Welcome to the kitchen – where wholesome cooking and mindful food practices take center stage. This is your go-to space for embracing a simpler, more sustainable approach to life through nourishing meals and zero-waste habits.
Discover from-scratch recipes that celebrate fresh, whole ingredients, along with practical tips for preserving food through canning, fermenting, dehydrating, and freezing. Whether you’re stocking your pantry for the seasons ahead or finding creative ways to reduce food waste, these resources are designed to help you make the most of every bite.
Step into the heart of simple living and explore how thoughtful kitchen practices can add flavor, purpose, and joy to your daily routine. Ready to savor the journey? Dive in and start exploring!
If you need a little help keeping track of all the food you preserve for your family I have some free printable worksheets for you. Enjoy!
Tired of overly sweet fruit pies? Then try this sweet and tangy mango lime pie! I discovered mango pie when I over bought mangoes and had several mangoes getting very ripe on my kitchen counter. I love it when I make delicious mistakes like that. Everyone in my family loves mangoes…except me. So when I … Read more
Every year our family picks wild mustang grapes to make grape jelly and grape juice. Mustang grapes are similar to muscadine grapes but more sour, however, they make a lovely sweet/tart jelly and juice. Every year we have quite a bit of leftover mash or waste from extracting the juice, this year I decided to … Read more
I’ve recently learned that not everyone loves okra as much as I do. There are people in my family that love it and there are those who tolerate it. I try to work within the likes and dislikes of my family so we prepare it in a variety of ways. Of course, we fry it, … Read more
Every winter we have an abundance of citrus. It’s so wonderful, but it can be overwhelming at times. At the beginning of citrus season we’re excited and eating tons of it. But towards then end of the season you’ll find me juicing and freezing citrus juice almost daily as we make sure to not waste … Read more
I love my freezer. I know that sounds a bit odd but I don’t know how I would consistently feed my family from scratch, healthy meals without a freezer. I use the freezer to preserve fruits and vegetables, store bulk foods, and store make ahead meals for those times when I don’t have time to … Read more
Lemons (and other citrus) are so very wonderful, they’re bright and cheery and are in season in the middle of winter when not much fruit is available. It’s such a treat, especially if you try to eat seasonally. My favorite citrus is the Meyer lemon and fortunately we can grow them. We preserve most of … Read more
There’s a cycle that happens every year in our neck of the woods. Every November through January we have more citrus than we know what to do with. Everyone is “sharing” and hoping someone will take some oranges, grapefruit, and Meyer lemons off their hands before they go bad. Then every summer everyone is wishing … Read more
I had never heard of Meyer lemons until we moved to this area. It seems every street has at least one Meyer lemon tree growing in someone’s yard. It’s a really great thing! Meyer lemons are larger than regular lemons, have thinner skin, a sweeter flavor, and more juice than regular lemons. This makes them … Read more
I have a confession to make, until recently I’ve always been too intimidated to cook a ham. I like ham but there seemed to be a secret to keeping the ham moist and no one was telling me the secret. Well, I’ve found the secret and I’m sharing it with you….slow cooking….yep, that’s it. For … Read more
Have you ever heard of silver turtles? Some people call them hobo packets or foil dinners. Basically they’re a complete dinner you cook in a homemade foil packet on the grill or open camp fire…or even in the oven in a pinch. Whatever you call them, silver turtles are a delicious and super versatile dinner. … Read more
We love having people over for a meal and games. Over the years I’ve developed a few go-to recipes so I don’t have to think about planning a menu each time. I can just pick from one of the preplanned menus. This really helps reduce the stress of entertaining. We recently added a new item … Read more
Venison usually refers to deer meat but it can also include any wild game meat such as elk, carabao, and antelope. Canning venison is a great way to preserve the fall harvest and fill your shelves with shelf stable foods for quick meals. It will also free up freezer space and help prepare you for … Read more
I don’t know much about apples, except that they taste really good and are really good for you. There’s also about 5o million varieties so surely there’s a variety for everyone. Apples are one of those fruits that I’ll buy year round (along with bananas) but when they’re in season and the price drops I’ll … Read more
I was having a conversation with a friend recently and I mentioned that I like to freeze muffins before I bake them. Up until a couple of years ago I always baked muffins and then froze them. It worked great but it was time consuming to keep cooked muffins stocked in the freezer. Then I … Read more
Bananas are a favorite fruit in our home because they are so very inexpensive, even the organic bananas are much cheaper per pound than other fruits. And when I can find them marked down because they’re getting brown I buy all I can. We love to dehydrate bananas to make banana chips and banana jerky. … Read more
One of the things I get asked quite often is, “How do you store home canned food and what do you do with all those mason jars?” I get it, most of us are used to shopping for just a week or two at a time and the thought of having to store a years … Read more
One of my favorite things about the summer garden is the basil. We pretty much use basil for one thing….pesto. I shared photos of our first batch of pesto for this season and a couple of local friends asked me about freezing in glass jars. Then I got a comment on the post asking how … Read more
I was talking with a gardening friend and lamenting our dismal cucumber harvest this year. We have enough for eating fresh but not enough for freezing. She asked, “Can you freeze cucumbers?” Yes, you can absolutely freeze cucumbers and it’s super easy and useful. By the way, she’s bring me some of her excess cucumbers … Read more
I’ve always believed that that of all our budget categories, the grocery budget is the easiest to save on from month to month. For the most part, there’s very little you can do about your mortgage, there’s only so much you can do to reduce energy costs, and I don’t know about you but our … Read more
Chicken and rice is favorite combination at our home. What’s not to love – it’s a delicious and frugal combination? When you purchase a whole chicken it’s one of the least expensive meats and rice (even our favorite, basmati rice) is cheaper per pound than pasta. One of our staple chicken and rice meal is … Read more