Pondering the cookbook graveyard + why “pretty” isn’t enough.

You probably don’t need another cookbook.

There. I said it.

Most of us already have plenty.

Whenever I’m thrift shopping (which is a LOT these days) I’m struck by the sheer volume of cookbooks for sale. Sometimes entire boxes of them. Often barely used.(And always a copious number of those Taste of Home compilation volumes. Remember those??)

So when I wrote The Old-Fashioned on Purpose Cookbook, I was adamant:

This would not be another book that takes up shelf space for a few years before landing in the donation box.

Because none of us simply need more recipes. We need our actual kitchen problems solved, like:

“I have food in the house, but I still don’t know what to make.”

“I’m bored with the same meals I make over and over.”

“I tried the whole-hog homesteading thing and it wasn’t for me—but I still want real, nourishing food.”

“I don’t want to buy one weird ingredient I’ll never use again.”

“I like cooking from scratch, but I also have a life and a schedule.”

“I want old-fashioned skills… but I’m not trying to cosplay 1892.”

Same, friend. Same.

So if you’re considering grabbing a copy of my new cookbook but wondering, Will I actually use this?

Here’s my promise to you:

This book was built for real life.

Breakfasts for mornings when nobody has time for nonsense

These are simple, non-fussy, and either quick to make or easy to prep ahead:

• Egg & Sausage Breakfast Bites
• Sourdough Breakfast Pizza
• Black Bean Breakfast Burritos
• Tomato Poached Eggs
• Sourdough Crepes
• Creamed Chard & Egg Skillet
• From-Scratch Breakfast Sandwiches
• Homestead Breakfast Bake
• Buttermilk Blueberry Buckle
• Icebox Oatmeal
• Overnight French Toast Bake
• No-Fuss Granola
• Tomato Poached Eggs

These are the kind of breakfasts that work when you’re heading out the door for school, sports, events, horse stuff, chores… or all of the above.

Main dishes that don’t require loads of brainpower

These taste good, use familiar ingredients, and can quickly become part of your regular rotation:

• Hamburger Helper—without the box
• Cheeseburger Salad
• One-Pot Beef Stroganoff
• Slow-Cooker Taco Meat
• Hearty Ham & Kraut Bake
• Slow-Cooker Sausage & Potatoes
• Homestyle Chicken Pot Pie
• Garden Stir-Fry Framework
• Mix-and-Match Empanadas
• Supper on a Sheet Framework
• Bacon Corn Chowder
• Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Cream of Mushroom Soup
• Creamy Meatball Soup
• Versatile Meatballs
• Cheesy White Bean Skillet
• From-Scratch Chicken Nuggets
• Salty Roast Chicken
• Shredded Beef Sandwiches

Plus several extremely flexible meal frameworks designed to help you use what you already have.

Sides that make ordinary dinners feel better

• Garlic Butter Rice
• Potato Gnocchi
• Homestead Wedge Salad
• Rustic Caesar Salad
• Farmhouse Salad v/ Lemon Vinaigrette
• Cauliflower Gratin
• Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Sauerkraut w/ Kimchi variation
• Slow Roasted Onions
• Honey Balsamic Brussels Sprouts
• Dutch Oven Baked Beans
• Ginger Slaw
• Simple Mexican Rice
• Melting Potatoes
• Creamy Jalapeño Corn Dip

Nothing wildly complicated. Just the kinds of things that make a basic roast chicken or grilled steak feel like an actual meal.

Breads for when you want the from-scratch feeling without turning it into a full-time job

• Essential Everyday Dough
• Homestyle Cinnamon Rolls
• Maple Brown Sugar Scones
• Sweet Potato Biscuits
• Homemade Corn Tortillas
• Parmesan Dinner Rolls
• Easy Sourdough Boule
• Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
• Old-Fashioned Homestead Doughnuts
• Rustic Homemade Bagels
• English Muffins
• Soft Flatbreads
• Garlic Focaccia

They take a little more time than opening a package, obviously—but they’re approachable enough to actually make again.

