By Request Recipes and Home

07/26/2025

Cool refreshing drink in this hot summer weather. Stolen and adapted from Ina Garten!

4 zinger raspberry tea bags
4 zinger lemon tea bags
4 cups of hot water
4 cups of tropical juice or apple juice.
Ina uses apple juice but I picked this one instead- pear, apple and pineapple

Place tea bags into 4 cups of water and allow to steep for 10-1 min.
Pour into pitcher and add 4 cups of juice.
Stir or shake (I put mine in a recycled simply lemonade plastic container.

Pour over ice and enjoy!
It’s really good!

08/12/2024

Recipe coming soon!

07/06/2024

Product Review

This is now the only marinade I am buying! Found at Harris Teeter- International section- top shelf. 2.99! Great price! But great flavor! Used it tonight on boneless chicken breast. I did not salt and pepper them beforehand- just poured about 1/3 of the bottle on them and allowed to marinate for a couple of hours.

Excellent!!!

07/04/2024

Just finished making this to munch on over the long weekend. Great recipe!

Homemade Salsa!
We love this! Hope you do too!

1 - 28 oz can of while tomatoes- I use Cento Brand
2 - 10 oz cans of Rotel- heat level your choice
Fresh Cilantro chopped to your liking
1- large Vidalia onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 jalapeño seeded and deveined and chopped. If you want it hot leave some seeds and veins in.
2 limes juices
1 lime zested
Sugar
Salt
Cumin
Chili powder

Put can of tomatoes in food processor and process to the level of chunky you like
Add rotel
Add chopped onion, garlic and jalapeño. (I typically place these into a smaller processor before combining)

At this point it’s all in a mixing bowl.

Add lime juice

At this point I begin adding salt, cumin, sugar, lime zest and chopped cilantro until it taste the way we like it. I add a little bit of chili powder if I feel it needs it.

This makes enough for 4-6 people

07/04/2024

Sweet and Tangy Coleslaw

We are not huge coleslaw fans. And Brian likes coleslaw, but he does not like it with heavy mayonnaise and neither would I, as you know, we do not eat mayonnaise in this house, but I do cook with it when recipes call for it. ☺️

I’m making in my crockpot a smoky pork tenderloin with peach barbecue sauce. I’ll slice/ chop roughly for sandwiches. And I thought that it would be really nice to have a coleslaw with it.

So I’ve come up with this little recipe and I made just a small amount. The dressing is so good and I had a little bit of it leftover so I put it in a mason jar to save for a salad.

1 small head of green cabbage, core removed
1 small shallot
3 medium size carrots
1/3 cup or so of chopped flat leaf parsley

Pulverize in your food processor to your liking. We like it small shred.

Dressing
1 cup of Dukes mayo- full fat
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
Blend, mix, stir till all combined- taste it to see if it needs anything else (mine did not)

Pour half of the dressing in your coleslaw mixture and toss. If you like it wetter/saucier add more. I have about 1/3 cup left over.

Chill and serve

Note: you could add red cabbage too or use a slaw mix.

Enjoy!

05/02/2024

Have you ever used Dan-O Seasoning? If not you should try it! I’ve been using it for quite a little while and we love it!

We had a sheet pan dinner last night and I used it on all of the food. Delish! I found this at Food Lion! Made in Louisville, Kentucky!

03/30/2024

I certainly hope each of your families has a blessed Easter Sunday tomorrow. We will be going to church and then headed home for Easter dinner with our kids! Our son has a girlfriend and I claim her too! 🩷

To make it easier I bought a honey baked ham- although it was not easy on the pocketbook. Not much is these days! I’ve also made twice baked potato casserole, two layer strawberry cake with butter cream frosting that I’ll serve with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, also made deviled eggs, fancy green salad, green beans, crock pot Mac and cheese and rolls. Mac and cheese I’ll put on right before head to church and the rest just needs reheating.

Where have I been lately? Working…a lot 😪 and I am involved in women’s ministry at our church - which I love 🩷. Both have kept me so so busy. I’ll be popping on with some more recipes soon!

