Flavorful Stew and Changed Minds

I used to hate sweet potatoes.

No, hate isn't quite the right word.

I despised them.  Loathed them.

No candied yams at Thanksgiving, no sweet potato fries- none of that for me, thank you.

I was resolute in my stance that they were one of the world's most disgusting vegetables.

Then I found myself the mother of a picky eater.

My son is incredibly limited in the foods that he will eat, and, while I will spare you the details, trying to convince him to branch out was a traumatizing experience for all involved.

Yay for sensory issues!

Anyway, it became evident early on that if I was going to get that child to eat anything with any redeeming nutritional value at all I was going to have to sneak it into him- a task that is far easier said than done.

Corn Chowder and Shocking Discoveries

My husband dropped a bombshell on me a few days ago- a big one.

Something truly shocking.

After over nine years together he decided to tell me something major he'd never shared before...

corn chowder is one of his favorite things in the world.

Can you believe it?

Nine years!  It's like I don't even know the man.

Seriously though, I have cooked more meals than I can possibly begin to tally over that time and not once has he thought to tell me how much he'd enjoy it if I'd just make some simple corn chowder.

You know I had to right that wrong immediately.

Busy Schedules, Crock Pots, and Navy Bean Soup

I can't believe I haven't written anything in two months.

Ok, that's not exactly correct.  I have written a lot in the past two months!

Papers for history.  Papers for art.  Papers for math.

I have written loads over the past couple of months, just nothing food-related.  I'm not going to go back and check, but I'm fairly certain that hasn't happened a single time in the past 5 1/2 years I've kept this blog.

I've been gleefully busy, I forgot how much fun school is.

Can I make being a student a profession?

I think if I ever win the lottery I'll split my time between globetrotting and taking classes.

I 'm fairly certain that I would be incredible at that job.  :-)

Anyway, so I've been neglectful of the blog as I've been finding my groove in balancing school and household.

Chicken Noodle Soup (In Which I Protest Fall)

I refuse to believe that Fall will be here soon.

I'm protesting.

Do you hear me?

PROTESTING.

I will use up every last day in our pool before the weather gets cool.

I will continue to make ice cream and grill out and make warm weather food.

I literally don't own a pair of pants that fits me right now as I lost weight over the summer and I'm just flat out refusing to buy any until the weather is actually cold.

Do you hear me?  Jeans and Chucks may be my cool-weather uniform but I'm not giving in and admitting defeat and to the end of summer just yet.

While I'm normally starting to get just a wee bit excited about blog planning for Fall meals and cool-weather treats by this time in the summer I'm just not there yet.

Not at all.

Yet...today I made chicken noodle soup for dinner.

Butternut Squash Soup: Another Score For The Soup File

I don't recall eating much squash growing up.

Correction: I don't think I ate squash growing up.

I remember one time my mom made a spaghetti squash that she bought from our local pumpkin farm.  She said that my dad loved spaghetti squash and so we were all going to give it a try.  I could be wrong...it may have been buttered and seasoned?  But to the best of my recollection it was just a pile of those funny yellow "noodles" on my plate.

Pretty sure I didn't finish my serving.

These days my tune has changed quite a bit and I really enjoy branching out and trying new ways to prepare squash.  It's all new to me actually.  :-)

Do you remember that Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai I made a couple of years ago?

So delicious!  Also super popular over on Allrecipes ever since it was published- 52 reviews and counting!  :-)

Cool Days and White Chicken Chili

Can I just tell you how excited I am to feel the weather cooling down as we move into fall?

I'm ready for sweater weather, for sure.

Gray days, a chill in the air...it's time for soup.

I've definitely been taking advantage of my crockpot a lot already this month and my soup file is well on it's way to being stocked for the season.  I got my Pumpkin Turkey Soup fix early this year!

I've made a lot of chilis over the years but one version that I had never tried- much less made- is white chicken chili.  It's one of those things I've heard of and keep meaning to make a batch of and just never got around to- until now.

Beef Stew and Grandma's Cooking

So in my last post I made mention of my Grandma Martin and her cooking skills.

She had quite a repertoire- none of it fancy, all of it freaking delicious.

One thing that really sticks out in my memory- in addition to her pizza, goulash, butter noodles, and can of McCormick MSG hanging out on the windowsill in the kitchen- is her beef stew.

