Homemade Cream Of Chicken Soup Mix

      So many of my recipes call for cream of chicken soup and I am tired of running to the grocery store all the time to pick some up that I decided from now on, I am going to make my own.  It turns out it is really easy to make and stores well and tastes so much better than the canned stuff you can buy.  I made up some and used it in my creamy chicken and rice soup that I made for supper last night.
  

 

      Besides hating to run to the grocery store to buy cans of cream of chicken soup, I also hate some of the ingredients that are in the cans.  There is a LOT of sodium, MSG and other things I just can't pronounce.  We are working hard  trying to eliminate a lot of artificial things and are moving away from store-bought mixes and cans.

 Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup Mix 

2 c. non dry milk powder

3/4 c. corn starch

1/4 c. +1 T. chicken bouillon granules

1 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves

1/2 tsp. died basil leaves

1/2 tsp. parsley flakes

1/4 tsp. pepper

      Combine all the ingredients together in a medium-large bowl and stir well.  Transfer the mix into a quart sized jar and put the lid on it until you are ready to use.

      To use: combine 1/3 cup of the mix and 1 1/4 cup of chicken broth together in a sauce pan. (You can use water instead of chicken broth but I think it tastes so much better using broth.)  Heat over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil, whisking the entire time.  When it starts to boil, turn the heat down and continue to cook and whisk for about 2 minutes or until it thickens.

     One batch replaces one can of cream of chicken soup. and you double or triple this depending how many "cans" you need.

    

   

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Super Easy Cinnamon Rolls Pigs In Blanket

      I generally like to make stuff from scratch but there are times I am feeling lazy or just don't have much time or energy due to me having MS.  So today I am doing a super easy breakfast pigs in a blanket and it only takes a few ingredients.  This would be perfect for a Christmas brunch or for busy school mornings.

Super Easy Cinnamon Rolls Pigs In A Blanket 

1 can cinnamon rolls

10 sausage links, cooked

syrup, for drizzling 

      Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Very lightly coat a cookie sheet with butter or cooking spray.

      Unroll each cinnamon roll and lay them flat so they are a long strip.  Cut each one in half.  Using one half, wrap one around each sausage link.  Place each one on the cookie sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes or until the cinnamon roll part is golden brown.  

       Drizzle the icing that came with the cinnamon rolls over each one or drizzle them with some pancake syrup, or both!  Yum!

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The Best Seasoning Salt Recipe

      Our family tries to be as self-reliant as we can be and try to do most of our cooking from scratch.  Lately I have been mixing up our own spice blends such as my garlic bread seasoning mix, homemade taco seasoning mix, and my ranch seasoning mix.  And today I am sharing how to make seasoning salt at home.
     

 

      It is so much better than the stuff you buy at stores and goes beautifully on so many things.  Season it on chicken, hamburgers, or even fresh garden tomatoes.  It is a simple and good homemade alternative to store bought seasoned salts.  It can be modified to your own tastes but it's an excellent base.  Just remember as you use it that it is a seasoned SALT so don't use it and add salt also.

The Best Seasoning Salt Recipe

1/4 c. salt

3 T. sugar

1 1/2 T. celery seed

2 T. smoked paprika (you can use "regular" paprika but smoked has more flavor)

1 1/2 tsp. onion powder

1 1/2 tsp. corn starch (prevents seasoning from caking)

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. turmeric

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. thyme 

Put all the ingredients into a medium-small bowl. 

    Stir. 

The seasoned salt will fit into a pint sized jar perfectly.

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Chocolate Chip Biscuits

     

    These chocolate chip biscuits are tender, light, and full of chocolate chips and topped with a sweet glaze.  Southern biscuits just don't get any more delicious!  The chocolate chips in these biscuits give them the perfect touch of sweetness.  The glaze on top adds even more sweetness and you could drizzle on a little or a lot depending on how sweet you want your biscuit.  Go heavy with it and they taste more like a decadent dessert than breakfast.  Nothing wrong with that!

 Chocolate Chip Biscuits

For the biscuits:

2 cups flour

1 c. milk

1 c. chocolate chips (regular or mini) (semi-sweet or milk chocolate) 

5 T. butter

1 T. +1 tsp. baking powder

1 T. sugar

1 tsp. salt

For the glaze:

1 c. powdered sugar

1/8 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

      

      Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Now slice up your butter into small pieces and place them in a large bowl.

   
     Add in the other ingredients and using a pastry blender or fork, mix everything together well.  Don't worry if there are still butter pieces, they'll melt in the oven.

