Homemade Hamburger Helper

As a child one of my favorite dinners came out of a box; it was hamburger helper. As an adult I tend to stay away from boxed meals and make them myself. This recipe is great because it tastes just like the box, takes the same amount of cooking time and  its homemade, not just made at home!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 cup hot water
• 2 cups milk ( have an extra 1/2 cup to add as it thickens)
• 1½ cups macaroni noodles (I used a cheap box of macaroni and cheese)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar

Directions:

1. Brown your ground beef in a fairly deep pan (you'll be adding a lot of liquid).
2. Drain the fat off the meat.
3. Add spices, cornstarch,sugar, water, pasta and milk and bring to a boil. (I added the cheese packet from the macaroni and cheese too, but that's totally optional)
4. Bring your heat down to a simmer and let simmer until the pasta is finished.
5. Add your cheddar cheese.
6. Stir until the cheese is melted.
7. Let sit for a few minutes and serve!

Roasted Potatoes

In our family we pretty much have some kind of potato with every meal! Roasting them is a great way to add flavor and alot healthier than frying them all the time. This is my go-to dinner side if I am cooking for a lot of people.

Ingredients:

• 5 potatoes (I use either russet or red potatoes) **
• 2 tbsp oil
• Italian seasoning
• Garlic
• Seasoned salt
• goya, adobo
• paprika

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Cut potatoes into bite size chunks, keeping in mind the bigger the chunk the longer it will take to cook. Place onto baking tray
3. Drizzle oil over all the potatoes
4. Sprinkle liberally with Italian seasoning, seasoned salt and goya. I don't measure my spices, but I make sure it looks like each potato is seasoned. Sprinkle garlic, but go easier on it than you did with the rest.
5. Using your hands, toss the potatoes around to spread the oil and seasonings.
6. Sprinkle paprika across the potatoes for good color.
7. Bake for about 45 minutes or until potatoes are tender and the skins are crisp. Sprinkle lightly with goya once out of the oven.

Easy Broccoli Cheese Soup

With fall right around the corner (thank goodness!), soups are a great comforting choice for dinner. I personally am not a fan of broccoli but my sister is so I make this for her and she loves it! 

Ingredients

• 32 oz chicken stock
• 1 lb frozen broccoli, chopped
• 1 lb Velveeta cheese – cubed
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 stick butter
• 1/3 cup minced onions
• 6 Tbs. flour

Instructions

1. Melt butter, saute onions, add 6 Tbs of flour slowly while you whisk. Cook roux & onions for a few mins, continue to whisk.
2. Add chicken stock while you whisk. 
3. Add milk and broccoli, stir, cover and cook for 10 mins on medium heat. Stirring occasionally.
4. Add cubed Velveeta cheese, stir until melted.
5. Lower heat, add sharp cheddar cheese, Stir until cheese is melted. 
6. Turn off heat and let sit for about 10 mins.

Deluxe Grilled Chicken

One of my favorite cooking devices is the grill! Mainly because my husband does all the grilling and its less work I have to do, I chase a one year old around from son up to son down so less work is a gift, lol. That aside, the grill does something to chicken, something wonderful so do yourself a favor and try this amazing grilled recipe!

Ingredients:

• package thick chicken breasts
• 2 cups prepared instant stuffing ( I recommend stovetop, add a pinch of salt to the stuffing so its not bland)
• 1 heaping spoonful of butter per chicken breast
• 1 package of bacon (you'll need about 12 slices for 4 breasts)
• salt and pepper
• goya, adobo seasoning
• ranch powder

Directions:

1. Take each chicken breast and cut a pocket. Start a few cm from tip of chicken and end a few cm from bottom end, be careful not to cut too deep but deep enough to get stuffing packed well inside. 
2. Smear inside pocket of each chicken with a heaping spoonful of butter.
3. Stuff each pocket with a generous helping of the stuffing
4. Season chicken liberally with salt, pepper and goya.
5. Wrap bacon slices around chicken, Starting one end and going to the other. Make sure the opening for the stuffing is fully covered by bacon. You can secure the bacon with toothpicks or overlap and tuck pieces to secure, I recommend the toothpicks.
6. Once all the chicken is stuffed, and wrapped season liberally with the ranch powder.
7. Grill on top shelf of grill until bacon is crisp and chicken is fully cooked.

Chocolate Peanut butter Shake

Chocolate, peanut butter and banana...three foods that love to enjoyed together, so why not throw them all in a blender and sip this decadent desert smoothie.

