Review & GIVEAWAY!: SodaStream Soda Maker

image courtesy SodaStream

Let me take a few minutes to tell you about my favorite new kitchen toy: The SodaStream. I was given the opportunity to try this baby out for myself in my own kitchen and I fell in love. I was like a kid at Christmas as I took it out of its careful packaging, oohing and ahhing over every bit I unpacked. Here's what I got:

The Fountain Jet Home Soda Maker

60-Liter refillable Carbonator

9 SodaMix Flavors, including:

• 
  
  Diet Cola
• 
  
  Diet Pink Grapefruit
• 
  
  Diet Lemon-Lime
• 
  
  Diet Cranberry-Raspberry
• 
  
  Lemonade
• 
  
  Root Beer
• 
  
  Orange Mango
• 
  
  Energy
• 
  
  Cola

My Water Flavor Essence in Lemon-Lime

It's so much fun to make your own soda at home! Even my husband, who doesn't get excited about much, got excited about the SodaStream. It's so simple to use that even the kids like making their own soda. And for sleepovers and playing with friends -- how cool is it to be able to make your friends fresh soda with the push of a button? Very cool.

So it's fun, you're thinking, but it's still soda, and soda's junk.

Sure, I'll give you that. Soda's not a drink for every day, and not something I'd serve my children at meal times. But if you're going to have some soda now and then, I bet you want it to be a bit better for you and your family, right?

SodaStream's SodaMix Flavors have no high fructose corn syrup, no aspartame (they're sweetened with Splenda), and are lower in calories than store-bought sodas (averaging 35 calories per serving). There are fewer carbs, less sodium, and less sugar than store brands. Plus, you control the water you use as well as the amount of flavoring and carbonation. Like a lot of bubbles and just a bit of flavor? You can do that. Like the traditional store-bought soda flavors? Easy as can be. Like just a few bubbles and lots of syrup-y goodness? You can do that, too. Maybe you prefer sparkling water with no flavorings. Easiest of all.  SodaStream allows you to control and customize what you drink. It's soda on your terms.

SodaStream is better for the environment than store-bought soda, too! When you're making soda at home, in a reusable plastic bottle (SodaStream comes with two of them), there's no buying bottles or cans at the store, and no worrying about throwing them away or recycling them (my community doesn't even have a recycling program!). There's less waste in landfills. There's less energy going toward the manufacturing and shipping of those bottles. Plus, you don't have to cart them from store to home!

SodaStream is fresher than store-bought soda. You make what you need, in a neat 1 liter reusable bottle. Because it's a smaller size than traditional 2-liter store bought bottles, it's likely to stay bubbly until you're through with it. I don't know about you, but I hate it when I open a half-full bottle from the store only to find it's gone flat. SodaStream is still bubbly the next day, and I love that.

SodaStream is a great value! Twenty-five cents gets you a liter of sparkling water. According to my math, SodaStream soda costs about half of the store-bought price, and I get to make my own soda. You all know how much I love making my own.

We tried all the flavors. They're all delicious. There were a few favorites, though, and I'd like to talk about them briefly:

The kids enjoy the Root Beer best. It's delicious, and it's first ingredient is simply sugar.

I enjoyed the Diet Cola best. I thought it would taste like Diet Coke, but it didn't. It tastes like a mix of Diet Pepsi and RC Cola. Best of all (and this is not a scientific finding, and not a product claim, merely something I noticed), I don't feel dehydrated and puffy when I drink it. When I consume Diet Coke and other store-bought colas, I feel unwell. I feel puffy and dehydrated and out of sorts. With the Diet Cola from SodaStream, I feel very hydrated and I love that. I enjoy diet cola, and I like that I can feel good and have my little pleasure at the same time.

My husband's in an intense Army school right now. It involves classroom time all day, plus hours of studying at home. He is ever so thankful for SodaStream's Energy flavor. It's an exact match of Red Bull energy drink, only better ingredients and only 35 calories per serving. He loves it and brings it with him to class each day.

Look at how easy it is to make a liter of soda at home:

I highly recommend giving SodaStream a try. You can buy it online or in many retail locations. It's a great value for your wallet, the environment, and your taste buds.

Or Win It!

