Joy in the Kitchen!

Look at these adorable garden helpers! The weather is cooling and was forecasting rain for the weekend so last week we harvested quite a few of our onions.  We are blessed to live in an area where temperatures and humidity allow us to store produce for several months in our garage once it's harvested.   These onions will be set out to let the outer skin and tops dry up and then we'll put them in mesh bags and hang them in the garage to store.  Most years I've been able to keep them in usable condition until March or April.  Once in a while I have to put a heater in the garage at night if the temperatures are getting below zero, but most of the time they're okay. Wes and Ben helped pull the onions and put them in the garden cart.  They did a good job and were amazed at the huge onions! Soon it will be time to dig potatoes and carrots.  We'll keep the carrots in coolers and potatoes in burlap bags in the garage for the winter as well.   Love ...

I've been wanting to try a Chicken Tortilla Soup for a while but there are so many recipes out there I couldn't choose which one to try.  My daughter is visiting this week from Tennessee.  She woke up this morning with all congested and though soup sounded good for dinner. She likes Chicken Tortilla Soup so we just made our own version (to add to the myriads out there) with the ingredients she likes best. My younger girls had a cross-country race today and we'd arrive back home just in time for dinner.  This soup cooked up nicely in a crock pot so when we got home all we had to do was bake the tortilla strips.  They could have been baked ahead, but I ran out of time before we left.  My daughter thinks she'd like to try this lightly thickened, but I liked it just like this.  If you like it spicier you could add some cayenne or other hot pepper. Chicken Tortilla Soup 6 C. chicken broth (canned or made up from water and bouillon) 2-3...

We live in Idaho.  Our small school still has a 2 week break in the fall for Spud Harvest.  (Potato Harvest for those less familiar with our famous potatoes!)  Quite a few of the teenagers are able to help with harvest, some working at the cellars or in the fields, and others helping babysit younger children while parents work.  I've worked my share of harvests and there is nothing like the earthy smell of freshly dug potatoes.   This harvest I am not working and I have several children and a couple of grandkids who need activities to stay busy.  This morning we decided to do mosaics.    Here's my cute crew starting their projects. Supplies School glue or tacky craft glue construction paper or cardstock pencil Various dry kitchen ingredients such as:   pasta, dry beans, popcorn, rice, etc. I like to fill a large muffin tin with a variety of pasta and beans.  I just go through the cupboard and see what ...

Several years ago on the Frugal Families forum I'm a member of, someone posted a favorite crock pot recipe called Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken.   The thought of garlic and brown sugar was NOT my idea of a good mix!  I gave it a try though since it was getting such good reviews and I was totally wrong!  Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken is so delicious!   I love using my crock pot on busy days.  Monday's I get home from work about 15 minutes before our usual dinner time.  I'm tired and everyone is hungry!  Having a nice meal already cooked is a wonderful thing to come home to.  All you need to add on this recipe is rice.  Minute rice or rice precooked and reheated with a little water would be easy enough.  I'm only gone from 3:00 - 6:00 so I can put my rice in my rice cooker and it cooks and stays nice and warm until we're ready to eat.    I love eating Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken with quinoa in place of the rice but most of my ...

It seems that certain recipes come and go in our menu's and some things that we just loved for a while get pushed aside by new loves and forgotten. I was hunting through my piles of recipes today and came across one I haven't made for several years.  I mixed up a batch of these Easy Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies this morning and my kids love them!  And they were so easy!  I don't know why I set this recipe to the back of the cupboard!  I love bar cookies and brownies partly because you just mix them up and bake all at once rather than changing out pans of cookies every 10 minutes.   I like to double this recipe and spread it in a large 18x13 baking sheet with sides. Easy Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies 3/4 C. butter or margarine 1 C. brown sugar 1 egg 1 tsp. vanilla 2 C. buttermilk pancake mix (just add water kind) 1/2 C. chocolate chips 1/4 C. chopped walnuts In a large bowl cream butter and sugar, add egg and vanilla and mix well.  Stir in remai...

I've been craving Reese's lately.  A LOT.  Or Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream.  Tonight we have a pie and ice cream social to attend and I signed up to bring a pie.  I originally planned on baking an apple pie using fruit off of our trees, but considering my relentless Reese's craving, I changed my mind.  Peanut Butter Chocolate pie it is!   It might not go as well with homemade ice cream as the apple may have, but we'll just have to deal with that. You'll need a graham cracker crust and you can either make one or buy one.  Doesn't matter to me.  I made one so I didn't have to run to the store.  A chocolate cookie crust would be delicious as well, but... then I would have had to run to the store.  You can try it that way if you'd like.  OR next time I make this, if there happens to be a sleeve of Oreo cookies that have escaped attention (like THAT ever happens!) I'll try it.   This filling recipe makes enough fo...

Yum!  If you live nearby and go to the Eastern Idaho State Fair or if you've gone to the corn maze in Blackfoot, you may have had Mexican Crazy Corn.  It is delicious!  This is similar.  Essentially you're coating corn on the cob with mayonnaise and Cotija cheese.  They offer chili lime and another seasoning to sprinkle on and I love the chili lime...  just a little though. Our garden still has a few nice ears of corn left in the patch and that's what we used tonight.   If you still have corn on the cob available near you - give this delicious twist a try! Mexican Corn on the Cob Husk as many ears of corn as you'd like to serve.   Boil corn on the cob for about 8-10 minutes.  Remove and pat dry.   Spread each ear of corn with a generous amount of mayonnaise (not salad dressing!) and then spoon grated Cotija cheese on each ear of corn until it is completely covered.  It should be fairly heavy.   Sprinkle with chi...