Desserts that feel fancy without requiring culinary school

• Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Pie
• Peanut Butter Pie
• Cherry Pie Bars
• Cast-Iron Fruit Pizza
• Chocolate Pudding Cake
• The Best Boxless Brownies
• Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Orange Buttermilk Sherbet
• Maple Marshmallows
• Slow-Cooking Hot Chocolate
• Classic Milkshake
• Ice Cream Soda
• Mason Jar Panna Cotta with Berry Coulis
• Banana Sheet Cake
• Best Boxless Brownies
• Oatmeal Cream Pies
• Lemon Curd Custard

And as always, I packed in a ridiculous number of guides and how-tos, because I want this book to teach—not just give you another list of instructions:

• How to cook the perfect fried egg
• How to make homemade mayo and aioli
• How to make homemade coffee creamer
• How to stretch a whole chicken for 3 meals
• How to cook for a crowd
• How to make all-purpose tomato sauce (canned or not)
• How to quick-pickle vegetables
• How to mill and use whole-wheat flour
• How to make sourdough for normal people

And plenty more.

Because more than anything, I wanted this book to be useful, not just impressive.

I’ve already tried the ultra-hardcore version of an old-fashioned/homestead life: Cooking nearly everything from scratch. Growing it. Milking it. Canning it. Fermenting it.

And while I still love many of those things, I’ve also learned that

Capability is incredibly valuable, but exhaustion isn’t.

So no. You probably don’t need another cookbook.

But if you need easier breakfasts and dinners, fresh ideas, and a little more confidence using what you already have, this book will earn its keep.

And just for launch week: if you order by 11:59 PM Mountain Time on October 6, I’ll also give you my full $147 Heritage Cooking Crash Course FREE.

How it works:

1. Preorder the Old-Fashioned on Purpose cookbook from your favorite online retailer or local bookstore.
2. Upload your proof of purchase here.
3. We’ll email you access to the full course within 24 hours and you’ll get all the other bonuses delivered via email.

(Already preordered? You’re included too!)

Tomorrow, I’ll show you exactly what’s inside the course—because there is a LOT. Stay tuned….

-Jill

The post You Don’t Need Another Cookbook appeared first on The Prairie Homestead.

I have been too chill.

Which is… not generally a problem I have.

But between the major life changes, the new house, the soda fountain, kids, and 47 other things happening at any given moment, launching my new cookbook has taken a backseat.

However, now pub day (October 6th!) is staring me in the face, and I realized:

I have been way too casual about something I am extremely proud of.

After the success of my first cookbook, I spent years thinking about what I’d want this second one to be.

Then when I finally signed the contract, it was several more years of testing recipes, writing the guides I wish I’d had when I started, and updating a lot of my philosophies, because my kitchen and I have changed a lot since book #1.

Dare I say it? I think this cookbook is even better than the first….

Because it has more mileage behind it.

It has years of figuring out what actually works—and what doesn’t.

The wisdom that comes from once trying to do ALL THE THINGS, then realizing it’s far better to focus on what actually moves the needle.

And the maturity that comes from living a life full of “supposed tos”… and eventually realizing nobody gives you a gold star for running yourself into the ground.

That’s what makes this cookbook so special to me.

It’s not a book of performative recipes designed to look pretty on Instagram.

It’s the food I actually make.

Weeknight dinners. Flexible recipes. Yes, some sourdough—but not in a snooty way. A little whole wheat. Some canning recipes that won’t require days in the kitchen. Some of my favorite soda fountain recipes. Cooking for crowds. And from-scratch staples that are actually worth making.

Basically, it’s everything I’ve learned after 16+ years of trying to feed a family from scratch without allowing the kitchen to consume my entire life.

So.

I’ve decided we’re going to have ourselves a proper launch after all.

And I’m doing something I genuinely wasn’t planning to do.

