Pioneer Woman at Heart

  Lima Bean Hummus (my recipe) 1 can of lima beans, drained and rinsed 2 cloves of garlic, minced (we used home grown)* 1/3 cup tahini (dry roasted seeds, but any tahini will work) 2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. real lemon juice (from a fresh lemon) 1/4 cup water 2 Tbsp. olive oil 1/4 tsp. salt Mix everything in a food processor until smooth.  Adjust salt and garlic if needed.  If you do not grow your own garlic, you may need to add more to adjust flavor. Our homegrown garlic is loaded with flavor. Lima Bean Hummus    ©  March 2026 by  Kristina  at  Pioneer  Woman at Heart

The recipe I use for our dry Fajita seasoning mix, is on my blog HERE .   I store the dry mix in a repurposed jar, and label it.  If you add the dehydrated onion  (especially if you make it yourself), you may want to store the jar in the door of your freezer.  The dehydrated onion can very easily absorb moisture (even in the cupboard), and the mix will become hard. Note:  We plan to add some home grown, dehydrated oregano to this mix next time it's made.  If we like it, I'll add it to the recipe, and how much we add to the recipe.  I almost feel it should contain some garlic powder too.  I've made notes on the original post. We use this dry seasoning mixture for chicken tacos too, but you could use dry taco seasoning as well.  We make that ourselves too. Homemade Fajita Seasoning (Dry Mix)   ©  March 2026 by  Kristina  at  Pioneer  Woman at Heart

  The weather is 19°F this morning, as I post this blog post today.  Brr.  I sure hope it warms up, but if not, it's a good day to bake something. I used my larger cookie scoop, and used the back of it to spread the cookie out a bit. One of the kids wanted a healthy banana cookie recipe, and I have a few.  I had to dig this one out and make to see if it was one of my keeper recipes (I have a habit of not taking notes). It's a soft cookie - no flour, no sugar. 3 ripe bananas, organic, mashed 2 cups of organic old fashioned oats 1 cup of finely diced apple or dates (I used half of both for this batch, using organic apples/dates) 1/3 cup organic canola oil * 1 tsp. homemade vanilla extract 1 1/2 tsp. organic cinnamon A few dashes or so of organic nutmeg Mix, drop on parchment paper line baking sheets, and bake for 20 minutes.  Cool on a rack.  I let these sit on the baking sheets a bit after taking out of the oven. I had larger bananas, so they needed a bit mo...

  Here is how I make our red lentil hummus.  It makes a good amount, but you can slather it on a cracker and top it with a sliced boiled egg, dip fresh veggies in it, enjoy it on a sandwich (of any sort) and so many other ways.  You can use hummus as your "sauce" for dishes. First, measure 1 cup of organic red lentils, and rinse them.  Add them to a pot and 3 cups of water.  Cook them until there  is no water left (they will be a mushy consistency).  You will need to watch the pot at the end so it does not burn to the pan. Take off the heat and allow to cool.  Go clean something, read a book, fold laundry or enjoy the outdoors for a bit. Place the cooked and cooled lentils in a food processor and add: 1 can organic chickpeas, drained and rinsed 1/2 cup Tahini 3 Tbsp. Lemon juice (I use fresh squeezed and often use one lemon, and don't measure) 3-4 Cloves of garlic, minced (to your taste) 3/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. cumin Mix in the food processor, chil...

Per a request for the recipe. . . I've been making this homemade version of "canned" cream of mushroom soup since February of 2014.  The link in my post below. Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup Another post with a few photos ....contains the link to the actual recipe online.  She has added fresh thyme to the recipe since I started making it, and have not added it to mine (yet). She also has the recipes for condensed cream of celery soup and condensed cream of chicken soup.  I have made all three of the recipes and they are keeper recipes for me. I adapt the recipes with organic/non-gmo ingredients for the healthiest soup recipes. I can say that the original recipe she had up, stated two cremini mushrooms.  Same with shallots, but she has listed amounts now.  Our stores stopped selling bulk cremini mushrooms all together, so I now buy organic baby bella mushrooms for ours.  I love it.  The shallots bring the party to the soup mix for sure.  So good....