Here’s our cake! Simple but so sweet and mmm mmm good!

God Bless you and your family!

01/20/2024

Winter Fruit Trifle

1 bag of grapes, washed and cut in half- probably about 2 pounds. I used black velvet grapes
6 kiwi- skin removed and cut into chunks
3 large apples, cut up in bite size pieces and soaked in lemon water. I soaked mine for an hour.

Mix together the following:
8 oz of cool whip plus a little bit more
1 1/2 cups of whole milk plain Greek yogurt
1/3 cup of powdered sugar
Cinnamon to taste

Layer the grapes, kiwi and apples and then the cool whip mixture. Do 2
more times for a total of 3 layers.
Save a little bit of fruit to garnish the top

This is great in the winter when fruit is not as sweet ! Goes a long way to feed a crowd too!

01/15/2024

Smothered Pork Chops in Onion Gravy

I’ve been wanting some smothered pork chops for quite some time. And although they are typically made with bone in pork chops, I’ve made these with the thick cut boneless pork chop.

Here’s how I did it :
(There are many recipes out there)

Seasoned pork chops, front and back with salt and pepper and toss into flour. Note, my flour was seasoned with salt, pepper, and about a half a cup of Italian breadcrumbs.

Brown each side in hot skillet with a mixture of butter and vegetable oil. No need to cook all the way through. Once brown remove from skillet and add one sliced onion. Sauté your onion until it is transparent or you can caramelize your onions as well. I did not. Add flour to make a roux and cook for one to two minutes until the flour has been cooked through. Note I do add salt and pepper to the onions while I’m cooking them. For my recipe, I added one cup of chicken broth, one cup of milk, one heaping tablespoon of chicken bouillon, and approximately a cup of water. Season as you like and add your pork chops back in cover and cook on low until your pork chops are tender.

I am serving this with mashedsweet potatoes, and steamed broccoli

01/10/2024

🎉 Facebook recognized me as a top rising creator this week!

01/07/2024

Crock Pot Chuck Roast Chili

I would not normally use a chuck roast for chili- but it was on sale and it was a small roast. I’ve made chili using stew beef before as well but I wanted to make this in the crock pot and I needed a chili recipe that could cook for a long period of time- could be on 10 + hours a day and some times ground beef is not the best choice to use for long cooking times.

This is so good! It was simple and will be easy to heat up this week.

Night before prep
1.5-2 pound chuck roast cut into edible chunks.
2 tbs olive oil
1 pkg of chili seasoning mix
After you have cut up the roast add olive oil and 1 pkg of chili seasoning. Toss till everything is coated, cover and place in fridge overnight.

Next morning:
Add in the crockpot-
1- 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes or any tomato you like
1 can of pintos rinsed and drained
1 can of Bushes chili beans
1 onion chopped
1 tablespoon- generous of course of jarred garlic
Feel free to add any peppers you like.
Large tablespoon of Beef flavored Better than Bullion for depth!
Several squirts of tomato paste or 1/2 can. I used the paste in a tube.
Salt, pepper, and 1 pkg of Texas style chili mix, and a generous dose of cumin

(Remember I rarely measure)

Toss everything into your crockpot. If you want it soupier put 1/2 can of water.

Low for 10 hours
High for 6

I tasted it and it needed more salt, chili powder and cumin- you season as you like!

For purposes of this recipe I am showing a very simple picture. Feel free to add cheese, jalapeño, sour cream- anything you want to top it off!

Enjoy!

01/07/2024

Product review!
Pampered Chef’s Rosemary Focaccia Bread

So many people invite me to pampered chef parties, and I do try to attend or order something from them. But it’s gotten to the point that I have everything so I’ve started ordering some of their bread mixes /kits and spices .

This Rosemary focaccia bread is really really good. Like 9/10 good! it does require 2 to 3 hours of time to allow the dough to rise. But it’s very good and if you have a chance to purchase a bag I would not hesitate.