Cooking from scratch: healthier, cheaper, and a great creative outlet
Need an easy but fancy dessert? Tiramisu! And this version needs to be made a day ahead, and refrigerated overnight. So easy to whip up - and then grab and go! Tiramisu is a classic Italian dessert - a refrigerator dessert with no baking involved! This version starts off classic with ladyfinger cookies, which by … Continue reading How to Do an Easy Make Ahead Tiramisu
Summer is always so busy, and now above and beyond my real job, I have a big garden to start eating and preserving. More on the latter in the future. I always grow green beans, and usually wax beans, but since I still have canned green beans from last year, I planted a much smaller … Continue reading The Best Super Easy Cheesy Green Beans
Shepherd's Pie, made with ground beef or lamb, gravy and vegetables smothered in mashed potatoes - what could be easier? And a big casserole of it feeds quite a few people. So when I started wondering this morning about what to make for dinner with the pound of ground beef I had in the fridge, … Continue reading How to Make An Easy Beef & Mushroom Shepherd’s Pie Recipe
I needed to do something, well Different, with basic chicken bone in, skin on thighs. I wanted crispy but tender thighs packed with flavor. As I started going through the pantry thinking, what can I use to create a new dish, my eyes landed on Sriracha sauce, onion soup mix, umami powder and a small … Continue reading How to Make a Perfect Umami Chicken
I had quite a few apples this week - more than we would just eat. Enough for my favorite Caramel Apple Pie! There are so many apple pie variations. This one makes a caramel base in a 10" cast iron skillet, then the crust and filing go in on top of it. The caramel in … Continue reading How to make the Best Ever Caramel Apple Pie
Cauliflower is a wonder vegetable, but pretty bland on it's own. I stumbled across a recipe in a magazine (sorry, I've forgotten which one!) and modified slightly for our tastes. Although the original instructions were for a whole head of cauliflower, just two of us would never eat that much. I usually cook 1/3-1/2 of … Continue reading How to Create Smoky Cauliflower Side dish
Sometimes I just need something quick.... Puff Pastry to the rescue! It makes a quick easy dessert or brunch Danish without much fuss. Not only that, but it looks so fancy. People will ooh and aah. I always have a box of Puff Pastry on hand. The local grocery has it 2 sheets to a … Continue reading How to Make a Super Easy Elegant Dessert
Now that your inventory and master list are made, time for a plan of action. Like Things Together As with everything else in my kitchen, things belonging to the same "family" are stored together. All cast iron pans in one place, all pots in a large drawer by the stove, all flours or sauces are … Continue reading Organizing A Pantry, Part II
Chicken stock is one of those staple items I always have in my pantry. And though I buy some store bought cartons of stock to keep on hand, I most often just make my own and either can or freeze it in pints and quarts. Every time I make chicken I save parts - necks, … Continue reading Learn to make Flavorful Easy Chicken Stock
I make a few stir fry's - in fact my husband says my food is better than our local Chinese Restaurant (which isn't saying much - their food is probably the worst Chinese take out I've ever had). But when I made these Spicy noodles the first time, I was in love. Really tasty, a … Continue reading How to make Easy Spicy Noodles