What An Awesome Night For Soup!

It has gotten very cold here lately, in fact, they are predicting that we will get our first snowfall of the season tonight to the tune of 6-8 inches! WOW!!! So, what goes better with the cold than soup?!? I hunted for a recipe today and found one that I wanted to try. And I must say that it turned out wonderfully, and the brother even said that if I have to bring someone a meal this winter that I should make this! Guess that's his vote of greatness! ;)

POTATO AND HAM SOUP

5 C. Potatoes, diced
1 C. Onion, diced
3/4 C. Celery, diced
3/4 C. Carrot, diced
2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1 1/2 C. Diced Ham
2 (10.75 oz.) Cans Condensed Cream of Celery Soup
1 C. Heavy Cream


Place the Potatoes, Onion, Celery, Carrots, Salt and Pepper in Stock-pot; add water until all vegetables are covered. Bring to a boil; cook until all veggies are tender. Add the Ham, Cream of Celery Soup, and Heavy Cream; return to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning and serve.

It really and truly was this simple, and it was oh so good! Give it a try.

Another GREAT Pumpkin Recipe!

I hope that you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving! I have so much to be thankful for this year...my Faith, Family and Friends top the list!!!!!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. My parents came into town and we went to my Dad's brother's house. My Aunt R. made a wonderful meal, and I brought along a side dish and 2 desserts, as requested. I decided that I didn't want to make a traditional Pumpkin Pie, so I used the recipe that I'm posting today. It recieved RAVE reviews from my family....So, I guess I would call it a success! :)

Pumpkin Pie Ala Easy

1 1/4 c. Flour
4 eggs
3/4 c. Oatmeal
2 cans 15 oz. Solid pack pumpkin
½ c. Brown sugar
2 cans 14 0z. Sweetened Cond. Milk
½ C. Pecans, chopped
2 tsp. Gr. Cinnamon
2/3 c. Butter or marg.
1 tsp. Ginger
 ½ tsp. Nutmeg
 1 tsp. Salt
Cool Whip

Preheat oven to 350. In Bowl combine flour, Oats, and brown sugar. Chop pecans, add to Bowl. Melt butter in microwave. Add to dry ingredients; mix well. Press mixture onto bottom of Jelly-Roll Pan, using Mix and Scraper Bake 15 min. Cool on Non-stick cooling rack. Meanwhile, lightly beat eggs in Bowl using Whisk. Add pumpkin, sweet cond. Milk, spices and salt; whisk until smooth. Pour over crust. Bake 30-35 min. Or until filling is set and knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool at room temp. Cut into squares and serve with Cool Whip.

These were so easy to make. Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Why go to Yesterdog...when you can make your own?!?

Since I've been using my crock-pot alot lately...you can only imagine that this recipe is going to incorporate it as well. This recipe is so EASY-PEASY that you will hardly believe that you made it yourself. I received 2 thumbs up from the bro for this...and I think that in the future I will bring this to get togethers with my friends on Sunday nights. We get together almost every Sunday night after church, and everyone brings something...in the spring/summer/early fall we always have a bonfire and roast hotdogs, hobo pies, and marshmallows...but in the winter, it's a different story. I think that this recipe will be a great addition to our meals!!!!

CHILI CHEESE DOGS


INGREDIENTS:
8 to 16 Hotdogs
1 (16 oz.) can Chili Meat (NO beans)
1 Can Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup
1 (15 oz.) Can Black Beans; drained and rinsed
1 (4 oz.) can Diced Green Chilis, drained
1 Small Onion, diced (mix in or use as topper)


Place Hotdogs in Crock-pot. Mix together remaining ingredients and pour over Hotdogs. Cook on LOW for 2 to 3 hours, or until hot. Place Hotdogs in buns, top with mixture and any other toppings you desire.

See, I told you that this was a no-brainer! Now, if only this headache that I have would go away......

An Easy Sunday Lunch...Mexican Style!

All of the credit for today's lunch recipe goes to my very good friend P.! She facebooked me this recipe about a week ago, and I've been waiting for the perfect time to make it. Well, that day, is today!!! :) It was so easy to put together, and is in the oven making the house smell great right now!

**NOTE** When she sent me the recipe, there were no EXACT measurements, so I guessed and made up my own!

CHICKEN TACO RING

INGREDIENTS:
2 Tubes Crescent Rolls
1 C. Crushed Tortilla Chips
2 small cans Chicken
1 (8 oz.) Bag Mexican Cheese
1 Can Rotel Tomatoes with Chilis
1 pkg. Taco Seasoning Mix
1 C. Sour Cream
Salsa for Garnish
Sour Cream for Garnish

Preheat the oven to 350. Arrange the Crescent Rolls on a Pizza Pan with the fatter ends overlapping in the middle. In a large bowl, mix the Chicken, Tortilla Chips, Cheese, Rotel Tomatoes, Taco Seasoning and Sour Cream. Place mixture in center or ring, on the overlapping ends. Fold the Triangles up to the center and tuck under fatter ends...(there will still be filling showing). Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

This smells fantastic and was so simple to make!

