Pie Crust

When I want to make pie, I didn't have the recipe for the crust so I went to the store and bought the pie crust. The crust turned out okay but it has a lot of chemicals in it that are not necessary. I received the pie crust recipe from my mom which came from her mom and so forth.  It contain natural ingredients, not including chemical ingredients found on the pie crust product.

Recipe   makes 2 shells

1 1/2 c. Flour
1/2 c. Shortening
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking powder
Water (amount varies)

Mix all of the dry ingredients. Fill a cup of water and gradually pour water into the mixture and beat until it is stiff. Sprinkle some flour on your table to prevent sticking on your table.  Roll the dough into a ball and place it on top of the floured table. Sprinkle some flour in the dough and on the roller pin. Roll the dough until it is flat. Place it on a pie pan, cut out excess dough and repeat the process for a second shell.  Bake at 375 to 400 degrees for approximately 10 minutes or until light brown.

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If you plan to make a pie, for example apple pie, you must follow that apple pie instructions, not the pie crust instruction. This recipe is a basic foundation of all pies recipes. The cooking times and degrees varies for each type of pie. It is best to follow their instructions for best taste.

Peanut Butter Pie

One day when I was visiting my grandma in another state, she brought out a peanut butter pie after a hearty meal.  It looked very delicious and it tasted so delicious. I immediately asked for her recipe. She shared this recipe with me and I really appreciate the share.  I made it a couple of time immediately after the visit to my grandma. It is so delicious! This recipe came from my grandma.

Recipe     serves: 12

Peanut Butter Pie
1 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1/4 c. milk
1 (8 oz) cool whip

9" Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/2 c. crushed graham cracker
1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted

Step 1: If you want to make the crust, just combine all three ingredients together and pack it solid on a 9" pie dish. Please note that for each box of graham crackers, it contains about 2 2/3 cup each. If you want to use the store bought graham cracker pie crust, skip this step to Step 2.

Step 2: Combine cream cheese, sugar, and milk. Add peanut butter and mix until creamy. Fold in cool whip and pour into graham cracker crust. Can be chilled then served or served immediately. It can be frozen until ready to serve.

See how easy it is to make? It is so easy and very delectable! There are many ways you can do with this pie. You can actually switch the graham crust to oreo crust. You can actually add any types of topping on top of the peanut butter pie such as caramel, chocolate, nuts, chips, etc. Enjoy!

Monkey Bread

Hmm....I really do not remember the first time I tasted this delicious monkey bread for breakfast.  It was a long time ago for me to remember.  Thanks to my mom's dearest friend for sharing this recipe, I am now sharing this with you. This recipe is perfect for a big family breakfast. It is also quick and easy to make. Beware! The kids will go crazy for it and will eat the whole thing! It also is GREAT to have kids to help make monkey bread.

Recipe         serves: around 8 to 10 

4 cans of biscuits
3/4 c. melted butter
3 Tbsp. water (optional for thinner syrup)
1 1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. sugar and 3 Tbsp cinnamon in a gallon bag

nuts are optional

Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Place in plastic bag with the sugar/cinnamon mixture and shake until coated.  Place half of the coated biscuits (2 cans) into the greased bundt pan.  Boil the butter, water, and sugar. Pour half of the syrup over the biscuits.  Place the rest of the coated biscuit on top of the syrup. Then pour the rest of the syrup over the second half of the biscuits.  If you want, you can sprinkle the remainder sugar/cinnamon mixture from the bag to the top of the biscuits.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove from pan immediately to a serving dish. Serve hot!

This is a very sweet breakfast so be wary on how much sugar you consume.  This is a perfect way to serve some carbs with sweetness to it. It didn't take too much of the ingredient to make this fantastic monkey bread.  The biscuits can be found at Aldi's for LESS than a buck each.  I preferred not to add water because I do not want a bit running syrup.  You can add nuts to it. I preferred not on mine. Enjoy this recipe!!

Cabbage Jambalaya

Hello everyone!  This recipe is found online.  Let me tell you a story about how I thought of something and found this recipe. This recipe is very good that I want to share with you guys. I have been frying the smoked sausage for quite some time because I couldn't think of any other ways I could cook something with the smoked sausage. I went online to do some random search and found the one that seemed very interesting. I tried to make it and it turned out great!

Recipe        serves: 6

1 pound ground beef
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced in 1/4 in
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 14.5oz stewed tomato can
1 c. uncooked rice
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 medium cabbage, chopped
2 c. water
garlic salt to taste

In a large stock pot over medium high heat, combine ground beef, smoked sausage, onion, celery, and garlic. Cook until beef is evenly browned.  Stir in cabbage, tomatoes, water, & rice.  Season with garlic salt.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.  Cover and cook for 35 to 40 minutes, or until rice is done. Serve hot!

