Homemade Corn Bread

Yes, as in, you mix the flour and the corn meal together and make your own. ;)  You don't open a box of Jiffy Mix...  It's really easy!  REALLY!  The beauty of this, I added some chili powder to it, you can more or less to make it more spicy! 

I made this tonite to go with the chili.  The kids LOVED it and gobbled it down!  It's so easy!  Only a few ingredients!

I bought my corn meal from the Amish store in Indiana.  I just put it in a Ziploc baggie and place in the freezer until I need it.  ;)

Try it and let me know what you think!  Again, you don't "have" to add the chili powder, just a yummy pretence that we all like!  ;)

Put all dry ingredients in a bowl

Mix all dry ingredients together

Pour all wet ingredients in a bowl and mix

Pour wet ingredients into dry... Mix thoroughly

Place in preheated oven for 20-22 minutes until golden brown...

Here they are, nice and hot! :)

Another view

Here it is with the chili, sooo good! The kids broke up some of theirs to put in the chili... ;)

Homemade Corn Bread

1 cup corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
not quite 1/2 cup sugar
1 heaping tablespoon baking powder
1 -2 teaspoons chili powder (more or less to your taste)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/3 vegetable oil
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 400.
Combine dry ingredients in one bowl, wet ingredients in another. Combine the two and mix until just blended. Pour into greased pan. Use and 8 x 8 pan if you like it fairly (2 to 3 inches) thick or 13 x 9 pan if you like it thin. I used a 13 x 9 pan for the loaf pictured here, which produced a 1 inch thick loaf.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove and serve while still warm.

I don't know what it is about nice and warm cornbread! I remember when my mom would make cornbread, I'd eat it pipping hot with butter on top! Yummy!! ;)

See, super easy, not too many ingredients! Give it a try! :)

Eggs in the Nest

Growing up my mom would make these!  LOVED them, but I was the one picky one that did NOT like "snot" in my egg!  It HAD to be cooked all the way through!  Something about snotty eggs, eww....  Oh wait, I take that back, my dad didn't like snotty eggs either!  ;)

I also remember my mom making these and if the egg broke, she would say, it's OK, I'll eat this one!  Very RARELY did she break one, but on the occasion that she did, she took the one with the cooked egg yolk.  It's no fun when the egg yolk is cooked hard, you can't dip your bread in it!  ;)

These are VERY easy to make!  My kids GOBBLE them down!  There are other names for it, but this is what I remember my mom calling it eggs in a nest!  :)  (it really should be egg not eggs....  ;))

Here I served it one nite for dinner with some hash browns.  I had a bag of hash browns in my freezer, so I just dumped some sea salt and Old Bay seasoning on it!  YUMMY!!!!  :oP

 Up close pic of the egg in the nest! ;)

Here it is, look at that yummy egg yolk!!!  We would eat it all, then take that piece of bread that was toasted in the pan, and scoop up all that yummy leftover egg yolk!

I don't season the kids eggs, but for my hubs and I, I add some SPIKE, I'm thinking Old Bay might even be good?

There really is no "recipe" for this, so I'll just tell you what you need below!


Egss in the Nest

One egg person
One piece of bread per egg
Salt, pepper, spike, or any other seasoning you like
Coconut oil or butter

Take one piece of bread and use either a small cookie cutter (shape of your choice!  :)) or a small cup and cut out the middle.
Here's where you can do it 2 ways. This last time I just put some coconut oil in the pan, and then threw the bread in and then cracked the egg in the middle.
My mom (and I in times past) would butter the bread, I totally omitted that step, obviously, to save time.  I was being lazy and I wanted to see if it really made a difference.  I didn't notice a difference at all. So the choice is up to you which way you want to go!  Just make sure if you don't butter the bread, to put coconut oil or butter in your pan before each egg you make!  Or it will stick!

Ok, so chose one option, place bread in pan, then crack egg in the hole, season if you desire, cook for a bit, then flip.
I usually cook all the kids eggs in the nest first, then I go back and cook/toast their little pieces of bread.
Then I make mine and my hubs eggs.  ;)

Viola!  You are done!  How easy is that?  Super good, super easy, and can be made for breakfast, lunch OR dinner!  Score!!!  :D

For Valentines Day I used a heart cookie cutter to cut out the middle!  The kids LOVED that!  :)

Let me know what you think!  Have you ever had these before?  Do you call them something different?

