Potato Soup

So the other night I found myself home - alone.  As a mom, you know this doesn't happen often.  I love soup, and potato soup sounded good.  I looked up a couple of recipes, and then true to my style, closed the computer and just "went for it".  The results were De-Li-cious!

This made enough for me to have 3 meals.  When I make it for my family I will double it.

4-5 baby carrots, diced 

1 celery rib diced

Few shakes of dried onion (it's what I had on hand)

Saute in 2 tsp butter until veggies start to soften.

Add:

1 can low-sodium chicken broth

2 large baking potatoes, cubed

(The potatoes weren't covered with the broth so I just put a lid on the pot to boil/steam them at the same time.)

Once the potatoes are tender, mash them with a potato masher - it should still have some lumps, but most of the broth will be absorbed.

Add:  milk - until desired consistency.  I like my potato soup pretty thick.

Add: 2 oz. light cream cheese

         small handful of grated cheddar

Heat just until everything is melted and hot.

Enjoy!

Aunt Deana's Crescent Rolls

My family celebrated the life of my Aunt Deana yesterday.

During the service one of my cousin's mentioned her crescent rolls.

Because really, not mentioning them just wouldn't have been right.

I had actually considered making a couple hundred copies of the recipe,

and handing them out at the service.......but didn't.

These rolls were at every family dinner.

They were kept in a top secret place until right before dinner was served.

Once her original, brown, Tupperware container was opened -

they were gone in a flash.

After looking at the recipe,

you will notice they're more like a dessert roll than a dinner roll.

However, in our family, if you waited until dessert to put one on your plate -

well, there wouldn't be any left to put on your plate.

A couple of weeks ago,

as we knew the day was drawing near -

when Aunt Deana would see Jesus face to face,

I attempted to make these gluten free.

Trust me - it wasn't the same.

So please go make some for your family.

I hope you love them as much as we do!

Dough:

2 cubes margarine

2 c. flour

1 egg yolk

3/4 c. sour milk

(add 3/4 tsp. vinegar to the milk to make it sour)

Filling:

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. nuts

1 1/2 t. cinnamon

Glaze:

1/4 c. melted butter

1 c. powdered sugar

1-2 T hot water

Soften margarine, mix in yolk, add flour and milk alternately. Chill dough several hours. Roll 1/2 of the dough into a 12" circle. Cut into 12 wedges. (like a pie - a pizza cutter works great). Sprinkle with 1/2 of the filling picture. Roll pieces from the biggest side into the inner circle. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375. 20-30 minutes. Cool completely and glaze.

Homemade breakfast sausage

I found this recipe in last month's Real Simple. I was amazed how yummy this sausage was. Even my kids and hubby loved it.

1 lb. ground turkey
1 T. pure maple syrup (I would maybe cut this in half)
1 t. dried sage
1/2 t. dried thyme
1/2 t. salt (add the amount to your liking, I think I did a little more than this)
1/4 t. pepper

Shape into patties and brown in a skillet, or keep it ground and add to eggs, spaghetti (really, I've tried it and it's yummy!), or anything calling for sausage.

Chocolate Granola Bars

Found my new favorite granola bar recipe...just seven easy-to-throw-together ingredients.

You can find it here:
http://themarathonmom.com/chocolate-granola-bars.htm

I've made them once and they were delicious...I stored them in the fridge because they were a little sticky, that worked great. I might try adding a little more oats or coconut next time to see what that does.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Or maybe SALAD?
It's so good I can skip the chips and eat it with a fork.
I originally found the recipe here.


1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can mexicorn, drained (the corn with red and green peppers in it)
2 medium avacados, chopped
4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped ( I used 1/2 of a small)
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 t. cumin
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. olive oil
1 package (0.7 ounces) Italian dressing mix

In nonmetallic bowl combine first seven ingredients. In measuring cup, combine oil, vinegar, cumin and dressing mix. Pour over bean and corn mixture. Stir. Refrigerate at least 2 hours to allow flavors to blend. Serve with corn scoops or totilla chips.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Muffins

These were super yummy this morning with my coffee! Got the recipe from Cooking Light.

2/3 C whole milk (I used non-fat)
5 TBSP butter, melted
3 TBSP instant coffee granules (I used 3 Via Packets from Starbucks)
1 1/2 Tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 C all purpose flour
2/3 C sugar
1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Combine first 5 ingredients.
3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Make a well in the center of flour mixture. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist.
4. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400 for 18 minutes or until done. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on wire rack.

Chicken Fiesta Burritos

Cut up 3 large chicken breasts into chunks and place in a skillet with 1 TBSP olive or vegetable oil.

Season with seasoning salt and pepper. Cook until the chicken is all white.

Add one jar (16 oz.) of Pace mild salsa with cilantro (or any other variety you like).

Add one can of drained corn and one can of drained black beans.

Heat through. Serve in tortillas with cheese and sour cream (optional).

Simple, quick, and yummy! Can you really go wrong with Mexican food?