Ingredients:

• 2 frozen bananas, pre-sliced before freezing
• 1 1/2 Tbsp cocoa powder 
• 1 cup milk
• 1 Tbsp honey or sugar
• 1 heaping Tbsp creamy peanut butter

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Muffins get a bad rep, I personally love them and this recipe is great because they can be a breakfast food or a sweet snack.  Indulge yourself a little!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 
• 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup additional chocolate chips for drizzle
• 1 tsp oil

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees  Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or spray the wells of the pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla, mixing until well combined.
4. Slowly add the wet mix to the dry. Stir until ingredients are just combined - do not over mix the batter. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Evenly divide the batter into the prepared muffin pan wells. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean
6. Remove muffins to a wire rack and cool
7. Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips in microwave and add 1 tsp oil and stir well. Pour into zip-lock bag and cut small corner off the bottom and drizzle melted chocolate over muffins.

Chocolate Peanut butter pie

 My husband loves peanut butter and I love my husband, so this is my go to dessert when I want to show my affection OR when I want something and need to butter him up lol.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 8 oz container Cool Whip
• Pre made graham cracker crust, I prefer the chocolate crusts
• Reeses magic shell ice cream topping

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl beat cream cheese, peanut butter, and brown sugar until smooth.
2. Add Cool whip and mix until completely incorporated and smooth.
3. Pour into chilled pie crust
4. top with magic shell topping
5. Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving. (or plop in the freezer until firm)

Sausage Gravy

Nothing goes together quite as well as biscuits and creamy sausage gravy. Some people are intimidated by making homemade gravy, but once you make it once you'll make it 100 times, you'll never buy that pre-made or pouch stuff again!! When I'm in a hurry i will serve this over frozen biscuits, but the gravy is so good no one notices I cheated on the biscuits lol

Ingredients:

• 1 pound favorite breakfast sausage
• 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 to 2 1/2 cups milk
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Slice sausage into patties of desired thickness. Fry in a skillet until done
2. Remove from skillet and keep warm.
3. Measure out 2 Tablespoons of fat from sausage and discard the rest.
4. Sprinkle with the flour and cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Whisk in the milk and bring to a simmer.
6. Cook for 5 minutes or until gravy has thickened.
7. Crumble 4 sausage patties into the gravy and season to taste with salt and pepper.
8. Serve with favorite biscuits

Nanny's Pecan Pie

This recipe is near and dear to my heart because its my Nanny's. Her church's cookbook is the closest I've gotten to learning how to cook from her since she passed away when i was little. The pecan pie recipe featured is my favorite because the company that printed the cookbooks forgot to add one of her ingredients so she had to hand write it in, making it all the more special to me. It's in my Nanny's loving memory that i share her favorite pecan pie:

Ingredients:

•  2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups broken pecans
• 1 cup dark karo syrup 

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar until light. Add eggs, well beaten, then flour, salt, vanilla, syrup and pecans.
2. Pour into 9'' pie shell and bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes
3. Reduce heat to 350 degrees for about 25 minutes longer.(or until set)

Easy Shrimp Chowder

This is a great go-to recipe if you're in a hurry or forgot to take something out for dinner. It is so so so good and so so so easy! I am almost a little embarrassed to give out the recipe and show how easy it really is lol.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter 
• 1 tsp onion powder 
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp old bay
• 1 tsp parsley
• 2 (10 3/4-ounce) cans cream of potato soup
• 2 cans milk
• 1/2 cup cooked, chopped bacon (or bacon bits)
• 1 bag medium-size frozen shrimp, peeled and tail off (I cut mine in half)
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese 
• Garnish: chopped fresh parsley and old bay
• Oyster crackers (optional)

Directions:

1. In soup pan, melt butter on medium heat and add the onion and garlic to bring out the flavor.
2. Pour in potato soup and milk and whisk together well. Add old bay, parsley and a dash of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.
3. Add shrimp and bacon and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until shrimp is cooked.
4. Add cheese and continue cooking until cheese is melted (in a pinch you can leave the cheese out and its still a great tasting soup)
5. Spoon into bowls and garnish with parsley, a few shakes of old bay, any extra bacon you have and oyster crackers if desired.

Cookie Dough Frosting

I absolutely love cookie dough, so why not put it on top a moist chocolate cupcake! Don't worry this is completely egg-less so you can eat as much as you want!! lol

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla 
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 Tablespoons milk
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Cream together the butter and sugar.
2. Add the vanilla and beat well. 
3. Add the flour and salt and mix until combined. 
4. Add the milk gradually until desired consistency is reached and beat until fluffy.
5. Gently fold in chocolate chips.
6. Frost cooled cupcakes. I like mine thick so I kind of spoon is on. Store in refrigerator.

Fried Oreos

This recipe is in honor of our Facebook page reaching 150 likes! Thanks everyone for the support!! My husband first made these for me when we were dating and now almost 8 years later he still makes them. 

