At Home My Way

I grew up in central Florida.  I don't remember drinking much of anything EXCEPT sweet tea and the water from the hose outside!  Well,... maybe some Florida orange juice (ha-ha).  Sweet tea was  just one of those things that we always had in the fridge.  And we had NEVER heard of drinking it hot for heaven's sake!  Nor with lemon in it (ick!). Sweet Tea is also the "dish" I have to take to every family dinner.  People sometimes ask, "What are ya famous for at family dinners?"  Well... that would be the sweet tea for me!  How easy is that?  And I never bring home any empty containers so I must be doing something right.  This is how I make Sweet Tea AT HOME MY WAY: Sweet Tea 2 family-size tea bags (I use decaff-generic) 4 cups of hot water A medium sized pot (you will need a lid) 3/4 to 1 cup of granulated white sugar  ( Personally, I use just a little more than 3/4 cup - because as i...

We're talking super cheap breakfast here!  Oatmeal!  After weeks of 100+ weather here in Missouri, this week we have had the most wonderful weather!  Yesterday it only got up to 74 degrees!  Loved that!  And after lots of heat and no rain, a cool, cloudy morning rejuvenated my craving for oatmeal. And there's absolutely NO REASON to buy those little packets.  Truly, oatmeal is easy and quick without little packets. You just don't get much cheaper than oatmeal.  A huge container of oats costs about $1.50.  I make mine with one-half milk; one-half water, a little cinnamon, and whatever fruit I have on hand, in the freezer or maybe none at all.  I'm guessing this breakfast only costs pennies!  Mine cooks while I'm packing my lunch and getting ready for work.  I would say its almost as fast as pouring a bowl of cereal.  (One tiny hint:  I keep a 1/4 cup measuring cup in my oatmeal container.) Here's how I make oatm...

This weekend we went to a local butcher shop to buy meat.  Its called Jennings Premium Meats and all they sell is meat.  Well..they also sell. a little cheese and jerky, pickles, stuff like that but mostly meat.  The men in there were just going crazy buying stuff and my husband was just like all the others in there.  When we got to the counter I commented to the owner that his shop was was like Victoria Secret for men!  The other wife in line agreed with me and we both got a good laugh! Saturday night we put delicous pork chops on the grill.  I have to admit, they were awesome!  And much better than the meat I get at the most famous big box store.  Sunday my hubby wanted a big huge hamburger.  Well... I'm not a fan of "big huge hamburgers".  A little meat goes a long way with me so I decided to try to find a recipe for homemade Manwich.  I already make Sloppy Joes and those are delicious! But that's a different ta...

I spent yesterday cooking lots of recipes that I already have posted.  But they bear repeating because they are delicious.  I like to have some homemade bread for my sandwiches (I say MY because my husband prefers the store bread that is as soft as cake (ick) and I wanted something a little more toothy for my garden tomato sandwiches ha!) so I made a wheat/molasses version of my Homemade Sandwich Bread .  (I used 2 cups all-purpose non-bleached white flour with 1 cup of whole wheat flour and substituted molasses for the sugar in the loaf I made.  This picture is not the loaf I made yesterday.) We were barbequing one piece of steak and a few chicken tenders I found in my freezer for supper so I also made a loaf of Crusty French Bread .  It turns out just perfect!  I'm thinking I might put a few loaves of this in my freezer for using to make garlic bread (instead of buying those premade loaves of french bread at the grocery store). Also, for my ...

Sunday I put a little ham in my crockpot (... because my husband LOVES ham) but since he totally wears the rest of us OUT on ham, I decided to also bake a meatloaf.  I don't make those very often because I haven't always found a recipe that turns out so great.  But, I hit the mother load this time!  This meatloaf is delicious!  The loaf tastes great and the sauce is even better!  Thick and rich and yummy!  I did bake this in a meatloaf pan (the loafpan itself has an insert with another loafpan that has little holes for drainage in it).  I don't have a picture for this.  My pictures don't always look great and there was just no way to get a good picture of the meatloaf.  But the taste?  Oh my!!!!  It's terrific and I know that if you have meatloaf lovers in your family, this will be "the go-to" recipe for you! Here's how I made the "Best Meatloaf Ever" AT HOME MY WAY: Best Meatloaf Ever 1 1/2 lbs ground beef 1...

One of my most favorite blogs is www.joyinmykitchen.blogspot.com .  She always makes lots of "real" food and always cooks in a healthy way.  She inspires me when I can think of nothing to cook! I tried one of her recipes this week as I made Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki!  It was a huge success!  It was not sweet at all and made a great "take out chinese food" meal at home.  I think you could sweeten it up by increasing the honey but we liked it just like it turned out.  The sauce was rich and thick, thanks to the corn starch, and we loved it! SnoWhite at Finding Joy in my Kitchen used only chicken legs when she made this dish.  Some of the members of my family prefer only white meat so I used both legs and boneless, skinless chicken tenders that you buy in the bag frozen.  Since they were tenders, I didn't thaw them first but if you are using a large piece of meat, you should start with thawed meat.  The legs, however, WERE thawed ...

Crockpot Lasagna Made with Uncooked Pasta! I LOVE meals that I can throw together in the morning and have ready pretty much as soon as I open my front door!  I've discovered that some crockpot meals are more of a "finished product" with less added cooking to get the meal ready and this is one of those meals.  My daughter suggested we try this method - making lasagna with jarred sauce, cheese, and uncooked pasta!  We really didn't know how this would turn out.  But it was fabulous!  Perfect!  We loved it!  Definitely we will be making it all the time. Here's how I made Crockpot Lasana Made with Uncooked Pasta AT HOME MY WAY: Crockpot Lasagna with Uncooked Pasta 1 large jar of your favorite pasta sauce (or 3-4 cups of your favorite homemade sauce) 1/2 of this jar - water Ground beef/italian sausage, whatever you like (I used about 1 pound of burger) Lasagna pasta (uncooked) Salt Cheese (we usually only use mozzer...