Freezer Meals: Part II

So I left you last week with this post about our two favorite meals we made for freezer meals. Today I'll be sharing three more of the recipes we used. 

First, one of our favorite meals to make...but it's a little time consuming...chicken pot pie.

Ingredients:•1 whole chicken (thawed)
•1 bundle of celery, 4 large carrots, 1 white onion (all chopped)
•1 bay leaf
•water

•2-4 garlic cloves, diced

•1 1/2 white onion chopped

•3-4 carrots, sliced

•frozen corn or beans as desired

•2 sticks of butter

•1 c flour

•4-8 c chicken stock (as made in step 1)

•Bisquick biscuits (12 per pan)

Directions:

Step 1
1. Put whole, thawed chicken into large stock pot

2. Add celery, carrots, onion, & bay leaf to stock pot. Season as desired. I usually add salt, pepper, oregano, and some sage.

3. Add water to stock pot and fill until chicken is just covered.

4. Simmer most of the day until chicken is done.
(I started mine at 9:15am and pulled it around 3:30pm)

Step 2

1. While chicken is cooking, dice, slice, and chop your veggies for the final product.

2. Melt 1 stick of butter in large stock pot or dutch oven. Add garlic and simmer.

3. Add veggies (NOT corn or beans) and saute until softened...but not mushy.

4. Pull veggies out and place in a separate bowl until later. Leave as much butter at the bottom as possible.

Step 3

1. Remove chicken from stove & separate the meat from the carcass. Place meat in a bowl.

2. Strain liquid and veggies. Discard the veggies and any extras in your liquid. Keep liquid!!

3. This liquid is your chicken stock...save for gravy.

4. Shred chicken.

Step 4

1. Start roux for gravy. Melt second stick of butter with the drippings from sauteed veggies.

2. Add flour and whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste and whisk til smooth.

3. Add chicken stock until thinned.

4. Simmer and stir until thickened...this will be your gravy.

5. Add veggies (sauteed AND corn/beans) and meat to the gravy. Mix well.

6. Split gravy/veggie/meat combo into 2-3 pans.

7. Mix up Bisquick biscuits to bake on top of the pot pie. *

*There are two options for the biscuit portion...you can bake the whole thing with the biscuit dough on top. Then let it cool completely before freezing. OR you can bake drop biscuits first and add to the top of your pot pie. Then cool before freezing.*

Reheat at 325-350 degrees F until pot pie is bubbly. Don't let the biscuits burn!

Like I said above, this is our most complicated recipe that we tried...don't be discouraged! It looks hard, but the most difficult part is cutting up the veggies and shredding the chicken. 

Second, we made burgers.

You can find the recipe for burgers here. The best part about the burgers is that you can add more or less seasoning and they'll still be great! We bought 6 lbs of ground beef for burgers and made approximately 1/4 lb burgers...some were a little smaller, or we had a little more than 6 lbs...because we ended up with 26 patties to throw in the freezer.

The key here, make patties, freeze by the lb (approx), and separate with wax paper and freeze in ziploc bags. We fit 3 (ish) lbs in each ziploc.


Third, we made Baked Ziti.

Now, you can make ziti however you want. As long as you have ziti/penne noodles, you're good to go. But we followed this recipe.

I've never tried this recipe, so do your own trial and error, okay?

One thing I'll add here, is that the veggies we used were zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, onion, & garlic. You can really use any roasted veggies that you'd like.

I also added chicken, because I know my husband and I know myself...we love protein.

I should've added more sauce, but we will just make 

sure to have some on hand when we bake it.

I'll have a few more recipes for you sometime next week, as long as baby doesn't show up! Stop on by and see what's new!

Happy Thursday!

Freezer Meals: Part I

So since today's our anniversary, I've actually written this out a little ahead of time. But let's just pretend, shall we?

You may remember me posting this on Saturday. Our friend Anna graciously decided to give up the better part of her Saturday to help me meal prep for #babyentzel. And like I had hoped, we got all seven of those meals prepped! Seven! That's so much cooking!

So, here's the thing. I could just rehash the entire day for you, but I'll spare you the gory boring details.

Instead, I'll share two recipes at a time with you. Only two because that gets to be obnoxious...really. And I don't want you thinking I'm obnoxious.

The first two meals I'm going to share with you are two of our absolute favorites.

