The Homemade Pantry: Veggie burgers, fruit roll-ups, and flour tortillas, oh my!

I’m a little excited about this new book… Okay, a lot excited.  The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making, by Alana Chernila. Josie’s mother bought it for herself a few weeks ago, then let Josie bring it in to work to show the rest of us. Sent off to lunch with Josie’s half dozen reasons why I would like this book, I cuddled up with it at the tiny desk we use as a lunch room and promptly fell in love with Alana and her book (yes, we’re already on a first name basis). She had me at the homemade toaster pastries on the cover. 

As someone who makes her own kale chips, kombucha, and occasionally cheese, this book is my dream come true. Not long ago I suggested to my pizza-from-scratch-making husband that we try making our own ketchup sometime. This book order arrived at Nest this week and not only does The Homemade Pantry have recipes for ketchup, fig newtons and crackers, but right there on page 103, in her intro to the ketchup recipe, Alana references Clamps, the tiny burger shack hidden in the hills of northwest Connecticut  that has reached almost mythical status in our family lore.  

Will you think I’m weird if I confess that my heart rate is up just writing these few paragraphs, and I’m wondering about playing hooky so I can start trying her recipes? Sounds like a serious crush, right? And I just met the book two weeks ago. Have I mentioned her recipes for sauerkraut, hamburger rolls, and coffee liqueur? 

What is it about making these things ourselves that gets us so excited? What draws us to crafty homesteading books and blogs in our precious spare time? I know my fascination is fed in part by having read the Little House books more times than I will publicly acknowledge. If Laura and Pa could get their family through the winter by twisting straw into ‘logs’ for the fire, then surely I can become self-reliant in the realm of garlic production. If Ma could make pot pie from the fat blackbirds devastating their corn field, then I should be able to concoct a dinner from garden lettuce, half-grown radishes, canned garbanzos and last season’s frozen pesto. A little more self-reliance seems smart in so many ways. 

I’m also inspired by the financial side of it all. In early December, after some online research, I filled a small jar with cheap vodka and added three vanilla beans, each cut in half lengthwise. By Christmas I had a jar of honest to goodness vanilla extract. Tah-dah! For little more than the price of a bottle of vanilla extract, I have a jar-full that I will continue to top off with vodka, because those three beans will continue to share their vanilla goodness for years. Now think of the fortune I will save by making my own marshmallows, peanut butter and pickles with the recipes in this book! 

Before every recipe, Alana provides an introduction – the story of how this food item came into her life, why she started making it at home, or which picky eater it satisfies. Her essays are friendly and funny, encouraging and enticing. Based on her description of how easy it is to make yogurt, I can’t wait to try it myself. Her tone is spunky, realistic and kind. She won’t judge me if I indulge in a store-bought pie crust, and she’ll cheer for me when I make my own. 

It turns out that Alana writes a blog, EatingFromTheGroundUp. Perusing her blog is like reading her recipe essays, although it’s probably the blog that birthed the book, not the other way around. In addition to recipes and foodie thoughts, she writes about her husband and daughters, good times with friends, and life as part of a community. I’m smitten. The Homemade Pantry has a place at my table… because the bookshelf is too far away and doesn’t let me read it over breakfast.

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Josie’s Half Dozen Reasons to Read The Homemade Pantry:

• Getting your hands on The Homemade Pantry feels like finding a bundle of letters from an old friend. Chernila immediately reads like a kindred spirit.
• In case you missed Anastasia’s subtle enthusiasm, a big part of creating these goodies by hand is that it can actually be really thrilling to do so. There’s magic in saving money and in making the food you like even tastier and healthier…all with your own two hands.
• Chernila believes that if we all play outside and eat good food, our bodies will find the shapes that suit them.  Shame and guilt have no place at the dinner table.
• The Lentil Soup on page 132 is AMAZING, and I know lentil soup.
• The Homemade Pantry is a great resource for both vegetarian households like mine and more conventional eaters. Chernila never asks you to pick a side. Her book is aimed at a community of eaters that includes everyone from vegans, vegetarians and meat-lovers to time-strapped moms and picky kids.
• The photography in The Homemade Pantry is tasty and happy and fresh looking. If looking at pictures of pie and pickles makes you feel better when you’re a little blue, this is your book.