Taco Soup

This is one of my favorite recipes to make this time of year.  It's so easy & makes so much that I can eat on it for days. 

Taco Soup

1 lb ground beef
1 large yellow onion (chopped)
2 garlic cloves (chopped)
2 14 1/2oz cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 15 oz can kidney beans (drained)
1 15 oz can pinto beans (drained)
1 15 oz can black beans (drained)
1 15 oz can whole kernel corn (drained)
1 14.5 oz can chicken broth
1 1.25 oz taco seasoning mix

In a large pot, cook beef and garlic. Add onions when beef is almost browned.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 30 minutes. 

Topping ideas:
shredded cheese
cilantro
sour cream
chopped avocado

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

I made broccoli cheddar soup using this recipe I found on Pinterest.  It's probably safe to say I'm addicted to Pinterest.  As if I  needed another internet time sucker.  So far, every recipe I've tried on Pinterest has been good.  This soup was delicious and is definitely going in the rotation for dinner.

In my usual fashion, I did not follow the recipe exactly, but I stayed pretty close.  I used frozen broccoli instead of fresh and it worked just fine.  I just ran it under water to thaw and drained the water out of it. I left out the onions because Allen isn't a big fan.  I doubled the milk and omitted the half and half.  Also, I used all Colby cheese. And I didn't use cardamom because, frankly, I have no earthly idea what it is.   So with all those changes, it turned out great! 

Broccoli Cheddar Soup {my version of the recipe}
1/4 c butter
1 clove garlic
1/4 c flour
2 c milk
2 c chicken stock
1/2 lb frozen broccoli that has been thawed & drained
1 c shredded carrot
1/4 tsp nutmeg
12 oz grated Colby jack cheese
Salt & pepper to taste

Saute garlic in the butter over medium heat.  Add in the flour, stirring constantly.  Add in the milk and chicken stock.  Bring to almost a boil.  Add broccoli and carrots.  Simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes. Season the soup with salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Stir in cheese and let simmer 10 minutes longer before serving.

We ate ours with baked potatoes.  I'm craving this dinner as I type.

Pretty Food {Grilled BBQ Chicken}

This is our chicken we raised and butchered on the YouTube farm.  We marinated it in our homemade bbq sauce and grilled it.  It was delicious!

BBQ Sauce
1 c ketchup {organic or make sure there's no high fructose corn syrup}
1 tbsp mustard
3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp black pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and enjoy!  We store ours in the refrigerator in an old honey container.

Pretty Food {Bow Tie Pasta}

Boil bow tie pasta.  Brown ground beef seasoned with salt, pepper & garlic.  Add jar of Bertoli organic marinara sauce.  Drain pasta when cooked and add to meat sauce.  Sprinkle with paremsean and fresh chopped parsley.  Enjoy!

Pretty Food {Black Beans Topped With Avocado Pico De Gallo}

Black Beans:
In a saucepan, heat up a can of black beans.  Add chopped tomatoes, red onions, cilantro & salt. 

Avocado Pico De Gallo:
Rough chop & mix in bowl:
avocado
tomato
red onion
cilantro
jalapeno
squirt of fresh lime
pinch of salt

When Life Gives You Bad Bread, Make Croutons

I recently had my first bad batch of bread.  I think I got distracted in the kitchen, left what I was doing and when I came back, I could not remember if I had added the salt yet.  Well, it was a 50/50 chance and I guessed wrong.  A loaf of bread without salt does not taste that great.  But I hate throwing away organic ingredients that I spent some time on.  So I tried turning the bad loaf into croutons and it worked! 

I just cut the bread up into small chunks, put on a cookie sheet, tossed them in extra virgin olive oil & garlic salt,  and baked at 400 until browned.

You could also turn old, stale bread into croutons.  Making breadcrumbs is another great option.  Just put bread in food processor with some seasoning of your choice & pulse until you have fine breadcrumbs.

