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How to make Mint Fauxjitos
My husband absolutely loves Mexican food and we make it often for friends & family when they come over for dinner. A delicious and easy to make drink to complement your Mexican meal are mint fauxjitos – this is a non-alcoholic version of a mint mojito. The recipe below is for individual mint fauxjitos but you can easily scale this up for a group using a large pitcher (see note below). Serves 1. Ingredients: Step One: Add the lime sections and chopped mint into a glass. Use a muddler to press down on the lime and mint to extract the juice and flavor. Step Two: Add 2 tablespoons of basic…
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How to Make Homemade Cherry Soda
If you are looking for a healthier alternative to store bought soda this is an excellent and easy drink to make. If cherry isn’t your favorite flavor then you can substitute the fruit for whatever you would like – blueberries, strawberries, loganberries, raspberries, blackberries, mango, etc. Ingredients: Step One: Fill your glass with ice and then the club soda. Add in the cherry simple syrup and mix well. You can add more/less of the cherry simple syrup depending if you like it more/less sweet. Step Two: Enjoy! Note: If you want to give your homemade cherry simple syrup a really unique twist consider adding 1 tablespoon of lavender or rosemary…
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How to Make Simple Syrup – Basic, Lavender, Rosemary & Cherry
Simple syrup is the foundation for making many of the non-alcoholic drinks shared on this site. I’ve come to realize not everyone knows what simple syrup is, how to make it, and what to use it for. This post will cover how to make simple syrup and then several variations so you have a wide variety of flavors to choose from to make lots of delicious drinks. Basic Simple Syrup Ingredients: Step One: Put the sugar and the water in a small saucepan on the stove and bring to a boil. Let boil for ~10 minutes until all of the sugar has dissolved. Let cool. Store in a glass jar…
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How to make Delicious Jam Turnovers with Glaze
These jam turnovers make an excellent breakfast on the go, snack, or even dessert! These are super simple and amazingly delicious and you can choose whatever flavor of jam you want so there are endless options. When I made these last night I used my homemade strawberry basil jam – my husband absolutely loved them (I think you will too)! Makes 6. Ingredients: Step One: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Step Two: Roll out the thawed sheet of puff pastry on a large sheet of parchment paper with a rolling pin. This will make your puff pastry nice and thin. Using a knife cut the puff pastry into 6…
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How to Make Homemade Lavender Lemonade
As many of you know I love to make unique non-alcoholic drinks when we have friends over for dinner. This recipe walks you through how to make a lavender simple syrup. You can purchase culinary lavender to use in the recipe below at many grocery stores or in our area, from Pelindaba Lavender which is a local farm on San Juan Island. This recipe makes 8-12 servings. Ingredients: Step One: To make the simple syrup put the sugar, 2 cups of water, and culinary lavender in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil for ~10 minutes. Let cool. Remove the lavender by using a small sieve. Step Two: Put 2…
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Delightful Homemade Rosemary Infused Lemonade
The first time I had rosemary lemonade was on a trip to Austin, Texas for my sister-in-law’s outdoor baby shower. It was April and 100+ degrees and I lost count of how many glasses of rosemary lemonade I had throughout the afternoon. I decided we had to learn how to make it at home and we’ve now been enjoying this recipe for years. It might sound like an unusual combination but it is absolutely delicious and refreshing. Makes 8-12 servings. Ingredients: Step One: To make the simple syrup put the sugar, 2 cups of water, and sprigs of fresh rosemary in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil for ~10…
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Classic Lemon Loaf with Sweet Lemony Zest Glaze
Every time my Mom and I went to Starbucks together we would split a slice of lemon loaf as we enjoyed our coffee (or in my Mom’s case, a hot Chai latte). Any time I have a slice of lemon loaf it brings me back to those special coffee dates and I wanted to recreate that with my own homemade version. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! This recipe makes one large loaf (typically 8.5″ x 4.5″) and two mini loaves (these are normally 5″ x 3″ and are great to give as gifts). Make a 1/2 batch if you just want one large loaf. Enjoy!…
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Cutting Flower Garden Plans: 2023
I am thrilled to share that I will be planting my cut garden with Floret seeds this year. Floret is local to where I live and has been a huge source of inspiration and knowledge for me throughout this journey. I have many different varieties I am going to be planting this season and I absolutely can’t wait to get into the garden. To accommodate my seed buying & flower growing obsession I am adding three new raised beds this year! Here is the line up… Amaranth ‘Green Tails’– I love the long green tassels this adds to my bouquets and this will be my first time trying to grow…
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An Unexpected Coffee Date with my Mom
On really cold winter days in the Pacific Northwest I slip on my Mom’s puffy jacket and pop on her cozy Ugg hat when I take my morning walk. I’ve been doing this for two winter seasons now and I thought I knew each pocket and feature of the jacket. One morning during my walk I found a top chest pocket I just hadn’t noticed before and I opened it up. Inside was my Mom’s business card with $10 cash, it felt like striking gold and it was such an unexpected surprise. Right after my Mom passed away I made a promise to myself that I would continue to talk…
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A New Year of Opportunity: 2023
Many of us see the new year as an opportunity to start fresh, to set new goals, and to dream about the year ahead. I see this as an opportunity to be introspective, to think about how I can best spend my minutes, hours, and days moving forward. Instead of thinking about resolutions (the firm choice to do or not do something) my family and I like to sit down and answer a series of questions. We then share our answers to those questions over the course of several days at dinner – it’s a fun way to connect with each other. I’d encourage you to answer the questions too…
