Chive Vinegar

I had mentioned in my Cost Cutting: 2- Make it from Scratch that you can use fresh herbs from the garden to make delicious flavored vinegar. I wanted to share a little more in depth about this one, as it is a great cost cutting measure, but important not to overdo it.
Vinegar is allowed on the paleo diet. That being said, it is not to be overdone crazily as it does throw off the balance of a bodies alkaline levels. Flavored vinegars are a great option as they give you added bang for their acidic buck. You not only get the flavor of the vinegar, but you are able to dilute it more because of the added flavors of the herbs.
Last night, as I was preparing dinner, I asked Loralei (3) to go pick some chives for our salads. She came back with a large handful of chives and their flowers. I had planned on waiting till the flowers were more bloomed (as they have more flavor at that time), but what was done was done. Easily enough, I filled a small jar with white vinegar, threw in the blossoms and set it on the counter.
Here it is this morning.

I dilute mine down with a little water and mix it up with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and any other spices and seasoning I am feeling. It makes a delicious salad dressing and is SOOO much cheaper than buying a flavored vinegar.
So go experiment away... try other fresh herbs. I have a delicious salad in the works using this method that I will be posting later this week. Enjoy!!

~Side note: Loralei has become much more of an adventurous eater as far as vegetables go since we have started our garden. She is willing to try things she helped grow, and I actually have to tell her to stop picking/eating because she gets carried away. She will stand in the garden and eat fresh chives, cilantro, dill, lettuce, spinich, etc. It is awesome! So if you have the space, even for just a small herb garden, it might be worth a shot. I will be posting more about how to garden efficiently and inexpensively in an upcoming post.