Homemade Herb Butter (aka. Compound Butter)
This homemade herb butter is versatile and easy to make. Plus, it’s a fantastic way to preserve your fresh summer herbs to enjoy all year long!
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I don’t know about you, but where we live, summer ended pretty abruptly this year. One minute the sun was still shining, and BAM, rainstorms and thunder showers moved in and summer officially came to a very sudden, very sad end; The kind when you’re just not quite ready to say goodbye to a season yet because you don’t feel like you really got to enjoy it in all its glory.
That’s the thing about this homesteading life: summers seem to just fly by because we’re so busy gardening and harvesting that it’s hard to justify taking a moment to just sit back and enjoy it all.
Luckily we did squeeze in some camping this year and a few solid days at the beach and waterpark, but we really did spend most of the summer working. Between all of that gardening and preserving, launching a brand new website and a brand new magazine too, I feel like I spent most of the summer either in front of a computer, in the kitchen or with my nose just inches away from the dirt! And hey, it’s not such a bad way to spend a summer, but still, I’m not quite ready to say goodbye just yet!
Even so, the reality is that the rains came early this year, and now we’re scrambling to get the rest of our summer crops harvested and put up before they rot out there:(
But as much as the tomatoes and peppers really need my attention right now, I wanted to make sure to get a bunch of my herbs preserved before it gets too cold. I’ve already dried a bunch and made some infusions, but I really wanted to preserve the taste and freshness of my summer herbs just as they are right now but to enjoy all winter long.
Related: The Easy Way to Grow, Harvest & Preserve Basil
My favourite way to do this is by making herb butter, otherwise known as “compound butter,” which essentially just means butter mixed with other ingredients (in this case, herbs:)
The great thing about making compound butter with herbs from your garden is that you can use fresh herbs and preserve them at their peak, so that when it comes time to enjoy them, it’s almost as if you just cut them fresh from your garden!
You can enjoy the finished herb butter on everything from bread and biscuits to meat (think steak, roast, roasted chicken, turkey, etc.), to vegetables (carrots, potatoes or even mushrooms fried in herb butter… YUM!) We even like to roll our corn in herb butter when it’s fresh and soft in the summer time!
How delicious does this herby butter look? (Pay no attention to the girl who’s hands clearly need a fresh manicure!)
You can use pretty much any herbs you like to make herb butter at home, and I’ll give you a few suggestions below, as well as full recipes for my favourite blends. But just know that you’re free to get creative with your ingredients and with the amounts of herbs/ingredients that you use in your blends. There really aren’t any hard and fast rules about ratios or ingredients when it comes to making compound butter. Do it according to your tastes and how much of each ingredients you have on hand:)
That being said, there are definitely certain flavour profiles that go together better than others, so if you’re not quite sure where to start, here are the recipes I make regularly and that our family loves…
How to make herb butter at home (3 ways)
There are many different herbs and ingredients you can combine to make herb butters (aka. compound butters) at home. But before I share our family’s favourite recipes with you, first I’ll share the directions, since the directions are the same no matter what herbs you use…
Related: 13 Culinary & Medicinal Herbs for your Summer Herb Garden
Directions:
- Combine butter and herbs together in a mixing bowl. If you have a hand mixer, you can use that to wipe all ingredients together. Otherwise just use a mixing spoon. Mix well to combine all ingredients together.
- Transfer herb butter into a container (if storing in the fridge) or scoop herb butter onto a piece of plastic wrap and roll in plastic to freeze.
If you’ve got lots of herbs you want to preserve, you can mix them up in a batch of compound butter and freeze them. The easiest way I’ve found is to roll the herb butter into a log in some plastic wrap, label it and store it in the freezer.
Here’s what that looks like:
Then when ready to use, just slice off however much you need to use and allow it to come to room temperature.
Alright, now that you know how to make herb butter, here are my family’s three favourite recipes, along with some other suggested flour combinations.
Garlic & Chive Butter
A Classic! Use this garlic and chive butter on toasted garlic bread, whipped into mashed potatoes or on top of baked potatoes.