 

     
      As soon as you have a dough, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out.  Roll the dough out to about 1/4" thickness, use biscuit cutter to cut the biscuits out. We actually used the ring of a mason jar and it works great!

 

     
    Now place biscuits onto an un-greased cookie sheet.  Place the biscuits so they are just touching each other, and they will rise higher than if they were not touching at all.  Bake for 8 minutes.

 

     And as the biscuits cook you can mix up the glaze, once the biscuits are out of the oven drizzle them with the glaze.  Enjoy!

 

 Be sure to check out my blueberry biscuits and strawberry bread with strawberry glaze too. 

 

 

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Old Fashioned Potato Candy Recipe

    Old fashioned potato candy is a recipe that has been around for years.  I remember being a young girl and watching my Mom make it and now I make it for my own children.  The recipe is super easy to make. Other than getting the consistency correct, there is no other way to mess it up.  It is a no-bake candy that was highly popular during the Depression because it was so inexpensive to make.  And for those of you who have never heard of potato candy...no it does NOT taste like mashed potatoes.  It just tastes so good and it's addicting.  You'll keep going back for more!

   Old Fashioned Potato Candy Recipe

 1/2 c. mashed potatoes (leftover mashed potatoes work great)

6-8 c. powdered sugar

2/3-1 c. creamy peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla

     Combine your mashed potatoes and vanilla in a bowl.  Add in 4 cups of powdered sugar and mix well.  Continue to add in the powdered sugar, a cup at a time, until the mixture becomes thick.  It took 6 total cups for ours.  The "dough" needs to be thick like cookie dough.

     Once the consistency is right, lay out a piece of wax paper (or parchment paper) and sprinkle some powdered sugar on it.  Roll out your mixture to about 1/4" thick.

      Spread the peanut butter out over the entire dough.  We really don't measure out the peanut butter. We just spread it out to the edges and use however much it takes.

    Roll up the "dough" as you would cinnamon rolls.  

    Wrap the roll in waxed paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Remove, slice and enjoy!  

 

    Be sure to try my Homemade Reeses, Root Beer Float Fudge and Chocolate Billionaires too.  

 

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I shared this recipe with the following blogs and link ups:

Our Home Away From Home 
Full Plate Thursday
My Girlish Whims
To Grandma's House We Go
Homemaking Linkup
Imparting Grace 
Blogger's Pit Stop

Easy & Tender Butter Dip Biscuits

    I love biscuits!  I make several kinds of biscuits, such as my soft & light biscuits, my freezer biscuits, and even my potato biscuits.  These right here that I made today are probably my favorite biscuit that I make.  These are super easy to make (no kneading and no biscuit cutter needed) and turn out really thick, buttery, and fluffy.  Our family absolutely loves them and I am sure you will too.  They are soft and tender on the inside and have a nice crust on the outside.

 

 

Easy & Tender Butter Dip Biscuits

 2 1/2 c. flour

1 3/4 c. buttermilk

1 stick of butter, melted

1 1/2 T. baking soda

1 T. sugar

1 tsp. salt

     NOTE:  If you are out of buttermilk, you can make your own by adding 1 tablespoon of white vinegar in with your measured milk.  Just stir and wait a few minutes and it will turn into a close resemblance and taste of buttermilk.

      Now, preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  Pour your melted butter into a 8"x8" glass cake pan.  Set aside.

     In a medium bowl, mix together your dry ingredients.

    Slowly pour in your buttermilk.

    Stir until a loose dough forms.  The dough should be a bit sticky.

        Pour the dough into your cake pan.  Butter will probably come up over the top of the dough and that is okay and what you want.

      Take a knife and gently cut the dough into 9 equal squares to make cutting it after easier.

     Place into the oven and cook for 10 minutes and after 10 minutes, rotate the cake pan around and allow it to bake for another 10 minutes.  When they are golden brown, they are done.

    Cut them along the score marks and enjoy!

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Easy Homemade Garlic Bread Seasoning

      I am trying to go to 100% homemade or scratch cooking for my family and one little change I have done is making our own spice blends and seasonings.  Today I am sharing my garlic bread seasoning.  It's just a simple mixture of dried herbs and Parmesan cheese and makes anything you sprinkle extra delicious!  It goes great on bread sticks, French bread, pizza, chicken, etc.  It is so good!

