Hello from Ninnescah Made! - Ninnescah Made (2024)

I'm Meg, the food blogger, homesteader, gardener and recipe developer behind Ninnescah Made. I focus on sharing simple recipes, gardening tips and food preservation methods that make it easy to feed your family. As a mom and a blogger, I understand how hard it can be to get a wholesome meal on the table and still find time to grow or raise a little food on the side. I love to share my family's favorite recipes, many passed down for generations and others that feature more modern twists.

What You'll Find on Ninnescah Made

I bring to the table garden-to-table dinners and farm fresh favorites made with REAL ingredients that are accessible for every family, whether you live on a farm or not.

• Simple recipes - My focus is on simple recipes that can be made easily, no matter your skill level and without the need for fancy equipment. Our freezer is full of venison, farm raised chicken or pastured pork. Even if you aren't raising meat yet, you can still find local farmers to support!
• Easy comfort foods - I share lots of easy comfort foods, but I use whole ingredients. Could we make it with Velveeta or margarine? Nope, not here. I'm serving foods up with grated cheeses and real butter, but they are just as indulgent! I've got desserts piled high with cream cheese frosting, like Old-Fashioned Italian Cream Cake, but then we switch gears and find balance with a Cucumber Salad (cucumbers onion sugar recipe). It's like Grandma's kitchen, and everything is made with tons of love (and real butter)!
• Homesteading guides & garden tutorials - I was raised on a fifth generation family farm. My grandparents were gardening and preserving food while I played at their feet and later practiced my skills alongside them. Stick around, and you'll learn the old ways!
• Step-by-step instructions - All of my recipes include step-by-step instructions and process shots so that you can confidently create delicious foods (like Sourdough Sandwich Bread) while making sure you're on track every step of the way.

About Ninnescah Made

Growing up in rural Kansas, my happiest memories were baking cookies or canning homemade pickles in my grandma's kitchen. I grew up eating a standard Midwest diet of meat and potatoes, and we rarely ate out. There weren't fast food restaurants near by, and even if they were, who had the time or money to go? It was a slower lifestyle back then.

As I grew up, I took my love of cooking and baking with me while I studied to be a dental hygienist in college. I can say with 100% certainty that I was the only girl in my class that asked for a KitchenAid stand mixer for high school graduation! And yes, I still have it (and use it daily!) more than 20 years later.

My husband, Aaron, is the official Ninnescah Made taste tester and the biggest fan of all of my cooking. We got married right after college, and he learned to love my grandma's goulash recipe and never complained while I recipe tested every evening after work.

While I loved cooking, I never actually expected to leave my career in dentistry to pursue it as a real job. Life is funny like that, though. After our third son came along, I began to realize that handing my babies off to a sitter while I worked long days wasn't serving us anymore. And honestly, a decade of scaling teeth had done major damage to my shoulder, wrist and spine. I knew in my heart that my body wouldn't make it to retirement doing the same motions over and over every single day.

Now we live on a 20 acre homestead on the prairie with our growing boys. We raise kune kune pigs, jersey dairy cattle, chickens, and attempt to grow, hunt or raise as much of our food as possible.

For me, cooking is all about connection. I had the opportunity to be mentored by my grandparents, and I want to provide that same experience for new homesteaders who want to learn, but don't know where to start.

Featured published work

I teach gardening, food preservation and basic cooking methods to my audience of more than 100,000 here on the blog and on instagram. This is a community of folks who want to learn traditional ways of living and practice ancestral skills.

My work has been featured in published books, such as The FarmMade Essential Skills book and The Homestead Documentary plus websites such as Bootstrap Farmer and Petra Tools.

I have partnered with county extension offices, local libraries, NRCS, 4-H, FFA and taught in-person classes on gardening, canning, sourdough and basic cooking skills.

WHY NINNESCAH MADE?

I wanted a name that reflected the heritage of our little homestead along the Ninnescah River in Kansas. The word 'ninnescah' means 'sweet water' in Osage, the language of the Native Americans who settled this area. I thought naming our homestead after the Ninnescah River was a nod to our roots as we write our own chapter in this beautiful space.

In hindsight, I really picked a hard name to both pronounce and remember, didn't I? As I'm typing this, my body language is half-laughing, half-apologetic smile. But hey, you found me! So yay for you - I'm so glad you did! Meg's Kitchen might have been a wiser choice, but here we are!

Anyways, in the beginning years of the blog, I was making and selling handmade goods out of my home, hence the ‘made’ part of the name.

Since then, I have transitioned from creating physical products to focusing on teaching gardening tips, food preserving strategies and recipes from scratch.

While the focus has shifted, my commitment to providing inspiring and educational content is forever at the heart of Ninnescah Made.

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!

Looking for a place to start browsing? My favorite recipes are my Marry Me Chicken, Banana Pudding (the one with vanilla wafers!) and Sourdough Starter Discard Coffee Cake.

Email me at [emailprotected] or send me a message on Instagram @ninnescahhomestead

New on the blog!