taco soup

We eat a lot of soup around here, especially in the winter.  Recently, I posted the recipe for a super simple meatball soup.   This one isn't quite that simple, but it's close.  The other day when Lacy requested this taco soup, I pulled out my new iPad mini to shoot some photos as I went.  It gave me a good excuse to play with my new toy.

Incidentally, it's so cool to snap the photos on the mini and have them magically appear on my laptop in just a few minutes, without having to get out the camera and the connector cable.  And honestly, I like the camera on the mini more than my expensive Canon.  I can do the photo editing on the iPad and could probably just write the blog on the iPad as well.  I may try that soon.

Back to the soup.  

This can be made in one pot.  I happened to use two pots because I started the cooking the beef and onions in the frying pan before I remembered I could have just started it in Clifford the Big Red Pot.  I also made a couple minor changes to the original recipe.  I used black beans because I prefer them over kidney beans.  I also used a can of tomatoes with green chiles instead of a can of straight green chiles.  I  try to be careful to not make Mexican dishes too spicy or Tom won't enjoy them.  

Start by chopping a small onion.

 Saute the onion with a pound of hamburger.  Drain fat if necessary.

Add a can of corn with the liquid, a can of beans with the liquid, and a can of chili beans with the liquid.  Do you see a pattern here?  

Then, add two cups of water.

Now dump in a can of tomato sauce, two cans of diced tomatoes, a can of diced green chiles, and a packet of chili seasoning.

That's all there is to it.  Just let that bubble away on the stove for a while.  You could also put it all in the crock pot and let her rip on high for a few hours.  Since I started this too late in the afternoon to use the crock pot, it just simmered on the stove top for two hours instead.

We top off the piping hot bowls with crushed tortilla chips, grated cheddar cheese, and sour cream.   My family thinks they've died and gone to Mexico.  Or Texas.  Or somewhere far southwest of here.

Taco Soup

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 small onion
• 1 can chili beans with liquid
• 1 can kidney beans with liquid
• 1 can whole kernel corn with liquid
• 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
• 2 cups water
• 2 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes
• 1 can diced green chiles
• 1 package chili seasoning mix

Brown beef with onions.  Drain fat.  Add the other ingredients and simmer on stove top for a couple hours.  

Or brown the beef with onions.  Drain fat.  Put in crock pot with the other ingredients for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

Serve with chips, cheese, and sour cream.

Love,

italian meatball soup

Are you all ready for Christmas?  We are...except for making a big batch of these Christmas cookies tonight.  Then we'll officially be ready!

Our favorite recipe for meatball soup has come in handy during this busy season, so it is only right that I should share it here with you.  My friend Jean gave me this one and it is definitely a keeper.  Every couple of weeks the family asks for it again.  It's a simple family supper, but it's also good enough for company.  Jonathan really likes it.  You should see his reaction when he sees a pot of this stuff simmering on the stove.  It's quite humorous.   He comes over, lifts the lid, sticks his face about as close to the pot as he can, and takes a big whiff.  Then a huge smile spreads across his face.

Since I've committed this one to memory, I can grab all the ingredients when I'm at Aldi without a second thought.  There are only six ingredients: a bag of meatballs, a carton of beef broth, 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of mixed vegetables, and 1/2 cup of elbow or any macaroni.  (Jean's original recipe didn't call for the mixed vegetables.)

I double this for our big family.  I triple it for company.  Since we were having company when I took these photos, you're seeing the triple batch.  Don't freak out at the size of my pot.

It's mammoth.

Pour in the meatballs, beef broth and tomatoes.

Add the mixed vegetables and the Italian seasoning.  Bring it all to boil.  Then reduce to a low simmer, covered, for as long as you like.  This could even be cooked in a crock pot on low for hours.  I typically simmer it on the stove for close to an hour.

About a half hour before you plan to eat, toss in the elbow macaroni.  Let it all cook for another 1/2 hour.

Served with a salad and breadsticks, you have a simple, fast, delicious meal.

Italian Meatball Soup

• 1 bag Italian meatballs
• 1 32 ounce carton of beef broth
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can mixed vegetables, undrained
• 1/2 cup elbow or any macaroni.

