• Strawberry Pie

    My favorite day of the week is here, our Grandchildren are here all day. Grandpa had to work today so my Granddaughter and I decided to surprise him with a strawberry pie. It was hard explaining why both grandchildren couldn’t … Continue reading →

  • Reuben Sandwich

      This is my favorite time of the year when it comes to making Reuben Sandwiches. Corned beef is so expensive, however, they usually go on sale around St. Patrick’s Day. That’s when I like to stock the freezer. Reuben’s are my … Continue reading →

  • Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

    My mom made Pineapple Upside-Down Cake many times when I was growing up. It was always one of my favorites. I don’t know if it is because of the taste or the fascination of baking a cake upside down. My … Continue reading →

  • Baked Beef Taquitos

    Taquitos are another one of my favorite foods to make and eat. They are fun and easy to make. I make a lot of them at once and freeze them. I take them out of the freezer, microwave them in less … Continue reading →

  • Green Beans With Bacon

    Fresh green beans are delicious just as they are but add bacon, onion, salt and pepper and they become amazing! I always have bacon cooked and chopped in my freezer thanks to my husband. I just let him know when my … Continue reading →

  • Giant Chocolate Filled Cookie

    I made this delicious cookie for my husband. Ok, so maybe I ate just as much as he did. I love to bake sweets but try not to make them very often. Now that I have this blog I look forward … Continue reading →

  • Packet Potatoes

    I had a night off from cooking! My husband made me this fabulous steak dinner. He fixed the steak and potatoes on the grill. It was in the 60’s in Northern Ohio in February, what a beautiful day to cook … Continue reading →

  • Cheesy Breakfast Burritos

    I love making food that can be put into the freezer for an easy and quick hot meal. I keep my freezer stocked with a huge variety of food like Burritos, Pierogies, Egg Rolls, Pot Stickers, Crab Rangoon and so … Continue reading →

  • Shrimp Egg Rolls

    This was the first time I have ever made egg rolls of any kind. I can’t believe how much fun they were. They always looked so intimidating to me and now I wish I had tried them sooner. I will show … Continue reading →

  • Jam Diagonals

    I have been making these sliced cookies filled with jam and topped with lemon frosting for years. This recipe was given to me at my wedding shower many, many years ago. The guests were asked to write on a recipe card … Continue reading →

Meatloaf

Meatloaf is one of my husbands favorite meals. Me on the other hand, not so much. I am not a big lover of ground beef unless it is rare or smothered in sauce and pasta. When I take my clients out to eat I like to make dinner for my husband before I leave. I make the meatloaf in the morning, cover it and let it sit in the refrigerator letting all those flavors meld into the ground beef. Then all my husband has to do is pop it into the oven. I adapted the Lipton Onion Soup Meatloaf recipe to our liking so my version of their recipe is what I will post. It is not that different than the Lipton recipe. The Lipton recipe makes two loaves and my recipe makes one loaf. If you wish to have the Lipton recipe just go to their website. This only takes about five minutes to prepare this meatloaf. Not only is it quick, but easy and delicious too.

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Six ingredients for a delicious meatloaf.

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Place ground beef in a large bowl.

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Stir in Lipton Onion Soup Mix.

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Stir in the bread crumbs

In a small bowl, using a fork, whisk water, egg and ketchup together.

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Pour liquid into ground beef mixture. Stir just until completely combined.

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Pour the mixture into a meatloaf pan (I use a bread pan).

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Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate if you aren’t going to cook it right away. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 55 minutes.

Meatloaf

Ingredients

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1# ground beef

1 package Lipton Onion Soup Mix

1/3 cup plus 2 Tbl plain bread crumbs

1 egg

3 oz water

1/4 cup ketchup

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place ground beef in a large bowl. Add Lipton Onion Soup Mix, stir. Add bread crumbs, stir. In a small bowl, using a fork, mix water, egg and ketchup. Pour liquid into meat mixture and stir well but do not over mix. Pour into a meatloaf pan (I use a bread pan). If you are preparing it early to cook later, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. Otherwise, place in the oven uncovered and bake for 55 minutes. Let cool 5-10 minutes before slicing.

