Welcome to my weekly series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

I was inspired by Amy’s Finer Things Zucchini Recipe Round-up for this week. Since I couldn’t decide which one to do, I did 3 of them! I had plans for a few more but I was so exhausted after all the cooking that I had to crash. So sorry I didn’t get this up last night!

The ones I tried were: Zucchini, Carrot and Black Bean Quesadillas, Zucchini Applesauce Bread and Cheesy Zucchini Crisps.

Here are our pictures of them:

Quesadillas w/ a side of salsa for dipping!

Yummy Zucchini Applesauce Bread!

Cheesy Zucchini Crisps

MY NOTES:

Quesadillas – I love veggies so I kept the recipe the same for me and Nathan. But I added chicken cubes to Rich’s. We also dipped ours in salsa! Yum!

Bread – I made two loaves. One with raisins and one without. I should have cooked the one with raisins a touch longer. When I went to flip it out of the loaf pan, it was still a little gooey in the middle. I kind of pieced it back together and cooked it for another 10 minutes or so. 🙂 It’s all still good!

Cheesy Crisps – I am pretty sure I was supposed to cut these even smaller. But they made for a nice appetizer last night. And I love the breading. I think I may try it on some homemade chicken nuggets!

I still want to try the Zucchini Chocolate Pudding Muffins and Stuffed Zucchini. I plan on freezing the muffins. I also froze some of the bread for quick little snacks down the road.

Well, those were my homemade recipes that I tried for this week. Here’s hoping that you’ve found something new to make from scratch and found that it was Conveniently At Home! If you made a recipe this week, or have one to share, please leave us a linky! And feel free to email me (or leave to a link to) any of your homemade recipes for me to try out. I’ll add them to my list for future weeks.

Welcome to my weekly series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

For some reason this week, I decided I was hungry for Sloppy Joes. When Matt sent over the link for the FREE pork chop recipe book HERE, I decided to search the Recipe Lion site to see what they had. Something caught my eye; Hot & Spicy Sloppy Joes. The recipe called for jalepenos and I had some ripe in my garden. Perfect timing!

MY NOTES:

So I was petrified to cut up my jalepenos. I’ve heard stories of people wiping their eyes or skin with the juice and had some major burning. So I was very, very careful! I’m not sure if the jalepenos were too ripe, not ripe enough or if I cut out too much of the ribs but the Sloppy Joes really weren’t that spicy. It’s of no fault of the recipe. I am not a big fan of spicy food and I could eat the jalepenos without feeling the heat. It was a bummer but the recipe was still sooo good, regardless. One important note is that time may vary by crockpot. Mine was bubbling and almost burning the edges of the crockpot after 1-1.5 hours on high. I turned it down to low for the remainder of the time.

Here’s a picture of them after I topped them with cheese:

That was my homemade recipe that I tried for this week. Here’s hoping that you’ve found something new to make from scratch and found that it was Conveniently At Home! If you made a recipe this week, or have one to share, please leave us a linky! And feel free to email me (or leave to a link to) any of your homemade recipes for me to try out. I’ll add them to my list for future weeks.

Welcome to my weekly series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

I was flipping through my Taste of Home Magazine and I found a recipe I couldn’t resist trying—Double Cheese Macaroni! It was perfect timing as I had a few bags of cheese that were nearing their expiration date. So moving right along, here’s the recipe:

1 pkg (16 oz.) elbow macaroni
3 cups (24oz.) of 4% cottage cheese
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp garlic salt
3 cups of half-and-half cream
1 cup milk
4 cups (16oz.) shredded cheddar cheese

For topping: 1 cup dry bread crumbs and 1/4 cup butter, melted

Cook macaroni according to the package. Meanwhile, place cottage cheese in a food processor, cover and process until smooth. Set aside.

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in the flour, salt, peper and garlic salt until smooth. Gradually add cream and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes until thickened.

Drain macaroni; transfer to a large bowl. Add the cheddar cheese, cottage cheese and white sauce; toss to coat. Transfer to a greased 13-in x 9-in baking dish. (Dish will be full.) Combine bread crumbs and butter; sprinkle over the top. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.

