Tag: homemade

Beef and Barley Soup in the Instant Pot

Post author By KS
Post date December 3, 2023
1 Comment on Beef and Barley Soup in the Instant Pot

Fall and winter are the perfect times to make soups and stews. They’re hearty with meats, vegetables, and grains. Plus, they warm you up when it’s chilly out. Recently I made this beef and barley soup in the Instant Pot. However, you can make it on the stove. Also, it only serves 4 people. So, if you want leftovers or you’re serving more people, just double the recipe.

Ingredients for Beef and Barley Soup in the Instant Pot

~ 12 oz beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 c water
1 of each, onion and celery, chopped
4 tsp beef bouillon
1 tbsp fresh minced garlic
1 c frozen mixed vegetables
14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 medium potato, washed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
and 1/2 c quick cooking barley

Beef and Barley Soup in the Instant Pot Instructions

First, add the oil to your Instant Pot, press the Sauté function, and add your garlic. After a couple of minutes add the beef, onion, and celery. And sauté for ~ 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Next, add the remaining ingredients. Then secure the lid, moving the valve to the sealing position. Further, hit Cancel and either hit Manual or Pressure Cook for 20 minutes. When it’s finished, allow Instant Pot a 15-minute natural release, (meaning you do nothing for 15 minutes) followed by a quick release.
And finally, serve immediately.

The original recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook 12th edition, I think from 2002. But I’m not exactly sure on the date, since the copyright page is missing from my book. And it’s not online. Though, if you’re interested, you can get the cookbook on Amazon or another online bookstore.

I don’t use barley much. Truthfully I forget about it. However, I enjoy it in soup when I do remember it. What’s your favorite soup during winter?

Thank you for reading my post. Please like, share, and if you don’t already do so, you can follow me now.

Tags cold weather food, electric pressure cooker, foodie, homemade, homemade soup, instant pot, recipe

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Recipe for Cranberry Fruit Salad

Post author By KS
Post date November 15, 2023
No Comments on Recipe for Cranberry Fruit Salad

After looking for a particular recipe online a few years ago, I started getting tons of recipe emails from Southern Living. Unfortunately I don’t have time to go through every recipe email I receive. But, because I’m always looking for something new, I still go through the holiday emails. Well, it was 2 years ago that I tried a recipe for cranberry fruit salad during Thanksgiving. And it was all thanks to Southern Living that it’s now part of our Thanksgiving meal.

However, it can be part of really any meal, or served as dessert. But, because it’s cranberry-themed, you might choose to just have it around the holidays. Plus, it tastes absolutely delicious. And I’m sure it will become one of your family’s favorites as well.

Ingredients for Cranberry Fruit Salad:

32 oz fresh cranberries
3/4 c Truvia
1 c fresh orange juice
1 c drained maraschino cherries
4 Bartlett pears, peeled and chopped
1 can each drained mandarin oranges and pineapple tidbits

Instructions for Cranberry Fruit Salad:

Bring the first 3 ingredients and 1 c water to a boil in a large pot over med-hi heat. And stir often. Then reduce heat to medium, and simmer.
Continue to stir occasionally, 20-25 minutes or until cranberries pop and mixture thickens.
Next, remove from heat, and allow mixture to stand for ~ 15 minutes. Then stir in the cherries and the rest of the ingredients. Transfer to a bowl. Finally, cover and chill 2-12 hours.

Regrettably, when I went back through my food emails, to link to the original recipe, I could no longer find said recipe on Southern Living. It literally says “page not found” on the Southern Living website. Regardless, it was published November 2020. However, I think the recipe was called Old School Cranberry Salad, since I found a similar recipe on this site. Moreover, here are more cranberry salad options to choose from.

What’s your favorite recipe for cranberry sauce? Thanks for stopping by! Please like and share, and if you don’t already follow, you can do so now.

Tags cranberry salad, holiday food, homemade, Thanksgiving

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Recipe for Sautéed Brussel Sprouts with Garlic

Post author By KS
Post date March 18, 2023
2 Comments on Recipe for Sautéed Brussel Sprouts with Garlic

There are many tricks to making Brussel sprouts palatable. But I haven’t tried them all. However, once I tried the one below, it’s been my go-to for difficult flavored veggies. Thus, this recipe for sautéed Brussel sprouts with garlic is a great base for many vegetables. Plus, it’s easy to make. And you could also incorporate it with different additions, if you want. Try it and see if you don’t like it.

