Blessing Soup

Our church gave us a POUNDING Sunday night at our chili supper fellowship!  WHAT is a pounding, you ask?  Well we choose one person in our family for the congregation to line up and pound with a nerf bat.  We chose Grace.  Mostly because she asked the same question, and also because she's gullible.  :)

An old-fashioned pounding is an old welcoming party where when a new pastor comes, each family from the church brings a pound of sugar or a pound of flour....etc. etc.  We ended up with 10 bags of sugar, 30 cans of green beans, 20 cans of corn, many cans of chili, beans, soups, fruit, chicken, macncheese, spaghetti sauce and pasta.  We also got a 20lb. bag of chocolate chips, a ham, gift cards to grocery stores & restaurants, boxes and boxes of cake mixes and crackers and cereal and well....basically, does anyone want to go shopping in my pantry?  It's FULL.

And so is my heart.  God is so good to show us His love through His people.  What a blessing!
So I call this recipe that I made last night ALL out of things we were given from the Pounding.....

BLESSING SOUP (Perfect for a cold day with 2 sickly girls.)
1 32 oz. box of chicken broth
1 can of cream of chicken soup + 1 can of water
1 large can of chicken breast in water
1 can of corn
1 can of green beans
1 can of sliced carrots
1/2 envelope of Lipton onion soup mix
dash of creole seasoning
dash of garlic salt
salt/pepper to taste
1/3 bag of egg noodles
1 box of Saltines (to crush into your soup, of course!)

Put all in crock pot on low for 4 hours, except leave out the noodles until the last 30 minutes of cooking time.  Stir occasionally or leave it and let it simmer.  Perfection Purely from a Pounding.
Thank you, Shady Oaks.

World's BEST Burger

...declared my teenage son!  Although it's really not a burger.  It's pulled pork I made the other day in the crock pot.  I've never made this before but it was a HIT!  (even for leftovers!)  

HERE is the recipe.  (You can omit the tomato paste.  I did just because I didn't have any.)

 Luke added fresh jalapenos and shredded mexi-cheese to his!

That's one happy, greasy-haired boy having his own creation for lunch on a lazy Saturday!

Summer Recipe

Grilled Corn Salad

So healthy!  So good!!

Christmas Traditions #5

Breakfast Casserole

5 slices bread, cubed 2 cups cheese

1 lb. sausage 1 can chopped green chiles

6 eggs 2 cups milk

Cube bread & place in buttered 9x13 dish. Fry sausage until crumbly and put over bread. Put cheese evenly over sausage. Mix milk, eggs and chiles together and pour over cheese. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

We have this yummy breakfast casserole every Christmas morning at our house.

Cranberry Apple Bake

3c. cut up apples

2c. whole fresh cranberries

¾ c. sugar

All in 9x13 pan

Mix together and put on top:

½ c. brown sugar – not packed

1 ½ c. oats

1/3 c. flour

1 stick butter

1 ½ c. pecans

Bake 350 for 45 min. or until apples are baked through. My Aunt Dalene made this for our extended family's dinner and it was soooo good! It's great right next to the turkey or eaten as a dessert (for the somewhat healthier of the options around the table). :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Menu Plan

Sunday: Spinach & Onion Quiche a la my sweet friend/former voice student Amy over at Sing for Your Supper (and if you don't follow her on her amazing blog....you should! Your family will thank you!)

Monday: Martin Family Turkey Dinner (Yes, with dressing, whipped sweet potatoes, Cranberry Almond Pasta Salad and probably Amy's No-Bake Turtle Pumpkin Pie)

Tuesday: CYT class begins BUT I'm only teaching the younger class this time from 4:30-6:30 SO I'll get to come home and have Taco Tico 50cent Tacos for dinner! Wa-hoo!

Wednesday: Turkey Pot Pies (I love those Marie Callendar's in the frozen section--Yum!)

Thursday: Black Bean soup & Cornbread

Friday: Dinner out!/Auditions for Seussical in the big city!