That's right! Win yourself the Fountain Jet Soda Lover’s Start-up Kit (approx. $100 retail value.) It includes the Fountain Jet, CO2 makes over 100 liters of soda, 2 reusable carbonating bottles, a sample pack of flavors, and 3 full-sized flavors of the winner’s choice. Sorry, continental U.S. Addresses Only.

Here's how to enter:

Mandatory Entry: Visit SodaStream and leave me a comment telling me which three full-sized flavors you'd most like to try.

Optional Additional Entries:

1. Be a public follower of this blog via Google Friend Connect. Leave me a separate comment telling me you're a public follower.
2. Like All Home Cooking. All Year Long. on Facebook. Leave me a comment about this giveaway on Facebook AND tell me you've Liked me on Facebook in the comments section below.
3. Explore the SodaStream site and tell me something you've learned. (Leave another separate comment)
4. Post about this giveaway on your own blog. Leave me a comment with a link to your post.

I'll draw for a winner on Thursday, July 29, after 6 p.m. eastern time. Good luck!

Disclosure: I was provided with the SodaStream At Home Soda Maker, 9 SodaMix Flavors, My Water Essence Flavors, and a Carbonator free of charge from SodaStream for the purposes of my review. My opinions are solely my own and are in no way influences by this.

Honest Smoothies

In my house, I'm trying extra hard to get rid of all pseudo-foods and serve my family only proper, nutritious foods. No, I'm never 100% successful, for two reasons:

1. Life happens. I'm not going to freak out if we're at a skating party and fruit punch, chips, and a Carvel ice cream cake are served. We'll survive. Junk is okay once in a while, because the rest of our diet makes up for it.
2. Life is meant to be enjoyed! Sometimes, I just want a handful of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies, or a junky Mountain Dew, or a combo meal from Taco Bell. And that's okay! I'm not one to become so rigid that I can't enjoy my life.

However, for the most part, I really do serve all natural foods. When I can manage it, I choose organics and local foods. It's really no more expensive than the other stuff. Some organic brands are very expensive, but I watch my budget, pay attention to sales, and I do okay.

My girls wanted a snack yesterday, and here's what I made them. It's simple, pure, and honest. While they enjoyed this snack, they were receiving many health benefits and liking it. Just look at these ingredients! What's not to like?

Honest Smoothies
Serves 2

What You Need:

• 16 oz plain or vanilla yogurt
• 2 small bananas
• 1 cup mixed frozen berries
• 2 Tbsp honey

How it's Done:

1. Simply add all ingredients to your blender and set to frappe. Let it whirl a full minute or two, then serve.

I Make Milk. What's YOUR Super Power?

Day 163.

When I was nursing my youngest daughter, nursing shirts with that slogan were popping up all over the place. I wanted one. I never got one.

The same slogan popped into my mind when I made soy milk yesterday. I do so love stickin' it to The Man by not buying processed foods. So it felt empowering to be able to make my own milk. Plus, as I've shared with you before, dairy doesn't agree with me. Nothing gross... I just experience chest congestion and cough for hours and hours. So it's nice to have dairy alternatives to fall back on.

(although I do love me some cheese...)

Anyway, I bought some soy flour this month, because...well...because it was for sale right next to the graham flour that I had on my list, and I thought it would be fun to try something new. :) Sometimes that's all the motivation I need. I've been using it in breads and as a thickening agent. I noticed a recipe for making soy milk from it on the side of the bag, and thought I'd give it a go.

It worked. But it needs work. I'm looking for a cost-effective source of organic soybeans to use at home. Until then, I'm willing to play with the flour. Learn from me here.

Soy Milk from Soy Flour

What You Need:

• 1 cup soy flour
• 6 cups water
• sweetener of some sort
• some salt

How it's Done:

1. The directions say to bring 6 cups of water to a boil, then slowly add in a cup of soy flour, stirring constantly. I say, bring FIVE cups of water to a boil. When it's boiling, combine the soy flour with the last cup of water to make a slurry, whisking until all the clumps are gone. I should have gone with my gut here and treated it like gravy but I went with the directions. Add your slurry to the boiling water and reduce heat to medium. Oh...the directions also don't tell you to use a large pot because soy milk bubbles up very, very quickly when you add the flour to the water. So use a large pot.
2. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. I would say keep an eye on it because mine created a crusted layer on the bottom of my pot. Could be because I didn't mix the flour with water before adding it in. As a matter of fact, I'm sure that's what went wrong.
3. Strain through a mesh strainer into a pitcher.
4. Add sweetener. And salt. The recipe doesn't call for salt but it really does need a pinch. I used vanilla and honey to sweeten this batch. I am going to play with sweetening in the future.
5. Refrigerate immediately for several hours before serving.

