At Home My Way

My niece is due to have a baby boy soon.  We're all getting very excited! This past Saturday was their baby shower. I like to sew something special for baby gifts when I can and I knew I wanted to make something tailored especially for her. My niece told me once she really likes "repurposed" things and my initial thought was to make her baby quilt with soft flannel shirts that I picked up at the thrift store since she would really have liked that kind of fabric even better than anything I could buy new at Joann's. My niece is very artistic.  She has tremendous talent.  She painted this incredible Batman mural on her nephew's bedroom wall.  It's a view of Gotham City and it takes my breath way.  She is also one incredible little tattoo artist. I knew I really had to up my game with whatever I decided to make for her!    I have no doubt that my niece will be the very best mother.  She has a heart of gold and more comp...

I typically am a sweet breakfast eater.  I usually have stuff like  blueberry muffins , chocolate chip baked oatmeal , granola as cold cereal , or donuts (LOL) but this weekend I tried something different (for me).   I've been reading about breakfast burritos in many of my favorite blogs.  There are lots of variations to pick.  Some use potatoes, some use sausage, all use eggs and sometimes cheese. One of the blogs I was reading suggested just using whatever you want in there with the eggs, including black beans and vegetables.  Another "duh" moment for me. Sounded like a great idea!   I really wanted to spend the extra long weekend getting some food prepped for our lunches and breakfasts. Breakfast burritos sounded like a great option for any meal and especially good for keeping in the freezer as my own "fast food". I was thrilled with my breakfast burritos!  I don't often eat scrambled eggs, although I don't dislike them as long as the...

I have this thing for REALLY GOOD ice cream, made with REALLY GOOD ingredients.  I saw an experiment on one of my favorite blogs which showed that most cartons of ice cream sold in the freezer section of your favorite grocery store, even the ones with basic, wholesome ingredients, will not melt when left out of the freezer.  The stuff just shrinks a little bit and doesn't turn to liquid.  ???  Strange... See this POST at Heavenly Homemaker where Laura experimented using homemade ice cream and two kinds of store bought ice cream.  After 72 hours, both of the cartons of store bought ice cream had still not melted.  Eeek!  Something about that really bugs me. Ice cream is one of those things that I never buy at the store any more.  I have one of these Cuisinart countertop ice cream makers which doesn't need ice or salt: I normally make Super Simple Vanilla ice cream or chocolate ice cream.  This weekend I made Homemade Bu...

I work with a bunch of young lawyers in my office who are about the age of my older daughter.  They are most always a complete joy to work around.  I'm not a fan of working outside my home and I often PROTEST to my family loudly my dislike for working LOL, but the people I work with are the best! I have worked a very long time- just about 30 years long to be exact!  It seems like times are a changing.  Used to, everyone ate out for lunch.  They ate fast food, grocery store take-out, and some even went to sit down restaurants and diners.  Lately, LOTS of my friends at work bring lunch from home, even these young men lawyers!  Gotta love that! I am always intrigued by the cooking skills of these young men.  They are making their moms and dads proud, obviously!  My husband, who just turned 50, would NEVER be bringing his own cooking for lunch, nor would it be anything close to the delicious and well balanced meals, heavy on vegetables, t...

This past Friday, my daughter and her boyfriend were coming in from KC for a visit.  What to make???   I decided to try a recipe that I found in my hoard of paper recipes.  I often sit in my recliner just paging them through checking out whatever I might have missed.  (It's one of my favorite past times - I'm a little weird like that LOL.)  I found a recipe for a "Chocolate Icebox Pie" that sounded good.  I decided to increase the cream cheese to more equal the recipe for my  Ditch the Box - No Bake Homemade Cheesecake recipe here  which I knew was a guaranteed success: This no-bake Chocolate Cheesecake recipe was super easy to whip up and was super delicious!  The boyfriend really LOVED it!  I also loved it!  It reminded me of a Wendy's Frosty-Mmmm.   The chocolate in this cheesecake is chocolate syrup.  Of course, I used my Homemade Chocolate Syrup but by all means, use the store bought kind if that's t...

Our weather has been pretty much perfect here in Missouri for gardening!  I didn't plant a garden this year but that hasn't stopped the abundance of cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, and squash that we have been eating.  Seems like everyone is giving me vegetables and I'm not turning ANY AWAY! Personally, I've never been able to grow much zucchini because of the stinking (literally because they really stink when you smash them-eek!) squash bugs, groundhogs, and deer in our yard, but other people seem to really have the touch.  I was given a few of those beautiful, green, mammoth giants and I couldn't wait to dive in on some of my favorite zucchini recipes. I remember growing up when my mom used to make a chocolate zucchini cake.  Mmmm!  I love that cake and I consider it a special summer treat!  Since it's just Doug and I at home most of the time these days, I decided to try my hand at a smaller recipe to get my chocolate/zucchini fix instead of making...

Baked Oatmeal as Muffins   Sometimes, when you think your kids are never listening and will never listen, they surprise you!   I had one of those moments this week.  I've always been the kind of mom who worked really hard to offer the best choices for meals, packed lunches, breakfasts.  I started out slow like most young cooks.  I haven't always made Homemade Sandwich Bread - I stocked up at the local bread outlet store just like everybody else.  I haven't always made Homemade Hot Poc kets - I bought the ones in the frozen foods section of my local grocery store.  But I have always encouraged my kids to eat at home over eating out; to eat the least sugared breakfasts they can reasonably enjoy; to drink less soda, stuff like that.  Now have they always embraced my choices for them?  Big FAT NO! My older child used to rail on me when she was in middle school because so & so's mom let them eat McDonalds and Ke...