We love good food in our home. I love to cook and bake for my family. I have shared recipes and pictures of our yummy goodness on different venues. Many have suggested a blog to share the recipes.

*DISCLAIMER* I am not a professional cook, photographer or writer!

I will always try to give credit for recipes. Many I have collected over the years off of TV, various websites, friends and family.

Please leave comments if you try a recipe or share variations of things I post, I always love learning new tricks of the trade.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Spicy Wholegrain Mustard

 We have some mustard lovers in our home.  I'm always trying out new mustard recipes just keep them guessing what I'll come up with next.  My 14 year old's favorite mustard is the Spicy Brown Mustard.  I thought I'd give this recipe a try after I found it on Pinterest.

 I found the recipe on this site.

Spicy Wholegrain Mustard

  • ¼ C + 2 T yellow mustard seeds
  • 2 T black mustard seeds*
  • ¾ C apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3 C water
  • 1½ t sugar
  • ½ t turmeric
  • Clean, glass jar & lid that can hold 2 cups of liquid.  Make sure this is sterilized by putting in the dishwasher OR pouring boiling water in and around it. Let dry before continuing.
*Apparently black mustard seeds are becoming rare. Feel free to use brown mustard seeds, or all yellow, as long as it totals 1/2 cup.  You should be able to find mustard seeds with the spices or Indian foods section.
How-to
  • This makes about 2 cups finished mustard. You can pour it into separate jars when made, but to start you need one big jar!
  • Place mustard seeds in jar. Pour the apple cider vinegar and water on top of the seeds.
  • Put lid on and shake it up! You want to make sure the seeds are covered with the mix, so give it a shake every now and then.
  • Soak for 2 days and the seeds will swell with happiness!
  • After 2 days, place seeds and liquid in a food processor and add the sugar and turmeric.
  • Blend until desired smoothness.
  • Place into desired jar(s), replace lid, and set in fridge. Keep refrigerated.  THAT’S IT! YOU’RE DONE!
-It will be pretty spicy after this, and you can let it mellow in the fridge for a day or two. But even after a few weeks it still has bite!

Loaded Potato Casserole

This recipe was a Pinterest find.  I've been drooling over it for a couple months and finally decided I would just break down and make it.  It was a huge hit in our house.  You can find the original recipe here.  I made subtle changes to make it more to my liking.  I don't care for overly wet potato dishes so I adjusted some of the portions.  I'll note the changes.

Loaded Potato Casserole
2 (16oz) containers sour cream (I used one 24 oz container of sour cream)
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
2 (3oz) bags real bacon bits
2 packages Ranch Dip mix (I left this out, I'm not a fan of ranch outside of potato chip dip and salads)
1 large (28 - 30oz) bag frozen hash brown potatoes - shredded kind

Combine first 4 ingredients, mix in hash browns.  Spread into a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 400 for 45-60 minutes.

Broccoli Salad

This is one of those dishes I don't make often and when I do I wonder why I don't.  It's super easy to make and really yummy.  Ruby Tuesday has a salad like this and it's something I enjoy when I go there.

Broccoli Salad

1/3 cup hot water
4 tlbs. sugar
4 tlb. vinegar
1 cup mayo
2 heads broccoli cut into small pieces
16oz sharp cheddar cheese cut up (mild cheddar works just as well, that's all I had yesterday when I made it and it was still yummy!)
2 lbs bacon cooked crisp and crumbled  (I cheat and use the real bacon bits from the salad dressing aisle, one 3 oz package was sufficient)
1 medium red onion minced (I usually leave the red onion out, it's all about personal preference)

Put broccoli in a bowl.
Dissolve sugar in hot water.
Pour over broccoli
Add remaining ingredients mix well, refrigerate for a couple hours