Recipes For Real People

Recipes for Real People, from Real People Like You

Every recipe has a story, especially family recipes - recipes from "real people." I enjoy preparing our family's favorite recipes, old and new, as well as sharing recipes with friends online. I'll share some of those recipes here, along with some fun and informative links and products.

Scroll down below to rank your favorite cook or cooking show, and choose your favorite kitchen accessory. When you get to the guest book, please leave me a comment. I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Lensmap: Table of Contents

Our Most Popular Recipe
Breakfast - The Most Important Meal of the Day
Supermarket Savings 101
Another Favorite Recipe
Cookbooks Recommended for Real People
My Favorite Comfort Food Recipe
My Favorite Kitchen Gadget
Easy Crockpot Stuffed Peppers Mexican Style
More Recipes for Real People
French Onion Soup
It's Cold Outside - Serve Up the Soup!
Mom's Pumpkin Crunch
For Rachael Ray Fans
My Favorite Sweet-and-Salty Snack
Food, Cooking, and Recipes Calendars
Kitchen Helpers
Menu Mom to the Rescue - Free Menu Planner and Shopping List
Love Chocolate?
Who's Your Favorite? Add to our List!
Don't You Just Love Kitchen Accessories?
Feedback from Real People
Before you go . . .
Take it to the Next Level

Our Most Popular Recipe

Crockpot Creamy Cream Cheese Corn

The most popular recipe on my Recipes for Real People blog, the one that gets searched for and looked at the most online, is this one. Everyone loves it!

Crockpot Creamy Cream Cheese Corn

1 stick butter or margarine
6 to 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese
4 to 6 cups frozen corn, thawed

Melt butter and cream cheese in the microwave. Add to corn in the crockpot or slow cooker; stir. Cook on low for 2 hours. Stir well and serve.

Read the story behind the recipe on my blog here.

Breakfast - The Most Important Meal of the Day

Try this can't-resist recipe. It'll become a favorite!

Are your breakfast habits a victim of the morning rush? How about a muffin to go? No excuses if you use this recipe. It's quick and easy, the results are portable, and you can make it ahead and freeze if you prefer.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. each baking soda and salt (I use less salt)
1 egg
1/2 cup Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Beat egg in small bowl. Stir in Miracle Whip. Add to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. Stir in bananas. Spoon into greased or paper-lined muffin tins. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes 12 muffins.

(This is one of the recipes in one of the many bonus e-books that come with Supermarket Savings 101.)

Rather have banana bread? Here's my easy banana bread recipe.

Supermarket Savings 101

Learn how to drastically reduce your food budget.

Would you like to know how to significantly cut your grocery bill without spending hours each week doing so? If your answer is "yes," then Supermarket Savings 101 is for you!

Expanding upon the initial ebook, Secrets to Supermarket Savings, this course provides indepth, thorough, and step-by-step help for reducing your grocery bill. Through six short and simple audio lessons, downloadable easy-to-understand course materials, hands-on assignments to help you learn the ropes, and a private interactive message forum, this course will walk you through all the basics to becoming a savvy grocery shopper.

Even if you're an experienced frugal shopper, you will learn a thing or two from this course. I certainly did. Besides, the recipes contained in the bonus books are great! But you don't have to take my word for it. Read all the details and then decide. Check out Supermarket Savings 101 today!

Another Favorite Recipe

My own recipe, and my favorite way to fix fish.

LILY'S EASY GREEK FISH FILLETS

1 pound blue hake fish fillets or other firm white fish, about four pieces, partially thawed
1 to 2 tablespoons Athenos Greek with Feta Cheese salad dressing (one good squirt right out of the bottle)

Squirt the salad dressing into a 10 inch sauté pan. Begin heating over medium heat. Add the fish fillets, turning to coat the fish and spread the dressing around in the pan. Sauté for about three minutes then carefully turn, further coating the fish. Continue cooking for another three to five minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve with a lemon wedge.

Read more about this recipe here.

Cookbooks Recommended for Real People

Have you tried these? I like them and you will, too.

New Junior Cookbook (Better Homes & Gardens Test Kitchen)

by Better Homes and Gardens

The New American Heart Association Cookbook, 7th Edition

by American Heart Association

The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook: 200 Delicious Recipes Ready in 30 Minutes or Less (The South Beach Diet)

by Arthur Agatston

The Taste of Home Cookbook

by Taste of Home Editors

Betty Crocker Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know to Cook Today, New Tenth Edition

by Betty Crocker Editors

Over 100 Cookbooks up to 80% off! Only at RDstore.com

My Favorite Comfort Food Recipe

Sausage Macaroni & Cheese

This is my number one favorite comfort food recipe.

Sausage Macaroni and Cheese

1 pound roll sausage
8 ounces elbow macaroni
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup grated mild cheddar cheese
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook macaroni as directed; drain. Pan fry sausage; remove and drain. Put sausage and macaroni in a 2-quart casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray. Prepare sauce: Melt butter, blend in flour and cook for a minute or two. Stir in milk and seasonings. Bring to a boil, stirring. Boil for 1 minute; remove from heat. Add cheese and stir until blended. Pour sauce over casserole mixture and bake for 15 minutes.

My Favorite Kitchen Gadget

Or is it an appliance? Either way, I wouldn't know what to do without it!