First, mac and cheese. 
Okay, okay. I know you're thinking..."wow, she really just made a few boxes of Kraft and threw 'em in the freezer...". But that's not the case at all! This mac and cheese is delicious and I found it in one of our Taste of Home cookbooks that we got from our wedding.

I've modified the original recipe, because even though we love cream and butter in the Entzel house, we don't need that much cream or butter.

Ingredients:

•1 package (16 oz) pasta (elbow, mini shells, spirals, it's really your choice)
•16 oz 4% cottage cheese
•1/2 c butter, cubed (You don't have to cube it...it just melts faster)
•1/2 c all-purpose flour
•1 tsp salt
•1/2 tsp white pepper (yes, you do need white pepper...the flavor is so much better!)
•1/4 tsp garlic powder
•2 c half and half
•2 c milk (I use 1% because it doesn't make me feel like my arteries are clogging quite as fast)
•4 c shredded cheddar cheese


Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to directions on package, or until al dente.
2. While pasta is cooking, melt butter in large sauce pan. (If doubling the recipe, make the roux in a stockpot/dutch oven) Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder until smooth. Gradually add milk and cream. Bring to a boil and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
3. Add 3-3 1/2 c cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, and white sauce to pasta and toss to coat. Transfer to a greased 9x13 pan.
4. Sprinkle the top with remaining cheese and bread crumbs (if desired).
5. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees F for 20-25 min or until bubbly.

And that's it for the mac n cheese. It's a pretty simple recipe, but if you've not made a roux before, it might take a little practice.

I doubled this recipe and we ended up with

three 9x13 disposable pans!

 

 

Second, chicken tetrazzini.

This is another favorite in the Entzel house. It seems to have quite a few steps, but when two of us were working on a double batch together, we had it done in no time!

This is also taken from a cookbook from our wedding...it's a local church cookbook, so you know it'll be good.

Ingredients:

 

•1/2 pkg thin spaghetti/angel hair

•1/4 c butter

•1 med onion, chopped

• 1/2 med green pepper, chopped

•2 1/2 c cooked, diced chicken

•1 can cream of chicken soup

•1/2 c milk

•1 c sour cream

•1 tsp basil

•1 carton mushrooms, diced

•1 c shredded cheddar cheese

•Parmesan cheese

 

Directions: 

1. Break spaghetti into 1 inch pieces, cook according to package instructions & drain
2. Saute onion, green pepper, & mushrooms in butter
3. Mix all ingredients together (except cheese)
4. Place in buttered 2 qt casserole dish
5. Sprinkle cheddar and Parmesan over top
6. Bake at 300 degrees F for 30 min or until hot and bubbly

For our freezer meals, I made 2 whole packages of angel hair pasta, 1 1/2 onions, 1 med green pepper, 1 large can of cream of chicken soup, approx 2 1/2 c milk, and 1 1/2-2 c sour cream.

Here's what we got:

Three pans for this one too!

 

Overall, these two recipes went pretty quickly. They're definitely doable for an evening meal when you get home from work too. Once you've got the steps down, it's much easier to get these meals made quickly. 

As always, if you try a recipe and you love it or modify it, please let me know! And I suppose you can tell me if you hate it too. Maybe just give me some suggestions on how to modify it?

Anyway, we're celebrating our anniversary today by babysitting in the morning, working on some school things, going to the doctor, and hopefully going on a date.

See you tomorrow with our plan for day 2 of meal prep!

Happy Wednesday!

 

 

What we're cooking

It's warming up again around these parts and I'm SO thankful for our grill. I don't know what it is about the spring, maybe it's the sunshine or the fact that we've been cooped up in the house all winter, but we love cooking outside whenever we have the chance.

Our grill is a Stok and we absolutely love it! It comes with inserts that can be changed out. Usually the only switching we do is for the pizza stone that came with it.

That being said, we've been cooking on the grill and when it was cooler we were still cooking inside. But here are a few recipes we've been loving and/or looking forward to using again now that it's nicer.

1 | Burgers (pretty standard)

I know burgers on the grill are pretty standard, but we love to spice them up a little. Yesterday we grilled burgers and tonight we are as well.

1 lb ground beef 80%-93% (if we use the leaner beef, we usually add an egg or some sausage to it)
1 tsp sage
1/2 tsp black pepper (freshly ground is our preference)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 T dried chopped onion
Red pepper flakes (opt)
*I also love sprinkling some cajun seasoning on my burger, especially with pepperjack cheese and fresh jalepenos*

Mix the sage, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, chopped onion, and pepper flakes into the beef. Form into 1/3 lb patties and grill approx 3-4 min per side. *longer if you want them more well done*

Top with cheese of choice.