Put the first five ingredients into a large pot.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a slow simmer for 1/2- 1 hour.  Add the elbow macaroni during the last 1/2 hour of cooking.

love,

Funnel Cakes and Clover Patch Quilt

What a fun time we had in Columbia today at Riverbanks Zoo with most of our family and some friends!  Hannah was so excited to find a funnel cake stand near the entrance.  Brad was sweet enough to spring the big bucks and buy her one.  After Maggie tasted Hannah's, she really wanted one too.  Actually, all the children did.  I contemplated buying one for them to share.   But after further thought,  I decided we'd just try to make some when we got home.

We used this recipe which turned out really well.  I halved it because it looked like it was going to make a lot.  Even with halving it, we still had more than enough!  Here is Maggie enjoying the first one--hot out of the fat!

No, I didn't photograph the frying process.  I hate working with hot oil and I didn't need the distraction of the camera in my way.  But all I did was mix up the batter in a bowl and pour it into a quart sized zip-lock bag.  I heated a couple inches of oil in my smallest stainless pot.  Then I snipped off the corner of the bag and drizzled the batter into the hot oil.  It fried on one side and floated to the surface.  Then I flipped it over and fried it on the other side a couple minutes.  A liberal sprinkling of powdered sugar finished it off perfectly.  I think Caleb's exact description was, "Amazing!"

On the quilting front, I have quite a lot going on.  Really you don't want to know how many quilts I have in progress.  It's pretty crazy, actually.  Below is a Clover Patch quilt I'm working on.   This is one I started just for fun since I love to applique by hand.  It's going to have that wide green border all around the outside.   There will be a vine and some flowers appliqued around that border.  My plan is to get this ready to take to the beach with me next week.  I always love to have some handwork I can sit and stitch when I'm away from my sewing machine.

Hannah, I'm going to try to post more, now that I know how much you enjoy my silly little blog.  Next I want to show you how I made a very simple table topper using the tiniest fabric scraps.

Love,

super wow party in your mouth bars (and a finished mini-quilt)

First of all, happy Friday!  Is the weather as glorious where you are as it is here in South Carolina?  It's so beautiful here...mid-seventies and sunny.  It's the start of a beautiful weekend.

Let's celebrate the weekend with a party, shall we?  This recipe comes straight from my friends Pat and Joy's blog, Pearl River Diaries.  Their Our Daily Rice tab has some delicious treats you're going to want to try.  Lacy tried this one when she was visiting them in China.  They're called Tasty Bars, but seriously, that name just doesn't quite do them justice.  Instead, Lacy dubbed them "Super Wow Party in Your Mouth Bars."

So yeah.  We're going with that.

This recipe totally saved the day on Wednesday.  I was dying for something sweet to snack on and there was nothing that fit the bill in the pantry.  It was a double bummer because not only were there no cookies in the house, there was no flour in the cupboard.  That almost never happens around here.

I don't give up easily.  Desperation brought to mind this recipe I remembered seeing and hearing about, where the base is made of oats.  In fact, there are only six ingredient: oats, butter, brown sugar, vanilla, peanut butter, and chocolate chips.  Joy and Rapture!  I had all that!

It goes together in a hurry and then needs to chill in the fridge for a while to set up.  The wait was almost torture; however, it was worth it.  Definitely one of those recipes where the end product is greater than the sum of the parts.  Everyone agrees, these are Super Wow.

Here again is the link:  Tasty Bars

Go give them a try.

As promised, I wanted to show you the little Dresden Plate mini-quilt I started a few weeks ago.  Actually, this is one of two I'm working on.  The other is similar but I used lighter fabrics.

 I just love little projects like this...embroidery and hand-quilting in tiny stitches.  Pure bliss.

So, what do you have planned for the weekend?  My plan is to start a fall table runner for myself.  The irony is that after doing fall give-aways for the past five years, I still have never made a fall quilt to keep.  That shall change tomorrow.  The vision I have is an apple tree in the center and fall motifs around the border and the line from the song, "Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me."

Enjoy your weekend!!

Love,

Cauliflower and Apple Soup with Olive Oil-Fried Bread

 

Yeah, I know.  It sounds terribly strange.  Who puts cauliflower and apples together?  Well, this gal does and let me tell you, she created something magical with this recipe.

