Helping moms introduce meatless meals with ease.
Method
Whisk together the mayo, yogurt, milk and mustard.
Add the spices and whisk.
Add the lemon and whisk again.
Pour into a jar and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
This dressing will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Homemade Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
Instructions
We love mixing up our own homemade Italian seasoning. We like to make it our own with a little extra garlicky punch. It's perfect in all our favorites like lasagna, Italian sandwiches and our homemade ranch dressing. Delicious.
It's especially tasty in a simple olive oil dip with some crusty bread with some fresh cracked pepper. Yum!
What's your favorite way to use Italian seasoning?
Now, I do know that you can easily pick up this blend at the store. But I say why bother? I make my own taco seasoning, too. And I buy big jars of basil, oregano and such at Costco anyway, so why bother with their Italian seasoning when I can just make it the way I like it? It's perfect my way and only close to the way I like it their way. So, it's totally worth the 2 minutes in the kitchen it takes to whip this up.
Try it, you'll thank me, I promise. Any kind of spice blend in your kitchen can be made pretty easily as long as you can get big jars of the ingredients. Go for it! Make that blend your own! It'll be so much yummier. And, you'll be less likely to run out. Bonus!
Now that I'm sharing this recipe, I'll share our perfect homemade ranch dressing, too! Our kids absolutely love dipping veggies in this yogurt and mayo masterpiece. And it's so simple to whip up with the Italian seasoning. I can't wait to share it with you.
Makes 3 cups
Ingredients
3/4 cup dried oregano
1/2 cup dried garlic
1/2 cup dried marjoram
1/2 cup dried thyme
1/4 cup dried basil
1/4 cup dried rosemary
1/4 cup dried sage
Method
Whisk all seasonings until combined.
Store in a sealed container.Homemade Italian Seasoning
Ingredients
Instructions
Apparently there's been some sort of pumpkin spice syrup shortage at Starbucks, but I haven't noticed, because I can make my own! It is absolutely fabulous in a pumpkin spice latte and also drizzled over ice cream (coconut milk ice cream is fantastic with this mixed in). I'm planning to make the kids some coconut milk push pops with pumpkin syrup swirled in later this week for their lunch boxes. Yum.
I'm so glad I found this recipe for Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup, because it's incredibly simple and I can just keep the syrup on-hand to pour into my coffee whenever I like. My previous recourse for pumpkin spice lattes was this delicious crockpot recipe from Stephanie O'Dea. But that pretty much just makes lattes for the day, whereas the syrup makes lattes for weeks! Yum! I love, love, love it.
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sucanat (or 3/4 cup honey for Paleo)
4 cinnamon sticks OR 1-2 drops cinnamon bark essential oil (I buy mine HERE)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves OR 1 drop clove essential oil (I buy mine HERE)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger OR 1 drop ginger essential oil (I buy mine HERE)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg OR 1 drop nutmeg essential oil (I buy mine HERE)
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Heat water and sucanat over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves.
Do not boil. Add cinnamon sticks and whisk in the remaining ingredients.
Heat for about 5 minutes to marry flavors. Remove cinnamon sticks.
Pour into a jar or other container.
Add about a tablespoon of syrup to a cup of coffee with cream for a pumpkin spice latte or drizzle over ice cream.
Incredible!
PS: In case you need yet another reason not to buy your Pumpkin Spice Latte. The ingredients of the store-bought variety are pretty horrifying.
This post is shared with Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesdays, What's Cooking Wednesday, Works for me Wednesday, These Chicks Cooked and Bake with Bizzy, Hearth and Soul Hop.
This pumpkin spice latte syrup recipe makes homemade pumpkin spice lattes super easy to make. You won't miss store-bought ones when you taste this! Enjoy!
Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
I love chipotle flavor and chipotle peppers, but I recently discovered that my chipotle seasoning cubes are not in line with our family's Get Real challenge. And yes, I suppose I could buy already-smoked whole chipotle peppers at the store, but I happened to have jalapenos in the house so I decided to try to find a way to smoke them myself. That's when I remembered Kathy Hester's Slow Cooker Smoked Tofu. I set out to smoke my peppers in a similar way, in my slow cooker. I changed the spice line-up in the smoking materials to reflect the flavor I wanted for the chipotles.
After actually trying it out, I wouldn't do this inside the house again (the smell is actually pleasant, but stings your eyes a bit). In the future, I'll wait for a nice day and set the slow cooker out on my porch or at least open the windows before I start the smoking process. But my peppers were totally smoked! It was awesome. You'll need a 4 quart or larger CrockPot, a vegetable strainer or colander that will fit in your crock without sitting down on the bottom and at least two sheets of foil.
2-4 jalapenos, sliced
Smoking Ingredients
Protect your crock insert (from the burning sugar) with at least two sheets of foil and create a vessel for your smoking ingredients. Insert and stir all of your smoking ingredients. Place sliced jalapenos in a single layer inside vegetable strainer or colander.
Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 hours, then cook on LOW for 6-10 hours, flipping jalapenos halfway through.
The ResultsThese chipotle peppers turned out fantastically. As I said, the smell in the house was really strong, so I'll be a little more wary of that next time I do this. But the method is awesome. The little smoked chipotle rings are perfect. I can't wait to use them in a recipe.
PS: In case you're curious, here are the ingredients from my Chipotle Seasoning Cubes--Salt, Monosodium Glutamate, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Chile Powder, Silicon Dioxide (Prevents Caking), Hydrolyzed Corn Protein, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Caramel Color, Citric Acid, Disodium Inosinate, Spice, Yellow 6 Lake, Disodium Guanylate, Sulfur Dioxide (Used to Protect Quality).
This post shared at Gallery of Favorites, Fresh Bites Friday, Friday Favorites, Potluck Friday,·Frugal Fridays , I'm Lovin' It, Simple Lives Thursday, Frugal Food Thursday, Things I Love Thursday, It's a Keeper, Full Plate Thursday, Tastetastic Thursday and Ultimate Recipe Swap.
Home smoked chipotle peppers: smoke jalapenos in your slow cooker to make your own chipotle peppers.
Day 315.
Vegan cheese sauce powder, this is super cool! While we're not vegan, I like the idea of creating our own shelf-stable homemade cheese sauce powder for macaroni and cheese.
This recipe, adapted from Celine Steen and Joni Marie Newman's The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions will let us make kid-friendly mac and cheese from natural food items in our pantry.
While it's a lot of ingredients, once it's all mixed up it's easy to add dairy-free milk or water, heat and add to pasta.
It's just like opening up an orange powder packet to add to macaroni, without all the unpronounceables.
UPDATE: we made Kid-Friendly Vegan Mac and Cheese the next day and the kids loved it. It was creamy and delicious.
And so easy. Way better than the boxed stuff.
Also, if you're not vegan and looking for an equally simple cheese sauce to make for your macaroni, try this Easy Cheese Sauce made with real cheese, milk, flour (gluten-free if needed) and spices. It's so simple and even the kids' cousins and friends love it.
This was really simple to mix up and I'm looking forward to trying it on some kid lunches and adult snacks.
It's great on popcorn and that's super simple to toss together. Just add your coconut oil (or butter) to your popcorn as usual, then add the cheese sauce powder and toss. Voila! Cheesy popcorn.
I think it may also work well in dips and slow cooker recipes as a cheese sauce substitute.
Here are the top two recipes we have been making with this homemade vegan cheese sauce powder: Vegan Cheesy Popcorn and Kid-Friendly Vegan Mac and Cheese.
Adapted from The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions.
Makes about 5 cups (10 batches of macaroni and cheese)
3 cups raw cashews (like these)
2 cups nutritional yeast (like this)
1/2 cup cornstarch or arrowroot powder (like this)
3 tablespoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon sea salt (optional; I left this out)
1 tablespoon ground mustard seed (I used hot)
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon cumin
Grind cashews in a dry blender or coffee grinder, in batches.
Add ground cashews and remaining ingredients to a sealable container (at least 5 cups capacity).
Seal and shake vigorously to mix.
Mix powder in a 1:2 ratio powder to water or dairy-free milk and heat over medium heat before adding to prepared pasta.
For example: mix 1/2 cup powder and 1 cup water or soy milk, heat over medium heat until thickened and mix with 1 pound prepared pasta.
Store refrigerated for up to a month or freeze.
Add powder and water in the instant pot in a 1:2 ratio.
Cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.
Stir and serve over pasta, baked potatoes, broccoli, or anything you want cheesy!
Want more vegetarian and vegan recipes you'll love? Check out my first cookbook! I'm so excited about it and I hope you'll love it. You can find more information about it right HERE. Or you can buy it through the Amazon link below.
Check out this awesome vegan cheese sauce powder. I love the idea of creating our own shelf stable homemade cheese sauce powder for macaroni and cheese.
Grind cashews in a dry blender or coffee grinder, in batches.
Add ground cashews and remaining ingredients to a sealable container (at least 5 cups capacity).
Seal and shake vigorously to mix.
Mix powder in a 1:2 ratio powder to water or dairy-free milk and heat over medium heat before adding to prepared pasta.
For example: mix 1/2 cup powder and 1 cup water or soy milk, heat over medium heat until thickened and mix with 1 pound prepared pasta.
Store refrigerated for up to a month or freeze.
Check out this amazing taco seasoning mix. This is the first seasoning mix we decided to make ourselves. We absolutely love it and use it all the time. It saves us so much money and it's super convenient (and healthier than many of the packaged blends)!
1/4 cup dried minced onion
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder or cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons oregano, crushed
Mix all ingredients, put in an airtight shaky container for spices.
Makes about 2/3 Cup taco seasoning blend.
Try this seasoning on tacos, enchiladas or fajitas!
Taco Seasoning Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions