The Family Table: Recipe - Easy Pulled Pork Cowboy Candy Pizza

This is a "new" and  delicious variation of my BBQ Chicken Jalapeno Pizza recipe from years gone by. A simple build-your-own pizza method using whatever meat & veggie blend you have on hand. I made this new version for the first time today and I'm delighted to report it was a 100% hit with the whole family. 😊

In this recipe I used leftover pulled pork from this recipe, and canned cowboy candy from last summer from this recipe. You can use any pulled pork recipe you prefer, and any sort of pickled or candied pepper relish you like. 

Almost any recipe I've ever used to make pulled pork there is so much left over after pulled pork sandwiches, so I like to find simple recipes that incorporate it easily (soups, stew & chili all work really well!), and this pizza recipe works perfectly.  This recipe is so versatile, that you can easily substitute any cooked & prepared meat with a veggie combo for whatever you have on your pantry or freezer shelves. For an easy example, prepared taco meat plus diced tomatoes & onions make a fantastic taco style pizza, with some added sour cream, guacamole or taco sauce/salsa on the side for toppings.  

This recipe is for 2 medium, thin crust pizzas.

2 prepared medium sized pizza crusts

1/2 c. pizza sauce (divided)

1 lb. pulled pork (or any prepared meat - divided)

1/2 cup Cowboy Candy (divided)

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (divided)

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (divided)

Pre-heat oven to 450 or whatever your pizza crusts indicate.

PULLED PORK COWBOY CANDY HOMEMADE PIZZA

Prepare each crust with 1/4 cup each of pizza sauce, applying in a spiral fashion and smoothing all the sauce into an even layer over the crust. Layer on half the pulled pork followed by half of the Cowboy Candy in an even layer. Top with 1/4 cup shredded cheddar and 1/4 cup shredded mozzerella for each crust. 

Bake each pizza for 10-12 minutes. 

Thanks for stopping by. 😊 I'd love to hear from you if you've tried this recipe. 

Please feel welcome to leave your thoughts in a comment. 

The Family Table: Keep a Running Jar of Onions

When I was a little girl and heard the phrase "running jar of onions" I was pretty sure I had no idea what it meant, it was just something the older folks said. In my imagination of course I pictured a jar of onions running away from someone chasing it. 😂  

In thinking about it now, it's probably what inspired me later in life to turn fruits and vegetables into cartoons.

I grew up in the 1960's with grand parents in my daily life that used language that many of us don't use today.  Their language developed out of how they did things in their day. Long before the days of rushing off to the grocery store for this or that, and even into the days of the Great Depression when you had to learn to "make do", if you hadn't already been making do.

As it turns out, keeping a running jar of onions means exactly what it sounds like.  It means saving every little scrap of onion, green onion tops, onion skins & onion ends, and letting them dry out either naturally, in a warm oven or with a dehydrator. Doing this every time you use fresh onions & sticking the odds & ends pieces into a jar until it's full.  Once it's full, they're ground down to powder either using a mortar and pestle or any type of modern appliance like a little Bullet blender. 

Voila - fresh, home dried onion powder to be used in all sorts of recipes to add a savory, deep level of umami flavor to any dish without having access to fresh onions. I use one single jar for all onion scraps (red, yellow, sweet, etc.) so my onion powder has an amazing flavor that store bought onion powder can't even come close to. I discovered the joy of making my own seasoning blends several years ago and onion powder is a staple ingredient so I make my own quite often. I've even been known to buy extra onions at the local market, just to make my own onion powder. 

It's not lost on me that if I were writing this 100 years ago in 1925, most folks would think I'd lost my marbles since this was a completely normal, every day thing many wives and mothers and grandmothers were doing already. It would be along the same lines as writing a step by step article telling folks how to brush their hair, or tie their shoes.  

Over the years society has traded "making do" with convenience and simple things like drying your own veggies and herbs became a thing of the past for most people.   

I have a lot of little things like this I do these days that started out as a simple challenge for me to try, to see if I could actually make do & save on the grocery budget the way they used to.  Some of those things became so enjoyable to me that they're just now a part of the way my kitchen is run. 

Thanks for stopping by. I sure hope this has blessed you in some way. 😊 Please feel welcome to leave a comment or question. 

The Family Table: Recipe - Breakfast Sandwich Egg Patties

Friendly Reminder for recipes: C. is always cup and T. is always tablespoon. 

Recently I was looking for high protein recipes for easy meals or snacks and I came upon one that I have played around with a bit and turned into my own version for a loaded, delicious 28.9g serving of protein per patty.  

I've made it both with and without the ground sausage, but I prefer it with the added flavor and heartiness of breakfast sausage. 