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Angry Mama Microwave Cleaner

We have a lot of gadgets that I would like to share with you. This blog is about the gadget Angry Mama Microwave Cleaner. Yes that is really what it is called. This was given to us by my mother in law as she loves giving us gadgets as gifts. I don’t like a dirty microwave and it doesn’t usually get very dirty. The picture below is about as bad as it gets before I have to clean it.

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I decided to give Angry Mama a try. All you have to do is remove her hair and fill vinegar to the line marked vinegar. Then fill water to the line marked water. You can also add lemon to remove odors if you wish.

Angry Mama steam cleans the inside of the microwave. You run the microwave on high for 7 minutes and then let it sit for 2 more minutes.

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Open the door, remove Angry Mama by her arms and wipe the inside of the microwave with a damp cloth. Does it work????? YES it works very well! Angry Mama sells on Amazon anywhere between $5.00 and $15.00. Would I buy one? Probably not but only because I am a clean freak and I don’t let my microwave get dirty. If I did let my microwave get dirty, then yes I would buy it and I would definitely use Angry Mama to clean it!

Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Chocolate Chip Ice Cream is the ice cream recipe I make the most. It is my granddaughters favorite ice cream. I make it just like my vanilla ice cream except I add milk chocolate chocolate chips. My grandson prefers vanilla ice cream over the chocolate chip ice cream so what I do is make vanilla ice cream for him and let my granddaughter add the chocolate chips just to her bowl…..win-win situation! I bought a big bag of mini milk chocolate chocolate chips from Amish Country. They are so much cheaper and they are delicious. I make this recipe in my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker which I love. However, you do not need an ice cream maker to make ice cream. It is creamier in the ice cream maker than when you mix it by hand but it will taste the same. To make it by hand, once you mix all of the ice cream ingredients together, let it cool in the pan on a tray of ice. Once cool place it in the refrigerator, covered, for about 4-6 hours. Stir it and pour it into a covered freezer container. Place it in the freezer. Stir every 30 minutes. The outside edges will start to freeze first. You want to mix the frozen edges back into the liquid. Continue until all of the liquid has frozen. Stir as well as you can to make it creamy. Once it is set to a soft serve type of ice cream, you can stop stirring. Freeze another 4-6 hours and serve with your favorite topping.

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Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Ingredients

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2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 cup half-n-half

1 – 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

2 Tbl vanilla

1 cup (or more) mini milk chocolate chocolate chips

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Place cream, sugar and salt into a saucepan with a heavy bottom. Heat on medium heat until the sugar and salt dissolve, do not boil. Remove from heat and stir in the half-n-half, milk & vanilla. Refrigerate, covered, at least 4 hours. Pour liquid into the ice cream maker and process according to ice cream maker directions. When finished, add chocolate chips stirring in by hand. Pour into a covered freezer container and freeze for at least 4 hours. Top with your favorite topping or eat as is and enjoy!

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Dried Herbs

I just love drying fresh herbs from our garden. I get more than enough to last us until the next year. There is so much satisfaction when I cook and use my own home grown dried herbs. We don’t grow a lot of different kinds of herbs, just the ones I use the most like parsley, sage, thyme, rosemary, basil and tarragon. Tarragon is our new herb this year. I don’t use it normally but wanted to try it. To prepare my herbs, I rinse them and gently pat them dry. I have an Excalibur 9 tray dehydrator  that I dry them in and I just love it! I started with a small inexpensive round 4-5 tray dehydrator. It was perfect to start out with and to see if I wanted to continue drying the herbs and other food. The only problem with the small round dehydrator was I had to keep rotating the trays and it didn’t hold a lot at one time. It only had one set temperature where as my Excalibur has a thermostat. The small one worked perfectly and had just as good of results as I get with my Excalibur. Try a cheap small dehydrator first before you invest in a bigger, more expensive one.

