Bless My Heart I Married A Yankee

OK, I know with that title you are wondering what the heck.  Well, believe it or not, this is a great way to not waste and you can use dried citrus peel in so many ways. USAGES  You can make homemade instant mulling spices. You can put some peels in a pot with water and slowly warm to make your house smell wonderful. You can put some in your trash can to eliminate nasty odors. You can infuse oil with citrus peel. You can put some in a spray bottle full of water for cleaning purposes. You can put it in hot tea. Put some in your bird feeder.  Birds are hungry too, especially in the winter time. Would you believe dried orange peel is a great fire starter?  Well, it is.    Bug repellent. Make a body scrub with some ground citrus peels.  Just add some to Epsom salt.   Add some to coconut oil for a nice way to soften and hydrate your skin. Candy your peels and use for as garnish for a dessert.   See I am not crazy after all.  This is only a few ways to use dried ci

I need to admit that I have only made this dish twice.  The first time was an epic fail and I never thought I would attempt to make it again.  However, that changed when I was talking to one of our friends about it.  He makes it and they all love it.  Since I can not stand to fail at anything I cook, this challenged me to try once again. Shepherd's pie is all about flavor and taste.  If you do not nail the seasonings you will only have a bland mess of a meal.  Who likes bland?  I do not.  Some people might but I like flavor.  That was my problem when I first made this meal.  It had no taste.   As I said, I was determined this one would be spectacular.  Again it is about the seasoning and lord knows you have to have a good mash potato mixture to top it with.   I went a bit overboard on this recipe but that worked because I totally nailed it this time.  By overboard, I mean I really thought it out, took my time, and made sure to taste and taste again.  I say that b

I have not posted much lately and for that, I apologize to all of you.  My computer has been messed up and it is really hard to do this on my kindle.  However, this recipe is so good I had to suffer and type this up. Have you ever made something that is so good that you can not wait to share it with someone? Well, this is one of those recipes.  This is one of those recipes that will knock your socks off, well if you are wearing socks.  Here it is cold so I am wearing socks but I have no clue where you live.  You might be in a tropical climate and have a bathing suit on.  If you are, I am just saying I am jealous.  We might have snow here this weekend.  With that said, in my neck of the woods, if they even mention snow, you will not find bread or milk anywhere.  Oh well, I digress.  Doesn't everyone love bacon?  It is not just a man thing!  Bacon is sinfully good.  This time of the year I love warm food.  After all, baby, it is cold outside.  I also have more time than norma

I do not even know where or how to begin.  I mean, this day has been crazy.  Have you ever had one of those days where you have no clue how you have had the energy to do anything because you have had like zero sleep?   Let me tell you how it began.  Which means I have to go back to last night.  I was tired but I could not sleep so I went into the bedroom to watch a Christmas movie.  At 11:01 pm, Scott came to bed and I cut off the lights. Cut and dry, right?  Well, NO.  I woke up 5 times or more between the time the lights went out till 3:03 am.  So help me I am not lying.  As I was laying there at 3:03 am  trying to go back to sleep... BOOM!!!  Yep, you heard me or read that correctly.  There was a loud boom in my house.  It sounded like a door being slammed rather loudly.  I screamed to Scott that someone had just slammed a door.  Why in the world I felt I had to scream is beyond me considering he was right beside me.   We both get up and starting turning on lights and try t

I do not know if you have ever heard of pimento cheese but in my neck of the woods, it is one of the best spreads for a sandwich.  Oh yeah, it is a simple but good ole thing here in the South.   I think I have loved pimento cheese since birth.  Well, it sure does seem like it.  I have never really given it much thought.  I mean it is sharp cheddar cheese shredded, mayo, chopped pimentos, and a few spices and voila you have it.  However, I have heard many people that are not from the South think it is a very weird combination.  I guess it is if you did not grow up on it.  Here in the South, it is a tradition.  It is simply delicious.  Oh me, oh my, it is mmm mmm good.   Before making homemade pimento cheese, I was rather picky about which brand I would buy.  Since I was the one I would buy was not cheap.  I never could understand why it was so expensive until I started making it myself.  I figured out why it was so costly when I went to buy the ingredients.  Cheese, mayo, and pi

I do not know if you have ever had IKEA's Swedish meatballs BUT if you have this is the recipe for you.  If you have not tried it anyway.  It is such a good recipe.   I have made it several times in the past and I keep on tweaking it to make it taste better.  I am not calling it a copycat recipe because it is not entirely to the same flavor as the ones from IKEA but it is still excellent and lord knows I love meatballs.   This dish is so great served with egg noodles and a side of green peas.  Well, I love sweet peas but a lot of people do not so you can serve it with any veggie you wish.   We had friends stop by and I have to apologize I did not get a picture of this plated.  That is because the entire skillet of food kind of disappeared quicker then I thought it would.  I think that is called a winning meal.  I normally gather my ingredients together first and go from there.   Combine ground beef with, allspice, nutmeg, garlic powder, parsley, ground black p

A few years back I found a recipe for Salisbury Steak.  At first, I was a bit skeptical because my thoughts drifted back to the horrible TV dinners that had this nasty piece of some kind of meat they called steak with an equally gross gravy.  As I was reading recipes I remembered a hamburger steak recipe I was given about 20 years ago that had a mushroom gravy.  I really enjoyed that recipe and as I was looking and comparing the recipes I realized this might be really good.  I made this dish for Scott.  I had no clue how he would feel about it but he LOVED it.   For some reason, this dish is a fall or a winter dish in my mind.  Please, you do not have to have my feelings.  It is a great dish but with it being such a warm dish I like it better in cooler or cold months because it warms your bones.  I know it would be really good to fix in the warmer months too.   You will need some time to make this recipe the way I make it but honestly, you do not have to let it cook as long on