It's a super easy dish that takes almost no time to put together and can be enjoyed on it's own as a side, or as a breakfast sandwich on a biscuit or English muffin.

Here's the recipe:

Pre-heat oven to 325. 

Line 12 cup muffin tin with silicone muffin liners for ease of removal.

6 large eggs

1 C. cottage cheese

1 C. shedded cheddar

*1 T. Cowboy Candy, or salsa, relish or any other type of sauce you like with eggs (optional)

* 1 t. any salt, pepper, or other seasonings you prefer (optional)

12 oz. cooked, crumbled ground breakfast sausage

Nutrition Label

Whisk eggs together, then add in cottage cheese, cheddar and any optional mix-ins. Add 1 T. cooked sausage to each cup, then pour 1 scant 1/4 C. of the egg & cheese mixture to fill to the top. Bake for 30 minutes. Use immediately or let cool slightly, then gently flatten, wrap with wax paper and place in a freezer bag & freeze for later use. 

To re-heat using a microwave, place the frozen patty on a microwave safe plate and heat for 90 seconds. Flip the patty over and heat for another 60 seconds. Enjoy on it's own or use for breakfast sandwiches on a biscuit or English muffin. 

I used the recipe analyzer at this site for the nutrition label seen here ➤

Please feel welcome to share your thoughts or questions in the comment section below, and I hope you have an incredible, blessed day!  

The Family Table: Homemade Seasoning Blends

Homemade Seasoning Blends 

In my ongoing effort to cut costs over the years as I was raising my family of seven children, one of the most invaluable tips I ever got was how to make my own seasoning blends for various recipes. It sounds like a simple little tip (and it really is) but I can only imagine how much money it's saved my grocery budget over the last 40+ years of making my own. 

Instead of relying on pre-packaged spice blends from the grocery store (which are often quite expensive) I learned how to easily make my own, and even how to grow many of my own ingredients for them. And if you've never done it before, it's much easier than you might think.  

Growing your own basil, oregano, rosemary, onions, sweet & hot peppers and garlic for all of these blends, considerably reduces the overall cost of each one.  You don't even need much space to do this, as all of them can be easily grown in small pots and then harvested, dried and powdered/crushed for a wide variety of uses. Be sure to check out Darcy's tips & videos at The Purposeful Pantry on how to create your own veggie (and fruit) powders for a wide variety of uses.

These are my family's most used & most loved seasoning blends that cost mere pennies for the same sized jar that costs anywhere from $6.99 and $8.99 at my local Canadian grocery store. Made at home, with most of the ingredients also grown at home, it comes out to roughly 75 cents for each one.

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BBQ Spice Blend/Rub

This blend is most used on grilled/air-fried chicken and pork and hamburger patties.

2 teaspoons salt

2 Tablespoons smoked paprika (or powdered red pepper)

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoons onion powder

pinch of nutmeg (optional)

2 Tablespoons brown sugar (optional)

Blend well & store in air-tight glass container.

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Quesadilla Seasoning

This blend is most used on beef or chicken quesadillas or beef & refried bean burritos.

2 Tablespoons smoked paprika (or powdered red pepper)

2 Tablespoons cumin

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Blend well & store in air-tight glass container. 

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Taco Seasoning

This is by far my family's most loved seasoning. I refill this one the most, and usually triple the recipe. 

1 Tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper or jalapeno pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Blend all spices well & store in air-tight glass jar.

For taco meat: 1/4 cup seasoning to 3/4 cup water with 1 lb. ground beef, chicken or turkey for seasoned meat. Cook meat until done, add seasoning and water, simmer on low uncovered, until water is reduced. 

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Italian Seasoning

Best for any Italian pasta dish such as spaghetti, ravioli, canneloni, lasagna, etc. that calls for Italian seasoning. I usually make a double or triple batch of this since we have Italian dishes quite often. 

4 Tablespoons basil

2 Tablespoons oregano

2 Tablespoons rosemary

2 Tablespoons marjoram

2 Tablespoons thyme

2 Tablespoons red pepper flakes

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I hope these seasoning blend recipes have encouraged you to create your own and help you see how easy it is trim your own grocery budget. 

Please feel welcome to share your thoughts or questions in the comment section below, and I hope you have an incredible, blessed day!  

The Family Table: Orange Citrus Fruit Powders

In my household I'm all about thrifting, saving, stretching and getting as many uses as I can with everything I have, and that's where this simple little recipe comes from. 

I really hope you find it useful.  

At Christmas time I like to include in my dessert menu and gift baskets, a batch of homemade orange fudge. It's very similar to the flavor of the popular Terry's Chocolate Orange, but even better! 

The way I pull that off, is with fresh, organic orange peels I've dried & powdered (intead of artificial orange extract you can purchase at the grocery store). 

