Today’s recipe is a quick little sauce mixture that I’ve relied on so many, many times over the years. I clipped this recipe out of a newspaper a long time ago, and it was actually two recipes: one for meatballs and another for homemade BBQ sauce to go with it. Read More
Quick Cherry Salsa Recipe
One of the fun facts about my home state of Michigan is that it produces 75% of the tart cherry crop in the United States. In fact the lovely town of Traverse City in northern Michigan is known as the Cherry Capital of the World and is host to theRead More
Homemade Elderberry Syrup To Fight Off Colds and Flu
This year I’m trying something new (well, new to me anyway). I’m taking a daily dose of elderberry syrup during the winter months of the year to help fight off colds and the flu. Elderberry syrup has long been touted as a natural way to boost your body’s immunity systemRead More
Simple Spaghetti Sauce From A Can of Crushed Tomatoes
Some time ago I shared the recipe I use when I make a large batch of red sauce in the crockpot. I decided to just use the generic term of “red sauce” because it’s a versatile tomato based sauce with Italian type seasonings that can be used in lots of differentRead More
Homemade Pizza Sauce
Today’s recipe is a bit of a repeat here and that’s because this recipe for homemade pizza sauce is one I’ve shared with you before. However when I wrote about how to make your own pizza sauce the last time, it was added in along with a recipe for homemadeRead More
Make Your Own Peanut Butter
One of life’s little pleasures when stirring up something tasty in the kitchen is taking a few licks off from your stirring spoon or beaters when you’re done. All that goodness will otherwise just be wasted when you wash things up, right? Why not savor it a bit before itRead More
Homemade Pancake Syrup: Still Not Right
Homemade pancake syrup is one of those DIY recipes that I gave a try a few years back and didn’t much care for it. My batch turned out VERY sweet and VERY thin. I decided it was a recipe that needed more work but then never gave it a tryRead More
Homemade Butter
Homemade butter. It sounds like a delicious luxury, doesn’t it? Our great grandmothers who had no choice but to sit at the butter churn if they wanted butter would probably laugh at us. You have it so good now! The luxury is in being able to go to the storeRead More
Big Batch Crockpot Red Sauce
One of the strategies I’ve been trying to get better at when it comes to quickly making homemade meals, is to have some resources in my freezer. I’m discovering too that my preference for freezer resources isn’t necessarily to have a casserole already made and ready to go, butRead More
Homemade Pizza Sauce and Pizza Crust
When it comes to making pizza at our house, I’ve gone the homemade route in baby steps. For many years I just bought frozen pizzas, and I’ll admit that they’re a nice convenience food to have in the freezer for a last minute meal idea. But after awhile I grewRead More
Make Your Own Dill Pickles
Got cucumbers? If you do, then you can easily have pickles too! I’m loving this simple recipe for homemade pickles that doesn’t require any canning and can be made one quart-sized jar at a time. This is just the right quantity for my household size and of course if youRead More
Make Your Own Butter Spread
Back in the early days of this blog I tried a recipe for making your own margarine spread. And . . . it did not turn out so good. You were supposed to take a pound of margarine and mix it with a 1/2 cup of milk to make aRead More
Homemade Magic Shell Ice Cream Topping
For the last couple of weeks, the Aldi grocery store where I shop has had a big ole display of Magic Shell ice cream topping by the checkout. I was tempted to buy some. Even picked up a bottle and almost put it in my cart. But then . .Read More
DIY Ceasar Salad Dressing Mix
Summer is almost here and that means more grilling, more picnics, and more salads. Lots and lots of salads please! Of course lots and lots of salads means we have to think about salad dressings too. This summer instead of reaching for my usual boring bottle of ranch dressing,Read More
Homemade Chicken Nuggets (with 3 Homemade Dipping Sauces!)
Am I the only one who still clips recipes out of the newspaper? Am I the only one who still gets a newspaper? OK, I know I might be a little old school, but sometimes you can still find good stuff in the newspaper! We tried out this recipeRead More
How To Make Homemade Breadcrumbs
The birds are gonna hate me. It used to be that when I had some leftover buns or bread, I would go outside to my bird feeder and crumble the bread around on the ground and let the birds go crazy. Poor birds. Now I’ve found something better toRead More
Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
A big fresh salad is a welcome addition to any meal during the hot days of the summer. In fact if the day is a real scorcher, I’m happy to make my whole meal out of the just the salad. It’s crisp, refreshing, and doesn’t get you all warmed upRead More
How to Make a Basic Cheese Sauce
Back in the days before Cheez Whiz or other cheesy convenience items, my mother used to make this basic cheese sauce to serve over vegetables. Well, I shouldn’t really say “vegetables”. It was almost always used exclusively on cauliflower at our house and to this day I think that cauliflowerRead More
Make Your Own Sweet and Sour Sauce
I think you’ll enjoy this very simple recipe for a homemade sweet and sour sauce that doesn’t require any cooking or chopping. I’ve seen other homemade sweet and sour sauce recipes that are pineapple based and require boiling of pineapple juice or chopping of pineapple. This recipe uses the muchRead More
How To Make Homemade Croutons
Do you have some bread and butter around the house? And a couple of spices? That’s all it takes to toast up some homemade croutons that you can add to your salads or soups. Once you learn how to make homemade croutons, you’ll really enjoy how lightly crunchy they areRead More