Banana Grilled Cheese Sandwich

27 April, 20131 January, 2017 ~ Grace ~ 1 Comment

“Banana Grilled Cheese Sandwich” sounds a little weird huh? I was going to call them “Delicious Banana Bread and Cream Cheese Grilled Sandwiches” but that’s to long, and Jo likes to call them “Funky Monkey Sandwiches”. You can call them whatever you want, but the name that best describes them is “Awesome Deliciousness”!

Start with your favorite banana bread. I used my recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins, omitted the chocolate chips and baked it in a loaf pan at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. It turned out great, and I like that there is no sugar in this recipe.

This is just like making a regular grilled cheese sandwich except you are using banana bread and cream cheese. We add a little stevia to softened cream cheese. You could use honey, maple syrup, sugar, or whatever sweetener you prefer. My recipe for Homemade Honey Whipped Cream Cheese would work great for these.

We made these this morning and added chocolate to them. They were AMAZING!

What a great way to kick off a Saturday morning. Have a great weekend everyone! 😀

Homemade Seasoning for Breakfast Sausage

24 April, 201322 January, 2017 ~ Grace ~ 131 Comments

This sausage recipe has been moved to our new blog! Just click here and it will take you to the Homemade Seasoning for Breakfast Sausage recipe at Sufficient Acres.com.

Here are some of my other homemade spice and seasoning mixes you might like:

Ranch Seasoning Packets – Italian Sausage Seasoning – Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix – Homemade Seasoning Salt – Onion Soup Mix Packets –

Sorry for the inconvenience while we slowly move posts to our new blog.

Homemade Ranch Seasoning Packets

14 April, 20134 January, 2018 ~ Grace ~ 46 Comments

This recipe has been moved to our new blog: SufficientAcres.com

Click here or on the pictures to take you to the recipe!

To make ranch dressing: Add 1 homemade ranch seasoning packet to 1 cup of buttermilk and 1 cup of mayo. Stir well with a whisk and refrigerate for a couple hours before serving. If you don’t have buttermilk , mix together 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar and let it sit for 5 minutes, use that instead of the buttermilk. (I have been meaning to try this with plain yogurt instead of mayo but haven’t yet. If you try, it let me know how it turns out!)

For ranch dip: Add 1 homemade ranch seasoning packet to a 16oz container of sour cream (2 cups) mix well and refrigerate for a couple hours before serving.

Hope you enjoy these as much as we do!! Have a Blessed Day 😀

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

8 April, 20131 January, 2017 ~ Grace ~ 6 Comments

Sunday night is popcorn night at our house! When we started our journey to a more frugal and healthier life style, microwave popcorn was one of the first things to go. I’d bought an air popper a while back (in a moment of nostalgia) but barely used it. My husband didn’t like the air popper popcorn, and I had to agree. For some reason it seemed soggy and wanted to melt between your teeth instead of having that nice crunch. I thought we were stuck with soggy popcorn because I refused to buy the bags of chemicals again. Then a friend told me that you can put popcorn in a paper bag and microwave it. How brilliant!

This is sooooo much cheaper and healthier than store bought microwave popcorn, it has that wonderful crunch and you can control the amount of butter and salt it has on it. I’m ditching my air popper, and freeing up some space in my cupboard!

All you need is a paper bag, 1/4 of a cup of popcorn kernels, butter, and salt or what ever seasonings you like.

Put 1/4 of a cup of popcorn kernels into a paper bag and fold down the top. Place the bag right side up in a microwave for ABOUT 2 minutes. I set the timer for 2 1/2 minutes and listen closely. When the popping slows down to 3 to 4 seconds between pops I stop the microwave. Microwaves are different so times will vary. Pour your popped corn into a bowl and season (we like Parmesan cheese on ours). You can use the same bag to pop more than one batch if you want more popcorn. So simple, yummy, healthy, and cheap. 😀

Happy Popcorn Night!

Homeschool Art Project – Redneck Style

3 April, 20131 January, 2017 ~ Grace ~ 5 Comments

One of Diggers many projects over the winter was to rebuild the deck on his trailer. He just finished it the other day when we (ok, me) decided the nice new wood needed a little color.

The girls were more than happy to help out! In fact, they giggled the entire time. 😀

Yes, I was cringing and thinking of the mess!! Oh, and by the way; wet paint can be very slippery!

But the smiles and giggles were worth it!