PS ~ That lovely lettuce is from our garden. :)

Pretty Food {Cheese Toasted Buns}

I work hard making all our bread products from scratch.  So you can bet your bottom dollar I'm not about to let any of it go to waste!  I turned these leftover hamburger buns into cheese toast.  Just butter, sprinkle with garlic & parmesan cheese & broil on low for a few minutes.  Just be sure to keep a close eye on them so they do not burn.

Fancy Mac & Cheese

For lack of a better name or more imagination, I'm calling this fancy mac & cheese.  I'm not sure why ground beef would make mac & cheese fancy, but in my world it does.   My family loves this dinner!  As always, I don't measure.  But here's a guide to making this dish:

Cook 1 lb ground beef.
Boil 1 pkg elbow macaroni.
Combine & add:
a splash of milk (about 1/2 cup, depending on how thick you prefer it)
cream cheese (about 1/3 pkg) {Did you know cream cheese is the key to great homemade mac & cheese?}
colby jack cheese (about 1 1/2 cups)
salt & pepper

Mama Bertha's Banana Cake

This has always been one of my favorite things my Mama Bertha makes for me.  Sydney likes to help me make it too.  Her job is to mash the bananas.

Banana Cake
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c butter
2 eggs
2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp vinegar
3 mashed bananas
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c chopped nuts {I leave these out}

Preheat oven to 350.  Cream sugar & butter.  Add eggs & beat until creamy.  Combine flour, baking soda & baking powder.  Add alternately with milk that has the vinegar added.  Beat until batter is very smooth.  Stir in bananas, vanilla & nuts {optional}.  Spoon batter into greased 9x14 pan.  Bake 30 minutes.

I don't put frosting on it because I prefer it without.  But, here's the recipe for the frosting to go on top.

Frosting
1/2 c butter
1 lb powder sugar
1 c chopped nuts
2 mashed bananas

Cream butter, gradually beat in sugar.  Mash bananas & add to mixture.  Mix well & spread on cooled cake. 

P.S. ~ Chocolate chips in the cake makes it pretty tasty too. ;)

Baked Potato Potato Soup

I made this up as I went, loosely basing it on a recipe I had. 

Bake about 5 potatoes the day before.  When done baking, wrap up and put in refrigerator.
The next night, chop up 6 slices bacon & cook in large pot. 
Chop up baked potatoes & add to the cooked bacon.  Add a few pats of butter, salt, pepper & green onions or chives.  Mix well & let cook a few minutes. 
Add 5 cups milk & bring to a boil, stirring often. 
Mash up some of the potatoes in the pot, using a masher or large spoon/spatula.
Reduce heat & simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often.
When it's done simmering, add about 1 cup sour cream & 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese.  Mix well.
If your soup seems too thick, you can add in a little more milk or a little chicken broth.

This makes a lot of soup, which means leftovers!  Cook once, eat two or three times!

How To Stretch A Chicken

Ok, well, I'm not literally stretching a chicken.  But I am sharing how I can stretch 1 1/2 lbs of chicken into 6 meals for a family of 4.  One key for us to afford local & organic meat was learning how to eat less meat & make it stretch.  Leftovers get eaten & no longer wasted by going in the trash can. 

The chicken I buy from the farmer's market comes frozen in 1 1/2 lb packages.  When I'm ready to cook it, I cook it ALL and make a couple meals to freeze.  Here's my favorite way to stretch 1 1/2 lbs of chicken:

To Make 2 Pans of Chicken Enchiladas & 1 Batch of Chicken Noodle Soup
Boil all the chicken until cooked through.  This usually takes about 30 minutes.  Now take 2/3 of the chicken and shred to be used in the chicken enchiladas. 

Chop the rest of the chicken up some and put back in the boiling water.  Add 16 oz Reams noodles & one can cream of chicken soup.  Add some salt, pepper & parsley.  Cook according to Reams package.  Once finished, put chicken noodle soup in freezer bag & freeze.  This will be a perfect meal for when no one has time to cook.  Simply put soup in refrigerator the night before to thaw some.  Then put in a pan and heat up on the stove.  This meal feeds my family two nights in a row.  So there's two nights I don't have to cook & two meals from my 1 1/2 lbs of chicken.

