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Homemade Pancake Mix DIY Homemade Pantry Mixes

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Homemade pancake mix (let's not stop there, we have a homemade muffin, biscuit, and instant oatmeal mix recipe below too!) ensures you can always get a hot breakfast on the table no matter how busy your morning is. This pancake mix is easy and whips up fast for delicious light and fluffy pancakes!

homemade pancake mix in mason jar on table

Plus making your own homemade quick mixes means you can control the ingredients, which means you can avoid GMOs, eliminate preservatives and other unhealthy ingredients and avoid excessive amounts of salt and sugar too.

Quick mixes like homemade pancake mix, biscuit mix, muffin mix and instant oatmeal are also incredibly easy to make and batch all at once. On busy mornings all you need to do is dump out the jar and add your wet ingredients.

DIY Pantry Mixes in Mason jars on counter

Having all of the dry ingredients measured out and mixed up already can really cut down the time it takes to prepare these items at home. This means you’re also more likely to make these items and avoid resorting to sugary cereals and other unhealthy processed treats instead.

Batching your homemade pantry mixes

Just as you would batch prepare anything else (whether you’re canning food for later, freezer cooking or meal prepping for the week), you can batch prepare a bunch of different quick mixes in a single session and then have them ready to go in jars whenever you need them.

These quick homemade pancake and pantry mixes call for the same basic dry ingredients, so that makes it easier to just pull out all of the raw ingredients and make large batches of each item at the same time.

Portion out your quick mixes. I like to pre-portion my mixes out in Mason jars so when I’m ready to cook or bake, all I need to do is dump the jar in a bowl, add the wet ingredients and mix them up.

I use my canning funnel to easily funnel all of the ingredients into each jar to avoid making a mess. A regular funnel should also work.

Store your quick mixes in Ziplock bags or any other container they’ll fit in. I find Mason jars work great, and since you’re storing dry ingredients that don’t need to be canned, you can use old lids that can no longer be used for canning.

homemade biscuits and muffins on plate

You don’t need to sterilize your jars beforehand, clean and dry is fine.

Ingredients for Homemade Pantry Mixes

Flour- all-purpose is the most versatile and what most of us have on hand. You can use bread flour for the biscuits if you wish. I don't recommend using fresh ground flour for make-ahead mixes as that really defeats the nutritional purpose of using fresh-ground flour.

Baking powder and baking soda- baking powder/soda is your leavening agent (makes them rise and creates a light and fluffy texture).

Salt- ya need a little salt to bring out the flavor

Sugar- these DIY pantry mixes use minimal sugar, you can substitute monk fruit or powdered erythritol straight across for sugar-free variations.

Homemade Instant Oatmeal Mix in Mason Jars on countertop

Storing and using your quick mixes

You can store your jars of homemade pancake mix and the other quick mixes in your pantry just like you would store your baking ingredients or your jars of home-canned food. When you’re pressed for time and need to feed your littles, or you just need to get some food or a snack on the table really quickly, you can grab a jar of quick mix and your wet ingredients (ie. eggs, milk, butter, water, etc.) and you’re all set!

To make life even easier, I’ve created some printable recipe cards that you can print out and tie onto your jars of quick mixes (or keep in your recipe box) so you don’t waste any time searching for the ingredients or the cooking instructions when you're ready to make them.

You can download the printable recipe cards from the Kitchen & Pantry Resources section of my Free Resource Library.

So break out your Mason jars and your baking ingredients and start batch preparing the following homemade quick mixes so that no matter how busy you are or how many mouths you have to feed in the morning, you can always get a hot, homemade breakfast on the table in no time flat:)

How to Make Homemade Pancake Mix

pouring flour into Mason jar for homemade pancake mix

Mix together all dry ingredients into your Mason jar and store it on the shelf. When ready to make your pancakes (Saturday morning is always a great time), mix in the wet ingredients and heat your lightly greased skillet over medium-high heat. Pour in approximately 1/4 cup batter at a time for pancakes.

When small bubbles appear, flip the pancake over and brown the other side (1 to 2 minutes). Serve warm with your favorite toppings, syrup, applesauce, or this fabulous Strawberry Jam Recipe without Pectin and Low Sugar

Homemade Instant Oatmeal Mix in Mason Jars on countertop

Homemade quick mixes for breakfast (and beyond!)

Print all of these recipes below with the printable recipe tab!

Buttermilk Biscuit Mix

  1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. 
  2. Dump the jar of biscuit mix in a mixing bowl and cut in the cold butter using a pastry cutter or fork. Add your buttermilk and stir with a large spoon until all the dough starts to stick together.
  3. Dump biscuit dough onto a lightly floured surface and fold it over a few times with your hands, being careful not to handle it too much (you don’t want the cold butter to melt, so don’t overhandle the dough). Pat dough out into a thick disc, about 1 to 1½ inches thick.
  4. Cut out your biscuits with a biscuit cutter and place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes.

Need to learn how to make flaky buttermilk biscuits? Try this Easy Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits Ready to Eat in 20 Minutes

Whole Wheat Muffin Mix

  1. Preheat oven to 400ºF
  2. Mix all ingredients together until well combined
  3. Spoon into a greased or lined muffin tin, filling each cup until about 3/4 of the way full.
  4. Bake for about 20-22 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!oatmeal and raisins in mixing bowl

Instant Oatmeal Mix

  1. Dump one portion of instant oatmeal mix into a small pot and cover with 1½ cups water.
  2. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 to 5 minutes, or until water has absorbed and oatmeal is cooked through.
  3. Serve warm as-is or with a knob of butter and/or a little fresh cream.

Other Breakfast Favorite Recipes

Homemade Pop Tarts From Scratch (Hand Pies)

Overnight Pancake Recipe from the 1920s

Homemade Granola Bars (Copycat Nature Valley Granola Bars)

Blueberry Zucchini Muffins

Peach Buttermilk Muffin Recipe

Cranberry Muffins Recipe – Cranberry Nut Everything Muffins

Homemade Pancake Mix

Melissa Norris
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 15 mins
Course Breakfast
Servings 8 to 10

Ingredients
  

  • Ingredients per 16 oz./pint-size jar
  • 1½ cups flour
  • 3½ tsp. baking powder
  • 1 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt

Cooking instructions

  • Ingredients
  • 1 jar of pancake mix
  • 1¼ cup milk or cream or non-dairy milk of choice
  • 1 egg
  • 3 Tbsp. butter melted (or substitute coconut oil)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract optional

Instructions
 

  • Mix together all the ingredients until well combined.
  • Heat a lightly greased skillet over medium high heat and pour batter in, approximately 1/4 cup at a time to make your pancakes.
  • Brown on both sides and serve warm.

Notes

To make these more light and fluffy, use buttermilk!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Homemade Biscuit Mix

Melissa Norris
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 15 mins
Course bread
Servings 8 to 12 biscuits

Ingredients
  

  • Ingredients per 16 oz./pint-size jar
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1 Tbsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. salt

Cooking instructions

  • Ingredients
  • 1 jar biscuit mix
  • ½ cup cold butter cubed
  • 1 cup buttermilk*

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400ºF.
  • Dump the jar of biscuit mix in a mixing bowl and cut in the cold butter using a pastry cutter or fork. Add your buttermilk and stir with a large spoon until all the dough starts to stick together.
  • Dump biscuit dough onto a lightly floured surface and fold it over a few times with your hands, being careful not to handle it too much (you don’t want the cold butter to melt, so don’t overhand the dough). Pat dough out into a thick disc, about 1 to 1½ inches thick.
  • Cut out your biscuits with a biscuit cutter and place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes.