Now every time Digger loads or unloads his excavator he will think of his giggly girls. 🙂

Egg Salad – 3 Ways

2 April, 20131 January, 2017 ~ Grace ~ 9 Comments

If you’re like us, you have a bunch of these in your fridge right now. 😀

They are absolutely beautiful, but they can’t stay in the fridge forever! Here are three delicious ways to use up those Easter eggs that are taking up space in your fridge.

If you don’t already have hard boiled eggs check out this post “How to Cook and EASILY Peel Farm Fresh Hard Boiled Eggs”. Even if you don’t have farm fresh eggs this is a great method for perfect hard boiled eggs.

#1 – “Creamy Egg Salad”

Start with 12 hard boiled eggs, peeled and rinsed. Chop the eggs into little pieces. I use an egg slicer and slice the egg one way and then turn the egg and slice it the other way.

After you have all your eggs chopped up in a bowl add: mayo, mustard, horseradish, and sweet relish. Mix all together real good and give it a taste. Now you will know how much seasoning salt and pepper you want to add. Don’t over do the salt….you can always add more but you can’t take it out!

This is Creamy Egg Salad on Sour Dough Bread…..Yummm!

#2 – “Dill Egg Salad”

This one is my favorite! If you don’t like pickles then skip down to the last recipe ‘cuz this is happy pregnant lady with a pickle craving good!!

Chop your 12 hard boiled, peeled, and rinsed eggs into a bowl. Add: mayo, dijon mustard, dill, pickle juice, and chopped dill pickles (our favorite dill pickle is – Nalley’s Elites Garlic, Dill & Onion Petites – they are little, crunchy, and absolutely DELICIOUS!).

My mouth is watering just thinking about those pickles….anyway, mix everything up thoroughly and then take a bite….add salt and pepper if or as needed.

#3 – “Bacon and Egg Salad”

Begin by slicing your 12 hard boiled, peeled, and rinsed eggs into small pieces. Add mayo, sour cream, green onions, bacon bits, (here is how I easily cook bacon in the oven) salt, and onion powder to the egg pieces. Stir together well and give it a taste. Add more salt if needed and pepper to taste.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Egg Salad - 3 Ways

These recipes can easily be cut in half if you don't want this much.

Author: Queen Of The Red Doublewide

Ingredients

# 1 - Creamy Egg Salad:
12 hard boiled eggs - peeled and rinsed
½ cup mayo
1 tbls mustard
1 tbls horseradish
2 tbls Sweet Relish
Seasoning Salt and Pepper to taste
_________________________________________________________
#2 - Dill Egg Salad:
12 hard boiled eggs, peeled and rinsed
½ cup Mayo
1 heaping tablespoon of dijon mustard
1 tsp dill
1 tbls pickle juice
½ cup chopped dill pickles (your favorite brand)
salt and pepper to taste
_________________________________________________________
#3 - Bacon and Egg Salad:
12 hard boiled eggs, peeled and rinsed
¼ cup mayo
½ cup sour cream
2 tbls chopped green onions
8 slices of bacon cooked and crumbled
½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp garlic powder
More salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Instructions

These instructions work for all 3 recipes.
Take your peeled and rinsed hard boiled eggs and chop them into small pieces.
Add the rest of the ingredients except the salt and pepper to your chopped eggs and mix thoroughly.
Taste it, then add salt and pepper to taste.

Homemade Fruit Sweetened Frosting

25 March, 201319 February, 2018 ~ Grace ~ 11 Comments

This post has been moved to our new blog. Sufficient Acres.com

Click here or on the picture for the recipe!

A Chicken Named Stinky

21 March, 20131 January, 2017 ~ Grace ~ 25 Comments

With the exception of our barn cat incident, we have had an uneventful chicken raising experience, up until a couple weeks ago……

It was dark and VERY cold the night I went out to shut up the coop and realized a chicken was missing. I called for her and looked around with a flash light, but there was not much I could do at that point. So thinking she had found a nice place in the barn to spend the night I shut up the coop and went in. The next morning I fully expected her to be standing at the coop door wanting in,… but she wasn’t… After collecting eggs I started searching, and after about 20 minutes (beginning to worry I’d only find feathers) there she was! She was stuck behind some chain link gates that were leaning against a rock wall, alert but making no sound. Just quietly hanging there with one wing above her head and her feet dangling off the ground. I couldn’t get her out by myself, so Digger came out and lifted the gates up while I pried her wing out of the gate. I immediately started inspecting her injuries when my husband politely asked me to move out from between the rock wall and the stack of gates he was balancing for her retrieval.