Ingredients for Sautéed Brussel Sprouts with Garlic:

2 lb package of pre-washed Brussel sprouts
1 tbsp fresh minced garlic
~ 2 tbsp each avocado oil and salted butter
and ~ 1/2 – 1 tsp garlic salt

Recipe for Sautéed Brussel Sprouts with Garlic Instructions:

First, cut the Brussel sprouts in half lengthwise before placing in a microwave safe casserole dish.
Next, add 2 tbsp of water to Brussel sprouts, cover with plastic wrap, and steam in microwave for 5 – 6 minutes.
Then, before turning stove on medium heat, add avocado oil and butter in the pan. After draining water from Brussel sprouts, place those in pan as well.
At that point, sprinkle fresh minced garlic and garlic salt over Brussel sprouts. And stir.
Continue stirring occasionally. Further, cook for only 5-10 minutes, depending on how firm or soft you want them to be.
Finally, remove from heat, and serve with your favorite meal.

So, you might be wondering where I got this particular recipe. Well, as it happens, a friend Hannah’s (20 year old daughter), made a different vegetable, and seasoned it in this way. Therefore, I thought, why not Brussel sprouts? And the rest is history…

Many thanks for reading this. Please comment and share. And if you don’t already follow me, please do so.

Tags avocado oil, DIY recipes, easy to make food, fresh garlic, homemade

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Yummy Sweet Potato Pie Recipe

Post author By KS
Post date November 23, 2022
No Comments on Yummy Sweet Potato Pie Recipe

Below is a yummy sweet potato pie recipe that I used when I first swapped baking sweet potato pie over pumpkin pie. It was Thanksgiving 2021, a year after one of my neighbor’s brought us some to try. And I knew I just had to make one myself.

So I did, and I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to pumpkin pie again. You might be wondering why. The recipe isn’t easier, unless you use canned yams, which I don’t. But I’m not sure why yet, because we use canned pumpkin when baking pumpkin pie. However, I think right now it’s just a mental thing. Really I prefer this over pumpkin because of the taste. Sweet potato pie is just creamier than pumpkin. And I think it has something to do with the brown butter.

Ingredients for Sweet Potato Pie:

1 pkg of refrigerated piecrusts
1/2 cup of butter
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole cloves
4 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes; 1lb equals 1 cup mashed
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c Truvia
4 large eggs, beaten
2 tsp each vanilla ext and lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt

Instructions for Sweet Potato Pie:

Preheat oven to 350°. Fit each piecrust into a 9-inch pie pan. And prick the bottoms of crusts several times with a fork, line the piecrusts with parchment paper; and fill with either pie weights or dried beans. Bake in preheated oven ~ 15 minutes, or till slightly golden. Then remove weights or beans and parchment, and cool ~ an hour.
After crusts have cooled, preheat oven to 350°. And melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add cinnamon stick and cloves. Cook, stirring periodically, until foam from butter wanes and the butter darkens and smells fragrant. Then remove from heat, and pour through a fine wire strainer over a bowl. Toss out the cinnamon stick and cloves.
Next, beat brown butter, mashed sweet potatoes, condensed milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Then measure out mixture evenly between the 2 piecrusts. And bake on middle rack in preheated oven until the filling is slightly puffed and set, ~ 45 minutes. If the crust gets too dark, loosely cover with aluminum foil. Then cool at least one hour before serving.

As you can see, you would have to cook the sweet potatoes beforehand, which makes this recipe take longer than pumpkin pie. Though, if you wanted, I’m sure you could substitute canned yams for fresh. However, I have no idea how it would compare to this recipe in the taste department. But it would be worth it, I think, to at least try it. Also, if you want to substitute sugar for Truvia, just double it to one cup.

For those who are interested, here is the original recipe from Southern Living. What’s your favorite pie to make and eat for Thanksgiving? Thank you for reading this! Please like and share, and if you don’t do so already, you can follow me now.

