We make so many recipes that contain cream of mushroom soup. It’s so easy to use and it makes the dish so creamy and filling. However, when I actually read the label of the canned variety, there were a lot of ingredients that I questioned and I quickly became frustrated. Homemade cream of mushroom soup is so yummy and the best part is that you can store it in the fridge in glass jars and pull some out whenever you need it. I found a lot of great homemade cream of mushroom recipes online and have tried a few. If this recipe isn’t for you, don’t give up, search for another one and try, try again!
Homemade Salad Dressing and Vinaigrette Recipes
Salad dressing is something that people are very passionate about. If a favorite kind of dressing is missing from the potluck, they might skip the salad all together. I think everyone assumes that everyone likes Ranch dressing, but that is not true! I cannot eat Ranch dressing at all, but my husband and kids do! My favorite is Italian or some vinaigrettes. I love tangy, robust flavor on my salad and veggies!View Post
Cool Down With Easy Chocolate Slushies!
Cool Down With Easy Chocolate Slushies!
Last year, I scored an awesome, new-in-box snow cone/ shaved ice maker at a garage sale. It is so simple because you can freeze a block of ice and within a few hours, make a super smooth snow cone! I did cave and buy some snow cone syrup but wow….that stuff has a TON of sugar and food dye, so we started using juice with our shaved ice.
Homemade Christmas Gak Recipe (Scented With Thieves Oil)
Christmas will soon be here but until then, there is a lot of time to fill! Kids who are out for the holidays plus parents who have a lot to do to get ready for the big day means that we have to pull a few tricks out of our hats. Here is a fabulous DIY for something the kids love and can spend hours creating with! Homemade Christmas gak is perfect for preschoolers (who aren’t tempted to eat stuff) all the way through adults who love to play with squishy gak. And, it can be scented to smell like Christmas with thieves oil or cinnamon spice.
Cake Batter Coconut Chocolate Candy
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I'm the kind of girl who keeps a Costco sized bag of semisweet chocolate chips in the freezer. What….you don't do that? For one, it saves a lot of money, not only because I buy in bulk, but because it's the only chocolate I really eat. I can use it for chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip pumpkin bread, or I can grab a handful and share some with the boys midday. There's nothing wrong with that…right? I mean, it could be worse! Right?
For awhile I was making my coconut chocolate candy often. D and I would eat it, but no one else really cared for it. And then I realized that if I'm the only one really eating it, then perhaps I should not be making it anymore. Huge sigh. But then, I discovered something new and different from my regular coconut butter ……. CAKE BATTER coconut butter!!! This is totally NOT sponsored, but this company, Nikki's, makes amazing flavors of coconut butter and Vanilla Cake Batter is one of them. Vanilla Cake Batter, people! Coconut butter that tastes like cake batter. Here are the ingredients: organic unsweetened coconut, organic extra virgin coconut oil, organic honey, organic vanilla extract, and sea salt. It's so delicious right out of the jar, but I made my chocolate candy with it! And it's so, so delicious!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup of Vanilla Cake Batter coconut butter
- 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/8 cup of coconut sugar or whole sugar
Directions:
- Place all ingredients in a double boiler or in a glass measuring cup in a pot of boiling water on the stove.
- Melt ingredients, continually whisking or stirring until smooth.
- Remove from heat and pour into a silicon candy mold.
- Place molds in fridge and let harden.
- Keep any uneaten candy in the fridge or cool place.
Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Fall is my favorite season, for many reasons. My top three reasons all involve the foods that are in season during the fall: apples, pumpkins, and delicious cranberries. For so long, I bought the canned cranberry sauce but last year I wondered to myself how hard it could possibly be to make cranberry sauce and you know, it’s pretty easy AND homemade cranberry sauce tastes SO much better than anything you could ever buy in a can!
I just found cranberries for sale in the grocery store…they are only sold Oct-December, I believe, so I will grab a few bags every time I see them! Cranberries can be frozen in the bag for up to a year, so stock up so you can make all of these delicious cranberry recipes throughout the year.
Now….back to the homemade cranberry sauce. It takes about 10 minutes and four ingredients! Can’t get easier than that!

Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Homemade cranberry sauce is SO easy and tastes much better than the canned variety!
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups of fresh cranberries
- 1 cup of water
- 1 cup of sugar
Instructions
- Rinse cranberries and pick out any bad ones.
- Bring water and sugar to a boil.
- Add cranberries
- Continue to boil for 8-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, over medium-high heat.
- Turn off heat and let cool.
- Mash cranberry mixture with a potato masher, or leave whole if you prefer.
This cranberry sauce is perfect with the traditional turkey and dressing meal at Thanksgiving OR with chicken, pork, just about any meat and lots of vegetables, too!