Category: Homemade Basic Essentials

Homemade Basic Essentials are the foundational recipes that support healthier, from-scratch cooking. From stocks and rendered fats to fresh cheeses and pantry staples, these preparations elevate everyday meals, reduce waste, and make seasonal cooking more flavourful and rewarding.

Homemade Chicken Stock with a Pressure Cooker

Every year we make a big batch of homemade chicken stock with chicken backs from our local farmer. With just a few simple ingredients and a pressure cooker, you can fill your pantry with jars of liquid gold.

Grilled Pizza (Flammkuchen) with Potato, Red Onion, and Gouda Cheese

Crispy, smoky, and packed with flavour—this grilled Flammkuchen-style pizza features potato, red onion, crème fraîche, and young Gouda. Learn how to grill it to perfection or bake it in your oven, with tips for freezing dough, customizing toppings, and reheating leftovers correctly.

Beef Tallow

Nothing will make your dog’s tail wag more than a 10kg bag of beef fat coming through the door. Ralph wanted to make beef tallow for awhile as an alternative to peanut oil when frying, and was pleased when our local butcher Hoose Landschlachterei said he could buy beef fat from them. Ralph’s rant time:…

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Homemade cooked dog food

Preparing freshly made meals with the best quality ingredients is important to Ralph and I. Not only for the taste and enjoyment in preparing meals, but for health reasons too. One day it dawned on me—why not do the same for our dog Mogly? In researching options, I learned a new definition of BARF—Biologically Appropriate…

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Flour Tortillas

I’m sharing this as a separate recipe, as we make them a lot for various meals such as grilled chicken quesadillas, beef burritos, and egg breakfast burritos. You can wrap up pretty much anything in these circular delights – great for lunches too as they are a lighter alternative to bread. Making flour tortillas from…

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