No Halloween is complete without cupcakes. I'm not talking about those cupcakes from the store either. I'm talking about homemade, melt-in-your-mouth, gooey cupcakes. I think some mom brought them in for a class Halloween party one year, and I forever associated them with the holiday. I've been making this Halloween cupcake recipe for pumpkin cupcakes with orange cream cheese frosting, and devils ...
Farmhouse Recipes
Soup Secrets
When you have a family to feed, you find yourself making a lot of soups. They're easy, versatile, healthy, and can be eaten for many days in a row. They warm your bones on a cold, foggy day. However, it is easy to get stuck in a soup rut. I think I made the exact same vegetable lentil soup for three years, and rarely made another kind. I didn't even want to eat it anymore. Some ...
Pumpkin Butter
Have you ever looked at your sugar pie pumpkin and wanted to do something easier with it than baking a pie? Try making pumpkin butter. It's like pumpkin pie spread on your toast. First, bake your pumpkins scooped out and upside down on a baking sheet or dish at 375 degrees until soft. Then, let them cool until they're a comforable temperature for scooping out. Now it's pumpkin butter ...
Homemade Lard, It’s not Your Mama’s Crisco Shortening
When you are a mother of of two kids with dairy sensitivities, and you love to bake, the options start looking slim. I tried Earth Balance margarine for a long time, but I didn't feel good about all those processed vegetable oils. I tried organic shortening, same story. I finally threw up my hands and started using butter again, because I wanted them to have some real, un-processed fats. They ...
Vegan Pesto
The time has come again to start filling the freezer for the coming year. The basil is up, and it's time to make pesto! We eat a lot of pesto around here, since my children continue to express strong feelings against tomato sauces. They say it stings around their mouths, and although picky eating isn't really allowed in our household, I make compromises for things that cause a rash. To make ...
The Taste of Independence: A Down-Home Soulfood Chicken Dinner
In the spirit of Independence Day, we butchered our meat birds this morning (my gentle, vegetarian readers may want to stop reading here). It was a feeling of great self-sufficiency and independence to raise these birds on our own land, and fill our freezer with some good food. Our four meat birds were old enough to eat, plus two stew hens, so we butchered and froze ...
Gold From the Fields: Making Homemade Cultured Butter
I now feel like I understand the sentiment behind names for dairy companies like "Darigold", "Meadow Gold", and "Pot O Gold". Fresh, homemade butter is like beautiful golden nuggets of goodness from the fields. My childhood friend and neighbor sent me this cultured butter recipe from the Seattle Times, and my love of butter compelled me to give it a whirl. The thing I like the most about this ...
Kombucha, I Love Thy Sparkle!
I would like to take a minute to share some kind words about my kombucha. Some of you may be wondering what sort of exotic thing I am referring to, and I will tell you. Kombucha is a wonderful, fizzy, tasty, fermented tea beverage originating from the Ural mountain region of Russia. It's like healthy soda (at least that's what I tell my kids). We have been making kombucha for more than a year now, ...
“What Are You Anyway, Some Kind of Granola?”: A Mountain Hearth Gluten-Free Granola and Yoghurt Recipe
There is something very wonderful about a bowl of granola with yoghurt and some crunchy toppings. You throw on a handful of nuts or berries, a spoonful of jam or maple syrup, and a sprinkle of bee pollen, and you have a tasty breakfast, snack or dessert. It is also very good to eat plain, just on it's own. What I have discovered is even better is homemade granola and yoghurt. It's simple, ...
“These Chickens Really Earn Their Keep” and a Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe
Today is a day to celebrate chickens! For the first time ever, our hens laid enough eggs to buy their own organic chicken feed! This is a long standing goal realized. Thank you Briar Rose, Concha, Goldberry, Vulture, Greedy....... and thank you Nikki (my awesome egg customer)! These hens will be partying down and feasting on a gourmet dinner of dandelion greens tonight! In honor ...