Now, back to the shredded chicken for enchiladas.  Mix with two 8 oz packages of cream cheese & two cans chopped green chiles.  Mix well & spoon into flour tortillas.  This will make two casserole dishes of chicken enchiladas.  I get about 11 enchiladas per casserole dish.  {Make sure one dish will freeze well.  I use the aluminum pans from the store.}  Cover both pans with shredded pepper jack cheese & top with fresh cilantro.  Freeze the aluminum pan & re-heat at 350 when you're ready to serve.  Cook the other pan at 350 until cheese is melted and bubbly and enjoy for dinner.  One pan of enchiladas feeds my family two nights in a row.  So again, when no one feels like cooking, pop the frozen enchiladas in the oven & you've got two nights worth of meals. 

Soooo, 1 1/2 lbs local, free range chicken yields:
1 batch chicken noodle soup = 2 dinners
2 batches chicken enchiladas = 4 dinners

And that's how a 1 income, self employed family affords organic!  And cooking at home is always cheaper than eating out.

Note: I serve steamed broccoli with chicken noodle soup and black beans or refried beans with chicken enchiladas.  And I like to use my frozen meals within one month of freezing, to ensure they taste great.

Sock Monkey Baby Shower

I recently hosted a baby shower for my Sister-in-Law.  She's having a baby boy & told me to surprise her with the shower theme.  I am loving sock monkeys lately so I went with a red/brown/white sock monkey theme.  I kept it simple & practical by making everything myself.  I think it turned out pretty cute. 

The cute little sock monkey doubled as a table decoration and a gift from my kiddos to their soon to be baby boy cousin.

I love making tissue paper puff balls for parties.  And a little tip, don't waste your money buying the Martha Stewart kit.  Guess what's in the box?  A stack of tissue paper & some crafting wire.  It's much cheaper to buy it yourself.  The only extra step is to cut the ends of the paper into a shape.  Either a triangle or half circle.

Tissue Paper Puff Balls
What you need:
A stack of tissue paper (about 10 sheets, depending on the size you want)
Crafting wire that bends easily
Scissors

How to:
Fold the tissue paper accordion style, with about a 1 1/2" thickness.
Place crafting wire around center of folded up tissue & twist into knot to hold in place
If you want small puff balls, cut the folded stack in half to make two small ones
Snip each end into a shape (triangle for a pointed edge, or half circle for a rounded edge)
Now fluff the tissue paper out, one layer at a time, until it forms a ball shape. Be very gentle so that it does not tear.
Hang with fishing wire or just set around for cute decorations

White cupcakes with chocolate frosting is my favorite combination.  Plus, it matched my color scheme. ;)  I made the cupcake toppers by printing the images on card stock, cutting out and taping to a toothpick.  Sydney helped me frost & decorate all the cupcakes.  She is such a great helper!  She also pays great attention to detail.  She coordinated her outfit to match the shower colors.

I love pinwheels!  They taste great & are so easy.  3 ingredients: flour tortillas, cream cheese & pace picante sauce.  Mix cream cheese & picante sauce.  Spread on a tortilla, roll up and slice.  Done!

This punch is my go to drink when hosting parties.  It's always a big hit.  I got the recipe from a friend years ago.

Punch
2 c sugar
1 c water
Bring these to a boil in a pot.
Then, in a cooler, add sugar water to a 10 lb bag of ice to begin melting.  Then add:
46 oz pineapple juice
12 oz frozen pink lemonade
12 oz frozen orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

The recipe says to let punch set in cooler 3 hours before serving,  However, I always make mine the night before.  The recipe also says it serves 50, but I promise you will need to double the recipe if throwing a large party. 

I can't wait to meet  my new nephew in April!

Pretty Food {Salad}

This has been my lunch of choice at home lately.  Mostly organic & 100% delicious.  I love it when your food is so darn pretty you have to take a picture of it.  

Snow Days...Round 2

We are having quite the winter wonderland in Oklahoma this year! 