2 | Chicken Curry

2-3 chicken breasts (diced & fried)
3-4 c water
1/4 c curry powder
1 can coconut milk
1/8 c coconut (opt)
thicken with cornstarch
fruit & veggies of choice

Fry the chicken and then add water and curry powder. Once curry powder is dissolved, add coconut milk & coconut and thicken with cornstarch. Simmer until thickened.

Serve over rice and top with fruit & veggies of your choice.

Kyle and I recently watched the show Cooked on Netflix. It's a fascinating four-part series that looks at all of the elements of cooking fire, water, air, & earth. The water segment followed pot cooking in India and one of the meals the women were making was curry. Thus, our strong desire to cook curry this weekend.

The recipe that I have is a recipe given to my mom from one of her friends who has been a missionary to Africa. So it's more of an African curry than an Indian curry.

When we make curry, we tend to only top it with fruits instead of veggies. Our favorites are: mandarin oranges, pineapple, bananas, peanuts, & coconut. Last night we ended up adding blueberries to that mixture and they were tasty!

3 | BBQ Chicken (again...standard)

1 chicken breast per person
Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy Sauce
1-2 c rice
asparagus

When we grill chicken, we tend to keep it pretty simple. One thawed chicken breast per person gets thrown on the grill for 4-5 min per side. After we flip it the first time, we add some FD's sauce to the already grilled side and continue cooking until done (internal temp of 165).

We usually serve it with a side of rice and asparagus. We coat the asparagus in olive oil and sprinkle with lemon juice (freshly squeezed is best) and some kosher salt. Bake in oven at 400 degrees, rotating every 5 min or so, until tender.

It's a super simple meal that we usually have everything on hand for.

4 | Salmon

I'm going to start this part off by saying I'm not a fish/seafood fan...BUT! I do love me a good piece of salmon. And when we first got our grill, we were stoked to find this recipe:

1 T packed brown sugar
1 T melted butter
1 T olive oil
1 T honey
1 T soy sauce
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 large salmon fillet, skin on (divided into approx 8 parts)

Mix all ingredients except salmon. Place salmon in a container, cover with marinade, and let rest for 30-60 min.

Place salmon on grill, skin side down. Brush salmon with more marinade 2-3 times. Grill on Med heat 10-20 min.

When I grill mine, I usually put 2-3 salmon pieces in tin foil and cover with the marinade. Seriously. So. Good.

And while I could go on and on and on about all of the good food we've been eating or are planning to eat, I'll just go collect the drool and figure out what we're having to eat the rest of the week.

Happy Monday!

Five on Friday

As always, linking up with A. Liz Adventures for this week's Five on Friday. Go check it out!

In our house, we like to think we are fairly proficient at quite a few things: cooking, gardening, fixing things, meal planning... But in reality, we're just mediocre at most things. But this week, we actually were ahead of the game and did our meal plan for the week! So here are five meals that we I made this week (including tonight's recipe).

Most of these meals/recipes I have pinned on Pinterest, so if you're looking for some more inspiration...head on over.


one | one-pan chicken burrito bowls

We had our pastor and his family over for supper on Monday night, so we wanted something quick and not terribly involved. So I chose this meal. I had made it once or twice, but I don't think Kyle necessarily remembered it. After Monday, he decided that it should be in our rotation.

*The original recipe is linked to the title...what I have below is what I actually did...

prep time: 10-ish min          cook time: 20-ish min          total: roughly, 30 min

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced into bite sized pieces
• 3 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of diced onion
• 1 cup of uncooked rice
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 2 1/2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
• cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper
• freshly diced tomatoes
• diced green onions
• sour cream

Directions:

1. Saute onions in olive oil until they start to soften.
2. Season diced chicken with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper.
3. Add chicken to pan and cook over medium high heat until chicken has started to brown.
4. Move chicken to one side of pan, in the other side of the pan add an additional tablespoon of olive oil and saute uncooked rice for about 2 minutes or just until some grains start to turn golden brown.
5. Stir in black beans, canned tomatoes, chicken broth, garlic powder, chili powder and cumin.
6. Bring to a simmer, cover and reduce heat to low.
7. Cook about 20 minutes or until rice is tender.
8. Season with additional salt and pepper as needed (during or after cooking)
9. Sprinkle with cheese, recover and let set for 2-3 off heat to melt cheese.
10. Garnish with fresh tomatoes, green onions, & sour cream 

We love this recipe and it's going to be on our menu fairly regularly, I anticipate.

two | salad & soup

This one was super easy. Our sweet friend, Kaia, came over for supper and we decided on having a Chef's Salad with Cheesy Broccoli Soup.

