At Home My Way

These are the sugar cookies my mom made most often.  We had them EVERY Christmas and just in general when we wanted cookies.  I love these.  They are easy!  They use simple ingredients that I most generally always have in my pantry.  They use oil instead of butter or margarine.  The dough doesn't have to be chilled and they are dropped with a spoon.  Couldn't be any easier!  They can be sprinkled with whatever colored sugar celebrates a certain holiday or birthday and they pretty much taste fantabulous!  They are puffy little crunchy yet moist cookies and I think they're perfect. Here's how we make Mom's Sugar Cookies AT HOME MY WAY: Mom's Sugar Cookies 2 eggs, slightly beaten 2/3 cup oil (I use canola or vegetable) 2 teaspoons vanilla 3/4 cup sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups all purpose flour Colored sugar for sprinkling In a med mixing bowl, slightly beat the eggs.  Add in the sugar and oil. ...

I think I posted this recipe one cool rainy day this past summer, but since I promised to post this recipe which I used in Last Night's Leftovers to create Super Soup & Noodles, I figured it couldn't hurt to post this again.  HANDS DOWN, this is our favorite vegetable soup recipe.  Over the weekend I made it without the macaroni.  I just used more potatoes.  If you do serve with pasta, keep the pasta separate as the pasta breaks down and becomes mushy when you eat this leftover.  This recipe is very garlic-y.  This was the first vegetable soup my kids would eat since it was similar to spaghetti and they could eat the broth/meat & pasta, until they got used to the vegetables.  Sometimes I either buy or make bread bowls to ladle this soup into.  Its really, really good! Don't forget that this soup is great for leftovers - ladled over wide egg noodles or rice! This is how I make Hamburger Soup AT HOME MY WAY: (NOTE: remove the ...

One of my favorite bloggers at The Tasty Cheapskate (she had me at the title of her blog), did a post on re-using leftovers to create dinner.  She comments about a show the Food Network did on large scale wasting of food.  Jeanie noted that she would like to see a show on the Food Network where the chefs take everyday leftovers and create something wonderful.  I agree!  I actually love the Food Network.  But, definitely a show featuring down to earth solutions to every day problems (feeding the family with food in the fridge) would be a great for people like us. Jeanie posted on Leftover Tuesday how she took some spaghetti sauce, bacon, cream, and spaghetti pasta to created supper ( Baked Spaghetti ) for her family.  It looked super yummy!  I think our mothers and grandmothers have always recreated with what they had to put food on the table.  I remember my mom making many a "rice pie" with leftover rice in the fridge, whic...

Last night I made a meal in the crockpot that I hadn't made for years!  I think I had forgotten about it.  It was delicious and I need to remember this one.  It would also be great to serve to company.  It was easy to throw in the crockpot before work and everyone loved it!  I remember that this recipe was originally called "David Letterman chicken".  Supposedly, David Letterman's Mom used to make this for him.  I have no idea if that is true or not, but I made it for my family and we all liked it.  That's all I need to know LOL. This is how I made "David Letterman Chicken" AT HOME MY WAY: David Letterman Chicken (crockpot) 4-8 boneless, thawed skinless chicken breasts (or whatever you like to use as far as chicken goes, bone-in, dark meat, whatever..) Bacon (a piece of bacon for each piece of chicken) 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1 cup sour cream Salt/Pepper Egg noodles, mashed potatoes or rice (I prefer wide egg noodles) Directio...

Does Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal sound like a strange combination to you?  I'm sure the title sounds a little odd.  But this version of Baked Oatmeal is really luscious.  "Luscious?"  "Oatmeal?" you might ask.  Yep!  It was warm and gooey and tasted just like a hot oatmeal/chocolate chip cookie fresh from the oven!  This breakfast would be a great way to introduce oatmeal to your children.  If they like chocolate chip granola bars (specifically the chewy ones) or oatmeal cookies, they are going to love this!  This recipe is also very cheap to make and uses ingredients found in your pantry!  I love that about it.  I also love that I usually have a handful of chocolate chips that didn't make it into cookies and I can throw this together for a hot, delicious, and pretty healthy breakfast.  This really tastes nothing like the kind of oatmeal you get in the packets.  This is more like a warm, gooey granola bar.  YUM! Th...

This little blogging hobby that I started has really evolved into something wonderful.  I started following blogs mostly to get good housekeeping and recipe ideas.  But, boy did I find a whole new world of wonderful people!  Sometimes I feel like I'm the odd person in my world.  I think you could suffice it to say that most of the people I know don't cook from scratch.  They don't make stuff!  I'm sure even my own children think I'm a little bit "out there" for making some of the homemade stuff I make (like homemade sandwich bread , chocolate syrup, chocolate pudding , homemade pancakes , homemade cornbread , and even homemade glass cleaner). Like I say, I like doing things "At Home - My Way!"  But, the best thing about blogging so far has been that I have "met" some wonderful folks.  Folks just like me!  I love that I can read about someone who made a beautiful scratch birthday cake or even made homemade chocolate chips.  I love that s...

