DIY Trail Mix for Back to School and Beyond!

I love to make my own trail mix. There’s nothing wrong with store-bought trail mix, except…there’s often just one ingredient in the mix that doesn’t agree with me or that I don’t truly love. And I know from working with kids over the years (and from being one) that they can be allergic to all […]

Posted on July 17th, 2020

Why Squirrels Are Nuts About Nuts…and Other Nutty Fun Facts

At my home, we have—well, I won’t call it an infestation of squirrels, but many uninvited furry guests. They’re cute and entertaining, but they don’t clean up after themselves, and my potted deck garden is where they like to live it up. Which got me wondering about why squirrels are as nutty for nuts as […]

Posted on July 14th, 2020

This Independence Day, Celebrate Family Farms

Family farms are so important! In fact, according to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the USDA, more than 90% of farms in the U.S. are classified as small family farms. That’s a lot of family love grown into our food supply. But due to factors that include climate change, giant agribusiness and […]

Posted on July 2nd, 2020

Clean-Out-the-Fridge Chicken, Summer Fruit and Almond Salad

Every June when the stone fruits ripen, I get so excited, I tend to over-buy at the farmer’s market. The result is, we now have a fridge full of colorful berries and all manner of ready-to-eat peaches, plums, pluots, apricots and nectarines. I could freeze much of it for yummy smoothies, but…there’s also that leftover […]

Posted on June 30th, 2020

Gluten Free Almond Brownies (Recipe)

Today’s recipe was created by Tina Haupert, for the Almond Board of California. The reason it caught my eye is because when I went low carb and gluten-free a few years ago I really enjoyed some of the recipes I tried using almond flour and I really love brownies. I don’t know if you could […]

Posted on June 11th, 2020

Snacking with Almonds

California Bounty Box

I need to up my snacking game. Somehow under the spell of pandemic lockdown too many store bought cookies wound up in my house! So now I’m in semi-regret. They were good but I don’t even dare step on the scale. Luckily, I know how healthy almonds and almond butter are. But I need some […]

Posted on May 28th, 2020

Cheer Them Up with a Gift Basket from Maisie Jane’s

Family Fun Gift Basket

Do you know someone who could use a little cheering up? We ALL do! (Maybe it’s even you.) Here’s an idea—send them a gift basket from Maisie Jane’s! And better yet, you don’t even have to leave your house. Just visit our online store and find the perfect gift. Our online gift assortment comes in […]

Posted on March 17th, 2020

Mexican Skillet Dinner with Buttery Cornbread

I am a big fan of one pot or one skillet meals! It just makes life so easy and yet it feels nurturing to me as well. Lately, I’ve been eating a lot of Mexican dishes. In fact, I’ve been on a nachos for dinner streak. But this looks even better. It’s like a mild […]

Posted on March 10th, 2020

Why We Use Steam Pasteurization at Maisie Jane’s

Dry Roasted Almonds

To be perfectly honest, we’d prefer not to pasteurize our almonds at all! But in 2003-2004 there were salmonella outbreaks traced back to a few conventional California almond growers. California produces 80% of the world’s almonds so the idea of global outbreaks originating in California was pretty scary stuff. As a precaution, in 2007 the […]

Posted on March 5th, 2020

It’s Honeybee Season!

bee in almond flower

The almonds are in full bloom and that means the bees are here, too! Yay! Almonds and honeybees have a very important relationship with each other. You can’t have almonds unless the trees are pollinated—they don’t pollinate themselves! And honeybees love delicious almond flower nectar, especially since almonds are one of the first flowers to […]

Posted on February 25th, 2020