Now, there are people who think soy is very, very bad and won't touch the stuff. In huge doses (like, 6 servings per day or more), it can be less than good for you. But for folks like me, who cook from scratch and don't have any soy in their diets coming from processed foods (soy's in so many things that if you intend to truly avoid it, you had better cook from scratch), soy milk is just fine. But do your own research, and draw your own conclusions. I won't debate the merits of soy with you. It works for my family. :)

Coming soon: More soy milk, and rice milk. Someday, perhaps almond milk, though that would be awfully hard on my budget. So I might do it only once. Rice milk, though...that's affordable. :)

To Your Health

Day 128.

I don't see how I'm going to get my kids to eat this.

It's not bad...it tastes like banana and coconut. But look at it. Look at it.

My goal is to get us all drinking some healthy smoothies regularly. This one isn't going to be one of the ones I offer my children. Look at it.

But if you're feeling brave, do try it. I made some modifications to the recipe that made it taste better. I like the taste. I'm sure the kids would like it as well. If it didn't look like...well...like it looks.

Weird Greenish-Brown Smoothie That Tastes Pretty Good
adapted from Squidoo Lens
What You Need:

• 7 oz coconut milk
• 5 oz flaked coconut (unsweetened)
• 1 large banana, peeled and broken into several pieces
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup ice cubes
• 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp each wheat germ and flax meal
• 1 1/2 cups raw kale

How it's Done:

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree several minutes. Serve immediately. Be brave.

Seeing Red?

Day 127.

 

Strawberries are in season in Florida, so here in Georgia, they're very inexpensive this time of year. In case you hadn't noticed, I've been on a strawberry kick this week. First, I made English muffins and topped them with homemade peanut butter and sliced strawberries. Then, I made strawberry pancakes. Today, I'm pleased to share with you a delicious summer thirst quencher: Strawberry Lemonade.

 

Strawberry Lemonade

 

What You Need:

• 1 cup fresh lemon juice (It took me 6 large lemons to get this amount)
• 1 lb fresh strawberries, cut into chunks and hulls removed
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup sugar or honey (honey would be wonderful, but I used sugar since it's cheaper)
• optional: lemon slices and/or strawberries to float in the pitcher or glasses

How it's Done:

1. Puree strawberries with lemon juice in your blender. 
2. Stir together in a pitcher 2 cups warm water and the sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Blend in the other 2 cups of cold water and the strawberry-lemon puree.
3. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Float lemon slices and strawberries in the pitcher or glasses as desired.

The Curveball Thrown to Me

Day 124.

Today, my husband announced that he wants to do Atkins to lose weight.

...

While I'm not willing to take that diet on for myself, I'm more than happy to help him out by preparing his meat-a-tarian meals, so we went to the produce market and to Publix for some (more) foods to get him started.

(for budget purposes I won't include his extra expenses from my blog totals for now. I may change this later.)

Now, I don't even particularly care for meat, and Picky Eater will only eat it when it's disguised as a taco, cheeseburger (sometimes), or a corn dog. Bayberry is a lover of meat, but will eat pretty much anything presented to her.

So now we have an almost vegetarian, a meatatarian ;), an omnivore who leans toward carnivore, and an omnivore who leans toward vegetarian. In one household. With one chef. Me.

This week's easy. I have simple recipes like tacos and burgers and chops and eggs planned. Those are all things easily adapted to the meatatarian Atkins way of eating.

But I'm still going to bake. I'm still going to serve bread. And I'm not willing to use artificial ingredients in any of it.

So this is going to be tricky.

But for now, please enjoy this lovely beverage on behalf of my husband. It has all sorts of things in it that are no-nos for Atkins followers, but things I deem pretty healthy, personally.