Notes

  • If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can make your own by combining one cup of full-fat milk or cream with one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar. Let sit for about five minutes and it will curdle and be ready to add to the rest of the ingredients! (I use this in place of real buttermilk all the time and it works great!)
  • No milk? You can use plain yogurt in place of the buttermilk.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Homemade Muffin Mix

Melissa Norris
This muffin mix is easy to whip up and use different fruits or nuts on hand for a variety of delicious flavors. You can use whole wheat or all-purpose flour!
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 20 mins
Course bread
Servings 12

Ingredients
  

  • Ingredients per 32 oz./quart-size jar
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour or substitute all-purpose flour or a 50/50 mix
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt

Cooking instructions

  • Ingredients
  • 1 jar muffin mix
  • 1 cup milk or cream or non-dairy milk of choice
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cup butter melted (or substitute avocado oil or melted coconut oil)
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries or fruit of choice or chocolate chips, pecans, walnuts, etc., optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400ºF
  • Mix all ingredients together until well combined
  • Spoon into a greased or lined muffin tin, filling each cup until about 3/4 of the way full.
  • Bake for about 20-22 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Homemade Instant Oatmeal Mix

Melissa Norris
Easy homemade instant oatmeal with a variety of flavor options for fast and easy breakfast on busy mornings.
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 2 mins
Cook Time 5 mins
Course Breakfast
Servings 12 servings

Ingredients
  

  • Ingredients Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and then portion into 8 oz./half-pint jars
  • 6 cups quick cook oats
  • 2 cups dried fruit raisins, cranberries, dried cherries, dried blueberries, chopped apricots, chopped dried apples, etc.
  • 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon optional
  • * Mix everything together in a big bowl and either store in a large jar or portion out one cup each individual portions into jars or small Ziplock bags.
  • Cooking instructions
  • Ingredients
  • 1 jar or cup instant oatmeal mix
  • 1½ cups water

Instructions
 

  • Dump one portion of instant oatmeal mix into a small pot and cover with 1½ cups water.
  • Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 to 5 minutes, or until water has absorbed and oatmeal is cooked through.
  • Serve warm as-is or with a knob of butter and/or a little fresh cream.

Notes

* Mix everything together in a big bowl and either store in a large jar or portion out one cup each (individual portions) into jars or small Ziplock bags.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Borscht Recipe – How to Make Traditional Ukrainian Borscht

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A Borscht recipe is something every home should have, regardless if you're Ukrainian or not. This traditional Ukrainian borscht combines the earthiness of beets with the freshness of dill and other vegetables. A hearty, healthy and frugal way to use up your garden vegetables and stretch your food budget while filling your family's bellies this fall!

This post and recipe is from Anna from The House and Homestead, “I come from good Ukrainian stock. I know this because my mother never lets me forget it. I’m reminded at every family gathering, at every communal meal and pretty much every other chance my mother gets to tell me (or anyone else).

“We are Ukrainian. We come from good stock. We eat well, and we feed people. It’s what we do.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this or some version of this in my family.

Perhaps it was this not-so-subliminal messaging that drove me to pursue a homesteading lifestyle. Regardless, there is some truth to these words. We have always eaten well, even on a tight budget, and we love to make sure others are fed well when they are in our company.

Is Borscht originally from Ukraine or from Russia?

Believe it or not, this is a common question. There are a few staple Eastern European dishes that my proud Ukrainian family has come to be known for. My aunt’s handmade perogies and my mother’s cabbage rolls always make an appearance at holiday dinners in our family alongside bowls of sauerkraut, fermented pickles, pickled beets, kielbasa (sausages), fried onions and a heaping helping of sour cream.

About the debate of whether Borscht is Ukrainian or Russian, it's believed to originate from the Ukraine, however, Russia now has its own similar version of this traditional dish.

Is Borscht Healthy?

One of my favorite things about Borscht is the deep ruby color that comes from the cabbage and beets! I also love that it's incredibly healthy and packed with protein (from the broth and optional meat), iron (from the beets), vitamin C, potassium and vitamin B6 (from the carrots) plus fiber and vitamin K & C (from the cabbage).

I always feel great about serving this Borscht recipe to my family.

Frugal comfort food for the body and soul

Because we come from a lineage of Ukrainian peasants who had to survive harsh Eastern European winters with nothing more than the few staple food items they had on hand (wheat, potatoes, cabbage and beets mostly), our traditional foods tend to feature these ingredients over and over again in various ways.

One such dish that needs no special occasion to grace the dinner tables in our family is borscht.

What does Borscht mean?

Borscht definition: a beet-based soup that can be combined with whatever else you’ve got growing in your garden to create a hearty, healthy meal that also stretches your food budget and weekly meals just a little bit further.

In the late summer and fall, there is almost always a pot of borscht simmering away on my mother’s stovetop as she makes use of the beets, carrots, potatoes and fresh dill weed that need harvesting from her garden. If it’s green bean season, she’ll throw some chopped green beans in the soup as well. If not, she’ll make do with whatever ingredients she has on hand (this also makes it a great “clean out the fridge” recipe).

Vegetarian Borscht recipe option

Traditionally there are a few different ways to make borscht. One way is to make it with sausage or shredded meat, but of course, not everyone had access to meat in the “old country,” so borscht can be (and has often been) made vegetarian.

My mother has always made vegetarian borscht, but the beauty of this (or any other) soup is that you can pretty much throw in whatever you have on hand to make use of fresh ingredients and make your meals really stretch. As long as you’ve got beets, you can make some version of this hearty and beautiful fuchsia pink soup that smells and tastes like a comforting hug from a Ukrainian baba (aka, grandmother).

A pot filled with borscht and a woman's hands holding a large bundle of fresh dill.

How to Make Borscht

My mother’s basic borscht recipe begins with a base of chopped onions, cabbage and celery sautéed in butter, fresh-pressed (or grated) garlic, a can of diced tomatoes and a few cups of chicken broth (or beef broth, or even water with a little chicken or beef bouillon added for flavour). To make this a vegetarian borscht recipe, use vegetable broth.

Then she adds some grated carrots, diced potatoes and fresh beets that are first peeled and then diced and grated and added to the broth, giving it a rich earthy flavour and bright pink colour.

Once all the ingredients have been thrown into the pot, they are left to simmer until they have softened just enough and all of the flavours are well-combined. Then she adds a little salt and black pepper to taste. Just before serving, she adds some chopped fresh dill weed.

When ready to serve, the borscht is ladled into a soup bowl and topped with a large dollop of sour cream.

Variations to this Borscht Recipe

You can change up this traditional borscht recipe by adding or substituting fresh diced tomatoes (instead of canned), green beans, peas, beet greens and shredded pork or sausage.

I like my borscht with a side of fresh bread and butter, which I love to dip in the broth. This is one case where I prefer the dense rye bread that Eastern Europeans are known for. Rye bread tends to soak up the broth better without making the bread go mushy. The deep, hearty flavour of the rye bread also compliments the complex earthiness of the beets in borscht.

But a true Ukrainian will make use of whatever bread she has on hand. Waste not want not is a rule of thumb when it comes to Ukrainian food.

The best thing about Borscht

To me, the best thing about borscht is that you can make a few simple garden ingredients go a long way. A few beets, a couple of carrots, an onion, a couple cloves of garlic, a can of tomatoes and a potato or two can be turned into enough soup to fill the bellies of a family of five, and you might still have some leftover.

Can you freeze Borscht?

Borscht also freezes exceptionally well and would make a good candidate for pressure canning too. And it’s a great way to use up all sorts of late summer and fall vegetables out of your garden that you might not think to combine otherwise (like tomatoes, carrots, beets and dill).

To freeze, allow your soup to cool and store it in a glass mason jar. Be sure to leave an inch or two for expansion.

When you're ready, simply defrost borscht in the refrigerator and heat in a pot.