Blueberry Cheesecake Bites

Oh my-LAN-ta!!!!!!!  SOOOOOO good!!!!  Bonus, they are actually a little healthy for you...  ;)  Shh, don't tell anyone, especially your kids!  ;)

I got this recipe from a website called weelicious, sooo many good ideas and recipes!  I have made quite a few different kinds!  Haven't found one that I haven't liked either!  ;)

I will do a few things differently next time I make, and yes, that will be very soon!  ;)

For the crust, I will cut the whole wheat in half, and I will double the filling, I may put it in a 9x13 pan instead of the 8x8 pan...  Not sure on that one yet.  But def double the filling part!  :)

I'm also thinking of trying it with a pumpkin mixture, and I really think this would be good with chopped up strawberries!  Can't wait to make another batch!  :)


Blueberry Cheesecake Bites (makes 20-25 bites)

Oat Crust:

1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar
6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, chilled (I used coconut oil, already melted...  worked just as good!  :))

Filling:

4 oz Cream Cheese, room temperature
1 Large Egg, at room temperature
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 Cup Sour Cream
1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Cup Fresh Blueberries (I used frozen and it worked GREAT :))


1. Preheat oven to 300 F.
2. To make the crust, place the first 3 ingredients in a food processor and pulse to chop oats.
3. Add the butter and pulse to combine.
4. Press the crust on the bottom of a parchment-lined 8 x 8 baking dish and flatten evenly with your hands. Bake for 10 minutes to set, then allow to cool.
5. Lower the oven temperature to 250 F.
6. To make the filling, place the first 5 ingredients in a bowl and beat to combine.
7. Fold in the blueberries.
8. Pour the batter on top of the crust and bake for 1 hour.
9. Cool and then chill until ready to serve.
10. Cut into squares and serve.*

*To get clean squares, wipe your knife between each slice.

I didn't put the coconut oil in the blender, I just mixed it all in a bowl and pressed it in the pan.  Also, the middle wasn't 100% done, so I just put it in the frig and it firmed up really good!  :)  My kids LOVED this and it even passed with the hubs!  :)  He agrees, the strawberry should be the next one I make!  :)
(p.s. sorry the pic isn't the greatest...  Took it off my phone and it's a bit blurry, having computer and downloading issues, again... have patience with me on this part of the blog!  I'm trying!  :))

Peanut Butter/Chocolate Dip (or sunflower butter)



I could've eaten this whole batch! It was SOOOO good!  Even healthier if you use the natural peanut butter, but since I didn't have any, I used regular creamy! 

I'm thinking cashew and almond butter would be good, even sunflower butter for those who are allergic to nuts, that way they can enjoy this yummy goodness as well!

I served this with apples, banana and 2 graham crackers.  You could use strawberries, marshmallows, pretzel sticks, etc....  I used what I did since that's all I had!  ;)

Super easy to make, and actually pretty good for you, minus the chocolate sauce, but again, you don't "have" to add it...  It just gives it that little bit of chocolate kick which makes it taste even better!  ;)

Here is a bit of cream cheese, carrots, peanut butter and chocolate sauce

Mix it all up!  Ok, in the green bowl, it doesn't look the greatest, but then again it almost looks like a chocolate shake stirred up REALLY good!  ;)

Here's what I served it with, an egg puff (recipe coming SUPER soon, maybe tomorrow? ;)), that was their "lunch", graham crackers, banana, and half an apple cut into slices.

This lunch was not only EASY, it was GOOD and healthy!  Which y'all know I'm all about!  ;)  Easy and healthy!  That's what I like with 4 littles and 2 more coming!  :)

Peanut Butter/Chocolate Dip (or Sunflower Butter)

1-2 oz cream cheese (depends on how much you want, I use almost 2, but will use 1 next time)
1/2 cup natural creamy peanut, almond, cashew, or sunflower butter
1/4 carrot puree
6 tablespoons chocolate syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients together until nice and creamy.  Keep in frig until ready to serve, or just start eating it right away like I did!  ;)  Give me some credit, I HAD to make sure it was worthy enough for the kids!  Just make sure you save enough for them!
Notice in the last picture, they only got about a heaping tablespoon full....  ;)  I am not gonna say if that's how much was left, or if I chose to give them only that much!  ;)

Seriously EASY and good!  Let me know how you like it! 

This would be a GREAT game nite snack, make a big bowl of it, serve it with graham crackers, cinnamon and sugar pita chips or tortilla crisps, marshmallows, pretzel sticks, apples, bananas, pears....  Yummy.....  :)

*Just a note, my kids were actually full after eating this and didn't ask for more.  Now, I am not sure if it was because I made them soaked oatmeal for breakfast, so that fills them up even more, or if the egg puff really did the trick with the other goodies!  ;)

Corn Confetti Eggs

Ok, here it is!  Just like I promised, and on time!  Someone should get me a medal!  ;)  Just kidding...

These are easy, and a good breakfast!  The muffins were actually really good, but I don't remember where the recipe is for the muffins, will have to do some digging.. ;)

But when I find it, I will post it!  ;)

There really isn't a recipe for these.

I just had some leftover filling from the Corn Confetti Quesadillas, so I decided to try something.  I knew I wanted to fix eggs for the kids for breakfast, but I didn't just want the plain ole plain old ones.  I also had just given them the eggs in a flour tortilla, so I didn't want to do that again...

Light bulb went off as I was looking in my frig for things to use.  Ah-ha, leftovers with eggs... Works for me!  So I scrambled 9 eggs (that's just for the 4 kids... :\), poured that into a skillet, then dumped in the leftover corn confetti and added a bit of cheddar cheese.  I probably had anywhere from 1/2 - 3/4 cup of the filling left over.

