Porcupine Meatballs

How many of your recipes are hand-me-downs?  This is one of my favorite recipes that was given to me by my grandma. I think of her every time I make them.  My kids aren't super excited when I tell them we're having porcupine meatballs, but it's growing on them.  :)
Porcupine Meatballs

1 pound gr. beef
1 cup rice
dash of salt and pepper

Mix all together and form balls.  Set each ball down in a large pan...I use my large electric skillet.   (I'm guessing you could also bake these bad boys in the oven, but I've never tried it)  Next, peel enough potatoes for your family, cut into halves or quarters, I like to keep them big.  Set the potatoes down in with the meatballs.

Mix together:
1 normal size can tomato soup with 1 can water.  Pour over the top of potatoes and meatballs.  Cook at around 300 degrees until done.  You will need to stir them occasionally to make sure the rice gets nice and done.  I usually let them cook about an hour, they get crispy yummy!

For venison users, I mixed 1 pound gr. beef and 1 pound gr. venison and it worked great! 

Do you have a favorite meatball recipe?

The flour trick

Have you ever tried a cookie recipe that seemed so promising, only to have the cookies turn out flat and crunchy?  Maybe you ate someone else's chewy, soft, delicious cookies and  fell in love.  Then you asked for the recipe.  You couldn't wait to try them yourself.  So, you mix them up, bake them, and then they came out of the oven flat.  They are so crunchy you debate whether you should toss the cookies (no pun intended, but it is funny) or if you should crumble them up for an ice cream topping.  Why does this happen?

I discovered a trick, and probably everyone already knows this trick, but it has saved me a lot of failed batches of cookies.  So, in case you didn't know, here it is.

1/2 cup extra flour per patch of cookies.  So if you double your cookie recipes like I do, it would be a full cup of flour.

That's it.  Adding an extra 1/2 cup of flour almost always makes my cookies turn out perfectly.  It doesn't matter what type of cookie it is, sugar, chocolate chip, peanut butter...you name it.  If I add a little extra flour, they are soft and yummy.  They even look really yummy.  :)

Don't add too much flour though, because that is bad for your cookies too. If you add too much flour, all of a sudden you have hockey pucks or door stops.  Your cookie dough should be slightly sticky, but you should be able to handle it to get it on your cookie sheets.

Do you have a trick or a cookie recipe to share with me?  My kids eat a lot of cookies...so does their mother....  lol

A trick, not a treat

Well, today's post isn't a recipe for a special treat. This is more of a kitchen tip.  I am horrible when boiling noodles.  My pot boils over every. single. time.  So, when I saw this tip on Pinterest.com. I decided to give it a try, and guess what?  It works!

Now of course, to get my water boiling, I always put a lid on the top to make the process faster. But, once I put my noodles in, it seems to boil over really quickly.  Until now.

My wooden spoon is missing a chunk but I still love it.

Simply place a wooden spoon over the pot and it won't boil over!  It gets close, heart-stoppingly close, but it doesn't boil over!  I did have a few bubbles go over the side, but all in all, it was a success!

Did you also know that a watched pot never boils?  :)

Grandma's Potato Soup

I have had a lot of good potato soup, but this is my favorite.  My grandma would make it often and she gave me the recipe!  Even my kids all enjoy it, which is saying something when you find a main dish that all the kids enjoy! 


potatoes
water
milk
1 egg
1 cup flour, plus a pinch of salt
salt to taste

1st, peel, chop, and boil as many potatoes as you need to make enough soup for your family.  For my family I peel about 10-12 large potatoes. (I put a lot of potatoes in since I figure there is a reason it's called 'potato soup'.)  Drain the potatoes, keeping about half of the water.  Pour in milk..enough to replace the water you drained. Bring back to a boil.  Now, here is the secret recipe!

Mix together the egg and flour and pinch of salt. It will be chunky.  These are the rivels.  Once your pot of soup is boiling, crumble the rivels over the pot and boil for at least 1 minute.  Salt and pepper to taste.  I also love to add some parsley and dill weed.



my big pot after scooping 1st helping

 The final touch is something I added to Grandma's recipe.  I like to put in a dollop or 2 of sour cream. It makes it smooth and creamy, and no one knows it's sour cream in there.  (My husband hates sour cream, but he enjoys the soup.)  Make sure your soup has cooled slightly before adding the sour cream because otherwise it will turn greasy.

Once you've served it up into bowls, you can top it with shredded cheese, bacon bits, anything! 

So, guess what we're having for dinner??  My kids even asked for seconds! Score! 

Pancake Paint

My kids LOVE this recipe and it's so simple!  It does take time on the kids' part though, so make sure you offer it on a morning that you don't have to rush off anywhere.

Pancake Paint
2 Tb Milk
A few drops food coloring

Mix together in a small cup and put a clean childs' paintbrush with it.  Give your child a pancake and there you go!  You can also paint toast.  :)  Here is my pancake recipe if you want to make them from scratch.  It's actually not hard to do and they taste so much better than the mix!

Pancakes:

2 eggs
1 3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup milk
1 3/4 cup flour
2 Tb sugar
4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt

Mix altogether to desired thickness.  If you like thicker pancakes, add a little more flour.  If you like thinner pancakes, add more milk.  Pour on hot pan and you know the rest.  :)  Enjoy!  My family eats breakfast for dinner once a week too and this is one of them.  :)

Cake Mix Cookies

I got this recipe from one of those 'recipe tree' things. Supposedly if everyone does everything within a few days, they will each end up with 36 recipes. Well, I got about 5 recipes, and this was one of them. I always get so many compliments on these and I am always handing the recipe out. So, here you go! Go bake some cookies on this beautiful fall day!

1 cake mix, any flavor
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil

Mix all together, roll out balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets. I like to smash them with the bottom of a cup I've dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. The trick to these cookies is to take them out before they really look done. Otherwise they are more crunchy. If you like chewy cookies, bring them out of the oven a smidge before they look done.

You can use any flavor of cake mix. My favorites are white, yellow, and chocolate. If I do chocolate, I dump some white chocolate chips in with the dough, so yummy! I've also eaten some, haven't tried them myself, using the funfetti mix. They were soooo goooood! With the explosion of cake-mix baking out there right now, I thought I would give you a tried and true recipe. Enjoy! Do you have a cake mix recipe to share with me?

Real Lemonade

The kids and I ran across what I believe to be a good price on lemons.  Is 25 cents apiece pretty good?  I thought it was anyway, so we loaded up with a dozen or so.  We were excited to try to make some real lemonade, something none of us had ever had.

So, one morning while the kids were in bed, in fact, I was still in bed, I googled how to make lemonade.  (What would I do without my HP mini notebook??)  I found this recipe, and let me tell you, there is a reason it's called "Perfect Lemonade".  I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

Perfect Lemonade Recipe

• Prep time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar (can reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 cup water (for the simple syrup)
• 1 cup lemon juice
• 3 to 4 cups cold water (to dilute)

Method

1 Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely.
2 While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice.
3 Add the juice and the sugar water to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it.
Serve with ice, sliced lemons.
Yield: Serves 6.