Tomato soup and grilled cheese

My mom came over this week and stayed the night because of a work thing and she made dinner. (She's the greatest!) 

She made tomato soup with grilled cheese and it was DELICIOUS! 

And they were both so easy, and yet soooooo much better than canned soup and processed cheese! 

For the soup, she used:

1 can preformed (she said to use whatever brand jar of sauce you have)

1 small container of whipping cream 

1 small container of sour cream

A handful of dried basil.

Stir soup until it thickens

The grilled cheese was made out of sour dough bread and smoked Gouda cheese. 

That's it! It was delicious :) 

Chicken Pasta Dish

While out on maternity leave, I finally have some time to cook again. I was not a huge cook to begin with, but Chick-fil-A did most of the cooking while I was pregnant. But now that I can tolerate the stove again, we are trying some new things out. It's weird... Bryan and Abigail want to eat EVERYDAY! Can you believe it? 

I found this recipe on Pinterest (shocking!) but once I got started, I realized I didn't have everything in hand that I needed so I kinda made it up! 

Ingredients:

3  chicken breast cubed

1 box penne pasta

3 cloves minced garlic

2 cans drained Rotel

1 pint half and half 

1 palm full of basil

1 palm full of pepper

A small palm of red pepper flakes

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1 cup Mexican cheese?? 

The chicken was left over from a couple nights before and I actually had pasta left over as well, so I just pulled those out of the fridge.  Note: this greatly reduced cook/prep time, and will be used again for leftover night! 

I started with a little bit of olive oil and some garlic for just a few minutes over a medium heat. Then added the drained Rotel and added it in. Next was the half and half. I let that start to warm and added the spices. I dumped in the cheese next. The original recipe called for 2 cups mozzarella but I only had about a cup on hand so I added in the other type of cheese to make up for it. You can't have too much cheese, right? 

Once that melted I dumped the chicken and cooked pasta into the pot and brought the whole this to a simmer, stirring occasionally. 

It was delicious!  Next time I will add either a hand full of salt or garlic salt, but overall--this one is a winner!! 

Chicken Noodle Soup

Poor Abigail has been under the weather for almost a week and today Bryan came home sick from work. I decided to take matters into my own hands and make some home made Chicken Noodle Soup. 

If I'm being honest, this is probably the first time I've cooked since we got pregnant. (I'm a terrible pregnant lady!) I googled the ingredients after church and stopped to grab what we needed (which was all of it... cause again, I'm bad at pregnancy!) 

This went into the pot first:

1 chopped celery 

1 chopped onion

1 pre-shredded bag of carrots

1 splash of olive oil and Tony's

I started to sauté these while shredding the rotisserie chicken

Once finished, I dumped the chicken in the pot along with:

2 boxes of chicken broth

1 box vegatable broth

1 box worth of water

1 pack of ranch seasoning 

1 pack of egg noodles

Salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil and Tony's to taste 

After that, I brought it to a boil and then turned it down to a simmer. 

It was a hit, and we now have soup for days! Maybe the weather will now cooperate... who knows? 

Minestrone soup

Before my maternity leave is over I decided I wanted to try to do some freezer cooking. If I could find some recipes that were successful, maybe that would make going back to work easier.  I had tried this one time when we were still in the apartment and it was a disaster. We had 4 recipes of food that came out mushy and I didn't think tasted good. Not only that, we had gallon size bags of the multiple servings in our tiny apartment freezer to threw away when we moved to the house. 

I used my lovely Pinterest board that I had recently organized (thanks to 2 am feedings) into freezer cooking/crockpot recipes. I pulled 4 recipes that I wanted to try and I had one recipe that a friend had give us when they brought over a meal right after Abigail was born. 

I made my grocery list and double checked what I had in the pantry. Do you know how much effort that takes with a 3 month old? This part took me 3 days alone. Maybe I'll be fancy and make a grocery list for the 5 meals one day... But not today.  It took 2 and a half hours of cooking and a ton of dirty dishes... But it was a success. :) we've tried all 5 and they are all yummy. 

The 5 recipes were:

-white enchilada bake

-baked ziti

-slow cooker chili

-chicken cacciatore 

-minestrone soup 

I started by getting the meats cooking on the stove. I put ground turkey and chicken on first. Then I started slicing the and chopping all the veggies. I focused on following the recipe for the soup and getting that going because my brain was only capable of handling that without getting overloaded.  Then I would focus on the other meals.

