There are so many things I wish I made homemade, and Pinterest has made is pretty dang possible for us to never eat anything from a can. There’s homemade ‘cream of whatever‘ soups, hot chocolate mixes, homemade milks, and a whole host of things you can make in your own kitchen. These products don’t contain the added preservatives, sugars, sodiums, dyes, etc that you see in pretty much all shelved items. The joy of homemade cooking is that you get to see and control exactly what goes into your body, which is so appealing to me. The older I get and the more health-conscious I become, the less I want to shop from the shelves of the grocery store. Have you heard the idea that you should be shopping along the edges of the store? Big on the produce, some dairy, and whole grain products.

So little by little, I am trying my hand at making basic canned and jarred foods straight from the kitchen. With real ingredients. Ingredients that make sense. Ingredients that I can understand. Ten+ years ago when I chose a vegetarian lifestyle, I never thought I would end up here. I thought I would just cut out meat and call it good, but as I get older, I’m seeing that I want more. I want more REAL food. Down the road, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was eating completely raw, vegan, and clean. I’m surely on my way there.

So this is where I’m starting. BBQ Sauce. Because it’s summer, and summer requires BBQ Sauce. Slathered on tofu… and of course chicken, ribs, steak, if you’re into that  too. All of it. Kids are supposed to get sticky with BBQ Sauce. It should be on their hands, mouths, and tee shirts. Because that’s what summer is about.

The awesome thing about this recipe is that it is so simple. You throw all your ingredients in a saucepan, stir it up, and let it simmer for about an hour, stirring every so often. Easy and so worth it to have a peace of mind about the food I’m consuming.

adapted from The Food Network

What other foods would you like me to make from scratch?