- 1 cup salted butter (room temperature)
- ¼ cup finely chopped garlic
- ½ cup chopped chives
Garlic, Rosemary & Thyme Butter
This garlic, rosemary and thyme butter is perfect rubbed all over a roast. Whether roast beef, roast chicken or roast turkey, you can’t go wrong basting with this compound herb butter.
- 1 cup salted butter (room temperature)
- ¼ cup finely chopped garlic
- ¼ cup finely chopped rosemary
- ¼ cup finely chopped thyme
Mint, Parsley & Chive Butter
The combination of mint, parsley and chives in this compound butter will take you back to summer no matter what time of year you enjoy it. Add it to scrabbled eggs for, smear it on biscuits or roll your corn on the cob in it.
- 1 cup salted butter (room temperature)
- ¼ cup finely chopped mint
- ¼ cup finely chopped parsley
- ¼ cup finely chopped chives
Other herb butter flavour combinations
Here are some other flavour combinations to try out when making your compound butter…
- Basil & lemon zest
- Lavender & honey
- Rosemary & orange zest
- Sage, rosemary & garlic
- Parsley, chives & dill
- Basil, oregano, rosemary & thyme
You can also make single-herb compound butters. Try tarragon butter on chicken, sage butter on roast turkey, lemon balm butter on seafood or pasta, mint butter on roast lamb or rosemary butter on roast beef.
Whatever flavour combinations you choose, be sure to add compound butter to your list of preserves this summer (before the summer’s gone for good!)
Of course, be sure to dry some too to add to sauces, soups and stews throughout the winter months, or to infuse or enjoy as tea.
What about you? Have you made compound butter before? What’s your favourite combo? Let me know in the comments below!
- 1 cup salted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup fresh herbs (see recipe suggestions above)
- Combine butter and herbs together in a mixing bowl. If you have a hand mixer, you can use that to wipe all ingredients together. Otherwise just use a mixing spoon. Mix well to combine all ingredients together.
- Transfer herb butter into a container (if storing in the fridge) or scoop herb butter onto a piece of plastic wrap and roll in plastic to freeze.
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We’re officially halfway through the pantry challenge and we’re into the “messy middle.” This is the point in the challenge when it can start to feel like a bit of a slog, and even if you’re not doing the pantry challenge, you may still be feeling the slog as we hit the mid-January mark, so to spice things up, I’m offering a pretty massive giveaway...
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So, how to enter??
1. Make sure you’re following me on Instagram.
2. Like and save this post.
3. Tag a friend who you think would also like to enter or who would like to take their gardening/homesteading to the next level this year! (Every person you tag = another entry to win!)
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Well, it was no small task, but I FINALLY got everything in my pantry inventoried, organized and put away.
I wanted to share my process with you too, so if you’re interested in getting a full tour of our pantry and seeing how I organize things, click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead and check it out on YouTube!
P.S. I know you’re not supposed to stack canning jars as having multiple heavy rows stacked on top of each other can compromise the seal of the jars on the bottom. I avoid stacking when possible, but due to the style of our pantry I have made the conscious choice to stack one row (max) on top of the bottom and always make sure to stack jars of equal or lesser weight on top. And yes, we do have plans to add more shelves soon. Just a disclaimer since I’m sure I’ll get more comments about it;)
Also, be sure to leave a comment and let me know about any pantry organization hacks you use! I’m always looking to improve our system:)
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#homesteadpantrychallenge #homesteadpantry #homesteadkitchen #foodstorage #foodsecurity #pantrychallenge #pantrygoals
Finally got around to taking EVERYTHING out of the pantry today and now getting ready to take inventory.
When everything is buried in the pantry, it can be so easy to forget what you have. That’s why I always recommend taking everything out when starting a pantry challenge so you know exactly what you’ve got. I was feeling like we hadn’t preserved enough food this year to get us through the month, but now that I see everything, I’ve got all sorts of creative ideas for how to use up the abundance of food that we have.