All in all, if you’re looking for a frugal meal that is also healthy and hearty, and can be made entirely from ingredients out of your own home garden, I can’t think of anything better than this easy borscht recipe to warm the body and soul. And I should know, I am Ukrainian after all.

Traditional Ukrainian Borscht Recipe

Anastasia Sakawsky
This traditional Ukrainian borscht combines the earthiness of beets with the freshness of dill and other vegetables. A hearty, healthy and frugal way to use up your garden vegetables and stretch your food budget while filling your family's bellies this fall!
4.48 from 40 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 20 mins
Course Soup
Cuisine Ukrainian
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup of diced celery
  • 1 cup diced onions
  • 1 cup of chopped cabbage
  • 2 cloves of garlic grated or pressed
  • 1 tbsp of butter for sautéing onions and celery
  • 8 cups water beef broth or chicken broth
  • 1 can diced tomatoes home or commercially canned
  • 2 or 3 medium to large sized peeled beets half grated and half diced
  • 1 or 2 medium carrots grated
  • 1 medium potato diced
  • 1/2 cup of fresh dill weed
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Optional ingredients: Bay leaf green beans, peas, beet greens and shredded pork or pork sausage

Instructions
 

  • Sauté the onions, celery and cabbage with the butter until soft and translucent.
  • Add the can of diced tomatoes and the garlic, as well as all of the water or broth.
  • Bring to a boil over medium high heat, then reduce to medium heat and let simmer.
  • Peel the beets, carrots and potato.
  • Dice half the beets and grate the other half.
  • Grate all the carrots.
  • Dice the potato.
  • Add the beets, carrots and potato to the broth. If you would like to add any other optional vegetables (ie. beans, peas, beet greens, etc.) do so now.
  • Allow soup to simmer on medium until diced beets and potatoes are soft (test them with a fork or by biting into them!), about 15 minutes. Remove soup from heat.
  • Stir in chopped fresh dill weed and salt and black pepper.
  • Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream and a slice of bread and butter (rye bread is best!)
Keyword Beet, Borscht, Gluten Free, Russian/Ukrainian, Soup, Ukrainian Recipe
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Easy Borscht Recipe

There you have it, a traditional Borscht recipe.

Have you ever had Borscht before?

Chocolate Cherry Sauce Canning Recipe

by 21 Comments

This chocolate cherry sauce canning recipe is a must-make!

Chocolate cherry sauce canning recipe chocolate cherry preserves in a mason jar on wood table

Of all the summer fruits, cherries are my favorite by far. I love to eat them fresh, I love to dehydrate them and eat them dried, I love to make old-fashioned low sugar cherry jam and of course canned cherry pie filling can’t be beaten (in my humble opinion).

I love both sweet and sour cherries pretty much equally too. I grew up eating mostly sweet black cherries from the Okanagan Valley in the interior of BC, not far from where I live. But when we moved to Vancouver Island a few years ago and ended up renting a property with an established sour cherry tree, I started gravitating toward sour cherries, and most of my canning and preserving was done with the sour cherries from that tree.

Still, I can never resist buying a bag of organic Okanagan sweet cherries from the grocery store in the summertime, because they truly are something we can’t just get anytime of year. And so, last year, I decided I wanted to try preserving sweet cherries in some capacity too.

I flipped through my Ball canning book for a little inspiration and came across a recipe for Black Forest Preserves, made with sweet cherries and cocoa. Now, I mentioned I love cherries, but cherries with chocolate?? Is there anything more delicious?

I was sold, and so I decided to try a batch for myself.

In the end, I ended up canning two batches, each of which called for two packages of liquid pectin. But neither batch thickened quite as much as I expected a preserve to set. Instead the end product was more like a thick, chocolate cherry sauce, almost more like a syrup.

Now, if I was making a jelly, this would usually be pretty disheartening. After all, who wants their jelly to be runny and syrupy? But in this case… O.M.G. The sauce was so delicious I ended up eating an entire jar with a spoon within 24 hours of canning it!

In the end I was glad that the pectin didn’t thicken the preserves too much, and over the course of the past year we’ve enjoyed at least a dozen jars of our “accidental” chocolate cherry sauce poured over vanilla ice cream, on top of yogurt, as a decadent dip for other fruit like strawberries and sliced bananas, and yes, many spoonfuls have been enjoyed right out of the jar!

Naturally, when we opened our last jar about a month ago, I knew I had to put chocolate cherry sauce on my canning list for the summer. The only problem was how to guarantee the same results as last time! Because I definitely wanted a syrup, not a thick preserve!

To be fair, it’s possible that this recipe was always meant to be thinner than your average fruit preserve. But I've read comments and reviews on this recipe on other blogs from people who say they made this with both packs of pectin and the preserve did turn out too thick for their liking. So I decided to cut down on the pectin this year and just use one pack of liquid pectin per batch instead.

I ended up making two batches and was pleased to get a perfect chocolate cherry sauce both times. It was slightly thinner than last year’s batch, naturally. But I found the consistency to be perfect for all the things we use this sauce for, and after putting an open jar in the fridge for just a few minutes, the sauce thickened up just enough to make it just slightly more viscous and less runny. So if you do find that this sauce is just a little too runny for your liking, go ahead and pop it in the fridge for 15 or 20 minutes before using and it should thicken up just a bit.

Of course, you can always try making a batch with two pouches of liquid pectin and you should get a thicker preserve, however it may turn out a little too thick if you’re going for a sauce like I was, so I would recommend sticking to just one pouch of pectin to guarantee syrupy, saucy results every time.

However, if you’ve made the Black Forest Preserves recipe from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, I would LOVE to know how it turned out! Did you end up with more of a sauce like me or did yours set more like a jellied preserve? Let me know in the comments below!

And if you don't have this awesome little canning funnel with the headspace marked on it, you better snag one!

Enjoy:)

Chocolate Cherry Sauce Canning Recipe

Fill your canner with enough water to completely cover the tops of the jars by 1 inch. Place jars in hot soapy water.

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and cocoa powder and set aside.

In a large, stainless steel pot, combine chopped, pitted cherries and lemon juice, then stir in the sugar and cocoa mixture and, stirring constantly, bring to a full rolling boil that can’t be stirred down. Add the liquid pectin and continue to stir. Boil hard for one minute and then remove from the heat.

Skim off the foam from the top and ladle chocolate cherry sauce into hot, sterilized jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace at the top. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed, then wipe the jar rim and place lids on and screw bands down.

Process jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (adjust time for altitude if over 1,000 feet).

Chocolate Cherry Sauce Canning Recipe

Anastasia Sakawsky
This chocolate cherry sauce canning recipe is a delicious treat to put up this summer to have all winter long over vanilla ice cream or yogurt!
No ratings yet
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine American

Ingredients
  

  • 6 cups sugar
  • ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 3 cups firmly packed coarsely chopped pitted sweet black cherries
  • ½ cup lemon juice*
  • 1 pouch 3 oz. / 85 ml. liquid pectin**

Instructions
 

  • Prepare canner, jars and lids.
  • In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and cocoa powder and set aside.
  • In a large, stainless steel pot, combine chopped, pitted cherries and lemon juice, then stir in the sugar and cocoa mixture and, stirring constantly, bring to a full rolling boil that can’t be stirred down.
  • Add the liquid pectin and continue to stir. Boil hard for one minute and then remove from the heat.
  • Skim off the foam from the top and ladle chocolate cherry sauce into hot, sterilized jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace at the top. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed, then wipe the jar rim and place lids on and screw bands down.
  • Process jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (adjust time for altitude if over 1,000 feet). Once finished, remove canner lid and wait another 5 minutes before removing jars. Allow to cool on the counter completely and then store in a cool, dark place until ready to use.

