DIY Recipe – Homemade Taco Seasoning

Not Rachel Ray has a recipe for Homemade Taco Seasoning that has me convinced to never buy taco seasoning from the bulk section ever again!  Check it out!

Thanks, Toni!

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DIY Recipe – Homemade Refried Beans

This recipe could come in very handy for me!  One of my husband’s favourite snacks is “Bean Dip”.  A layer each of cream cheese, salsa, refried beans and shredded cheddar cheese.

Now that I came across this recipe for Homemade Refried Beans on The Finer Things in Life, I can cross buying cans off my grocery list!

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DIY Recipe – Homemade Gingerbread Latte

Amy from Mom Advice came up with a yummy sounding homemade gingerbread latte recipe for you to enjoy!

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Easy Recipe – Sunshine Ham (or Chicken)

Here a great recipe for a nice easy ham dish.  The sauce can also be used on chicken!

Sunshine Ham

  • 1 Ham
  • 1/3 can 5 Alive Citrus (or orange juice), mix with 1/4 cup water
  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 1/8 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/8 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp all spice

Preheat oven to 270 degrees.  Place ham in an oven safe dish.  Combine juice, water, corn starch and spices in a measuring cup. pour over ham.  Bake ham for 3.5 hours.  The ham can also be done in a slow cooker on high for 3.5 hours.

If you’re doing chicken instead, mix 1/4 cup flour with the spices, then dredge the chicken pieces in that mixture to coat.  Place in slow cooker.  Pour the juice and water mixture over top.  Cook on high for 2.5 hours or until done.

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Easy Recipe – Homemade Caramel Sauce

Now that it’s Fall, I’ve had a hankering for some apple slices covered in homemade caramel sauce.  So yesterday, I finally made some!  Now, I’m not making any claims about this being a healthy recipe, but definitely a treat! :)

Homemade Caramel Sauce:

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup light corn syrup ( I’ve used dark with success)
  • 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

1.  In a medium saucepan, melt butter on low heat.
2.  Add brown sugar, corn syrup, and milk, stirring to combine. Increase heat to medium (or maybe a little below medium).
3.  Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil.  Make sure to use a heat resistant spoon.
4.  Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla and (optional) cinnamon.
5.  Serve warm or cold over apple slices, ice cream or whatever you fancy!

I think what makes this recipe almost fool proof is the corn syrup.  Makes it hard to burn since you don’t have to keep such a close eye on it like traditional caramel (butter, cream and brown sugar only).

image from here.

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Easy Recipe – Pizza Dough

I’ve had a request for the pizza dough recipe I use for making the Sloppy Joe Calzones we enjoy.  So here it is!  I actually throw all the ingredients into my bread maker and set it to the “dough” feature, but I’ve written out the instructions to show you how to make it by hand.

Easy Pizza Dough

  • 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 1/2 cups flour

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together.

Dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead into a smooth dough. (about 5 minutes or so)

Roll out the dough and press down onto a greased pizza pan.  Add your pizza toppings of choice.

Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until crispy and lightly browned.

**For the Calzones, I simply rip small pieces of the dough and shape them fairly thin by hand.

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Easy Recipe – Tasty Tzatziki

Here’s a fabulous recipe for Tzatziki dip that my Mom gave me!  We love to dip pita bread in it.

Tasty Tzatziki:

  • 2/3 Sour Cream (hard kind)
  • 1/3 Yoghurt (Greek – hard kind)
  • Garlic powder or very finely chopped, amount to taste
  • Dill, dried or fresh
  • Cucumber (very finely sliced and diced)(not shredded)
  • Lemon to taste
  • Salt (opt.)

Preparation:

Mix it all together and let sit in refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving.

Note:

Apart from using the ratio of Sour Cream to Yoghurt, no specific amounts were given and you will need to add ingredients according to your taste.

Image from here.

 

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Easy Lunch Recipe – Egg Salad Sandwiches

Let me start off by saying that I don’t like eggs.  :)   At least, I don’t like eggs on their own. (scrambled, over easy…etc)  But I know they’re good for me so I’ve been trying over the last year or so, to eat more.  One way that I have actually been enjoying eating more eggs is by making egg salad sandwiches, or in my case, I prefer bunwiches!

Here’s my super simple three ingredient recipe:

Serves 1

  • 1 hard boiled egg (good instructions on how to boil an egg can be found here)
  • Mayonnaise (I use quite a bit because I want to disguise the taste of the egg :) about 2 Tbsp?)
  • a squirt of mustard (optional)

Once the egg is boiled, I smash it with a fork, then add the mayonnaise and mustard.  Stir until it’s all well incorporated.

Serve on a bun or sandwich bread if you prefer!  Serve with pickles. (Pickles made everything better, in my opinion!)  One day, I might get adventurous and add some dill or something!

How do you like to eat your eggs?  Do you have a food that you dislike, but you try to eat at least a little bit?

 

 

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How to Make Iced Coffee and Iced Tea

Simple Bites show you how to make some fantastic looking iced coffee and iced tea!  Perfect summer drinks, in my opinion!

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2011 DIY Project #6 – Homemade Fabric Refresher (Febreze)

Homemade Febreze

I’m back with my June DIY project!

I wanted to create my own version of homemade Febreze to test out on my husband’s soccer gear. I came up with a recipe, but I’m not entirely convinced it will work to get the smell out completely. (Although, real Febreze isn’t 100% effective either!)  It does work really well on regular fabrics in our home though!

Here’s the recipe I came up with:

Homemade Fabric Refresher (Febreze)

  • a small spray bottle from the travel-size section of any store
  • 2 Tbsp baking soda
  • 1 Tbsp fabric softener
  • warm water
  • 10 drops of essential oil (I used lavender)
  1. Add the baking soda and the fabric softener to the bottle using a funnel.
  2. Add enough  warm water to fill the bottle nearly to the top. Water must be warm to dissolve the baking soda.
  3. Add essential oil.
  4. Close the bottle, shake it up, then get your home smelling good!

I tried making the Febreze without fabric softener, but didn’t see (smell) any results at all.  I also came across some recipes online that use vodka and water that I may try one day.

Have you ever made an effective homemade Febreze before?

Here’s my list of 2011 projects if you missed them:

January: Make homemade pasta. I received a pasta maker attachment for my Kitchenaid a while ago and I’d love to try it out finally!

February: Learn to make 5 minute artisan bread. (Borrow book from library)

March: Create a headboard for our bed. I’ve been meaning to do this for years! The fabric is waiting in my drawer. (to-do one day)

April: Sew pillow covers (with no buttons/zippers) to go with the new headboard (to-do one day)

May: Make cupcakes from scratch (like the ones you can buy from a cake shop with all that icing! )

June: Make homemade Febreze (to test out on my husband’s soccer gear!)

July: Make homemade deodorant.

August: Make homemade vanilla extract (make for gifts)

September: Can some tomato sauce

October: Make homemade oatmeal. Have you got a good recipe for me to try?

November: Make homemade mayonnaise.

December: Make hard lotion bars for gifts

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