The hardest part was cutting up all of the ingredients for the salad. The soup we got at Hugo's (on sale this week, 2 for $6!), so it was an easy decision.

Salad Ingredients:
-Romaine Lettuce
-Spinach
-2 carrots
-1/2 green pepper
-2/3 baked chicken breast
-1 hard boiled egg

Soup Ingredients:
-1 bag of soup
-8 cups of water

Start to finish, this probably took around 1 hour. The only reason it took an hour was so that the chicken would be cooked all the way through.

three | no knead artisan bread 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c hot water (100*)
1/2 T salt
3/4 T active dry yeast
3 c flour (and a little more for dusting)
parchment paper

Directions:
Pour hot water into med-lg mixing bowl and sprinkle salt in.
Then distribute yeast over the surface area of the water/salt combo. Let sit for 1-2 min.
Stir slowly and then add 3 c flour. Be sure that you use exactly 3 c. Mix well with rubber scraper.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, generously dust flour on parchment paper and release dough onto floured paper.
With floured hands, fold dough in half, sprinkle with flour and fold in half again.
Form dough into ball and replace on floured parchment paper, seam side down.
Let rise for 40 min.

After 30 min, preheat oven to 425*.
After another 10 min, using a serrated knife, make three slices in top of dough.
Then put 1 c water in oven safe container and place container on bottom rack in oven.
Then place dough in oven and bake for 20-25 min. Or until golden brown on top.

Let rest on cooling rack until cool to the touch. And enjoy!

four | chicken tetrazzini

Ingredients:
½ pkg thin spaghetti
¼ c butter
1/2  med onion, chopped
2 ½ cooked, diced chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
½ c milk
1 c sour cream
1 tsp basil
1 can mushrooms
1 c grated sharp cheddar cheese
Parmesan cheese
½ med green pepper 

Directions:

Break spaghetti into 1in pieces; cook & drain. Saute onion, gr. pepper, & mushrooms in margarine. Mix all ingredients except cheese; place in buttered 2 qt casserole dish. Sprinkle cheddar cheese and then Parmesan cheese over top. Bake at 300° for 30min or until hot and bubbly.

We love this one, but it takes a little longer. So if you're meal prepping for the whole week....this is a great one to make ahead of time. Just don't bake it until the night you want to eat it.

five | spinach & artichoke pizza 

I'm so excited to try this one tonight! Look out for an IG update. I'll let you know.

Ingredients:
1 loaf bread dough (Kelly's note: I use Fettings out of Finley, ND)
8 oz fresh spinach, divided
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp onion powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
4 oz provolone cheese (1 cup. I used deli slices and chopped)
2 oz shredded low-moisture mozzarella cheese (1/2 cup)
2 oz finely shredded parmesan cheese (slightly packed 1/2 cup)
6 - 8 canned artichoke hearts, drained well and quartered
Red pepper flakes, for serving (optional)

Head on over to Cooking Classy for the directions for this pizza.

*update (4/7): not my favorite pizza...I'll probably try it again and tweak some things. Maybe it was just the mood I was in.

And as always,

Happy Friday!

4 | My passions.

Today's prompt is to explain what I'm passionate about. And I don't know about you, but that's really tough for me. My passions are extremely varied and sometimes I have a difficult time deciphering between things I love to do and others that I would call a passion.

How do I decide where my passions lie and what I simply love?

To me, passion and love vary. They vary in that if I'm passionate about something, I do love it. I long to make time for this passion each and every day.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines passion (v.):

         a. To excite or imbue with passion; to excite

What truly excites me?

 I am truly excited to spend time with my husband. I'm excited about spending time with my family. I long to show them how much I love them.  

 But what really is my passion?

 I think it's investing in others. What do I do when we've had multiple nights at home, just the two of us? I ask Kyle if we can invite someone over for supper. 

 I love to cook, but I don't invite people over because I think I'm a wonderful cook and that they'll love my food. I invite people over because I long to know them and their hearts. I long to invest in their lives. If I can put a meal in their belly and hopefully warm their hearts, I feel like I'm doing my job. If others can know that I care about them, I've fulfilled my calling.