Tostadas

Okay, so my pan is dirty and ugly and I'm not the expert in food photography, but these were really good, so I had to share the recipe, which you could easily tweak for yourself. You can't mess these up!

Corn tortillas

Can of refried beans

Can of rotel

Can of Mexi-corn

Can of black beans

Lots of shredded mexican blend or sharp cheddar cheese

Stovetop:

Warm corn tortillas in a pan on med. until slightly browned. Preheat oven to 350 & place tortillas on a baking pan (or 2).

Warm a can of refried beans & some shredded cheddar together over low-med heat, then spread a spoonful on each tortilla.

Mix together a can of rotel, a can of Mexi-corn, & a can of black beans. Place a drained spoonful on each bean tortilla. Add cheese & place in oven until cheese is melted.

Add your favorite salsa & sour cream! YUM.

Great meal for watching the Cowboys!!!

Tea Time

English Scones

2 C. self-rising flour
3 T. sugar
½ C. shortening
½ C. milk
1 large egg
1 t. vanilla
½ C. white chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease baking sheet. In a large bowl combine the flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until mixture turns into crumbs. In a small bowl, combine milk, egg and vanilla. Add to crumb mixture along with chips. Blend until mixture becomes a soft dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently 5 or 6 times. Pat dough into a 7 inch round circle with hands. Cut into 4 or 8 wedges. Place scones 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Pierce top with tines of fork. Bake 18-20 minutes. Serve hot. Serves 2-8. Yum!

For gift-giving and make ahead, combine chips, flour and sugar in a pretty bag.

Cravings & Recipes

So with this baby I don't have any specific cravings of one certain thing (or aversions like I had to peanut butter with Moriah) ...mostly just.....food. Sometimes random, weird things like yesterday....I had some coconut left from my Memorial Day cake and I suddenly remembered a fruit salad I like to make at Easter called "5 Cup Fruit Salad", appropriately named because it takes just 1 cup of each of the 5 ingredients: coconut, mandarin oranges, pineapple chunks, mini-marshmallows & sour cream (or plain yogurt).

I had to have that salad asap. Lucky for me, (sorta) Brad ruined my brownies and felt so bad that he went to the store for all of the weird things on my list. (don't tell him I told you, but he has a hard time following directions....they were VERY oily cuz he put in a whole extra cup of veg oil. Oy.) I will eventually make those salted caramel brownies!! I will!!! I'm also making chocolate chip scones soon, and my favorite Chinese Chicken Salad. I also made "Peanut Butter [& Syrup] Cheerios Bars". I only used syrup because I didn't have what it called for-- 1/2 c. honey or light corn syrup and 1/2 c. sugar, so I improvised and we all loved it! (Tasted like my pancakes----cuz I was brought up on peanut butter instead of butter on my pancakes, so my kids are too! Don't knock it til you try it!!!)

Cheerios Bars:

Heat 1/2 cup syrup til almost boiling, then add 1/2 cup peanut butter until smooth and creamy. Pour in 3 cups cheerios and stir until coated. Pour mixture into buttered 9x9 dish and put in the fridge or freezer to harden, then cut into squares. (Some add peanuts. Not me.) I like this recipe because it gets my kids to eat the leftover Cheerios that always seem to hang around forever, snubbed for sugarier cereals like Cocoa Pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

mmm....think I need a bowl of cereal. Bye!

Pool's Open!!!

We've been looking forward to opening our pool since we moved in last September and it was already in the 70's here in Kansas. It's been in the high 80's for the past 3 days and the pool feels great! It looks great too, thanks to the sexiest pool boy on the planet! (and being that he's pretty anal/OCD is working out in this area well too.) Good job, honey! So proud of you!

We're having family over for a pool-opening party tomorrow. I made this Coconut Cake except I baked it in a 9x13 pan and it sat in the coconut milky goodness alllll night. I know I've posted a lot of recipes lately, but I haven't been home in months, it seems, so I'm having fun baking right now.