Tags brown butter, homemade, sweet potato pie, Thanksgiving recipes

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Egg Burritos

Post author By KS
Post date July 23, 2022
No Comments on Egg Burritos

Egg burritos can be very diverse. You can make them with beans, pork, or chicken. And you can top them with a variety of choices. However this recipe is really quite simple. Although, you can spruce it up if you want to. But it tastes quite good on its own.

Ingredients for Egg Burritos

8 eggs
~ 1/4 cup whipping cream
6 La Tortilla Factory light flour tortillas
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2-3 tbsp salted butter
~ 3-5 oz queso fresco cheese
2-3 oz of guacamole

Instructions for Burritos

First, beat eggs in bowl; add whipping cream and beat some more. Then beat in salt and pepper.
Next, melt 1-2 tbsp of butter over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp more of butter just before pouring egg mixture.
Then scramble eggs till light and fluffy. Add cheese before eggs are completely done.
Remove pan from heat. And microwave the tortillas, and then assemble burritos; top with guacamole.

Thank you for reading this post. If you made this recipe, please let me know what you thought.

If you like this post, please like, share, and please don’t forget to follow!

Tags egg burritos, eggs, homemade

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Easy Recipe for Breakfast Burritos

Post author By KS
Post date June 25, 2022
1 Comment on Easy Recipe for Breakfast Burritos

One of my favorite meals of the day is breakfast. Especially on the weekends, because it doesn’t have to be rushed. And since we have chickens, you can imagine we make a lot of meals with eggs. You tend to get creative if you have backyard birds. However, we don’t go overboard. So below you’ll find an easy recipe for breakfast burritos.

Further, I made them differently than I usually do. Rather than topping them off with salsa and cheese, I sautéed fresh veggies. And that made them taste amazing. I hope you enjoy.

Ingredients for Easy Breakfast Burritos

6 La Tortilla Factory light flour tortillas
8 eggs
~ 1/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp salt, divided
1/4 tsp pepper, divided
1 bell pepper, sliced and de-seeded
1 sliced onion
1/2 cup cherub tomatoes, sliced in half
~ 3 tbsp butter
and 8 oz breakfast sausage

Instructions for Easy Breakfast Burritos

First, melt 1 tbsp butter in a frying pan over medium heat, and add sausage; cooking over medium heat. And use the back of a spoon to break it into smaller pieces.
Then, when the meat is mostly brown and only a little pink remains, add another tbsp butter to a second frying pan on medium heat.
Next, add onion, bell pepper, and divided salt and pepper. Then lower temperature to medium-low or low, and cover with a lid.
Beat eggs in a bowl; add whipping cream and beat some more. Then beat in salt and pepper.
Next, remove cooked sausage from first frying pan, and place in a bowl; cover. Then add last tbsp of butter to that frying pan, and pour egg mixture into already heated frying pan. And scramble eggs on medium heat.
When eggs are almost cooked through, add the tomatoes to the sautéed vegetables. Then, once the eggs are done, combine vegetables and sausage with the eggs.
Finally, soften your tortillas, and then assemble your breakfast burritos. Mine looked more like tacos. But that’s because they were so full.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! If you made this recipe, tell me what you think. Do you make your own version of breakfast burritos? And if so, how do you cook them, or what toppings do you use?

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Tags breakfast burritos, eggs, homemade, sausage

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How to Make a Fruit Compote

Post author By KS
Post date April 3, 2022
No Comments on How to Make a Fruit Compote

It’s probable that you’ve tried compote, which can be incorporated with diverse foods. You can eat it over ice cream, yogurt, and oatmeal. Likewise, spread it on other breakfast items, such as pancakes, waffles, and French toast. Or mix it as a filling for desserts, including cakes, or as a topping for cheesecakes. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I need to first tell you how to make a fruit compote.

With fruit compote you can use really any fruit: frozen, fresh, or dried. However, you might find that berries seem to work best. They’re bite size, easy to clean, and you don’t have to cut them up. My personal favorites are blueberries and blackberries. And I have used both fresh and frozen, whichever I have on hand. Though, for this particular recipe, I bought fresh blueberries.

Also, with fruit compote, you need a sweetener, like sugar, Truvia, or something similar. I used Truvia, so I adjusted the amount needed. And you need a thickening agent, like corn starch, added with water. Those are the basic ingredients. But now we’re going to add them all together.

