The Best Homemade Clam Chowder With Bacon! Since recently moving to the beautiful Pacific Northwest, I have had some amazing opportunities to experience the fresh seafood that is basically in "our own backyard." And coming from a town in Colorado where I was literally surrounded by mountains, I was excited to start learning and experimenting with some fresh seafood. I absolutely love living near the ocean and couldn't wait to make my very own batch of fresh clam chowder! Luckily, my husbands father has lived here his whole life and he has been making clam chowder the same way his own mother has been making it and I feel honored in them sharing with me what they do! The day started out with my family getting on a boat with some shovels and buckets. Oh yes, we were literally going to make our own clam chowder and that meant digging for the clams ourselves! Of course you can just go to the store and get the canned clams but why do that if you have … [Read more...]
Homemade Apricot Salad Dressing Using Magic Bullet! #recipe
Homemade Apricot Salad Dressing! I love canning and here recently I have been trying out lots of new recipes that I had never tried before. This includes the amazing Apricot Salad Dressing! My uncle has an apricot tree here and brought me over a huge bag of them the other day. I still had a lot of canned apricots from last year so I decided that I needed to do something different and really fun with these apricots. That is when I came across the recipe for Apricot Salad Dressing. The recipe looked very easy so I decided to give it a try! Ingredients: 4 apricots 4 Tbsp white wine vinegar 2 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp sea salt 1/2 cup olive oil Directions: Add all ingredients into Magic Bullet and blend away! Yep that's it! Just add the ingredients and blend! I could not believe how easy this recipe was to make! I had never made my own fruit dressing before and I was excited to give it a try. So, for dinner that night we had … [Read more...]
Indonesian Peanut Chicken! A Dinner That Will Become Your New Favorite!
Indonesian Peanut Chicken! I became a nanny at a young age to one little boy whose parents worked an hour away and were very career orientated. The little boy was 4 when I first met him and his mom absolutely loved trying out new foods and she sparked the love of cooking and baking in me. I had absolutely no idea how to cook other than boil water and make toast. So needless to say I was so grateful when they hired me with very little cooking experience! I had the desire to learn and one of my first recipes to ever cook and master was this delicious Indonesian Peanut Chicken recipe. Forward 18 years later and I now make this dish for my own family and have the ingredient list in my head. It's my go to dinner recipe when I can't think of anything else to make that is creative and my family loves it so it's a win win! If you have the spices in your cupboard already then this dish can be VERY cheap to make, most of the time all I need is the chicken and … [Read more...]
Canned Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
Canned Strawberry Rhubarb Jam I love how well Strawberries and Rhubarb go together. There is no better combination in my opinion! That is why when I was given the chance to stock up on some strawberries and rhubarb I could not turn them down. I canned so many different strawberry rhubarb combinations including pie filling, syrup and this jam! I am excited that I will be able to have Strawberries and Rhubarb all year long! Strawberry Rhubarb Jam is one of my favorite jams on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We have been eating this stuff like crazy! This is a jam that the whole family loves and we can't get enough! Ingredients: 9 cups diced rhubarb 9 cups 4 tbs lemon juice 4 (1.75 ounce) package powdered fruit pectin 1 tbs butter 20 cups white sugar Sterilized Canning Jars Directions: Place diced rhubarb, diced strawberries, lemon juice, fruit pectin, and butter into a large kettle over medium heat. Cook about 2-3 … [Read more...]
Your Teaching Skills are ‘Popping’ – Teacher Gift
Your Teaching Skills are 'Popping' - DIY Teacher Gift This summer went so fast. Just a few short months ago she was excited for summer to start and now she is already back sitting in her desk! Crazy! This year my daughter wanted to start off the school year with some special DIY teacher gifts. Something that would let her teachers know just how much she appreciates them! As we walked around the store we came up with some fun ideas and cute sayings that we could pair with the different teacher gifts. One of them that she loved was "Your Teaching Skills are 'Popping." We decided that would be a perfect saying to put with a box of popcorn! So that is exactly what we did! The gift was cheap and easy to put together. Just purchase a box of popcorn, print out a label with the catchy saying and tie a ribbon around the box with the saying! See how cute it turned out?!?! Since we purchased 'Pop Secret' popcorn we even added "It's no 'secret' that you … [Read more...]
Have A Baaa-rilliant Day With A Sheep Themed Birthday!
