Stuffing (or Dressing)

With the upcoming Thanksgiving feast on it’s way here is how we make our homemade stuffing.

This is a FAVORITE of everyone at our table and something I have to make the most of if we want to have any leftovers!

You can adjust this to the quantity you need (add another loaf of bread and more of the seasonings). I use 2 king size loaves of white bread for a 14 lb turkey.

2 loaves of bread cubed and baked at 350 to toast them (almost like a crouton)
1/2 medium onion diced
1 long stalk celery diced
3/4 to 1 stick of butter
about a cup of chicken stock
celery salt, sage, poultry seasoning (I use about 1 tsp of each to start)

Cube the bread and bake at 350 until toasted (I do this in a few batches)

Melt the butter and add the diced onion and celery cooking about 4 minutes or until softened

Mix into the bread cubes and add the seasonings

Add chicken stock slowly stirring frequently until the desired consistency

Taste test and add more seasoning to your desired taste!

You can stuff your chicken/turkey or you can cover with tinfoil and bake at 350 until heated through. Remove and bake about 5 minutes more to get a bit of a crunch layer on top.

Homemade stuffing is a staple in our house. It’ so simple to make and I know exactly what’s in it!!

Homemade “Beef” Helper

On busy school days with hockey, cheer, barn chores and so on, you can still make a great homemade hamburger helper without a box in about 30 minutes if not a little less.

Last night was one of those nights and with this meal, everyone was happy!

You can see how I made our homemade hamburger helper on my facebook page here:  Homemade Hamburger Helper

Homemade Lipstick

I needed some summer colored lipstick so the Teen Queen whipped me up a batch of a color crayon I picked out.  She was babysitting and the purple is the color the little girl picked out to make for her mom 🙂

You can see how we make our lipstick on my facebook page here:  ChasenChanceRanch Lipstick

Greek Yogurt Bread

You have to like the sourness of Greek Yogurt to like this bread.  It was a great bread fresh out of the oven for breakfast as well as warmed up for dinner with a salad and turkey tenderloin.

Friends of mine posted this on their facebook page and it’s so simple with only 3 ingredients (2 if you don’t want the outside coated in cornmeal).  I had to try it.

This week I am going to try it with peach or cherry flavored yogurt and a glaze to see how it is as a sweet bread.  Will post more on that later.

You can see more pictures of how simple this was to make on my Facebook page:  Greek Yogurt Bread

Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies

These sugar cookies are SIMPLE and so yummy!

The Tween Queen decided she needed these cookies so set about making them. She even took the pictures for my blog!!

These would be a great cookie to wrap in a pretty cellophane bag with a decorative bow as a gift as they are truly soft and chewy.

You can also ice them to decorate or add a little flavored extract (almond is our favorite) for a different touch, or try adding food coloring and make different colored cookies.

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1½ cups sugar
1 egg
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Colored Sprinkles or plain sugar to roll the cookies in

Preheat oven to 350º F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat mat

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and mix well

Stir in flour slowly, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla.

Scoop cookie dough and roll into a ball (about a walnut size ball).

Add sprinkles/sugar to a bowl or plate and roll the cookie dough into it to coat it or on top half only.

Place sugared ball onto baking sheet, spacing about 1½-inches apart.

Lightly press each cookie down with the back of the tablespoon.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom edge

Store in an air tight container

Super easy, great flavor, and simple on-hand ingredients make this cookie a favorite!

Oven Roasted Potatoes

Oven roasted potatoes give me a “homey” feeling.  I know that sounds weird but it takes me back to a time when I was about 12 years old and staying at a friends house whose mother was very “old fashioned” at the time.  A typical 1978 stay at home housewife she always made meat, potato, and vegetable dinners.  Most every time I ate over she was making her oven roasted potatoes with some type of roast and peas.  I lost touch with the friend over the years and last year her mother passed away.

Tonight I made our oven roasted potatoes and while they were cooking, my mind drifted back to to those times and how I loved watching her work in their tiny kitchen in the simple home they owned.  I was snapped out of my trip down memory lane by my 12 year old daughter coming into the kitchen and opening the oven while making her “mmmmm” sound.  Shortly after, the man of the house came through and also opened the oven and smiled.