MY NOTES:

So by far, this isn’t as easy as making boxed Mac & Cheese but it sooo yummy! It’s not really difficult to make but you do use a few pans & the food processor. So if you hate lots of dishes to clean, it may not be a recipe for you. But once you make it, it will probably become a favorite!

I had never put cottage cheese in the food processor and I was amazed at how smooth it became. I was kind of wondering if smooth cottage cheese could replace cream cheese in some recipes. One thing to note, when you are making the white sauce, don’t be distracted or you might burn it! Keep stirring! (I didn’t burn mine but I came close.) Since we have a smaller family, I cut the recipe in half and had an 8×8 pan full! The hardest part of this recipe was finding the white pepper, to which my husband joked, “Isn’t that salt?” 🙂

Some of you asked for pics in my recipes. My camera doesn’t take great food shots. I couldn’t get a good one showing you how cheesy and yummy this looks but since you asked here’s one of the finished product with that great breadcrumb topping…

When Nathan and I cook, Kaydi usually sits in her high chair and plays with toys. She loves banging measuring cups on the highchair. Today, she must have got bored watching us because…

That was my homemade recipe that I tried for this week. Here’s hoping that you’ve found something new to make from scratch and found that it was Conveniently At Home! I was just glad to have had another reason to use Black Beauty! If you made a recipe this week, or have one to share, please leave us a linky! And feel free to email me (or leave to a link to) any of your homemade recipes for me to try out. I’ll add them to my list for future weeks.

NOTE: Looks like Mr. Linky is having issues once again so I’m removing it for now. Feel free to leave a comment and I’ll try to put a link on the posting for you.

Here are a few more recipes on other blogs to check out:

Far Above Jules – Slowcooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Chantelle’s Adventures – Italian Beef Sandwiches w/ Squash and Corn Casserole

Welcome to my weekly series called Conveniently At Home. The idea of this series is to slowly transition myself from buying pre-made and/or processed foods and eventually make most of my foods “from scratch.” This will be a slow journey but one worth the wait!

I decided last minute to change this week’s recipe because I realized…it’s 4th of July weekend coming up, and this one would be PERFECT to share right now! This recipe comes from my dear friend Kristen. I was so incredibly grateful that she’s allowing me to share it. Her mother has been making it for her family for over 15 years. Super Yummy!

Here are the ingredients needed:
*4 strips of bacon
*1/4 cup of vinegar
*1/2 cup of brown sugar
*2 Large Onions- cut into rings
*1 can of Dark Red Kidney Beans, drained
*1 can of Large Butter Beans, not drained
*1 can of Bush’s Baked Beans, not drained, taller can
*1/2 tsp of Baking Soda
*Pinch of Garlic Salt
*1/2 tsp of dry mustard (optional)

In a large skillet, cook the 4 strips of bacon. Right before it turns crisp, add the 1/4 cup of vinegar. Then add the 1/2 cup of brown sugar and large onions that are cut into rings. Cook for about 15 minutes on low heat.

Next, you’ll have to decide if you are going to bake these in the oven or use a crockpot. Either way, pour the 3 different kinds of beans in the proper dish, making sure to drain only the dark red kidney beans. Add the bacon mixture. Next, add the baking soda, pinch of garlic salt and dry mustard (if you are using that).

For the oven, you’d cook them at 375 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. For the crockpot, you’ll cook them on High for around 2 hours, if your crockpot runs hot.

Then…enjoy!

My Notes:
I love how this recipe has so many different varieties of beans. I did ask Kristen what she thought of using Turkey Bacon in the recipe and she really thought the recipe was better with the added grease of “regular” bacon. (I’ve found this to be true with some recipes, too!) The only thing I don’t like about this recipe is that I can’t stop eating them! 🙂 They go perfect for BBQs!

Thank you again, to Kristen, for sharing this wonderfully delicious recipe with us!

That was my homemade recipe that I tried for this week. Here’s hoping that you’ve found something new to make from scratch and found that it was Conveniently At Home! If you made a recipe this week, or have one to share, please leave us a linky! And feel free to email me (or leave to a link to) any of your homemade recipes for me to try out. I’ll add them to my list for future weeks.