I realize this picture is sideways - can't seem to get it rotated!  Shucks! I'm sure everyone and their brother (well... maybe their sister) have made this recipe.  Everyone but me, I guess.  I had heard of it but really hadn't even ever eaten it before.  Crazy! My pickier daughter came home from her new corporate job and told me ALL ABOUT this delicious dish she had eaten at a carry-in lunch.  As she was describing it to me, I said "Rebecca!  That's just tator tot casserole.  Like the Duggars make."  The dish Rebecca had at work was everything this dish is except it had mashed potatoes and cheese on top instead of tator tots and cheese.  She thought it was the best thing she'd eaten lately so I had to try it at home. I don't usually use a lot of convenience foods (canned soup), but cooking at home always trumps eating out - even if it does include a can of soup and frozen tator tots.   Keeping up with my pantry cooking, I...

Last night was bowling night at my house.  Remember when that meant Girls Night?  When we used to make fun things like Homemade Stirfry or K inda Empanadas ?  Well, since the girls have left the nest, I was home alone for bowling night.  But, I had a plan!  I wanted to get some laundry done, build a fire in the woodstove and kick back with a little TV.  But, what to have for supper?  For one person?  Hmmmm... Since I've been really trying to eat out of the pantry and not go to the store OR eat out, I knew I wanted to find something to make that I already had the ingredients for.  And, since I was the only one eating it could be a recipe that I wanted to try but wasn't sure how safe it would be.   I found a great recipe over at Lynn's Kitchen Adventures .  Lynn ALWAYS makes good stuff! I can always depend on her recipes to be sure fire!   A side note here, I have discovered that I tend to be a "recipe free" cook.  I...

I won!  I won!   I never win anything!  But, I have to say, I never play games much either.  Probably that is why I never win anything, BUT.... I WON SOMETHING!  One of my favorite blogs " Little Homestead in the City " (actually the Freedom Gardens blog by the Dervaes family in Pasadena, California) had a giveway.  I was actually interested enough in the prize for this giveaway that I was going to buy the little book if I didn't win it, but now I don't have to do that because I WON and I cannot believe it really!   This is the book: Its a great book about planting roots, spices (seeds), tubers, that you have in your kitchen.  You know, FREE seeds!  My mom has always planted sweet potatoes in glasses of water with toothpicks (we all did that, right?), avocado seeds, the tops of pineapples, etc. and my husband's grandma actually planted a peach tree with a seed (WOW, did she have the touch or what!). This book really goes into depth ...

Homemade Chicken & Dumplings As strange as it may seem, one of the first comfort meals I learned to cook was Homemade Chicken & Dumplings. (Although this is not how my mom makes chicken & dumplings.  Hers are dropped and are fluffy like a biscuit.)   As a young married couple we spent lots of time with another young couple.  We laughed, cruised many a country road, and had little structure to our lives (those were the days LOL).  A few times we ate dinner with them and one of my friend's specialties was this recipe for Chicken & Dumplings.  My very picky husband must have felt pressure to be nice and taste her dish (he would never have tasted it for me), but he instantly fell in love this creamy comfort dish.  Since learning to make this I have enjoyed many a plate of chicken & dumplings at Cracker Barrel restaurant knowing the entire time that mine is every bit as good as what you get in this restaurant. For years I have cooked...

Over New Year's weekend I did lots of cooking.  In addition to Homemade Lambert's Throwed Rolls , I tried a recipe for Homemade Puff Pastry.  I love anything made with puff pastry from brie with raspberry sauce to guava turnovers (a Florida favorite) but puff pastry can be a little hard to come by in our small town.  I ran across this recipe on the King Arthur Flour blog (which always has wonderful recipes).  It worked like a charm.  I have to confess that it was a little "buttery" for my tastes.  I may try to trade out some of the butter for shortening next time, but it worked beautifully and I will definitely be making this again.  I had some guava paste in the fridge (which my mom brings back from Florida) and also some frozen blackberries and blueberries, so I tucked some of each into these turnovers and they were really something special! Here's how I made Homemade Puff Pastry AT HOME MY WAY: Homemade Puff Pastry 2 cups all purpose f...

I enjoyed a much appreciated few days off for New Years.  Let's suffice it to say that I like to cook A LOT and boy did I ever cook a bunch.  I needed to come back to work to stay away from the kitchen LOL.  I'll blog the recipes for some of the other recipes I tried over the next couple of days.  But, the first is a recipe I had in my "to make" file for hot rolls.  They are supposed to taste like Lambert's famous Throwed Rolls.  Well... I haven't ever been to that restaurant.  I live in Missouri, however  I have never been to Sikeston. But, they have rave reviews and I figured they had to be yummy!  They were light, fluffy, yeasty, and a tad sweet.  Really GOOD! We served them along with BBQ'ed pork chops since we were enjoying super nice weather for New Year's Day.  I had mine with some homemade Baked Apple Butter (recipe to come).  Mmmm - it was a feast!  I especially loved the pull-apart way th...