Dad's Famous Baked Beans

This recipe (which is so easy, it can barely be called a recipe), comes from my dad. When he was in his early 20's, he worked at Deloitte as an auditor. While at a company pot luck (of a business he was auditing), he was first introduced to this recipe for baked beans. He enjoyed them so much, he asked for the recipe and started making them himself. Years later, he was working as the CFO for Calply, and brought these beans to a potluck. They were lauded by all as Doug's famous beans, until a woman that had been recently hired claimed them as her own recipe! (In good humor, of course). It just so happened that the woman who made them years before and gave the recipe to my dad had been hired by Calply and was at the potluck! What a small world. 

Without further ado, my dad's famous baked bean recipe ;) - 

Brown 1 lb of ground beef and add a chopped red onion. 

Add 3 cans of Bush's Baked Beans (we use Maple Cured Bacon flavored and Original).

Sausage Braid Recipe

As an adolescent in the Homet household, we were witness to a lot of hostessing. Monthly, my mom would host "Stamp Camp" at our house, and a party of around 8-12 women would come over on a Saturday morning to make the cards and crafts my mom had prepared and snack on some pretty classy breakfast treats. These breakfasts were one of the perks to having a mom who was a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. (Other perks included having access to TONS of craft supplies for school projects, passing out pretty bomb Valentine's Day cards to friends at school, and having the skills needed to be a professional card critic.) 

Jim, Laney and I (and probably dad too), would sneak into the kitchen on Stamp Camp mornings after the women had eaten and, like vultures, fill up our plastic tupperware plates with berries, Costco croissants, Bisquick coffee cake, and on especially wonderful Saturdays, slices of this sausage braid. 

It's creamy and full of meat and flavor and it goes fast. Here's a shot of it baking (and oozing...yum). 

I always double this recipe, so the following measurements will make 2 rolls. 

Christmas 2014

This post is similar to my Thanksgiving 2014 post, except for the one HUGE difference! Baby Emmett was here to celebrate with us! Most of these photos feature him... here's a little peek at our extremely special Christmas of 2014. 

Aunt Laney got to meet Emmett! She fell in love pretty instantly. 

Homet Christmas Morning Quiche Recipe

One of my all time favorite foods is Quiche Lorraine. Egg, bacon, onion, cheese, pie crust...what's not to love? Growing up, it was our Christmas morning breakfast every year. Once a year is not nearly enough, however. Since I got married and started my own family, we've had quiche quite a few times. I even started making my own crusts, and I've gotta say, they're pretty delicious. 

I won't lie and say this is easy or quick to make. The steps are simple, but there are a lot of them and it takes a while to make a quiche. It is SO worth it, though. My tip would be to make 2 or 3 quiches at once because they heat up so well and one just isn't enough! (I mean, look at that. Just look at it.) I am listing the measurements for one quiche, so you'll have to do your own multiplying. 

Holiday Cardamom Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

Christmas is a time for sharing. And gift giving. And love. So, with love, let me give you a wonderful gift by sharing the recipe for my absolute favorite holiday cookies (which aren't necessarily 'holiday' at all, I make them all year!). 

These cookies are easy, delicious and surprising. It is a basic oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe that replaces the cinnamon with cardamom, and let me tell you! The difference is both subtle and obvious. There is something decidedly unique when you take a bite out of one of these, yet they are familiar and homey. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add 1 stick plus 6 tbsp softened butter, 3/4 cup packed brown sugar, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar to mixing bowl. 

Beat in mixer until creamy.

New Christmas Traditions

The weekend after Thanksgiving, the Homet clan decided to start a new Christmas tradition. We went over to Lakewood to Jim and Nadine's house (the same house I lived in after college..ah memories) and set up a little bonfire in the backyard. We also projected It's A Wonderful Life on their garage door and snacked on caramel corn, pizza and hot chocolate. After our Kansas winter last year, it felt crazy that we could be sitting outside at nighttime in November! California all the way. 

Here's some photos from our outdoor movie night. I can't wait to do it again next year with little Emmett walking around! 

Homemade Egg Noodles Recipe

Well, Thanksgiving is over and I don't know about you, but we had a ton of leftovers this year. I guess that's what happens when you make two large turkeys for 8 people. Anyway, this year we decided to turn some of our leftover turkeys and (forgive me for saying this) turkey carcasses into some broth! After boiling the bones and innards for a few hours in a huge pot of water, we strained and cooled the broth. Now it was ready for soup! We added turkey pieces, carrots, onions, celery, salt and pepper, and these homemade egg noodles. What a delicious Thanksgiving twist on chicken noodle soup.

These noodles are so easy to make, and are big and doughy in the soup, like a kind of dumpling. They can be frozen and used later, or use them immediately! 