Notes

* Use commercial, store-bought lemon juice, not fresh-squeezed in order to guarantee the acidity and safety of this canning recipe.
** Be sure to use liquid pectin and not powdered pectin as you may get different results with powdered pectin since they both cook and set differently.
Keyword black forest preserves recipe, chocolate cherry canning recipe, chocolate cherry sauce
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Is canning chocolate cherry sauce now in your summer preserving plans?

And of course, let me know what you think of this adapted chocolate cherry sauce canning recipe too!

How to Grow An Herbal Tea Garden At Home + Favorite Herbal Tea Blend Recipes

by 4 Comments

How to grow an herbal tea garden at home, because if you’re a tea drinker (and who isn’t at least once in a while), then why not grow your own herbal tea garden at home? You’ll save money, you’ll KNOW it’s all organic and you can make your own blends tailored to your specific tastes.

In fact, if you’re growing an herb garden at all then you’re probably growing some fodder for herbal teas already. Simple, common herbs like peppermint, lemon balm and even catnip can all be used to make some pretty delicious and medicinal herbal teas.

Really, any herb can be used to make tea, which is how their medicinal properties are most commonly extracted. But certain herbs, flowers and even weeds lend themselves to making better tasting herbal teas that are just as good for you as they taste.

As far as flowers go, lavender and chamomile are the most common, but other flowers like rose and hibiscus flowers also make fabulous herbal tea ingredients.

Even weeds like nettles and dandelion root can be used to make herbal teas that you would pay top dollar for from a health food store. Here's my tutorial on how to harvest and make nettle tea.

And of course there are traditional tea leaves from the camellia sinensis plant, which are finicky, but can be grown at home in some climates. This is where you get your black and green teas from.

The point is, growing your own tea garden is really easy and totally worth it. But for best results, a little planning is always recommended. Here’s what you should know before you grow…

Warnings and disclaimers

I am not a medical professional and the following is meant for educational and informational purposes only. I always recommend speaking with your personal health care provider before consuming any sort of herbal teas or medicine, especially if you are nursing or pregnant as some herbs are not safe to use while pregnant.

Remember, just because something's natural, doesn’t mean it’s always safe. Always err on the side of caution and speak to your doctor first if you think there is any way taking herbs could put your health (or the health of your baby) at risk.

How to grow tea at home

Before we dive in, I just want to make a note about growing herbal tea versus growing black or green tea…

Traditional tea (green or black) is very particular about the climate and environment where it grows, which is why the vast majority of tea is grown in Asia where the climate is right.

While there are a few tea farms scattered throughout North America, most commercial teas are grown abroad. However, you can technically grow your own black or green tea at home if you have the right microclimate.

The camellia sinensis tea plant is actually a shrub that can be grown in warmer climates (Zone 8 or warmer), likes acidic soil and takes up to three years before it’s ready for harvest. From this plant you get black tea, green tea and oolong tea. So if that’s what you’re after and you think you’ve got the right climate to do it, then go for it! Although I have a feeling if it were that easy, there would be more local suppliers.

So if you enjoy black, green or oolong teas and want to make tea blends with them, your best bet might be to purchase some good quality looseleaf organic tea and use that to craft your tea blends.

Otherwise, all of the other teas and ingredients are considered “herbal,” including culinary herbs, flowers and weeds.

Many of them can be enjoyed on their own or as part of a tea blend, and like all good, edible things, they each have their own medicinal properties and unique flavour profile.

Here are a few herbal tea plants you should consider growing in your garden, as well as some simple homemade tea blends to get you started growing and crafting your own teas at home.

Top 5 tea garden plants

There are so many herbs, including leaves, flowers, fruits and roots that you can use to make tea out of. But if I had to choose the top five herbs for any herbal tea garden, these ones are the must-haves.

Peppermint (Mentha x piperita)

This is one of the most popular herbal teas around and one of the easiest to grow at home. Peppermint is a perennial herb and actually a pretty invasive plant, which means it’s highly productive but should be kept contained in a planter unless you plant it somewhere where you don’t mind it taking over.

Medicinal benefits of peppermint include easing nausea and upset stomach, easing headaches and freshening breath.

Peppermint can be steeped fresh or dried to make tea and can be enjoyed on its own or as part of an herbal tea blend. Some other great mint varieties for tea are spearmint, chocolate mint and apple mint.

To harvest, pinch off stems of mint leaves just above the spot where a pair of leaves meet. This will help encourage more growth. Hand stems up to dry and then remove leaves from stems and store. Crush the dried leaves and steep or mix with other herbs to make a tea blend.

Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla)

Like peppermint, chamomile tea is very popular and can be enjoyed on its own or as part of a blend. Medicinal benefits include helping to calm, relax and relieve insomnia, easing menstrual pain and helping to treat cold symptoms.

You can grow German or Roman chamomile at home, although German chamomile is more prolific and has higher concentrations of essential oils, making it slightly more robust than Roman chamomile, which has a hint of apple flavour to it.

German chamomile is also prolific and, although it’s an annual, it self seeds. Plus it grows tall, whereas Roman chamomile grows low to the ground, which makes German chamomile easier and more abundant to harvest from. The biggest drawback to growing chamomile for tea is that you need a lot of those tiny flowers to make any significant amount of dried tea!

To harvest, pop or pinch the flowers off and lay them on a tray to dry out of direct sunlight before storing. Steep whole dried chamomile flowers in hot water to make tea.

Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)

No list of herbs would be complete without lavender, right? Lavender is a perennial staple in most herb and flower gardens and makes an excellent addition to an herbal tea blend. It is excellent for relaxation as well as a whole host of other ailments, including headache and allergy relief. But not all lavenders are created equal when it comes to medicinal benefits and flavour.

While French lavender is highly aromatic, it also contains more of a chemical called camphor, which makes it less palatable. So when planning your herbal tea garden, opt for an English Lavender variety. Munstead is a good culinary variety.

Harvest as soon as flowers open and hang stems upside down to dry. Use your fingers to gentle crumble dried flower buds off of the stem. Mix with other herbs to make an herbal tea blend or steep lavender on its own and enjoy with a little honey and lemon.

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

Lemon balm is another fantastic choice for an herbal tea garden. Its sweet, lemony flavour makes it a popular choice for herbal tea on its own or as part of a blend. Of course, it also has medicinal properties, including easing stress and anxiety, insomnia and indigestion among others.

Part of the mint family, this perennial grows more like a bushy oregano plant. It can be invasive if not controlled, however in my experience, it doesn't tend to be as bad as traditional mint plants. Still you might want to consider growing it in a container if you’re worried about it taking over your garden.

Harvest like mint, hang upside down to dry. and remove dried leaves from stems. Steep crushed leaves and enjoy solo or in a blend.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)

Fennel has a taste similar to black licorice. Its medicinal properties include soothing upset stomachs, boosting metabolism and encouraging milk production in nursing mothers.

Fennel is a perennial plant in Zones 6 and warmer and can be grown as an annual in colder climates. Unlike other herbs on this list, it is a bulb that grows edible stems and wispy fronds similar to dill weed. Herbal tea can be made from its fronds (leaves), flowers, bulb, or seeds, although the seeds are typically more flavourful and aromatic and are the popular choice for most fennel tea recipes.

Allow the fennel plant to go to seed in the fall. It will produce little yellow flowers that, again, look similar to dill. Harvest the seeds once the flowers dry out and begin to turn brown. Remove flower heads from plants and allow them to dry out completely on a tray in a sheltered area out of the sun. Most seeds will drop off the flower heads on their own, but can gently shake any that haven’t or rub them to remove them.

For maximum potency, crush seeds gently before steeping or adding to tea blends.