West Bend 84294 The Crockery II 4-Quart Slow Cooker

Amazon Price: $24.99 (as of 05/16/2008)

I love this crockery cooker! With just two of us at home now it's the perfect size. I like to get a whole chicken, slather it with lemon pepper or cajun seasoning, pop it in the cooker and have a wonderful, hot, rotisserie-style dinner with no trouble and no extra trip to the store.

Another favorite "crockpot" recipe that we love is a package of stew meat (a pound or so) with a can of cream of mushroom soup (the low sodium variety) and an onion sliced in slivers. Just before time to eat, spoon in half a cup or so of sour cream, stir it all together then serve over hot noodles or smashed potatoes. Heavenly!

Cooking for a bigger family? Double the recipes in a larger version of the crockery cooker. Fast food, cooked nice and slow, at its home-style best!

Easy Crockpot Stuffed Peppers Mexican Style

Another one for the crockery cooker.

Again, increase the quantities and use a larger cooker if you're serving more people.

Easy Crockpot Stuffed Peppers Mexican Style

two red (or green or yellow) bell peppers
about a pound of lean ground beef
about half of a medium onion, diced
about a cup of frozen cut corn, thawed (or use a can of Mexicorn, drained)
one can enchilada sauce

Wash the peppers and cut them in half; remove seeds and the white membranes. Mix the ground beef, onion, and corn together. Use the mixture to stuff the peppers, then place in the crockpot or slow cooker, setting them upright. Pour the can of enchilada sauce over the peppers. Cover and cook until done. I have a small slow cooker, so I let them cook for about three hours on high then reduced the temperature to low until we were ready to eat (about another half hour). Of course you can increase the number of peppers and use a larger crockpot or slow cooker to feed more people. This was more than enough for the two of us.

If you want to heat it up a bit more, add some chili powder to the meat mixure.

I often use my small slow cooker, similar to this one, when I'm just cooking for two. You can also find it in my Recipes for Real People Store along with cookbooks and other great items for your kitchen.

More Recipes for Real People

The most recent recipes from the blog.

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French Onion Soup

With the first signs of cooler weather, my taste buds scream, "I need soup!"

While I admit that soup out of a can tastes mighty good in a hurry, homemade is so much nicer. Here's a recipe for French Onion Soup that's easy and really doesn't take a lot of time at all.

FRENCH ONION SOUP

3 Tbsp butter or margarine
2 large onions, sliced
2 cans beef broth
3 beef bouillon cubes
4 thin slices French bread, lightly toasted
4 slices Provolone cheese

Heat the butter or margarine in a 3-quart pot or Dutch oven until melted; add onions. Cook the onions until very soft, about 30 minutes. (Enjoy that wonderful onion aroma!) Add the beef broth and the bouillon cubes and heat soup well.

Preheat broiler. (I lightly toast the slices of bread under the broiler now, as it's heating.) Place four crocks on a baking sheet and fill with soup to within a half an inch of the top. Float a slice of toast on each and top with a slice of cheese. Place under the broiler and broil until the cheese is melted and starts to bubble and brown.

It's Cold Outside - Serve Up the Soup!

These will help with both preparation and presentation of your favorite soup.

Sango Splash Onion Soup B...

Lion's Head Soup Bowls -...

Royal Albert Old Country...

Staub Fall Soup Pot, Terr...

Calphalon Tri-Ply Stainle...

Mom's Pumpkin Crunch

Perfect for fall and all of your holiday meals - or anytime!

This is sort of a cake variation of pumpkin pie. Try it. You'll think you went to sleep, woke up and it was Thanksgiving!

MOM'S PUMPKIN CRUNCH

1 box yellow cake mix
1 can (15 ounces) solid pack pumpkin
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup butter
whipped topping

Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom of a 9x13 inch pan (or spray with cooking spray). Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Pour into the prepared pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture. Top with pecans. Drizzle melted butter over pecans. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until golden brown. Cool. Serve chilled, topped with whipped topping.

For Rachael Ray Fans

Some people love her while others, well, they don't.
If you do love Rachel, though, you might want to check out this SquidWho lens.

Rachael Ray

She cooks. She writes. She talks. She bubbles! She's queen of the 30-minute meal. She put EVOO in the dictionary. She's delish! She's yum-o! She's Rachael Ray!

My Favorite Sweet-and-Salty Snack

Vanilla-Coated Pretzels

These sweet-and-salty munchies are quick and easy to make and are nice snacks, as well as gifts, to have on hand for drop-in guests around the holidays. To give as a gift, just pack them up in a zipper bag of any size and top with a pretty bow or a colorful sticker. If you don't have any unexpected guests, you can always eat them yourself!

Vanilla Coated Pretzels

1 package white bark coating
1 bag pretzel twists

Melt coating as directed on package (or use 1 cup white chocolate chips melted with a teaspoon of solid shortening). Use a fork to carefully dip the pretzels into the melted coating. Drip off the excess then place on waxed paper to dry. If you're in the mood, sprinkle with colored sugar while wet to decorate, but the plain white ones are just as pretty. Store in a sealed container.

TIP: Buy a couple extra packages of the coating around Christmastime if your store doesn't carry it year-round and enjoy this tasy snack any time of the year!

Food, Cooking, and Recipes Calendars

2008 Calendars that look good enough to eat!

I absolutely love calendars, and calendars with pictures of food are especially appealing. Here are some great 2008 food and cooking calendars. Which ones make your mouth water?

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Recipes For Real People

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