Bless My Heart I Married A Yankee

Butternut squash is such a nice squash to have with your dinner. The flavor is similar to a sweet potato but not really.  You can do so many things with one.  That is part of the reason we normally grow them.  Plus it is awesome that you can keep them in a cool dark place and they will last almost all winter.   One of my favorite ways to eat one is cooked.  I like it plainly cooked.  Add a bit of butter and you have a really delicious side dish.  Well, I have been known to eat half of one for lunch before.  If you want to sweeten it up you can add some brown sugar.  It really is similar to a sweet potato in goodness but entirely a vegetable that holds its own. Let us be serious here.  There are times that our lives just are too busy to do good ole cooking.  You know, down-home cooking. The kind that takes a bit of time.  That is why it is nice to have a microwave.  My life is extremely busy and there are day...

I love to make chicken or pork chops with Shake and Bake.  I love the flavor and the crunch factor.  Yeah, when I first started using Shake and Bake it was for convenience sake.  My kids were little and I needed to make a good main dish quickly.  Now that they are adults, I still love this stuff.  Now, Scott is not as thrilled with it as I am but that is OK.  We do not need to have the same tastes.  Since learning that I can make a lot of the stuff you can buy in a store, I have really taken hold of making my own stuff.  Shake and Bake is one of the many but I think my version has a better taste than the one you can buy at the grocery store.   Even better about making this is the fact most people that cook with herbs will have everything in their cabinets.  It is simple and easy to make.  You really can not go wrong in making this and having it on hand.   First, gather all your spices.   ...

I have made this before but it was for a canning recipe.  It turned out great when canned but I had some peppers that needed to be used up before the wilted and turned bad.  Goes back to trying to use stuff we have on hand and use meat out of the freezers.   Stuffed peppers were something I grew up hating!  I just said that but do not allow that to turn you off to this post. As an adult, I love a good stuffed pepper.  One of my favorite ways to eat them is Mexican style.   I think stuffed peppers is a type of comfort food to warm the bones.  Talking about warming your bones, soup is another way to do that.  I love soup of almost any kind, especially in the winter time.  With that said, is it not a good idea to combine the two and have them in one meal?   I think this soup is better if you use a variety of color with your bell peppers.  I used a yellow, orange, and a green bell pepper.   C...

How about a twist on chicken piccata?  Beef or veal is an excellent way to make this dish.  It really is not just for chicken.  Lemon compliments beef almost if not better than it does chicken.   I have been trying hard this past week to use some stuff up in our freezers.  We have 2 full-size freezers in the basement.  This does not include the freezer part to the fridge in the kitchen or the one in our garage.  All are rather full.  I figured it was time to get serious and use some of the stuff up.  This week, I have baked a chicken to use in chicken pies, made shepherd's pie, stuffed pepper soup, wonton soup, and sliders.  Heck, currently I have a corned beef in the crockpot and a leg of lamb defrosting.  Also thinking about a pot of veggie soup for later.    Since we had some beef and venison tenderloin needing to be cooked, I decided to make this dish.  Just make a seasoned flour to dust your b...

How do you like that title?  Are you wondering what I mean by it?  Well, let me tell ya.  It is a taste of apple pie made into a jam.  If you like apple pie you will love this jam.  I have been making this for several years and my sweet daddy loved it.  He is gone now but I am still making it.  I have no clue who will eat but Scott brought home some apples that were going bad and I just did not have the heart to throw them out.   I normally use Stayman apples but this batch was made with all kinds of apples.  Since they were on the verge of going bad I tasted each one to make sure they were not milly.  Not sure if that is a word but sometimes apples go to tasting like pebbles in your mouth.  Once they taste this way they are really no good for any type of cooking.   I know a lot of people are scared to make jelly or jam.  I have mentioned that before.  Please do not be scared.  Jelly and jam are...

I Love the holidays.  It gives me an excuse to cook and try new or make new recipes. I made  Maple Bacon Jam this week.  It is really good!  I have a few bags of cranberries left my fridge and I wanted to make a hot pepper jam with them.  I figured on cream cheese it would be a nice appetizer during the holidays.  For some reason, cranberries call in the holidays for me. I was really amazed at how quickly this recipe came together.  I do not know if it's just a really easy recipe with few ingredients or if it is the fact we figured out my front element on the stove was not working properly and we had to replace it.  I think it has to do with all the canning I do on that eye and it bent the prong that hooks in.  Oh well, we have it fixed now and I am back to being amazed at how quickly things are now heating up. If you read my blog you know I love quick and easy recipes.  I also love having people at my table.  It ...

I love mulling spices in the winter time.  I love the smell and around it can make in your home.  However, I like a good mulling spice that you can use instantly in your cider, juice or wine.  Sometimes, quick is good!   This is a perfect blend of goodness to add to a cup or a glass.  It really warms you with a hot drink, hot toddy or a mulled glass of wine.  Plus it is so darn simple.  Normally this time of year you will already have the ingredients at hand.  After all Thanksgiving just past but, if you are like me you have a wonderful spice cabinet that you can select from whether it be 100 degrees outside of -10.  Well, not everyone is as silly with spices as I am.  Ask Scott, I am a bit peevish when it comes to my spice cabinet.  I have an entire cabinet dedicated to my spices and I get a bit silly if someone goes in it and messes things up.  I like to be able to go to exactly what I need when I am cooking...