Homemade Barbecue Sauce

April 30, 2013 by 6 Comments
Homemade barbecue sauce

I made homemade barbecue sauce one day out of necessity because I needed barbecue sauce and didn't have any.  A quick mix of basic pantry ingredients that simmer for a few minutes and I had homemade barbecue sauce. We are huge fans of Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce. I love it so much that I've never bothered trying to make my own sauce. I figured it was probably pretty easy, but I was happy with Ray.  Then I ran out of Ray and forgot to get more.  I was making pulled chicken sandwiches and I had to have barbecue sauce for them. My friend Gina from Pinch This Stretch That kindly gave me her recipe for homemade barbecue sauce and saved the day. I have a gigantic bottle of liquid smoke for making slow cooker barbecue ribs that I'm always looking for another use for.  This recipe is yummy on it's own, but it's really a jumping off point. You can add honey, garlic, more liquid smoke, more brown sugar, Tabasco - whatever flavors you love in your barbecue sauce. I would ... [read more]

Filed Under: BBQ, Condiment, Recipe, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Tyson Chicken Fries and Special Dipping Sauce

April 20, 2013 by 2 Comments
Tyson Chicken Fries Dipping Sauce #ChickenFryTime

Chicken nuggets, french fries, and a dipping sauce are one of my kids' favorite meals.  Tyson has combined the nuggets and fries to get Tyson Chicken Fries making for a quick, kid friendly meal! I took it one step further and re-created a secret dipping sauce from one of our favorite restaurants. You and your kids will love it! I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again, but lunch is such a drag for me to make.  I feel like I've just finished cleaning up breakfast when it's time to start lunch and dinner is staring me down already.  So I really prefer something quick and easy, and I'll admit it, sometimes frozen, for lunch. Have you ever heard of chicken fries?  My kids are chicken nugget connoisseurs and my daughter's favorite food is french fries.  So when we saw a Tyson Chicken Fries demo at Sam's Club, it didn't take much to get them to try them.  We picked up a bag to take home and try. I loved how the package was divided in to two different ... [read more]

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Salsa Verde

April 18, 2013 by 16 Comments
Salsa Verde Recipe

Tomatillo Salsa Verde is one of my favorite food discoveries of the Southwest.  It differs from red enchilada sauce as it is made with tomatillos instead of chiles.  I love salsa verde on anything but particularly on enchiladas.   I had never heard of a tomatillo or salsa verde until we moved out west 6 years ago. If they were available on the East coast, I certainly didn't pay any attention to them! My introduction to salsa verde was in Albuquerque, New Mexico when a waiter asked if I wanted my enchiladas "red or green.". He was asking what kind of chili sauce I wanted and since I had no idea what I'd like, I told him to bring me both. I fell in love with salsa verde at that meal. This super easy and quick recipe means salsa verde can now be a staple in my kitchen. Finding a bag of tomatillos on manager's special for $.22 makes this even better! If you aren't familiar with salsa verde, you can use it like taco sauce, salsa, or enchilada sauce. Salsa Verde   ... [read more]

Filed Under: Condiment, Recipe, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Simple Syrup

April 9, 2013 by 4 Comments
Simple Syrup

Simple syrup is a combination of water and sugar that is perfect for sweetening cold beverages.  I always keep a big jar of this in the fridge during the summer to sweeten iced coffee or make an iced chai tea latte. Simple syrup is just sugar dissolved in water so that you can add it to cold beverages and not have the grainy sugar to deal with. You just use equal parts water and sugar, heat it enough to dissolve the sugar and call it good. During the summer I like to drink my beverages cold.  This includes coffee and tea.  I prefer to cold brew the coffee and tea because it's just quicker, but as you may know, sugar doesn't dissolve well in cold liquids.  I like my drinks sweet so I needed a better option. I'd heard of simple syrup before, but I'd never really made it because "syrup" just sounded difficult. Ha ha! It's not. It takes about 5 minutes to stir together simple syrup and I make a large enough batch so that I only have to do it every once in a while. Simple Syrup ... [read more]

Filed Under: Beverages, Condiment, Recipe, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Homemade Marshmallow Fluff

March 6, 2013 by 25 Comments
Marshmallow Fluff from growingupgabel.com @thegabels #recipe

Marshmallow fluff is quick and fun to make in your own kitchen! In 15 minutes you'll have enough fluff for fruit dip, whoopie pies, or fluffernutters.   I needed a dish to bring to Bunco. I'd brought my Mexican Corn Dip last month, which is my go to dish to pass. I thought about Horseradish Cheese Dip, but I really wanted something sweet.  I'd planned on making brownies but then my sister told that's what she was bringing. Gah! I had cream cheese so I thought I'd make a fruit dip only I needed marshmallow fluff.  No problem! I've made homemade marshmallows so fluff should be easy. Plus a few months ago I won a copy of Shauna Sever's Marshmallow Madness cookbook and I've been dying to try out a recipe! Making marshmallow fluff was some of the most fun I've ever had in the kitchen. It really is very easy and came together in about 15 minutes - 10 of which was my mixer beating the marshmallow. This would be a lot of fun to make with kids - just be careful of the hot ... [read more]

Filed Under: Condiment, Desserts, Dips/Spreads, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,
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