Cherry Amaretto Jello Shots

I celebrated my birthday this weekend, so of course I had to have one of my favorite drinks–a jello shot! I started making these a few years ago, they have a lot more flavor than your average jello and vodka recipe. I’ve made these for parties with my friends, for Christmas with my family and for little get-togethers. These are mellow enough for older people to enjoy without it burning their throats. If I want something stronger, I add vodka to the recipe and voila, get drunk stay drunk.

Jello Shots I made for our family Christmas

One more thing, maraschino cherries are fabulous with these! They’re completely optional but do add a fancy touch.

Maraschino Cherries

These should be made in advance.

• 1 small jar maraschino cherries
• 1 1/2 cups vodka

1. Pour cherries with 1/2 of the juice into a bowl.

2. Add the vodka, stir, cover and refrigerate for 24 hours. Stir a few times.

3. Drop into jello shots right after your pour the jello in. I usually do one cherry for a 2 ounce shot, 2 for anything more

 

Cherry Amaretto Jello Shots

• 3 ounce package of Cherry Jell-o
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup amaretto
• 1/4 cup cold water or cold vodka if you like a stronger shot

Making cherry amaretto jello shots

1. Boil 1 cup of water in a small saucepan
2. Add jello, remove pan from heat and stir until dissolved
3. Add amaretto and cold liquid and stir well
4. Pour into your shot cups! Add your cherries and chill for two hours or until firm

The last time I made these I couldn’t find any 2 ounce cups so I used bigger cocktail cups. You can find the 2 ounce cups with lids at Walmart near the plastic cups. Gordon Food Service also has them.

Amaretto Jello Shots

 

Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese

I know I posted a recipe for homemade baked mac and cheese last week, but this one is a more creamier version and less of a casserole than the other one, as it doesn’t have any egg to bind it together. It’s just as delicious and hits the spot anytime you’re craving something cheesy, gooey and delicious.

Creamy baked mac and cheese with penne pasta and mozzarella

 

Creamy Mac and Cheese

• 1 box of pasta, you can use macaroni, penne, radiatore, whatever your preference is
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups cheese, cheddar or mozzarella
• 1/2 tsp ground mustard powder or 1 tsp yellow mustard
• 1/3 cup butter
• Salt, pepper, Nature’s seasoning

1. Cook your pasta in salted water, drain
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a casserole dish or pan
3. Add butter and cheese to dish, then the pasta and seasonings. Stir very well.
4. Pour milk over pasta and stir again.
5. Sprinkle with more cheese if you’d like
6. Bake for 20 mins with the lid on, and 10 minutes with the lid off. The lid is actually optional but I like to use it so my pasta doesn’t burn
7. Serve hot! Also keeps well in the fridge for a few days

 

Crockpot Spaghetti Bake

This is a great recipe for when you don’t have a lot of time to make dinner! The end result is hearty and much better than your normal “heat the sauce up in a pan, boil your spaghetti and put it all together on a plate” spaghetti dinner.

One pot spaghetti bake

Using my crockpot marinara sauce recipe (with or without meat), add 1 box of spaghetti, uncooked, and stir. The spaghetti cooks right in with the pasta sauce for a yummy pasta that isn’t too salty or sticky or bland. Stir every 30 minutes for about 1.5-2 hours and you’re all set! We serve this with salad and some garlic bread.

 

Chicken and Dumplins

This is one of my favorite meals. My family always requests it when I make dinner. It is so filling and hearty and wonderful that it’s pretty much a staple in my house.

I’ll split the recipe up into two parts because you can make the dumplings ahead of time if you want or need to, it’s also less confusing. This recipe takes some effort but not as much as you’d think, everyone will think you slaved all day over it. You can just let them think that, I won’t tell 🙂

Chicken and dumplin soup

 

Dumplins

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 cup milk

1. Mix the dry ingredients together in at least a medium sized bowl.
2. Cut in the butter, I usually just squish it with my hands
3. Pour in the milk, depending on the humidity you might need a little less than a full cup or a little more, so go slow and stir as your pour it in. You want the dough to be sticky but not too wet.
4. If you are saving the dough for later, form into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap, store in the fridge or freezer.
5. Liberally flour a surface like a counter or baking sheet. Roll the dough out, making it pretty thin. The baking powder makes it rise when cooking, and the thicker they are the longer they’ll take to cook.
6. Cut into squares using a pizza cutter. I make mine into about 1 inch squares.
7. Drop into boiling water or chicken broth to cook. Stir often and they’ll float when they’re done. You can add the flour from where you rolled the dumplins to the soup to thicken it.