Sydney has had more snow days from school this year than I think I had my entire childhood!  As a kid, I remember watching the school closings scroll across the tv screen.  Fingers crossed, anxiously hoping that our school's name would appear.  But it rarely did.  Our area never quite got enough snow to shut down school.  However, the last three winters we have had major snow storms.  It's kinda fun.  I admit, I was a little grumpy about being snowed in for 4 days last week.  But as soon as the snow melted, the weatherman warned us of round 2 coming & I was determined not to be a grump about it this time around. 

I actually love it when Sydney's school gets cancelled.  I don't have to set my alarm and do the drop off & pick up.  And Garrett & I love having her home with us!  I just fear that school will go on until June to make up for all these missed days!

I had two main goals for today.  1. Make valentine boxes for the kids and 2. NOT to make a chocolate cake!  I made snow ice cream instead.  I am a foodie, what can I say.  Too bad I don't have an excellent metabolism.  I used Paula Deen's recipe & it turned out extremely RICH.  I think I'll try the milk & sugar version next time.

8 c snow {clean!}
14 oz condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla

The kids loved it.  It was their first time having snow ice cream.

Sydney had fun making her Valentine box. 

She's having a party at school Monday & gets to bring it.  I'm taking Garrett to the party so I wanted him to have a box too.  But he had zero interest in decorating a box.

And yes, he stayed in his pajamas all day.  Don't judge me.  I did put new pj's on for bedtime. :)  Sydney was nice enough to decorate his box.  He was annoyed that she put hearts on it though.  He is a man's man.

For some reason, when I tell the kids to "say cheese", this is the look Garrett gives me.  Every time.

I also just had to share a picture of Barbie that made me giggle when I found her.  It looks like she's had a rough day.  Some days, I can really relate to this chick.  Although, my clothes are not nearly as stylish.

School is closed again tomorrow.  Yipppeee!

Making Homemade Food Convenient: Chicken Nuggets

Saying goodbye to frozen chicken nuggets was something else Sydney had to do when we changed our eating ways.  {Note to fellow parents: It's much easier if you start your kids out in life not eating nasty junk.  They don't like it when you realize how bad it is and take it away from them.}  But I promised her I'd make her real chicken nuggets any time she wanted them.  {Another note to fellow parents: Don't make promises that are going to require you to be a slave to the kitchen.}  So, I started making real chicken nuggets and freezing them.  Yay!  Convenience foods are very important to a busy family's life.  Now I can heat up chicken nuggets for the kids any time they want them.  Or any time I don't want to cook & just want cereal for dinner! 

First, make your own breadcrumbs.  Just put bread & some seasoning in a food processor until the bread crumbs are very fine. 

I like to use this seasoning.

I make a big batch of bread crumbs & store in a container in the refrigerator. 

To make the nuggets:  Pre-heat oven to 350.  Cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts into bite size nuggets.  {I use local, free range chicken from my farmer's market.}  Cover the nuggets in breadcrumbs & place on greased cookie sheet.  Bake for about 25 - 30 minutes, until cooked through. 

To freeze:

After the nuggets are fully cooked, let them cool completely.  Then put in a freezer bag & freeze.

When you're ready to heat some, just take out the amount you want & cook on a cookie sheet at 400 for about 15 minutes.  You could also heat them in the microwave, but I like the oven for the crispiness.

Sydney loves these so much, we have nicknamed them "Sydney's chicken".  They are great served with some homemade french fries.  I also like to add them to spaghetti for a quick chicken parmesan alternative.

Baked French Fries
Cut up a few potatoes in long 1/4 inch strips
Toss with some extra virgin olive oil & your favorite seasoning (I like Krazy Mixed Up Salt or just salt, pepper & parsley)
Bake on cookie sheet at 400 for 25 - 30 minutes

Or

Cook In Oil On Stove Top
Cut up a few potatoes in long 1/4 inch strips
Heat vegetable oil in cast iron skillet on med to high heat
To test that oil is hot enough, put a drop of water in & see if it sizzles
Drop in enough potatoes to cover the surface & cook until brown, flipping them halfway through
Remove when golden & lay in paper towel lined dish
Sprinkle with salt & garlic salt while still hot