Rosemary Olive Oil (Great Hostess Gift Under $10!)

Thanksgiving has zoomed past, and Christmas has been quickly approaching.  But in the Johnson household, this is the season of baby.  In the midst of nursery painting, furniture gathering (and painting), clothes and toy washing, birthing classes, midwife appointments and LOTS of warm baths (the only time I’m not in pain!), I’ve also been incredibly blessed with four baby showers!

I so appreciate the effort of cleaning and planning each of my shower hostesses have put into showering baby and I with lots of love.  I wanted to do a hostess gift that would be unique but also be able to be used.  Money was also a big consideration as pregnancy and new babies are expensive!  Since I have a couple rosemary plants in my yard, I decided Rosemary Infused Olive Oil would make the perfect hostess gift.

If you’re not sure how to infuse olive oil, don’t worry.  The olive oil is incredibly simple to make, the hardest part is getting it into the bottle!  Fortunately I had a funnel that worked perfectly.

Once the oil was made up and bottled, I made a pretty tag that had a quick thank you note and instructions on how to use the oil.  If you make the oil a week in advance, they can begin using it immediately.  If you’re like me and get so swamped you don’t get to it until the night before (or the day of!), just make sure to write on the tag that it needs to sit a week before being used.  Also, it’s best to use within three months so give them a use by date as well.  Here’s what my tag said:

Rosemary Infused Olive Oil
Let sit one week before use.
This is a great finishing oil. Drizzle it on salads, use as a dip for fresh bread,
or toss it with pasta, roasted vegetables or potatoes.
Use by the end of February.

See? Easy for you and easy for them!

Now, I won’t inundate you with every photo from every shower, but I thought you might want to see some of the cousin hugs we’ve had at the showers.  For those of you who don’t know, Eric’s sister is also pregnant, due six weeks after we are.  Whenever there’s a family get together, we do a “cousin hug” belly to belly.  We’re so excited for the day our little ones get to hug for real!

Apparently there are bets going on how soon I’m going to pop, some people (looking at the size of my belly) can’t believe I’ll make it another six weeks.  While our baby boy is definitely seeming to try and kick his way out (I have bruised ribs to prove it!), we’re not expecting him an earlier.  I’ll have to try and get a photo of my mom pregnant with my brother so you can see why we’re pretty sure I’m just going to keep getting bigger.  She couldn’t even reach the steering wheel by the time his due date approached!

I hope to share a couple more edible gifts with you this month but I’m not making any promises as sometimes just getting out of bed is too demanding!  I have been working on posting on the facebook page more often, and am putting a facebook update on the contact list for when labor begins, so make sure to head over and “Like” Eating Richly!