Other notable herbs for your tea garden

I couldn’t possibly go over every herb you could grow for herbal tea as the list is extensive. The ones listed above are great staple herbs for any herbal tea garden, although there are many more I recommend keeping on hand, whether you grow them in your garden or forage them wild.

Here are some other great herbal tea plants  to grow or forage for homemade tea.

Lemon Verbena – leaves

Spearmint – leaves

Echinacea – flowers

Marjoram – leaves

Stevia – leaves

Catnip – leaves

Sage – leaves

Bee Balm – flowers or leaves

Roses – petals and rosehips

Elderflower – flowers or berries

Hibiscus – flowers

Nettles – leaves

Dandelions – roots

Raspberry – leaves

Fenugreek – seeds

Ginger – root

Turmeric – root

Licorice – root

Pine, fir or spruce trees – fresh tips

3 homegrown herbal tea blends to try

While any herb can be steeped and enjoyed all on its own, making your own tea blends means you can take the powers of more than one herb and combine them into a super blend of deliciousness with a potent medicinal punch. Plus, they’re fun to make and make great homemade gifts for any occasion.

Here are three herbal tea blends to try making at home.

Relaxing Blend

2 parts chamomile

1 part lavender

1 part lemon balm

Allergy Relief Blend

2 parts stinging nettle leaves

1 part peppermint leaves

Tummy Ease Blend

2 parts peppermint leaves

1 part fennel seeds

1 part chamomile flowers

Fertility Blend

2 parts red raspberry leaves

1 part nettle leaves

1 part peppermint leaves

Morning Energy Blend

4 parts dried dandelion root

1 part crushed, dried stevia leaves

Flower Power Immunity Blend

1 part echinacea flower petals

1 part elderflowers or elderberries

1 part rosehips

5 Homemade Natural Cleaner Recipes – DIY Cleaners that Work

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Spring is here, and that means it’s just about time for spring cleaning. Here are 5 homemade natural cleaner recipes to help you make every area of your house shine, without any harsh chemicals! Who doesn't love DIY cleaners that work, right?

Years ago, I began learning about some of the toxic chemicals in many store-bought homemade cleaners. Ingredients like phthalates, ammonia and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) lurk in many standard cleaning products and pose a significant risk to our health, not to mention to the environment. So I began purchasing all-natural cleaning products, which were much healthier, but much more expensive too.

Let's be real, the homesteaders and pioneers of old were able to clean their homes, kitchens, and barnyards with homemade cleaners without all the nasty ingredients and so can we.

I continued to spend money on natural cleaners for a couple years, until I finally learned that a little bit of white vinegar and baking soda could do the same job as most high-priced, toxin-filled cleaning products available at the store.

I first started with a simple homemade bathroom cleaner made of baking soda and some lemon essential oil. Then I began making my own all-purpose vinegar cleaner. Today, I make just about all of our cleaning products from scratch at home and have eliminated most toxic chemicals from our home, and I’m on a mission to help others do the same!

So, in light of my mission, here are 5 homemade natural cleaner recipes that you can make from scratch with a few simple ingredients you probably already have on hand anyway:)

Homemade Natural Cleaner Recipes

5 Homemade Natural Cleaner Recipes

1. Homemade All-Purpose Cleaner

  • 1 part citrus-infused white vinegar
  • 2 parts water

Mix in a spray bottle and use on just about every surface in your house!

To infuse your vinegar, add citrus peels to a Mason jar and cover with white vinegar. Allow infusion to sit for about 6 weeks, then strain out the peels and use infused vinegar to make this homemade cleaner. I always have a jar of vinegar going that I add my lemon peels to after I'm done with them, which makes this recipe extra frugal because I’m using something I would normally just be throwing out anyway.

You can also use plain white vinegar in place instead of the infused vinegar, which I recommend doing if you'd like to primarily use this as a window cleaner. The added citrus gives this a nice lemon scent and takes some of the “bite” out of using plain white vinegar.

This all-purpose cleaner works great on all surfaces (for a printable version of Natural Vinegar Citrus Cleaner Recipe click here). Just don’t use it on marble as vinegar will stain marble.

Next we have homemade cleaning products with essential oils to up the cleaning and grease fighting power naturally.

2. Bathroom Cleaner/Foaming Drain Cleaner

  • Baking soda
  • Lemon essential oil and/or lemon zest
  • + White vinegar (keep separate and use when cleaning)

To make, add a few drops of lemon essential oil and/or a couple tablespoons of lemon zest to a Mason jar full of baking soda and mix well.

Sprinkle some of this homemade bathroom cleaner in your sink, bathtub or toilet and spray with vinegar. Let it sit for about a minute, then scrub clean.

To use as a drain cleaner, sprinkle some down the drain and then pour a little vinegar down the drain to make the baking soda foam up. Rinse with water

3. Orange Oil Wood Polish

Mix ingredients together and use a rag to rub the oil on wood floors, furniture and other wood surfaces.

The vinegar helps to clean surfaces and the olive oil and orange oil helps make your wood shine!

You can also infuse olive oil with dried orange peels in place of or in addition to orange essential oil. The compounds in orange peel (and subsequently orange essential oil) help to keep wood from drying out and makes the grain in wood stand out, not to mention it smells great too!

If you choose to infuse your oil, make sure peels are dry first as fresh peels can cause old to form in oil. Place peels in a jar, cover with olive oil and let sit for about 6 weeks. Then strain peels out and use infused oil in place of regular olive oil in this recipe.

4. Kitchen Degreaser

Mix all ingredients together in a spray bottle (shake well to mix) and spray on kitchen countertops, stovetops, ovens or anywhere else you need some serious degreasing action.

The Castile soap and lemon essential oil helps to remove grease and loosen up any stuck-on bits while the vinegar helps to clean and disinfect.

5. Homemade Room Spray with Essential Oils

Add roughly 50 drops of essential oils to a 4oz spray bottle (if using a larger bottle then add more drops of essential oil). Then fill halfway with witch hazel and top off with distilled water. Shake well and use as a room spray or spray on fabric to refresh.

You can combine multiple oils to create a signature scent (lemon and lavender and orange and cinnamon are a couple of my personal favourites) or stick with a single scent. Use distilled water instead of regular tap water to prevent mold.

While this isn’t technically a “cleaning” product, it is a great way to freshen up your home without spraying toxic chemicals into the air in your home.

Ditch the toxic chemicals and make your own diy natural cleaning products

It’s incredible how many toxic products we use to “clean” our homes, and it’s even more outrageous that there is hardly any regulation when it comes to what chemicals are allowed to be added to home cleaning products. In the end, there’s only one way to be sure that the products you use in your home are all-natural and toxin-free, and that’s to make them yourself.

Luckily these recipes for homemade cleaners are easy to whip up and cost next to nothing to make. And most importantly, they’re 100% safe for your family and the environment.

So this spring, ditch the toxic cleaning products and make your own. I guarantee you’ll never go back to store-bought again.

Oh, and don’t forget to grab download some printable labels for your homemade cleaners. You can find them under the “Labels” section of my Free Resource Library.

>> Click here to gain access and download your labels now!

There you have it, 5 homemade natural cleaner recipes to use on and around your homestead.

Do you already make your own home cleaning products? Be sure to share any recipes we may have missed in the comments section below!

More Household Cleaning and Organization Tips

10 Things Our Grandparents Reused During the Great Depression

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Life can be tough nowadays, but most of us are lucky enough to have never known true hardship: the type that our grandparents and great grandparents faced during the years of the Great Depression. But despite how hard life was back then, where there was a will, there was almost always a way.

So many people suffered extreme financial hardship during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and in turn that led to some pretty extreme frugality. The phrase “use it up, wear it out, make do or do without” was popularized during this era, and for good reason. 

People had to get creative to make ends meet, and one of the ways they did this was by saving, reusing and repurposing absolutely everything. What we wouldn't think twice about tossing today was as good as gold back then.

