New Homemade Recipes From Scratch You Should Try

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As a stay at home mom, I’ve started to turn my kitchen into the spot where my creativity goes. I can get frustrated and view meal prep and cooking meals each day as a chore. To avoid this, I’ve started to save and make different recipes that I make from scratch. After a bit of trial and error, I’ve come up with this list of homemade recipes from scratch you should try as well!

For the Working Mom

I realize that a lot of us reading this aren’t privileged to stay at home all day with their children like I do. Some of us are happy working our job out of the home, and enjoy that lifestyle too.

I also know that for those of you who work a full time or even part time job, it’s hard to decide that you’re going to do more cooking from scratch when you are home. Your life is already so busy, how can you possibly commit to making more foods at home?

We’re In The Same Boat of Busyness

Let me just point out that even for those of us who do stay at home all day, we don’t have as much free time as the working mom thinks that we do. We easily find ways to fill up our days to the point of overflow as well. Not only are we “daycare” or edumacators for our children (shout out to the homeschool mamas), but we tend to overcommit in other areas.

We focus on hobbies, exercise, or gardening. We turn into chauffer and tote our children all over creation to their practices, classes and music lessons. So please note that it’s hard to commit to making more recipes from scratch from the get-go. But, it isn’t impossible and shouldn’t discourage you!

Have the Right Mindset

Not all of these make from scratch suggestions will work for you. Sometimes, it’s a trial and error sort of method to determine whether making something yourself is worth the extra time and effort, and if it actually tastes the way you’re wanting it too.

Making everything from scratch is not the end-all goal. The goal is to start to make more items from scratch to save money, eliminate artificial ingredients, and because you enjoy it and like the homemade taste.

Homemade Recipes From Scratch To Try

Danishes

I’ve been making these for probably 5 years now. They are absolutely amazing. I’m not “pro” enough to take someone else’s recipe, make it for years and years, come up with my own that’s better, and share that. Honestly, this recipe is so straightforward, simple, and tastes amazing. It’s one of those “why ruin a good thing” moments.

So, I’m not going to rewrite the recipe in my own words here today, because it’s already done. You can find it here. I will just talk about how you definitely need to add this recipe to your breakfast routine. I make it for all of my special occasions. Whenever we have company staying the night, Christmas morning, Easter morning, and anytime I’m in the mood for some good comfort food, this dish is on the breakfast table.

It really isn’t hard to make. The worst part about it is making it the night before and cleaning up your mess before you go to bed. If you can stick through that part, throwing it together in the morning is a breeze. I highly recommend consuming it with a medium roast latte made from your espresso machine.

Butter

Yes I know, I’ve already written everything in a blog post about the easiest, best way to make your own butter. It deserves another shout out. If you’re not making your own butter at this point from the raw milk you’re getting off your cow (or your neighbors cow…or your not so neighbor, but close enough to go get it), what are you even doing?

Having real, fresh butter at your fingertips has never tasted so good. It also turns all of your baked goods into next level treats. Additionally, the buttermilk you can save from the butter makes your pancakes and waffles become out of this world.

Hamburger Buns

I dare you to walk down the bread aisle of the grocery store finding a hamburger bun that isn’t filled with preservatives. In my experience, it’s almost impossible. It took me awhile to actually decide that I would make my own hamburger buns at home.

The first time I made them was actually kind of by accident. I decided that it would be the perfect night for making burgers at home (what can I say, I was pregnant and craving them). Unfortunately, I didn’t have buns and our closest grocery store is 20 minutes when you accommodate for traffic. So, I decided now was the time to give them a go.

The first thing I learned when making them was that they’re not like typical bread recipes that include yeast. These really don’t take that long to rise and you only need to get started making them about an hour before. The second thing I learned is that it was really silly to not attempt to make these sooner. I think my days of buying hamburger buns at the store are behind me. Here’s the recipe to get you started.

Make Your Own Pizza

Okay, I can’t take complete credit for this one. Poor Bert has insinuated that I start trying homemade pizza for years. I’ve been scared to try. Originally, pizza night is what we do when I need something fast, quick, and won’t dirty a whole lot of dishes. So, I was never ready to go the homemade pizza route, because I knew it was going to be none of those things.

I finally gave in one night because I was in a weird mood. Man, I wish those weird moods would keep occurring. Actually, it was mostly Bert. He said he would assemble all of it if I made the dough and got all the toppings ready. You guys, it seriously was the best thing we’ve made together.