Fruit Compote Ingredients

4 cups of blueberries
1/4 c of Truvia or 1/2 c sugar
4 tsp of corn starch and 4 tsp of water
pinch of allspice, cinnamon, and salt

Fruit Compote Instructions

In a medium saucepan, combine the ingredients, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer, covered 3 minutes or until thick.
If you want to take the pan off the heat at this point, you can; I don’t. I let it stay on low heat with the lid off, to get more syrupy for ~ 10 more minutes. Stir occasionally; then remove from heat.
Serve as an accompaniment to breakfast, like pancakes, waffles, or French toast. Or add to yogurt, shakes, oatmeal, or even on top of ice cream.

Whatever you put this fruit compote on will taste amazing. I can promise you that! Just give it a try. Plus, it’s so easy to make.

Thanks for stopping by! If you enjoyed this post, please like, post a comment, share, and please don’t forget to follow!

Tags easy diy recipes, fruit compote, homemade

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Easy Homemade French Toast Recipe

Post author By KS
Post date March 27, 2022
2 Comments on Easy Homemade French Toast Recipe

There are a number of different breads you can choose from when making French toast. I’ve used French bread, Ezekiel bread, and raisin bread. And I’ve even had it prepared with Challah bread. But for an easy homemade French toast recipe, you can just use the loaf you have at home.

Furthermore, you can make French toast in the oven, in a casserole, on a griddle, or in a frying pan. However, for this recipe, I used a griddle. In addition, it’s non-stick, so you don’t have to use cooking spray, butter, or oil. Thus, if you’re wanting to get crisp French toast, use an electric griddle; or invest in one and try it out, without the butter, non-stick spray, or oil.

Ingredients for Easy Homemade French Toast Recipe:

1 Loaf of bread (I used Oroweat 100% wheat bread)
8 eggs
1/4 – 1/2 c of Half n half or heavy whipping cream (I used heavy cream)
1 tsp Vanilla
1/8 tsp Allspice
3/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Salt

Instructions for Easy Homemade French Toast:

In a medium bowl, whisk all of the ingredients, except the bread, together.
Heat a griddle to 350°; after about 15 mins, water droplets on it should sizzle, but not dissolve. So, if that’s what happens, then your griddle is ready. If water dissolves, then turn the temperature down.
Dip slices of bread, one at a time, into the batter; don’t let the bread sit in the batter for long, just make sure both sides have batter, then put dipped slices onto heated griddle.
Cook the battered slices of bread for a couple of minutes; then flip. They should be golden brown. Cook for another couple of minutes before transferring to a plate.

This recipe is ideal if you don’t have sourdough or white bread at home, as it just uses what you have on hand. Since it’s essential that you don’t soak the slices in the batter, that’s the secret to coming up with this quick and easy recipe for French toast.

Thanks for stopping by! If you enjoyed this, please like, post a comment, share, and please don’t forget to follow!

Tags breakfast food, easy diy recipes, homemade

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Easy White Chicken Chili

My parents were both realtors when I was growing up in Dallas. And each year the Collin County Association of Realtors had a chili cook-off in the spring, which my parents participated in. But most of the entries, if not all of them, were classic chili. However, now that I cook, I know there are so many more choices out there. Although, the first time I made this easy white chicken chili was just a couple of years ago.

I think the main difference with this and classic chili is obviously one is white, while the other is red. But the other main difference is in this recipe, the meat, or chicken, has to be pre-cooked. And you can cook it pretty much any way you want to; including buying a roasted chicken and shredding the meat.

Ingredients for Easy White Chicken Chili:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
6 cups chicken broth
1 chopped onion
1 tbsp dried cilantro
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp each red pepper sauce and salt
11 oz white shoepeg or whole kernel corn, drained
1 can each (15 or 16oz) great northern beans and butter or lima beans, drained
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts
crushed tortilla chips
1 fresh diced tomato
chopped green onion
shredded Mexican blend cheese
sour cream or Greek non-fat plain yogurt

Instructions for White Chili:

First, heat olive oil in 4 quart Dutch oven over medium heat. Then cook onion and garlic in oil. And stir intermittently, until onions are cooked through.
Next, add the rest of the ingredients, aside from the chicken. Stir and heat to boiling.
Then reduce heat, and simmer uncovered ~ 20 minutes.
After that, stir in the chicken, still simmering until hot.