Day One: Chicken Hospital

She was very cold but alert. One of her legs wasn’t working so she couldn’t stand at all, and the one wing seemed tender. We took her into Diggers shop and set up a “chicken hospital”, and she immediately started eating and drinking. As cold as she’d been I figured when she warmed up she would bounce right back. But that was not the case.

Later that day in the nice warm shop, she wasn’t looking so good. We tried to get her to walk by tempting her with scratch. She really wanted it and would try to stand, but would just flop over, and then give up. In spite of all this, she LAID AN EGG that afternoon!?

Day Two: Discussions

She still wasn’t looking good the next morning….maybe worse. She was now sitting on the floor with one leg strait out in front of her and the other stretched out behind her. It looked painful and she was not even trying to get up. Digger and I had a few discussions that day that sounded about like this:

Digger: “Do you want me to wring her neck?”

Me: “Well, I don’t know……..let’s see how she’s doing later today”

Digger: “Just let me know, I’m not sure I like having a chicken in my shop”

A few hours later…….

Me: “She doesn’t look so good, maybe we should put her out of her misery”

Digger: “She’s still alert and she doesn’t look like she’s giving up, maybe we should give her a couple days?”

It went back and forth like this all day.

Day Three: Stinky Chicken

By day three she was not so affectionately being called “Stinky”. This was Diggers idea…. (He was the one stuck working in the shop with her.) Lets just say the name suited her well! She spent most of the day sleeping, yet seemed alert and very interested in whatever nibbles were presented to her. Despite not being able to move, she managed to lay another egg, but still wasn’t looking so good. The discussions continued until that evening when Digger paused to tell her she was going to be soup if she didn’t buck up soon, (the smell was getting to him). As if on cue, she pulled her legs up under her body and tried to stand. I guess she didn’t want to be soup.

Day Four: No Chicken Soup

A good day! She kept her legs under her and even took a couple steps. Digger managed to get her to roost for a couple of minutes on the handle of his forge. It was hard for her to grip and balance, but she managed it. It was amazing how amiable she was to all our fussing and fiddling with her. I was finally convinced that she was going to make it, so I put my soup recipes away. 😀

Day Five

She was now standing up and taking very slow, careful steps, but still sleeping most of the day. Digger did the math and realized the replacement value of all her eggs should she die would be well over $200.00, but was still anxious (to put it mildly) to get her healthy and OUT of his shop!

Day Six

Slowly getting better, walking a little more. When it got dark out she started looking up for a roost. (It’s a wonder how she knew it was getting dark with the shop lights on for hours after sunset, and only two small windows she couldn’t even see.) She hopped up on a little tool box wanting to get higher but had to settle there for the night. It was nice to see her trying to act like a chicken again.

Knowing she couldn’t go back with the other girls until she could balance on a roost all night, we kept encouraging her rehabilitation. Digger would place her on the handle of his forge several times a day, and even shaped a tin to hang from a higher handle that she could only reach from the “roost”. She became very determined to stay up there when a pinch of scratch was dropped in the tin.

Day Seven

It was a nice day out so we took her outside to get some fresh air!! The other hens seemed happy to see her. She hobbled around and nibbled at grass but was soon worn out.

Day Eight

Spent most of the day outside. She couldn’t keep up with the rest of the girls but was VERY happy to be outside. 😀 It’s absolutely unbelievable how fast she is healing!!

Day Nine

It snowed out and she was not fond of the idea of being outside. So she spent the day hanging out with Digger and playing around in the shop. Well, maybe I should say “pooping around the shop”. The name Stinky is still very appropriate!

Day Ten

The sun was shining bright and I went to the shop first thing to see if she wanted to go out. She was waiting right by the door and quickly walked out with barely a limp!! She still couldn’t manage to get up on the roost that evening so we brought her in to the shop for ONE more night. Digger wasn’t to happy when she hopped up on the counter knocking a bunch of stuff on the floor and of course pooped on his bench! No more nights in the shop for Stinky. 😀

Day Eleven: Back With the Flock

Back with the flock and laying eggs!!

Digger now officially has his very own chicken….whether he likes it or not! She follows him around outside and if the shop doors are open, guess who walks right in and makes herself at home. 🙂 I’m so glad we didn’t put her in the crock pot!! Think of all those eggs she’s still going to lay, and the wonderful story we have to tell of a sweet, determined chicken named Stinky!

Homemade Frozen Hash Browns

18 March, 20131 January, 2017 ~ Grace ~ 41 Comments

I attempted making hash browns several times after I got married, but they didn’t turn out so good. Gray, mushy, and gross would describe them very well. I gave up and started buying frozen hash browns. Then I read that you should bake the potatoes first and then grate them up and fry them. Why didn’t I think of that??