Where does the time go?! My son just turned 8 years old and for over a year he has been completely obsessed with anything to do with sheep! If we are walking in the store and pass by something that has a sheep on it, he will literally run to it and adore that item. It's been actually a little over the top and sometimes embarrassing when your almost 8 year old son darts into the baby section and grabs the stuffed baby lambs! But you know what? I understand that most boys this age would be into more "popular" characters and desire their 8th birthday to be an action hero themed day but my son was born unique and if it's sheep he loves then it's a sheep themed party we shall give! He loves to plan what his cakes are for his birthdays and lucky for him, I happen to love to bake cakes so I can just about attempt anything for him...I said attempt, not execute mind you! His obsession with sheep turned into a dream of having sheep cupcakes. Vanilla sheep cupcakes to be exact. (keep … [Read more...]
Back to School Teacher Gifts – Your Teaching Skills are on Fire! #backtoschool
Back to School Teacher Gifts Your Teaching Skills are on Fire! Can you believe it's back to school time already? Ok so I know that many of you might not be thinking 'school' right now. But, for some of us school is already back in session and going strong. One thing I like to do with my daughter is make something special for her teachers when she goes back to school. Something that will let them know just how appreciated they are and something to help them take some of the back to school stress away. This year one of the gifts my daughter wanted to make is a jar filled with Hot Tamales. We even came up with a cute slogan that we taped to the jar to dress it all up a little. These cute little gifts were very easy to make. All I needed was some small jars, red ribbon, Hot Tamales candy, tape and paper to print the label on. We filled each jar with the Hot Tamale candy, tied on the ribbon and then created a printable label which we taped on the jars. Nice and … [Read more...]
Canned Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling
Canned Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling As some of you might remember I scored a great deal on strawberries and rhubarb recently. I had a blast going through recipe ideas to figure out exactly what I should do with all these delicious strawberries and rhubarb. One of the recipes I knew I would be making for sure was the pie filling! I was thrilled to be able to make Canned Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling as well as syrup and jelly! My husband is a pie lover. He would choose pie over cake any day and one of is favorite pies is Strawberry Rhubarb. Because of his love for pie I decided to can as much Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling as I could. Ingredients: 8 Cups diced strawberries 8 Cups diced rhubarb 6 Cups sugar 1/2 Cup Cornstarch 1 1/2 Cup Flour Directions: 1. Add first three ingredients in large saucepan. 2. Cook on medium heat. Stir often until sugar is dissolved. 3.Add cornstarch and flour. Continue cooking over medium heat until mixture thickens. 4. Pour filling into … [Read more...]
Bacon Broccoli Salad! – Great for Family BBQ’s!
Bacon Brocolli Salad! I will never forget the first Christmas party I spent with my husbands family. I was nervous because I had never met any of them but at the same time I was filled with excitement to get to know more about his family and who helped make him into the person I was growing to love. While at this Christmas party I seen a salad unlike anything I had ever seen before. A salad that had a main ingredient of Broccoli...but also contained some of my favorite ingredients like red onions, sun flower seends and bacon! I could not wait to give this salad a try...and I must say it was one of the best salads I had ever had in my entire life!! That night I immediately asked for the recipe and I can say that since then I have made this salad TONS of times! I still can't get enough! Ingredients: 2 heads fresh broccoli1 cup raisins3/4 c diced red onion4 tbs white sugar6 tbs white vinegar2 cup mayo1 1/2 c sunflower seeds1 package bacon cooked … [Read more...]
Canned Strawberry Rhubarb Syrup!
Canned Strawberry Rhubarb Syrup Growing up my Grandma always had the biggest garden. Literally it was the same size as my house as a child. Her garden is HUGE! My Grandma grows everything in her garden. For example you can find currents, peas, swiss chard, cucumbers, tomatoes, beets, green beans, squash, pumpkins and more. It is one of the best places on this earth! Every time some one stops by to visit Grandma in the summer the first place they go is the garden. There is nothing like picking fresh peas and eating them right then and there. Yum! Another thing my Grandma grows in her garden is strawberries and rhubarb. Those two things together are amazing and I usually do as much with them as I can. For example this year I canned Strawberry Rhubarb Syrup, Pie Filling and Jelly! Strawberry Rhubarb Syrup is amazing on pancakes! It is not a typical syrup that you might hear about often but it is still one of my all time favorites! Ingredients: 8 cups diced … [Read more...]
Steel Cut Oats Breakfast~ Gluten Free & Vegan~ My Favorite Breakfast!