At this point the white chicken chili is finished. However, no chili is complete without toppings. Thus, add some shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips, chopped green onions, fresh diced tomatoes, and sour cream.

Similarly with my Cincinnati-style chili, I found this originally in Betty Crocker’s Cookbook, 9th edition, which was printed in 2000. And again there isn’t a link online, but if you’re interested, you could probably find it at Etsy, Ebay, or something similar.

Thanks for stopping by! If you enjoyed this post, please like, comment, share, and please don’t forget to follow!

Tags comfort food, easy diy recipes, homemade, white chili

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How to Make a Bakery Style Cake

Post author By KS
Post date October 31, 2021
2 Comments on How to Make a Bakery Style Cake

Photo by Taryn Elliott on Pexels.com

Not only is October full of family birthdays, but then there’s Halloween. And this year I also had the pleasure of baking a baby shower cake for friend at work. I volunteered to do it, and although I planned on a box cake the whole time, I wanted it to taste better than boxed. So I practiced with my ingredients. Thus this is one way how to make a bakery style cake.

My daughter Hannah helped me by decorating the cake. Since we both work during the week, I baked the actual cake and made the frosting. That way she could just decorate and not stress about it.

She wanted to get new pans for the project, so we got 8×3 in and 6×3 in pans for a tiered cake. And while we were getting pans, we bought all of the other items we would need for the cake: fondant, stencil shapes, food coloring, 3 box cakes, etc.

Suggestions for Making a Bakery Style Cake

Since the cake I ended up preparing was a baby shower cake, that’s the recipe I’m going to use. But there are a lot of good sources out there on how to make bakery style cakes. Or on what you can add to your cakes. Also, because the cake was two tiered, I made the smaller layer a yellow cake, and the bottom layer was chocolate.

Ingredients for a bakery style yellow cake

1 box of yellow cake mix
3/4 c of water
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
7 tbsp of melted butter
1 small pkg of instant vanilla pudding mix
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 tsp of salt

Instructions for a bakery style yellow cake

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray your pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Mix all of your ingredients together with a mixer until mixed. But don’t overmix.
With a 1-cup measuring cup, pour 3 cups of cake batter into the 6×3 in pan.
And cook 40-45 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Now we’ll move onto the chocolate layer.

Ingredients for a bakery style chocolate cake

2 boxes of chocolate cake mix
2 cups of coffee
6 eggs
1 egg yolk
2/3 c melted butter
1 small pkg of instant chocolate pudding mix
a handful of chocolate chips

Instructions for a bakery style chocolate cake

Your oven should be heated.
Spray your pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Mix all of the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, with a beater until combined.
Then, when you’re ready, lightly dust the chocolate chips with flour before adding them to your batter.
And measure 5 cups of chocolate cake batter into the 8×3 in pan.
Finally, bake for 55-60 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let the cakes cool completely before putting them together. And then frost with your favorite buttercream frosting.

This is the top of the cake when it was finally put together and decorated.

I found a great chart to help if you ever need to know how much batter to add to your cake pans. Normally you have 9×13 or standard round cake pans. And regular box cakes will fill those just fine with no issues. However if you upgrade your cake, you might discover that you have more batter, and thus they’ll overflow if you don’t measure the batter out.

This is the front view of the baby shower cake.

How to Make a Bakery Style Cake Every Time

So I just gave you 2 recipes or suggestions on how to upgrade the box cake. But now I’ll give you more tips so your cake will taste great and be fluffy.

Always switch out melted butter for oil
Add 1 or 2 extra egg yolks
If you have a chocolate cake, use coffee instead of water
If using another brand, other than Duncan Hines, add 1 cup of sour cream
Add a small pkg of instant pudding mix to the batter; the flavor of the pudding to match the cake
And you can also add nuts, coconut, chocolate chips, and even fruit to your batter
But one of the best things you can do, to make your cake taste awesome, is to frost it with homemade frosting

Thanks for stopping by! And if you enjoyed this post, please like, post a comment, and share it with others.

Tags baby shower cake, diy bakery style cakes, homemade, upgrade box cake