(Ask my assistant. I threw this at her at 11 AM yesterday and she valiantly took it in stride, just like she always does.)

If you preorder The Old-Fashioned on Purpose Cookbook between now and 11:59 PM Mountain Time on October 6, I’ll give you my Heritage Cooking Crash Course for FREE.

(I normally sell the course for $147. Go look at the page if you don’t believe me. )

The new cookbook gives you the recipes, frameworks, and references.

The Heritage Cooking Crash Course gives you the foundation underneath all of it.

It’s a full-length, very robust course I filmed years ago with a professional video crew right on my homestead, and it walks you through the core skills of old-fashioned cooking:

Bread. Dairy. Meat. Broth. Fats. Fermentation. Pantry basics. Foundational techniques.

The book + the course belong together.

So yeah…

I’m officially no longer being chill about this.

How this works:

1. Preorder the cookbook from your favorite online retailer (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, etc.) or your fav local bookstore.
2. Upload your proof of purchase on this page.
3. You’ll receive access to the full-length Heritage Cooking Crash Course by email within 24 hours (and you’ll get the other listed bonuses too!)

The catch? I’m only offering this until 11:59 PM Mountain Time on October 6. After that, you can absolutely still buy the cookbook—but the free bonuses will be gone.

Thank you for being here—and for letting me make things like this.

-Jill

P.S. If you already preordered and submitted your info via this form, don’t worry—you’re included! My amazing assistant will be automatically adding you to the course, so keep an eye on your inbox for details.

The post I’ve Been Too Chill About This appeared first on The Prairie Homestead.

As I’ve matured in my cooking journey, I’ve developed some hard boundaries.

I don’t do fussy. I don’t do tedious. And if I can’t make it on a weeknight with minimal brainpower, it’s probably not gonna happen.

Surprisingly, these homemade chicken nuggets pass the test– I just had to modify the typical technique a little.

They’re made with simple pantry ingredients, baked instead of fried, and then breaded with a highly sophisticated culinary technique known as put-it-in-a-bag-and-shake-it.

This is exactly the sort of from-scratch cooking I’m interested in these days.

I refuse complicated for the sake of being complicated. I don’t need to recreate every convenience food under the sun. And I’m not interested in performative from-scratch cooking for the sake of showing off online.

This recipe comes straight from my new cookbook, The Old-Fashioned on Purpose Cookbook, and it’s a pretty good example of what you’ll find inside: real food, practical methods, and recipes designed to make your life easier—not give you another full-time job.

I’m excited to share this little sneak peek with you today.

What Makes These Chicken Nuggets So Special:

These from-scratch chicken nuggets are genuinely so good. They are crispy on the outside, juicy in the middle, and the pickle juice gives the chicken that extra little something without making it taste overtly pickled. They’re familiar enough for picky eaters, but miles better than the freezer-bag version from the grocery store.

Make them because they’re easy, they use normal ingredients, and they hit that rare sweet spot of kid-friendly, adult-approved, and actually worth making from scratch.

From-Scratch Chicken Nuggets

Serves 4 to 5

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts (about 2 pounds), cut into roughly 1-inch cubes
• 1 cup pickle juice
• ¾ cup whole milk
• 1 large egg
• 1½ cups dry breadcrumbs
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Combine the chicken cubes and pickle juice in a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate to marinate the chicken in the pickle juice for 30 to 60 minutes (or overnight).
2. When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 450°F. Drain the pickle juice from the chicken and discard it.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and egg. Pour the mixture over the chicken and stir to coat.
4. In a large zip-top bag, combine the breadcrumbs, flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. Seal the bag carefully and shake to combine.
5. Remove the chicken from the milk-and-egg mixture and shake off the excess liquid. Place half of the chicken pieces in the bag. Seal the bag and shake until the pieces are evenly coated. Remove them and repeat with the remaining chicken.
6. Spread the nuggets in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. A half-sheet pan (13 × 18 inches) works perfectly.
7. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes, flipping the nuggets halfway through, until the internal temperature reaches 165°F and the chicken is no longer pink in the center.