Icy Hot Chocolate
Serves 3 to 4

What You Need:

• 2 cups of milk
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder (dark is awesome)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 large banana, peeled
• 2 cups of ice
• a pinch of cinnamon
• whipped cream for serving, if desired

How it's Done:

• Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend for two minutes.
• Pour into tall glasses and top with whipped cream.

A Letter of Apology

Dear Blog,

Oh, how I've missed you! I think of you often and long for the yesterdays, when I could stop by and look at you, primp you, visit your pages, and speak through you. Alas, family is in town and does not appreciate home cooked foods. Therefore, I've been neglecting you, and for that, I apologize. Oh, how I miss your nourishment! Packaged taco seasoning is scary! Papa John was in my house last night with his mystery sauce. Pizza, not home-made? A travesty!

Dearest Blog, my children have not been eating well. Cold cereals loaded with sugar, macaroni and cheese at restaurants (the type from the blue box, blog), and sugary strawberry soda pop have found their ways through my children's bellies.

Now, please know as I do that this is a temporary situation. All the work we've done to get my children off of processed foods does not have to come unraveled, dear blog. One more week and we can return to nourishing, healthful, fulfilling, wholesome, home-cooked foods.

For now, while the in-laws sleep, I sneak in a healthful beverage for my babies to enjoy. I hope you will, too.

Sincerely,

Michelle

Strawberry-Banana Breakfast Milkshake

What You Need:

• 1 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup of orange juice
• 12 strawberries, hulls removed
• 1 large banana, peeled
• 1 handful of ice cubes

How it's Done:

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree. Serve immediately. And be glad for the nourishment in your children's bellies. And plot to add greens and carrots to the next one. Mwah hah hah hah haha! ;)

Southern Cookin' Sundays #1

Day 66.

 

Today's the first of four Sundays in March that I will use to feature full, traditional Southern cuisine. This is not diet food. In fact, your arteries may narrow a little just reading this entry. But your belly will be very pleased with your culinary selections if you choose to replicate my menu. And your house will smell very nice. It'll smell so nice that you'll wish you could bottle the scent. And you'll open your windows to let in some cool air and your neighbors will smell the yummy scents and you might find yourself with some company this evening.

 

Oh, and by the way: If you make this menu for just your family, you should have leftovers to last several days. Cook once, eat lots.

 

Southern Cookin' Sunday #1

 

On today's menu:

• Barbecue Pork Ribs
• Cole Slaw
• Potato Salad
• Baked Beans
• Hushpuppies (cheated with a mix)
• Peach Pie with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
• Sweet Tea

Invite a few friends to join you for supper. You'll have more than enough.

 

Step-by-Step Directions (individual recipes follow):

 

THE NIGHT BEFORE (I began preparing at 7:00 p.m. and went to bed at 10:00 p.m.):

1. In a bowl, place 4 to 5 cups of shredded cabbage, carrots, and raddicchio.
2. In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 2 Tbsp vinegar, 1/2 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp celery seed, and 2 Tbsp milk. Whisk well. Pour over cabbage.
3. Stir cabbage to coat completely. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.
4. Peel and quarter 3 pounds of Yukon Gold (or other waxy type) Potatoes. Place them in a large pot and cover with cool water.
5. Bring to a boil and continue boiling about 20 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Don't overcook them or you'll end up with grainy mush.
6. Drain potatoes and move to a large bowl. Let them cool.
7. Meanwhile, cook 1/2 lb bacon to crispy and drain on paper towels. Hard-cook three large eggs and let them cool. Peel and roughly chop the eggs. Crumble the bacon.
8. In a small mixing bowl, combine 1 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp celery seed, 1 tsp paprika, 2 tsp yellow mustard, 1 Tbsp relish, 1/2 cup finely minced white onion, 1 tsp sea salt, and 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper.
9. Pour dressing over potatoes. Add eggs and potatoes. Toss gently to coat. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.
10. Pick through and sort 1 lb dried pinto beans. Place in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Boil at a hard boil for ten full minutes. Transfer beans and water to a large slow cooker. Make sure the water is at least double the depth of the beans. I prefer to play it safe and triple the water. Cover and cook on low overnight (at least 8 hours, but up to 12).
11. In a saucepan, combine 2 cups whipping cream and 1 cup milk, 1 vanilla bean (scraped, seeds added to cream, add pod, too), and 1 cup of sugar. Bring to a slight simmer. Remove from heat and put in an air-tight container. Refrigerate overnight.
12. Take a bath, read a book, watch a movie, or do whatever it is you do to relax. You've worked hard! Your efforts will pay off tomorrow.