Soup

• 1 cup chicken broth
• Salt, pepper, parsley, Nature’s seasoning
• 2-3 cups cooked shredded or chopped chicken (you can use the meat off of a rotisserie chicken, bake your chicken, or boil frozen chicken with the dumplings and take it out to shred it, then return it to the pot)
• 2 cups mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, celery, peas, whatever you have or prefer)
• 1/3 cup diced onion

1. Add your vegetables to the soup about 5 minutes after you add the dumplings. They take a while to cook. Then add the chicken and seasonings.
2. Sometimes mine needs to be a little thicker. You should wait to thicken the soup until everything has already cooked, meaning the dumplings and vegetables. Make a roue and add it to your soup. Let simmer for at least 15 mins to let it thicken.

Old fashioned chicken and dumplins

-The roue is optional and only if you want a thicker gravy-like sauce compared to a thinner soup.

-The veggies are optional! They add a nice flavor to the broth and make it more of a meal.

-Things I like to serve with this are corn, fried apples, biscuits and baked beans.

 

 

 

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

These are a twist on sweet potato casserole. These directions are for one large or two medium sized sweet potatoes, simply double or triple the recipe if you want to make more!

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

• 1 large sweet potato or 2 medium sized
• 1.5 tbsp packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 large marshmallows
• 1/8 cup chopped pecans (optional)

1. Wash your taters well and then pierce them with a fork one or twice. You can either microwave for approximately 10 minutes or bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. They need to be soft inside
2. Cut each potato in half lengthwise and allow to cool for a few minutes.
3. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
4. Measure butter, brown sugar and pecans if using them into a bowl. Carefully scoop out the insides of the potato into the bowl and mush it all together.

Mashing the sweet potatoes for twice baked potatoes

5. Scoop the mixture back into the potato skins. Top with a marshmallow or two and back for 20 minutes or until marshmallows are light golden brown

Sweet potatoes all ready to be put in the oven

Enjoy! Let me know if you like this recipe

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

 

Homemade Baked Mac and Cheese

Homemade mac and cheese is so easy and so good that your family will be begging for more. It heats up well in the microwave or oven so I like to make a big batch and keep some in the fridge to heat up when I’m hungry and don’t want to cook.

Yummy homemade baked macaroni and cheese

Baked Mac and Cheese

• 1 box macaroni
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 cups cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp dry mustard powder (or 1 tsp yellow mustard)
• Salt, pepper, Natures Seasoning
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup cheese

1. Boil your macaroni until tender, drain.
2. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and grease a loaf pan or casserole dish
3. Crack your eggs into a large bowl and whisk together. Stir in the melted butter and spices then the cheese
4. Add the macaroni to the bowl and stir until everything is incorporated
5. Pour the macaroni mixture into your pan/dish
6. Now pour the milk evenly into the pan, kinda poke and shake the pan so the milk can get into all the little spaces.
7. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup (or more!) of cheese and cover before placing in the oven. I like to cover it for 45 minutes and take the lid off for the last 15 minutes or so to get everything nice and browned. Cook for 1 hour or until it looks done!

Enjoy!

Homemade Baked Mac and Cheese

 

Homemade marinara sauce

Have you ever made your own marinara sauce? If you haven’t, you should. Like tonight. Or tomorrow. Or this weekend. It is so worth every second of effort you put into it, which isn’t a lot. It’s so easy and so wonderfully delicious. It doesn’t require a lot of time, is pretty easy and you’ll be amazed at the results. If you’re going to make any of your family’s staples homemade, this should be one of them.

