Ditch the Packets & Make Your Own Healthy, Homemade Ranch Mix
Calling all Ranch lovers!
Ranch is the all-purpose condiment most of us grew up dunking into. It’s a classic that goes with everything from dressings and dips to marinades and seasonings. Honestly, is there anything Ranch dressing can’t make better?
But have you ever actually looked at the ingredient list on those seasoning packets? Yeah… it’s not pretty.
Using Your Green Tomatoes: 2 Delicious Ways
Whether you’ve intentionally harvested your tomatoes green or found yourself with a bunch due to a sudden change in weather, there are all sorts of ways you can make use of this unique garden bounty.
Better than “Jiffy” Cornbread Mix
This cleaned-up copycat cornbread mix is so easy to whip up in advance and store in a jar in the refrigerator until needed. Toss some vegetables in it for a quick breading (my Texas-born husband is crazy about pan fried okra!) or combine the mix with an egg and buttermilk, and you’ve got yourself a fast and easy cornbread, corn muffins, corn casserole or cornmeal fritters. The sky’s the limit!
Maple-Cinnamon Butter & Quick Baked Apples
For those nights when a little dessert would hit the spot, but you simply don’t have the time to throw anything complicated together, allow me to introduce you to your new secret weapon:
maple-cinnamon butter
Whip up a jar ahead of time and keep it on hand for creating quick, delicious and healthy baked fruit desserts in no time flat.
Quick Pickled Banana Peppers
The garden peppers are still rolling in! This week, we’re processing banana peppers, which are, hands down, one of my favorite mild peppers to grow.
Preserving a Peck of (Jalapeño) Peppers: 5 ways
We were blessed with a bumper crop of hot garden peppers this season, particularly jalapeños. Yesterday, we picked several pounds of peppers off a single plant! So what do you do with so many jalapeños coming at you all at once?
A Pinch of Lov(age): Preserving Herbs with Salt
If you found yourself with the happy problem of having an abundance of fresh garden herbs this season, you might be scrambling to find ways to use or store them before the cold weather rolls in.
Air drying, freeze drying and freezing are common ways to preserve fresh herbs, but there’s another way. An easy way… herb-infused salts!
Stocking Your Herbal Apothecary
For the majority of our history, we’ve relied on the inherent wisdom of plants for both medicine and nourishment. Even as modern pharmaceuticals become widespread, nature continues to provide a plethora of safe, effective remedies to those who know where to look.
When Life Gives You Sumac… Make Sumac Pink Lemonade
Let’s make some super-easy sumac pink lemonade! A cold-water infusion of the ripe berries produces a nutritious and refreshing lemon-like beverage known as “sumac-ade” or “poor man’s lemonade.”
Mint-Infused Honey (Plus a Mocktail Recipe!)
There’s nothing quite like fresh mint. It’s chock full of benefits all by itself, but paired with raw honey it becomes a therapeutic (and delicious) powerhouse!