Start by mixing 2 and a half cups of flour with a pinch of salt. Place in a bowl and create a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in 1/2 cup of milk, 2 eggs and 1 tbsp of melted butter. Mix together with your hands until the ingredients come together. Place on a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. 

Place dough in a small bowl and cover with a cloth. Let sit for 10-15 minutes. 

Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. Don't leave it too thick or the noodles will be too big when cooked. 

Thanksgiving

This year, Thanksgiving was extra special. Alex and I are back at my parents' home, my sister flew in from Northern California, my grandpa was over and Jim and Nadine shared the day with us. I'm also just about 39 weeks pregnant! After our pie baking on Wednesday night, I was absolutely exhausted! It's hard being on your (swollen) feet all day when you're the size of a small whale. 

Here's some of the preparation the day before Thanksgiving.

Pie Extravaganza

Many factors contributed to the Pie Extravaganza of 2014. First, last year I was taught by a lady at church how to make pie. I didn't actually do much of the baking, I mostly observed, but she showed me methods for making crust from scratch, how to measure very precisely and how to put a crust in a pie dish and pinch the top. It was a long process, but I left feeling more confident about trying to make pies myself. Second, in the past year, I perfected Ree Drummond's Perfect Pie Crust. I have made numerous quiches and a pie or two and this crust recipe is my favorite. Third, I have been trying to get Alex more comfortable in the kitchen, so getting him in on the pie making was the first step toward an extravaganza. And finally, Alex and my competitive natures kicked in when we decided to have a taste off and make these pies Chopped-style. 

He was in charge of the Pecan pie and one Pumpkin pie. I was taking the Dutch Apple and the other Pumpkin pie. The plan was for 4 pies. We ended up with more, but I won't get ahead of myself. 

I began with the crust. I made one batch of this crust, which yields either two large, thicker crusts or three thin smaller crusts. I obviously made the two thick ones. I love a substantial crust. 

You can find a step by step recipe here: Pioneer Woman's blog, but I will include the quick version here:

3 cups All-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups Crisco Vegetable Shortening

1 egg

5 tbsp cold water

1 tbsp white vinegar

1 tsp salt

Combine flour and shortening with a pastry cutter (will take 3-4 minutes). Pour in a beaten egg and combine. Add water, vinegar and salt to mixture. Don't overwork, but blend all ingredients. Split the dough in half, ball up each half and put in separate Ziplock gallon sized bags. Gently pat down into a thick disc and place bags in freezer. Let chill for 20 mins and then roll out.

The Perfect Carrot Cake Recipe

Like all good traditions, I'm not sure exactly when this one started. My mom has always made us homemade cakes for our birthdays. I know when I was younger, some years I would ask for chocolate. On my dad's birthday, though, my mom always made carrot cake. At some point, my brother, sister and I all realized that this was also our favorite birthday cake, and so now for any and all Homet birthdays, there is a perfected carrot cake under those ever-growing candles. 

My sister and I have birthdays 4 years and 4 days apart. This year, my mom made me a beautiful carrot cake for my birthday and a couple weeks later, Laney came down from Northern California for my baby shower and we got to surprise her with a little (belated) birthday celebration as well! This time, I was prepared with my camera. Now that I'm starting my own little family in a couple weeks or so, I am going to need to have this recipe documented somewhere, and where better than my blog? You all are learning this one along with me.... How to make the Perfect Carrot Cake! 

Start with fresh, peeled carrots. You'll need 3 cups of packed shredded carrots by the end of this. 

Finely shred the carrots. The smaller these pieces are, the better! You won't want to be eating big chunks of vegetables in your cake. Trust me.

Baby Shower!

My sister Laney, sister-in-law Nadine, and mom threw me an incredibly beautiful and precious baby shower yesterday! It was at Nadine and Jim's house in Lakewood, which is such a special place to me! I lived there for a couple years and it was on that front porch that I met Alex in person for the first time before our first date.

The colors of the shower were blues, oranges and grey, which are the colors of little Emmett's nursery. The theme was Baby Lumberjackson (of course!) and there were such detailed and adorable decorations and foods that reflected the theme so perfectly. I am so excited that I get to use many of these decorations in the nursery! It's all feeling so real. The shower was on November 8, which is exactly a month before Emmett's due date. 

I've included a ton of photos below, documenting the special day! 

The pinecones are from the backyard in Big Bear, Nadine framed a bunch of photos from the maternity shoot, and my mom found the adorable woodland animals for the table! I love how the flowers are in tin cans and the feathers and moss add so much to the forest-y theme.

Laney loved how the verse in this frame really matched the "birth" theme... "go out in joy... get it?!".