Syrup Butter for Creme Brulee French Toast

1 1/2 cups butter
3 cups maple syrup

Melt together and serve over toast.

*D: 3 cups maple syrup?! Maybe if you're feeding an army. We only used a half a cup of butter and 1 cup of maple syrup and we had tons of leftovers. Pin It

Spaghetti Sauce (canning recipe)

9 quarts “mashed” tomatoes (36 cups)
4 green peppers
1 ½ TB oregano
1/3 cup salt
4 chopped onions
2 TB pepper
2 large cloves garlic
8 TBSP can sweet basil 
1 29 oz can tomato puree
2 cups brown sugar
3 TB Italian seasoning
2 TB chili powder

This makes about 19 pints. To prepare your tomatoes: blanch them, core them, skin them and then put them in a blender or food processor. Blend to your desired consistency (we like our spaghetti sauce with no chunks). Then pour into measuring container to measure out the 9 quarts. Use about half cup of tomatoes to puree the garlic. Since we don’t like real chunky spaghetti sauce, we also put the green peppers and onions in the blender. Cook all ingredients in a huge pot for about half an hour, longer if you want thicker sauce. The longer it cooks, the thicker it will be.

Pressure cook for 20 minutes for pints and 25 minutes for quarts at 13 pounds.

*D: If you do not have a pressure cooker, you can try to divide this recipe into freezer containers. I'd estimate it will last about 6 months in the freezer. Maybe a little longer. Do not try to water bath this recipe. Your food will not be shelf stable and you can get very sick.

The best part about making this recipe is that your house will smell like yummy spaghetti sauce for the rest of the day! Yum yum. Pin It

Chocolate Sauce

In a glass bowl, mix:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 TBSP cocoa
2 TBSP flour
1/8 tsp salt

Add:

2/3 cup milk
2 TBSP corn syrup
1 TBSP butter or margarine

Microwave 2 - 4 minutes, or until boiling. Stir well. Microwave an additional 2 - 5 minutes, stirring every 1 1/2 minutes, until sauce reaches desired thickness. Mix in 1 tsp vanilla . Let cool at room temperature and serve over ice cream.

*D: Easiest chocolate sauce ever. I realize cocoa may not be a product everyone has on hand. If you don't always have cocoa, I recommend you get some. It's a versatile ingredient that you can use for a lot of different recipes and baking techniques.

This is my Mother-in-law's recipe, and she only ever adds 1 TBSP cocoa. I usually do 2.

The longer you microwave the sauce (the second time), the thicker it is.

***Do NOT try to speed up the cooling process. It will turn into a chocolate brick. I'm not kidding.*** Pin It

Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing

Recipe by Ourbestbites.com


1 pack (1oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix (regular or buttermilk, and ignore directions on the packet)
1C mayo
1/2 C milk (or buttermilk depending on which packet you buy)
1 lime
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 C green salsa
hot sauce

Place milk, mayo, and ranch mix in a blender. Juice the lime in there too, you should get about 2T juice. Toss in the garlic, cilantro and green salsa. Blend 'er up. Sample it and add hot sauce to taste. Make it several hours ahead of time to allow it to thicken.

*D: I didn't have green salsa because I made this on a whim. I used regular salsa and this was divine! If you have ever been to Bajio's and had their spicy ranch, this is what it tastes like. YUM! Pin It

Hillary's Carmel Sauce

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk (1/2 cup regular milk with a dash of vinegar)
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp baking soda
vanilla to taste - about 1 1/2 tsp

Melt butter, add buttermilk. Mix in sugar and vanilla. Add the baking soda. The sauce will rise, cook in a tall pan.

This sauce is more like syrup. It's divine on french toast, pancakes, ice cream...pretty much anything. Like I said, it's more like syrup than sauce.


When I was in Ecuador, I'd make myself french toast and carmel sauce every morning after a Noc shift (Noc was the night shift, so we'd go at night and leave when the next group of volunteers got there in the morning).


It's called Hillary's Carmel Sauce because Hillary was one of the project managers, and she introduced us to this recipe. I have since come across it in other cookbooks, but to me it'll always be Hillary's recipe. Pin It

Mustard Sauce

Mix in saucepan:

1/2 cup sugar
5 tsp dry mustard (powder)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cornstarch

Add:

2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vinegar

Mix over medium heat. Add:

2 TBSP butter

Cook over medium heat for fifteen minutes. Yields 1 1/2 cups.

We put this mustard sauce over ham. I would literally make a ham JUST so I can have mustard sauce. When I visited my parents over Christmas and we had ham, I had to phone my mother-in-law to get the recipe just so I had mustard sauce to go with my ham. If you find something else to eat mustard sauce with, please be sure to let me know! Pin It