Sauces, Dressings, Dips & Spreads

Canning Honey Sweetened Strawberry Jam Without Pectin

Determined to land on a solid recipe for canning Honey Sweetened Strawberry Jam Without Pectin, I’ve conducted batch after batch of experiments with more than 60 pounds of berries this spring. I’m excited to share the results with you!

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Well, I finally crossed off “Homemade Vanilla Extract” from my DIY bucket list.

Simple Homemade Blueberry Syrup

This Homemade Blueberry Syrup is so easy, it’s not even funny.

How to Make Your Own Natural Food Coloring

Since artificial food coloring is bad news and making it myself seemed like a big hassle, we simply didn’t use frosting for a few years (with the exception of this 2-ingredient chocolate ganache, which I highly recommend). …Until I discovered how not intimidating it is to make your own natural food coloring…with real food ingredients!

Home Canned Salsa with Lime Juice

Have I mentioned I’m married to a native Texan?  Back in Texas, salsa is practically it’s own food group.  And boy howdy, do we go through a lot of the stuff.

Roasted Tomato Sauce for Canning or Freezing

It’s tomato season, y’all!  I’m dropping in from a long summer break to share a few of my favorite tomato canning recipes.  Stay tuned over the next week or so for a few more recipes, including salsa and tomato soup.  Here’s to that last great tomato harvest of the year–may yours be a bumper crop! …

Nut-Free Pesto

Are you growing basil?  Is it going crazy right about now?  Our basil is growing like gang busters! The other day I asked Mr. Native Texan to pick some basil for a canning recipe, but I neglected to specify the amount.  Oops. You know what happened, right?  

How to Keep Homemade Salad Dressing from Separating

Check out How to Get Kids to Eat Salad for a list of my favorite salad ingredients and an inexpensive tool that has revolutionized my salad game. Easy {and delicious} Homemade Dressing For a while now, I’ve been making my own salad dressing from quality olive oil and my favorite balsamic vinegar. Sometimes I add…

Homemade Crockpot Ketchup

This ketchup is one of the ingredients in Last Minute Meatballs, a new favorite around the Yankee Homestead. We actually went without ketchup for many months, using guacamole, hummus and mustards when we needed a condiment for dipping or spreading.  When I came across this recipe, I just had to try it!

World’s Easiest Guacamole

I love guacamole. Until Little Brother arrived on the scene, I was, alas, the only avocado-lover at the Yankee Homestead.  So sad. I made guacamole only for guests, because I was incapable of eating a whole batch on my own. Now I can whip up a small batch and even Mr. Native Texan will pitch in and…