Sherry & Jesse's Kitchen

BEEF BARLEY VEGETABLE SOUP A cold Saturday calls for SOUP!  It's 18 degrees right now and that is the high for the day.  But, that's what we get for living in Minnesota.  Nothing better on a cold day than hot soup. This recipe comes from the back of a Quaker Quick Barley box.  My brother, Kerry, found it some years back and I've been using it since.  However, I just use the recipe as a guideline and make it up as I go along.  The recipe below is close to tripled of what is on the box.  Here is a link to the Quaker recipe:  http://www.quakeroats.com/cooking-and-recipe/hearty-vegetable-barley-soup-contains-beef.aspx Ingredients: 2 lbs stew meat (or cheap steak cut into cubes, or hamburger) 1 can (14 oz) Whole Tomatoes (I chopped up into smaller pieces) 2 cans (10 oz) diced tomatoes with green chilies (this is what I used today because it we had it on hand; basically you need around 30 oz of tomatoes, whole or diced) 1 box Quaker Quick Barley 1/2 sta

LASAGNA This recipe comes from my sister, Terri.  I can't remember where she got it, but I think it might have been from a cookbook.  She first made it for her boyfriend, Michel, when she invited him over to dinner with the family.  This was back in 1988, so this recipe has been around awhile.  They would marry a short time later and are still together to this day.  I then made it for Jesse the first time I invited him over for dinner with the family.  It was 'as a friend' because he wasn't quite ready to take the next step.  My beloved sister then proceeded to show off her piano skills and played the wedding march on the piano to my horror and Jesse's embarrassment!  But, within a month we were living together, engaged and had named our first two children, Jaqlyn and Jesse Jr.  22 years later, we are still together and going strong!  So, it's a family joke that my sister and I seduced our husbands with this lasagna-LOL! I haven't made this in years

HOMEMADE SOFT PRETZELS It's Sunday again!  Time to cook and do laundry and just relax. Today is Homemade Soft Pretzels and Lasagna.  I tried these pretzels for the first time back in September and was blown away how easy they were and how delicious!  I usually stay away from anything using yeast because I don't work well with it.  However, this recipe did not call for anything to be risen, so I gave it a shot. Here is the link to the recipe:  http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/12/25/30-minute-whole-wheat-pretzels / She uses whole wheat flour, but I just used white.  The first time I made these JJ and I ate 3 of them fresh and hot out of the oven.  So yummy!  My kids always loved soft pretzels and we would occasionally buy a box from the frozen food section of the grocery store and eat them with cheese sauce.  These go really well with cheese sauce, too. Ingredients: 1 and 1/2 cups lukewarm water 1 packet active yeast 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp sugar

MOM'S BANANA BREAD I got this recipe from my Mom.  I'm not sure where she got it - her Mom or her Mother-in-law?  One day I'm going to remember to ask her these things when I call her. My mother made this frequently when I was a child.  It's the first baking recipe I made on my own when I moved in with Jesse.  My baking skills are not the best, but this is an easy one for me.  I, too, have made it frequently through the years. Whenever we have bananas in the house, it's inevitable that a couple start to get too ripe before they are eaten, so we toss them in the freezer.  Every six months or so, I have enough to make some banana bread.  Most of the time, I have enough for three loaves.  Today, only had enough for two.  Any ripe bananas will do, they do not need to be frozen.  I find that 3 bananas makes 1 cup of mashed bananas. Today I made only loaves.  In the past, I have made loaves and muffins.  It's as simple as filling a tray of muffins ins

CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP WITH HOMEMADE EGG NOODLES This is my version of chicken noodle soup.  The homemade egg noodle recipe is my Grandma Agnes', who taught it to my Mom (the daughter-in-law who learned a lot of cooking techniques from her mother-in-law when she was young and newly married to my Dad).  Mom then passed it on to me.  It is a fond memory of my childhood and it was a tradition when my kids were young to go to Grandma Audrey's and make this soup and she would help them make the noodles (like I did when I was a kid).  Now I make it for my family and someday hope to have my grandkids over so I can teach them (although, I will wait patiently for that as my kids have awhile to go before being ready for that). I normally use a chicken or turkey carcass to make the chicken stock, but didn't have any on hand.  What I did have was a bag of frozen boneless chicken breasts.  So, I thought, why not? You can make your soup any way you want to, if you have your own

POTATOES IN FOIL ON THE GRILL A very simple recipe that many probably have their own version of, but wanted to share anyway.  And record, too, I guess. Ingredients: 8 medium potatoes 2 small onions 8 tsp butter 2 tsp minced garlic Lawry's Seasoning Salt Garlic Salt Onion Salt Pepper Wash and cut potatoes into wedges, taking out any bad spots.  Cut onions into slices.  Pile potatoes and onions on to a large piece of foil.  Spoon butter onto potatoes in different spots.  Also spoon minced garlic onto potatoes.  Sprinkle with seasonings.  Mix around to get everything covered in spices.  You could also add olive oil instead of butter, but I didn't think of that today. Turn up sides to make a kind of bowl/container and add more foil to the top.  Seal all sides. Cook on grill for about an hour or until potatoes are done. Serve hot with butter, seasonings, sour cream, gravy, ketchup, etc. Whatever your family prefers.  Jesse and the kids m