“A lot of living happens in the kitchen.”

Author: Rachel Ballinger

Creamy Cranberry Salad

Creamy Cranberry Salad

This festive creamy cranberry salad is sweet enough to be a dessert! Perfect for the holiday table and easy to throw together. Just remember that it’s best if you mix up the ingredients and let them sit overnight. That gives the cranberries time to soak 

Sour Cream and Onion Mashed Potatoes

Sour Cream and Onion Mashed Potatoes

These sour cream and onion mashed potatoes are so savory that you don’t need gravy to go with them. I make them for every holiday table at our house and also often throughout the year. They are a family favorite.  It only takes a couple 

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

This creamy butternut squash soup is one of my favorite fall meals. It’s bursting with savory autumn flavors. I serve it with thick slices of sourdough bread.  Butternut squash store great and I got this particular one from a friend’s garden awhile back. It’s extra 

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and Dumplings

This thick and creamy soup, chockfull of chicken and soft dumplings is the ultimate comfort food. Chicken and Dumplings is a classic southern recipe and I would like to bless who ever came up with it and passed it on to the rest of us! 

Autumn Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup

Autumn Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup

This warm and savory autumn soup made with sweet potatoes, pork sausage, and tied together with rice and chicken broth.  This soup is delicious served with some warm skillet cornbread. But if you want a fun fall meal that makes the best memories with your 

Ground Beef Breakfast Gravy

Ground Beef Breakfast Gravy

This ground beef gravy with sourdough biscuits is my family’s favorite breakfast. A hearty combo that is sure to make any day better.  I grew up eating applesauce with biscuits and gravy and now my kids do the same. I know it might sound strange 

Sourdough Biscuits

Sourdough Biscuits

These flaky sourdough biscuits are the perfect biscuits to go with gravy for a delicious breakfast. They rise so beautifully and always make me feel like an accomplished baker. Lol! Ingredients needed: Flour – all purpose flour or bread flour  Sugar Baking powder  Salt Baking 

Strawberry Jam

Strawberry Jam

My family loves this strawberry jam and it’s a sad day when it’s all gone. It takes less than an hour to make so it’s easy to make a batch or two. One batch takes about two quarts of strawberries. I have tried to make 

Homemade Salsa for Canning

Homemade Salsa for Canning

This homemade salsa is kinda like having a garden in a jar and a great way to use up a bunch of tomatoes. My kids say it tastes just like store bought which I know is a huge compliment from them but I’d like to 

Creamy Pumpkin Pie

Creamy Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is my all time favorite fall dessert. It’s just a classic. This is the pumpkin pie I grew up on and it’s a creamier version than the ones you’ll find at the grocery store. My oldest son and my brother have both won