I stired it around until they were done, added a muffin, and fixed them a smoothie.  We called it a good day! And a good filling, nutrious breakfast!  :)

So really the "recipe" is left over corn confetti filling, how many eggs you need, a skillet and some coconut oil.  Mix it all together, until the eggs are cooked, then serve with fresh fruit, muffins and/or smoothies!

You can EASILY make this into a lunch, or even brinner, which we call breakfast for dinner!  ;)

Feed back is ALWAYS welcome!!  :)



Corn Confetti Quesadillas

LOVE the colors in this!  Not only does it look pretty and good, it tastes good!  :)

This is something that you could easily make a big batch of and just keep the extras in the freezer for a really quick and easy meal when you are short on time or just don't feel like cooking!  :)

The ingredients in this is probably items that you have all the time, and if not, they are REALLY easy and cheap to get!  I don't know about you, but I like easy and cheap!  ;)  But yet, it has to taste good!  ;)

I don't have an after picture because when I cooked these, my husband was out of town on a missions trip and he had the camera, and all I had was my phone, so this is the only picture I got!  I was to lazy to take pics as I went, but really, this is soooo easy!

Corn Confetti Quesadillas

2 cups fresh or frozen corn (I sued a frozen mixed, as in yellow and white, sweet corn, yummy!)

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

1/2 onion, diced

8 (9-10 inch) flour or wheat tortillas

8 oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Heat skillet to medium-high heat, butter, corn, onions, and pepper and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the onion is translucent.  Take out of skillet and wipe the skillet clean.

Lay 4 tortillas on counter and place 1/3 cup cheese on each one, then about 1/2 - 3/4 veggies on top of cheese, then add another 1/3 cup cheese.

Place tortilla in skillet, then place one of the remaining tortillas on top, press down with spatula to get out air pockets.  Cook until lightly browned and flip, do the same, cook until lightly browned.

Repeat until done...

Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

My kids also gobbled these down!  I think they ate 2 each of this one too!  ;)  Like I said, I think I am going to make a big batch of this and just put in freezer...  It will be easy enough to break apart what I need. 

I used the leftovers for a breakfast the next morning...  will have that posted tomorrow, so stay tuned!  ;)

Let me know if you made this, any changes, and how you liked it!

Oh, I remember what I did for mine, I didn't have enough cheese for all of them, so I put Pepper Jack cheese on mine, boy was it good and that extra kick!  Yummy!!!  :)

I should also mention, that I HARDLY EVER measure, so these are more like guesses...  If it seems like too much, then back off a bit, but if it isn't enough, add more!  You can't hurt it!  ;)

Butternut Squash Quesadillas

Can we say YUMMY???? This time of year this are PERFECT!

You can get butternut squash pretty cheap, since it's in season right now. You can get it cheaper out here at the farmer's market! I've gotten a squash for a buck, yes, it's a little bit smaller, but it still works for 4-6 of these quesadillas!

You don't have to use this type of cheese, I just wanted to try it. It's a really good mild cheese, not such a huge strong bold flavor! You don't have to add the walnuts either, it's really good without, but I think it just adds a nice crunch and yummy flavor.

These are REALLY easy to make! They are GREAT for lunches, but you could easily do this as a supper too, just add something to go with it! Maybe a side dish of spiced apples! ;)

My kids all ate 2 of these, they LOVED them!

You can also cook a few squash, let them cool, then put any leftovers in the freezer so all you have to do it pop out the already cooked squash. I would heat it a bit to make it warm, sometimes the outside of the quesdailla cooks faster than the inside, so if its still really cold, it may not get hot on the inside. (if that makes any sense? ;))

Here's the quesadilla inside! :) One tortilla, some squash, nuts, and then the cheese... Then place another tortilla on top!

All done and oh soooooo good!!!!!! :)


Butternut Squash Quesadillas

1 whole butternut squash, cooked
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium yellow onion
1 tablespoon brown sugar
8 (9 to 10 inch) flour or wheat tortillas
8 oz fontina cheese, grated, or thinly sliced
1 cup diced or chopped walnuts or pecans

Dice your onion and place in frying pan with butter and brown sugar.  Cook until caramelized, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Lay 4 tortillas on the counter. Spread the filling on each, 1/3 cup cheese, 1/2 cup squash, sprinkle some onion, then some nuts if desired.  Top off with another 1/3 cup cheese. 

Slide one of the cheese covered tortillas into a frying pan over medium heat.  Place one of the remaining tortillas on top, press down with spatula to get all air pockets out.  Cook until light browned, then flip until the other side is lightly browned.

Place on plate and cut, serve immediately!

Repeat until you are done!  You can easily make more than the 4 here.  I think I've made about 8 at a time!  ;)

I've made it with and without the nuts, but I really like it with the nuts!  I used walnuts because I didn't have any pecans, but pecans would be REALLY good on this as well!

You could also just use a Munster, provolone, or even a mozzarella cheese.  I just wanted to try this cheese, it's really good!  But a bit more expensive than the other 3 I listed!

Try it and let me know what you think!  :)