Serve immediately with the dipping sauce or condiments of your choice.

A Few Notes Before You Make Them

Do I really need the pickle juice?
It’s worth using because it adds flavor all the way through and helps tenderize the meat a bit. However, if you want to skip that step, you can.

Can I marinate the chicken overnight?
Yep. This is actually one of my favorite tricks for making supper even easier. Toss the cubed chicken into the pickle juice the night before, and one step of tomorrow’s supper is already finished.

What breadcrumbs should I use?
Plain dry breadcrumbs work best here. Homemade breadcrumbs are fantastic if you have them, but store-bought breadcrumbs work fine. We’re not proving anything to anyone with this recipe. 

How do I know when homemade chicken nuggets are done?
The most reliable method is an instant-read thermometer. Chicken is done when the center reaches 165°F.

This Is the Kind of From-Scratch Cooking I Want to Keep

The older I get, the less interested I am in making things from scratch simply so I can say that I did.

I still believe deeply in knowing how to cook, and I’m still enamored by the alchemy of turning basic ingredients into supper. But I also want those skills to serve my life instead of taking it over.

That’s the philosophy that runs through my new cookbook.

There are plenty of old-fashioned skills inside it, but I wrote the recipes for actual modern kitchens, actual weeknights, and people who have other things to do besides cook all day.

These homemade chicken nuggets are a tiny example of that. Good food. Normal ingredients. No drive-thru required—but no individually breading 47 pieces of chicken, either.

Want More Recipes Like This?

My new book, The Old-Fashioned on Purpose Cookbook, is almost here (!!).

And if you preorder before the book releases on October 6th, I have a collection of bonuses waiting for you, including:

• Cast Iron Confidence
• The Bulk Buying Blueprint
• The Good-Better-Best Grocery Guide

[PREORDER THE COOKBOOK + GET THE BONUSES]

If you’ve followed me since the first cookbook, thank you for sticking around for round two. This cookbook feels like the culmination of a lot of cooking, experimenting, changing my mind, simplifying things, and figuring out which old-fashioned skills are actually worth keeping.

And I really hope this isn’t a cookbook that stays pristine on your shelf. I hope you use it, spill on it, dog-ear the pages, and scribble notes in the margins.

That’s what it’s for. <3

Homemade Chicken Nuggets (Easy Baked Recipe)

A non-fussy and delicious chicken nugget recipe.

• Author: Jill Winger

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts (about 2 pounds), cut into roughly 1-inch cubes
• 1 cup pickle juice
• ¾ cup whole milk
• 1 large egg
• 1½ cups dry breadcrumbs
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Combine the chicken cubes and pickle juice in a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate to marinate the chicken in the pickle juice for 30 to 60 minutes (or overnight).
2. When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 450°F. Drain the pickle juice from the chicken and discard it.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and egg. Pour the mixture over the chicken and stir to coat.
4. In a large zip-top bag, combine the breadcrumbs, flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. Seal the bag carefully and shake to combine.
5. Remove the chicken from the milk-and-egg mixture and shake off the excess liquid. Place half of the chicken pieces in the bag. Seal the bag and shake until the pieces are evenly coated. Remove them and repeat with the remaining chicken.
6. Spread the nuggets in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. A half-sheet pan (13 × 18 inches) works perfectly.
7. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes, flipping the nuggets halfway through, until the internal temperature reaches 165°F and the chicken is no longer pink in the center.

Notes

Serve immediately with the dipping sauce or condiments of your choice.

More Resources and Recipes for You:

• Redmond Real Salt remains my top choice for salt that I used in my kitchen. I buy it in 25 pound bags so I never run out.
• Make sure you check out my Salty Roast Chicken recipe for another unique and easy chicken recipe for the supper table.
• Listen to my podcast episode How I’m Cooking These Days for more details on my cooking adventures lately.
• Consider dipping them in homemade mustard or homemade ketchup or even homemade bbq sauce.

