With the weather turning cooler and while we're now in the middle of the holiday season, I've been trying out new simmer pots to make the apartment smell a little more festive. One of my favorite combinations is shown below but I have also loved to use cinnamon as well. These have quickly become part of my daily routine to make the house smell fresh and festive.
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| Lemon, Bay Leaves, Cloves, Vanilla |
Instructions: Fill a small saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add the ingredients from your favorite recipe, continue to boil for a few minutes, then turn the heat down to simmer. Add water as needed, usually every 30 minutes or so.
Recipe #1
Cinnamon sticks
Apple peels
Orange rinds
Whole cloves
Recipe #2
Peel from 1 lemon
Peel from 1 orange
2 bay leaves
3 cinnamon sticks
2 Tablespoons whole cloves
Recipe #3
A few drops vanilla
Orange peels
Recipe #4
1 cup dried lavender
1 tsp anise
1 Tablespoon nutmeg
1 Tablespoon whole cloves
1 Cinnamon stick
Recipe #5
5 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon whole cloves
2 sticks cinnamon
Mixtures found at Apartment Therapy
Also to go along with the lemon theme, I've been making a lot of homemade lemon tea lately and it has quickly become my one of my favorite drinks. It's so easy (not to mention healthy...minus the sugar) and once you have the work done, it will provide drinks for weeks to come. You simply cut up lemons into slices (I use about 6-7 lemons), put it into a jar and add about a cup of sugar. Voila, finished. Keep the jar in the fridge and whenever you want a cup of tea simply scoop out some of the lemon chunks and include some of the juice that accumulates at the bottom. Pour in hot water and add sugar to taste. It's tastes like a hot lemonade.
Have you ever done simmer pots?