Here is how I make our oven roasted potatoes.

We love using some of the potatoes we grow for oven roasting.

Wash and chop the potatoes
Place them in an oven safe bowl and drizzle with oil (see note below)
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir to combine
Bake in a 375 degree oven until soft and browned (about 35 minutes)

You can put sour cream, ranch, or blue cheese on these or eat them like a french fry using vinegar and ketchup!!

NOTE: I use Wildtree Grapeseed oils for almost all of our cooking. They have infused oils and they are light and fabulous. One small jar lasts our family a year!! Our favorites are the garlic and the basil pesto oils!!

 

Antique find art

At the antique shop we visited the other day (read about it here), the tween found this shell box.  It was only $5.00 she explained and was full of tiny shells she just KNEW she needed.  My first thought was…HOARDER.  Ok, I’m sorry but she is.  She just LOVES junk and junk which has lots of extra pieces is even more appealing.  But it is her allowance (they feed the animals in the afternoons while I am at work and clean stalls) and I let her spend it.

Shell box and $1.00 glass pieces

Well to my surprise, she really did NEED that junk.  When I came home from work yesterday she asked me about a shadow box I had purchased that was too small and we never returned it.  I gave it to her along with some glue and this is what she created:

M is for Meghan one of her best friends

She took the shells and complemented them with some pretty glass rocks from our local dollar store.  She then decorated the frame.  She used every little shell in that box.

It is all drying today and she will save it to give to her friend as a Christmas present.

Hmmm….maybe she isn’t just a hoarder after all 🙂

Canning Cherries

These are little bits of summer stored to help us through the cold winter.  These are bing cherries canned in a light sugar water syrup.  All natural and perfect to strain and use in yogurt, oatmeal or pour the juice and the cherries over vanilla ice cream, angel food cake, or vanilla pudding.  They are great in smoothies and right out of the jar as a snack!!  This is so easy and you can have cherries, crisp and fresh all year long this way!!  In the winter when my children bring some to school as a fruit their friends hound them for some.

Here is the way to make your Cherry Pitter (a must have and you have what you need to make it)

You DO NOT need special equipment to can.  I will post about that in another post.  As long as you have a big “spaghetti” size pot, you are good to go!!  New to canning go here or here to see directions or check youtube.

How to make our family CANNED CHERRIES:

Fill a spaghetti pot of hot water 1/2 way, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer

In a another pot bring 6 cups of water and 3 cups of sugar to a bowl (you can reduce for less sweetness)

Choose the size jars you are going to can in, lids and rings

Sterilize them in the dishwasher or you can fill your sink with hot water when the syrup is ready and keep all hot pulling one out at a time to fill and placing back in hot water (standing up with water below rim) until ready to add all to the hot water simmering)

pit cherries and stuff them into jars (you can do as many as you like as it’s simple to make more syrup if needed) leaving 1/2 in headspace at top of jar

fill with hot syrup leaving 1/2 in headspace at top of jar

tap jar lightly on potholder to remove bubbles

place on lid and wipe jar around the top

place on right and tighten slightly (You do not have to make sure it’s super tight)

place in hot water standing up to keep them hot until putting into simmering water

once all jars are filled, place in simmering water making sure the tops are covered with 2 inches of water

bring water to a rolling boil and process for 20 minutes

remove and let cool listening for the lids to make a “popping” sound when they seal

once cool, run your fingers over the lids to make sure the  middle is “sucked” down

store in a cool, dark, dry place for a year

FREEZING CHERRIES — you can freeze cherries also which is way cheaper than buying them frozen in the store.  First wash and clean the cherries.  You can pit them or leave them whole.  Dry them and lay them on a cookie sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes.  Remove and place into freezer bags and store in freezer for up to a year.  These are great in smoothies or ice cream and you can make another cherry pie if you need to!!

