Chocolate Pudding

What if you couldn't buy pudding in a box? What if your microwave died on you today? Here is a super simple and quick recipe for pudding. I found this one on allrecipes.com and we all loved it in my house. No more boxed mixes for us. The recipe tells you to make it in the microwave but I wanted to make it on the stove and let me tell you it turned out just great! I added two squares of bakers chocolate and made us chocolate pudding. Try this recipe from scratch and enjoy.

1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups milk
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 squares unsweetened bakers chocolate

In a saute pan, combine sugar and cornstarch. With a hand mixer, beat in milk and egg yolks until smooth. Cook on medium heat stirring until thickened. Blend in butter, vanilla and chocolate. Pour into serving dishes; cool.

Graham Crackers

A while back I started thinking about what kind of junk was entering my sons body via additives and preservatives in his snacks. I am sure packaged graham crackers are just fine but because I was wanting to be able to really monitor what he was eating I found this recipe. I had a hard time finding graham flour so I just called a local small health food store and they special ordered it for me at no extra cost. They ordered the Bobs Red Mill brand. These turn out so good everyone will love them...and you for making them!

My husband was a little confused at first because rather then making them square I used a round cookie cutter to cut them out with. He kept referring to them as flat harder cookies. "No Dear they aren't hard cookies they are graham crackers. " Next time I will make them square so no one gets thrown off.

MIX:

3 c. flour

3 c. graham flour

1 tsp. salt

1 c. brown sugar

MOISTEN WITH:

1/2 c. canola oil

Water to make a stiff dough

Make a stiff dough and knead until well formed. Roll out thin, make sure you dust the area with flour first. Cut into squares and prick with a fork. Place on cookie sheet. Bake until crisp at 35o degrees. I sprinkled mine with a little sugar...yummy!

Taco Seasoning

For some reason I have been on a taco kick lately. I cant seem to get enough! We have always bought the Taco Bell seasoning and then I asked myself "why?" So after trying out a handful of recipes I found one that is perfect! I will never spend money on the prepackaged stuff again.

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all the ingredients and store in an airtight container or add directly to your ground beef. When I am ready to make tacos I brown my beef then I add 1/2 tablespoon of flour and 2/3 cup water with the seasoning mix and let it simmer. One big note here is that the red pepper flakes makes this a very spicy mix. We prefer to leave it out so our two year old son can enjoy these with us.

This recipe come from allrecipes.com http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Taco-Seasoning-I/Detail.aspx

BBQ Sauce

This recipe is so quick and easy. It would take me longer to pick a bottle of sauce from the grocery store then to actually make this. And the great thing is you will most likely have all the ingredients on hand. In the end don't be afraid to add other ingredients to make this your very own signature recipe. Enjoy!

1 Cup Ketchup
1 tbsp Mustard
3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tbsp Vinegar
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
3 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 tbsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Garlic Powder

I want to note that I found this recipe on http://www.bbqgrillingbasics.com/sauce.htm I was so thankful to find it after I over cooked my first brisket. My husband made the comment that we couldn't have had better BBQ eating out. Yummy!

Homemade goodness

It is amazing how simple it is to make just about anything from scratch. In the past week I have made BBQ sauce, Bread, Chocolate pudding, Ice Tea, Cake, Cole Slaw, Mash Potatoes, Green Beans, and Honey Butter all from scratch. No boxes, cans, or bags just good old recipes and a little faith in myself. I have created this site to document all previous and future endeavors in the wonderful world of homemade weather it be food, clothes or household products I will show you how to do it here. Enjoy!!!