THE MORNING OF YOUR SOUTHERN COOKIN' DAY:

 (I began at 9:00 a.m., took a break from 10 to 11:00 a.m., and worked hands-on until 2:00 p.m. Then, it was occasional stirring and flipping until another 30 minute bout of hands-on work from 5:30 till 6:00)

1. Drain your beans. Reserve 4 cups of beans for your baked beans. Bag up the rest and freeze them in 2 cup portions for later use. These can be used in any recipe calling for canned beans. 
2. Remove the vanilla bean hull from your custard. Process in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. Look for the custard to double in size. Move to an air-tight container and place in the freezer. 
3. Next, it's time to make some peach pie. Roll out two pie crusts. Position one in a 9" deep dish pie plate. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Brush the pie crust with a beaten egg.
4. Place 4 cups of sliced peaches (I used frozen ones) in a collander. Drizzle 1 Tbsp lime juice over the peaches. Let them sit in the collander for about 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon. Mix well. Pour peaches into mixing bowl. Drizzle with 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, then stir to cover with the sugar & flour mixture.
6. Pour the peaches into the pie crust.
7. Dot with 2 Tbsp cut up butter.
8. Cover with the second pie crust. Make vents in the top.
9. Position your pie plate over a large cookie sheet in case of spilling in the oven.
10. Bake 40 to 55 minutes, until golden brown.
11. Let the pie cool a full 2 hours before cutting it. This allows the filling to set. Serve with your homemade vanilla ice cream. But first, on to the sweet tea, then the ribs and beans.
12. Make some sweet tea. It needs time to cool, so make it now. Bring a quart of water to a boil. Remove from heat and add 8 tea bags. Let it stand for 10 minutes.
13. Pour 1 1/2 cups of sugar into a 2 quart pitcher.
14. Remove tea bags from water and throw the tea bags away. Pour the tea into the pitcher and stir until the sugar is all dissolved. Add enough ice to fill the pitcher, stirring to melt most of it. Set it in the fridge until dinner is ready.
15. Prepare the dry rub ingredients for your barbecue ribs. In a ziploc bag, combine 3 Tbsp paprika, 2 tsp each red, black, and white pepper, 2 tsp onion salt, and 2 tsp garlic powder.  Close bag securely and shake to mix ingredients. Rub on both sides of 2 racks of ribs and let them stand for 1/2 an hour.
16. If you want to eat at 6:00 p.m., your ribs need to go in the oven at 1:15 or so. Set the oven to 275 degrees and put your ribs in. Bake 2 hours.
17. Meanwhile, start your barbecue sauce. In a large saucepan, combine 2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp chili powder, 2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp sea salt, 3 Tbsp brown sugar, 2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp black pepper, 4 cloves of garlic, minced, 2 cups of ketchup, 1 1/2 cups white vinegar (I've been known to use rice vinegar with fantastic results), 1/2 cup dry white wine, 2 cups of water, a large onion, diced, 1/3 cup molasses, and 1/4 cup honey. Whisk well, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 90 minutes, stirring occasionally.
18. After the ribs have been cooking for an hour, put together your baked beans. Fry 6 slices of bacon crispy and let them drain on paper towels. When they're cool enough to handle, crumble them. In a mixing bowl, combine bacon, the beans you reserved from earlier in the day, a chopped up onion, 1 clove minced garlic, 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup honey, and 1/2 cup molasses. Put them in the oven with the ribs and let them cook for the rest of the time the ribs cook (just over 2 1/4 more hours).
19. When the ribs have cooked 2 hours, flip them over and cook another 2 hours.
20. With 15 minutes left on the ribs, prepare your hushpuppies. I cheated and used a mix that only required water. I wish I'd gone ahead and made them from scratch. Make your balls and set them aside. Preheat your oil to 375 degrees.
21. Now it's time to brush the ribs with barbecue sauce. Pull them out of the oven and coat them with sauce. Put them back in the oven for an additional 20 minutes. Remove the lid from the baked beans and let them continue to cook.

