge fan of pop (or soda as say they outside of Minnesota), but I am a root beer kind of girl, especially in the summertime. This recipe makes 1 gallon, and is naturally carbonated meaning, no Sodastream or CO2 cartridge is needed. The process is pretty straight forward–just make sure to read the instructions thoroughly. Happy summering! Ingredients: 1/8 tsp ale yeast or champagne yeast. 2 Tbsp. of root beer extract 1 Gallon of water 2.5 Cups unpacked brown sugar Special Equipment: Amber plastic bottles with unused screw caps. Glass bottles are not recommended as they can explode from the pressure. Cooking thermometer Funnel Sanitizer In a small cup or bowl, dissolve yeast in a 1/4 cup of warm tap water and set aside. In a stock pot, heat 1/2 of the gallon of water to 130 degrees F and remove from heat. Stir in 2.5 cups of brown sugar until completely dissolved. And then stir in 2 […]

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How to Make Butter

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 12:48:32 +0000

My friend, Briony, first introduced me to the idea of making butter a few months ago, when we were cooking together at her house, and she mentioned she had made the butter we were cooking with. I love the idea of making things from scratch whenever possible, so of course I was super interested to hear how she did it! Surprisingly, it’s crazy simple. It’s a matter of shaking cream until the butter separates from the buttermilk, draining the buttermilk, and rinsing the butter with water. And ta-da! …butter. Ingredients & Materials: Fresh Cream (or heavy whipping cream as they call it) Mason Jar with Lid Cold Tap Water for Rinsing Pour cream into mason jar and secure cover tightly. I used 1 cup cream and it yielded about 1/3 c butter, but larger batches are also very doable. Shake, shake, shake and shake the mason jar some more until the butter separates from the buttermilk. Once you feel like the butter has reached it’s solid state, drain the buttermilk into another container. Don’t discard the buttermilk though–use it for buttermilk pancakes later! Pour cold water into the mason jar and use a rubber spatula to press any remaining buttermilk out of the […]

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Ridiculously Good: Rustic Homemade Herb Crackers

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 13:29:55 +0000

Sometimes I think the best days are the ones that evolve naturally with little or no planning or calculation to them. And the following Saturday after we came back from Europe happened to be one of those days. I woke up early that gloomy Saturday morning, made a pot of french press and made myself comfortable with my laptop. It was an amazing trip abroad, but I was glad to be home nestled on our sofa and slowly working back into the everyday. I jumped on Pinterest between emails and blog planning and decided I wanted to cook something–it had seemed like forever since I’d done anything in my kitchen! We had picked up Boursin Cheese on our first stop at the grocery store, so I thought it would be fun to make something to go with it. I decided I’d use Martha Stewart’s Thyme Crackers as inspiration, as we happened to have all the ingredients already, (I’d picked up cream earlier that week for another project I’m working on!) but since I only have a mini food processor, and it’s not large enough to accommodate the recipe, I used my Kitchenaid mixer instead and it worked great! I also used a blend of fresh herbs […]

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