 

 

Cherry Pitter (BEST EVER) & Pie recipe

It is Cherry season!!!  This little tool that I found on youtube is the ABSOLUTE best Cherry pitter.  Here is the video on how to make your own HOMEMADE CHERRY PITTER.  If you are a cherry person like I am and make pies, can and freeze cherries, you will thank me for sharing this little tip with you!!  This is easy, practical and leaves the cherry intact only removing the pitt.  YOU’RE WELCOME!!

I don’t like to have long posts so will cover our family cherry pie recipe here and will post another on how to can them for toppings (think ice cream, plain yogurt, greek yogurt, smoothies or just out of the jar for a snack!!)  Now on to what I do with cherries:

PIE…the cherries we pick are usually dark bing cherries.  They are perfectly sweet and work great in pies (you do not need sour cherries for pies!!)

My two always ask to bring friends when we go picking.  My friend also came along with her older daughter.  We picked 44 lbs of cherries and split them!!  It was about $60 in cherries but figure the savings in just pies alone as one frozen cherry pie is about $8.00 so $64 if you were to buy them. And we will get 8 pies, canned cherries, and frozen cherries for the whole year for less!!

making filling for pies (with pitter this took about 2 minutes!!)

1-1/2 lb.  Bing cherries, pitted (4-1/2 cups)

1 cup  sugar (I have cut mine to 3/4 cup if the cherries are super sweet)

1/4 cup  MINUTE Tapioca

1 Tbsp.  lemon juice

Combine all and let sit for 15 minutes

CRUST:    (you do NOT have to make a crust- you can easily use a store bought one but make sure it has 2 crusts in the package)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons shortening

4 – 6 tablespoons cold water

Make crust:

In medium bowl, mix 2 cups flour and the salt. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).

Gather pastry into a ball. Divide in half; shape into 2 flattened rounds on lightly floured surface. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the shortening to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky. If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling.

With floured rolling pin, roll one round into round 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side.

Place pie dish on a foil lined baking sheet for easy cleanup!!

Fill with cherry mix from above.  Dot with butter around the top of the pie

Roll out second half of crust and using a knife slice it into strips for a lattice crust or lay it on top and cut slits to vent while cooking.  Seal edges

**For lattice crust follow this video.  

If baking, bake for 20 minutes and then cover edges of crust with tinfoil or crust edge cover.  Bake another 25 minutes or until crust is browned and filling is bubbling. 

Let set for at least 3-4 hours before slicing.  Overnight is best.

YOU CAN FREEZE THE WHOLE PIE WHEN IT IS ASSEMBLED UNBAKED.  Be sure to double bag it in freezer bags.  I make 8 pies, cook one and freeze the other 7 for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, July 4th and Valentines Day and 2 for gifts for friends.  Just remove from freezer and bake same as above making sure to cover edge of crust after 20 minutes so it does not burn.

Carrot Cake

It’s Fathers Day tomorrow and the man of the house loves Carrot Cake.  I have a quick easy recipe for when I make it.  As always I was multi-task cooking making the cake and our Italian Pasta Salad for tomorrow’s dinner.

This recipe is so easy.  The part that takes the longest is trying to frost it pretty.

You can make this adding raisins, pecans, walnuts, and instead of carrots, zucchini.  But the man likes it basic.  Also it’s so much better for you to make your own frosting.  You know what’s in it and there are no preservatives.  If you don’t use it all store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Here is the recipe I use for our family Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting:

**this will make a three layer cake or I make a 2 layer and a square to leave unfrosted for the “Tween Queen” of this house who does not like frosting!!!

Preheat oven to 350

Grease and flour 3 round pans or two and an 8×8 square pan

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups grated carrots (6 large that I run through my food processor instead of grating by hand)
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, raisins, walnuts, pineapple, or anything you want optional

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add eggs and vegetable oil. Using a mixer, blend until combined. Add carrots and pecans, if using.

Pour into pans. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Remove from pans and allow to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting:

2 – 8oz bricks of cream cheese (room temperature)

1 stick of butter (room temperature)

2 cups of powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Add all ingredients into a medium bowl and beat until fluffy using a mixer. Spread frosting on top of each cake layer. Stack the cakes on a serving plate and serve.