This recipe is very easy to make.  If you are concerned about having too much meat, you can always cut down the beef into half pound. I tend to do that.  You do not have to chop a whole onion. Just use your judgment on how much is needed and how much is enough in this recipe. This recipe can be found on Allrecipes.com. This link will show the recipe for this specific recipe.  It also can help calculate the ingredients based on serving size you want.  It also provide nutritional information at the bottom of the page.  This is not a healthy meal because it is high in salt. I recommend making this once in a while. This is not a healthy meal for occasional cooking.

Apple Stuffing

Hello everyone! I just created a new recipe from scratch with the help of my mom yesterday! Before my parents came over to visit, I was planning to cook a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with my fiance and parents.  I was debating on whether to use the store bought stuffing or homemade. So, I had a conversation with my mom in the morning before they came over to discuss the delicious recipe that my Grandma Hoffman made long time ago. My mom mentioned some ingredients that she remembered. I went online to do some research to find the similar recipes. It turns out that there were similarities but not close enough. I've decided to follow my instinct and make the stuffing with the key ingredients found through the internet and my grandma's recipe.  My mom came over and we made it together and stuffed half of it in the turkey while the other half is in the casserole dish. It turned out to be very delicious! I am going to share this recipe with you guys.

Recipes      serves: 6-8

1 loaf of bread
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced celery
2 eggs, whisked
1 (14 oz) low sodium chicken broth can
1 to 1/2 tsp ground sage (add until taste right)
2 granny apples, peeled, cored, and diced

Break apart the breads into small pieces. Mix the bread with the onions, celery, and apples.  Pour over whisked eggs onto the bread mixtures. Add ground sage. Gradually pour the chicken broth as you stir the stuffing until they are moist. You can either bake it or stuff it in a turkey. For bake. Pour into a greased casserole dish. Bake at 325 degrees for glass dish. (If not glass dish, bake at 350 degrees).  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. For stuffed turkey. Stuff the stuffing in the turkey and follow the turkey instruction. Serve hot!

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This recipe is so easy and cheap! I do not add salt because the broth itself contains a lot of salt so it is good to minimize the salty flavor in this stuffing AND for your health's sake. Enjoy this delicious stuffing for Thanksgiving dinner with your family!

Quick 'n' Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

One day my fiance was very sick and he asked me to make him a homemade chicken noodle soup. I told him OK then I got to thinking as to how I can make the homemade chicken noodle soup because I never made it before. I knew the process of making the homemade chicken noodle is to cook a whole chicken and it's too expensive. I did some researches by gathering the essential ingredients and understanding how to make it.  The soup was made and cooked very quickly in about 30 minutes using inexpensive ingredients. The soup turned out to be a success and very delicious that my fiance said that it was the best chicken noodle soup in the world and had 3 heaping mounds of serving for dinner and was completely stuffed! He also felt better after eating the soup. I am going to share this recipe with you to help you cook very delicious soup quick and cheap! It also is the best remedy to reduce the sickness.

Recipe             serves: about 6

2 - 9.75 canned chicken

6 cups of water

5 bullion chicken cube (broth)

4 small to medium potato cubed (with or without skin)

3 stalks of celery sliced

1/2 cup sliced carrots

1/4 cup of minced onions

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp basil

1 tsp parsley flake

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp oregano

8 oz of wide egg noodles

Add water, potato, carrots, onion, and chicken broth to a large pot. Bring to a boil. Boil for about 15 minutes just before the potatoes are soft. Add in chicken, celery, black pepper, basil, parsley, thyme, and oregano. Stir. Then add in the noodle. Do not reduce heat. Continue to boil until noodle is done. Serve hot!

I tried to make this soup as healthy as possible. I do not add salt to this soup because the chicken broth contains salt. I do not recommend the canned chicken from Aldi store. They do not smell right and taste a bit strange. I used the great value brand from Walmart which smelled better and taste great. This dinner is quick and easy, not to mention CHEAP! Enjoy!

My First Blog

Hello everyone!  Let me introduce myself and my purpose with this blog. I am an hard of hearing woman with ASL as my primary language. I was born that way. I grew up in a public school until I transferred to a deaf school and graduated there. I went to Indiana University for a year and left to attend Ivy Tech and graduated with AS in business administration. I transferred to Ball states University to obtain a BS in accounting. As of right now, I am thinking about going back to Ivy Tech to get another AS, this time in accounting. I am working at a non profit organization where we help a lot of people in need of assistance in East Central of Indiana. My speciality is in budget department. I love my job very much even though they don't pay well. I am engaged to my wonder fiance and we are getting married next month. I am so excited!

My purpose with this blog is to share my recipes, techniques, tips, and the stories behind them with you. There are so many thing that influence me to be this successful cooker. I am no chef but I am an excellent cooker. I want to share my experience with you and teach you to become a successful cooker. My way in the kitchen will definitely help you improve your budget when it come to grocery shopping. At least, I hope so! My fiance and I only spend about $150 to $200 a month on groceries. Suprised!? I will share this story on how to be a smart shopper in the future post. I really hope you enjoy my blog and find it to be very useful for you too!