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