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Soft Homemade Flour Tortillas; Picture Recipe

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      Have you noticed the soft and tasty flour tortillas at nice restaurants? When compared to the mass-produced packaged ones from the supermarket, there’s a huge difference! Here’s how you can make tender, flavorful, soft flour tortillas right at home! Using butter rather than flavorless oil plus enough salt to bring out flavors, these tortillas are silky and absolutely delicious! This recipe is not hard to make, it just takes a little bit of time. It can be nice to grab a bag at the store for convenience at times, but once you’ve tasted your own homemade tortillas you know what you’re missing when you go back to store brands! If you decide to try this recipe, I would love it if you leave me a star rating and a comment at the bottom of this post as it really helps me out. Thanks in advance! Note that in the following pictures I have doubled the recipe, so it looks like a lot more than you’ll get by following the recipe as is. To Make the Dough: Start out by cutting cold butter or lard (pork fat) into flour, salt, and baking powder until only small lumps of butter remain. Butter adds a lot of flavor! I use a pastry cutter to get the job done easily.   Add hot water or milk. Stir until completely combined and a dough has formed. Adjust the flour or liquid if needed. You want a […] Read more »

Old Fashioned Meatloaf Recipe

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  It amazes me how many recipes can be found on the internet at the click of a button! You can find all kinds of fancy, fun, new and different foods to try. But there there are those times when we really just want to go back to basics and make the food that Grandma used to serve. Many of our mother’s and grandmother’s old recipes have stood the test of time and are still loved today. And that is after we discovered Pinterest and all the changes and dressing-up one can do of basic, old recipes. Today’s post features a classic meatloaf recipe just the way it was made “back in the day.” Nothing weird, just the warm goodness of a meatloaf made with love! And who could argue with that?   To prepare the meatloaf you will, of course, need ground beef. The recipe below uses one pound, but since I like to make extras once I’m at it, I tripled the recipe when I took the following pictures and used three pounds. My meat was in the freezer so I took it out that morning to thaw out in time for dinner prep. At that point you will need almost 1 1/2 hours from start to finish. When dinner time comes around, start out by combining the dry ingredients: oats, sage, salt, and pepper. You’ll also need milk, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard. Mix all of these dry and wet ingredients […] Read more »

Planting and Growing Green Beans in the Home Garden

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    If you wonder if you can handle growing vegetables on your own, you should try green beans! Growing green beans is easy and rewarding, and fun for both kids and adults! Also called snap beans or string beans, they can grow in pots or garden containers, or in-ground. You can fit them into small places as they really don’t need much space. Bush beans can also be planted close together as they will use each other for support, making staking unnecessary. They need some fertilizer and a bit of water, but these plants are not fussy. They are not infallible either, they just aren’t difficult plants. For these reasons they are an ideal vegetable for kids to grow or for adults who want to start out with something simple. The seeds are large, also making it easy for kids to handle and plant. With the pictures below I will take you right through it. Did you know? Some helpful tips before we get started: Although sometimes called string beans, most varieties of green beans nowadays do not have much of a string in them. It’s just an old name that sticks around, and in fact this unpleasant characteristic has been more or less “bred out” of them. I have tried several varieties myself and haven’t had a problem. These days they are usually referred to as snap beans due to the snap you’ll hear if you break a fresh bean. […] Read more »

Cream Cheese Squares Recipe, Picture Guide

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  These cream cheese bars are an absolutely delicious dessert! They are super sticky and gooey but can still be eaten without a fork if served cold. While very sweet and rich, it is hard to stop at only one! With this picture tutorial you can see that this is an easy recipe to put together, using a yellow cake crust on the bottom and covered by a sticky, dense cream cheese filling. They look a bit like lemon bars but the taste is very different. Kids and teens will sometimes be reluctant to try them due to the cream cheese that they contain, but once they sample them they quickly realize that they’re not biting into cream cheese, but a delectable, sweet dessert! If you decide to try this recipe, please consider leaving me a star rating and a comment below; it is very helpful for me and I appreciate it very much! Thanks in advance! When my son brought some of these bars to school with him, one of his 8th grade friends loved it and went home to search my blog for the recipe, to no avail; I simply hadn’t put together a post on it yet. Since my own kids will also definitely want this recipe once they’re out on their own, it was time! Caden, this blog post is for you! 🙂 I hope you’ll have fun baking!   The How-To’s: Start out by setting the […] Read more »

Deluxe Scalloped Potatoes; Recipe & Pictures

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  Today I will post a fantastic recipe for the ultimate of scalloped potatoes! This dish was a huge hit when I served it as a side during our large family Christmas celebration. I am tempted to call it Grown-Up Scalloped Potatoes because the flavors are more complex than some of the other, more standard recipes. I love scalloped potatoes, but this recipe has definitely been kicked up a notch and is a must-keep for my recipe box. And they also just happen to be gluten free! How awesome is that? With the upcoming holidays in mind, I originally found it at Great Party Recipes .com, (Easy Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes) while searching for a recipe that would work for a large group of people. After making a couple of changes and trying it on small-scale first, I decided there was no reason to look further! This was it! And it was a success! Below, I have posted a lot of pictures along with the directions and recipes, and I hope it will be helpful to you. If you decide to try these scalloped potatoes, I would love it if you came back to comment and add a star rating as it really helps me out! Thanks in advance!   How Much Will You Need if Serving a Crowd?  On the bottom of this post you will find a smaller and a larger size recipe for your convenience; the smaller one for 6 servings […] Read more »