I’m also finding things I didn’t know I had, seeing what I have more than enough of and finding gaps in my food storage. This is one of my favourite reasons for doing a pantry challenge: it’s an excuse to pull everything out and actually see what we’ve got so we know what we’re working with.
In order to keep everything organized, I also created printable pantry, fridge and freezer inventory sheets where I can record everything I’ve got (so it doesn’t get lost at the back of our very deep pantry again). If you wanna grab these printables, along with my weekly meal planning sheet, homestead pantry checklist, pantry substitutions chart and 31 Days of Dinner Ideas cheat sheet, click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead and sign up for the Homestead Pantry Challenge and I’ll send everything to your inbox:)
Alright, back at it. Wish me luck!
Have you started organizing your pantry yet??
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#homesteadpantrychallenge #pantrygoals #homesteadersofinstagram #homesteading #homesteadkitchen #foodstorage #foodsecurity
🌱 One of the things I get asked the most during the #homesteadpantrychallenge is what we do for fresh veggies. Now, I much prefer to eat seasonally, which means eating the veggies that we preserved over the summer and fall during the winter. But I do start to miss my fresh greens by the time January rolls around.
Sure, I could grow some salad greens over the winter months, but that would require a level of organization that I frankly haven’t reached yet. And quite honestly, I don’t love going out to the garden in the middle of winter due to the torrential rain, swampy mud and frigid temps we get here in the PNW. No no, I’m a little too lazy and disorganized for all that! I’d much rather plant seeds a few days before I want to harvest them and do it all from the comfort of my kitchen during the nasty weather season.
And so, I turn to microgreens to provide me and my fam with fresh greens this time of year. They’re not only packed with nutrients (said to be higher in nutrients than their full grown counterparts!), they can be grown on your countertop and are ready to harvest in just a few days!
Not to mention, they taste delicious and look beautiful! I made this cheesy pasta dish topped with broccoli microgreens for dinner and the microgreens (which are just the seedling version of the full grown plant) tasted just like broccoli. Plus, the purple and green colours take an otherwise kinda boring dish and make it pop💥
I get all of my microgreens from @trueleafmarket, one of the sponsors of this month’s pantry challenge, as well as the current issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine!
To enter to win your own self-watering microgreens growing kit from True Leaf Market, be sure to join in the Homestead Pantry Challenge on Instagram, and to learn more about microgreens AND score yourself a sweet 10% discount off all True Leaf products, make sure you’re subscribed to Modern Homesteading Magazine (discount code is in the magazine and in the delivery email).
If you’re not yet subscribed, click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead and subscribe for free!
What’s your go-to source for fresh greens in the winter??
Well, we made it. It’s hard to believe that 2020 is finally behind us, but here we are, at the dawn of a new year; A fresh page and a new chapter.
This past year has been one for the history books for sure, and it most definitely has not all been good. But it hasn’t been all bad either. Us humans have a tendency to focus on the bad. It’s a survival tool that’s hard-wired into our brains to be on the lookout for danger. So we have to make a conscious choice to see the good in bad situations; To find what we can control and cling to it in a sea of things that we cannot control and, therefore, must let go of.
But with a new year comes a symbolic chance to let those things go and to move forward with hope and determination. No matter what’s scrolled on the pages of the past, the future has yet to be written.
As we enter 2021, I encourage you to remember that those things that were out of our control last year are still out of our control this year. They always have been, and always will be. But what is in our control are our thoughts and actions; How we choose to see and react to the world and to each other.
My hope is that we can begin to leave the past behind us and choose to see the world in a new light. In the Universe there is no good and bad. Everything just is. We assign the value.
I also hope that we begin to see each other as fellow travellers on the same journey, and to treat each other with equal respect, no matter our skin colour, gender, political or religious beliefs.
Finally I hope that the trend of people taking an interest in modern homesteading and taking action toward living a more sustainable, self-sufficient life continues long after COVID is behind us. As a whole, I think this was one of the best things to come out of this past year; A bright silver lining on a dark cloud.