I LOVE beef stew.

So much so that when I was a vegetarian for 5 or 6 years there in high school and slightly afterward I asked my mom to make me a separate batch of beefless stew when she would make it.  FYI that's called potatoes and carrots.

But whatever.

Fall Days and Soup Beans

My weekends lately have been full of family, football, and food (hey, look at that alliteration!) and I am absolutely loving it!!  This time of the year is almost magical as far as I'm concerned.  Life gets a little cozier, we all snuggle in a little as the air chills a bit, and our thoughts start to drift towards the upcoming holidays.  Don't get me wrong- I'm all for shorts, flip flops, and the warm sun on my skin but at the same time...in my mind autumn is where it's at.

Last night, just before bed, it struck me that it would be really nice to come home from church to a nice warm batch of soup beans and cornbread and I threw some in the crock pot.

I think I had beans on the mind- as the internet was quick to remind me, yesterday was Pioneer Day back in my hometown.    A day for kids to dress up like pioneers, locals to make floats for a hometown parade, and the city park to be absolutely FLOODED with people lining up for the free bean feed.  And really, when it comes to Pioneer Day, it's all about those beans.  So good.

Fall Days and Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin Turkey Soup is one of my favorite things to eat in the entire world.  Creamy, filling, spicy, and flavorful...mmmm... Every year I eagerly await the first day of the season on which we are graced with weather cool enough to eat soup so I can make a big batch.

Well friends, that day has finally come this year and I'm loving it!

I took advantage of the awesome weather and made up a giant batch of soup after church yesterday- enough for a few meals and leftovers to freeze for later when I need another fix!

You know, I've actually written about this soup before, briefly- two years ago  this month actually.  One thing that I can honestly say has improved a great deal in the 3+ years that I've been at this blogging thing?  My photography.  I'm far from a professional or anything, but seriously...my last picture was pretty unappealing.  I've wanted to retake it and do this soup justice ever since.

Ridiculously Easy Wonton Soup with a Kick

I'm seriously shocked at myself.

I have absolutely no idea how I've managed to go so long without sharing this recipe with you, I honestly thought I had written about it a really long time ago!  While I was writing up that last post about Cheeseburger Egg Rolls I searched the blog for recipes I'd posted that used wonton wrappers and this one was no where to be found- I've been remiss, my apologies :-)

This is not one that should have been forgotten!

This recipe is one of my own, though it is one of the (many, at this point!) recipes I've had published on Allrecipes.com.  Almost all of the reviews have been 5 stars, which makes me pretty happy!

Chilly Weather and Warm Meals

Around this time every year I suddenly remember that I own a slow cooker- three of them actually.  We had a bit of a yours, mine, and ours situation with kitchen gadgets when my husband and I got married, with neither one of us willing to get rid of our slow cookers. :-)

You would think I'd remember my small army of Crock Pots during the Summer when I don't want to heat up the house, but no, that would just make too much sense, right?

Instead, when the weather turns chilly and the skies go gray the thought of warm, filling meals entices me to drag the slow cooker(s) out of their warm-weather hibernation and put them to good use.

This month I was asked by Allrecipes to make a couple of slow cooker recipes from the Reynolds recipe collection on their site.  Of course I was happy to help!

Touchdown Chili Gets A Johnsonville Makeover

There are few companies that I trust more than Johnsonville.  That's quite a statement, right?

Not just saying it.  For reals.  It's true.


I've had SO many good experiences with them, both as an Allstar and just a regular consumer.  These guys care.  I really just don't know how else to say it.

They are always quick to do whatever they can to please and care for their customers.  They're just a great company to deal with- did I mention they really make great products too?  Because they do.  Worth every cent to purchase their products rather than store brand.

Needless to say, I was THRILLED to be given the opportunity to work with them again this month through Allrecipes.

Bacon Cheeseburger Soup

I've been on the lookout for new soups as the weather has gotten colder and stumbled across the idea of bacon cheeseburger soup.  

Interesting...enough to pique my attention, at least...

So I searched.  I scoured the internet- Google, Pinterest...looking for the PERFECT cheeseburger soup.  Some were thickened with flour, some had potatoes, all variations on a theme.

I finally settled on a version that wasn't bulked up with a bunch of extra carbs and sounded yummy.  Of course, I can't help but to mess with most recipes...I taste and play with ingredients until I'm happy with it, and this recipe was no exception.  I'm including my version at the bottom, but Laura from Real Mom Kitchen gets the credit for the original version for sure!