What makes it so delicious is the cooking time. The natural sugars in the tomatoes caramelize and create something you thought only your favorite pizza place was capable of. And while I’m sure your favorite pizza place is wonderful, you can recreate that depth of flavor at home.

You will need a crockpot. This allows for an even cooking method at a low temperature for a long time. Low and Slow.

Marinara sauce cooking in the crockpot

Homemade Marinara Sauce

• 2 large cans tomato sauce
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped into tiny pieces
• 1-2 tsp brown sugar (white works too!)
• 1 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp onion powder or 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup water

Optional:

1.5 pound browned ground beef

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 cup diced green or red bell pepper

 

Spray your crockpot with cooking spray like Pam. Then pour in all your ingredients and stir! Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4-6 hours, stirring every hour.

After it’s done, I usually refrigerate some and freeze some. It also is a good recipe for doubling! It freezes well.

This also makes a fabulous pizza sauce. To use as pizza sauce, omit the water.

Also adjust the sugar and spices to taste. I like mine a bit sweeter, sometimes I add more sugar, but I would make it like this first to see how you like it because it does sweeten after the cooking process.

Homemade marinara sauce

Things to know before you bake bread

I began my bread baking hobby last summer, when I wrote “learn to bake” on my summer bucketlist. I began with no knead bread, then tried crockpot no knead bread, then kneading bread, then making sourdough and sourdough starters, French bread, rye bread, wheat bread. It was fun and exciting, nerve wracking at times, but always very rewarding. I learned a lot along the way, as I started out knowing absolutely nothing about bread except that I liked to eat it.

Five things you should know

1. Bread baking involves yeast. Yeast is a very much alive bacteria that feeds off of sugars and emits gas which produces bubbles which make your bread lighter and fluffier. You can kill your yeast with hot water. It thrives in warm places, which you can create with the help of warm water. It feeds off of sugar. Salt, or the abscence of sugar can stunt or stop your yeast’s growth. You can buy yeast in packets, jars or in big blocks. I buy mine in jars. However you buy it, store it in a fridge.

2. Kneading. Do not be afraid or weary about kneading. Kneading helps incorporate the yeast into your bread and helps make it grow stronger, like when humans lift weights. Push the dough down, stretch it out, twist it, squish it, pull it, mash it, twist it again. How long you have to knead depends on the type of bread you’re making and how much dough you have. Less dough, less knead time. When you’re done kneading, the dough should be stretchy, elastic, somewhat smooth, and if you cut it in half there should be bubbles in the dough. There are also bread recipes that do not require kneading and still produce a wonderful bread, here’s my recipe for it.

3. The longer your bread rises, the better it will taste. Think of it as a fast aging wine. The amount of yeast you use directly affects the rise time: more yeast will lead to a faster rise; this is more convenient than longer rising dough but doesn’t taste as good. It won’t taste bad, it will still be edible and wonderful. The less yeast you use, the longer the rise time, the better the bread. Less is truly more.

For example, 2-3 teaspoons of yeast can make 3 cups of flour rise in less than 45 minutes. One quarter or 1/2 of a teaspoon can make 3 cups of flour rise in in 18 hours.

Let your bread rise even longer and it will begin to develop a sour taste. Not a bad sour, a good sour.

Bread dough rising

4. Steam helps the crust become light and crunchy. There are a few ways you can achieve this: baking in a covered dish, or you can put a pot of boiling water in the oven with the dough. You can bake bread open on a pan without any of the fancy steam stuff, but I find the crust to be too crunchy. My favorite method is baking a glass casserole dish.

The glass casserole dish I bake my bread in. It traps the steam inside and creates a nice crunchy crust

5. Bread will stick to the pan you bake it in, sometimes even if you grease it. You can prevent this three ways: one, heavily flour the bread before you put it in the pan. Two, lay a sheet of parchment paper on the pan and plop the dough on it. Three, sprinkle a layer of cornmeal on the bottom of the pan before you plop the dough on it. I prefer parchment paper, but cornmeal is a close second. It adds a nice texture to the bottom of the crust.

Bread baked in a casserole dish

Another piece of advice is to just have fun! Don’t get stressed about bread baking. Practice makes perfect and believe me I’ve thrown out more than a few loaves of bread that didn’t turn out right. You’ll be proud of the end result and it will all be worth it.

