At Home My Way

I have posted several recipes for homemade Brownies in my blog.  They are all delicious!  Here they are: Brownies Without a Box Homemade Brownies #2 I've posted recipes for brownies made with black beans, which is completely DELICIOUS: Black Bean Brownies I've even posted a one serving recipe for brownies: Microwave Brownies in a Mug Apparently I LOVE brownies ha!  Seriously, what I do love is making something at home that most people make from a box and have to get at the store.  My mission is always to find great substitutes for boxed food that I can make at home. Hopefully this saves me money but also I am looking to eliminate as many unknown ingredients from my  family's diet as possible.  Since brownies make my family super happy, these recipes are great substitutes for boxed brownies! The recipe I am posting today is for a basic, small batch of brownies.   I love this little batch of brownies.  I ke...

I don't know about you, but I'm always lacking lunch inspiration!  I don't have much time in the mornings since we have to be on the road by around 7AM each morning so even if I normally would have inspiration, probably I'm not having it at 6:30 AM. I was browsing around blogs the other day looking for supper inspiration when I ran across a mom who makes her own pigs in a blanket.  We make pigs in a blanket at our house too but we use canned biscuits.  I just couldn't imagine the combination of homemade bread and hot dog.   Let me be the first to tell you that these are the best, most delicious things you could ever put in your mouth!  No more, will I wonder what to take for lunch!   These are pretty easy to make (I used my bread machine for the dough), and I simply let them cool and placed them all in a gallon bag in the freezer.  My morning lunch prep involved opening the freezer, getting one out, and sticking it in my lunch container. ...

Pinterest has been hot and heavy lately with freezer food recipes; freezer crockpot meals, cooking once for eating twice, meal plan starters, freezing muffins, cookie dough, etc..  I have been anxious to jump on the band wagon and try my own hand at freezer food. Since my niece and her husband welcomed baby #2 last week, I wanted to take something special to them (as a form of bribery for letting me hold the little jewel LOL)!  I could think of no better gift to take than some homemade, ready-to-cook meals.  Who doesn't like homemade food?  And I figured my niece and her hubby have LOTS more important things to do than cook. I also included a written list of the items I made for their freezer and the cooking instructions for each item.  I didn't want them to forget something yummy and I thought the list could be put on the fridge for easy reference. I did go a little crazy once I got started!  The only mistake I made was that I didn't make anythin...

One of my nieces had a baby about a week ago.  Babies are always so exciting to me!  This baby is the second child for my niece and her husband.  Their older son is a little over two years old.   I wanted to take them a few freezer meals so that mom could spend more time with the boys and less time in the kitchen.  I tried to make something special for each member of their family.  For the two year old, I thought some mini corndog bites might fit the bill.  This way, my niece could pull them out of the freezer, microwave them until warm, and give her son a pretty nutritious lunch or snack without having to drag something out of a box (eek LOL). I'll post more about the other freezer meals that I made for them later on this week, but for now I wanted to post about the Corndog Mini Muffins.  I have posted about corndog muffins before (here) , but recently I saw a picture on Pinterest of corndog mini muffins.  They feature one chunk of ...

My daughter was in a wedding last summer with a friend she had grown up with.   Rebecca and I love Pinterest!  A few pins we've seen especially have gotten our attention - making baby blankets out of bridesmaid dresses.  We loved the idea!  What do you do with all of those beautiful bridesmaid dresses anyway, but hang them in the closet or sell/donate them?  Making a baby blanket for a friend using the bridesmaid dress you wore at her wedding seemed extra special and a wonderful keepsake.  Rebecca wanted to give it a shot! Rebecca has worked on a couple of baby blankets for her friends.  A couple of years ago, I showed her how to make baby blankets using two yards of fabric for the front, two yards for the back (solid front/back), and polyfil quilt batting for the middle; cutting 5 inch square pieces from extra fabric that are folded in half, pressed, and folded in half again and pressed to make little triangles, which are then pinned and sewn in...

I used to work in a daycare center when I was in about eighth grade.   I really enjoyed it!  I enjoyed spending time with the kids and also enjoyed getting a little bit of spending money.  It was not my first job since I had done lots of babysitting throughout the years, but it was my first job where I got an actual, regular paycheck!  Woo hoo! I remember the large batch meals that the cook made for the kids as always being VERY delicious (unlike some of the processed, microwaved food that is put out for kids these days ugh)!  So sad it's come to this....   Anyway, for breakfast, we often had a recipe she called "Six-Week Bran Muffins".  Basically it was a muffin batter made from bran cereal and kept in the fridge for up to six weeks (although I've never kept it that long).  You scoop the cold batter into prepared/sprayed or paper lined muffin tins and bake.  The muffins are lightly sweet, dense, and very moist.  I love them! I...