This is a fun recipe, certainly not gourmet, but tasty and kid-friendly.  More filling than a Quarter Pounder and more flavorful!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

In the past couple of weeks my family has spent a lot of time on the road.  A 16 hour drive across a few states (and back...), 2 nights in a hotel, some awesome time with family- and LOTS of meals on the road (remember those sandwiches I wrote about?)

 

I was starting to go through cooking withdrawals- I needed to get back in the kitchen!

So yesterday, as my family settled back into our home and rested, I made soup.

Is there anything more comforting on a cold day than a warm bowl of soup?

I had a hodgepodge of ingredients in the fridge after our trip and didn't want to leave the house to go to the store.  I had pretty much exactly what I needed for this and it came out wonderfully!

Tis the Season for Simmering Soups

When I was a kid my mom sometimes made beef barley soup.  It was so warm, so comforting...I have the recipe, but I've never made it myself.  One of these days I might, but I think part of me really doesn't want to screw up that memory and association with my mom.

Click to see the recipe on Allrecipes.com!

I bought a box of barley on clearance at the grocery store a while back without any real purpose for it in mind and it's just been hanging out in my pantry, getting shoved farther and farther to the back behind all of the other random ingredients I haven't found the time to play with yet.  I can't think of any time I've ever actually eaten barley aside from my mom's soup!  No wonder it was on clearance!

With my pantry getting messy and far too full, I decided to find a use for that barley.  I came across a recipe for chicken barley soup and decided to give it a try- definitely a good decision!

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Everywhere...

It's the time of year when pumpkin-flavored everything is everywhere, and my house is no exception.  It's one of my favorite flavors any time of year, but I really embrace it in the Fall.  I've been cooking with it, baking with it, playing with it :-)  

Lotsa pumpkin.

My daughter has been begging to carve a pumpkin for weeks now...I finally caved a few days ago, knowing full well that even now there's little chance a carved pumpkin will survive until Halloween.  lol sometimes I have to make myself push logic aside for the sake of having a little fun with my daughter, though.  Life will go on if her pumpkin rots before Halloween arrives- or we'll just have to carve another ;-)

Comfort Foods and Loving Letters

I love pretty much everything about Fall...the weather, the decor, being able to wear sweaters, the food. 

We will be hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year (it makes way more sense than what we normally do, which is prepare EVERYTHING at our house and then haul it over to my MIL's) and I've already planned the entire menu, appetizers to dessert.  I have a new tablecloth and napkins hanging out in my cart on Amazon.  I'm pinning Thanksgiving centerpieces like a madwoman on Pinterest.

Click on the picture to see the recipe at Allrecipes.com!

I'm going a little crazy, right?

I know.  I'm kind of ok with that, though.  :-)

Since I still have 54 more days until T-Day (but who's counting?), I'm taking full advantage of the Autumn weather until it gets here.  That's why I decided to make turkey soup with dumplings for my family last night.  What's better than warm soup on a Fall night, right?

Ok, so I did it yet again…

I've neglected my blog and have a huge backlog of photos to post with absolutely nothing tying them together.  *sigh* Sorry.  I've pared it down to my favorite photos from the last couple of months and I promise to do better in the future!  For now, I hope you enjoy the random pictures I have to share today :-)  

As always, clicking on any picture will take you to the recipe!

Sonora Chicken- this was so easy and delicious!  Turned out so well, will definitely be trying this one again.

I Take Way Too Many Pictures

I haven't just been baking lately, I've been doing plenty of cooking for my family too.  I've tried out some really delicious recipes and (of course) taken pictures.

I'll be honest…I love to cook, but I might love taking pictures of food even more.

Sometimes I'll make a recipe just to take a picture of it.

lol I'm not normal

Anyway, I just posted about all of the Christmas fun I've been having so I don't have much new to say, but I did want to share these pictures and recipes with you!  

My husband loves chili dogs.  Though he is quite a sport about putting up with a never-ending barage of new recipes, there are two things he consistently asks for- chili dogs and tacos.  I'd yet to find the perfect chili recipe for hot dogs, so I decided to try a new one.  This one came pretty close to perfect and is going to be my go-to recipe when he requests chili dogs in the future!