 

 

Easy Two hour French Bread

Here is another bread recipe that I use quite often. It is a lot faster, you don’t have to plan ahead, but you do have to knead it. But that’s okay. Some people are afraid of kneading. It’s not that bad. It’s a stress reliever for me. You basically just push and prod and twist and turn the dough for 5-10 minutes. Good forearm exercise 🙂

 

Easy French Bread

3 cups flour

2 tsp yeast

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp sugar

2 tsp olive oil (optional, I like to add it to dough when I’ll be kneading it)

1 1/4 cup warm, not hot, water

 

1. Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Pour in the olive oil and water. Stir in, reserving a little of the water. Even if it doesn’t look like the flour will be all incorporated, there’s moisture hiding in it.

3. Start mixing and kneading with your hands, adding more water if necessary. It shouldn’t be sticky and should be elastic by the time you’re done kneading.

4. Fold into a ball and place it into the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out and let it rise for 30-45 minutes.

5. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees, place a ceramic dish with a lid into the oven to preheat for 15 minutes.

6. You can either line your dish with parchment paper or a layer of cornmeal so the bread doesn’t stick. Then place your dough in the pot, put the lid back on and bake for 30 minutes.

 

7. Remove the lid and bake for 5 more minutes to brown the dough and remove from the oven.

Remember to wait for it to cool (at least a little) before you slice into it!

My tasty bread I made tonight!

Homemade no knead Bread Recipe

 

This bread is absolutely delicious. Life-changing. Once you make it you’ll never go back to buying bread in a bag from a store.

You can make your own bread in just a few hours at home. I was led to believe that was only something famous French chefs and the good people at Panera were capable of. Until one day I found a bread recipe online that didn’t require a bread machine, any special know-how, and only uses a few ingredients. If you’re feeling apprehensive, I also wrote a blog on things to know before you bake bread.

I’ve experimented with several different recipes, some haven’t worked out, some have highly exceeded my expectations. Here is my favorite, basic recipe

3 cups flour

1 tsbp Kosher Salt (or 2 teaspoons table salt)

1/2 tsp yeast

1 1/2 cup warm water

That’s it.

Hot water can kill your yeast. It’s a living thing that thrives where it’s warm, but will die if it’s too hot. Be nice to your yeast 🙂

Start by mixing your salt, flour and yeast in a large bowl. Add your water and mix together.

Dough all mixed together and ready to rise

Now cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm place (I like to put mine on top of the fridge) for 16-24 hours.

It will have risen and doubled in size. Now you want to preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

This bread is so good because it’s easy to make and the crust is perfectly crunchy. This happens by baking it in a covered dish. You can use an enamel cast iron pot, a casserole dish with a lid, basically anything big enough with a lid that can be baked at 450 degrees. I use a casserole dish with a lid. Put your dish of choice into the oven to preheat with the oven.

Now pour your dough onto a floured surface and shape it into a loaf. It’s going to be very sticky. After this, I put the dough onto parchment paper. It has to sit for 30 minutes or the bubbles in the yeast will smash and it won’t cook right in the oven.

Dough ready to bake! I used cornmeal under it with this batch so it wouldn’t stick

After your 30 minutes is up, remove the hot dish, place your parchment and dough inside, cover with a lid and pop it back into the oven. Set a timer for 30 minutes. Use your 30 minutes to get ready to feel super proud of yourself. Get your phone or camera charged so you can document your masterpiece. Alert the media.

After the 30 minutes, remove the lid. Set your timer for 15 minutes. Then remove your masterpiece. I highly recommend that you wait until it is cool to cut into it. I can hardly wait to cut into mine, but it really does turn out a lot better. The steam and heat inside continues to cook for a while, and if you cut into it early the heat is released and your bread turns out gummy. I know it’s hard to wait.

Isn’t it beautiful? You’re pretty special.

My bread right out of the oven

This bread is awesome alone, with butter, with olives, making it into grilled cheese, making turkey and cheese sandwiches with, pretty much anything and everything.

Grilled cheese made with homemade bread