5 Simmering Pot Recipes to Make Your House Smell Swell

CC image courtesy of A Writer's Afoot on Flickr.

With two cats, a guy, and a little person, our house can start to smell ... ummm ... unfresh. One of the easiest ways to remedy that is to start a simmering pot. Try these recipes or invent your own.

How It Works: Just fill a pot with water, add delicious smelling ingredients, and set on the stove or radiator. Soon your home will smell just as delicious as your ingredients!

Just Remember: Keep checking to make sure the water doesn't evaporate. I did this once and burnt the pot. Let's just say the burnt pot smell kind of defeated the purpose. Now, I set an alarm for every half hour and add water.


1. Apple-pie in the sky: 

• apple juice, 
• 1 tps of vanilla
• 2 tps of cinnamon

2. Lemon Zest: 

• lemon peel
• lemon slices 
• 1 tps of vanilla

3. Orangeya Glad You Did: 

• Orange peels
• 1 Orange sliced into 1/8s
• 1 tps vanilla
• 1 tps nutmeg 

4. Christmas Greeting 

• 1/2 cup of Cranberry
• 1 Lemon sliced into 1/8s 
• 1 tps of cinnamon 

5. Rosemary Delight

• 3 tbs of dried rosemary (or 2 sprig of fresh)
• 1/2 lemon sliced
• 1 tps of vanilla