The most valuable items were, well, pretty much anything. But in general, the more uses you could get from a single item, the more valuable it was.

What did people reuse during the Great Depression?

Everything was reused, recycled and repurposed. Here are just a few of the many things people reused during the Great Depression:

  • paper
  • fabric scraps
  • buttons
  • string
  • flour sacks
  • tires
  • soap
  • kitchen scraps

We'll go into all of these in more detail below, but suffice it to say that the more life you could squeeze out of each item, the more money you hopefully wouldn't have to spend.

This period in history stayed with the people who were affected by it too. My great grandmother lived through the Great Depression and she saved everything her entire life: plastic, aluminum foil, twist ties, jars and containers… She was even known for rationing her toilet paper!

And she kept her savings in paint tins in the basement. Nobody trusted the banks after the crash of 1929 threw the country into an economic collapse, and understandably so.

Many folks did have their money in the bank, however, and when the stock market crashed they lost everything. Millionaires went broke overnight. And of course, the poor got poorer.

Without any money to depend on, people had to become very resourceful. Finding creative ways to reuse and repurpose everyday items became a life skill that sometimes even meant the difference between life and death, and could even be exchanged as a currency in the trade and barter system that emerged when money all but ceased to exist for many people.

So what exactly did people save, and how exactly did they repurpose the scraps that could no longer be used? The list is extensive. Pretty much anything that people got their hands on was put to good use over and over again. But there are a few common items that many people saved, and many innovative ways they were used. Here are 10 common items people reused during the Great Depression:

10 Things People Reused During the Great Depression

1. Old clothing, sheets and towels

Clothing was worn until it was down to the bare threads. The same went for linens and towels. Then, if there was fabric that could be salvaged, it was repurposed into new clothes or linens or washcloths or rags. Rags were then used as-is or they were patched together to make new clothes or linens or turned into rag rugs. Socks were also saved and repaired. Everybody darned their socks back then, which is difficult today because most socks are made out of synthetic material and don’t hold the stitch.

2. Flour bags

Flour and grain sacks were also very versatile during the Depression. They were made of cotton and some even had nice prints and patterns on them, which made excellent fabric to make new clothes out of. The “flour sack dress” was popular during the 1930s, but the fabric was used to make everything from dresses, shirts and pants to linens, patches, aprons and even underwear and diapers.

3. Tires

The rubber from tires was used in a variety of different ways. It could be used to patch soles on worn-out shoes, scraps could be used in home garden beds, and it could be used as a construction material in the “Hooverville” shanty towns that popped up when people began losing their homes. (They were called “Hoovervilles” after President Hoover who was in power at the time, and the ramshackle shelters in these olden day tent cities were pieced together with whatever scraps people could find, including cardboard, tires and even newspaper). In desperate situations, tires were also be used as fuel and burned to keep warm, despite the incredibly hazardous black smoke that’s emitted from burning rubber.

4. Jars and containers

We modern homesteaders joke about the amount of Mason jars we keep on our shelves and in our basements and, generally, in every nook and cranny of our house. I know I can personally say that we reuse Mason jars for every conceivable purpose around our house! So it’s no surprise that glass jars and tins and containers of all sorts were never thrown out or discarded during the Depression.

Jars could be used to store food, collect kitchen grease or hold any number of household items from buttons to rubber bands. Tin cookie tins were often repurposed as lunch boxes for children and for lucky men who still had jobs (albeit with meagre wages), and for those out pounding the pavement trying to find one.

5. Soap and candles

Everything was used to the very last drop, and that included things like soap and candles. Odds and ends were saved from bar soaps and wax candles and were collected and remelted to make new candles and new soap. And every last drop of liquid soap was used up and diluted with water to last longer. This was an effective way to stretch a buck that is still popular with some people today.

6. String and elastic bands

Every piece of string and elastic band was saved (in one of those repurposed jars) in case it was needed in place of new thread to mend clothes or to stitch or tie any number of things together. Likewise, rubber bands were hoarded and used to repair items, hold things together and to make the popular rubber-band guns, a children’s toy made from a clothespin, a piece of wood and a rubber band which kids would shoot at each other when playing games.

7. Buttons

In a day and age when clothing was handmade even without the economic collapse, buttons may as well have been gold coins. Every extra button was saved and used to mend old clothing that was missing buttons and to add to newly sewn items. They could also be used as game pieces and Bingo markers (a game that also became popular during the 1930s and was also known as “Beano” because participants often used beans as markers for their Bingo cards.

8. Paper & Magazines

Every scrap of paper and paper product was saved during the Depression. Cardboard and magazines and stacks of newspapers were even used as building materials in pop-up shantytowns! My mother has even told me stories that my great grandmother told her about using magazines and newsprint as toilet paper in the outhouse during those times (perhaps this explains her toilet paper rationing later in life).

Paper bags were also saved. Scraps were used as writing paper and parcel-wrapping paper and were even turned into little hand-sewn notebooks that could be gifted to children at Christmas time. Another story I read was of a woman whose mother saved magazines and paper scraps and made papier mâché, which she then used to make picture frames! Talk about resourcefulness. If nothing else, paper could always be burned for fuel or to start fires, which was a much better option than tire fires.

9. Kitchen Scraps

Of all the places in the house, the kitchen was the last place that saw anything go to waste. Everything was reused in the kitchen. Every eggshell, chicken bone, end of stale bread and jar of lard or grease was put to good use in some way. Likewise, parts of animals that we don’t normally use or eat nowadays were put to good use: Chicken feet were turned into soup, innards and gizzards were gobbled up and feathers were used to make pillows and bedding.

10. Water

Water was also a commodity (probably the most important one of all) that many people didn’t have access to during the Great Depression. In cities, people couldn’t afford to pay their water bills, which meant their water was shut off. Or worse, they couldn’t afford to keep their homes, so they ended up in a shanty town without water.

But water was never more scarce than it was for people in the drought-ridden dustbowl areas of the U.S. where all the wells were dried up. Any water that could be reused was. Multiple people bathed in the same water and then cleaned their clothes and their dishes in it too. The old saying “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” would have definitely applied during this time.

What can we learn from the Great Depression?

Today we live in a throwaway, consumer society where we produce more waste and waste more money than ever before, money we often don’t even have to begin with. People living through the Depression would be been horrified at the amount we throw away nowadays!

Now, I’m not saying you should hang onto everything that comes through your door. In fact, I hate hanging onto anything that I don’t use. Clutter is a huge source of anxiety for me and I love only having a few useful items and creature comforts around me if I can. But I also believe in living frugally, within our means and preparing for whatever the future may hold, because you never know what tomorrow will bring.

Nobody knows this better than those men and women who lived through the Great Depression. The lessons of that time have stuck with many of them for their entire lives. In some cases, the lessons have been passed down through generations. But we’re beginning to forget, and when we forget the lessons we learned in the past, history is doomed to repeat itself.

Luckily, as modern-day homesteaders, we generally still live by the most important rules of the Great Depression: Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without. And always be grateful for every little thing.

What do you reuse or repurpose in your house? What frugal rules or habits do you live by? Leave a comment below and let me know!

More Articles on the Great Depression

Christmas Stovetop Potpourri

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Christmas stovetop potpourri will have your house smelling amazing without any harmful or synthetic fragrances. Best part, you can mix and match items you likely already have in your pantry and homestead to customize and make it frugal.

I love Christmas, in no small part because I love how warm and cozy it is. I love the candles and wood fires and twinkly lights. I love the comfort food and cuddling up under a blanket. And I love the warm, delicious scents of the season wafting from the kitchen throughout the holidays.

Christmas stovetop potpourri

I honestly don’t know why we don’t celebrate all winter like we do at Christmas time. It really does make the cold, dark season more enjoyable!