 Easy Homemade Garlic Bread seasoning

1/2 c. powdered Parmesan Cheese

 2 T. garlic powder

2 tsp. oregano

2 tsp. basil

2 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. salt

 

      Place all the ingredients into a small bowl.

     

     Stir well.

     Place into a pint sized canning jar and store in refrigerator until ready to use.  I like to put a shaker top on my jar to make it easier to use.  It can store in the refrigerator for one month.

     Sprinkle it over pizza dough, veggies, etc.

    To make garlic bread, put 1 stick of melted butter in a bowl and add in 2 tablespoons of my garlic bread seasoning. Stir.  Cut a loaf French bread in half lengthwise and spread the mixture over both pieces.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Place the bread pieces on a baking sheet and bake 3-5 minutes or until the bread is crisp and golden brown.

    Goes great with my Bolognese sauce or my marinara sauce.

 

 

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Fabulous Sugar Free Blueberry Coffee Cake

      I am always on the look-out for good sugar free recipes but they are not so easy to find.  When my hubby or I am craving a new recipe and I cannot find one, I just come up with one on my own.  This is the case for today's recipe.  We wanted a yummy dessert bread but needed it to be sugar free so this is what I created.  It tastes so good and your family won't even miss the "real sugar".

Fabulous Sugar Free Blueberry Coffee Cake

 

For the cake:

 

 3 c. flour

1 3/4 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen)

1 1/2 c. sugar substitute (I used Stevia)

1 1/4 c. milk

3/4 c. butter, softened

3 eggs

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. vanilla

 

For the topping:

1 1/2 c. brown sugar substitute

3/4 c. flour

1/4 c. butter, softened 

1 T. cinnamon 

      Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9" x13" cake pan.

     In a large bowl, stir together the cake ingredients, except for the blueberries.  Stir well and then fold in the blueberries.  Spread into the cake pan.

     Prepare the topping by mixing together the ingredients.  It should become a crumble.  Sprinkle it on top of the cake, (before it goes into the oven). 

     Bake for 35-40 minutes or until it is done.  Check for doneness by sticking a toothpick into the center and if it comes out clean, it is done.

      Serve warm.

     Serves 12.  Each serving has 37 carbs.

 

Be sure to also try my delicious Sugar Free Chocolate Cake!

 

 

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Easy & Delicious Mongolian Beef

    The majority of the recipes that I share here on my blog are recipes I created but today I am sharing a recipe that my 21 year old son Brandon (aka "Bubba") came up with.  He has made it for our family 4 times so far and it turns out wonderful each time.  We all like it and Ron and the boys like it so much that they go back for 2nds and sometimes 3rds.  It heats up well so it is good for leftovers the next day too.  Try it and I am sure it will become a family favorite of yours too. 

 Easy & Delicious Mongolian Beef

 3 1/2 c. uncooked rice

1 1/4 c. cashews or peanuts

2/3 c. + 1 T. soy sauce

2 lbs. ground beef

5 eggs, scrambled

1 can peas

1 can carrots

3 T. beef bouillon granules

2 T. chopped onions 

2 T. butter

1 T. + 1 tsp. ginger

     In a large pot, brown the beef along with the chopped onion and ginger.  After it has cooked add in the soy sauce.  Pour the mixture into a medium sized bowl.  

     In the same pot, melt butter and saute the peanuts on medium-high for about 2 minutes.  Remove the nuts and put them with the beef.

     Still in the same pot, cook your rice by adding in 7 cups of water along with the beef bouillon granules, when the water is absorbed and the rice is tender, add in the eggs, beef and peanuts, and vegetables.  Serve and enjoy! 

 

    Also, check out my recipes for Egg Rolls and Chicken Teriyaki. 

 

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I shared this recipe with the following blogs and link parties:

Classical Homemaking 
Over the Moon 
Our Home Away From Home  
Imparting Grace

Soft & Chewy No Sugar Added Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

     Oatmeal raisin cookies are an old stand-by.  People either hate them or love them but everyone at least knows the cookie and has an opinion about it.  I am trying to find good sugar free recipes since my husband and I are both insulin-dependent diabetics and when I can't find a good recipe, I just create my own.  Today I am sharing my sugar free version of this delicious cookie.

No Sugar Added Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

 2 1/2 c. oats

1 1/2 c. raisins

1 1/4 c. flour

3/4 c. butter, softened

1 c. sugar substitute (I used Stevia)

3 lg. eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

    Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together.  Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.  

   If you like these, then you'll love my Sugar Free Peanut Butter Cookies and my Sugar Free Spiced Chocolate Cookies!

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