Here is how I make our Hot "taco" bean dip now (we've changed it just a bit).  It is great for an appetizer for any get together as well, and especially for a Mexican food themed meal.  So good!  We topped ours with some snipped herb garden green onions too. To make the dip (this is baked): Mix together first: 2 blocks of organic cream cheese (16 oz. total) 1 can of refried black beans (organic, 16 oz.) 1 can of refried pinto beans (organic, 16 oz)  Once that is combined well, add: 8 oz. sour cream (organic) 2 Tbsp. of homemade dry taco mix (add more if needed) Spread the mixture into a baking dish and top with about 1 1/4 cups of shredded cheese of your choice. The thicker it is in a baking dish, the longer it will take to heat up. Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes (30 if it is thicker).  Serve with tortilla dipping chips or any dipping food of your choice. I have not cut the recipe in half, as it goes quickly around here, but I think it would be just as good with o...

  Breakfast Lasagna (there are more versions of this online) The recipe is found on a YouTube video.  It uses a lot of cheese to make this a "zero" carb recipe, but not low in calories.  You start by scrambling 18 eggs.  Here is the video LINK for the YouTube video on how she makes the breakfast lasagna. Gravy is made with breakfast sausage, cream cheese and beef broth.   Like I said, it uses a LOT of cheese. I'm not a subscriber, so I could not get actual measurements from her recipe, so I "eyeballed" it.  I used a mix of mozzarella and pepper jack, and some Parmesan cheese. The ham I used.  Honestly, didn't feel one 6 oz. package was enough, but I wasn't sure on the size of pan to use either. Here is my review:  I used a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.  It was too big of a baking dish, to get even layers. It was very good, but I will use my own milk based sausage gravy next time, and will utilize frozen diced ham we saved from the ...

  Winner recipe!  New recipe tried! I had just enough cashews to use up, and the oven was already on, so..... Of course I used my homemade garlic powder in this recipe. Perfect for a chacturie board for any occasion. Delicious  as a snack. The recipe is free online with The Southern Lady Cooks. A bit sticky for a travel snack, but pack it up and enjoy it at your accommodations with cheese/crackers and a bottle of wine. It would make a nice gift too, along with some other creatively made food items, a bottle of wine, or specialty cheese/crackers.  The ideas are pretty endless. I've been experimenting with our frozen garden green beans.  I recently just tossed a bag full (maybe 3 cups) into an 8 x 8 baking dish, added 1/2 tsp. homemade garlic powder, and drizzled it with some organic olive oil.  Gave them a toss with some tongs, and baked them at 400° for 30 minutes.  I then sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top of them.  Oh my gosh!  Deli...

  I have noticed, when I make an all-in-one chicken dinner in the crock pot (with chicken breast), it is the most tender chicken. So.... I started to do this, for any baked casserole dinner that has shredded chicken as an ingredient - place organic chicken breasts (fat trimmed) into a crock pot (I salt and pepper it first) and cover with organic chicken broth (low sodium).  I cover the chicken completely with the broth. I cook this on low all day.  I haven't really kept track of the hours, but maybe 6-7 hours.  I then turn off the crock pot, and shred the chicken, and add to whatever recipe I am baking in the oven.  I've even done this the day before, that way the chicken is already done.  It is the most tender chicken for our recipes.   Note:  The chicken is so tender I use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken from the crock pot, or it simply falls apart in the crockpot.  It makes it easier to get to the cutting board to shred. I don't...

