Remember last week when I told you to save the leftover rhubarb pulp from making rhubeena? This week, we’re going to use it to make a delicious snack. Fruit leather is the DIY version of Fruit Roll-Ups. In a nutshell, it’s just pureed fruit, put in a dehydrator. After making rhubeena the first time, I thought this would be a great use for the leftover pulp…it turned out so great,
Refreshing summer drink: How to make sun tea
Summer is officially here. And it’s hot. A hot muggy day needs a cool, refreshing drink. Enter sun tea. My mom used to make sun tea when I was little, and I just started making it again…and it’s become my beverage of choice after coming in from the garden.
DIY frozen chicken nuggets
Chicken nuggets make for a quick and tasty dinner. Can we agree on that? Crunchy on the outside, easy to prepare (from freezer to oven to plate), perfect for dunking in your choice of condiment, be it ketchup, BBQ sauce, ranch or honey mustard. But I’m going to level with you…the fact that chicken nuggets come in dinosaur shapes creeps me out in a big way. Sandwiches and fruit in
Peanut butter banana chocolate smoothies + a handy tip for blending
My breakfast this morning was a smashing success, and I’m going to tell you all about it. It started with a post on Annie’s Eats last week about a Banana Chocolate Smoothie. How interesting, I thought. I promptly bought bananas…but we ate them all before I got around to making smoothies. Then I bought bananas again, and got to thinking: I would really like to make peanut butter a part
Making buttermilk ranch dressing from scratch
Ranch dressing is one of the most versatile condiments in our fridge. We use it on salads, of course. And pizza. And fries. And mozzarella sticks. Many kinds kinds of chicken. Mix it with shredded chicken and put it on a cracker, and tell me how good it is in the comments. I dare you to only eat one. Homemade ranch is great for many reasons―I love knowing exactly what ingredients are in
Make your own vanilla extract: Just vodka + vanilla beans + time
Based on the blogs I read, it feels like making vanilla extract from scratch is quite the trend. As I mentioned earlier, it’s just two ingredients―vanilla and vodka. You put the two in a jar together for a couple months and the vanilla flavor seeps into the vodka. Easy, right? I’ve never used real vanilla beans before, but have always wanted to. Plus I love making things from scratch…so I
DIY Gunk Remover: Non-toxic recipe to remove sticky adhesive residue
I’m pretty excited about this one, folks. I’m big into making my own cleaning products and finding cheap substitutes for things I’d normally purchase…and this recipe hits a home run in so many ways. You know how price tags and jar labels leave a sticky residue behind that’s super tough to rub off? For years I’ve used the major brand products to fix the problem, namely Goo Gone or Goof Off. I’ve
Silky-soft skin: DIY Sugar Scrub using three pantry staples
Sugar scrub is at the top of the list of body care products I no longer purchase. Not because I don’t like it, but because it’s really expensive at stores, and I found a great recipe that I can whip up without going to the store to buy ingredients―they’re already in the pantry. If you have brown sugar, olive oil and vanilla, you are three minutes away from having wonderful
Make your own pumpkin pie spice
If you have an addiction to pumpkin anything like me, you probably also consume a lot of pumpkin pie spice. Once upon a time, I would run out and say, Oh, no! I’m out of pumpkin pie spice. And then I would write it on the grocery list and go get it at the store. Now, I say, I’m out of pumpkin pie spice! Time to make some more. Two
DIY ginger tea + winter comforts
Ahh, it finally feels like winter. Minnesota was without snow until just a couple weeks ago. The last time we went this far into winter without snow was…never, as far as I can remember. It’s Sunday evening, and I just got home from having dinner with my husband and his mom. It’s all slippery and treacherous outside because of some mild freezing rain, and it made me think, it’s winter
I'm going to drink tea now.
Ahh, it finally feels like winter. Minnesota was without snow until just a couple weeks ago. The last time we went this far into winter without snow was…never, as far as I can remember. It’s Sunday evening, and I just got home from having dinner with my husband and his mom. It’s all slippery and treacherous outside because of some mild freezing rain, and it made me think, it’s winter
I’ll never buy laundry detergent again (and here’s my super-simple recipe)
I know this isn’t the first post on the internet about making homemade laundry detergent. When I decided I wanted to make my own, I found literally dozens of them. But I’ve shared this recipe with so many people that I know, and it’s so simple that I can’t help adding my two cents to the mix. Homemade laundry detergent is inexpensive, non-toxic and super-simple to make. It only has