Holiday Stove-Top Potpourri's

Having my home smell wonderful at this time of year brings back memories of childhood and creates new ones as an adult. The smells of evergreen, peppermint, gingerbread, orange, and spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, all mean the Holidays are here.

A stove-top potpourri mix is an easy, inexpensive way to make your home smell wonderful. And if you wrap your homemade concoction in some pretty packaging, you have a wonderful gift for family and friends as well.

Cattra at 'Cattra's Magickal World' shared a wonderful potpourri recipe that I wanted to share here as well. It's easy to make and will leave your house smelling divine!

You'll need:

Orange peel from 3 oranges
1 Tbsp whole cloves
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon or 3 sticks broken into thirds
1 Tbsp lavendar
1 Tbsp juniper berries

Place orange peel on a cookie sheet and dry out in the oven at 200F for 2 hours. In a bowl, combine other ingredients and crush with a mortar and pestle (or use the back of a screwdriver as Cattra does). Fill a double-boiler with water on low heat. Place crushed ingredients with the orange peels into the top part and simmer. Soon your house will be filled with the smells of the season!

Here's another variation . . .

One whole orange or just the orange peel
1/2 cup cranberries
1 Tbsp whole cloves
3 sticks of cinnamon or a small handful of small pieces of cinnamon
a bit of grated nutmeg if desired

Quarter the orange and put all the ingredients into a saucepan. Fill the pan with water and place it on the stove, on the smallest burner, on the lowest setting. Refill water as needed and enjoy!

I hope you enjoy making these easy potpourri recipes and that the smell will always remind you of home at this time of year.

My own potpourri brewing on the stove . . .