Here’s a link back to all the recipes I’ve posted on this blog:

Home-made Lattes & Mochas
Iced Lattes & Mochas

KIDS PARTY TREATS:

Ice-Cream Cupcakes
Minion Twinkie Cupcakes

TRAEGER:

Traeger Baby Back Ribs
Traeger Pork Loin

DINNER IDEAS:

Best Ever Pork Loin (Roast)
Jamaica Mistake Pasta Salad
Orange Chicken
Chicken Adobo
Beef Stir Fry / Lettuce Wraps
Asian Steak (Crockpot Recipe)
Pan Seared Steaks & Sliced Baked Potatoes
Homemade Rice-a-Roni (chicken flavor)
Butter Chicken
Roasted Broccoli
Garlic Lime Steak
Garlic Lime Chicken
Artichoke Chicken Delight
Skillet Potatoes
Crash Potatoes (red potatoes)
Swag’s Award Winning Chili Recipe
Pesto Stir-fry Shrimp
Split Pea Soup

BREAKFAST ITEMS:

Whole Grain Waffles (so yummy!)
Original Pancake House Apple Pancake
French Toast Bake
Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls (copycat recipe)
Baby German Pancakes
Breakfast Casserole
Hungry Girl Breakfast Cookies

DESSERTS:

Raspberry Fudge Cake
Cinnamon Rhubarb (or apple) Muffins
Pecan Bars
Caramel Popcorn
White Chocolate Popcorn (Your Homebased Mom)
Double Chocolate Snowquake Cookies
Glass Block Jell-O
Rhubarb Cheesecake Dream Bars
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcake/Muffin (diabetic friendly!)
Skinny Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake

Need ideas for your leftovers?

WHAT TO DO WITH LEFTOVER TURKEY:

So Thanksgiving has come and gone, but you still have a lot of turkey leftover….what to do?  Well first we enjoy a 2nd turkey dinner the next day with all the leftovers we have!  After that, we set aside the biggest pieces and put them in a foodsaver bag to freeze…so we can have another big turkey dinner mid-year.  Then we take the smaller pieces and package them to use in casseroles.  Then I put the carcass into a 16-quart stockpot and fill it with water and simmer the carcass for about 4 hours with some seasonings.  When that’s done, I set aside 6 quarts of the broth to use for cooking (I freeze it in 1 cup portions so that as a recipe calls for broth, I can just defrost 1 or 2 ‘cubes’ as needed).  The remainder is made into Turkey Soup.  Pick out all the bones, skin, cartilage and other ‘non-edibles’ then I freeze the ‘soup’ in 4-6 cup portions.  I don’t finish the recipe- meaning I don’t add the carrots and celery, or noodles or added seasonings until the day I actually plan to serve the soup.  But in doing these extra steps, our 15 pound turkey not only fed 7 people Thanksgiving dinner, but gave us 2 more ‘turkey’ dinners, 1 casserole and 6 quarts of soup!  Not to mention the savings from not needing to buy chicken broth for cooking!  Yes, it’s work….but it’s a bunch of ‘free’ dinners!

WHAT TO DO WITH LEFTOVER STEAK or POT ROAST:

I don’t know about you, but when we cook a roast, we have A LOT of leftover meat!  I don’t usually like to eat the same dinner more than once in a week, so I try to come up with a creative dish using the leftovers.  Last week, we had a lot of pot roast left over.  I shredded it, put it in a pot with a hefty amount of Taco Seasoning- simmered the meat for about an hour to really saturate it with flavor.   Then I made an enchilada casserole with it….and that was a huge hit!   Sometimes I cut up leftover steak or roast into small cubes and add it to a Taco Soup with it.  Now that I think about it… it seems like most of my leftover meat becomes some sort of Mexican dish!

WHAT TO DO WITH LEFTOVER FRUIT:

Ever buy too much fruit? And it starts turning the corner to becoming something inedible? Or has someone given you too many apples, pears, peaches or nectarines? How about that watermelon that you didn’t even cut into during your last camping trip or BBQ?

Besides making smoothies or doing a lot of baking (cobblers, crisps, pies, etc.) Try freezing the fresh fruit to use later!

WATERMELON: I cut the melon into cubes that are about 3/4″ diameter and 4-5″ long. I arrange on a cookie sheet spaced about 1″ apart and freeze. The next day you can pop them off the tray and throw them into a freezer bag or freezer container and the kids LOVE them. Just like popsicles! In fact, you could always insert a popsicle stick in one end for a cleaner eating treat!

APPLES, PEARS, PEACHES, NECTARINES: I slice them in thick slices, or cube them…and I actually prefer to leave the skin on in most of my recipes (except for the peaches- I don’t like hairy dessert!) Same as the watermelon, freeze individually on a baking sheet before putting them in a storage bag or container. Just add them frozen to pancakes, cobblers, crisps, etc! Peaches and nectarines are good added to smoothies or milkshakes, too!

BANANAS: Old bananas are really only good for baking banana bread or making smoothies or milkshakes. These I chop into 1″ sections before freezing.

GRAPES: OK, it’s rare to have excess grapes, but these are another fruit that can be frozen and eaten in it’s frozen state! Very refreshing on a hot day!

BLUEBERRIES, STRAWBERRIES, RASPBERRIES: Again, freeze individually before tossing into a bag or container. Add to smoothies or milkshakes, or add to pancakes, cobblers, crisps while still frozen!

WHAT TO DO WITH LEFTOVER ONIONS OR BELL PEPPERS:

I don’t use a lot of peppers or onions in my cooking (it’s a texture thing), so they would always go bad before I need to use the remainder.  Last year I started freezing the leftovers!  I use what I need,  chop the rest and put it in a freezer container.  The next time a recipe calls for onion or pepper, I can just pull out  what I need….and it’s great for us since Jim likes onions and peppers in his omelets- I can just pull out a spoonful and not worry about having 3/4 of an onion rotting in the fridge.

WHAT TO DO WITH LEFTOVER HERBS:

A recipe calls for fresh cilantro, or fresh basil.  You run to the store and buy some, and find you have a bunch left over.  What to do?  I actually FREEZE my leftover herbs, loosely, in a freezer storage container.  I’ve found that 99% of the recipes that call for fresh herbs do just as well with previously frozen herbs.  And when you have a lot of leftover basil, why not make a batch of pesto?  You can scoop the pesto into an ice-cube tray, freeze it, then put the frozen cubes into a freezer container so that when a recipe calls for pesto- you have some on hand!