You DO NOT need a dehydrator to dry herbs. Depending on what type of herb it is, you can air dry them or even dry them in the oven. Start by picking your herbs in the morning right after the dew dries off of them. Rinse them and gently pat them dry. They say not to crush your herbs once they are dried because it keeps the flavor of the herbs better. However, I always crush mine and store them in a sealed jar. I don’t want to mess around with crushing them every time I want to use them. They take up much more room uncrushed than they do crushed too.

According to HGTV.com, the best herbs to dry in the oven are the low moisture herbs like rosemary, oregano, dill, thyme and marjoram. Place the herbs on a cookie sheet spreading them out as thin as you can trying not to let them touch. Place them in the oven at the lowest setting, ours is 170 degrees. Never dry at 180 degrees or higher or you will bake them. Leave the oven door open, like when you broil, as the herbs need circulation to dry and not bake. Keep them in the oven for 2-4 hours or until the herbs are completely dry and they are crumbly.

HGTV.com states that herbs with a higher moisture content like basil, mint and chives are better dried in a dehydrator. Some dehydrators only have one setting to dry. My Excalibur has a thermostat that tells me what temperature to dehydrate what type of food. Read the manual on your dehydrator to see what setting it calls for. Like in the oven, place your herbs so they are not touching.

HGTV.com said that natural air drying is another method of drying your herbs. Gather about 8 branches of the herb and tie them together with a string at the base of the stem. Take a paper bag and poke holes in it. Place your herbs in the bag stem side up and tie the end of the bag closed. Hang the bag, stem side up, in a warm ventilated room. They will be dry in a week or more.

So whatever method you choose to dry your herbs, they will be fresher than any jar of herbs you will buy in the grocery store. Compare your freshly dried herbs with the ones from the store and you will be amazed at the difference in color and taste!

 

Rhubarb Cake

This is one of the moistest cakes I have ever made. I got this recipe from my mom years ago. I have been making it since the 70’s and it’s still one of my favorites. I grow my own rhubarb and freeze it so I can enjoy it in my recipes all year long. This is a great cake for anyone that doesn’t like extremely sweet cakes smothered in frosting. Just a dusting of powdered sugar is all that is needed for this cake. You bite into the cinnamon flavored cake and then get that tart little bite of rhubarb……sooooo good!

The buttermilk is what makes this recipe so moist!

In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of sugar with rhubarb, tossing to coat rhubarb with the sugar. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, egg and Crisco stirring until smooth and combined. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine buttermilk, vanilla, baking soda and cinnamon. Whisk all the ingredients together.

Add sugar and egg mixture to the milk mixture. Stir until combined. I use a wooden spoon.

Add flour and stir until combined.

Pour into an 9″ square baking pan and bake for 30-45 minutes.

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Remove from the oven and let cool. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Rhubarb Cake

Ingredients

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2 cups diced rhubarb

1/2 cup sugar

 

1-1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup shortening

 

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

 

2 cups flour

powdered sugar for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, mix rhubarb and 1/2 cup of sugar, set aside.

In a medium bowl cream together 1-1/2 cup sugar with egg and shortening until creamy and smooth. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, vanilla, baking soda and cinnamon. Add the buttermilk mixture to the egg mixture and mix well. Stir in rhubarb.

