At Home My Way

Recipes at the Top * Chit-Chat at the bottom!   Midwest Pecan Pie   Unbaked pie crust ¼ cup melted butter (real butter not margarine) 1 cup sugar 1 cup clear Karo 4 eggs (yes, use all four) ¼ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla ½ T flour 2 cups shelled pecans   Instructions :  Preheat oven to 325 degrees/bake. Sprinkle unbaked crust dough with a little flour and then place the rolled dough in a pie plate. Trim the edges and create whatever edging you prefer. I pinch mine using my right thumb/index finger to pinch dough around my left index finger.  It isn’t gorgeous, but works pretty good! (Do not prick the bottom of the crust.)  Set aside until the filling is ready to be poured into the unbaked crust. In a medium mixing bowl, melt the butter.  (I melt in the microwave.)  Add sugar and Karo syrup and mix until well combined.  (Doing in this order cools the butter down before adding the eggs.)  Add eggs and other ingredients (except the...

*This "recipe" is adjustable to ingredients you have available using leftovers or simple substitutions.  Lots of options here!   MEATLESS TACO SOUP 1 Tablespoon minced onion  (or 1/2 chopped fresh onion or 1 Tablespoon onion powder)  (whatever you have available) 28 oz whole tomatoes ( undrained ) (OR diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes or sauce)  ( I used 28 oz of my favorite Cento San Marzano tomatoes. )  1 can corn ( undrained ) (OR 2 cups frozen corn, or leftover corn) 1 can rotel ( undrained ) (OR salsa works fine also!) 2 can black, kidney, or pinto beans ( undrained ) 1 packet of taco or chili seasoning  (OR 1-2 Tablespoon of chili powder which is what I used) Salt & Pepper according to preference Instructions: If using fresh onion, cook onion in a little oil in a large pot for about 10 minutes. If using minced onion or onion powder, just add with the rest of the ingredients.   Add the toma...

First, a disclaimer... I am NOT a cake baker.  I am a mom, wife, daughter, friend, home cook, but not a pastry chef, cake decorator, or anything like that.  My attempt at baking cakes is purely for fun and for my eating pleasure. This weekend I wanted cake!   I have for you today the mother of all cakes.  This cake even worked out for me, a non cake baker.  I had never baked a two-layer cake that didn't crack in the middle or slide off the plate.  I usually only have success with sheet cakes or those in 9 x 13 pans, or cupcakes.  But this weekend I wanted a two layer cake.  Something pretty that I could be proud of.  I didn't want over the top sweet, so I opted to only frost between the layers and on top.  This also saved a lot of potential anxiety for me because frosting the sides causes me lots of stress!  This cake was a great success - on all levels: Delicious?-yes! Chocolaty?-yes! Moist?-yes! Great crumb like bo...

I have made this recipe for Sweet Potato Bake for many years.  I originally found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine.  I didn't grow up eating sweet potato casserole so this was new for me.  (When I was little in the south, we normally ate sweet potatoes that were baked and served split in half with butter - with the potato cut in hatch marks so that the butter would soak in).  When  Taste of Home  first came out, I LIVED by every issue.  I loved pouring over the magazines and finding new recipes for comfort food to serve to my family.  This is one of the recipes that has survived many family dinners!  Believe it or not, every time I make Sweet Potato Bake, I drag out ALL of my magazines to find the recipe (I write my favorite recipes on the covers in permanent marker).  It's a huge process because I have so many magazines!   Thinking ahead, I am blo...

I posted a great story to go with this recipe in my original post for Juicy Burgers .  It tells where this recipe came from and how long I've been making it. My husband and kids DON'T like Manwich.  (However, I do.. and I actually found a great replica for Manwich which I posted here .) Juicy Burgers are different than Manwich.  Of course there are similarities.  Both are made with ground beef, sauce, and buns.  But, Juicy Burger are sweeter.  They are made with a little brown sugar.  I love both of these meals!  It's a great way to stretch a little bit of ground beef and leftovers are WONDERFUL! I made mine last night with some mac & cheese.  My husband prefers something like Oven Baked Cheesy Fries .  I love it all! I am reposting this recipe .. because I took a picture... and because it bears repeating!  This is a delcious meal! Here's how I make Homemade Juicy Burgers AT HOME MY WAY: Juicy Burgers 1 1/2 p...

