Our Beginnings
The phrase “Back to Basics” embodies what our family has needed to do for our health and by sharing our journey with friends and family, their feedback inspired the creation of this blog. We have gone back to the basics of hyper-scratch creations in the kitchen as well as in other areas of our lives such as traditional crafting and home improvements. It hearkens back to a time when life was slower-paced and cooking was sacred. We also live in a time where information is at our fingertips, allowing us to learn about different ethnic cuisines and lifestyles from around the world. We hope to bring what we are learning into our everyday lives to others, aiming to combine the art of scratch-made food with making it accessible to those that may need to rely on modern convenience.
Sharing Recipes
Through my journey, I started posting photos of the meals that I created on social media. Friends and family enjoyed them and would frequently ask for the recipe. The problem was that I would cook throwing in a little bit of this and a little of that and certainly didn’t write anything down. So I grabbed a notebook and put it on the kitchen counter and put the food scale in a more convenient spot so as I created I would remember to jot them down, weighing ingredients along the way.
In December 2020, I launched this website so I could share the recipes that I created while lightly blogging along the way. Having the site afforded me the opportunity to easily share my recipes whilst also preserving them for myself. Because life gets in the way, I certainly have many many recipes and photos that have not actually gotten up onto the site and there are large gaps in my posting., but that is ok! Sharing my recipes is fun and I love hearing from my family and friends when they have made my recipes and enjoyed them.
Cooking from scratch certainly gives a person an impressive-looking pantry. Endless glass jars filled with dry ingredients within reach, doubling as decor. Very quickly in my journey, it became apparent that I needed some sort of organization for my spice collection. My husband came to the rescue, creating a customer spice rack so I could easily see and access all of my spices. Well actually, not all of them. I learned long ago to buy my spices in bulk and many times it gets a bit out of hand. Do you know just how much, in volume, a pound of dried parsley is? It is significant! So I have larger pint and quart mason jars inside my pantry to hold the overstock. It afforded me the opportunity to create various spice blends. I would read and learn about blends used all over the world and create dishes around them.
Because I had such a large amount of them, I started sharing my blends in gift baskets with the incredible teachers that our son had in school for the holidays. What I wasn’t expecting were various recipients to write me an email or snag me in the hallway at the school to ask if they could buy more of certain blends. So for a couple of years, since I couldn’t legally sell them it, I happily gifted them more. This past summer was a turning point when I was asked to create a gift basket of my creations and what it would take for me to become an actual business. This inquiry was just the push I needed to get my residential kitchen certified by the Board of Health and officially start a storefront.
Our Storefront
On October 15, 2022, we launched our storefront which has specialty salts, sugars, and spice blends. The storefront has various blends that we love to personally use on an ongoing basis. Before the end of the year, we plan to have all of the blends we have created over the years as well as some new-to-me blends that I am currently working on. Presently, we have all of our blends in resealable packets which offer both convenience, as well as cost savings to you! However, we plan to offer glass jars and other non-perishable products, closer to the holidays, so you can create custom gift sets and baskets for holiday gift-giving.
We offer sample-sized packets so you can try out blends you may never have experienced before. Be sure to look on the back of the packet for a coupon code so when you’re ready to purchase a regular-size item, you can get a small discount. We are a small company hoping to help others experience different blends from around the world at a reasonable price point. At this time, if you are interested in a blend that we don’t carry, drop us an email and let us know, as we just might be able to offer it!
About Our Products
Our goal is to create salt, sugar, and spice blends without the use of preservatives or other additives. Because of this mission, you may find that the blends stick and may need to be broken up once out of the packaging. This can easily be done with a fork or by putting in a sandwich bag and moving it around with your fingers. Different blends behave differently due to their natural oil content. On occasion, we will add tapioca flour to help reduce the sticking. Those products clearly have tapioca starch as an ingredient. If you have an allergy to tapioca and would like to purchase an item that includes it, please send us a message as we may be able to create a custom blend at no additional charge.
In the case where one of the ingredients we use is already a blend, we strive to choose the ones with the least amount of additives. Blends that include ingredients such as “Chili Powder” or “Worcestershire Powder” (and others) have additives that are clearly written in the product's ingredient listing.