What do you think of this? Is this something you can eat? This might work for you during the hot summer months.

I forget where I found this online last year, but it seems like it might work for you. Xanthan gum can be bought at grocery stores in the baking aisle, or you can buy a small amount from a bulk store.

Instructions:
In a saucepan on med-high, whisk milk / cream / Swerve / cocoa powder together. Bring to boil; cook 1 min, stirring often.

Off heat, add peppermint and xanthan gum. Whisk in well. Cool mixture on counter 10-15 mins. Pour into popsicle molds. Freeze 1 hour before adding wooden sticks. Continue freezing another 4-5 hours.

Run pops under hot water 30 seconds to release them from the molds.

A throwback picture to when I worked in catering and we’d have to make these huge anti-pasto platters for 100+ guests from time to time. To make it easier for us to make these on the fly, and for the times when only one of us would work on it because the other was too busy with another order, the catering manager standardized the look of the platters.

These boards really only changed minimally depending on what and how much of an ingredient we had on hand that day. I still like making these, but my husband isn’t into charcuterie boards. At all. Despite it being mostly meat. It’s baffling to me. 🙂

I’m currently making a micro batch of sauerkraut at home. I have always wanted to do this. I love sauerkraut, but I’m the only one in the house who does, and stores only seem to sell big jars of it. The second I open a jar, it goes brown within a week in my fridge.

I figure this way, I can play around with the flavouring and the amount of cabbage on a shoestring budget. And if it turns out tasty, I and eat it all before it turns bad, that will be a win my books.

You might be wondering about the glass pebbles. Well, turns out they are easy to sterilize, and heavy enough to keep the cabbage submerged in its own juices as it ferments on the counter for the first three days. From there, I can let the sauerkraut finish its thing in the fridge. In two weeks, I should be able to dig in. 😀

I’ve been using a sheet of Cookina non-stick pan liner that I cut up to line two different size cookie sheets that I’ve been baking cookies on this Christmas season. This is my new alternative to the annoying Silpat that I hate so much.

After using them for several bake rotations, I have to say, these work just as well as sheets of parchment. I’m impressed enough to give up buying parchment paper all together from now on. And I love me some parchment!

I’m so tired of paying for expensive parchment paper I can only use twice before I have to throw it away. I love that I can use it everywhere, that it can be stored compactly rolled up, and I can use it over and over again with a simple clean up after removing the food. (I already learned I can’t wait to clean it. It’s best cleaned when the sheet is still hot.)

The box containing one sheet is on the pricey side at $10 a pop, but the sheet is so large I could easily cut it up to fit two standard  oven jelly roll pans, or a few non-standards. I’m calling this non-stick paper a keeper.

(Note: This is not a paid product endorsement.)