22. Fry the hushpuppies. Drain on paper towels.
23. Your dinner is ready to serve. Go stuff yourself silly.

Here are the individual recipes in case you don't want to make a full, traditional Southern menu.


Oven Barbecued Pork Ribs
makes 2 racks

Ingredients:

• 2 racks (2.5 lb each) pork ribs
• dry rub (recipe follows)
• barbecue sauce (recipe follows)

How it's Done:

1. Rub both sides of the racks of ribs with the dry spice rub.
2. Let stand at room temperature for 1/2 an hour. Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
3. Cook 2 hours. Flip racks over. Cook another 2 hours.
4. Brush barbecue sauce on both sides. Cook another 20 minutes.
5. Serve with additional barbecue sauce on the side.

Dry Rub for Ribs:

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp paprika
• 2 tsp each black, white, and red pepper
• 2 tsp onion salt (or 2 tsp onion powder and 1 tsp sea salt)
• 2 tsp garlic powder

How it's Done:

1. Combine all ingredients in a ziploc bag. Close bag securely and shake to mix. HINT: Double or triple this recipe and store it in your pantry for a quick BBQ rub for any meat!
2. Rub on both sides of ribs.

Barbecue Sauce that'll stop you from buying that bottled junk
Makes 4 cups

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp black pepper
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups ketchup
• 1 1/2 cups white vinegar (though I prefer rice vinegar for flavor)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups water
• large onion (I recommend vidalia), diced
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup honey

How it's Done:

1. Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Use a whisk to blend them well.

2. Bring to a full, rolling boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Can be stored in the refrigerator for later use.

Cole Slaw
Ingredients:

• 4 to 5 cups shredded cabbage (can add carrots and raddicchio for variety -- I save the raddicchio from bagged salad for this purpose)
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp celery seed
• 2 Tbsp milk

How it's Done:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, celery seed, and milk.
2. Toss with shredded veggies in a large bowl.
3. Cover and refrigerate several hours, or overnight for best results.

Southern Style Potato Salad

Ingredients:

• 3 lb Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 3 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled, rinsed, and chopped
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp celery seed
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp yellow mustard
• 1 Tbsp relish
• 1/2 cup finely minced white onion
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

How it's Done:

1. Peel and quarter potatoes. Place in large pot and cover with cool water. Bring to a boil. Continue boiling 20 minutes. Drain potatoes and set them in a large mixing bowl. Allow them to cool.
2. In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Pour over potatoes. Toss gently to combine.
3. Cover tightly and refrigerate several hours or overnight for best taste.

Baked Beans

Ingredients:

• 4 cups cooked pinto beans
• 6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup molasses

How it's Done:

1. Combine all ingredients in a 2 quart casserole.
2. Cover and bake at 275 degrees for 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Peach Pie

Ingredients:

• pastry for a double crust pie
• 1 beaten egg
• 4 cups of sliced peaches (I used two bags of frozen sliced peaches)
• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp butter

How it's Done:

1. Roll out the bottom crust and position in a 9" deep dish pie crust.
2. Brush bottom crust with a beaten egg.
3. Partially thaw peaches if frozen. Place in collander and drizzle with lime juice.
4. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, and ginger. Toss with peaches.

5. Pile the peaches high in the crust, mounding in the middle.
6. Drizzle with vanilla extract and dot with butter.
7. Position top crust over filling and pinch seams closed. Vent the crust.
8. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 to 55 minutes. Watch crust for burning. Cover with aluminum foil if the crust browns too quickly.

Simple Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, pod and all

• 1 cup sugar

How it's Done:

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.
2. Heat to barely a simmer, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
3. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate overnight.
4. Remove vanilla pod.

5. Process in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.
6. Return to airtight container and freeze until firm, at least two hours.

*You can rinse off the vanilla pod and set it aside to dry. When it's dried and brittle, process it with sugar for a wonderful vanilla sugar.

Sweet Tea
makes 2 quarts

Ingredients:

• 1 quart water
• 8 tea bags
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• enough ice cubs to fill the pitcher

How it's Done:

1. Bring 1 quart water to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and add 8 tea bags.
3. Let tea steep for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, pour 1 1/2 cups sugar into a pitcher.
5. Remove tea bags from water. Pour water into pitcher. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved.
6. Add enough ice cubes to fill the pitcher all the way.
7. Refrigerate.