There’s no way to know for sure what 2021 has in store for us, but I know that if we enter into this next chapter with open minds and hearts, along with a willingness to step up and take charge of the things in life that we can control while committing to let go of the rest, well then 2021 will be a good year no matter what.
To a new year and a fresh start 🥂
It’s the most wonderful time of the year...
Time for the 2021 Homestead Pantry Challenge to begin!!!
Every year in January, I like to challenge myself to eat only what I've managed to store away throughout the year and avoid the grocery store at all costs. And after the year we’ve just had, many of us are doing our best to avoid the grocery store already. Plus, with the financial impacts of lockdowns and the fragility of our global supply chain, saving a few bucks and taking steps to become more self-sufficient are top of mind for a lot of people right now.
Needless to say, a pantry challenge might be just what you need right about now to reign in your spending, put your resourcefulness, kitchen skills and creativity to the test, increase your self-sufficiency and decrease your dependence on the grocery store and on people and systems that are outside of your control.
Kicking things off with a fun pantry challenge can help you to start the new year off on the right foot and gain momentum and motivation that will help get you moving in the right direction and take control over your food supply right off the bat so that you set yourself up for success in 2021, regardless of what unexpected surprises it may bring.
This year's Homestead Pantry Challenge is even bigger and better than before too, with some exciting prizes up for grabs, including a @lodgecastiron skillet, a self-watering micro greens growing kit from @trueleafmarket and an 8-quart Duo Nova Instant Pot!!!
🥫To join in and enter to win, post photos or videos of your pantry, your meal planning, your meals, etc. during the pantry challenge and use the hashtag #homesteadpantrychallenge in the caption. Every post equals one entry:)
🎞 You can also post in your stories using the hashtag #homesteadpantrychallenge and tagging me @thehouseandhomestead for additional entries!
I'm SO pumped about this year's challenge and I really REALLY hope you'll join me!
The challenge officially begins on January 1st and runs until January 31st, but you can sign up via my link in bio @thehouseandhomestead and get all the details before we begin!
Merry Christmas friends!
While this year, and subsequently this Christmas has been anything but normal, and while we weren’t able to be with our extended families this year , I hope you’ve been able to find peace and joy this season, and to enjoy slower, more intimate moments at home with your immediate family.
Now that the big day has come and (almost) gone, it’s time to slow down, to rest deeply and recharge for the year to come. Nobody knows what 2021 will bring, but after the year that was 2020, we’ve proven to ourselves just how resilient we can be. And that is one of the greatest gifts of all. (Well, that and this accidentally inappropriate ornament we got to commemorate a year that will forever live in infamy;)
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night ❤️
Cranberry sauce is a holiday tradition, but if you’ve ever had store-bought cranberry sauce out of a tin, then you probably know how unappetizing it can be.
From the “glurp” sound that it makes as it slides out of the tin and into the bowl, to the way the jelly stays formed in the shape of the tin even after it’s out, to the bland boringness of the flavour.
No offence to anyone who loves commercially canned cranberry sauce, but even if you love the store-bought stuff, then you’re definitely gonna love homemade cranberry sauce!
I know a lot of people put orange juice or orange zest in their cranberry sauce, and you can totally do that too! But I’m actually not a fan of the orange-cranberry mix, so my recipe calls for a little cinnamon and vanilla, as well as some sugar to give it a sweet spiciness that goes oh so well with Christmas dinner.
But perhaps the best part is that you’re able to can this cranberry sauce too, which means you can make a big batch this year and have enough homemade cranberry sauce on your shelves to last you multiple holiday seasons! Or you could even give some away to loved ones with whom you’re not able to spend Christmas with this year.
Whether you want to can it for later or eat it fresh or just refrigerate it until Christmas, this recipe is a must-try this holiday season.
Link in bio @thehouseandhomestead to get my full recipe plus canning instructions:)
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#homemade #fromscratch #christmasrecipes #cranberrysauce #delicious
Look at that JIGGLE!!!