Once the soups was good to go, I started making homemade marinara sauce. 3 of the recipes called for jars of spaghetti sauce... But I'm a spaghetti sauce snob so I made my own following this recipe. It was really easy and smelled delicious!  At the Nutcracker Market, I got this really cool gadget that minces garlic in an amazing way.  It has really changed the way I cook with garlic... way easy!

When I had the marinara sauce ready, the meat and pasta I needed cooked and the veggies chopped, it was a matter of assembling the rest of the recipes. 

Here is the minestrone recipe, thanks again Kaitlyn!  I'll post the other recipes soon. 

 

Ingredients:

-2 lbs ground turkey

-2 carrots

-1 large bell pepper (I used green)

-1 medium onion

-3 sticks of celery

-2 large zucchinie

-1 squash

-2 cups mushroom

-1 cup ditalini pasta

-1 can light kidney beans 

-1 can diced tomatoes 

-1 can tomatoe sauce

-1 quart beef broth

-6-8 cups water

-2 T dried oregano

-2 bay leaves 

-2 T minced garlic

Peel and chop all veggies. Brown turkey. Throw everything but mushrooms and pasta. Simmer for 20 minutes, add mushrooms and pasta (I goofed and put the whole box instead of 1 cup... Big difference but still yummy. Use what you want, either way is good) and cook for 10-15 minutes more. Serve with parmesian cheese and bread.

Note: use a LARGE pot, it makes a ton! 

 

I'll post the other recipes soon.  BTW, this is more for my documentation so the next time I freezer cook, I can remember what I did.  I hope you enjoy too.

Summer activities that didn't make the blog

So here are some of the things we did this summer that didn't get their own post...

Watermelon Salsa--Bryan made this, and it was AWESOME!!!  A little sweet, and little hot. 

 

A wonderfully sweet friend got married at the beginning of August, and she helped me make (She made it, and I supervised mostly) these bow ties for her future nephews to wear at the wedding.  Her wedding was beautiful!

 

 

 

At Disney World, we bought a package of 4 different puzzles.  The pictures are of Disney Thomas Kinkade paintings.  We finished the Lion King puzzle and mod-podge it together.  We are planning on framing it to hang in the guest room.  We still have Peter Pan, Jungle Book, and Pinocchio to put together.

 

My friend, Kacee wanted to get together and make a maxi tank top dress.  So we did that one day too.  She did most of this project too, and I just guided along.  It was a super fun day.  I am so grateful for her friendship as well as our small group!
 

We also finally finished caulking the shower in the bathroom... so now it doesn't leak.

Nutella Rice Krispy Treats

Um.  Hea. Ven. Ly.!   This Rice Krispy Treats are a new favorite at my house.  Bryan even in his own way made several comments asking about how easy these were for me to make (really, he was seeing if it was okay to ask me to make them all the time...)

Ingredients for the Rice Krispy Treats:
6 cups of Rice Krispy Cereal
1 small jar of Nutella (or about a cup)
1 bag of miniature Marshmallows
1/2 stick of butter

Chocolate Topping:  (not gonna lie... next time I will cut this part in half)
1 small jar of Nutella (or about a cup)
1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips
1 Tbsp. flour



To make the Rice Krispy Treats:
- Prep a 13x9 pan with Pam or your choice of greasing agent.
- put the 6 cups of Rice Krispy's in a large bowl and place aside.
- On the stove, melt the butter and marshmallows together.  When you have it creamy, add the 
  Nutella. Stir until mixed well. 

- Add Chocolate sauce to the Rice Krispy's and mix.  (careful, it gets really sticky and delicious
  here!)

 

 

-Place contents of the bowl in your pan that you have already prepped.  Spread out as evenly as
  possible.

 - that does leave the very unfortunate part of having to clean out the bottom on the bowl... what a yummy treat!

To make the topping:
- combine the Nutella, chocolate chips and flour to a sauce pan (I used the same one from above...)
  and stir until melted and smooth.
- Pour over Rice Krispy's and smooth out.

- Let the treats sit for a few minutes to harden (I put mine in the fridge to hurry it along)
- Cut and serve!

These were so good... this was all that was left by the time I could take a picture... only 5... okay now 4 left!

 

 

So good!

Tex mex casserole

Another Pintrest recipe for tonight's dinner:

 

This is a Tex-Mex Casserole that was very yummy!

 

 

Ingredients:

1 can 10.75 ounce Campbell's Healthy Request Cheddar Cheese Soup

1 can 10.75 ounce Campbell's Healthy Request Tomato Soup

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves of chopped garlic

1 lb ground turkey (you could use beef, but really you don't need to--you can't tell a difference) 

1 can Rotel Mild tomatoes

1 can Black Beans, rinsed and drained

1 can Sweet Corn, drained 

2 cups cooked penne pasta (the original said to use whole wheat... but I used what I had)

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper  

Tony's and garlic salt to taste.

