Rustic Roots

FRENCH TOAST MADE PERFECTLY Let me preface this by saying this is meant to be a truly decadent breakfast.  This recipe is not a diet recipe.   For some reason late last night before I finally succumbed to sleep, French toast popped into my mind.  I am not really a big fan but when I have cravings I have learned to go with them.   As I was laying in bed, I thought maybe this craving would dimish in the light of day.  Well, guess what?  It did not go away and I just have to go with my gut, no pun intended.   Isn't French toast a funny thing?  Think about it.  It is break, egg, milk product, and some cinnamon.  Who would have thought putting these ingredients together would make a breakfast meal?  It is kind of like pimento cheese.  Why would you put cheese, mayo, pimento peppers and some spices together?  I make my own pimento cheese, click here for the  recipe . I hope the title got yo...

I made one of the best strawberry jams earlier in the week.  I can not wait to share it with you.  Give me a day or two and check back. This recipe is by far the best one I have made yet.  Click here for more strawberry jam  recipes .  I like the fact that you can taste the berry flavor.  In a lot of strawberry recipes, the sugar overwhelms the flavor. This recipe came about because we needed freezer space.  I had 3-gallon bags of strawberries from our small patch frozen.  I was unsure how they would turn out when making jam but they were just fine.   Each bag was around 5 cups of berries.  Since they were frozen this included the juice.  Do not throw out the juice.  You need this for making the jam.   I put the thawed strawberries into a large saucepan. Slowly warm the berries and mash them up. Add lemon juice and sure jell. Bring to a rolling boil (a boil ...

I have made this recipe a few times now and each time I keep on thinking it would be absolutely delicious as a vegetarian meal.  Since we like things spicy I came up with this recipe to satisfy our taste buds.   I have another recipe for  PF Chang Copycat Mongolian beef  for the instant pot.  It is delicious but I like this recipe a bit better.  If you like PF Chang's Mongolian beef and you should like this as well.   It is super easy.  Yesterday I had plans to make  Pasta e Fagioli but when I got the Italian sausage out of the freezer, I saw a pack of strip steaks that needed to be cooked.  Change of plans.   It is always fun to play around in the kitchen and experiment with recipes.  I wish I had taken the time to take pictures so this recipe would be step by step for you to see.  I was too busy cooking and not thinking.  You can have it without the mushrooms and/or the b...

This is probably my most favorite soup of all time.  Well, maybe my most favorite Italian themed soup.  I just love soup so it really is hard to nail down just one soup as my favorite.   Since it is cold today and the forecast is for ice, sleet, and possible snow later this evening, I thought a nice bowl of warm soup might just hit the spot.   I made some leftover onion and garlic from my Dijon Mustard recipe.  Instead of freezing it for later, I thought it would be perfect in this recipe.  I just love the flavors of this soup.     We have homemade Italian sausage in the freezer so I took a pound out and allowed it to thaw then I sauteed it in my instant pot.  While that was going on I peeled, sliced and diced carrots and added that with a bit of olive oil in my warmed up Dutch oven. This is when I added the onions and garlic that was left from making mustard. Saute this for about 5minu...

Scott and I had some friends over on Christmas Eve and as usual, we got out some snack foods to munch on.  Scott cut some smoked deer ham and I got out some dijon mustard that I had bought at Lidl.  Funny because both of the guys there said they were not big on dijon mustard.  Let's say the small container was demolished.  Well, the negative thing is, I have not been able to find that particular mustard at Lidl's since.   Last night Scott and I were watching some food recipe videos on Youtube and we came across a Dijon mustard recipe.  Needless to say, that had me curious.  I have made beer mustard, strawberry mustard, and cranberry mustards in the past but never have I ventured to Dijon.  I have thought about it but I wanted a smoother variety and all of my other mustards have been more of a course variety.  As we were watching this video I told Scott I am going to make this tomorrow. Well, guess what?  It is tomorrow....