Tormented Kitchen

One of my favorite things from childhood was eating fresh peaches from our peach tree. Back in Oklahoma, I had planted a peach pit it in our garden and it thrived! The tree was huge and just outside my bedroom window. We enjoyed sliced fresh peaches with sugar, peach ice cream, and peach pie. Mom always made the best peach pies.  I could never understand why people frequently added cinnamon to their peach pie. It covered up the peachy flavor. Fast forward to grown up Jenny and her house in Nevada. We planted our own peach tree a few years ago and it finally produced a nice crop of fruit. I devoured a few peaches right away, then we peeled and sliced the rest. We froze a bunch for later and made two pies. We even had sliced peaches and crepes for breakfast the next day! These pies were as simple as could be. No cinnamon. No almond extract. Just peaches, sugar, and tapioca to thicken the juices. And they were divine! Ingredients for one 9-inch pie 4 cups peeled and ...

Hello again, dear readers. It's almost summertime here in Nevada. You can basically say we had our one week of Springtime weather, so it might as well be called Summer already. We just had Memorial Day. The waterparks are open for business. People are out fishing and camping. It's time for every scout's favorite campfire treat. S'MORES!!!! I'm sure most people are familiar with the original s'more.  If you've seen the latest Hershey TV ad, then you've seen Hershey's chocolate teamed with Jet-Puft marshmallows and Honey-Maid graham crackers. Now, those are good, BUT I can up the ante. I can IMPROVE THEM!!! What you need is to think outside the s'more. You need to evolve the s'more, layer by delicious layer. You must know by now that is not health food. It's a devilish delicious treat. Let's start with the cracker. You can stick to graham crackers if you like. I picked up a box of Honey Grahams at Trader Joe's, as well...

Hello again, my friends. I can't believe it's already May, the end of May at that!  April flew by! School will be out soon. The weather is getting quite warm. We had a few cooler, rainy days, but I think we are officially at the end of "soup weather." We'd had a ham so I had this huge ham bone with tons of meat still stuck to it. There are so many things you can do with the ham, like scalloped potatoes and ham, or ham salad. The ham bone is perfect for flavoring beans or peas. Split pea soup is the best when you have a whole ham bone. I've tried using little ham steaks cut up, but the flavor isn't there. You need the bone. It's the same as stock from beef or chicken. You need the bone and marrow for body and depth of flavor. Split pea soup is really easy, not many ingredients and not much work. It's great with some bread and a salad. Ingredients 1 bag dried split green peas (approx. 16 oz) 8 cups water (2 quarts) 1 white or yellow...

Hello, dear readers. I have been a busy mama and trying to make new things at home has been a challenge. You might remember that I joined Influenster a while ago. I was very surprised when I was given something totally awesome to review. Annie's Homegrown frozen lasagna! OK, you're probably thinking "What's the big deal about frozen lasagna? It's not that great." Well, that's what I thought too. I've had other brands of frozen lasagna that were fairly bad with thick, pasty pasta, gummy cheese, processed meat, and sometimes it was all I could do to eat it because I was that hungry. We've eaten other products from Annie's and I'm happy with them. The kids love the bunny gummies and cheddar snack mix. They are so-so with the mac & cheese. I was definitely game to try the new frozen family size entrees. I picked up my box from Target.  They have other flavors, Mac & Cheese, Butternut Mac & Cheese, Chicken and White Chedda...

Hello again! It's March and we're nearing St. Patrick's Day. We have a few little family traditions. They are pretty easy to adhere to. We like to eat corned beef and cabbage, wear green, and go visit Grandma Rose for her birthday since it falls the week before.  Sometimes, we even go to the St. Paddy's Fair put on by our hometown church, if we are there the right weekend. One of my newer traditions is making homemade bread to go with dinner. I've tried a few variations on Irish soda bread, and this is by far the easiest. We love quick and easy, especially when it's tasty! There are many, many different recipes for soda bread. I've tried to keep this true to what Irish people would have made historically. No raisins, no sugar, no fancy stuff. Just plain, hearty bread. This is not light and fluffy white bread. It's dense, chewy, and crusty. You will definitely want to load it up with butter and use it to sop up juices on your plate. I lov...

Risotto has reputation, a bad reputation. Have you heard? That reputation put me off for a long time. I imagine others think the same way as I do. Occasionally I concede that I don't have the time or patience to make certain foods at home and resort to eating those things at restaurants. But now, risotto is not one of those things. You can make it at home just fine. Maybe your favorite risotto is a different flavor, but follow the techniques here and get used to them. You'll be whipping up other flavors in no time. One of my dear hubby's favorite things is his grandma's risotto made with her homemade (secret recipe) spaghetti sauce. Believe me, conquering that recipe was tough! In comparison, this risotto is as easy as boiling your stock and waiting for it to soak into the rice. It just takes a little patience. Ingredients about 5 cups vegetable stock 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 cup finely chopped onion 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 1/2 cups Arb...

Apples. They are a staple fruit for us. They are especially big hits with the kids and their hungry friends. Ages ago, I used to make baked apples with plain granola and brown sugar.  Now, I have found a way to cut out the extra brown sugar. I just don't add it! Of course, the type of apple used makes a huge difference in the finished product.  Tart green apples need the sugar.  Red varieties don't. Since nobody around here likes raisins, I used a raisin-free cereal and added the dried cranberries instead. These apples are fragrant and beautiful.  When you slice them open,  the red skin imparts a rosy glow to the apple's flesh.  They also happen to taste divine! Ingredients 4-6 large apples, I used Red Delicious 3/4 cup granola cereal (I used Quaker Natural Granola cereal) 1/4 cup dried cranberries/ Craisins 2/3 cup cranberry-raspberry juice (or cranberry-apple juice) Method 1. Core the apples. Arrange in your baking dish. ...