1 bag casserole cheese (you could use cheddar too) 

 

Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 350 and spray some Pam into a 13 x 9 baking dish and set aside.

- Brown you turkey meat, chopped onion and garlic

- Boil pasta and drain.

- In a bowl, whisk together tomato soup and 1/2 cup of water.  When mixed well, add to bowl of

  pasta and stir to coat the pasta.

- When the meat is cooked, rinse and add the cheddar cheese soup, Rotel, chili powder, cumin, salt, 

  pepper, Tony's and garlic salt.

- Rinse black beans and corn and place in a bowl (I rinsed out the bowl I used for the tomato soup

  and use that) add 1 tsp of chili powder and stir.

- In you already greased pan, place the pasta in the bottom, the meat combination next, the add the

  corn and beans and then top with some shredded cheese.

- Bake for 15 minutes and serve (careful... it's hot!)

 

Kroger had a sale!

So what can I say?  I came across a sale today!  Apparently Thursday mornings is when Kroger puts out their "oops we have too much" stuff.  And when you have a deep freezer (thanks Mom and Dad!!) it is like hitting the jack-pot!

 

So just to brag... I wanted to share that I got:

a pack of 3 2-inch pork chops for $4

2 pork roast for around $3 each

a pack of ribs for $5

4 New York Strips for $4

a pot roast for $3

2 filets for $ 4

and some other kind of steak (shoulder maybe) for a little less than $4.

 

I broke down the packages into individual servings and they are now wrapped and labeled neatly in the freezer. :)

 

Oh, and the other exciting thing was they just loaded up the "Oops, we baked too much" bread section too.  So I got 5 loaves of French bread for $1 each.  We will use 2 of them tonight at a birthday party and the other 3 got thrown in the freezer.  I also got a loaf of artisan bread and a pack of 6 hoagies for about $1.50 each... those are wrapped in the freezer too...

 

So if you come over for dinner pretty soon... we have a smortgage  board of meats and breads... might not have anything else, but at least we have that! :)

 

I'm just saying that I am a super nerd and get really excited about silly things.  I know most people reading this will just laugh, but I thought I would share anyway! :)

Home made cream cheese noodles

What a surprise, I found another recipe on Pinterest.

Ingredients:

Noodles- your choice

8 oz cream cheese

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup cheddar cheese

1/2 packet of ranch dressing

Preheat oven to 350. Boil your noodles. While they are boiling, Mix cream cheese, broth, cheddar cheese and ranch dressing and stir until melted.

Mix the two in an 8 x 8 pan and top with cheese (extra cheddar cheese). My 8 x 8 pan fits in my toaster oven, I could have used that and not heated up the house.  However, I forgot about that and popped it in the oven for 10 minutes.

All melted and ready to go. :)

 

This was very yummy, but next time I am going to use more noodles.  There was too much sauce and not enough pasta so it was very rich.  I used about half of a bag of noodles and next time I will probably use the whole bag. :)

3 Ingredient Spinach Dip

3 Ingredient Spinach Dip?  YES PLEASE! 

This was super easy and another Pinterest recipe.  We were having some friends over for dinner and fish 'n chips were on the menu.  They were coming at 6:00, and around 5:15 I realized that we might need an appetizer too. I started searching Pinterst for a recipe with things that we had on hand.  After I found this cute puppy...

I came across this recipe and followed the directions :)  (sorry, I just had to through that out there... how cute!  Can't you see Paco in this?)

The recipe called for cottage cheese, ranch dressing mix, spinach and water chestnuts.  I left out water chestnuts... cause who really keeps that on hand and I was in a time crunch. 

Hand mix the cottage cheese to change the consistency to something smooth, then add the ranch dressing mix and spinach (I used the frozen bag of chopped spinach in my freezer, thawed and washed of course) and mixed it all together.  Super yummy, super easy, fairly healthily... I'd say this is a winner!

I served it with carrots, tomatoes and wheat thins.  I think it was good on all 3.

Sorry that I forgot to take a picture of the dip... when I make it again, I'll add a picture.  I served it Monday night and then snacked on it throughout the week and served it again on Thursday.  It saves well as long as you don't leave it out too long, and everyone gave it a thumbs up. 

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Bread

I followed this recipe to bake some Cinnamon Bread this weekend, and it sure was yummy!