I'm one of those strange people who loves cauliflower.  But I'd venture to say that even if it's not your favorite vegetable, if you appreciate a steaming hot bowl of creamy soup on a cold winter day and you're even mildly adventuresome, you're going like this ridiculously simple soup.  I spotted this recipe while blog hopping recently and immediately bookmarked it.  I had a head of cauliflower (always super inexpensive at Aldi), an apple, a few strands of angel hair pasta, and plenty of milk.  So, why not? 

Given that all my children like soup, I prepare it often for lunch.  This one took about 45 minutes from start to finish, only because it took a while to come to a boil and then it boiled for 20 minutes.  All you do is chop the cauliflower into florets, peel and chop one apple, and bring them to a boil in a quart of milk.  After that begins to boil, you throw in a few broken strands of pasta, salt, and a pinch of sugar.  After it boils slowly for 20 minutes, you just blend the soup in a blender to achieve the creamy consistency. My new immersion blender, a Christmas gift from my sister-in-law, made simple (and might I add,  fun ?) work of the blending part.  The garnish for this was just cubes of bread, pan fried in olive oil until crispy.

It was impossible for me to even detect the taste of the apple in this recipe.  I suppose it is there to somehow counter the stronger cauliflower flavor.  And the pasta is only there to thicken the soup a little in the end.  Honestly, this was delicious and very filling.  It will be moving into our soup rotation for sure.

 Have a blessed weekend!

Love,

Omelet in a Bag

Here is a fun recipe to try if you have children who like to work in the kitchen.  We made these omelets in a bag at Tom's parents' house this past week.  His sister Lynn showed us how she made these with a group of friends for a Sunday brunch.  Apparently,  Boy Scouts have been doing this for years; we are just a little late getting the memo.

Up until now, omelets have not been my thing.  I make a total mess of them trying to turn them over in the pan.  The cheese spills out and starts to burn and stick to the pan.  The outside gets done before the middle does, leaving half of it a goopy mess.  However, I like a well made omelet and this method fits the bill perfectly.  Each person makes his own, just they way he likes it, and it boils in the bag in a big pot of water.

The children liked them so much they asked if we could make them again for brunch today. I thought you might like to see how we did it.

You start by cracking two eggs into a quart-sized freezer bag.

Add in your favorite filling ingredients.  We used diced ham, shredded cheese, onion, green pepper, tomatoes, and salt and pepper.

Caleb loaded up on the veggies.

Then, zip up the bag and squeeze it around to mix it all up.  Yes, Caleb enjoyed this part immensely.

Lay it down on the counter and gently press all the air out.  (This is an important step, allowing the bag to submerge and not float in the pot.) 

Write your name on the bag with a Sharpie and drop it into a pot of boiling water for 13 minutes.  That's it!!

It rolls right out of the bag perfectly...cooked all the way through and never burned! You really should try it.

This has nothing to do with omelets in a bag, but don't you just love January 1st?  Really, it is no different than December 31st, but it just feels different, like a clean, fresh start, a day filled with so much promise and hope for the future!  It's a day to dream and plan and resolve and ACT!  It offers a great opportunity to make changes for the better and focus on what really matters.  With Christ's help, we can become all that He wants us to be in the coming year.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17

 Wishing you a wonderfully blessed New Year!

Love,

Chicken and Sausage Cassoulet

I found this recipe by accident.  For about ten years, I've been preparing cassoulet on New Year's Day.  Cassoulet (ka-soo-LAY) is a French term used to describe a hearty, stew-like casserole of meats, vegetables and white beans, simmered slowly, allowing the flavors to meld and mingle into a supremely flavorful dish.  I found the original recipe in a 1996 edition of Southern Living magazine, which I have held onto ever since.  My family loves it and looks forward to it every year.  Being too lazy to go upstairs and locate that magazine, I decided the other day to just Google "Southern Living Cassoulet" and see if I could find it online.  I never did find that recipe, but what I found instead could really give our old favorite a run for its money.

Just for the fun of it, I gave this newer Southern Living recipe a try last night.  While this cassoulet is not nearly as involved as the one I've been using for a decade, it tastes every bit as delicious.  Consisting of sausage, chicken, and white beans cooked in one pan, this is a simple-to-fix, casual dish.  Unlike the cassoulet I usually prepare, this one has a cornbread topping poured over at the end and baked at 400 degrees.  I used my new 3.5 quart Cuisenart stainless fry pan, part of a set my parents gave us for Christmas, which was the perfect size to hold this dish. So, if you are going to make this, grab your big stove top and oven-proof fryer, iron skillet, or Dutch oven.  It takes almost no time to put together, but the results are super satisfying on a chilly, winter evening. 

