Hey all! Today I'm sharing some of my favorite recipes that I didn't get from Pinterest - recipes that have been passed down or given to me. Before I got married, my mom was convinced I wouldn't be able to cook for Nick. Honestly I rarely cooked or baked growing up (sorry, Mom). But even though I definitely had some questions (and still do sometimes) that I'd call my mom about or look up online, cooking and baking was not nearly as intimidating as it seemed at first.
To me, a big part of my success has been finding recipes that are simple to make. I am terrible at planning ahead for recipes that need a lot of time, prep, and forethought. I'm also terrible about a) buying special items for recipes and b) using up all of those special items before they go bad. So I try to avoid recipes that call for super unique items or things that I don't typically already have. All of these recipes pass the test for simple and tasty!
Here lately I've really been enjoying styling some food photos and trying my hand at food photography, so this also gave me an excuse to make some delicious food and get a little creative at the same time ;) I hope you enjoy these recipes! I'd love to hear if you made and of them and loved them!!
Homemade Biscuits
I got this recipe from my mom! I remember having them with sausage gravy all the time growing up. These homemade biscuits may not be as pretty as those perfectly round, fluffy, flaky biscuits that you normally think of when you think "biscuit", but they are still super yummy! And I would imagine easier to make. No rolling, no cutting. Just scoop and plop! I will say they're pretty crispy/crunchy on the outside, so if you want biscuits that are super soft then these might not be for you! We now eat these with sausage gravy all the time in my own home :)
Ingredients:
2 Cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
2/3 - 3/4 cup milk
Directions:
Sift first three ingredients in mixing bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Slowly add milk and stir with fork until all ingredients are dampened to form soft dough. Drop biscuits on oiled baking sheet. Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes.
Told ya - super easy!
French Breakfast Muffins
This recipe came from my sister-in-law, Leah (though I'm not sure where she got it). They are so yummy and easy. They have that sugar-cinnamon combo that everyone loves in cinnamon rolls and cinnamon toast, but also their own unique twist with a hint of nutmeg. I love these in the fall and they taste amazing with coffee!
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 egg
1 cup plus 2 TBSP milk
6 TBSP butter, melted
Directions:
Mix together all ingredients. Scoop into greased muffin pan. Sprinkle each with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.
Swedish Pancakes
This recipe is from Nick's family. I gotta admit, when I first had these I just wasn't a big fan. I was so used to my mom's homemade pancakes, which are totally different than these! But I also went through a phase when I was younger where I didn't even like my mom's pancakes very well, and then I went through another phase where I only liked my mom's pancakes - I didn't even like buttermilk pancakes! I've changed my ways since then and now I love all kinds of pancakes. These ones are probably a family favorite and the ones we have on a Saturday morning 90% of the time! I'll also be honest and say I have never actually made these pancakes; Nick is always the one who makes them! And I appreciate it because it means no cooking for me on a Saturday morning ;)
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups milk
1 cup flour
Directions:
Blend/whip eggs in blender or mixing bowl. Stir in sugar and salt. Add milk and flour. Blend/stir until mixed (don't over whip).
Heat skillet pan over low to medium heat. Butter pan before each pancake. Pour thin layer of batter in skillet. Flip pancake after top has dried. When bottom has cooked (it shouldn't take long), roll the pancake and serve. Be sure to butter pan again before pouring on more batter. Recipe serves 3-5 people.
Homemade Pancakes
These are the pancakes I talked about above - the ones I grew up on. Although my mom always used whole wheat flour, and I just use all purpose flour. Different tastes for sure (sorry Mom, I think I prefer the all purpose flour!) So easy to make. You can use oil or substitute applesauce for this; I kind of like the flavor using applesauce gives!
Ingredients:
1 egg
2 TBSP canola oil (OR 3 TBSP applesauce)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 TBSP sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups sifted whole wheat flour (all purpose flour works fine, too)
1 cup milk
Directions:
Beat egg. Add sugar, oil or applesauce, vanilla, and cinnamon to egg. Beat. Sift flour and baking powder into egg mixture and add milk; stir until all is moistened, but batter still a bit lumpy. Spoon batter or pour from pitcher onto hot griddle or frying pan, using 2-3 TBSP batter for each cake. cook only as many cakes at one time as griddle will hold without crowding. Cook over heat until tops of cakes are covered with broken bubbles. Turn cakes with spatula and continue cooking to brown other side. Makes approximately 12-14 pancakes, about 4 inches in diameter.
Broccoli Cheese Soup
Even though I don't have pictures (getting a bit too warm for soup), I had to throw a few soup recipes in here. This is from my mom, and though admittedly it may not be AS good as Panera, it's still really yummy. I like using this recipe for its simplicity and not needing to emulsify the broccoli. Definitely a go-to in the fall!
Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter
1 chopped onion
1 pkg. (16 oz) frozen chopped broccoli
1 lb processed American cheese, cubed
4 (14 1/2 oz) cans of reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 cups milk
1 TBSP garlic powder
2/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup water
Directions:
In stockpot or large 4 qt sauce pan, melt butter over medium-low heat and add onion, cooking it until softened/tender. Stir in broccoli and cover with chicken broth and simmer until broccoli is tender; approximately 10-15 minutes.
Reduce heat; stir in cheese cubes. Mix in milk. In small bowl, gradually add water to cornstarch until starch is dissolved. Stir into soup; cook, stirring frequently until thick. (You may want to wait to add all of the milk until it's been thickened, so you know how much more milk you want to add.) Makes 12 servings. (We usually halve the recipe.)
