At Home My Way

Trying to get myself a little more organized these days with my cooking and so as not to eat out - hopefully increasing the variety of foods I get to eat from home (avoiding donut shops, etc....), I made these Homemade Waffles on Friday to put in my freezer.  They are FANTASTIC! I've made homemade waffles in the past.  Remember my Pumpkin Waffles ?  Other than the pumpkin waffles which are amazing, I haven't been super blown over by plain waffles after they've been frozen.  Of course, if you drown them in syrup, it doesn't really matter, but I was looking for some really good waffles.  I grew up eating Toaster Waffles (Leggo my Eggo!)  These are just that good!!  YUM! I made a small batch (half of this recipe) but will be making the whole recipe next time.  They are fantastic and I want to be filling up my freezer with these babies. Of course, to me waffles should be crisp so I made mine in a waffle iron and then proceeded to toast them ...

I grew up right in the heart of central Florida, but I now LIVE right in the heart of central Missouri!  This time of year, I ESPECIALLY miss "home" more than ever.  Probably it has something to do with the winter lasting so LONG, that trees are just gray sticks this time of year, and of course there is ice, snow, cold, gray, and very little sunshine.  But, I would have to say it also has to do with not only weather, but differences in food and family.  Pretty much, I just miss everything about being HOME. When we moved here from Florida back in the day, we didn't make much of the difference in how Missourians ate compared to our native Florida.  But as I age I really miss the meals available to me that I have associated with certain memories.  One of those memories is that I always remember the lunches we had when I was growing up.  First of all, we NEVER at out.  Lunch involved either peanut, butter & jelly (no potato chips), hot dogs ...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast at my house complete with lots of family, delicious food, and the best thing we had? - Lots of baby holding!  We have several new baby blessings in my husband's family and thankfully we all got many turns at loving and snuggling the newest additions to our family. But now... Thanksgiving is over.  I still have too many freshly washed, empty casserole dishes and pie plates to return and no energy left to deliver them after I get home. The tables and chairs have been folded and put away.  I have washed and stored the table cloths and fall decor.  What else do I have left?  Lots of leftover TURKEY!! I vowed this year to use up that precious turkey so last night was meal #1 of turkey leftovers.  So far, I made broth with the bones and was able to freeze several servings of turkey for later, saving some turkey for the dumplings and enough to make turkey salad (like chicken salad) for a few lunches this week. My hus...

Breakfast-breakfast; what to have for breakfast?   This morning as I lay in bed, my tummy was already growling - hungry before I even stepped a foot out of bed.  Not a good sign LOL. My best plan of action is always muffins.  They mix up fast and I like them well enough that I don't miss the super size chocolate frosted and vanilla cream filled long john donut that I'm really craving (shhh...)! Back to the muffins... I LOVE pumpkin everything.  I especially love pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and bread.  I tweaked my normal pumpkin chocolate chip muffin this morning and liked it so much that I wanted to share it with you.  I subbed out 1/2 cup of the flour in the recipe for oats  so that I would get a heartier muffin.  I prefer muffins that taste like a muffin and not like a cupcake, ya know??  These muffins have the perfect texture now.  Perfect! Anyway, these muffins are DEEEEE...LICIOUS!  They are lightly spicy and have...

Remember the Strong Man Quilt I made for my niece?  Well, I was right.  Her baby is a strong little man!   This strong little baby decided to make his grand entrance into the world six weeks early. The baby arrived at a wopping 3lb 8 ounces and 17 inches long.  Tiny but healthy! The little booger is strong as an ox! The hospital said they usually keep babies until they are 5 pounds, but this little baby needed nothing from them so they sent him home.   The only thing this little guy really needed  at home was that he had to wear hats to keep his body warm.  My niece commented one day that she only had one hat and that she needed to wash it.  I told her "You needed only to tell me that!  Aunt Gigi and her crochet hook to the rescue!"   Overnight I was able to crochet for him four little hats of various patterns.   I made one like a football (Just a simple double crochet beanie changing colors for the white str...

Years ago, I was a big time reader Taste of Home magazines.  I read them cover to cover and gleaned many wonderful tips and recipes from them.  There were always cute and funny pictures, comments, and memories shared back in the day (before Taste of Home changed to its more recent, more professional format).  It was in one of those magazines that someone shared a picture of their apple pie smiling.  So, being a mom of two little girls, the next time I made an apple pie, I made cuts in the crust to make my own smiling apple pie.  I never made an apple pie after that without giving her a smile. My girls are both now grown.  They can make their own pies in their own kitchens, but once in a while I get to spoil them.  A couple of weeks ago, my college daughter was home and I baked a whole smiling apple pie for her to take back to Kansas City and share with her boyfriend.  She was thrilled!  And just as it was coming out of the oven, my olde...

So... yesterday I posted a recipe for Homemade Tomato Soup .  And you gotta have crackers with tomato soup, right? YUP! This weekend I also tackled my first batch of homemade crackers.  Crackers are one of those "bucket list" recipes for me that not everyone would think to make at home, but I really wanted to try them.  I found my recipe on a favorite, one of the most informative sites ever- The Prudent Homemaker .  This site is a wealth of information for making everything homemade and for all kinds of tips on how to save the hard to earned buck.  I encourage everyone to hope over there and check it out! I was very pleased with the crackers.  They will be a terrific base recipe for adding all kinds of seasonings, oils, cheeses. I made Brandy's basic recipe and added my own twist on seasonings, a little salt, etc.  They turned out GREAT!  The key is to roll them absolutely as thinly as possible.  Note that they don't rise so very li...