All-natural Christmas Stovetop Potpourri

One of my favourite ways to create a warm and cozy atmosphere is to simmer some seasonal potpourri on my stove. I use a mixture of items that I either grow myself, find in nature, already have in my pantry or buy in season from my local grocery store to create a frugal, all-natural stovetop potpourri that makes it smell like Christmas in our home all season long.

While I love diffusing essential oils and burning scented candles, I love the old-timey feeling I get from simmering some hand-picked potpourri on the stovetop or wood stove. And unlike a scented candle or a diffuser (which either burns out or should only be run for an hour or so at a time), I just continue to add ingredients and top it up with water as it cooks down.

This creates a rich, layered, warm scent that fills our home and simmers all day long. At night I turn the heat off and in the morning I turn it back on, top it off and continue to simmer so the house literally always smells good!

Some of my favourite seasonal ingredients to simmer include citrus fruits (especially oranges and lemons), apples, cranberries, pine needles (fir needles in particular), woody herbs like rosemary and thyme, spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, ginger, vanilla and even pinecones that still have sap on them. These all add an all-natural fragrance to your home that evokes memories of Christmas  without the danger of synthetic fragrances or even the expense of essential oils.

Get the benefits of essential oils from a bottle or straight from the source

You can always add a drop or two of essential oils to your potpourri to enhance the scent if you like. Add similar essential oils to the ingredients your using, or ones that compliment them.

Orange, lemon, fir needle, clove bud, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cardamom are all good essential oil choices to enhance your holiday stovetop potpourri, but they’re completely optional (for purity and low cost, the only essential oil company I use is Plant Therapy). That’s because what you’re really doing when you simmer those ingredients is helping them to release their own essential oils, so adding extra just helps to enhance the scent, but it’s not really necessary.

I also like to gently crush any fir needles or herbs before adding them to the pot to help release some of their oils before I even turn the heat on. Likewise, I add peels from my oranges and lemons to the pot as I eat/use them because the essential oils are actually found in the peels rather than the fruit itself, making this a great way to reduce waste and make ingredients (and money) stretch over the holidays.

How to make stovetop potpourri

To make your homemade potpourri, start by deciding what ingredients you want to use, then go collect them. Some nice combos for simmering potpourri recipes include:

  • Pine/fir needle, orange and cinnamon
  • Apple, cinnamon, ginger and clove
  • Lemon, rosemary, cranberries and nutmeg
  • Orange, cinnamon, clove and vanilla
  • A combination of any or all of the above

Use whatever you have on hand. Go out and clip a few herbs from your garden or take a walk in the woods or a park (or even your backyard) and collect some pine needles. Gather spices from your pantry and fruits from your fridge, freezer or cold storage or hit your grocery store for items you don’t have at home.

Add all of your items to a small to medium-sized pot and cover with water. Then simmer over medium-low heat for as long as you like! (I like to keep this on the back burner so I can still use the other burners for cooking throughout the day).

That’s it! It’s really that simple.

You can also dry your ingredients in a dehydrator (or if you don't have a dehydrator you can air dry herbs and pine needles and dry fruits on the lowest setting in your oven), and then layer ingredients in a Mason jar for Christmas potpourri in a jar and give them as gifts over the holidays.

Plus, since you can make Christmas simmering stovetop potpourri for just pennies a pot, at that price you can afford keep the feeling of Christmas wafting through the air in your home all season long!

Simmering Christmas Stovetop Potpourri Recipe

2 cinnamon sticks

1/2 cup fresh cranberries

1/2 sliced orange

1/2 sliced lemon

1 pine branch tip

1 inch chunk of ginger

Place all of the items in a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a light simmer.

This also works great on top of a wood stove!

Christmas Stovetop Potpourri

Melissa Norris
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Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 8 hrs
Servings 1 pot

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
  • 1/2 sliced orange
  • 1/2 sliced lemon
  • 1 pine branch tip
  • 1 inch chunk of ginger

Instructions
 

  • Place all of the items in a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a light simmer.
  • This also works great on top of a wood stove!

Notes

To make your stovetop potpourri, start by deciding what ingredients you want to use, then go collect them. Some nice combos include:
  • Pine/fir needle, orange and cinnamon
  • Apple, cinnamon, ginger and clove
  • Lemon, rosemary, cranberries and nutmeg
  • Orange, cinnamon, clove and vanilla
  • A combination of any or all of the above
Keyword Christmas potpourri recipe, simmering Christmas stovetop potpourri
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

What about you? Have you tried making stovetop potpourri before? Have you tried any other ingredients or combinations that weren’t mentioned here? Add to the list in the comments below!

Cranberry Muffins Recipe – Cranberry Nut Everything Muffins

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This cranberry muffins recipe allows you to take what you have on hand in your pantry and create  These Cranberry-Nut “Everything” Muffins to make a delicious, nutritious and convenient grab and go snack over the busy holiday season, or any time of year!

As far back as I can remember, I’ve always looked forward to baked goods from my Great Aunt Rose at Christmas time.

She’s a woman of humble means and has never been one to buy expensive gifts, but she always gives us a few bucks in a Christmas card (to be spent on something fun) and an old re-purposed cookie tin full of home-baked goodies.

healthy cranberry muffins recipe

Along with this she usually brings some jars of homemade applesauce made with apples from her tree and a batch of what I call Cranberry-Nut “Everything” Muffins, they're cranberry orange walnut muffins at the base with so many other tasty add ins.

What's In An “Everything” Muffin?

This easy cranberry muffin recipe is jam-packed with everything good: Fresh cranberries, walnuts, raisins, dates, coconut, bananas, orange, apple sauce and the usual foundational muffin ingredients (flour, eggs, a little sugar, etc.)

The end product is the moistest, most delicious healthy cranberry orange muffins I have seriously ever tasted. They make an excellent snack or quick breakfast this busy time of year when we don’t always have time to stop for a freshly-made, sit-down meal. And they’re a nutritious alternative to many of the sugar-laden candies and treats that tempt our sweet tooth over the holidays.

Aunt Rose has been making these muffins so long she doesn’t even remember where the recipe came from, but it’s evolved over the years as she’s added things here and there that she’s had on hand.

This year she reluctantly moved into a care home where she has access to a shared kitchen, but she’s not as excited about baking anymore. So she passed me the torch and I am honoured to have the privilege and responsibility of making and guarding this family recipe from here on out (until one day I pass it onto the next generation).

I’ve kept her recipe as-is but I did reduce the sugar by half. And honestly, these muffins are naturally sweet enough that they could probably do with no sugar at all. But I only use one cup of organic sugar for the entire batch and I get between two and three dozen muffins out of that (which works out to less than a couple teaspoons of added sugar per muffin).

The reason I say I get between two and three dozen is because Aunt Rose says this recipe makes 24 muffins (two dozen), but using my standard sized muffin tins, I ended up getting two dozen muffins AND I still had enough batter left over to make a loaf in one of my bread pans.

I don’t think I would have had quite enough for a full three dozen muffins, but probably about 30 muffins altogether.

cranberry nut muffins recipe

That’s one of the reasons I love this recipe: You get a ton of muffins, both to eat fresh and some to stick in the freezer to grab and go over the holiday season.

Easily Customize Your “Everything” Muffins

The other awesome thing about this recipe is that you can easily add, omit or substitute certain ingredients for what you have on hand. For example, I didn’t have quite enough raisins when I made my last batch, so I substituted with some dried cherries I made in my dehydrator earlier this year.

You could also add things like hemp hearts or chia seeds or substitute them for the coconut. Or substitute pecans for walnuts or omit the nuts altogether if you don't want cranberry nut muffins.

