Tag: food and beverages

Creative Recipes That Highlight Cowboy Butter Seasoning

Creative Recipes That Highlight Cowboy Butter Seasoning

Cowboy butter seasoning offers a unique combination of flavors that can enhance dishes. This blend combines savory herbs, zesty lemon, and a touch of warmth to create a flavorful journey that appeals to various tastes. For individuals seeking to add excitement to their cooking skills, 

Thai Cuisine for Beginners: Essential Dishes to Try

Thai Cuisine for Beginners: Essential Dishes to Try

Thai cuisine is a feast for the senses, known for its perfect balance of sweet, sour, salty, spicy, and umami flavors. Whether you’re a complete novice or just starting to explore Thai food beyond the usual takeout favorites, there’s a world of vibrant, aromatic, and 

Orange Apple Fruit Smoothie Recipe

Orange Apple Fruit Smoothie Recipe

Orange Apple Fruit Smoothie RecipeApples are in-season in the northeast during the months of September and October. Every year we head to our local apple orchard to go apple picking as a family. It’s always a fun family event. This recipe utilizes fresh apples along with a few other ingredients. If you want to bump up the nutritional value…substitute Manuka Honey for the regular honey in the recipe.

Orange Apple Fruit Smoothie Recipe

1 cup chopped apple (peel, core and seeds removed)
1/2 to 3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. honey
3 ice cubes

Place all of the ingredients into a blender container. Blend until it reaches your desired consistency. Serve immediately.

We like to serve fruit smoothies in chilled glasses. Just place the glass into the freezer 30-60 minutes before preparing the recipe. Check out the Two Classy Chics blog for more FREE Fruit Smoothie Recipes!

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How to Store Fresh Apples for Weeks to Months at a Time

How to Store Fresh Apples for Weeks to Months at a Time

We’re fortunate to have 2 mature apple trees in our backyard. One gives us Granny Smith apples while the other one McIntosh. Every year when fall rolls around I have to get creative on how I store freshly picked apples for long term use. I’m 

Mango Banana Fruit Smoothie Recipe

Mango Banana Fruit Smoothie Recipe

Two of my favorite fruits are mangoes and bananas. Combine them together into a fruit smoothie and I’m all in! This Mango Banana Fruit Smoothie Recipe only uses a handful of ingredients and is easy to make! If you want to bump-up the health benefits 

Ham and Bean Soup Recipe with Home Canning Tips

Ham and Bean Soup Recipe with Home Canning Tips

Ham and Bean Soup is a classic belly-filling soup that can be made on the stove-top or in your slow cooker crockpot. I like to make a huge kettle of it on the stovetop and can it for later use. For this home canning recipe you’ll need a steam pressure canner along with your basic home canning supplies. It will make 5-6 quart-size jars. If you’re not into canning, you can let it cool to room temperature and freeze it for later use.

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Canning Tips: Get all of your canning supplies out ahead of time. Wash jars, seals and rings. Inspect all of your glass mason jars for chips and cracks. Toss any inferior jars. You can season the soup any way that you like…below is just the classic recipe. If you want to fully cook the soup (allow for 35-45 minutes of time…cool to room temperature and then freeze in freezer safe containers or eat. When it comes to canning with a steam pressure canner you don’t want to fully cook the soup. Just get it nice and hot following the instructions below.

Ham and Bean Soup Recipe with Home Canning Tips

Classic Ham and Bean Soup Recipe

3-4 cups cooked and cubed ham
8-10 cups of canned Northern Beans
4-5 large white potatoes, peeled and cubed
2-3 carrots, sliced thin
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 to 1 tsp. ground black pepper
2-3 Tbsp. parsley flakes
4 cups of ham broth or ham concentrate

GOYA Ham Flavored Concentrate Bouillion

Note: I like to use the Goya Ham Flavored Concentrate that I purchase from Amazon. Follow the instructions on the box to make 4 cups of ham broth. This has been the best ham bouillion that I’ve found so far.

Use a large stock pot for this recipe. First pour in the ham broth. Then add-in the cooked and cubed ham. Follow the recipe listed above adding in all of the ingredients that are listed. The stove burner should be set on medium to medium high. Stir the soup after each addition.

Get everything to a simmer and simmer for 8-10 minutes over medium to medium-high heat. It shouldn’t be at a full boil…just simmering hot.

Ladel the soup into your prepared mason jars. You’ll want to use glass quart-sized mason jars made for home canning. Leave a 1″ headspace at the top. Make sure you remove any air bubbles or air pockets when you’re filling up the jars. Wipe the rim with a clean cloth. Add the seal and then screw-on the metal ring until it’s fingertip tight.

If you run out of broth you can quickly make another batch of broth using a packet of the Goya Ham Flavored Concentrate. It takes less than 5 minutes to make. If you think you’ve added too much of a ham flavor you can water things down by adding hot water. Everyone has their own taste-buds!

Your pressure steam canner needs to have at least 2″ of simmering water in the bottom of it. Place the jars into the canner following the directions that came with the canner. Place the lid on top. You need to bring the pressure up to 10 lbs. Once you have reached the 10 lbs. you need to process the jars for 90 minutes. Set a timer!!! Turn off the heat and let the pressure naturally return down to 0. Once it hits 0 set a timer for 10 minutes before you remove the lid. You never want to remove the lid before that time.

Lay a dry kitchen towel out onto your counter. Carefully remove the hot jars from the canner and place onto the towel. Let them cool naturally (no drafts) until they reach room temperature. It will take a few hours. Once cool you want to check all of your seals to make sure each jar sealed. If not, place that jar into the refrigerator and eat it within 2-3 days. Label all of your jars with the contents and date that it was made. Store in a cool, dry place.

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Shelly's Signature

How to Properly Store Cocoa Powder

How to Properly Store Cocoa Powder

Cocoa Powder will last for years if it’s properly stored in your kitchen or pantry. I use a lot of it in my household, so to save money I like to purchase it in bulk. Once I get it home, I separate it into smaller 

Top 10 Wines for Busy Moms Who Deserve a Break

Top 10 Wines for Busy Moms Who Deserve a Break

Motherhood is a beautiful chaos, a rewarding, whirlwind symphony of meal prep, tantrums (from toddlers and partners), and late-night school projects you just found out about at 9 PM. It’s fulfilling, yes, but let’s admit it: it’s also relentless. Somewhere between the chaos and the