  To make the new breakfast casserole, I needed sausage.  The recipe called for Italian, but I simply used my homemade sausage recipe , by swapping out the pork with lean ground turkey.  I put the extra into the freeze for other meals. I made a new breakfast casserole, but after putting it together it is basically like a bake I make, only the potatoes are swapped out with cauliflower.  It's very good, but I will season it up next time with either jalapenos, garlic or fire powder.  I topped it with dandelion greens as well.   Today, I am on the hunt for someone to at least remove the popcorn ceiling.  Wish we luck.  Nothing is cheap anymore.  We can do the painting, but I have never removed the popcorn ceiling.  The floor work is slow going right now, which is driving me crazy.   I signed up to make rolls for one Thanksgiving, and yesterday realized, I cannot get to my recipes.  They are buried in my office, where the ...

  I am saving this recipe to try this summer.  I thought I would share it.  Has anyone made this?  I am just now learning about it. I got some organic dandelion greens blanched and in the freezer.  There is only one store that sells them this time of year. It was another day at Mom's house.  I made two trips to the re-sale store in town (benefits area businesses).  It's been difficult, but the busyness keeps my mind off things.  I've been able to pass on some kitchenware to our Daughter K, for her new apartment. Clothing has been donated to a soup kitchen. My house is a crazy mess, so once Daughter K is completely moved out, we will start major repairs and updates.  We also plan to do a major clean up in the garage when the weather gets better.

  I was tickled pink to get a message with an order for 8 of my hand crocheted dish scrubbies the other day.  Shipping, however, has gone up again. (older photo) I have about 15 more rows to finish this lap afghan for Mom. Daughter E asked me to make her a handmade ornament for their salon.  I crocheted her a nail polish bottle. Did anyone see yesterday's cooking show on Create TV?  They baked a pork shoulder, bake a side dish with red cabbage (in the oven) and homemade BBQ sauce?  I can't remember what they called the red cabbage dish and cannot find the episode or recipe.  If you watched can you help me find it?  I was crocheting Mom's blanket and my husband got home.  I missed the end and missed the name of the dish and BBQ sauce.  I missed the names of the people cooking them, so I have no idea how to find it all.  I checked the TV schedule, and it won't go backwards, only forwards on the schedule.  I even tried searching the re...

  You can dehydrate the last handful of hot peppers in any form, but I place them in my food processor and grind them up to small bits. (dehydrated in the photo) I then spread them out on parchment paper and dehydrate in my dehydrator.  If you have an air fryer, most have a dehydrate option. When they are all dried, I put them in a coffee bean grinder (used only for grinding dehydrated items), and grind into a powder.  I store in an air tight spice jar. Add the ground powder to any recipe to add flavor.  I use it a lot in our breakfast casseroles/frittatas and scrambles. Yes there are Christmas towels in there😂 I fear for our world we now live in.  More and more people we know are sick with covid.  It's spreading like wild fire in our area.  A co-worker of my husband's could use prayers.  He is the same age as me, and was moved to a different hospital with covid.  Both of his lungs collapsed.  His name is Lauren (not sure if I'm spellin...

  Santa Fe Chicken Fajitas 1 lb. organic boneless chicken breast, sliced in thin strips 1 red onion, sliced thin 1 organic green bell pepper, sliced 1 organic red bell pepper, sliced 1 organic orange or yellow bell pepper (optional if you want more veggies), sliced 3/4 cup home canned salsa (or picante sauce) 6 Tbsp. organic lime juice 3 cloves garlic, minced (we use home grown) 2 tsp. organic chili powder 1 tsp. organic oregano (we use homegrown and dried) 1/2  tsp. organic ground cumin 1/4 tsp. natural smoke flavoring (optional, see note) Salt Black pepper 1 Tbsp. organic olive oil 10 homemade tortillas Mix everything in a bowl with lid, except the tortillas of course.  Marinade the ingredients for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.  We like to let it sit overnight.  You can then cook the chicken and veggies in a pan or in a grill pan on the grill.  Top tortillas, and any toppings you'd like. Note:  Natural smoke flavor typically contains a color a...