Ingredients:

• 1 package oreo cookies
• 2 cups pancake or waffle mix
• 1 1/3 cup water
• oil for frying (deep fryer is recommended)*
• Powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oil to 350 degrees, anything less will be greasy and any hotter and will burn.
2. Mix together pancake/waffle mix with water, you want the mixture to be thick.
3. Cover Oreo in batter and drop into oil
4. Fry until golden brow, flipping cookies halfway through.
5. Remove and drain on paper towels, dust with powdered sugar and enjoy

* If you don't have a deep fryer use a small sauce pan with 1 1/2 - 2 inches oil set to a med-high heat.

Country Fried Steak

You can't get much more country than Country Fried Steak, crispy fried beef and creamy gravy..you really cant go wrong! 

Ingredients:

• 1  cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• About 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons seasoned salt
• 1 tbsp Goya, adobo
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Package of cube steak
• salt and pepper
• oil for frying, about 1/2 cup or so

Directions:

1. Set up an assembly line to bread your steaks. Mix Milk and eggs in one bowl, flour and seasonings (except salt and pepper) in another bowl. Season meat with salt and pepper and set up an empty plate or cutting board to place breaded meat on before frying.
2. To bread the steaks coat in flour, then egg and then flour mix again.
3. Heat oil in frying pan on a medium heat, you will know its hot enough when you can sprinkle flour into the pan and it sizzles.
4. Don't try to fry all the meat at once, I recommend two pieces at a time so they cook evenly. Once edges of meat are browned, flip. Remove from pan when crisp and drain on paper towel or wire rack. Repeat until all meat is cooked. 
5. Pour out grease but do not wash pan, prepare gravy:

Gravy

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup oil from frying the meat
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 to 4 cups whole milk
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Add the 1/4 cup of grease back to the pan and heat on medium heat until hot.
2. Add flour to grease and whisk until it looks like a brown paste (this is the roux),  whisk several minutes to cook out the flour taste.
3. Pour in the milk and whisk constantly until gravy is smooth
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

**when making gravy you may need to use more or less milk, you have to play it by ear.

Pigs in a Blanket

This is my go-to party food, and one of my most requested recipes. The crazy part is how simple this truly is! I promise you won't just make these once!!

Ingredients:

• 2 cans butter crescent rolls
• 1 package Hillshire Farms Lil Smokies (I use the cheddar filled ones, but the original works good too)
• seasoned salt
• Italian seasoning
• Goya, Adobo seasoning
• Paprika

Directions:

1. Preheat oven according to crescent roll package
2. Unroll crescent roll and separate each triangle section. Cut each triangle into three strips
3. Place one little hot-dog  in each cut section at the widest part of the section and roll up.
4. Once you have all your hot-dogs rolled and placed on a cookie sheet sprinkle well with all the seasonings, saving the paprika for last (don't go too heavy with this). 
5. Bake 15-20 minutes and enjoy

Chicken Croquettes

Chicken Croquettes.....sounds fancy right? Well its totally not, its pretty much a salmon or crab cake only with chicken. I like mine with the Cajun mayo sauce but my hubby likes his plain, either way they are yummy!!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• oil, enough to shallow fry patties
• 1/3 cup minced red bell pepper (same portion of onion too if you like, i personally don't like onions lol)
• 3 cups chopped cooked chicken *
• 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup cooked, crumbled bacon 
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• Cajun Mayo sauce, recipe follows

Directions:

1. In a small skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Cook peppers until soft.
2. In a large bowl, combine the chicken, breadcrumbs,bacon and peppers. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, eggs, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and seasoned salt.
4. Add to the chicken mixture, mix well to combine. (I find it better to use my hands)
5. Form the mixture into 10 patties. 
6. Heat oil on medium heat and cook the chicken cakes until browned
7. Serve with or without sauce

Cajun Mayo Sauce:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

Directions: 

Combine all ingredients together and chill until ready to use

* to prepare cooked chicken I recommend poaching it: you'll need two chicken breasts, bring enough water to completely cover chicken to a boil. Add salt and parsley, a bouillon cube if desired, then place chicken in boiling water, cut back to low heat for 10 minutes, then turn off heat totally and let chicken sit in water until cooked through.
**Poached chicken is great for salads, soups, chicken salad, dips and so much more!

