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Homemade Gifts from the Kitchen

December 8, 2012 by Tiffany

I’m having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that Christmas is getting close. I see the lights and decorations. I hear the music. I’ve even started shopping. But I just can’t convince myself that it’s really December. A whole week into December.

I’m going to be caught by surprise again. Even though I know it’s coming and I try to prepare. Anyone else feel like this?

I do have a few quick and easy gift ideas you can make in your own kitchen. These posts are from last year, but I wanted to pull them back up to the top so they aren’t forgotten.

First up, the snack mixes you see in the photo above. Fun to make and to give. They’re super quick too, so if you need to do a lot at once (teacher gifts, maybe?) this is an idea for you. There’s even a free printable for the black and white Hollywood Mix.

Two more quick mixes – Homemade Seasoned Salt and Homemade Italian Herb Salt. These are both great for anyone who likes to cook. You can mix up a big batch and make several jars at once.

Finally, Apple Butter in the Slow Cooker would make a great gift. This one does need to be kept refrigerated, so keep that in mind when thinking of who to give it to. It’s really easy to make though, because it starts with store-bought applesauce.

Giveaways!

There are two giveaways going on right now that you still have time to enter.

Win a $50 Sam’s Club card from Beneforte Broccoli by entering here.

And I’m giving away a programmable Crock-Pot too. You only have about 1 day left to enter this one!

4 Ways to Make Chicken and Dumplings

December 4, 2012 by Tiffany

The all-time, most popular recipe on Eat at Home is for Chicken and Dumplings. It doesn’t matter what time of year, people want to make this classic dish.

Chicken and Dumplings is a little like chili, in that there are a gazillion ways to make it. Some like it with veggies added. Some keep it simple. Some folks prefer drop dumplings, others like them rolled.

I like it all those ways. They all have their places in the recipe box.

Here are four ways you can make them.

The bowl above is the classic, homemade chicken and dumplings. They are really very easy to make and so, so good. I think these are the best of the bunch. Probably the best chicken and dumpling recipe you’ll ever try. They’ve been featured on Tasty Kitchen Blog. As of this writing, they’ve been pinned on Pinterest over 49,000 times.

If you haven’t tried them yet, you really must. Cook them for people you love and they will hug you and kiss you and love you forever.

The blue bowl above is Chicken and Drop Dumpling Stew. A hot bowl of this on a cold evening is a perfect winter supper. Easier to make than the rolled dumplings, this dough is stirred together and dropped into boiling broth. Carrots, onions and celery add to the hearty flavor.

You know I love slow cooking, so next up are two recipes for the crockpot. First is Chicken and Dumplings in the Slow Cooker. This recipe uses flour tortillas for the dumplings. Super simple and good too. Not only that, but the chicken cooks in the slow cooker, so you don’t even need to have cooked chicken on hand.

Another slow cooker version of Chicken and Dumplings. This one uses frozen gnocchi. The seasonings are different than the other versions. Garlic and Italian seasoning change things up a bit. I’ve made this recipe on the stove top when I failed to plan ahead and it worked perfectly.

So there you go. Four ways to make the best comfort food in the world. Try them all!

Filed under: Chicken, cooking tips, Crockpot, Main Dish, tips Tagged with Chicken, chicken and dumplings, comfort food, dumplings1 Comment

How to Meal Plan

November 29, 2012 by Tiffany

If you hang out here for any length of time, you know that meal planning is important to eating at home. It’s possible to wing dinner, but it won’t take long before that starts to wear on you. The best way to eat at home is to have a plan.

You can find 3 full years worth of meal plans with the grocery lists to go with each here on my site. But I know that many people prefer doing their own plans.

Want to learn how to do it efficiently and quickly? This ebook from my friend Crystal is what you need. Her book is organized and easy to use. She teaches you how to quickly get a rotating menu together and gives ideas for putting together the grocery list. She even includes a section on displaying your menu.

Of course, her book includes easy recipes and a list of websites to find new family favorites. (Eat at Home is one of the sites listed! Thanks, Crystal!)

If you use the code eatathome, you can get $1 off How to Meal Plan. The code only lasts until December 8, so don’t wait!

This post contains affiliate links.

Filed under: kitchen organizing, tips Tagged with Crystal, ebooksLeave a Comment

How to Cut a Head of Cauliflower in 1 Minute

October 21, 2012 by Tiffany

I am not a perfectionist.

Not by a long shot. I like to keep things quick and simple, and that includes dinner prep. To that end, I don’t believe you need to spend a lot of time chopping veggies.

As long as you give up any ideas of having perfect, uniform pieces you can chop a head of cauliflower (or broccoli) in just 1 minute. It cooks just fine and works great for weeknight suppers.

This post has more photos than most of my posts and I apologize for the weird, blue color going on in the pics. [Read more...]

Filed under: 31 days of cooking cheats, cooking tips, Side Dish, tips Tagged with broccoli, cauliflower1 Comment

DIY Programmable Slow Cooker

October 14, 2012 by Tiffany

The other day, I posted a photo on Instagram of two crockpots set up. One with our dinner and a smaller one with dessert. Someone noticed that the small one was hooked up to a timer.

