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Super Easy Pie Crust (and Pumpkin Pie)
When I found this recipe for pie crust on Pinterest, it seemed too good to be true. You mean to tell me that I can make a pie crust with four ingredients, without rolling it out, in the pie plate?? Why yes. Yes you can. When I first read that this crust was made with oil instead of butter, I was slightly put off. I put butter in everything! But I figured I’d give it a shot. To my pleasant surprise, this crust was good and flakey. To say I’m thrilled about this pie crust would be the understatement of the year. I stopped buying store-bought pie crusts a while…
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Creamed Spinach
The official kick-off to my holiday season is the Thanksgiving lunch at my office. It’s always the Monday of the week before Thanksgiving, and so it’s sort of a warm up (for cooking and eating) before the big day. My contributions to the lunch are: Pumpkin Pie, Buttermilk Pie, Broccoli and Blue Cheese Casserole, Squash Casserole, Mashed Potatoes and Creamed Spinach. I’ll eventually post all of these recipes, but I will start with the spinach. A couple of years ago I sought after a Boston Market copycat recipe for their creamed spinach… and this one is really close (and maybe better). As is true with my other Thanksgiving casseroles, no…
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Meatballs and Marinara
So I actually made this a while ago… I even typed out the recipe, uploaded the pictures and everything, but apparently I forgot to post it! Well, it’s too good to not share, so here it is! My boys love, love, love meatballs, so this goes over really well in my house. I’ve played around with this recipe a lot over the years – sometimes with pork and/or veal – but I really just like it best with a high quality ground beef. The parmesan cheese and fresh herbs add a lot of flavor, and overall, they’re pretty easy to throw together. I made these along with marinara, so the…
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The Taco Night Superstar: Spanish Rice
I’m a sides kinda girl – sure the main course can be great, but I love a good side dish! (Just wait until Thanksgiving!!) So tonight I planned to make tacos and I thought all day about what else I could make to go with it. I decided I’d try to make Spanish rice (an old time favorite of mine). Although I had never made this from scratch before, I am pleased to say that my experiment turned out delicious! This is a really simple recipe and cooked while I was making the taco meat, so it definitely qualifies as weeknight-worthy. If I had planned ahead, I would have added…
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Biscuits and Gravy
It probably comes as no surprise that I like biscuits and gravy. I really like it. My mom made it for me growing up, and I still make it the same way she did. This Southern masterpiece is the ultimate comfort food and can be enjoyed any time of day – we actually had it for dinner tonight (mostly because when I told Blake I planned to make it for breakfast tomorrow, he made an audible awe sound because he will be at work then). And so as some of you may know, my husband has a hard time telling me what he wants for dinner, so when I heard this, I…
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Chocolate Banana Bread
It was chocolate banana bread for breakfast in our house this morning! It’s like a cross between brownies and banana bread and is so good! I found this recipe on Pinterest and stuck to it exactly (except for cooking time – in an effort to speed it up, I went 375 for 60 minutes, and it worked out just fine!). Enjoy! Chocolate Banana Bread 3 very ripe bananas, mashed 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup rolled oats 1 tsp baking soda 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup semi-sweet…
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The Best Pancakes Ever!
We like pancakes around my house. They have always been one of Brogan’s favorites, and even my husband, who typically does not like sweets, loves these things! The pancake craze began shortly after I stumbled across this Martha Stewart recipe. The first thing that caught my eye was the buttermilk to flour ratio – 3:2. Most recipes I had tried before were equal parts milk to flour. Since what I love most about pancakes is the salty/sour flavor that comes from the buttermilk, these seemed like a winner to me. Martha Stewart’s Best Buttermilk Pancakes 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt…
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Meatloaf with Dijon Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Broccoli
It was a meatloaf and potatoes kind of night tonight! Oh, and we threw in some lemon and garlic roasted broccoli – yum, yum! All three of my boys love this, so it is one of my weeknight go-tos. Made from scratch, not a whole lot of prep involved and full of flavor! Enjoy! Meatloaf 2 lbs lean ground beef 1/2 onion, chopped finely 3 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs 1/2 cup ketchup 2 tbsp Dijon mustard 1 egg 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp black pepper 1/2 tsp oregano 1/2 tsp rubbed sage 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 2.) With hands, mix all…