You can use dried cranberries in place of fresh ones to make a dried cranberry orange muffins, but I highly recommend using fresh or frozen cranberries if possible because they add a delicious tang to these muffins that helps to balance the sweetness of the other ingredients (and they look beautiful too!).

If you don't have orange juice on hand you can substitute for any other type of fruit juice or milk or even water if that’s all you have.

In short, these Everything Muffins are a highly customizable, delicious, nutritious, filling and convenient homemade snack this time of year, or any time for that matter, and you absolutely must try them!

Want to turn these into a whole wheat cranberry muffins recipe? Use fresh ground soft white wheat or Spelt. If using Spelt, use 4 cups flour.

Here’s the recipe…

Cranberry Muffins Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter (or 3/4 cup coconut oil for dairy free)
  • 1 cup sugar (or 1 cup erythritol & pinch of stevia for sugar free)
  • 4 eggs
  • 3/4 cup orange juice
  • 6 overripe bananas
  • 1 cup applesauce
  • 1 tbsp. vanilla
  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 4 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 cup walnuts
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup dates
  • 1 cup shredded coconut

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cream the butter and sugar together using a stand mixer or hand mixer (or by hand the old fashioned way!) Add eggs, one at a time. Add orange juice, bananas, apple sauce and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
  2. Mix dry ingredients together including the nuts, coconut and fruit. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together until well combined.
  3. Prepare muffin tins with muffin/cupcake liners and fill liners with batter right to the top.
  4. Bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes, let cool and enjoy!

* If you have a little batter left over and want to make a loaf of bread instead of more cupcakes, bake the loaf at 350ºF for 40-45 minutes. Remember to grease and flour your bread pan first!

cranberry orange muffins recipe

Cranberry Muffins Recipe – Cranberry Nut Everything Muffins

Melissa Norris
No ratings yet
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 20 mins
Servings 24 muffins + 1 loaf

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup butter or 3/4 cup coconut oil for dairy free
  • 1 cup sugar or 1 cup erythritol & pinch of stevia for sugar free
  • 4 eggs
  • 3/4 cup orange juice
  • 6 overripe bananas
  • 1 cup applesauce
  • 1 tbsp. vanilla
  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 4 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 cup walnuts
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup dates
  • 1 cup shredded coconut

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cream the butter and sugar together using a stand mixer or hand mixer (or by hand the old fashioned way!) Add eggs, one at a time. Add orange juice, bananas, apple sauce and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
  • Mix dry ingredients together including the nuts, coconut and fruit. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together until well combined.
  • Prepare muffin tins with muffin/cupcake liners and fill liners with batter right to the top.
  • Bake at 350ºF for 20 minutes, let cool and enjoy!

Notes

* If you have a little batter left over and want to make a loaf of bread instead of more cupcakes, bake the loaf at 350ºF for 40-45 minutes. Remember to grease and flour your bread pan first!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

There you have it, mine and Great Aunt Ruth's delicious cranberry muffins recipe. What are you going to be adding into yours?

Homemade Spiced Cranberry Sauce + Canning Instructions

by 7 Comments

Homemade spiced cranberry sauce put those tinned canned jelled versions to shame. And you wouldn't expect anything less than from scratch cranberry sauce pioneer woman style on a homesteading blog and podcast entitled Pioneering Today, am I right?

You're in for a treat today because Anna is sharing her best homemade cranberry sauce recipe today with a fun twist of spices. 

I never used to like cranberry sauce. I didn’t even bother to put it on my plate most of the time at Thanksgiving and Christmas. But then again, like most modern families, we always ate it out of a can from the store, and I found it a bit boring.

To be honest, for most of my life I wasn’t a huge fan of holiday dinners. I’ve never been a big turkey fan and I don’t love plain ol’ mashed potatoes or boiled brussels sprouts either.

But after my husband and I took over hosting holiday dinners a few years ago, I’ve been on a mission to recreate traditional holiday dishes with a twist. When we do a turkey, now we use a smoker to cook it, giving it a distinct flavor and a crispy skin. Otherwise we do a clove-studded ham basted in apple jelly.

We’ve upgraded the mashed potatoes to a scalloped potatoes recipe that is to die for, and I now char my brussels sprouts in my cast iron pan and top them with a little lemon juice and parmesan cheese, which is definitely an upgrade on the traditional boiled recipe.

All of these “upgrades” on the traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas meals have made holiday dinners something we truly look forward to all year in our house now, and let’s just say our extended family is happy to let us to host each year.

But the cherry on top (or should I say cranberry) is this upgrade on traditional cranberry sauce.

The Best Cranberry Sauce Twist (with spices)

This homemade cranberry sauce is made with cinnamon and vanilla, giving it a subtle twist that compliments and helps to balance the tartness of the cranberries. It’s beyond easy to make, requiring just 5 ingredients total (one being water), and takes just half an hour total to cook with next to zero prep time.

This recipe can also be canned so you could make it ahead of time, or make a big batch for Thanksgiving and preserve some for Christmas. If you want to can this recipe, fill jars to 1/2 inch headspace and process for 15 minutes in a water bath canner. I also recommend doubling the batch for canning as the recipe below is enough to fill just one pint jar or two jam jars.

It will also keep well in the fridge for at least a few days, which means you can definitely make this ahead of time and save time cooking on the big day without sacrificing homemade taste and quality.

You can also omit the cinnamon and vanilla if you’re just looking for a traditional, simple cranberry sauce recipe. Or omit the vanilla but keep the cinnamon or visa versa.

I actually made this for the first time last year and I made it with just vanilla. I LOVED it because it tasted sweeter, like jam. But my husband thought the vanilla flavor was too strong (learn how to make your own homemade vanilla and other extracts here). So this year I reduced the amount of vanilla by half and added a couple cinnamon sticks. He gave me a big thumbs up:)

I like this version better too because the cinnamon adds just the right balance of spice, which is always reminiscent of warm family gatherings on chilly fall and winter nights over the holiday season.

Homemade Spiced Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

12 oz fresh or frozen cranberries

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

two cinnamon sticks or 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

one vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Add all ingredients to a small sauce pan and turn heat on to medium high. Stir well to combine ingredients and simmer on medium/medium high until sugar is dissolved and cranberries begin to burst (about 10 minutes).
  2. Turn down to medium low and simmer gently, stirring frequently until mixture begins to thicken up like jam (about another 20 minutes).
  3. Remove cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean if using and discard in compost. Let cranberry sauce cool completely before serving.

How to can homemade cranberry sauce (cranberries are a high acid food making this a great sauce to preserve)

* If canning, pour hot cranberry sauce into hot, sterilized pint size jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace and process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. Remove lid from canner and let stand for 5 minutes before removing jars. Let cool completely before storing.

Did you know that cranberries weren't included in the original Thanksgiving fare? Check out the Traditional Thanksgiving Foods & Recipes starting from 1621 here

What's your favorite twists to add to homemade spiced cranberry sauce?

Homemade Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Anastasia Sakawsky
Easy homemade spiced cranberry sauce
4.75 from 4 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 30 mins
Servings 8 ounces

Ingredients
  

  • 12 oz fresh or frozen cranberries
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • two cinnamon sticks or 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • one vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions
 

  • Add all ingredients to a small sauce pan and turn heat on to medium high. Stir well to combine ingredients and simmer on medium/medium high until sugar is dissolved and cranberries begin to burst (about 10 minutes).
  • Turn down to medium low and simmer gently, stirring frequently until mixture begins to thicken up like jam (about another 20 minutes).
  • Remove cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean if using and discard in compost. Let cranberry sauce cool completely before serving.

Notes

* If canning, pour hot cranberry sauce into hot, sterilized pint size jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace and process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. Remove lid from canner and let stand for 5 minutes before removing jars. Let cool completely before storing.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!