 I believe that my calling is to invest in others. God knows what He's doing and He put that desire in my heart for a reason. 

 I also believe that He called me into teaching to invest in the lives of my students. I work at an alternative school where many students long to have someone invest in them. If I can show them that I care about them instead of only my curriculum, I've done my job. I don't desire to just teach English. I desire to teach students. 

 Who knows, my passions might change and God's calling on my life might change. But until that happens, I'll live in peace knowing that I'm called to invest in those around me.

 

Check out Brave Love Blog for more updates on the 2nd Annual Blog-tember Challenge.  

 

 

Blogtember Challenge 2015. Day 1. Day 2. Day 3. 

{Five on Friday} What I'm looking forward to...

...this weekend.

I'm looking forward to only a handful of things. That's why I decided to have my Five on Friday not be things that I'm currently loving...but things I'm looking forward to.

[one]

We are having friends over to our house tomorrow. For dinner. A turkey dinner. And yes, I do know it's not Thanksgiving or Christmas. I'm thinking about making this one?

Or maybe this one

Or possibly even this one

minus the excessive greenery

Help a girl out...which one? I'll make gravy and twice backed mashed potatoes, if that sways your decision at all.

[two]

I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time with these Friends. (see what I did there?)

[three]

In addition to friends, I'm planning to spend all of Sunday at my kitchen table (maybe the futon in the basement) with my grading spread out in front of me. I will.be.caught.up. no ifs, ands, or buts, about it. Hold me to that?

[four]

I think I'm going to start saving up for my next tattoo. So I'll start planning that out so that I can make that happen in the near-ish future. (hint: it's gonna be a family affair!)

[five]

Last, but certainly not least, I'm planning to spend some quality time with this guy:

What are your plans for the weekend? 

Since it's Friday, I'm linking up over at:

A. Liz Adventures

Hello! Happiness

The Good Life

North Carolina Charm

It's Friday and all I want to do...

...is think about food. Like seriously.

Kyle has rehearsal tonight and then we're having a guest over that we're hosting for tomorrow night's concert. So that means dinner needs to wait til they get home.

And I'm super excited to try this pizza recipe. I'm also making a standard pepperoni pizza in case our guest isn't a fan of non-traditional 'zas. (that's short for pizzas...)

So I thought that since I'm waiting, waiting, waiting to eat until my main squeeze gets home...I'd share our belated Valentine's Date.

the menu:
New York Strips
Garlic Mashed potatoes
Stuffed Artichokes
Strawberry cheesecake cupcakes

*I've never cooked artichokes before

*We've found our new fav dry rub!

*Excited for dinner*

*Kyle brought me flowers at work!

We had a great dinner together and I'm looking forward to another good one tonight. 

Happy Friday! And if you're in the upper Midwest--stay warm!

Year Goals {By the Numbers}

I don't usually do resolutions for each new year. I've seen monthly goals and I've seen year long goals. I've been thinking about what my goal(s) should be for this year.

Do I want to lose weight?
Do I want to read (school books, self-help, my Bible, etc) more?
Do I want to foster better relationships?
Do I want to pay off lots of my loans?
Do I want to grow more as a teacher?

There are so many things that I want to achieve. But I've decided that I want to have just one goal.

Be the best that I can be.

That's my one goal for 2015. I want to be the best:

*wife, teacher, writer, friend, daughter, sister, cousin, aunt, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, person*

that I can be.

The hardest part about this goal is trying to find ways to achieve it. So what's happening this year, is I'm setting small goals to help me achieve my ultimate goal.

One day a week, I'm going to send a message to a friend or family member letting them know how much they mean to me.
Two days a week, I'm going to sit down and have some me time. No distractions. For 30 minutes.
Three days a week, I'm going to the gym. It can be for 20 min or 120 minutes (hah!).
Four days a week, I'm going to bring my own coffee to work. No more buying coffees regularly.
Five days a week, I'm going to cook homemade suppers (seven if we're really ambitious).
Five days a week, we're going to bed earlier for school.
Six days a week, I'm going to read out of an actual book before I go to bed.
Seven days a week, I'm going to show my husband how much I love him (I'm sure there'll be a series of posts of how that's going...)

I know there are more things I'm going to do...if I want to be a better writer and teacher, maybe I'll commit to reading 4 teaching books this year and writing in this space a few times a week. If I don't write here, I'll have to write somewhere else too.