The post Homemade Chicken Nuggets (Easy Baked Recipe) appeared first on The Prairie Homestead.

I used to think food preservation had to be big. Dozens of jars. Marathon canning days. Bushels upon bushels.

But there’s nothing like having the rug pulled out from under you (plus an epically horrible garden year) to give you a different perspective.

Little counts, too.

Even though my garden is beyond dead, I still have random vegetables hanging around from my Azure box and various grocery purchases.

My Mealcraft frameworks have been great for using up those odds and ends, but sometimes the assortment is a little too weird.

Or, to be brutally honest, sometimes I’m just over it and want them OUT of my fridge. (And I’m not quite ready to surrender it all to the chickens.)

Enter:

Homemade Vegetable Stock Powder

It’s basically homemade bouillon: a concentrated mixture of dehydrated vegetables, herbs, salt, and savory ingredients that you can stir into hot water or sprinkle straight into whatever you’re cooking.

It uses up a surprising amount of vegetable miscellany and takes almost zero brainpower.

YES PLEASE.

It also satisfies my squirrel-like propensity to tuck away food as soon as the calendar switches from summer into autumn.

Anyway, needless to say, it’s a win-win.

Is It Like Store-Bought Bouillon?

Kinda.

But this isn’t really about perfectly recreating those little foil-wrapped bouillon cubes. Plus, since our blend doesn’t have added MSG or a bunch of extra ingredients, it’s not going to be an identical match.

It’s more about turning food you already have into something useful.

Think of it as a savory vegetable concentrate you can use in:

• Soups
• Stews
• Beans
• Rice
• Grains
• Gravies
• Sauces
• Casseroles
• Skillet meals
• Anything that tastes like it needs a little something extra

Why the Nutritional Yeast?

You’ll see nutritional yeast in a lot of homemade vegetable bouillon recipes. It adds that extra punch of umami and helps the vegetable broth taste a little fuller, but you don’t have to use it. 

I’ve had a jar sitting in my pantry for years from that time I was experimenting with homemade cashew cheese (ah, the good ol’ days….), so I used it in this round of bouillon powder.

If you don’t have any nutritional yeast or don’t want to buy it, just skip it and lean harder on other savory ingredients like:

• Mushrooms
• Tomatoes
• Tomato powder
• Onion
• Celery
• Garlic (raw garlic will add a bit of a bite to the finished powder– but I like it.)

The Vegetable Stock Powder Framework

This is not a rigid recipe on purpose, because it doesn’t have to be—especially when its whole purpose is to use up what we have. 

Aka: You’ve got a lot of wiggle room here, my friend.

(Btw, if you like this sort of flexible cooking, you’ll love my Meal Craft Method.)

Here’s the walkthrough with all the deets, and the printable version is below.

THE BASIC HOMEMADE BOUILLON FORMULA

4 parts dried vegetables

1 part savory/umami ingredients

½ part herbs + aromatics

Salt to taste

That’s it.

STEP 1: Choose Your Veg

Use any combination of:

• Onion
• Leek
• Celery
• Celery leaves
• Carrots
• Bell peppers
• Zucchini
• Parsnips
• Garlic

I like a mix that’s heavy on onion and celery because they give it that classic stock flavor. And it’s ok if the veggies are past their prime. For my latest batch I used wilted celery and a thawed/squishy bell pepper that my stupid fridge froze.

Go Easy On:

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Kale
• Beets
• Strong leafy greens

They’ll work, but their flavors can be overpowering.

STEP 2: Add Something Savory

For every 4 parts dried vegetables, add about 1 part savory ingredient.

Choose one or mix several:

• Dried mushrooms
• Dried tomatoes
• Tomato powder (Here’s my full blog post with all the deets on tomato powder.)
• Nutritional yeast
• Extra dried onion
• Garlic

Mushrooms and tomatoes are especially good here because they add the deeper flavor we associate with broth. I used mushroom powder and tomato powder I had made previously. 

