Adventures in Homemade Mayonnaise

This is something I have wanted to try for a while, but just kept forgetting to do.  It takes so few ingredients, and is so versatile...and I finally got around to it!  Here's what's in it:

Pardon the ridiculous lemon juice container.  I almost always have real lemons at the house, or at least some frozen juice from fresh lemons.  But, we just got back from vacation, and this was all I had.  You can use any kind of oil you want, but try something light tasting.  I used half olive oil and half avocado oil, and it was a little heavy on the olive oil flavor.  I think I might try just avocado oil next time, or make sure to get a lighter tasting olive oil. 

Some of the recipes I came across wanted all the ingredients to be at room temp.  I put the egg in some warm water for a couple of minutes, and that worked great.  I used a food processor for this, but an immersion blender would be even better, if you have one.  You start with the egg, 1/4 cup of oil, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard in the food processor.  Mix thoroughly.

Once you have that well blended, turn the processor back on, and take the cover off of the top (yes, this can result in specks of liquid spitting out at you....mind yourself).  Then slowly drizzle the remaining 3/4 cup of oil into the mix as it is running.  The slower you go, the thicker it will get.  It's kind of magical.

See how thin the stream is?  That's how slowly I was going.  This part is important.  If you go to fast, you will have salad dressing.

Thick and pretty!  I added the lemon juice LAST. Didn't want to thin it out too much before it all came together.  You can add so many things to this...pepper, spices, cilantro, jalepenos, bacon...pretty much whatever you want.  I went basic for my first attempt.  And it was really good!  And WAY better for you than anything you'll find in the store.  I used this for a version of the baked chicken on Pinterest that everyone pinned like a year ago.  You know the one I'm talking about.  Mayo and parmesan cheese.  I put some mayo on top, and then sprinkled with almond flour and pepper instead.  Very tasty and moist!  Try this!  You'll feel really legit with your skills in the kitchen.

Homemade Mayo

1 large egg

1/4 teaspoon Himalayan Salt (love this kind of salt!)

1 cup oil of choice (avocado or light tasting olive oil)

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Juice of 1/2 a lemon (about 1 tablespoon) 

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Bring on the water

Luke gave me a really sweet gift for Mother's Day a few months back.  It was a little flower in a tiny pot, that has grown to be a much larger plant in a bigger pot now.  It grew on it's own for a while, outside.  Got enough water from the rain. Then, we had to start watering it ourselves, and there was a period where we forgot to water it for a bit, and it didn't look like it was going to make it.  It made Luke sad, of course, since he gave it to me.  Luckily, after we flooded it slightly, it came back.  Can't be the mom who killed the Mother's Day flower.  Such a simple thing.  Give it a little water.  Every day.  Takes less than a minute.  And yet, it's also easy to skip, which we got lazy and did, and then there goes the plant.

How many times does this happen in life?  With your marriage, your kids, your health, your work....it kind of applies everywhere.  Sometimes we get lucky, and rain comes.  But sometimes, there is a drought, and we have to dig deeper to find the water.  The good news is, it's never too late to start watering again.  And you can start yourself - you don't have to wait on your spouse to deserve a hug or your kids to behave before you are more patient with them.  Just do something today to spread light and life.  Does a body good.  Like water.  Stay hopeful, friends.