If you don’t make your own bone broth, this might look really weird (and kinda gross tbh), but this is actually EXACTLY what you wanna see in a homemade bone broth. This jiggly gel means this broth is super high in collagen, which comes from the bones, skin and ligaments of animals (in this case grass-fed beef cattle). It’s also the most abundant protein in the human body, and many studies have show that increasing our collagen intake can help up the collagen in our own bodies.
Collagen has so many health and beauty benefits, including healthy skin (and reduced wrinkles), shiny, healthy hair and strong bones, cartilage, joints and muscles.
I love making my own broth at home because I can pretty much guarantee a good gel and lots of collagen in each batch. Plus I make mine super frugally, with bones and veggie scraps that I save in the freezer.
I’ll be posting my recipe (and canning instructions) soon. Start saving those scraps!
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#bonebroth #collagen #nourish #wholefoodnutrition #homesteadkitchen
Christmas is going to look different for a lot of people this year. Restrictions on gatherings mean we’re not all necessarily going to get to be with our loved ones outside of our own household. Celebrations are going to be more low-key: no holiday parties or big family gatherings. But there’s a blessing in all of this if we choose to see it...
This year, instead of travelling all over the country and running around to every Christmas party and holiday event, we can focus on cozying up at home to enjoy the simple pleasures that this time of year brings.
While gathering and celebrating is a big part of the holiday season, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing to take pleasure in and no way to celebrate outside of parties and get togethers. We can still make the best of what’s left of this year by keeping the spirit of Christmas alive in our hearts and homes.
So that's exactly what we're doing right now: we're cooking and baking all the good food, lighting all the candles and twinkly lights, filling our home with all of the spicy, warm scents of the season and settling in for a long, restful winter ahead.
I hope that no matter where you are or who you're spending your holiday season with, that you continue to celebrate in your own way too and that you soak in all that this season has to offer. To help out, I’m sharing a few of my favourite holiday recipes and projects to help you bring the warmth and comfort of the season into your home this year.
DIY Christmas Room Sprays with essential oils, melt-in-your-mouth whipped shortbread cookies, traditional Christmas Eve tourtière wrapped in buttery, flaky homemade pie crust and delicious homemade eggnog to enjoy by the fire... These are a few of my favourite ways to enjoy the holiday season at home:)
Link in bio @thehouseandhomestead to get all of the above recipes.
Wishing you tidings of comfort and joy, now and always ❤️
After 9 long months of extreme hand washing and sanitizing, the last thing our skin needs right now is the harshness of winter. But winter is here my friends, and that means it’s time to give your skin a little extra TLC.
I make my own body butter every year around this time, and it’s become my favourite way to moisturize my skin during the winter months. Much like a deep conditioner works on your hair, body butter absorbs deeply into your skin to help moisturize, repair and protect it.
While lotions contain water (aqua), they also requires additional preservatives to keep them from going moldy due to the water content. But this homemade whipped body butter doesn’t have this problem because it’s made of nourishing oils and fats like shea butter, sweet almond oil and coconut oil (plus beneficial essential oils for all-natural fragrance). These oils are not only all-natural and highly beneficial for your skin, they’re also easily absorbed, giving your skin a “deep conditioning” rather than just a surface moisturizing.
But the best part of all is how quick and easy this body butter is to make up in your kitchen, and what a nice gift it makes this time of year too! So you can make a jar for yourself and a few jars for the people you love:)
Click the link in my bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to https://thehouseandhomestead.com/homemade-body-butter/ to get the full recipe and “whip up” a batch today;)
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#bodybutter #naturalbeauty #naturalliving #skindeep #homemade #handmade #naturalskincare
The holidays are fast approaching, and that means it’s time for my FAVOURITE THINGS!!! 🎉🎁🎄(aka. The modern homesteader’s Christmas wish list;)
I’ve rounded up all of my fave kitchen tools, books and home and body products that I use all the time and could not live without (ok, I could live without them, but I wouldn’t want to!) and I’m sharing them all with you in this week’s YouTube video!
Grab a mug of something warm (or a glass of something chilled) and come on in for a tour of all the goods!
Link in bio @thehouseandhomestead or go to YouTube.com/thehouseandhomestead for all the latest videos:)
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