10 Good Recipes

1. I have a special fascination with recipes that proclaim themselves the "best". And I'm always on the lookout for a good vanilla cake recipe.

 I love cooking and baking from scratch. I usually have the ingredients anyway, I enjoy the process and I like knowing exactly what's in my food. :) Also, cake made from scratch tends to be more filling so the eater doesn't eat as much.

The problem is cakes from scratch, particularly vanilla ones, are more prone to both ingredient and procedural error.

 So I have been on the prowl for a good recipe for a long time. I recently tried this one and it's our favorite so far. I also made the Marshmallow Frosting but I probably won't again. It LOOKS beautiful! And it tastes okay but marshmallow cream as frosting isn't our thing. Although I might use that recipe for recipes that call for marshmallow cream. Cause, from scratch. :)

2. I've been making this recipe for years. It's kind of become more of a formula for me. I vary up the ingredients. Sometimes I use taco season in the meat. And sometimes I add in some veggies and sometimes I use potatoes instead of rice. Pretty much however I make it, it's pretty easy, cost effective and my family enjoys it!

3. These are very much like Cheez It crackers. You have to get them pretty thin though so they will be crispy. They are good if they're thicker too, but they are more crackery if they are thin. I like to roll them out and cut them out into fun shapes.

Also, it HAS to be sharp cheese. Anything less than that is kind of bland and ends up being something else entirely.

4. I absolutely LOVE making these graham crackers. They are soooo good and sooo easy to make. I also like cutting these out into fun shapes!!!

5. I love creating my own recipes. I love researching other recipes and finding out what each ingredient does and then making my own recipe based on the result I want to achieve. And that's what I did with these granola bars!! We love them!

6. This is the recipe I learned to make homemade Refried Beans on. I don't really follow the recipe anymore, I've kind of made up my own version and I do it different every time. But these are delicious!!!! My kids would probably eat them every day.

7. Cheeseburger Soup. Do I need to say anything else?! It is really delicious. This is another that I kind of just use as a base now. I've added all kinds of other veggies and I've used cream cheese instead of sour cream and it's all delicious!

8. Okay. This one has a lot of ingredients. The bacon and onions and stuff make everyone in my house turn into ravenous zombies.

I didn't use spanish onions, I used ruglar onions. They might have been Spanish, and they might not have been. We don't discriminate. We believe in affirmative onion action. :)

 I also use frozen corn from Costco. It's the best frozen corn ever. It tastes fresh off the ear! And I don't have to do the work to get it off the ear.

 I only use about half of the heavy cream. I use some Sour cream and some cream cheese to make up the difference. And I just put it in until it tastes good and the texture is right. And did I mention I only make this when there's company? Cause that's a lot of creamy stuff and it's super good and if I made it just for us we'd all eat our weight of soup.

I actually made it this way the first time I made it because I didn't want to spring for all the cream. But the next time I made it I made it straight and it wasn't as good.

9. This Chicken Pot Pie recipe. Here's the thing, I've made this with the homemade crust before and I've used store bought crust...either way, it's amazing. I've used frozen veggies and I've used fresh...either way, it's amazing. I usually add potatoes. I use prebaked ones just to make sure they get done...cause nobody wants to bite into an undone potato!

Oh, and I don't remember ever using the wine. Although I may have. But I know I haven't used it a majority of the time because we don't keep it. Either way, amazing!

10. Okay, so our kids LOVE waffles. Honestly, I'm glad because I'm not a good pancake maker. I don't know why. Anyway, this is a good basic recipe. I've varied it up and added things and they are always good!!

11. Did I say 10? Well since I shared a cake recipe, I need to share a frosting one, right? Well, I love this one. I don't always want to take the time to make it, but it's really good if I do. Here's the thing though, I have never been able to get regular granulated sugar to work. I use the extra fine granulated sure and I have been successful with that. I've also used powdered sugar and that worked too...even though the recipe says specifically to NOT do that. :)

This frosting is light...it's not rich like buttercream is. It's particularly good on chocolate and Red Velvet cakes.

There you go! What are YOUR good ol' standby recipes?!

Betty Crocker's Ugly Step Sister

I admit it. If Betty Crocker were a real person and she had an ugly step sister, I'm pretty sure it would be me.

She'd be her lovely self creating beautiful culinary wonders in the kitchen...she'd never have flour on her face, dress or in her hair.