Stir in flour, mixing until combined. Pour into an ungreased 9″ square pan. Bake for 30-45 minutes. It will get very dark (not burned) on top before the middle is cooked. Depending on your oven, it takes 30-45 minutes. It will look done, the edges will be set but the center will not be cooked through. Just keep baking and checking the center with a toothpick. I check it a 30 minutes and then every 3-4 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

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Spinach With Bacon

Spinach fresh from our garden! This is the first picking and it was 8 oz of bright green Spinach leaves, just perfect for lunch. It always amazes me how much Spinach cooks down. You start out with this gigantic pan full of Spinach and once cooked, only a few cups remain. My favorite way to eat Spinach is cooked and then I add vinegar, nothing else. I can eat bowls of it like this. One time my mother in law had us over for dinner. She made chicken, corn, Spinach and a red potatoes. She is the kind of person that makes food just for me even though nobody else likes it. When she fixes chicken, she always buys dark meat just for me because I don’t care for white meat. When it is acorn squash season, she buys one and fixes it just for me. I guess you could say she spoils me. So when she made Spinach, set out the vinegar and placed the bowl right in front of me, of course I thought this was another time she was spoiling me so I poured on the vinegar and dug in. I just left it in the same bowl. I figured everybody else was having corn. My husband looked at me and said “Diane you didn’t leave any for my mom!” I was so embarrassed but we had a good laugh. From then on I made sure I asked if something was just for me or not. I didn’t think sharing a recipe with just spinach and vinegar was very interesting so I came up with this spinach recipe instead. I love bacon, soy sauce and sesame oil so I figured it had to taste good and it did.

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Put sesame oil in the pan over medium heat. Add spinach, garlic powder and bacon, tossing until spinach is wilted and cooked down.

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This is all there is after it cooks down.

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Mix the dressing ingredients and microwave a few seconds to dissolve the sugar.

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Drizzle dressing over the spinach and dig in!

Spinach With Bacon

Ingredients

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1-1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/4 tsp garlic powder

8 oz fresh spinach, soak in water, rinse & spin dry

1-1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp soy sauce

1/4 cup bacon, cooked and crumbled

Directions

In a large pan, put 1 tsp sesame oil. Over medium heat, cook oil until hot. Add spinach, garlic powder and bacon. Toss spinach and cook until spinach is wilted and cooked down. Remove pan from the heat and set aside. In a small bowl combine 1/2 tsp sesame oil, sugar and soy sauce. Microwave 5 seconds or until sugar dissolves. Drizzle over the spinach and serve.

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Bubble Bread

Do you love garlic bread but you are not a bread baker? Impress your family and guests with this easy recipe. I have made these since my kids were little and it has always been a favorite in our house. I can’t even remember where the recipe came from. As you can see on my blog, I make different recipes almost daily. I can remember all the stories of how every day of the week the families ate the same thing. Sunday was roast, Monday was fish and so on. My family never experienced that in my house. In fact, my husband always tells me how good a meal was followed by “Well I guess I will never see that again!” This is one of those recipes that got lost amongst all my cookbooks and recipes. Well I found it the other day so here it is. Hopefully, now that I have this blog, I can quickly look up our favorite recipes and make them again…..lol What is nice about this recipe is that it is made with frozen bread dough! Our package had multiple frozen loaves in it, making it easy to whip these up at any time. The hardest part with making these is thawing out the bread dough and waiting for it to rise. When I thaw my dough, I wrap it in plastic wrap to keep it from drying out and put it in the refrigerator over night. So……. if you have always been afraid of making any type of bread or rolls, this recipe is for you!

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Five simple ingredients.

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Combine butter and spices in a bowl.

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Spray a bread pan with cooking spray.

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Roll the bread dough balls in the butter mixture.

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Place into a bread pan and cover with a light cloth and let rise for about an hour or until doubled. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly brown.

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Bubble Bread

Ingredients

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1 loaf frozen bread dough, thawed (wrapped in plastic wrap overnight in the refrigerator)

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 Tbl dried parsley

1 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp garlic salt

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Directions

Combine butter and spices in a small bowl. Spray a bread pan with cooking spray. Cut bread dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll into balls. Dip dough balls into butter mixture. Place in the bread pan. Cover with a light cloth and let rise for about an hour or until doubled. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

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