Southern Cheese Straws

This is a classic southern recipe, they're great for entertaining or just snackin. I made a batch of these today and they're already almost gone!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp seasoned salt
• 1/8 or 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, depending on how spicy you like, or you can leave out completely

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350 
2. Combine flour, salts and pepper in small bowl, set aside
3. In large bowl beat together cheese and butter
4. Slowly blend flour into cheese mixture, mix it for about 5 minutes- it should look like a bread dough
5. Using a cookie press with a star tip place 3'' long strips on an un-greased cookie sheet. ***
6. bake 15-20 minutes (I leave mine in 20 minutes so their crispy like a cracker)

** if you dont have a cookie press, use a zip lock bag and cut the corner off

Crockpot Macaroni and Cheese

In our family we LOVE macaroni and cheese, that's why I have a million recipes for it! Okay so maybe not a million, but I do have several lol. This is my favorite, its so creamy, cheesy and easy to make. 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb elbow noodles
• 5 tbsp butter
• 3 cups shredded SHARP cheddar cheese
• 1 can cheddar cheese soup
• 1 can (empty cheese soup can) milk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 tsp mustard
• salt and pepper to taste, start with 1/2 tsp of each and add more to your taste
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Cook macaroni noodles in boiling water for 6 minutes, drain and add butter
2. In a greased crockpot (PAM cooking spray is my favorite) add cheese soup, milk, sour cream, egg, mustard and salt&pepper. Whisk together well to combine.
3. Add pasta and stir to coat evenly 
4. Stir in shredded cheddar cheese 
5. Cook on low for 2 hours, after one hour add the shredded mozzarella cheese on top and stir slightly.

Cream Chipped Beef

Cream Chipped beef on toast takes me right back to my childhood, even if my dad did call it something different lol. This is seriously the cheapest and easiest breakfast I can think of, I guarantee you already have all but one of the ingredients =]

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk 
• ground pepper
• 1 (4.5-ounce) jar or package of dried beef

Directions:

1. Take out your beef and run it under warm water to rinse some of the saltiness off. Cut beef into strips and set aside.
2. In a large skillet melt the butter and then add flour. Whisk for exactly one minute (it sounds silly but you need to cook out that flour taste)
3. Slowly whisk in milk, if you like the gravy thicker you can you use less milk but remember that it will continue to thicken as it sets. 
4. Once the milk is added, throw in the beef strips and season with pepper.
5. Serve over toasted bread or biscuits.

*Also try adding a soft fried egg on top, my dad swears by it!

Easy Monkey Bread

Since I have gotten some great feedback so far I am going to post a bonus recipe for today, something for your sweet tooth:

Monkey Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 can of biscuits
• bowl of melted butter (doesn't have to be a lot, just enough to dredge all the biscuits in)
• cinnamon sugar mixture (i don't have exact measurements, but you'll want more sugar than cinnamon, it should look like sand-feel free to taste test until the mix tastes right)
• optional: powdered sugar and milk- again no exact measurements, just add milk to a small amount of the sugar until it has a glaze consistency.

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350
2. cut each biscuit section in half
3. place in melted butter, then roll in cinnamon sugar
4. place each coated piece in a slightly greased bunt pan and overlap slightly until all biscuits are done (you can also do double layers, it'll look beautiful, and taste even better) **
5. bake 15 minutes or until sugars look caramelized.
6. remove from pan and drizzle with icing mix if desired.

**if you dont have a bunt pan, you can use a cake pan or muffin pan (makes minis-so cute)

Chicken Corn Chowder

   This is a family favorite, my husband absolutely loves it! I'm sure there is a totally "made from scratch"  recipe like this out there somewhere, but this one is more semi-homemade because we're all about keeping it simple and delicious. Hope Y'all like this one as much as we do!

Ingredients:

• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 can of milk (use empty soup can to measure out milk, less dishes)
• 1/2 cup salsa 
• 1 can (again use empty soup can) frozen corn
• 2 chicken breast, cooked and shredded * see bottom for options on preparing chicken
• handful of crumbled, cooked bacon (or packaged bacon bits, this is easy right!)

Directions:

• Combine canned soup, milk and salsa in soup pan until thoroughly mixed
• stir in corn, chicken and bacon
• salt and pepper to taste
• simmer for 15-30 minutes (or eat right away in a hurry)
• if desired, top with sour cream and additional bacon

** chicken cooking options:

1.  chop and cube chicken breast into bite size pieces, season with salt, pepper, adobo seasoning and parsley. fry in a few tablespoons oil until cooked, drain and dump into soup.
2. (this one can be done the night before) bring enough water to totally cover chicken to a boil, add salt and parsley to the water and add chicken in. cover and turn heat to a simmer. once chicken is cooked through, place on cutting board to cool then shred with a fork (or your hands). 

both of these ways are good in the soup, i prefer the shredded chicken method but try them both and decide for yourself!

Getting started

Hey there, I am new to this whole world of blogging so please be patient with me! With this page I plan on sharing some of me and my husband's favorite recipes. We're just an ordinary country family so if your looking for gourmet, expensive to make meals this is not the page for you.  If you want dishes that are simple to make, affordable AND yummy, then you've come to the right place. From time to time i'll post two ways of preparing the same thing; my way and my husbands way, because we tend to compete in the kitchen from time to time. Stay tuned for my first recipe post:  Chicken Corn Chowder