  I made a delicious Pot Roast last Sunday with little dumplings  ( pictured between the green beans and the bread ).  It's another of my husband's favorite meals.  I don't usually buy rump roast because it's so expensive but this was a nice one, not too high of a price, and my husband ate sandwiches from the leftover roast all week, so how can that be a bad thing, right?  (I also used the remaining leftovers for my free soup today-Thursday.) I typically make roast in the oven or in the crockpot.  I have read some information that you can use your crockpot all day and use less energy than using your oven for a couple of hours.  That sold me there so I used my crockpot. Our family loves "Little Dumplings" made with the roast gravy.  It's so easy that it's silly really.  I have, on occasion, either when I was being super frugal or didn't want to make a run to the store, used homemade dumplings (from m...

  I decided to scratch the Hawaiian C hicken that I had on my Menu Plan this week  in favor of Parmesan Chicken which my husband and daughter are particularly fond of.  I also served some salad with Homemade Ranch Dressing ( homemade croutons ) and used some leftover buns for garlic toast. This recipe has a history and I cannot post about it without mentioning the memories attached to this recipe. My husband and I married young.  He was 20, I was 18.  We had only lived at home with our parents so needless to say, cooking wasn't something he nor I had much knowledge of.  Another teeny problem was that we only had a microwave (a wedding gift) and we did not have a stove for many months after our wedding.  In the cookbook that came with the microwave I found a recipe for Parmesan Chicken.  My very picky hubby somehow agreed to try Parmesan Chicken.  He had never even eaten spaghetti.  We're talking some serious food issues LOL!...

One of the most dependable food blogs for recipes that I can think of is Lynn's Kitchen Adventures .  I can always depend on her recipes to turn out perfect!  Last night I tried Lynn's recipe for Homemade Cheeseburger Helper .  I had my doubts, ha!  I had seen similar recipes before but I just could not imagine that a recipe with TOMATO SAUCE in it could really taste like the Cheeseburger Helper my family LOVES from the box (eek!).  I thought maybe Lasagna Helper or one of the other flavors but surely not Cheeseburger Helper.  I decided last night to give it a shot.  It could not have been more PERFECT!  Lynn!  You really nailed it.  And, I cannot thank you enough for this delicious, easy, super cheap and EXACT replica of Cheeseburger Macaroni. I say its an EXACT replica!  But it's even better.  Ya know how? It's CHEAPER!  I figure I spent less than $1.00 on the ingredients I used to make this (not counting the...

We've been having a terrible drought here in Missouri.  Just awful.  And yesterday we got the smallest bit of rain, but we did get some good mist and clouds (just a break in the baking heat is enough to be thankful for).  And what does a little bit of "cozy weather" do to me?  Makes me want to cook something, of course!  It wasn't cool outside but inside I was lazy, laying around watching TV, crocheting.  Just looking outside at the mist made me crave fall food.  But, in my laziness I definitely didn't want to go to the store.  I was out of eggs so baking cookies or a cake was out of the question (although I actually could have made my eggless, Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake ).  What could I make?  I always have lots of oats on hand (for making my favorite Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal ), and I had three apples in my fruit bowl starting to look a little puny, so Apple Crisp was on the menu!  I love finding ways to use what...

Hello!   I’m back. Hurray!   This week I’ve received some comments to former posts which made me realize how long it’s been since I’ve posted anything.      Recently I took a new job and that brought lots of sheer exhaustion to my day.   I worked at school for five years which allowed me to be off at 3:00, and then worked for a law firm 8-4 for about four years.   Cutbacks forced me to be laid off at my most recent position which left me landing a very exciting position as a paralegal.   The only problem?   I work 8-5.   I haven’t worked until 5 for years and years.   And since my husband and I commute together, the trip across town to pick him up sometimes takes 30 minutes by itself.   You wouldn’t think an extra 30 minutes tacked on to your day would wear you out but that coupled with leaving early to get us both to work on time has left me exhausted, mentally and physically.   My new job is exciting but taxing and ...