Hooray for Pumpkin!

I am a Kingdom Seeker's Leader at our church, and this year I have the pleasure of having the 5th Grade Girls. It's been wonderful so far, and I'm really enjoying all of the girls that I have in my group! Tomorrow night we are having a Soup Supper Fundraiser and I will be cooking soup all day for that. I also needed to make a dessert to bring, and with it being Fall and the fact that I LOVE all things Pumpkin I decided to find a recipe that uses Pumpkin!

I came across this recipe on Paula Deen's site and decided that it sounded so yummy, and thus, I was going to make it! They are in the oven baking now, and I can't wait to see how they turn out.

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE BARS

INGREDIENTS:
1 (16 oz.) pkg. Pound Cake Mix
3 Large Eggs
2 Tbsp. Butter; melted
4 tsps. Pumpkin Pie Spice; divided
1 (8 oz.) Cream Cheese; softened
1 (14 oz.) Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 (15 oz.) Can Pumpkin (about 2 Cups)
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 C. Chopped Nuts

Heat oven to 350. Combine Cake Mix, 1 Egg, Butter and 2 tsps. Pumpkin Pie Spice in large bowl until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press into the bottom of a 15 x 10 jellyroll pan. Beat Cream Cheese in a large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in Condensed Milk; beat in remaining 2 Eggs, Pumpkin, remaining 2 tsps. Pumpkin Pie Spice and Salt; mix well. Pour over the crust; sprinkle with the Nuts. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until set. Cool. Chill. Cut into bars.

Here they are:

I'm hoping that these are as fantastic as they sound!

A New Kind of Chicken

The other night I was looking for a new recipe for chicken. As you know, if you've been following my blog, that we eat a lot of chicken in this house. I'm not exactly sure why, but I just know that we do. Although, since I've started using my Crock-Pot, I will say that we have branched out a bit. The chicken recipe that I found was no exception to the use of the Crock-Pot! I have really enjoyed using it lately, and have to wonder why I never did before...it has really become quite the staple in my kitchen.

This recipe was delicious, and it go the seal of approval from the bro! That's always a big plus. He was excited about it because it contained bacon...one of his favorites. I must say that it did turn out quite tasty, but the next time I will make a few tweaks to it as it was a bit salty.

Without further ado, here's the recipe:

BACON-RANCH CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS:
4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
2 Tbsp. Real Bacon Bits (I used about 4 Tbsp.)
1 tsp. Garlic; minced
1 Pkg. Dry Ranch Dressing Mix (I would use about 1/2 of this to cut down on the saltiness)
1 (10.75 oz.) Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 C. Sour Cream
egg noodles

Place Chicken in the bottom of the crock pot. Combine Bacon, Garlic, Ranch Dressing mix, Soup, and Sour cream; mix well. Pour over chicken in the crock pot. Cook on high 3-4 hours. Shred the chicken in the crock pot. Cook the Egg Noodles until el dente and then put in the crock pot and mix well just before serving.

I will make this again in the future. I'm now on the hunt for many more yummy crock pot meals! Loving the easy cooking!!!

Yesterday's Supper

In case you haven't been following along lately, I've been using my Crock-Pot a WHOLE lot in the past few weeks. Last night was no exception, in fact I plan to use it for tomorrow nights supper as well! I will post that recipe after I've made it! Last nights supper was a whopping success...the bro was SO happy to have Beef Stroganoff for supper...it brought him back to his college days when one of his roomates would make it on his night to cook. Of course, his sister's was MUCH better! ;)

SLOW-COOKER BEEF STROGANOFF

INGREDIENTS:

1-2 Lbs. Beef Stew Meat
1 C. Onion, chopped
1Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 Can Cream of Onion Soup
1-2 small cans sliced mushrooms, drained (I used 1 large can, and 1 small can)
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese (ok to use light)
1 Container (8 oz.) Sour Cream (light ok to use)
1 Pkg. No Yokes Egg Noodles; cooked el dente

In crock-pot, put Beef on bottom, then mix together Onion, Soups, Mushrooms and Pepper and pour over top of Beef. Cook on low heat setting 8 to 10 hours or until beef is very tender. Stir Cream Cheese into beef mixture until melted. Stir Sour Cream into beef mixture. Serve over Egg Noodles.

It is super yummy and not too terribly creamy and drippy. Just the right amount of proportions I think. Give it a try!