Learn how to make this exquisitely delicious huckleberry jam recipe from your freshly picked wild huckleberries! It's huckleberry season. And that means fresh huckleberry jam! We enjoyed red huckleberries a few weeks ago and now the black huckleberries are … Continue reading →
Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
This classic strawberry rhubarb jam recipe is sure to win you over with its wonderful burst of fresh and fruity flavor! Easy to make and includes canning instructions so you can make a bunch to last you through the year! Spread this jam on our homemade English Crumpets … Continue reading →
Authentic Chinese Plum Sauce
Chinese plum sauce is a smooth sweet and tart sauce infused with traditional Chinese spices and boasts a deliciously complex flavor profile that will mesmerize your taste buds! It's wonderfully versatile as a dipping sauce, stir-fry sauce, basting sauce or glaze as well as … Continue reading →
Honey Peach Cardamom Sauce
Peaches are in season here in Washington State and I picked up a bulk load of 75 pounds of them last week! Â I've been busy chopping and freezing them for smoothies, canning them, making fruit leather, peach cobbler and peach crisp, and thought I'd try something new - this … Continue reading →
Dilly Beans (Pickled Green Beans)
Dilly Beans (pickled green beans) have been a beloved classic for generations. And for good reason: They're absolutely delicious! Plus they're super easy to make and keep for a long time! If you've never tried Dilly Beans you don't know what you've been missing! … Continue reading →
How To Can Diced Tomatoes
There are several reasons it's a great idea to can your own tomatoes. The first reason is this: Â BPA's. Â Nearly everyone's heard of this chemical because of the health risks associated with it. Â Sadly it continues to be used in so many of our food products. Â In the case … Continue reading →
Cherry Barbecue Sauce
A deliciously flavorful and fruity cherry barbecue sauce you can enjoy on your grilled meats, chicken, burgers, pulled pork sandwiches, and used in any recipe that calls for barbecue sauce! What would you do with 75 pounds of cherries? That's what I picked up this … Continue reading →
Pickled Asparagus
Pickled Asparagus is easy to make, keeps for many months, and tastes absolutely FABULOUS! Asparagus is something I look forward to every year. Â Steamed and served with a Hollandaise sauce, sauteed with butter, added to stir-fries, made into a creamy soup, roasted or … Continue reading →
How To Smoke Neck Bones & Ham Hocks
At the heart of Southern home cooking, smoked neck bones and ham hocks are commonly enjoyed with things like beans, potatoes, rice, cabbage as well as in soups and stews where they're slow-cooked until their smoky, fork-tender meat falls right off. Most of you have … Continue reading →
Maximizer Fruit & Apple Cider Press Review + How To Bottle & Preserve Fresh Apple Juice
I received this cider press from Pleasant Hill grain without any obligation to write a positive review.  All opinions are my own. We purchased our dream home last December - a 104 year old historic home on nearly 8 acres, complete with a barn, stone greenhouse and … Continue reading →
Bavarian Sweet Mustard (Bayerischer Süßer Senf)
A thoroughly authentic sweet German mustard recipe, this Bavarian sweet mustard is the kind served at the Munich Oktoberfest! Delicious and easy to make! My mom is from Bavaria from a small town south of Munich on the Austrian border, and though I grew up in … Continue reading →
Caramel Pear Butter
If you're an apple butter fan you've got to try this with pears. Â A fuss-free recipe utilizing the slow cooker, simply dump in the ingredients and let the slow cooker work its magic. Â The result is a wonderfully deep, caramelized flavor that comes from slow cooking the pears … Continue reading →
Kitchen Basics: How To Roast Red Peppers
Instead of paying a premium for store-bought, learn how to roast red peppers yourself! It's easy and there are SO many delicious ways to use your roasted peppers! Jarred roasted red peppers are one of those things I often don't have on hand when I need them.  Can you … Continue reading →
How To Make Fruit Leather
Making a wholesome, no added sugar treat for yourself and your family couldn't be easier! Too many food items you find in the store are full of ingredients that belong in a toxic waste depository rather than in a food item that's consumed by kids or grownups.  Fruit … Continue reading →
Plum Butter
This Plum Butter recipe is made in the slow cooker for an incredibly deep, rich, caramelized flavor. It's easy to make and if canned properly will keep for up to a year. It's delicious on bread, muffins, scones, waffles, pancakes, added to cakes and pastries, and even … Continue reading →
How To Can Peaches (Without Sugar, With Syrup or Honey)
Learn how to can peaches with syrup, honey or without any sugar at all and then sit back and enjoy your labor of love all year long! Canning is such a great way of preserving food to enjoy over the long haul. Â Buy your produce locally when it's in season, can it and … Continue reading →
Pickled Turnips
Pickling is a method of preservation that dates back to Neolithic times around 7000 BC. Â During this anaerobic fermentation process strange and wonderful things happen that transform the original product into something quite different. Â And very healthy with all those … Continue reading →
How To Can Cherries, Dehydrate Them & Use The Pits
It's cherry season! Â And that means bounteous harvests of gorgeous, plump, juicy globes of sweetness. We picked up two bulk loads of Washington cherries, a combination of Rainier and Bing, 80 pounds total! I've been preparing them several ways: Â Canning, dehydrating, … Continue reading →
How To Make Homemade Canned Boston Baked Beans or Pork and Beans
Here's the thing, if I'm going to make the effort to can I like to make a huge batch to make my efforts worth it, because it doesn't take any longer to do so. Â But it does save me the time of making a second batch later. Â But, you need a really large stock pot. The best … Continue reading →
Pressure Canner Chili Con Carne
I've been canning for several years, but only using the water-bath method. Â So that means I've mostly been making jams, relishes, chutneys, pickles, salsas and other high-acidic foods that are safe for water-bath canning. Â For most other things you have to have a pressure … Continue reading →
Blueberry Lemon Apricot Jam
What says comfort like a slice of freshly baked bread slathered with butter and homemade jam? I've been experimenting with a few jams this Summer and this one has become a family favorite.  The combination of blueberries-nectarines-lemons works beautifully and I'm sure … Continue reading →
Peter Piper’s Pickled Peppers
 Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where's the peck of pickled peppers that Peter Piper picked?  (*scratching my head*)  Have you ever stopped to really think … Continue reading →
BEST Dill Pickle Relish
An easy, wonderfully versatile and utterly deeeeelicious homemade dill pickle relish recipe! Canning instructions are included so you can enjoy this relish all year long! It's relish like this that makes eating a sandwich or hot dog just that much better.  It also … Continue reading →
Restaurant-style Mexican Salsa
It's National Tortilla Chip Day! Â Who knew there was such a thing? Â Well there is, and what better way to enjoy the crunchy tortilla chip than with a bowl of homemade salsa? … Continue reading →
Homemade Sweet Pickle Relish
Nothing fancy, just a humble homemade sweet pickle relish. Â But it's downright good. Â In fact, it's the best I've ever had. Â It adds a wonderful dimension to your sandwiches, hot dogs, pasta and potato salads. Â So easy to make with instructions for canning so you can enjoy … Continue reading →