One of the fun facts about my home state of Michigan is that it produces 75% of the tart cherry crop in the United States. In fact the lovely town of Traverse City in northern Michigan is known as the Cherry Capital of the World and is host to theRead More
Make Your Own Peanut Butter
One of life’s little pleasures when stirring up something tasty in the kitchen is taking a few licks off from your stirring spoon or beaters when you’re done. All that goodness will otherwise just be wasted when you wash things up, right? Why not savor it a bit before itRead More
Homemade Butter
Homemade butter. It sounds like a delicious luxury, doesn’t it? Our great grandmothers who had no choice but to sit at the butter churn if they wanted butter would probably laugh at us. You have it so good now! The luxury is in being able to go to the storeRead More
How To Make Stabilized Whipped Cream
It’s been a couple years now since I first wrote about how to make homemade whipped cream. It’s one of those little tricks that once you start doing it, you realize how simple it really is. I very seldom buy Cool Whip anymore and have come to much preferRead More
Make Your Own Dill Pickles
Got cucumbers? If you do, then you can easily have pickles too! I’m loving this simple recipe for homemade pickles that doesn’t require any canning and can be made one quart-sized jar at a time. This is just the right quantity for my household size and of course if youRead More
Make Your Own Butter Spread
Back in the early days of this blog I tried a recipe for making your own margarine spread. And . . . it did not turn out so good. You were supposed to take a pound of margarine and mix it with a 1/2 cup of milk to make aRead More
DIY Ceasar Salad Dressing Mix
Summer is almost here and that means more grilling, more picnics, and more salads. Lots and lots of salads please! Of course lots and lots of salads means we have to think about salad dressings too. This summer instead of reaching for my usual boring bottle of ranch dressing,Read More
Homemade Chicken Nuggets (with 3 Homemade Dipping Sauces!)
Am I the only one who still clips recipes out of the newspaper? Am I the only one who still gets a newspaper? OK, I know I might be a little old school, but sometimes you can still find good stuff in the newspaper! We tried out this recipeRead More
Make Your Own Italian Seasoning Blend
Sometimes I think you can tell a woman’s age by the color of her Tupperware and the number of spices she has lingering about in her cupboard. I have some harvest gold Tupperware and neglected bottles of Herbs de Provence and Fennel Seed. ’nuff said This week however, IRead More
How To Make Homemade Breadcrumbs
The birds are gonna hate me. It used to be that when I had some leftover buns or bread, I would go outside to my bird feeder and crumble the bread around on the ground and let the birds go crazy. Poor birds. Now I’ve found something better toRead More
Homemade Dill Dip for Chips and Veggies
If you’re the type of person who likes to keep some dip in the house for when the munchies strike, why not Make Your Own by whipping up a batch of this easy homemade dip that’s delicious with fresh veggies or potato chips. This recipe uses common ingredients andRead More
Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
A big fresh salad is a welcome addition to any meal during the hot days of the summer. In fact if the day is a real scorcher, I’m happy to make my whole meal out of the just the salad. It’s crisp, refreshing, and doesn’t get you all warmed upRead More
Homemade Whipped Cream
Once upon a time in the not so distant past . . . . . . there was no such thing as Cool Whip. Whatever did the people do without Cool Whip? { Hint: They made their own. And it was good. } Cool Whip came on the scene inRead More
How to Make A Crumb Coating for Fish
For many years I was intimidated by cooking fish. My idea of having fish for dinner was to pick up a package of Gorton’s fish sticks. Frozen fish sticks aren’t all bad, but I eventually discovered that there were much tastier homemade options. My current favorite method is to useRead More
Make Your Own Sweet and Sour Sauce
I think you’ll enjoy this very simple recipe for a homemade sweet and sour sauce that doesn’t require any cooking or chopping. I’ve seen other homemade sweet and sour sauce recipes that are pineapple based and require boiling of pineapple juice or chopping of pineapple. This recipe uses the muchRead More
Do You Like Ortega Taco Sauce? Try Making Your Own!
When it’s taco night at our house, I have to be sure I have some taco sauce in the house too. Hubby gets all sad if I set out a nice spread of taco meat and toppings but no sauce. “What, no taco sauce?” he’ll say and look mournfully aroundRead More
Make Your Own Tartar Sauce
Why is it I never have tartar sauce in the house when I need it? Lucky for me I learned this easy substitute several years ago that has come to the rescue on many occasions. Now I can make my own tartar sauce on the spur of the moment! InRead More
Easy Homemade Hummus
I like to think I have a pretty well stocked recipe box, but it has never included a good hummus recipe. Hummus just wasn’t something my Dutch ancestors were whipping up and so I never had much exposure to it. But in the last few years I’ve been a littleRead More
Can You Turn Tomato Paste Into Ketchup?
This week I tried a recipe to make your own ketchup by doctoring up a can of tomato paste. I had high hopes for this recipe, but alas, it’s just not quite the same as the ready made stuff. The basis of the recipe I tried was to addRead More
Flavoring Steamed Fish with Herb Butter
My new favorite kitchen gadget is a 3 Tier Steamer I bought on an impulse while grocery shopping at Aldi. For the last couple of months now I’ve been trying different meats and vegetables in the steamer and for the most part have been very pleased with the results. Read More