And then there'd be me, looking over her shoulder in a cloud of flour...hair a mess and streaked with flour...trying to learn her secrets...and failing miserably!

Last week I made my first successful batch of from-scratch biscuits. After two other attempts I finally got it right. They were light and fluffy and delicious. Of course, now I'll have to remember how I did it...which is just as likely as it was that I'd create something edible in the first place!

Of course, if I'd just followed a recipe in the first place I probably could have gotten it right the first time...but when I do that I feel like I've cheated and am a fraud for accepting compliments.

I love understanding the 'why' behind a recipe. I love going into the kitchen and understanding how different ingredients work and putting them together to create something yummy.

It's funny though, while I typically am disappointed when something doesn't work, it's almost as exciting as when it does work. Because then I get to figure out WHY it didn't work, and go into the kitchen better prepared to produce the desired result.

Don't get me wrong, I do use recipes. There aren't enough hours in the day or ingredients on the shelf to experiment 24/7. And when more than just my sweet, little, compassionate family is going to be eating it I get all self conscious and usually search out a recipe...unless I've made my own a bazillion times and my family has assured me that it is ready for public consumption!

I recently went on a trek to find a good vanilla cake recipe and so far, this is it! I also recently made this chocolate cake with the referenced frosting. While it was good, it wasn't the best chocolate cake I've ever had. But it was quick and easy and the frosting (which was just a simple buttercream) was yum!

Last week, I went in search of a cookie recipe that I already had the ingredients for. I didn't find any, so I went in the kitchen, got out the ingredients I was willing to use and set out to make a shortbread cookie. It didn't really turn out that way, they were more like sugar cookies, but I'm determined to get it right eventually! And I had a fabulous time tossing the ingredients in like a mad scientist!

What do you LOVE doing? Are you good at it? What do you love about it?

Granola Bars!

The desire to cut out processed/convenient foods has greatly impacted our lives. I think that most of us dread  and are turned off by the time that is involved in making things from scratch. And I'll be honest, it does require a lot of time in the kitchen...but I honestly don't think that whipping up a batch of granola bars takes any more time than running to the store to pick up a box of granola bars...and you skip all the extra junk that is in store bought granola bars!

I will say that I prefer to send a piece of fruit and in the winter when our orange tree is producing, that's pretty much our staple school snack. But I like to mix it up a little sometimes with some homemade goodness.

The thing I love about these granola bars is that I know exactly what is in them, they are sturdy--they can survive a backpack and still remain intact, and it's easy to "mix it up".

Here's what you'll need

4 1/2 cups of oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup maple syrup (you could substitute brown sugar, if you prefer...use the same amount either way)
2/3 cup melted butter
2 cups total of whatever "pieces" you want to add--chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts

Preheat your oven to 325 and prepare a 9x13 pan (butter/flour whatever you want to use to keep the bars from sticking).

Mix all of the dry ingredients together (I don't bother with a mixer...a pastry blender would work well...I use a spatula). Create a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients to the well. Mix everything together and spoon and press into your prepared pan.

Bake around 20 minutes or until the edges are a golden brown.

Let me know if you try them and tell me what you think or how you improved them!

Changes, Changes, Yummy Changes!

I love cooking from scratch. I love using fresh ingredients in their whole-est, most natural state I can get my hands on. I've even wanted to try my hand at canning. I love the idea of having a pantry full of yumminess that has been preserved at my hand.

Gradually I've tried to cut out canned and processed foods. This week...I learned to make my own pumpkin puree! Woohoo! One step closer to not being dependent on convenience foods!

 You might think I'm crazy, and there are a lot of details that I have to work out, but starting January 1st (I actually have a feeling it will be a gradual process between now and then) I plan to begin a year of working with the freshest, whole-est foods that I can get my hands on.

Does that mean making my own butter or buying it raw and as unprocessed as possible? Can I find a dairy farmer to purchase fresh milk from? What budget-ary adjustments will I have to make? Where can I purchase unprocessed grains to grind for flour? How do I start a compost pile, an herb garden and how big of a garden should I plant next year?

I don't know the answers to all of these things. I'm currently doing research. If you have any websites or advice please send them my way.

At this point I'm excited...and a little overwhelmed by the things I don't know.

There's a lot to be done...but I'm excited to see the results and enjoy the fruit of my labor! And see the difference a whole foods diet will make in the health and lifestyle of my family!

My first use of my fresh pumpkin puree!