STEP 3: Add Herbs

Add roughly ½ part herbs and aromatics.

Fresh or home-dehydrated herbs can be measured as part of that ½-part ratio. If you’re using dried, already-ground herbs from your spice cabinet, use less because they’re much more concentrated by volume. (Aka, please don’t dump in a 1/2 cup of ground rosemary.)

I rarely have enough fresh thyme or oregano around to dehydrate separately, so I usually just add a smaller amount of the dried herbs I already have.

Good options:

• Parsley
• Thyme
• Oregano
• Celery leaf
• Garlic
• Rosemary (use sparingly—it can be overpowering)
• Sage (same as the rosemary)

How to Make Vegetable Stock Powder

1. PREP

Wash your vegetables and slice them kinda thin and sorta evenly. This is an excellent destination for ugly carrots, celery leaves, vegetable ends, tired peppers, and other odds and ends. Don’t worry about making them beautiful.

I ran my carrots through the shredding blade of my food processor because I was in a hurry that day and rough chopped the other veggies.

2. DEHYDRATE

Spread the vegetables in a single layer on dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at approximately 125°F to 135°F until they are completely dry. And I mean completely. Shoot for brittle and crisp—not leathery.

Your drying time will vary depending on the vegetable, thickness, humidity, and dehydrator.

3. COOL

Allow the vegetables to cool completely before proceeding. This prevents condensation from clumping up your finished powder.

4. MEASURE

Once everything is fully dried, measure your ingredients according to the framework:

4 parts vegetables (I used a mix of carrots, bell pepper, onions, and garlic this time around.) 
1 part savory ingredients (This time I used 1/2 cup nutritional yeast, 1/2 cup mushroom powder, and 1/4 cup tomato powder.)
½ part herbs/aromatics (This time I used a 1/4 cup TOTAL of already dried/ground rosemary, thyme, oregano, black pepper.)

5. GRIND

Place everything in a:

• High-powered blender (the best option, IMO.)
• Food processor (this won’t produce as fine a grind as a good blender so be careful)
• Coffee grinder
• Spice grinder

Grind until you have a fine powder. If necessary, sift out larger pieces and grind them again.

6. TASTE

Mix about a teaspoon of the powder into a 1/4 cup hot water and taste.

Then add salt, herbs, or savory ingredients until it tastes like something you’d happily use as broth. I added 2-3 teaspoons of fine sea salt to this batch. Don’t skip the salt- it makes a HUGE difference. 

How to Use Vegetable Bouillon Powder

Start with approximately:

2 tablespoons vegetable stock powder per 1 cup hot water, then taste and adjust.

Or don’t even make actual broth and sprinkle the bouillon directly into whatever you’re cooking. (This is how I use mine the most.) A spoonful in a pot of beans. A little in rice as it cooks. A shake into gravy. A sprinkle in a soup that tastes flat. You get the idea.

An Note About Storage

This entire method depends on the vegetables being fully dehydrated before you grind them.

If there is still moisture in the vegetables, that moisture is now trapped inside a jar of finely ground food—which is exactly what we don’t want.

So, when in doubt, dry them longer. I’d also rather make several small batches throughout the year than one enormous batch destined to sit in the pantry forever.

Which, I suppose, brings me back to my larger lesson here:

Preservation doesn’t always need to be an enormous production.

Six carrots matter. Half an onion matters. One beet matters.

Saving a handful of vegetables from the trash and turning them into something you’ll use all winter is enough.

Little counts, too.

Love this Post? Check out these:

• How to Make Dehydrated Vegetable Powders
• Check out Meal Craft for more Flexible Frameworks
• How to Put Your Dehydrator to Work Around the Homestead
• How to Make Herbal Vinegar

The post Homemade Vegetable Bouillon Powder Recipe appeared first on The Prairie Homestead.