Joyce Middleton's Blog, page 13

How to Freeze Fresh Fruit

Summer is almost over and all the wonderful berries will be gone, locally. Now is the time to buy up as much fresh fruit as you can and save it in the freezer. This is much more economical than buying it in bags, already frozen for you. Before you get too excited and throw some fresh fruit in a bag, there are a few things you should be forewarned about, such as freezer burn and frozen fruit that is all {Read More}

Lemon Pudding Cake

I want something sweet and I want something that’s not difficult or time-consuming to make. And I’m not in the mood for chocolate or cinnamon. Here’s what I have in the pantry: Butter Flour Sugar Eggs Milk Lemons Thank goodness I always have extra lemons! I’m not in the mood to make a big, frosted cake, so I go to my “favorite recipes” book and look what I find… Lemon Pudding Cake. It’s a small recipe, so I won’t have {Read More}

Budget Beef Cabbage

If you love stuffed cabbage rolls, you’ll appreciate this recipe which is much less work. This one-pot meal can be made ahead of time and reheated when you’re ready to serve it. Another way to save time is to make batches of browned ground beef and sauteed onions and store it in the freezer. You instantly have the hard work done in advance to prepare any number of recipes from make-ahead ground beef. Here’s what I had in my pantry: {Read More}

S’mores for a Backyard Party Buffet

There are so many creative people out there and I just love it when I stumble upon something super to share! Remember those S’mores we used to enjoy at summer camp, at the beach, and in the backyard? What fun it would be to have an outdoor s’mores party – only – with tons of fixins for everyone to select from. Imagine inviting not only your friends and family, but having them invite their friends and family! New people to {Read More}

Creole Chicken

I had not made a one-pot meal on the stovetop for a super long time; maybe a few years. Pondering this, the only reason is because I have been using the slow cooker, which is so much easier. This week I purchased the cut-up chicken fryer, instead of the whole chicken. On inspection, the green peppers were looking just beautiful, so I put those in my cart and then rounded up the usual essentials; onions and garlic. I was looking {Read More}

Five Spice Sugar Pastry Rounds

When I was a girl, my grandmother used to come visit from the farm country in Oregon. She usually stayed for up to six months. She baked all her own bread, pies, cookies, and cakes – from scratch – without a recipe. She was amazing to watch as she sort of operated on autopilot; not much talking, but I certainly took a lot of mental notes. Since there was no recipe for her pie crust, she usually had some left {Read More}

Blueberries & Banana Oatmeal in a Jar

This is a tasty, quick, and easy make ahead breakfast recipe that you make in a mason jar. Although this is my recipe, I got the idea from a post on Facebook. If you missed my original post, you can read it here. That is a must in order to get the full details on how this recipe came about and for eighteen additional recipes! With this simple recipe, you really don’t need to be concerned with getting the measurements {Read More}

Apple Pie Oatmeal in a Jar

Here I go again with another fabulous idea I found through social media, only this time it was shared on Facebook. Don’t you just love it when something worth keeping is posted? I enjoy my steal-cut oatmeal in the morning, but sometimes I run out of the “good stuff” and have to resort to my backup stash of traditional oats. You cannot even make a comparison between the two, but I have found a way to use up my old {Read More}

Mexican Fiesta Black Beans – Budget Recipe for a Crowd

My pantry was getting low – I had just returned from visiting family in Vegas – and I didn’t know what I wanted to purchase at the supermarket so, I just purchased a few basics. I grew up in a large family and I love a good budget recipe for a crowd, even though there’s only me – I cook for my freezer. I didn’t even have any cans of tomatoes, corn (GMO free, of course!), or broth. Seriously, this {Read More}

No Bake Granola Bar Recipe

In the Pantry is about cooking and baking using ingredients you have in your pantry. Not too long ago, I posted how unhealthy packaged nutrition bars are after looking into the ingredients on the back of the packages. Not only are they filled with sugar but, they include other chemicals and fillers you would not choose to eat if you knew what they were. I came across a new cookbook by author Cheryl Hines who has the same approach to {Read More}