Stay tuned. 

I'm sure I'll have more updating to do on this goal. 

A favorite coming your way!

Alright, I took a look at my recipe page last night and it looked awfully sparse. So I decided that today I would share our plans for supper with you.

Unfortunately the mr. is not feeling well tonight, so he'll be out on both times we've had this meal. But my brother loved it last time. It's a wonderful comfort food.

Tonight I'm making Kentucky Hot Brown Bake. I found it online around 6 months ago, pinned it, and there it sat. Until September.

Now it's October and we're having it again. Winning in the Entzel house!

Click on the link above to see the original recipe. Below, I'll share how I made it last time and how I'll make it again tonight.

**If you read this post before I make supper tonight, stay tuned for photos.**

Ingredient list:
• 1 tube crescent rolls
• 1/2 lb turkey deli meat
• Pepperoni (as much as you'd like to layer--we like pepperoni in our house)
• 8 slices Provolone cheese
• 4 Roma tomatoes, sliced thin (I used 2 tomatoes per layer)
• 4 eggs, beaten (When preparing the eggs, I whipped up two at a time so I wouldn't over-use and run out)
• a pinch of oregano

Directions:
1. Unroll the crescent dough and separate into 2 squares
2. Place one square in bottom of 8" pan that is greased or lined with parchment paper
     I really liked the parchment paper method--easier clean up!
3. Press 1 dough square to fit pan
4. Layer with half the turkey, pepperoni, cheese and tomatoes
5. Pour half the eggs over the top.
6. Repeat the layers.
7. Top with remaining dough square.
8. Pour remaining eggs over top.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, covered with foil.
10. Remove foil and bake for another 20-25 minutes.
11. Let sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before serving.

**We served it with marinara sauce for those who aren't fond of straight tomatoes.


-If you try this recipe and use a different variation, I'd love to hear how it turned out!

Summer...is it too soon?

I know, I know, I know...it's only fall. But as we've been house hunting, I've been looking forward to next summer. I REALLY want a garden next summer. I also just REALLY want a house. So...this is my list of things I'm looking forward to about next summer. By the Numbers.

via

Hydrangeas are some of my favorites!

via

--a garden

via

--spending time at a lake

via

--going to Duluth

via

--seeing family in Denver

There are so many things I want to do next summer. I'm hoping that we'll be able to do all of these things. But more than anything, I'd love to make more salsa, jelly, and apple butter!

I'll add updates as necessary. Have a happy Monday tomorrow!

I'm still around!

Just to let you know that I've not fallen off the face of the planet, here's a little look at what we've been up to lately...

We made apple butter...

Here's the stuff to prove it

We made plum jelly...

And we even...

...went on a date.

To see Paul and Babe...

Happy Tuesday! (almost Wednesday)

Taco Soup.

Husband and I look for recipes that can be made quickly, eaten for multiple meals, and will be filling. This recipe here is from our dear friend Aubrey who also loves to cook. This is a "dump it in and see how it goes" kind of recipe. What she told me is that the "key is a jar of black bean and corn salsa from Wal-Mart." So without further ado, here's Aubrey's Taco Soup. (with Kelly's modifications)

Ingredients:
Hamburger (ground turkey, chicken, etc)
Veggies of your choosing (I used onion, green pepper, and corn)
1 jar of Black Bean and Corn Salsa
1 can Pinto Beans
1 can White Beans
1 can of corn
1 can Rotel (your choice depending on how hot you want it)
Chicken Broth (water works too)

Step 1:
Brown hamburger. (I used 1.5 lbs) Add 1 pkg taco seasoning according to directions on pkg. While browning hamburger (or ground turkey, chicken, etc), start sauteeing 1/2-1 whole onion, peppers of your choosing, and any other veggie that you'll want, in a big stock pot.

Step 2:
Add taco meat to your veggies in your stock pot. Stir in your jar of salsa, corn, beans, and Rotel. Keep on Med-Low heat and add your broth or water. Add enough liquid so that your soup is as thick or thin as you desire.

Step 3:
Simmer on stove until it's hot or you're ready to eat. Your choice! Serve with cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips, or plain. And enjoy!

When Aubrey sent this recipe to me (which I modified), I was a little skeptical. I don't LOVE tacos like husband does. I just liked them. But once I tasted it, I was a believer! This will now be a staple in our household this winter!

If you try this and modify it, please comment and let me know! I'd love to try new variations!

*Happy Friday!