As if yet, I have not made my own ketsup, but this makes me want to because you get to control the flavors. Hmmm, am I a control freak? Perhaps.Â
1 sliced onion
2 sliced tomatoes
2 T balsalmic vinegar
4 T brown sugar
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt    Â
Saute onions until they are translucent, add fresh tomatoes, 
brown sugar, vinegar, thyme, salt and pepper.
Enjoy
My hubby gets into the kitchen from time to time and his niche is truly the BBQ and also drinks.Â
He made an excellent drink for me last night, non-alcoholic.  While he charged his up with a touch of Vodka, I liked mine virgin style.
Cranberry Raspberry Lemonade
Make it in a pretty 12 ounce glass:
1 scoop Country Time Lemonade powder
1 cup Cranberry Raspberry Juice
Fill the rest of the glass with crushed ice. Oh, so good.
My hubby makes the best ribs. How good are they? I do not order ribs when I go out. Always disappointed. They just don’t do it as well. Dennis’ are the best!
Best Pork Ribs in the World! Just Awesome!
Start the BBQ, and let her heat up. We have a two sided BBQ and so hubby lights one side and uses the other side to smoke the ribs. He leaves them on the cool side for a couple of hours and then turns them and leaves them another 2 hours. They seem to be perfection. His BBQ sauce creates a sticky sauce that is heaven on a rib. Search for BBQ Sauce to find on this site.
Pork Ribs with the Rib Tips and Tumeric Rice
The only other BBQ sauce that comes close to his is Sweet Baby Rays. It is nice.
Get me a spoon!
Lima Beans
Ham Bone
Onions diced
Carrots diced
Celery dices
Put all in the pressure cooker and bring it up to pressure. Cook for about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Shut off and let it cool until the pressure releases.
Salt and pepper to taste
nutmeg
Whatever ham meat there is on the bone, dice it up and add back to the soup.
Garnish with sour cream.
Quiche Appetizer
Quiche Bites!
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Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
12 large eggs
dash salt
1 cup creme fraiche/sour cream (drain any moisture) or evaporated milk or 1 can cream of mushroom condensed soup, or cream
2 cups cottage cheese
8 oz Monterey Jack Cheese (grated)
8 oz Cheddar Cheese or parmesan (grated)
8 – 10 ounce canned or (fire roasted) green chilis (if you use fresh, saute until tender)
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
9″ x 13″ casserole / baking dish
Preheat oven to 400 degrees, melt the butter in your baking dish. (Some people may elect to substitute this step with spray oil because of calories, but I think it makes that crusty portion of the dish that puts it in a new level. Just letting you know.) Beat eggs and milk, add seasonings. From here on out, do not overmix! Stir in green chilis, cottage cheese and 2 cups of grated cheese. In another bowl mix dry ingredients flour and baking powder and add to egg mixture. Did I mention not to over mix? It will look a little lumpy. Pour on top of melted butter in oven.
Bake at 400 for 50 minutes until set and golden brown.
A great part of this dish is the crusty cheesy edge that forms from baking. The casserole should be puffy, and the cottage cheese adds a creamy sensation when eating. So good.
Many people will add pimentos or diced omatoes which you can do, but prefer to serve with fresh pico de gallo on the side. I would also make up a big batch of chorizo fried potatoes as a side dish, along with fresh fruit salad. Perfect brunch? Serve mimosas and bloody Mary drinks.
Want to make it heartier or just one dish? Grate potatoes and add to the bottom of the baking dish on top of the melted butter. Add diced
ham or cooked browned crumbled sausage and then your egg mixture.
Or to make Florentine Casserole, add crumbed crispy bacon and chopped spinach and omit the green chilis.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees for approximately 30-35 minutes or until the center is set. Let sit for 15 minutes before cutting.
Serve a 3 inch square for breakfast alongside Potatoes and Chorizo and a nice diced fruit salad. For appetizers, cut into 1 inch cubes.
Lemon Meringue
Awesome Bite Lemon Meringue
At Christmas this year, my sister-in-law, Carol made the pies. She has shared her mom’s Lemon Cream Pie recipe. “My mom’s pie had meringue on top made from the whites of the 3 egg yolks. Many recipes today suggest whipped cream. All sound yummy. For the crust I use the Pillsbury and roll it out a little. Use a small pie tin as this is not a big pie. Doubling recipes doesn’t work for me. I just prick the crust with a fork several times, then pre-bake the crust. I don’t think Meyer lemons are good for this…not enough acidity and didn’t set up right. My mom’s recipe said, ‘do not cool in front of a drafty window’.”
So ingredients are..
1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk or any brand as long as it is 13 1/2 to 14 oz can.
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
3 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)
Optional some recipes use the zest of the lemon in this pie also.Â
Pre-bake the pie crust and cool
Mix filling together
Pour filling into baked crust
Make meringue (sometimes I add an extra white for more volume).Â
Put the meringue on top making fancy little doodles, peaks and valleys
Put the pie the oven 325 degrees to brown the peaks of the meringue.
Chill until ready to serve.
The meringue can be tricky so I won’t give details other than
Make sure bowl is dry…copper bowl is best
Do not let any yolk or water get into the whites
You can whisk or use electric beaters
Add cream of tartar to get more volume
Use powdered sugar, regular sugar or vanilla to flavor and/or sweeten
To make this pretty, you can make the pie in cupcake pan lined with parchment so each person for dinner has an individual pie.  They are so cute!
I guess when it is a bit cold outside, immediately I reach for comfort food. We had meatloaf as a kid once a week. It was easy fast, feed the crowd and my mom could stretch the meat by adding rolled oats, potato chips, day old bread crumbs, anything available.Â
2 pounds of ground beef
1 cup bread crumbs or panko or dry bread crumbled up
1 Tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 can of green olives (the natural brine) sliced or chopped
2Â cans tomato sauce
Reserve 1/2 a can to pour over the top. Variation: You can substitute part of the tomato sauce used in the mix with salsa or diced tomatoes. Don’t have breadcrumbs, of course you can substitute. Have extra veggies like carrots add them. Make sure you slice the olives otherwise they get to be overpowering.
Serve meatloaf hot with mashed potatoes.
We don’t have to talk about comfort do we? You know this is the main reason you eat mac and cheese. When you need a little warmness in your tummy. This is adult comfort food with the Blue Cheese. If you are making for a crowd, you can do half with blue and half with cheddar, then the kids and my husband are happy too! Dennis loves extra sharp cheddar.
My bite!
16 ounces of macaroni – I used the big elbows boil until al dente
2 packages of four cheese sauce mix made according to package directions or 1 jar of of four cheese sauce
2 ounces of parmesan cheese grated
2 ounces of  crumbled blue cheese (or sharp cheddar)
mix the cooked macaroni with the sauce reserving 1/2 cup to pour over the top.
Sprinkle the parmesan and blue cheese over the macaroni and sauce mixture. Pour the last bit of sauce over the cheese.
Pop in the oven for 10 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees.
This is good. You could top it with a bread crumb mixture, but I like mine plain.
My Mom used to make parsnips. I love the taste of them.  This soup is perfect when it is rainy and cold outside and you are sitting in front of the fire chatting it up with friends.  Bring on the rain!Â
Serves 4
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
Try some!
Method:
Parsnip Apple Carrot Macadamian Nut Soup garnished with olive oil and freshly ground black pepper.
It's ducky!
Celebrating Jon and Carol’s anniversary the other night at a local restaurant, I ordered the duck breast with blueberry sauce. It was great, but I thought it needed something to offset the sweet blueberry. Thyme is the answer. Destined to be one of my favorite dishes.
Directions:
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