Bonus tip is that because we were both in the kitchen together for about an hour making supper together, we kind of turned it into an at home “date night”. For those of you who are quality time love language people like I am, you’ll really enjoy that!

More About Homemade Pizza

A few tips I’ve learned since starting down the homemade pizza trail:

Splurge on the pizza sauce. I love Kroger’s Simply Truth organic pizza sauce. It’s a little more expensive than the regular brand, but oh so worth it.

Remember the seasonings! I like to have fresh basil, parsley and oregano on hand. After Bert spreads the sauce, he sprinkles the herbs and it really adds a quality flavor to the pizza.

Make your pizza dough ahead of time and freeze the dough. You can make tons ahead of time and just bring them out to thaw around lunch time on pizza night. This makes the process a little bit faster, and you’ll always have a meal on hand if you need it. There are a ton of pizza dough recipes out there. This is the one I use!

Make Your Own Breadsticks

While you’re at it making your own pizza, you might as well finish off the pizza night with some homemade breadsticks. The nice thing about homemade breadsticks is you can season them to perfection the way you like. You can also turn them into cheese sticks with only a little bit of extra work. Sure, the carbs are not a positive side effect, but for evenings when friends or family come over, you won’t be upset.

Cream of Whatever Soup

Do yourself a favor and don’t check the ingredients list on Campbell’s cream of soups. Just know that you’re not going to want to know, and go make them yourself at home. Doing this might take you an extra five minutes when it comes to the recipe that you’re going to try to make at home.

If you have a small saucepan, some flour, butter, milk, chicken broth, salt and pepper, and maybe sour cream, you can easily make practically any cream soup that is called for in a recipe. If you need cream of mushroom, add a can of mushrooms (or fresh ones if you want). Do the same thing for broccoli, onion, or whatever other sort of soup your recipe calls for.

The basic recipe that you can find all over the “interweb” is making a roux with 1 T flour and 3 T of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/2 C broth, 1/2 C milk, and salt and pepper to taste. If you want it thicker or prefer a more unique flavor, you can add 1/4 C of sour cream or cream cheese. That’s it, and it makes your recipe taste just as good (if not better).

Popcorn

This is the easiest snack to make from scratch and you’re not going to be disappointed. Again, don’t read the ingredients list on the side of a microwavable popcorn label. Do yourself a favor and buy a container of popping corn and a stovetop popcorn popper. Trust me, the stovetop popcorn popper is going to pay for itself.

This is the popcorn popper we own. But, you should know, as an Amazon Affiliate, I can earn commission off of products purchased. You can read my full disclosure here. My favorite part about making your own popcorn is that you can experiment with different seasonings. I’ve used garlic, Slap Ya Mama, salt and pepper, sea salt, and a slough of others to change things up.

Ice Cream

I’m one of those persons who considers ice cream to be a section of the nutritional food pyramid. I’m not even joking. Ice cream is one of those foods that can be consumed on any occasion, and I certainly do at my home. I don’t even consider it a guilty pleasure, because it’s so good.

Yes, I do love a good bowl of Yarnell’s (it’s only sold in Arkansas), and purchase it whenever it’s on sale. However, I also love to make my own. Having an ice cream maker is another kitchen utensil I see as paying for itself. Ice cream isn’t cheap, and when you make it your own, you have an opportunity to not only make it healthier and less toxic, but also an opportunity to make it cheaper than a tub costs at the store.

Try Your Hand at Different Desserts

Sometimes, all a girl needs is to learn a new hobby. I’ve found that I don’t particularly like to cook meals every day and see it as a chore. However, if I’m in the kitchen learning how to make something new and different, I could stay in there for the rest of the afternoon.

Nowadays it’s really easy to buy everything at the store, but convenience doesn’t mean better, especially when it comes to taste. Come up with a bucket list of foods you’ve decided to learn how to make. The next free Saturday or snowed in day of the week you have, pick something and get started.

My current bucket list of foods to learn how to make at home is fudge, candy, tarts, sourdough bread, focaccia breads, doughnuts, bagels, and macarons. Yes, my “bucket list” has gotten more items added to it than I have crossed off. I will say though, that had it not been for my list, I never would have learned how to make pie, Danishes, or popcorn and ice cream myself.

It Goes Without Saying

In the 21st century, everything is at our fingertips. We can run to the grocery store and get anything we need. It will always be easier and more convenient to cook from a box. However, it’s not always the healthier, tastier, or cheaper option. Let this post be an inspiration to start making more foods your family eats on a regular basis at home.