This is a cheater tip I shared about a year ago. I’d still love to have a fancy programmable slow cooker, but this $4 hack does the job.

Here’s the original post, but the basic idea is to plug the cooker into a timer, so you can delay the start of cooking and set it to turn off at a certain point too.

I’ve used it for overnight oatmeal and also dessert. It would work great for some side dishes too. I don’t think I’d use it for cooking with meat or other highly perishable foods though.

Filed under: 31 days of cooking cheats, cooking tips, Crockpot, tips Tagged with Crockpot, slow cooker, timer5 Comments

How to Cut a Cake into More Slices for a Crowd

October 9, 2012 by Tiffany

We’re going to get cakey this week. Today, I have a tip for cutting more slices out of a layer cake.

Tomorrow, we’ve got Ingredient Spotlight: Cake Mix (I can’t wait for this one!)

And Thursday, I’ve got a recipe for cake mix cookies that’s lightened up a bit to make them less of a splurge, but still a delicious treat.

How to cut a cake for a crowd

Have you ever had a large group of people over and only had one layer cake to serve?

If you’ve got enough warning, you could make cupcakes instead. Or bake two cakes.

But I prefer this tip instead.

My dad was raised in a family with 10 kids, so they always needed a way to make food stretch. In order to get plenty of slices, they used this method of cake cutting.

And if anyone in that family is reading this post, you’re wondering why I didn’t make banana cake and if that is coffee icing on the cake in the photos. My grandma’s homemade banana cake is a pain in the patootie to make, so I tend to make this sheet cake with coffee icing instead.

The cake and frosting in these photos is from The Cake Mix Doctor (Mom’s Yellow Cake with Fluffy Chocolate Frosting – it’s one of my favorites). [Read more...]

Filed under: 31 days of cooking cheats, cooking tips, Dessert, tips Tagged with cake, cake mix, crowd2 Comments

4 Qualities of a Cheater Recipe

October 7, 2012 by Tiffany

We’re talking about short cuts this month, so I’ve been pondering what makes a good short cut recipe. I’ve come up with a few qualities that excellent cheater recipes share.

1. Fresh garlic

If the recipe calls for garlic, using fresh instead of garlic powder (or even the stuff in the jar) will make a huge difference on taste.

I’m not totally against ever using powder or jarred garlic, but if you have a good garlic press it’s a quick process to crush your own. I think it’s especially useful in recipes that use other canned or boxed products.

2. It may start with a mix, but it doesn’t end with the mix.

I love a good cake mix or dressing mix or brownie mix or… But the way they taste best is by being dressed up a bit with other ingredients.

3. Skips steps strategically.

A good cheater recipe skips steps, but it skips the right steps. Some things can be skipped and not have a huge effect on the outcome of the dish (like marinating frozen chicken, instead of thawing first). Other steps are crucial to the outcome of the recipe and shouldn’t be skipped. A great cheater recipe knows the difference.

4. Makes use of key kitchen tools.

What are key kitchen tools?

A great knife and a sharpener to keep it sharp. Nothing can be quick, if you’re struggling to make the knife chop.
A good garlic press.
A slow cooker. Some of the best cheater recipes are also slow cooker recipes.

What qualities do you consider essential in a good cheater recipe?

Filed under: 31 days of cooking cheats, cooking tips, tips Tagged with cheater recipesLeave a Comment

More Low Cost Meals – Battling rising grocery costs

September 25, 2012 by Tiffany

If you shop for groceries, you’ve probably noticed that prices are going up. And up. And up.

Over 3 years ago, I wrote a post on low cost meals. I think it’s time for another list of go-to recipes when the budget is tight.

As I said in the original post, some foods tend to make for lower cost meals. Pasta, rice, beans and eggs are all great items to build your meal on when you’re trying to save cash. Soup tends to be less expensive per serving, as well.

Here are some of my favorite budget meals: [Read more...]

Filed under: money saving tips, tips Tagged with budget meals, cheap meals, low cost meals7 Comments

Ingredient Spotlight: Peanut Butter 2012

September 12, 2012 by Tiffany

God bless George Washington Carver.

Without him, we probably wouldn’t have peanut butter. And then, what would become of jelly? Or chocolate? Or bread?

Or us?

Over dramatic? I think not.

I love, love, love peanut butter.

Here are a few of my favorite peanut butter recipes: [Read more...]

Filed under: ingredient spotlight, tips Tagged with peanut butter12 Comments

How to Stretch Ground Beef & Bulk Meatball Recipe

September 11, 2012 by Tiffany

The cost of ground beef has sky rocketed lately. I was shocked to pay $10 for a 2.25 lb. package and my incentive to learn to stretch that burger was just as high as the price tag.

I made a recipe of meatballs for the freezer. My original recipe makes about 88 meatballs. I made a half recipe, which would have yielded 44 meatballs, but I used brown rice to stretch the meat. I was able to get 69 meatballs. That’s a whole extra meal! [Read more...]