Seasoning Mixes DIY

As most people know, health is a gift that just keeps on giving. Giving homemade seasoning mixes, without all the chemicals usually in traditional mixes, is one easy peesy way to do just that.

You can find different versions, but I found these four from the Mountain Rose blog. They also sell the spices and things for all of these mixes.

Taco Mix:

1/4 cup Chili Powder
1/4 cup Cumin Powder
1 tablespoon Garlic powder
1 tablespoon Onion powder
1 teaspoon Oregano leaf (or oregano leaf powder)
1 teaspoon Paprika with 1/4 cup Himalayan salt or sea salt (optional)
1 teaspoon ground Black Pepper

To make: Put all in jar and shake well or mix in a food processor until mixed. Store in an airtight jar for up to six months. Makes approximately 1 cup. To use: sprinkle on ground beef or chicken as you would any store bought taco seasoning. 3 tablespoons is the same as 1 packet of store bought taco seasoning.

Ranch Mix:

1/4 cup dried Parsley leaf
1 Tablespoon Dill leaf
1 tablespoon Garlic Powder
1 tablespoon Onion Powder
1/2 teaspoon Basil leaf (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

To Make: Mix all ingredients together in jar or food processor. To make into Ranch Dressing, mix 1 Tablespoon of this mix with 1/3 cup Homemade Mayonaise or Greek Yogurt and 1/4 cup Coconut Milk.

Chili Mix:

1/2 cup Chili powder
1/4 cup Garlic powder
3 tablespoons Onion powder
1/4 cup Oregano leaf
2 tablespoons Paprika powder
1/4 cup Cumin powder
1 tablespoon Thyme leaf

To Make: mix all ingredients and store in an airtight container. 1/4 cup of mix = 1 package of store bought chili seasoning.

Pumpkin Mix:

1/4 cup Cinnamon powder
1 teaspoon ground Ginger
2 teaspoons Nutmeg powder
2 teaspoons Allspice powder
1/2 teaspoon Clove powder (optional)

To Make: Mix all ingredients and store in airtight container. Use as you would regular pumpkin pie spice. Great in pumpkin cheesecake,  pumpkin pie, spiced pumpkin lattes or coconut flour pumpkin muffins.

To add a little flare, fold a piece of card stock paper or possibly some old Christmas cards in half and staple it on a Ziploc bag. Just make sure you staple above the zip and not below.

Garden Stepping Stones DIY

I do believe this will be my last garden related post for the time being. Sooner or later I’ll put photos of my mom’s garden up, but I probably won’t do that until next week.

Things you need:

Molds (one bag makes 13 or so 8×8 molds, so however many you want to make)

Sand Topped Quickcrete

A Bucket to mix in- we started out with a paint bucket and moved to a wheel barrel. (Make sure if you use something that you’ll need again to wash it out.

Something to mix with- we used with a shovel. (Again, make sure you wash this)

Creative medium- we used everything from glass to marbles to rocks to plastic. Most of the glass was broken at a thrift store so they gave it to us. The marble were given to us by a friend. Some rocks came from our yard or another friend. We did buy a couple of glass and plastic pieces from a thrift store, but we didn’t buy anything new. Don’t use metal, it will eventually rust.

If you decide that you want to make the patio you’ll need:

Sand-for our 10×10 block we need 20 bags of sand

Gravel-10 bags

Select an area, however big you want it. Mark it off and dig down four inches. Make sure that the area is as level as possible. Add your bags of gravel. They should be about one inch deep. Then add a few bags of sand. We needed 16. Lay out your stepping stones. Then cover the stones with sand. Take a broom (one that you don’t care if it gets ruined) and move the sand in between all the cracks. This is pretty hard work, so be prepared. Every few sweeps, spray it down with water. When it’s pretty spread out, you can continue to spray the sand in between the cracks.

Cheerio’s.

Melody and Harmony’s stone.

In the beginning we each did our own stones with our names and hand prints in them. The family unit would have, of course, not been complete with out the cats stones. You can’t see them very well because rocks have filled the holes, but their paw prints are in theirs, too. This one is Mr. T and Mystique’s.

Some of these have no rhyme or reason, but they are all beautiful in their own way. None are left plain, but not all of them have color. Some have indentions.

I really like that tree.

I like this group too.

That wanna-be spiral with a blob as a head was supposed to be my first snail. Obviously it didn’t turn out well.

There is a lot of colors and patterns that I like. After the first 10×10 block, we started running out of ideas so one weekend when our family visited us, we enlisted their help. Some of these throughout the pictures are there. The grapes in the right middle was made my grandma. She’s a creative genius. It’s too bad I wasn’t passed some of these genes.

Most of our stones are kind of random, but we did attempt to make some pictures. In the front row, the white with a blue clump in the middle I made. It’s supposed to be an eyeball. The purple spiral with a green head is also mine and it was supposed to a snail. The one to the right of the eyeball is a tree. I don’t remember who made that, but it sure is cute.

Step 4- Step 3 completed. Now just add which ever creative materials you wish. The world is your oyster! Let the concrete set in the molds for a week. After that week take them out. Wait another week before putting any weight on them.

Step 3- Shovel a couple of scoops into your mold and tap the mold so that the concrete smooths out. When it is completely smooth it should almost fill up the mold.

Step 2- Keep interchanging between adding water and mixing. You want it to be mushy, but not soupy.

Step 1- One bag of concrete makes 13 8×8 stepping stones. We got our molds from Hobby Lobby and some from the internet. I’ve also heard that you can use pizza boxs. Just reinforce the inside corners with tape and spray pam all over the inside so that the concrete will come out. Slowly mix water in with the dry mix. Keep mixing until there isn’t any dry left.