The deep citrus orange flavor profile with real orange compared to artificial orange extract is like night and day. 

The added bonus is, you can use this same orange powder in a wide variety of dishes and recipes from breakfast muffins, cookies, candies, pastries and various stir fry dishes. There are countless different ways to use citrus orange peel powder.

Take 2, medium sized, organic Navel oranges & wash with cold water, thoroughly.  Peel oranges with as little of the white pith as possible.  Using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler, whatever works best.  Once the peels are removed, finely dice into pieces and place onto a dehydrator tray. (If you don't have a dehydrator - then just follow these directions for simple oven drying). 

In the dehydrator, run it at 135 degrees for 16 hours.  This is the maximum time suggested to make sure your peels are perfectly dry for powdering.  Once dried, transfer into the Magic Bullet small cup (or whatever blender you have), and blitz until they're the texture you like. 

I like mine a little more coarse but you can blitz them until they're a consistent, uniform powder.  You can use whatever appliance you have, whether it's a blender, coffee bean or spice grinder, or food processor as they all basically do the same thing. 

The texture I'm usually going for is that of a fine crumbly topping, but this is entirely preferential. You can blitz until it's a fine powder or you can leave even chunkier bits. The chunkier you leave it, the more bold orange flavor is present in whatever you're using it in. 

Generally, 2 oranges will produce 2 tablespoons of orange peel powder which is the perfect amount for add-ins to cookies, cakes, candies, muffins, and numerous other recipes.  It's a great solution to over-ripe oranges, nectarines, tangerines, clementines and most any other orange citrus. Instead of throwing it out, simply scrub up those peels and find new life in aging citrus fruits you never would have thought of. 

I hope you found this helpful, and if you have any questions or comments, please feel welcome to leave those below.  

The Family Table: Meal Planning

All the while I was growing up and even while my own kids were growing up, some of the most important conversations happened at the kitchen table. Setting the table, during dinner, family game night, doing homework and even folding laundry. Plans were made, vacations were planned, dreams were shared, announcements were made and questions were asked & answered. It was pretty much the heart of the home.💖  

When I returned to social media in 2023 one of the first things I noticed right away was how many young Christian wives and mothers were asking for tips & advice in a very specific area. Everything from guidance on household management, grocery shopping, meal planning and anything else related to caring for their families. And the cool thing is, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of really good answers to all those questions!  It immediately reminded me of that old family table & the wisdom shared there. 

I'm far too long-winded for twitter/X on some things so, when I see a great question there I'm going to pop in here and share some thoughts on what works for me & advice I've picked up along the way. I'm not an expert in anything really (and don't claim to be) but I do have nearly 42 years of being a wife & mom of seven kids so, that's all the qualifications that I have. I'm going to call this new little section of my blog The Family Table (not to be confused with Jess at The Farmer's Table, who you should absolutely subscribe to right away!) and I hope it serves to bless whoever happens to come along. 

I was trained in the art & science of domesticity by my grandma (she simply called it "keepin' house") who grew up during the drepression. Most of what I've learned came from her, I'm honored to say.    

So without further yammering, the questions in a thread I saw the other day were all about how to go about meal planning. Wondering how to do it, where to start, what works best, why it matters, how it helps, etc. Really good questions, all of them.

Really fun & simple answer? Start with a Weather Forecast meal plan format for all your family's dinner/main meals of the day. Then, plan all the baking, prepping & shopping around the upcoming weather for the next week or however long you set your meal plans up. 

• Is it going to be warm & pleasant?  Grilled meats, sandwiches, salads, finger foods. Pile on the fresh veggies & seasonal fruits. Then, freeze all leftover meats & veggies for use in your next soup, stew or casserole.
• Cool & blustery? Get out the soup, stew, chili & chowder recipes.  Plan the usual sides to go with each. Any leftovers, freeze in single servings for lunches.
• Dark of winter? All your favorite casseroles, roasts, pasta & rice dishes.  Again, freeze all leftovers in singles for lunches or whatever best way works for your household. When my kids were growing up, we'd have "Leftover Night" potluck type dinner at least once a week, where everyone got to pick their own dinner.   

It may sound obvious to folks that have been doing this for a long time but I know the first time I heard it suggested, it gave me a jumping off place with my own ideas on what kinds of foods to make & helped me get way more organized. Not to mention saving money on groceries by getting into the habit of storing up leftovers for the next meal or to pack in someone's lunch. It's a meal plan format I've followed for over 40 years now, and it works pretty well. I've added all sorts of recipes to each type of meal that have become family favorites over the years, so that also helps keep things fresh & fun with new recipes being added. 

Thanks for stopping by, and I sure hope this has blessed you in some way. 😊