Category Archives: Food – Recipes – Nutrition

Our Favorite Organic Sweet Cornbread Recipe

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Fall is in the air and if your house is anything like ours, so is the aroma of a pot of soup simmering in the kitchen.  What goes better with a bowl of heartwarming soup than a good wholesome slice of organic cornbread?  We thought we would share our recipe which we have fine-tuned over the years until we think it’s just perfect.

We use our old Griswold iron skillet for this one so that the bottom crust browns nicely.  The trick for this is to heat the oil in the skillet on the range top before pouring in the batter.

Our Favorite Organic Sweet Cornbread Recipe:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Ingredients:
1 Cup Organic Corn Meal
1 Cup Organic Flour
1/3 Cup Organic Sugar
1 Tablespoon Aluminum Free Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Real Salt
2 Eggs (cage free or free range, whatever you prefer)
1 Cup Organic Milk
1/3 Cup Oil (we use organic olive oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil or whatever we have)
+ Additional 1/3 Cup oil for pan (see below)

Pour the 1/3 Cup oil for the pan into an iron skillet.  You’ll want your skillet to be medium hot when you pour the batter in so place the skillet on a burner on medium heat while preparing the batter.  Keep an eye on the skillet while you are mixing and remove from heat when it is medium hot so that it doesn’t become too hot.

In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients. Make a well in the middle and add eggs, milk and oil.  Beat the eggs into the liquid and then mix all ingredients together. Batter will be a little lumpy.

Pour batter in the skillet and transfer to the oven.  The skillet will be hot so use a pot holder.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Server with butter and honey, if desired.

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Homemade Ranch Dressing Recipe

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If you’re looking for a recipe for ranch dressing made with natural ingredients, here’s my homemade ranch salad dressing (or ranch dip) recipe that I came up with several years ago and have been making and tweaking ever since.

Homemade Ranch Dressing Recipe

Homemade Ranch Dressing

Ingredients:

1 cup organic mayonnaise
½ cup organic sour cream
¾ cup organic milk (use more for a thinner dressing or less to make a thick ranch dip)
2 cloves garlic, minced (I use more sometimes)
¾ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped (*see note below on herbs)
2 tablespoons chives, sniped finely
3 tablespoon organic apple cider vinegar

Whisk together mayonnaise, sour cream and milk with a wire whisk until smooth.  Stir in all other ingredients.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

*Herb variations:  I use a variety of herbs when they are in season.  Parsley, chives and dill are good choices for this recipe.  You can also use dried herbs if you don’t have fresh on hand.  Just add a little at a time until you’re satisfied with the amount of herbs and refrigerate overnight.

You can also stir in blue cheese for a creamy homemade blue cheese dressing.

This ranch dressing recipe is good on salads and baked potatoes or to douse your daily veggies into. Serve the dip version up with crackers or veggies.  Which remind me,  the kale is ready in the garden and I’ve really wanted to make some kale chips.

Enjoy!  ….and don’t forget to pin!

Real Hot Chocolate

Real Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate recipe

Hot Chocolate

With the beginning of winter and snow in the forecast I’m conjuring up ideas like a cozy fire in the fireplace, flannel pajamas and a really good cup of hot chocolate.

But it  just took one glance at the list on the instant hot cocoa with ingredients like modified whey, hydrogenated coconut oil, calcium carbonate, dipotassium phosphate, mono- and diglycerides, acesulfame potassium, sucralose and artificial flavor (really?!?)  to quickly decide that I didn’t want to go that route.  What, all those unpronounceable things in a simple cup of hot chocolate? Throw it away! I decided that a good cup of hot cocoa needs to be made from scratch like real food made with real ingredients! It was pretty easy too.

So, this is how we did it. We also opted for organic fair trade cocoa powder, organic sugar, organic milk and our homemade vanilla extract.

Real Hot Chocolate Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/3 Cup Sugar
Dash of Salt
4 Cups Milk
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

In a saucepan, combine the cocoa powder, sugar and salt. Add milk and whisk often while cooking over medium heat. Heat to scalding but do not boil (once it starts to steam is usually good). Remove from heat and add vanilla. That’s it!  Serve.

If you have any left, you can pour it into a jar with a lid (once cooled) and refrigerate.  Next time I may opt to add a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg!

Kathy
Soap for Goodness Sake
Natural and Organic Bath

Café Olé – A Favorite Holiday Coffee at Our House

Here’s a gourmet coffee recipe that we’ve made many times during the holidays. There’s nothing quite as good as a houseful of family waking up to this special coffee treat.

Café Olé

Café Olé

Café Olé Recipe:

1/2 Cup Coffee* (We use freshly ground, fair trade, organic, French roast)
2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
4 Cups Cold Water
4 Cups Milk, heated to scalding
1 Cup Organic Sugar or Brown Sugar
Cinnamon Sticks

*Use up to 1 cup ground coffee if you like a stronger coffee.

Combine the coffee and the cinnamon. Brew the coffee in a coffee maker with the 4 cups water. When brewed, stir in the sugar until dissolved. Add hot milk. When ready to serve, place a cinnamon stick in each cup and fill with Café Ole.

I have also transferred this to a pretty chafing carafe to keep warm which also makes a nice holiday breakfast center piece.

Enjoy!