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar (I used splenda here)

2 eggs

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons lemon juice

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2/3 cup sugar (I used real sugar here)

2 TBS cinnamon

 

Preheat the oven to 350.  Prepare 2 bread pans with Pam. (I used a metal and glass one and they seemed to cook the same)

 

Mix butter, sugar and eggs well.  Add milk and lemon juice and allow the batter to become "smooth."  Add the flour and baking soda, it will become "doughy"

 

Mix the 2/3 cup sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.

 

Put a little more than half of the cinnamon sugar mixture in the bottom of the bread pans and then add about 1/4 of the batter to each pan.  Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar to it and then add the rest of the batter. 

 

Bake on 350 for 50 minutes and then allow 20 minutes to cool in the pan. 

 

 

The recipe is supposed to freeze well, but we ate the first loaf immediately.  The second loaf is going to some friends that just had a baby. :)   I really liked that the ingredients aren't too crazy, it was all something that I had on hand. Next time I am thinking about baking the second loaf in a muffin tin to make them easy to grab-n-go!

Spinach wraps

Another Pintrest recipe, but it was yummy! 

 

Ingredients:

1 bag of frozen chopped spinach

1 block of cream cheese

1 cup sour cream

1 cup mayo

1 packet ranch dressing

bacon bits or (when you forget to buy those at the store) 2 cups real bacon cut into small pieces

1 pack of wrap tortillas (I did two different flavors)

 

Bring the bag of spinach out to thaw.  Mix the cream cheese, sour cream and mayo until it is no longer clumpy.  Add the ranch packet, spinach, and bacon and hand mix until stirred together. Bring out the tortillas and spoon a good amount onto them.  Try to get it as even as possible (about 2 inches worth) and roll up.   Place in a pan and continue until all the mixture is used.  Place wraps whole in the fridge for at least 2 hours (I did mine over night). Take out and slice about 1 1/2 inches thick. Serve within 2 hours of slicing.

 

I wish I could say this was all it makes, but it made plenty... this was all I took a picture of.  I served it on a beautiful white platter and it was great.

 

 

BTW, this post equals one more post than I had last year... and it's not even summer yet.  It's gonna be a good year!

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Roll Up

Yum! 

 

I made these chocolate chip cream cheese roll ups Friday night for Saturday... and let's just say these are delicious!  I got the recipe from Cookies and Cups which I found on Pintrest...  Here's what to do:

 

 

Ingredients:

3 cans of seamless crescent rolls

2 blocks of cream cheese

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla

2 cups of chocolate chips

and/or

2 cups white chocolate chips

and/or

2 cup Heath candy (chopped up)

 

Mix together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla.  Roll out the crescent roll flat, spread cream cheese mixture thinly over the crescent roll.  Top with either chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or Heath candy and then roll up.  Repeat 2 more times.  The original recipe only had chocolate chips... I added the idea of the other two.  If you have a different kind of candy, you could do it with that too.

 

Roll up and wrap in Saran wrap and refrigerate or at last 2 hours. (I did mine the night before, which was helpful.)  In the morning, take out and slice into even pieces--about 1/2 an inch.  Bake at 350 or 17 minutes or until golden brown. 

 

Enjoy!

 

** I backed mine on the silicone liners, but I think they might have turned out better with out it. 

 

 

Pound cake... The way Great-Gramma Nancy made it

I had some free time on my hands today, and noticed I had some sour cream getting close to the sell by date... Maybe I should use the things I buy... Go figure.

I decided to make a pound cake and found my great grandmothers recipe dating back to 1968.

1 cup soften butter
2 3/4 cup sugar
6 eggs
3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream butter and sugar until light. Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each. Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream. Add vanilla. Pour into greased and floured pan. Bake 1 hour and 20 minutes (or until done) at 350. Stand pan on rack for 5 minutes before removing to plate.

I took the liberty to add some icing one the top (powdered sugar and milk)

Crockpot Lasagna

I found a recipe on Pinterest (what a surprise) that I had been wanting to try. I finally decided today was the day.

Crock pot lasagna:
Spaghetti sauce (however you like to make it. I used 1 lb of meat,
1 spaghetti mix, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 can diced tomatoes, 3 cups v8 juice--you want it extra runny, basil, parsley, thyme, and garlic salt to taste.)

Spray your crock pot (I used a liner in mine for easier clean up, but I still sprayed it with Pam)

Put a layer of sauce on the bottom

Put non-cooked lasagna noodles for the second layer (I broke mine to make it fit better)

Put a mixture of cottage cheese, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese layer down next.