Happy Summer!!!

Blackberry Cobbler

We celebrated being at home again after months of eating out and the beginning of summer with Blackberry Cobbler (recipe from The Pioneer Woman) Blackberries were/are on sale at Dillons for $1 per carton. Bought 3- 1 was gone in seconds thanks to my hungry preteens! 2 was more than enough but I don't think you can have too many blackberries in this cobbler!! This recipe is so easy and so pretty!

**If you don't have self-rising flour, just add to your cup of all-purpose flour, 1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt.

Salted Caramel Brownies

My friend, Betsy, who could easily have been the Pioneer Woman herself, sent me this link to this recipe, for mouth-watering "Salted Caramel Brownies". Oh. My. Goodness.

She knows how much I loved her Sea Salt Chocolate Caramels from Trader Joe's up in Oregon.

I love caramel & chocolate together. Whoever thought up this combination deserves to be awarded more than Al Gore for his "global warming" malarkey. (Actually, my 2 year-old deserves an award more than he does just for what she comes up with in her diapers.)

I'll be trying these as soon as I can get to the store for some caramel topping. I'll go the easy route (of course) and bake my box of Duncan Hines Brownies sitting in my cupboards now, then drench in that salt-caramel topping mix I'll put together, thanks to the Pioneer Woman and Betsy.

Italian Dinner

We're having Stuffed Pasta Shells for dinner tonight and I'm so excited! They're fun to make! I didn't just make the cheese mixture in a bowl, but put it in a large ziploc so I can pipe it into the shells with eeeease! I like making dinner when it's FUN to make!

Outdoor Lunch

We had an hour today where we were all home at once and so we spent our lunchtime outdoors in this beautiful weather! I made/Brad grilled THESE awesome Onion Burgers, using my Grandmother's Sunday Roast Seasoning Pantry Staple. Soooo good. Of course, I always add TexJoy Steak Seasoning in place of salt & pepper as well. Yumm! Great day together dreaming of the summer cookouts we'll have, swimming and hanging out with friends! Can't wait to open the pool, most likely at the end of this month!

Meal Prep Sunday

Monday: Slow-Cooker Grandmother's Chicken with Mom's Smashed Potatoes

Tuesday: Southwest Chili (recipe below)

Wednesday: using the leftover Monday chicken - Chicken Spaghetti

Thursday: Turkey Sandwiches & Fruit Salad

Friday: Homemade Personal Pizzas

Saturday: Creamy Beef Stew with mushrooms and diced potatoes

Southwest Chili:

1 1/2 lb. Ground Turkey (or beef) seasoned with HG Southwest Seasoning

1 can black beans, drained

1 can southwest corn

1 can rotel

This can be made in crock-pot or stove top and put in tortillas as tacos or quesadillas with LOTS of cheese. I like it over HG Texas Cornbread. So that's how I shall have it! Amen.

I shall also now proclaim that the warm comfort food recipes shall go into hibernation for the winter after this week and as with the SUN, new fresh grilled recipes shall come forth into the Spring with much rejoicing! *Hallelujah Chorus*

Hummus and incredibly interesting facts you probably can't wait to read about

Today for lunch I had an odd craving for hummus. (not pregnant but I did see your eyebrows raise through the computer...that's just how talented I am.) I had a can of chickpeas in the pantry and went on a search for a recipe, which also led me to an answer to a question I'd had for a while. And Yes chickpeas are the same as garbanzo beans-- which I love to find on a salad bar. Garbanzo is the spanish word for chickpeas and hummus is the arabic word for chickpea, so there you go....your linguistic lesson for the day. Nutritionally, they are low in fat and full of zinc, folate & protein. Not bad for a little round guy. Back to the point of this post...