Ryan will likely hold me to making the original favorite and familiar cassoulet on New Year's.  So, on Sunday I'll be roasting a chicken in the oven, frying pork chops on the stove, and cooking white beans in a big pot, before assembling everything in a huge Dutch oven and baking it for an hour and a half.  I can handle that once a year.  The rest of the year, I'll be going with this quick-fix version.

Start by sauteing chicken breast pieces until lightly browned.  

Then add sliced sausage.

Next, stir in the beans, tomatoes, chicken broth, and thyme.

Mix up the cornbread and pour over the top.  I used my own cornbread recipe, which was a little more than this cassoulet needed.  So I baked about 1/3 of it in a small pan at the same time.

The cornbread rises to the top and puffs up to a golden brown.

This one called for the prettiest French country bowl in the cupboard.

Stay warm!

Love,

Here's The Scoop

I've had quite a few people request instructions for how I make my granola.  My version has sort of evolved over the years.  I use a base of old-fashioned oats, add every raw nut and seed I can get my hands on, then finish it off after baking with a boat load of dried fruit. The amounts truly are flexible and you can substitute what you like or have on hand and leave out what you don't, whatever strikes your fancy.  This crunchy goodness is so delicious with a little milk or sprinkled over yogurt. 

This "recipe" makes a whole lot, so adjust down if you don't need very much.  Just warning you.   I give about half a batch away each time, so I like to make a lot.  I promise you can't mess this up unless you just bake it too long and it burns or something.  I'm going to tell you exactly how I did my last batch, so listen carefully, hear??  The ingredients are all in bold italics because I'm too lazy tired to type them all again at the end.

Into my big, ol' roasting pan I dumped a whole box of raw oatmeal.  (I buy the hearty old-fashioned variety, not the wimpy quick cooking flakes.)  To this I added 1 cup each of pecans, cashews, sunflower seeds, chopped almonds, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds.  I would have added sesame seeds if I had them.  I used a cup measure just to simplify writing these instructions.  I can assure you I never measure the seeds or fruit.

OK, this part is really important, so listen up.  I use extra virgin coconut oil and honey.  This is what makes the granola taste so great.  I buy the coconut oil from Amazon because that is where I can get the best price.  As you can see I don't play games when I order coconut oil.  I get the big 54 ounce tubs of this stuff.  It's great.  It has the most delicious flavor! I highly recommend it.  For sweetener, I use honey.  I use grocery store honey rather than local raw honey for this only because it is going to be heated for a while in the oven anyway. 

Yes, that is honey dripping all over my counter while I stopped to take a photo.  That 1 cup measure is half filled with coconut oil and half filled with honey.  I dumped that over the seeds and oats in the pan.

Next I added 2 teaspoons of vanilla and five twists of the sea salt grinder.  Yes, I counted the twists just for you, friends.  (Use just a few shakes of the shaker if you don't use a grinder.)

OK, I popped that in a slow oven...around 300 degrees...for 15 minutes.  I set the timer so I wouldn't forget it.  I stirred it when the timer went off and did that again about three times.  (Truth be told,  I turned the oven off after the first stir, put the sweater on the dog, and went for a walk.  I stirred it when I got back home, turned the oven back on, and baked it another 15 minutes or so.)  I shoot for 45 minutes to an hour in the oven.  I don't like it too toasted or brown.

Next comes the fruit.

Here are the fruits that went in this batch: 1 cup of each of  dried apricots, raisins, dried cranberries, chopped dates, and coconut.  I put those in after the baking is done.  Scissors work great for cutting up the apricots, by the way.

Stir it up and put into tightly sealed containers.

Hey, I tell you what.  If you read this far, you deserve a treat.  Leave a comment here or on Facebook and I'll enter you to win a big ol' bag of my famous granola.  Here is how I'm going to do it, though.  Just put "Yum!" for your comment if you want me to enter your name.  That's all.  Don't write anything else if you want to be entered.  I want to see how many people read to the end.

"Yum!"

 Got it?? 

I'll draw a name on Sunday night.  Yay, Tonya!!  You win again!

Good night my dear, sweet, crunchy bloggity friends.

Love,