Steel Cut Oats Breakfast Here is my daily breakfast that I love ~ I believe it's healthy but also delicious and the best part is that I can prep the oats on a Sunday and keep it in a container in the fridge for the week and just scoop out my portion each morning and add my toppings, microwave it and viola, I have a fast and easy breakfast that is delicious! I prefer steel cut oats over rolled oats because of the texture - steel cut oats are known to have a nuttier flavor and more chewy than rolled oats which generally are mushy. Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of all oatmeal but the steel cut oats are my favorite! Here are my steel cut oats that I buy in bulk at a natural grocery store ~ This is so simple that it's just become a routine with me and the best part is that my daughter shares the love of this breakfast with me so together we can add different flavors together but overall it stays pretty close to the recipe I will give you - I love though that you can … [Read more...]
Easiest Healthy Granola Bars ~ (gluten free & vegan)
Easiest Healthy Granola Bars ~ (gluten free & vegan) I absolutely love surrounding myself around so many amazing friends and one of the great things about that is they make some pretty great homemade recipes and aren't afraid to try new things out. Them being adventurous just inspires me that much more to try recipes out as well! Several of my friends have told me about how easy it is to make your own granola bars and it has been on my to do list for quite some time and I have just been putting it on the back burner for too long and after I made these bars I regret not making them sooner! Oh how easy they were to do! So easy that if I can do this, so can you and I will show you how I did it! After many months of listening to my friends talk about what they throw in their homemade granola bars I was starting to make a mental ingredient list of what I wanted in my own bars and you can of course switch things up to add or subtract any ingredients you want to customize how … [Read more...]
Canned Zesty Pickled Asparagus
Canned Zesty Pickled Asparagus Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables. Not only do I love the taste but it is also a vegetable that will forever and always remind me of my Mom. I remember how much she loved it when I was a kid. But, it was also one of those vegetables that we did not get very often. It was one of the more expensive vegetables and thus was not one that my parents purchased on a regular basis. Now that I have grown I live in a a town where asparagus grows wild on the side of the road. Every spring you can find people walking up and down the sides of the roads picking asparagus for their family meals. I love being able to do this! Recently I was able to purchase 2 large boxes of asparagus. I was so excited for all the great recipes that I would be able to make. One of them brought me back to my childhood. Zesty Pickled Asparagus! This is something that my Mom and Grandma always canned when I was a child and I had not had Zesty Pickled Asparagus in … [Read more...]
Strawberry Nutella French Toast!
Strawberry Nutella French Toast I try my best to make a good breakfast at least one time each week. This is usually on Saturday mornings as it is just about the only time that I can actually get my family together in the mornings. Breakfast is one of my favorite meals to cook and the family time together is priceless. Spending time over breakfast is a great way to start out the day. One of my all time favorite breakfast foods is french toast. Not only do I love to eat french toast but it is also easy to make and there are so many topping options that you can add to french toast! One of my favorite ways to eat french toast is with Nutella, sliced strawberries and powdered sugar. It is a way to really dress up your french toast and who does not love chocolate and strawberries together...Yum! Ingredients: 6 eggs1 cup milkdash cinnamon 12 slices bread Toppings: NutellaSliced StrawberriesPowdered Sugar1. Add eggs,milk and cinnamon together in … [Read more...]
20 Fathers Day Recipes and Handmade Gifts!
20 Fathers Day Recipes and Handmade Gifts! Father's Day is right around the corner and it's time to start thinking of those fun ideas for our wonderful Dads! I know that my Dad is huge into fishing, camping, hiking and anything outdoors. He would be ecstatic to receive a 'Live Bait' cake or some fishing pole cupcakes like the ones pictured below! I hope you enjoy this list I have compiled of some of my favorite Father's Day Recipes and Handmade Gifts! Enjoy! Recipes Father's Day Tie Appetizers Homemade Spice Rub Fishing Pole- Fish Cupcakes Fun Kid’s Fishing Cake Idea~ Live Bait Can Rosemary Balsamic Ham Stacked Enchiladas! Cheese Stuffed Green Chilis Recipe! Teriyaki Burger Recipe Sliced Baked Potatoes With Cheese Otto’s BBQ Funyun Meatloaf Microwave Lava Cake Stromboli – Give Your Pizza A Twist Red Chili Recipe Hamburger Pizza Sub Sandwich Gifts Fathers Day Card – How To Make Candy Poster Minecraft Father's … [Read more...]