So now when we have baked potatoes for dinner I bake way more than we need and put the left overs in the fridge over night. In the morning I peel them, grate them, and fry them in olive oil or butter. Yummm! no more grey, mushy, hash browns!!

Last week I bought a 50 pound box of huge baker potatoes for 10 dollars. 🙂

I don’t think we can eat all these before they go bad so I decided to freeze my own hash browns. I figured this would be good practice for this fall when my garden gives me tons and tons of potatoes!! (hopefully)

After a little trial and error (and some potato therapy) I ended up with perfect frozen hash browns. 🙂

Here’s what to do:

Start with potatoes that are roughly the same size so they take the same amount of time to cook.

Wash them, poke them with a knife a couple times, (to avoid explosions) then place them directly on the rack in an oven that is preheated to 350 degrees.

These HUGE baker potatoes took 1 hour and 20 minutes to cook completely. Regular size potatoes will take from 45 to 60 minutes to cook. I found out by my third batch that if you under cook them a little they will grate MUCH easier, and ultimately found that cooking these big guys 55 minutes was about right.

When they are done, set them on the counter to cool. When they’re cool enough to handle put them in the refrigerator until cold. (over night works well) We tried to grate the first batch when they were still a little warm and ended up with mush. 🙁

Now that you have cold, slightly under cooked baked potatoes, it’s time to peel.

We grate them with a cheese grater.

Now take your nicely grated potatoes and sprinkle them on a greased cookie sheet.
If you skip this step and put them directly into freezer bags you will end up with a solid brick of smashed potatoes. Don’t put to many on the tray or they will stick together as they freeze, and you want to be able to easily break them apart.

Note: If you’re having a bad day or feeling a little frustrated, then go ahead and pack them on the cookie sheet. When they’re frozen solid take them out of the freezer, get a big metal spatula, (hammer, pickaxe, or splitting maul are all acceptable) and goggles, then start hacking and hacking at the potatoes to break them up. After the hash browns are evenly dispersed in your hair and around the kitchen, take a deep breath…..potato therapy! (Disclosure – I am not a doctor or a therapist of any kind, I only share tips that work for me.)Place them in the freezer until frozen through. This takes about an hour and a half.

Break them apart, scoop them into a labeled freezer bag, and store in the freezer.

There you have it! Homemade frozen hash browns ready for breakfast or any recipe that calls for frozen hash browns! It sounds time consuming, but it’s mostly time spent doing other things (there’s always plenty to do) while the spuds are cooking/cooling/freezing etc…

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

13 March, 20131 January, 2017 ~ Grace ~ 6 Comments

This recipe is very versatile…you can make healthy breakfast muffins, or not quite so healthy dessert muffins. But either way they are nummy, nummy, nummy! Of course I made both kinds, (several times) just to make sure I got the recipe exactly right. Then a few more times to be absolutely sure I wasn’t sharing a recipe that was no good. Then I found myself digging through the bananas at the store to find more over ripe bananas, cause waiting for bananas to get a little over ripe just takes to long!! Did I mention these muffins are good?….really good!

Start by mixing together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, and set it aside.

In a separate bowl smash the bananas then add honey, butter, egg, and milk. Stir well and then pour into dry ingredients and stir until moist, then fold in chocolate chips.

Fill sprayed cupcake tins or you can use cupcake liners about 1/2 full and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Author: Queen Of The Red Doublewide

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour or all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp sea salt
½ cup honey
¼ cup butter or coconut oil melted
3 over ripe bananas smashed
1 egg
¼ cup milk, any kind you like
½ cup of chocolate chips or more if you like, or you could leave them out if you want a sugar free muffin. 🙂

Instructions

In a mixing bowl stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl smash the bananas and add honey, melted butter, egg, and milk. Stir well and pour into the dry ingredients. Stir until combined then fold in chocolate chips. Put cupcake liners in a cupcake tin or spray the tin with cooking spray. Fill each tin half full with batter and bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Makes 14 muffins

Note: If you’re like me and like to cook with stevia, just substitute 3 tsp. spoonable stevia for the honey and add an extra 1/4 cup of milk and a half cup of plain yogurt. Don’t use cup cake liners; they will stick. I sprayed the cupcake tins with Pam and they came out just fine.

I made these this morning with whole wheat, coconut oil, rice milk and didn’t add any chocolate chips. They were a wonderful HEALTHY breakfast!

They taste even better warm from the oven with “Honey Whipped Cream Cheese” smeared all over them!