Potato Soup
Another recipe I got from my sister-in-law, Leah. This potato soup is so yummy. The perfect thickness and cheesy-ness, in my opinion. To be honest, I always use bacon bits for the bacon and it still tastes good!
White Sauce Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 - 1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 block velveeta
Soup Ingredients:
4-5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup onion, chopped
6 red potatoes, diced
2 1/2 cups milk
1 can creamed corn
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
Boil potatoes and onion together in pot. Drain. Add milk, corn, salt, and pepper. Cook bacon and crumble. Make white sauce - melt butter in sauce pan. Add flour and stir. Add milk a little at a time, stirring constantly until gravy consistency. Add velveeta. Stir until melted. Add to potatoes. Enjoy!
Chicken Noodle Soup
This recipe was in a cookbook put together by the church Nick grew up in. It's so easy and so yummy! It does make quite a bit, so halve it if needed.
Ingredients:
12 cups of water
12 chicken flavored bouillon cubes
1 can of cooked chicken
1 bag of frozen corn
3 carrots, sliced
3 stalks of celery, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 bag of egg noodles
In a large pot dissolve bouillon cubes in the water and bring to a boil. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the noodles and cook covered over medium heat for 45 minutes. Add noodles and cover, cook for an additional 15 minutes.
Ranger Cookies
These are unique chocolate chip cookies. They're not your typical ooey gooey, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chip cookie, so they won't be for everyone. But they are good! They definitely have more of a crunch to them, as rice krispies are one of the ingredients. They are best, in my opinion, straight out of the oven or frozen. Yes, frozen! These freeze well and you can pretty much eat them straight from the freezer! If you're in the mood for a little bit different of a chocolate chip cookie, or are a chocolate chip cookie fanatic who likes all kinds of spins on it, give this a try!
Ingredients:
2 eggs
3/4 c. oil
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp coconut flavoring
1/2 tsp salt
2 c. unbleached flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 c. crisp rice cereal
2 c. oatmeal (uncooked)
1/2 c. - 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat eggs in large mixing bowl until fluffy. Add oil, sugars, vanilla, and salt. Beat. Combine flour and soda; add to wet mixture. Stir in cereal, oatmeal, and chocolate chips. Do NOT add more flour. Do NOT refrigerate dough.
Drop by teaspoonfuls on baking sheets and press dough with fork. Bake for 10 minutes. Makes 4 1/2 dozen.
With oil cookies, do NOT over-bake as they won't be brown. These cookies dry out in a couple of days so store in an airtight container and freeze. You can eat them right out of the freezer, since oil keeps the cookies from freezing hard.
"Grandma Owensby's" Brownies
Growing up there was nothing better than these brownies. I always thought of them as my mom's brownies, but apparently she got the recipe from my dad's mom... and I'm not sure where she got it, so we just say they're hers :) These brownies are delectably rich. They are amazing right out of the oven and so good with ice cream or a glass of milk. In my opinion, after a full day they start to dry out more than I like. But it's not hard to eat them all up before that happens ;)
Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup unbleached flour
1 tsp vanilla
Directions:
In a saucepan on low-medium low heat melt the butter, then add chocolate chips and stir until melted and blended with butter. Remove from heat. Add sugar and stir thoroughly. Add the 2 eggs and beat well. Carefully add flour and vanilla, stir and beat well - all by hand.
Coat an 8x8 square pan lightly with cooking spray and add brownie mixture. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 F or until toothpick comes out fairly clean. Cut into 16 squares. Do not overbake!
Strawberry Cake
Hands down this is my favorite cake ever. And I'm pretty sure everyone born into my family or married into my family loves it too. There was never a question of what kind of cake we wanted my mom to make for our birthdays growing up. This was it!! I don't know what other strawberry cakes taste like, but I'm convinced none of the others can be as good as this one ;)
I'll add a disclaimer that in these photos, the cake is more yellow than it should actually be. Since we don't have a kitchen scale and the packaging size for my frozen strawberries was different than the recipe calls for, I was totally guessing on how much to put in and didn't quite put in enough. Still tasted delicious though! The frosting, on the other hand, only calls for 3 oz of frozen strawberries, and I learned the hard way that that's only like 4 or 5 strawberries after I botched the first batch :)
Cake Ingredients:
1 pkg. white cake mix
1 box strawberry gelatin
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup water
1/2 pkg. (10 oz) frozen strawberries
4 eggs
Directions:
Mix all but the eggs and beat for 2 minutes. Add the 4 unbeaten eggs and beat for 5 more minutes. Put in greased and floured 9x13 inch pan or 3 9-inch round cake pans.
Frosting:
1 lb confectioner's sugar
3 TBSP - 1/4 cup butter
3 oz. frozen strawberries
Beat until smooth and of spreading consistency.
Apple Crisp
No photos for this final dessert, which is a shame (I had the apples and everything but we'd been eating a little too much dessert recently ha!) but do yourself a favor and just make it - if not now then in the fall! I may be a little biased with all of these recipes that I got from my mom, but I've had other crisp recipes and this is still my favorite!
Topping: Mix 1/2 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup quick or old fashioned oats, 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/8 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon together. Work into 1/4 cup softened butter. Set aside.
Filling: Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1 TBSP flour, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Peel and slice 6 apples. Place apples in bottom of buttered 8x8 or 9x9 pan. Sprinkle apples with sugar mixture. Top with topping and press firmly down. Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes.