No-Fuss Potato Soup

This morning I made a recipe that my mom passed down to me - it was really good and I was really happy with how it turned out! I know it came from a cookbook, but unfortunately there's no record of where it came from.

I spent probably 30 minutes chopping and prepping things for it, tossed it into the crock pot, and we enjoyed it for dinner tonight. I'm reminded this week of how great it can be when I'm staying on top of menu planning and grocery shopping! With my schedule, it's hard to always do it properly, but when I am able to, it's amazing how much less stressed out I feel! Now for a dishwasher to make clean up easier! Hmmm.....

Anyway, there are tons of potato soup recipes out there and it's so hard to know what to try, so I went with the familiar and tried what my mom loves. :) I adjusted it so there was less onion (Tim isn't a fan) and more carrots, as well as the addition of a little fresh parsley to the top after cooking. I served mine alongside fresh pretzel rolls from our local grocery store.

It's super yummy - both hubster & I could get used to this Winter-time treat!!

No-Fuss Potato Soup

6 c. cubed, peeled Idaho potatoes (3 large = 6 c.)
5 c. water
2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. thinly sliced carrots
3 T. butter
4 t. chicken bouillon granules (for flavoring, found in the soup aisle in most stores)
1 1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper (I'm sensitive to pepper/spice so I wasn't sure about this, but I think this was perfect)

1 1/2 c. milk (recipe calls for whole milk, I used our usual 1% and it was still super good, although probably not as thick, you could add some half & half for thickening instead if you wanted)
2 t. chopped, fresh parsley

In large crock pot, combine the 1st 9 ingredients. Cover & cook on high for 7-8 hours or until vegetables are tender. (I did 7 hours but opened once about halfway through to stir one time.)

Add milk & parsley; mix well. Cover & cook 30-60 minutes longer (I did the full hour so it was a total 8 hour cooking time).

Makes 8-10 servings or 3 quarts.

What's for Dinner?

I made ravioli and garlic bread tonight for dinner.

In the midst of a nasty Fibromyalgia flare-up, it's a blessing to be able to even stand over the stove.

It was made from 2 boxes and 1 can... and I'm proud of it. 

Another Goodbye & Amazing Cafe Food

Last Tuesday Annemarie & I got together for one final time as a group with our friend Tori, who was an editorial intern a couple of times where we work.

We all 3 get along so well and have a lot of fun together.

Tori headed back to college today for her senior year, and with Annemarie's move across the country only a few weeks away... this was one final goodbye to us as a group. I know I'll see Tori again, but we won't be together the 3 of us.

Sad times, but we had an enjoyable lunch together. There are tons of cute places in the town where we work, so we had to make sure we went somewhere memorable for our last lunch.

That and we wanted breakfast food. :)

My cinnamon roll french toast was pretty amazing, but their sausage was the big hit for me!

And yes, that is ketchup on my eggs.

Don't judge me, you know you do weird stuff to your food too.

Annemarie loved her pecan waffles!

As if my prayer wasn't long enough as I prayed over these two wonderful ladies before we ate... I made Annemarie pause so I could take a picture of her food. She was so insanely hungry at this point that she nearly pummeled me!  

Many blessings to you friends! I've loved hanging out with you while I've had the chance!!

Sausage & Cream Cheese Crescent Casserole Recipe *Edited to Add/Change*

*Edited since original*

NOW TITLED: Sausage & Cream Cheese Crescent Casserole because once this recipe unexpectedly took off on Pinterest, it was shocking how many people were upset about the title because they felt it was misleading {originally "Sausage Biscuit & Gravy Casserole"}.

First, calm down everyone. This was a recipe from my sister-in-law Becca and we just called it that for ourselves. It was never meant to be misleading! We just generically called it that for fun, because to us it tastes similar enough to sausage biscuits and gravy that it was fun to call it that. I can see how everyone who is used to this taste would think that this recipe is way too different, but again, it was just meant to be a "substitute" of sorts at home when we can't get the real thing.

Second, I love the ideas you've all had for this! Becca got this idea from someone else and we just both loved it the way it was. But you can certainly do other things with it! Here are some of the ideas from the comments:

- replace cream cheese with sausage gravy [or just cut cream cheese in half and add the gravy]
- add cheese on top of the sausage/onion/cream cheese mixture
- add eggs, pioneer gravy, 1/4 more onion, and double the cream cheese so it's all thicker [a family tried this and loved it!]
- double the sausage and cream cheese in order to make it thicker

All of these ideas sound yummy! My hubby and I love it just the way it is, as does Becca & her family, so we didn't even think about altering it. But the ideas sound good and we'll have to give them a whirl sometime, for sure!

Also, one commenter asked if they scrambled uncooked eggs for this, would they just pour the recipe over the mixture and bake it that way, or would they need to cook the eggs up first and then pour it over? Another commenter said you'd need to do scrambled cooked eggs if you want the layered effect because otherwise the eggs would just run into the mix and make it a different type of casserole.

One final thing, I recently experimented with this more and I show my revised recipe/experiment below the original recipe, at the bottom of this post.

Thanks again for coming! Now back to the original recipe/post....

******

Last night, I gave a recipe a whirl that I got from my sis-in-law {and cooking extraordinare!} Becca. It was amazing!

If you like biscuits & gravy even remotely, you have to try this!

Sausage Biscuit & Gravy Cream Cheese Crescent Casserole:

1 lb pork sausage
1 onion {size to your preference}
1 8 oz pkg softened plain cream cheese
2 pkgs crescent rolls {updated: recommend the new Pillsbury Crescent Seamless Dough Sheets, much easier!}

Saute the onions in a skillet for a minute or two just to get them to start softening. {I used 1/4 of a medium sweet yellow onion. Tim isn't a big onion fan so I also chopped them up as finely as I possibly could.} Add the pork sausage and brown. Preheat oven to 350 degrees while sausage is browning. Drain.

Add the cream cheese and stir until smooth.

Spray the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan with cooking spray. Layer one pkg of crescent rolls along the bottom. Pinch all of the pieces so there aren't any separations, flattening along the pan as you go.

Spread the sausage mixture on top of the crescent rolls, smoothing as you go.

Roll the remaining pkg of crescent rolls lightly over the top of the sausage mixture. Pinch the edges and also the sides so no mixture seeps through. {Easier said than done. I ended up having some come through one side but it wasn't a big deal.}

Cook in a 350 degree preheated oven for 22-28 minutes, depending on your oven and how dark you like it. Our oven cooks pretty quickly, and we like it a bit lighter, so I cooked it about 22 minutes. Becca cooks hers about 27 to 28 minutes since their oven cooks slower and they like it darker.

Becca suggests serving it alongside hash browns. We had it with baked chips and cinnamon applesauce. I want to try it with fresh fruit and potatoes next time. 

Seriously so, so good! Let me know if you try it!


******


Based on commenters suggestions, I decided last week to experiment a bit with this recipe. Here's what I came up with:

Still only used 1 pound of sausage, but increased to 2 packages of cream cheese. This time I used a sprinkling of onion powder instead of actual onions since hubster wasn't a fan of the onions.

After mixing the cream cheese into the sausage the best that I could {since there's so much cream cheese, you can't mix it extremely well yet}, I added in some frozen hash browns {totally just guessed on the amount based on the cream cheese amount}. Mixed it together and cooked it until it looked well-mixed and solid.

In the meantime, I mixed together 6 eggs, milk, and pepper, and scrambled 'em up.

It was evident at this point that the hash browns weren't going to cook in quite the way I'd intended. Lesson learned, cook the hash browns on their own separately and then add them into this mix.

One commenter suggested using the new Pillsbury Crescent Seamless Dough Sheet. I didn't even know this existed!!! It was amazing and definitely the best way to go, so thank you!!

After adding the sausage, onion, cream cheese, and hash brown mix over the first dough sheet, here's how it looks:

Then I topped it off with the scrambled eggs:

6 eggs are definitely not enough. Suggest 8-10 to really fill up that layer. Also I didn't cook the eggs all the way through {just until mild and fluffy, though we prefer our scrambled eggs well done and not runny} because I thought that cooking it in the oven would finish it off enough. We still felt it was a bit too "fluffy" for our taste so next time I'll continue cooking them on the stovetop a bit more.

I cooked this for a couple minutes longer than before, so this time it was more like 24-25 minutes for us {our oven cooks fast}. And voila! Here's how it came out:

Certainly a worthwhile experiment, though I definitely learned some things. It was okay. Next time the hash browns will be cooked separately, the eggs will be cooked longer, and then we'll see how that goes!

Thanks again everyone, great suggestions!!

Keep letting me know what you all are doing with this, I love hearing it! Just please no more complaints about the recipe title. I am not a cooking expert by any means and had no idea this would take off on Pinterest. Your understanding is greatly appreciated. If you complain in a comment about the title, I will delete your comment. Thanks. :)

Easter

We love our church so much that we agreed several years ago that we would no longer travel over Easter. It's been really great to always be at our church for our incredible services.

This year that meant 6 Good Friday services on the main church campus {between which I hear we had 12,000 people in attendance, wahoo!}, where they did it differently than ever before {transformed the stage and had it go through the middle of the room like a runway, it was really cool!} and it was truly phenomenal, and extremely powerful! As always the room was dark and somber, and they encouraged everyone to dress in black to remember the solemness of the occasion.

Our pastor posted a clip on his blog of one of the songs they sang at the GF services. It was interesting to hear this rendition, and I especially loved the way the orchestra did it! You can't tell because the room was so dark, but there are a few thousand people surrounding the stage in a half circle, and the orchestra was off to the side behind them. So cool!

Then Sunday comes and we truly celebrate like nowhere else I've ever been {and going from the somber Good Friday services the way we do, the celebration is even more memorable and real}, with loud cheers, clapping, shouts of joy, signs saying stuff like "He is Risen" or "He is Alive", and this year we also had confetti! So fun, a true celebration, and we just love it!!

Here's a video clip of what hubby captured on his little video camera during the celebration. :)

A couple hours later, at about the same time I managed to start feeling sickly, we headed the half hour to Tim's mom's house where we had a mini-family gathering {only 2 of his siblings were there}... and I wound up spending the two hours we stayed there {very unusually short} between the couch and the bathroom. :(

Here are a few pics from my viewpoint on the couch...

nephew Ashdyn

niece Carrissa, looks mad here but she's really not, just chilling out

bro-in-law Chris getting licked by Oreo

niece Hayley

Carrissa & Hayley comparing hand sizes

On Saturday night & Sunday morning {before getting all sickly}, I made my food contributions for the gathering.

Crock-pot Cheddar Cheese Spirals {fancy way of saying Mac n Cheese :) - from my sis-in-law Jeremi}:

1 16 oz package spiral pasta {I use Dreamfields Rotini}
1 16 oz container {2 cups} half and half cream
1 10 3/4 oz can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/2 c. butter, melted
4 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Cook pasta according to package, drain. Pour cream, soup, and butter into 5 qt. crock pot and stir until smooth. Add pasta and cheese, stir. Cover and cook on low for 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until cheese is melted. {For me when I'm traveling, I cook it for 1 hour and 15 min on low at minimum, then cook on high when I get to my destination for at least 30 min. It seems to do the trick, but my crock pot also cooks faster than some.} Makes 12-15 servings.


Chocolate chip peanut butter squares {a staple in Tim's family gatherings now as it's regularly requested}

My personal modifications to this recipe: I slightly grease the pan. I also add a little more than half the dough to the bottom because the bottom always needs more than the top. When mixing the sugar, p.b., and vanilla, mix together with your hands toward the end to ensure sugar has blended in well and there aren't any chunks. My oven cooks fast so I normally pull it out at 28-30 minutes. If you chill for more than an hour, let it sit out for 20-30 minutes to soften a little or it's too hard.


Brownies {from my coworker Joe's wife - these are also a constant staple in family gatherings now}

2 13 x 9 Family Size Betty Crocker Brownie Mixes {you don't have to use that brand but that's my preference and I think it turns out the best}
Add ingredients according to package {making sure to double the amount for 2 mixes}
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Parchment paper

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 15 x 10 {or so, note that this is an unusual size, it makes the brownies thicker and more awesome} pan with parchment paper. Very lightly spray the edges with cooking spray to keep the corners in place. Mix together brownie mixes, ingredients on packaging, and about 1/4 bag of chocolate chips. Pour into pan and spread until even. Bake for 28 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick poked in the middle comes out clean.


Hope you all had a really wonderful Easter!!!

Dinner with Guests

I wanted to post this earlier in the week, but this has been a really crazy week both at work and at home, so I haven't had time. It was a really great week though and I can't wait to fully update you!

My mom & stepdad were visiting with us last weekend, and whenever mom is here she's an amazing help in the kitchen. I just love cooking alongside of her - it's some of the best bonding time we have because the men are nowhere nearby, LOL!

Here was our menu for the weekend. Sadly I only thought to take pics of Sunday's, but enjoy:

Friday night: 
Ham steaks [bought a package of 4 of them from the meat section]
Pasta sides - chicken flavored
Steamed mixed veggies {green beans, peas, carrots, and corn mix}

Saturday night:
Ground turkey tacos with whole wheat/low carb tortillas
Cuties
Carrot sticks

Sunday night:
Tasty BBQ ribs

Modified from the Busy Woman's Cookbook:

2 1/2 to 3 pounds spareribs [we used 3 1/2 pounds since we had 4 people]

1 onion, sliced

1 (16 oz) bottle BBQ sauce [we used 1 1/2 bottles of Bull's Eye since that's our favorite]

Sprinkle ribs with salt [and additional BBQ seasonings/rub if you want, but watch the amount of salt]. Place ribs in broiler pan for 15 minutes to brown [recommend turning them over part way through or for an additional 15 minutes on the other side]. Put sliced onion in bottom of crock pot [I like to sprinkle some of the BBQ sauce over the onion directly]. Slice ribs into serving pieces [watching out for those wicked tough bones...and hence, your fingers ahem...] and put in crock pot [I like to layer them so they are stacked in different directions and are easier to pull out when done]. Pour in BBQ sauce [I pour some over it halfway through the layering just to insure BBQ sauce awesomeness]. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours [or high 4-5 hours]. I've done it both ways, and while it's really good both ways, this time the low for 10 hours with more ribs worked out perfectly! 

Potatoes al la experiment

I took a couple of recipes, including this one for garlic mashed potatoes, and tweaked them. I had no idea if this would turn out well, but given what I've learned on the Food Network and from my awesome sister-in-law Becca and her love of red potatoes, I hoped for the best. And thankfully, they turned out delicious!

3/4 bag of 3 lb red potatoes

1 T butter

1 t garlic powder

1 t onion powder

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

small handful of rosemary

Cut potatoes in half and place at bottom of large pan. Pour water over potatoes, just enough to cover them. Boil potatoes and keep boiling for a few minutes. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes [at this point the potatoes are mushy enough that you could almost make them mashed, and are easy to eat with a fork but for a tougher consistency stop simmering at 10 minutes]. Drain potatoes. Lightly brown butter on low in same pan [so it's already warm], add other spices and stir as you go. Add potatoes back in and stir gently until well mixed. Serve warm. 

Salad {put together by my mom who always makes the most beautiful salads - it's her fav food!}

Romaine lettuce

Carrots

Tomatoes

Green peppers

It was a really great weekend of fun and bonding, with great food, shopping, movie watching, and game playing! I'm so glad we had a good time with them. Coming up next, a full update on the week.


Happy cooking! :)

Baking Is a Stress-Reliever

I love to bake. It's a good stress reliever for me. It can also add stress to me if I'm not careful or over-exhaust myself. But most of the time I'm careful with it and I love doing it!

In preparation for Christmas, and several pleas from Tim's family that I bring my now infamous desserts to our Christmas gathering on Christmas Day, I baked and baked on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

Here's what I brought. I'm glad I nixed the final two items off my list because we definitely didn't need them, we had so much stuff!

Peanut Butter/Chocolate Chip Bars

Chocolate Chip Bars

Brownies

Fudge

Yum. I can cook okay but don't really enjoy it too much, especially without a dishwasher. But I am decent at experimenting with baking in a way I don't feel comfortable doing with cooking outside of constant watching of The Food Network.

Do you like to bake or do you prefer to cook?

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

A couple weeks ago I picked up materials to make cupcakes just on a whim. We ended up planning to have dinner at my mother-in-law's {about 30 min from us} last Sunday night, so I offered to bring cupcakes. I'd purchased enough for two batches, so I went ahead and made them. With a twist.

I have a recipe from my mom that I just love to make cakes with. But I hadn't tried cupcakes yet.

They're made with pumpkin. And it makes them super yummy and moist!!

You need:
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 regular can of pumpkin
1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350.

The recipe says to follow the timing of what's on the back of the box. This worked for me with cake, but it didn't with the cupcakes. I had to add an extra 10 minutes to my cook time for the cupcakes {for me it ended up at 28-30 minutes for a 12 cupcake pan, but it was also a super dark pan}. Obviously keep an eye on it and test it with a toothpick. It will likely come out still slightly gooey on the toothpick, but you want it at the most minimal you can get it.

Of course I had to buy cute Fall cupcake-holder-thingys {oh my gosh...I'm blanking on what these are called}, sprinkles, and fun pumpkin toothpicks for the tops {thank you Wal-Mart}! And to go with the theme, I used cream cheese icing!

I took these to my mother-in-laws Sunday night for a family gathering and they were well enjoyed. I refrigerated the rest to take to work and to my friends Brian & Monica the next day. I do have to say it seemed to get even better after being in the fridge overnight! The pumpkin makes them gooey enough that it's easy to doubt if they've been fully cooked, so chilling them a bit helps solidify them and make them better.

And for you pumpkin haters out there, trust me you'll want to try these - you can't even taste the pumpkin! I promise, I've had people eat them that usually hate pumpkin but loved these!

Give 'em a whirl and let me know what you think! A friend tells me you get this same effect with soda. I've never tried that but it sounds interesting!

Steak Stirfry Experiment

Last week I decided to get a little ambitious and experimented with some cooking. No recipe, just some guessing, which I've gotten better at thanks to blog reading and watching The Food Network. Which is yes, entirely where/how I learned to cook. God bless Rachael Ray, Emeril, and Paula Dean!

Anyway... here's what happened last week with my Steak Stirfry.

I bought a pre-cut package of some sort of round sirloin or something that was low on fat content. I needed to find shortcuts that would involve more lean meats and veggies, so I figured why not just get the meat already cut? Hello! No more of the pre-processed/pre-packaged garbage. I'm really trying here!

So... brown 1 pkg of meat. Um, about this much:

At the same time, cook rice in a separate pan with however many servings suites your needs. We prefer Minute white rice {I know, I know, but brown rice is not something we can get used to}!

To save my sanity, I bought an already made sauce, but it doesn't have any of the processed gook like in most sauces. God bless Trader Joe's!!!

Yet again Trader Joe's does it! A nifty combo of carrots, onions, and celery already cut up for me! Wow, I was sooo excited to find this! {Alright those laughing at me you can shoosh now! I for realz had no idea this type of thing was available!!!}

In retrospect, I wish I had cooked the meat, set it aside, browned the veggies, and then combined it. The meat was overcooked and a bit chewy. Still edible, but now I know for next time! So if you try this, I suggest it for you too.

I have no idea how much sauce I put in. A few dollops. It wasn't enough, but I didn't want to overdo it and make it too salty. Next time, a little more sauce. Yeah... good luck to me since I haven't a clue what I did this time. *sigh*

Hope you enjoyed this experimental recipe attempt! :) If you end up giving it a whirl, or have a much better/stricter recipe to follow, give me a holler! I appreciate your input!