My grandma was a farmer and an avid gardener- she always had a flock of chickens and at least one goose that always chased us down her driveway. She had a gorgeous raspberry patch, and I remember her freezer was always full of Cool Whip containers filled with homegrown raspberries. And she made the best […]
{Crustless} Maple Pumpkin Pie
I love pumpkin pie- especially for its simplicity and rustic-ness. While I don’t know the real history of the pumpkin pie, I can only imagine that everyone from the earliest American Indians to the original homesteaders have been baking forms of pumpkin custard for a long time. Pumpkin pie’s roots go deep, and I love […]
Plum & Crabapple Fruit Leather Recipe
This has been the year of the fruit leather, and my favorite so far is this plum and crabapple fruit leather… it’s sweet and tart, with a gorgeous color, plus it is very pliable and tender (a great quality for fruit leather, as some can end up as tough as… well, leather). I’m on my third […]
Maple-Sweetened Peanut Butter Balls Recipe
Peanut butter covered in chocolate is one of life’s fine pleasures. And when that peanut butter is mixed with the earthy, smokey, sweet flavor of maple sugar, it’s pretty darn incredible. These maple peanut butter chocolate candies are actually modeled after one of my old favorite holiday treats, the glorious Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg (why are […]
Spiced Canned Apple Slices Sweetened with Honey {Canning Recipe}
Did you ever discover something new that totally changed your world, and you can’t believe you went all this time never knowing about it? And then you feel silly because the thing you didn’t know existed and that changed your life was a jar of essentially homemade canned apple pie filling? No? Just me then… […]
Salted Honey Caramels
If there’s anything I’m a connoisseur of, it’s likely caramels. It’s my favorite flavor of anything and everything, anywhere. I will without a doubt always order the caramel-flavored whatever it is. A couple of years ago, I discovered that I could make caramel… and I got really good at it. I make the best salted caramel […]
Honey Sundae: The Best Ice Cream Treat
Leave it to a beekeeper to drizzle golden sweet honey on top of ice cream! Honey pretty much goes on everything though, so you can’t fault me. Meat? Yes- honey-glazed ham, honey bbq wings. Vegetables? Yes- honeyed carrots, honey dijon dressing on cobb salad. And now, ice cream. Our beekeeping club has a booth at […]
Aronia & Strawberry Gelatin Squares + How to Grow an Aronia Bush
I get excited about a lot of things in life- like my first batch of homemade lard soap turning out awesome, finding a new product to keep deer away from our apple trees, or discovering Aronia berries… and even better, discovering that I can grow them myself. I love when I can grow things myself! These berries are […]
Grain-Free Double Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
You’d think “cookies” would be a pretty agreeable subject matter… not like religion, politics, or which direction the toilet paper roll should go. But growing up, Christmas cookies were a hotly debated holiday topic in my household, mostly because of my incredible loathing of one particular variety of Christmas cookie. A classic cookie that apparently […]
Chocolate-Dipped Mint Leaves… or, Chocolate After Dinner Mints Au Naturel
(gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, grain-free, healthy, vegetarian) When we moved onto our homestead last year, I knew that one of the things high on my garden priorities list was to establish a mint patch. People are usually quick to warn you about mint: not to plant it in a garden or flower bed, because it will […]