From the wonderful website of recipes on HomemadeGourmet.com, I found this Hummus Dip. I halved it since I wasn't sure if I'd like it and only had 1 can of beans, so I mixed up in my handy mini blender:

1 can of chickpeas

1/4 cup EVOO

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp. Garlic Lemon Seasoning

It called for lemon juice too but I didn't have it and it was still really good. I think I need to add some parmesan cheese or something else like they do at Bella Luna, but it was good. I also need some pita chips, and if I had some grilled chicken I'd put it in a pita with the hummus and THAT would be good, but I'm really rambling here so if you're still reading. Thank you. Maybe I should go talk to my husband, since I obviously have a lot of words to use up today. :) Honey? ...Honey?

I think he's hiding.

Broccoli & Cheese Potato Soup

Here's a recipe my kids love that I made Monday night. It includes HG Baked Potato Soup mix which is on sale this month for only $5.10!

1 HG Baked Potato Soup mix

4 cups water

1 cup milk

1 can cheddar cheese soup

2 1/2 cups broccoli florets, frozen (I used fresh.)

salt & pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a pot. Bring to a boil, slowly, over medium heat to prevent scorching. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Soup's ready!

We served with a loaf of World Vision Bread for Life. Yummmm....

Fall Candy #2

Melt in the Mouth Caramels

Makes about 2 1/2 pounds

1 cup butter or margarine
1 pound brown sugar
Dash salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan. Add brown sugar and salt. Stir until thoroughly combined. Stir in corn syrup and mix well. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly.

Cook and stir over medium heat until candy reaches firm ball stage. 245 on candy thermometer. about 12 to 15 min. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla. Pour into a buttered 9 inch square pan. Cool and cut into squares.

Recipe from a 1974 cookbook

Note: This recipe makes a lot caramel, you may want to cut the recipe in half. We cut the pieces with scissors and wrapped each piece in wax paper.

Taken from this website.

HG Smoosh Meals

I just hate to turn my oven on in the summer heat, so I turn to my trusty crock-pot or my trusty hubby and his amazing GRILL power! This summer we are experimenting with many fun recipes with Homemade Gourmet "SMOOSH" meals! I have had 8 in my freezer at a time, now down to 2 & making another in the crock pot RIGHT NOW! Here's a recipe I'll share that's great to grill, bake OR in crock pot, and you could even substitute pork chops or a pork loin instead of chicken. Replace the chicken broth with margarita mix for "Margarita Grilled Chicken" or some soy sauce & honey for "Asian Pork or Chicken". YUM!!!!

Garlic Lemon Chicken

Recipe: 4-6 boneless/skinless Chicken Breasts
2 T. Garlic Lemon Seasoning
1 can Chicken broth
1 – 1 gallon Ziploc freezer bag
“Smoosh” together seasoning & can good and
add meat.

Serve with” Cole Slaw, Baked Potato, Texas Cobbler
Left Over idea: Slice Chicken and place on top of mixed salad greens, top with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing for a light meal

Cooking Instructions: Place meat in slow cooker with additional water, cook 4-6 hrs. on low, or defrost meat, place in a baking dish and bake 350 for 1 hr., or defrost meat and grill over medium heat.

Side Dishes listed in bold print are made using
a Homemade Gourmet® product

If you would like to fill your freezer with 4 wonderful meals like these, call me! I can show you and your friends how to put together these quick and yummy meals, and they can even take one home!

Call me to schedule a "Dinner Tomorrow Night Gathering" in July!

Sal's Smoothies

Yesterday to celebrate the LAST day of School AND the kid's wonderful test results (which of course make Mom nervous every year!) we had a "Movies & Smoothies" Night!  Went to the Family Video for Free Kid's Movies---Grace chose "Nancy Drew" & "Aquamarine", Luke chose "American Legends" & "Happy Feet".  I had fruit salad leftover from our Staff Dinner on Tuesday night, which consisted of strawberries, blueberries, grapes & bananas....Yum!

Blend in a blender:

Handful or 2 of Ice

Fruit--as much as you want/have

cup of yogurt (any flavor works)

2 scoops of vanilla ice cream (Optional, but makes creamier)

some milk

It's a healthy, yummy treat!