Norwegian Fiskegrateng; Fish Au Gratin Recipe

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  Fiskegrateng is a very popular and much loved fish casserole among kids and adults in Norway.  It is an excellent way to use up fish leftovers, especially if you have cod, pollock, or other white fish on hand. Being that Norway has such a long coast line, fish is widely available and served often, in a variety of ways. So, naturally, there will be leftovers. Translated to English, some fitting names for this dish might be Fish Au Gratin or simply Fish ‘n Macaroni Casserole. As I grew up in Norway, my mother would either make this dish from scratch (she didn’t use a recipe) or she would buy it frozen from the grocery store. It came with or without macaroni, and we all loved this meal, even those who normally didn’t like fish! It was a yummy, mild comfort-food served with boiled potatoes, cooked vegetables, and melted butter. My husband and kids all love this casserole as well. In fact, it’s one of my husband’s favorite meals of all!   The Recipe In this post I will use pictures to show you how to make fiskegrateng. But first I have to give you a heads-up: although this dish isn’t exactly difficult, it is not one of those quick and easy meals to make either. But if you want to WOW your family or friends with a wonderful, old-fashioned, authentic Norwegian fish dish, then this is IT! The skill level […] Read more »

Perfect Chicken with Top 3 Homemade Dry Rub Recipes

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Dry rubs are easy to make at home, and with three truly amazing recipes below, there is really no need to buy expensive spice mixes from the store! A dry rub is a mix of dry spices and herbs as opposed to wet marinades. Dry rubs can be made in large batches as they keep fresh for a long time and are easy to store. In this post I will share my absolute favorite homemade chicken rub recipes (at the bottom of this post), and also give you important tips on how to apply seasonings to chicken, which will make a world of a difference in the end as far as flavor goes! In addition, I’ll let you in on what I do to make sure my chicken is cooked to perfection and super juicy! The flavors in all three of the recipes in this post makes chicken taste like something you’d find at a great restaurant! They have quickly become must-keep recipes for my family as we absolutely love them, and it’s fun with variation! If you do try these recipes, I would really appreciate a quick comment with a star rating (option found immediately under each recipe). It helps me out tremendously! Thanks in advance! Why Make Your Own Rubs? Homemade seasoning mixes have several benefits over those purchased at stores: They save you money, give you variety with the endless choices available, and they are usually also healthier choices […] Read more »

How to Grow Carrots From Seed to Harvest. Tips & Pictures

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  Homegrown carrots are known for their sweet and flavorful taste. They also have a bit of a reputation for being hard to grow, but I have found that carrots are fairly easy if they have the right growing conditions. A little bit of information and preparation goes a long way. Being a hobby gardener only, and not a professional, I have personally grown carrots successfully for several years. I’ll show you what I do and give you some how-to tips that can make a big difference in getting them to germinate and grow properly. First some information to help you understand what carrots need in order to thrive in the home garden, then some practical pictures to show you exactly what to do: How to seed, germinate, grow, and harvest homegrown carrots.   Important factors to be aware of Soil conditions Carrots like sandy, well drained soil. They do not do well in clay, compact, rocky, or water logged soil. They like moisture, but not wet soil that will not drain. If your natural soil is not optimum for carrots, you could try a raised garden bed and prepare it with soil that will work better. Otherwise, gypsum may help improve clay based soil. Before you sow, till or work the soil deep and well, down to a couple of inches below the debt of fully grown carrots. Remove rocks, twigs, roots etc. Carrots like loose soil with little […] Read more »

20 Favorite ALDI Products List, Quality for Less

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      When an ALDI discount grocery store opened up in our area, I decided to compare some prices and check out various products. I came up with a Top 20 list of my favorites products, plus a couple other lists that I hope others will find helpful as well. In general, from what I’ve found, ALDI’s groceries are much lower in price than foods from our “regular” supermarket, and cheaper by far if compared to smaller grocery stores. Other stores can sometimes have sales that are better than ALDI’s regular prices, especially if you combine with coupons, but then again, ALDI actually run weekly sales as well, and these prices are outstanding! I think some of ALDI’s products are not only inexpensive, but downright better than their counterparts from other stores! If you happen to have a Trader Joe’s near you (known for products with healthier ingredients), check out this post on reviews of, and ingredients in their beauty products! The ingredients are looked at in light of chemicals to avoid, and how safe these products seem to be compared to those from regular super markets.  ALDI and Trader Joe’s have different owners but from the same family. One thing to be aware of is that ALDI is a smaller grocery store; some of their products are available only at certain times, so if a product is all of a sudden no longer available, you may very well find […] Read more »

Norwegian Pancakes, Recipe With Picture Guide

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    Traditional Norwegian Pancakes We kids always rejoiced when we came home from school to discover we were having pancakes for dinner! Growing up in Norway, pancakes were always large and super thin, fried up one at a time in a buttery skillet. They were soft with a crispy edge around them; just melt-in-your-mouth goodness! Cooking alongside my mother from a very young age, I learned how to make them as a child, and then I carried the authentic Norwegian pancake tradition along to the United States as a grown-up. In the following pictures and with the help of my son who is now learning (and doing a fantastic job, may I add!), I will show you how to make and fry them. The recipe is added on the bottom of this post, first using standard American measurements, then a second recipe using metric measurements (ml, grams, etc.). If you do try this recipe, I would really appreciate a quick comment with a star rating (option found immediately under each recipe). It helps me out tremendously! Thanks in advance! One thing I want to point out is that there are different, very strong opinions out there (by Norwegians!) on whether or not Norwegian pancakes should contain sugar. The bottom line is that some make them sweet and some don’t. And it seems people believe that whatever they are used to is the correct way. Well, there really is no […] Read more »