The month of roller coaster weather is nearly over. This means several things to me. First, it means that I’ve been making and doing some baking. There are plenty of things in my inventory right now. It also means that the first round of seed starting will happen very soon (another post will come with details about varieties and placing plant orders). March also brings with it many spring outdoor tasks, and thankfully, some of our warm days have given me a chance to get a jump start on some! I know at least a couple of you have seen me out trimming trees, and I’m in the homestretch on that big task.
Here’s a list of what is available at my home, and there are even more personal care items in my fully stocked display at Rescued in Silvis (half a block from Frank’s Pizza). Please use the “Contact Me” button in the lower right part of your display to order items or place a request for your favorite baked goods.
Edible Items:
1 Cardamom cookie whole batch $15
2 Cardamom cookie bags $3 per bag of 18 small cookies
6 Chai latte mix refills $5 each
1 Dark cocoa mix $5 per jar
3 Instant Potato soup mix $5 per jar (makes 6 servings)
1 Three Bean Chili mix $5 per jar (makes a big pot!)
2 Spicy Seasoned salts $4 per jar
2 Regular Seasoned salts $4 per jar
1 Rosemary Seasoned salt $4 per jar
2 Cream of Anything soup mix $5 each (2 cups dry mix) *This is a new item*
It’s a great alternative to that thick “stuff” in a can – read the ingredients on a can and you’ll be shocked! My mix has dry milk powder, spices, and cornstarch as a thickener. To make plain, you add 1/3 cup (5 Tablespoons) to 1 1/4 cup of water. There are instructions on the package to use it to make cream of chicken, celery, and mushroom. I’ve used it several times for cream of chicken soup and as a thickener for one-pan casseroles and gravy. Because it’s creamy and flavored, unlike a plain cornstarch slurry, it adds to the dish instead of erasing the flavor like plain cornstarch. Just mix equal parts cold water and dry mix, slowly stirring it into your dish for light thickening or 1 part water and 2 parts mix for a thicker result.
Low Sugar Jams $5 each:
7 Blackberry
4 Blueberry
Regular Jams $5 each:
6 Peach jalapeno
1 Pear butter
3 Plum butter
2 Plum jam
1 Raspberry apple
5 Raspberry jalapeno
2 Raspberry jalapeno (4 oz for $3.50 each)
6 SBR (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry)
3 Spiced plum
7 Strawberry rhubarb
2 Cranberry mustard
3 Holiday jam (cranberries, apple, sugar, water, an orange, honey)
Personal Care Items:
6 Hemp hand cream $5 per tin
Sugar scrubs, 2 of each: Pink grapefruit, Lavender, Flower power, Lemon $6 per jar
2 Peppermint foot soak $5 per jar
2 Peppermint foot scrub $6 per jar
4 Congestion relief bath salts (can be used to soak your feet or use as a steamer) $5 per jar
Pillow sprays, 2 each: Lavender, Sweet dreams, Stop snoring $4 each
Rollerballs, 2 each: Love potion, Headache relief, Calming blend, Hippy chick, Flower power, Be happy!, and Congestion relief $5 per tube
Several people have asked “what’s new” for this season and there are several. In the garden, there will be a couple of new tomatoes (and a few more plants than last year) in the hope that they keep us in large slicers longer into the season and a Pepperoncini pepper is coming! More peas are planned for spring planting and we’re going to rebuild our tall trellises for cucumbers and tiny tomatoes. There’s a new yellow/wax bean that should give us more consistent pods, and I’m hoping for more success with different cut flowers. Let’s hope for a more normal weather pattern in July and August!
In terms of food items, I’ve added French bread loaves already and some new pans arrived earlier this week. One is a 4 inch square pan that I hope to use for coffee cake – think brown sugar cinnamon or fruit ripple in the middle and a lightly spiced crumb topping. The other pans are slightly smaller and should be a good replacement for the round crisp tins and may be a good option for a large(ish) cupcake. Granola will be making more of a splash this season with flavors like maple pecan applesauce, banana bread, lemon poppyseed, and pumpkin granola. There are a couple of new packages being used for dry goods that allow me to seal them and they have heavy zippers to allow them to be resealed.A few recipes that are vegan and/or gluten-free have been tested and approved by the taste-testers, too. I’ll keep trying to add some gluten-free recipes as more of you have given up gluten. My winter reading has me filled with ideas on this, but prices of the right ingredients are steep. If you’re GF and there’s something you’d really like to have, please reach out and we can talk about them.
A delivery came today with some food-grade cocoa butter and I’ll be testing a couple of recipes for dark chocolate bars for us to have on hand, and if one works good enough it will also make chocolate chips for my baking! As you know, my food labels require the list all of the sub-ingredients. That has really limited my use of chocolate chips because commercially made chips have a LOT of ingredients that just won’t fit on the labels. Fingers are crossed over here that I can get a recipe to make firm bars and chips! These bars would only use a handful of ingredients and will be healthier, and maybe even vegan, depending on the outcome of the recipe tests.