  Crockpot Queso 8 oz. organic pepper jack cheese, shredded 8 oz. organic Monterery Jack cheese, shredded 8 oz. organic cream cheese 1 4-oz. can organic green chilis, drained 2 herb garden green onions, sliced thin 1/2 cup organic whole milk 1/2 tsp. homemade garlic powder Stir together all ingredients in a crockpot.  Cook on low for 4 hours or until melted.  Note:  Some organic canned chili's may differ in size, and you could cube the cheese too, but it will take a bit longer (block cheese makes a creamer dip vs. buying already shredded cheese).  Sorry for the bad photo, but my husband was gobbling it up, ha ha!  I do think it needs maybe a jalapeno next time. Not sure if this is the reason my biscuits are flaky with layers, but it may be.  I watched a cooking show and if you "shred" the butter vs. cube you get a better rise with the biscuits.  I cube, but them use a butter blender to cut the butter chunks up a bit more. I baked up some whiskey s...

  Garden goodness yesterday.  More asparagus and first cutting of rhubarb this year. Although I need a trip to the "big city" for supplies, I decided to surprise my husband with a strawberry rhubarb pie.  It's been quite a long time since I have baked any pie.  Oh my, I must not have had enough coffee before starting on this, ha ha ha!  I grabbed my deep dish pan and didn't realize it until I put the filling in, then I didn't cut the lattice pieces that even.   However, I cut exactly enough rhubarb for the recipe.  I use the recipe found at Sally's Baking Addition .  I use pie crust crumble crust recipe from King Arthur (where you freeze the dough and add ice water when you pull it from the freezer to use). Rain has not arrived as predicted, and things are very very dry outside.  Watering it all by hand, and thankful I haven't yet got the vegetable garden in.  However, the dry ground is making it difficult for tilling.

  I made Cajun Angel Hair and Sausage .   New recipe tried!  I had some organic angel hair pasta and wanted to use it.  I finally found some non-gmo smoked chicken sausages too.  The recipe includes fresh green onion in the recipe and I used freshly snipped home grown green onion to top it with.  Oh my!  I'll tweek the sauce part (needs more), but the taste was fabulous.  I made homemade Cajun  seasoning for it. This recipe was a favorite.  Normally, you cook meat or brown it first, and this recipe is a toss it all in but the pasta.  Loved it.  I didn't expect it to taste so good on account of lack of ingredients.  I used 2 homemade beef bouillon cubes (because that is what I had). I just added the pasta last, cooked some peas and shredded some cheese.  The recipe is online as well - Slow Cooker Chicken Bolognese Pasta .  Does anyone have a dry homemade mix recipe for chicken bouillon?  Or one for ...

The bad: I heard that Hobby Lobby is closing all their stores for good, due to government mandate involving health insurance and their beliefs.  Has anyone else heard this?  Or is this just rumor? The good: My dehydrator replacement door was back in stock and has been ordered.  Woohoo to that. Something I learned:  I watched a show on Create TV (cooking), and found out it's healthy to add garlic powder to your chicken feed occasionally.  I caught the 1/4 cup part, but missed per what amount of feed.  I'm trying to find the show online to re-watch it.  I think I found the show, but the station is operating on reduced power, so I'll have to check back later. Something I learned: You can make jelly from the red buds on the red bud tree.  I most likely won't get to try it this spring (the freeze), but will try it next year. My Mom has a tree.  It's also medicinal.  Fun and good to know. I had a request for the recipe for homemade lip ba...

During the recent road trip, I took along yarn and easy projects.  I got one set of pot holders finished, crocheted two washcloths and two facial scrubbies. While we were gone, the bananas were not eaten, so I tried a new recipe.  It's more of a breakfast, but looked good and healthy too. I made Almond Butter Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal (from A kitchen Addiction ).  We loved this.  No flour and just a bit of either honey or real maple syrup to sweeten it.