Repeat 3 times

Top with mozzarella cheese on top.

The blog I got the recipe from said to put it in the crock pot on low for 4 hours. Or that she will start it before she goes to work on high and the turn it down to warm for all day. I put it on low for 2 hours
and then changed it to warm for the remaining 4 hours (because of my timing... Start at noon, eat at 6)

Serve with none other than garlic bread! And enjoy!!  It is so yummy!!

Spicy Chicken Crockpot Recipe

Super Easy!!  Super Yummy!

Ingrediants:
Frozen Chicken Breast
Can of Salsa
1 cup of Orange Juice
Rice

Combine the chicken, salsa and OJ in your crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.  The OJ helps to make sure there is enough liquid in the pot.  When you're almost ready to serve the dish make your rice.  I made 1 cup of it and then when the rice was cooked, I poured it right into the crockpot and served it that way. 

That's it! 

Chicken Spinach Enchiladas--really good!

My sweet friend Kristen gave me this recipe last week, and it was to die for!  I changed a few things... and this is what I came up with.   I was so excited when it was all finished, that I forgot to take pictures. :(  But it made enough for a pan for that night, a pan to take to a friend and one to stick in the freezer for later.

Enchilada:
3 Chicken breast, grilled and shredded
1 lb shredded mozzarella cheese
2 ups shredded Monterrey jack cheese
1 med onion- diced and cooked with the chicken
18 flour tortillas
1 can of Spinach

Sauce:
1/2 cup butter
4 T flour
4 cup chicken broth
2 cup sour cream
2 chopped jalapenos

Begin cooking chicken.  While that is going, start the sauce.
Melt butter and add flour and broth.  Cook over medium heat until thick.
Add sour cream and cook until hot--DO NOT BOIL!
Add peppers

Shred chicken
Combine chicken, most of the cheese, onion and spinach (I washed it first). 
Spray baking dish (I used the smaller sized and got 6 tortillas in each)
Roll up chicken mixture in tortillas and place in pan seam side down
Pour over pan

Bake for 20 minutes on 350.

Enjoy!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I made this tonight for dinner. It was yummy and VERY VERY easy!!!!

In a large pot, combine and heat on low:
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1 can chicken broth
- 1 can rotel
- 1 can corn
- 1 can black beans (washed)

While that is warming up, cook some chicken breasts. When finished, shread the chicken and add to the soup. Bring to a boil and then it's ready to serve. (I let it cool just a little).

Serve with cheese and a scoop of sour cream.

This was a hit, and will be made again!

Quesadilla Casserole... This one is for you, Aunt Terri

My sister came home from visiting family in North Carolina and was telling me how my Aunt Terri wants a new casserole recipe.

Well Aunt Terri... here is my best try at it.  (Erin didn't tell me that you wanted a chicken recipe... so this one is beef... oops)

I took the recipe from Joyful Mommas Blog and changed a few ingredients.  It turned out spicy!  I loved it but if you don't handle spice well, I would adjust some of the ingredients accordingly!  I feel like it takes alot of ingredients, but really it is all stuff I had on hand.  I only had to send Bryan to the store for sour cream (and he came home with ice cream too). 

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground beef

1/2 an onion (chopped)

1/2 a bell pepper (Chopped)

1 16 oz can of corn (drained)

1 16 oz can of black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 16 oz can of tomato sauce

1 cup water

1/4-1/2 cup of jalapenos

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp oregano

6-8 "shots" of Louisiana hot sauce

6-8 tortillas

1 4 cup bag of cheese (I used nacho and taco cheese)

Serve with sour cream or guacamole if you would like.

Brown your ground beef, and add the onions and bell pepper to cook.  I used a yellow bell pepper because that is what I had on hand.  I don't see why you couldn't use whatever you have handy. 

After it has cooked, add the beans, corn, jalapenos, tomato sauce and water.

Add the spices.  Stir.  Bring to a boil.

Bring to a boil and let simmer for 5 minutes.

It should start to thicken up just a litte bit.  Grease a 9x13 pan.  Move a layer of this mixture over and spread out evenly.

Add a layer of tortillas.  It is not a big deal if they over lap.

Add a layer of cheese.

Repeat.  Meat, tortillas, cheese.

Pop it into the oven for about 15 minutes to melt the cheese. 

When you take it out, let it sit for a few minutes (10 or so).   It is delicious!  We will be having it again.  It re-heats well for lunches, and the original recipe says that it can be made ahead and frozen and warmed up whenever you're ready to eat it.  It would be good to make a double batch, however for just Bryan and I... this was plenty!