Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup

It has been unseasonably cold here lately! I’m talking in the teens and 20’s in the morning! We even had snow already! What is that about?? I know for those of you in the North and North East this is no big deal, but here in the Pacific Northwest it’s a BIG deal! I think I’m actually looking forward to the rain right now because that means it will warm up a little!

It definitely feels like Christmas though, and I like that! I’m excited for Christmas this year I don’t know why specifically, we don’t have any big plans or anything I’m just in the Spirit this year. Maybe because it’s going to be our last Christmas here, whatever it is I’m ready!

Before all the Christmas Feasting begins though I think we need some comfort food that is warm and yummy and good for you too! I made this Vegetable Beef Soup the other day and it was SOOO Good! Just what we needed to warm up!

Put a pot of this on the stove, and snuggle up on the couch and watch your favorite Christmas movie!

Ingredients:

1lb Ground Beef (you could use stew meat instead)

½ Onion, chopped

3-4 Carrots, peeled and sliced

1 cup frozen Peas

1 cup frozen Corn

1 can diced Tomatoes

2 cans Tomato Sauce

6 cups Beef Broth

2 cups water

Ditalini Pasta

Salt & Pepper to Taste

Instructions:

In a large sauce pan brown the ground beef until no longer pink, add in the onions and carrots cook until the onions are translucent, add in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, beef broth and water. Then add in the pasta, stir and bring to a full boil. Reduce the heat to medium and add in the Corn and Peas. Let cook for about 10 minutes more.

Serve with a nice piece of bread and if you want top the soup with a little shredded parmesan cheese!

*keep in mind you can add any vegetables you like to this!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Sopapilla Cheesecake

Can you guys believe that it is already almost Thanksgiving? I mean how did that EVEN happen? You know that means that Christmas is just right around the corner too right? And I don't know about you but I haven't started my shopping yet! Every year I say I'm going to start in January and every year I don't!

Since Thanksgiving is a week away have you planned your menu? That's one step I'm done with! I've even bought some of the things I need! Yay Me! If you haven't planned your menu and you still need a dessert you've got to try this Pumpkin Sopapilla Cheesecake! I've made the Sopapilla Cheesecake several times and it's always a big hit! But I knew pumpkin would make it a great fall dessert! And I wasn't the only one if you search for it on Pinterest you will find several recipes for it! I used the recipe I already had and just added pumpkin to it!

Ingredients:

1-8oz pkg Cream Cheese
1 pkg Crescent Rolls
3/4 cup Sugar
1tsp Vanilla
2/3 cup Pumpkin Puree

1/4 cup Butter
1/2 TBSP Cinnamon
Pinch of Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/3 cup Sugar

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a 8in square pan place 1/2 of the crescent roll dough on the bottom. Meanwhile, In a mixing bowl combine the Cream Cheese, Sugar and the Vanilla, mix until combined. Spread the cream cheese mixture to cover the crescent rolls. Top with the other 1/2 of the crescent rolls. Evenly pour the melted butter over the top of the dough. In a small bowl combine the cinnamon and 1/3 cup sugar. Sprinkle over top of the butter cover completely. Bake for 30 minutes or until top is Golden brown. Let cool for 20 minutes and the refrigerate until ready to serve.

Enjoy

Biscuits and Gravy Rolls

Whew ok I missed last week, because my life is CRAZY lol. You would think as a SAHM I would have loads of free time and that I would be creating recipes and crafting and cleaning but the reality is at least lately that none of that happens! I feel like lately I am constantly running around either picking up or dropping Drew off or really WAITING on him to be done with practice or youth group or school. When I'm not doing that I'm going to meetings or events or preparing for those things for our FRG. So I didn't get a post written last week. I did do some PINing though! And I found this great recipe on the Betty Crocker web site!

Biscuits and Gravy Rolls, sounds good right? I love biscuits and gravy growing up it was one of my favorite breakfasts, and really it still is. I haven't ever messed with my recipe, but I thought it would be fun to try something new. And it was a great recipe! The entire family loved it too! This would be a great breakfast on Thanksgiving Morning as you sit and watch the Parade!

Ingrediants:

Rolls:

1lb Sausage

2 1/2 cups Bisquick

2/3 cup Milk

1tsp Sugar

Gravy:

Sausage drippings

2-3 TBSP Flour

1 can Evaporated Milk

1/2 cup Milk

Directions:

In a skillet, cook the sausage over medium heat, until browned and no longer pink. Spoon the sauasge onto a plate with a paper towel to absorb the grease. Keeping about 2 TBSP of the drippings in the pan.  Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease 13x9-inch pan.(I used and 11x7 inch pan) In a mixing bowl, stir Bisquick, milk and sugar until dough forms. Place dough on surface lightly sprinkled with Bisquick mix; knead until smooth, about 10 turns. Roll out dough to 15x9-inch rectangle. Spread crumbled sausage on rectangle. Roll up dough tightly from one long side; pinch seam to seal. Cut roll into 12 equal slices(I only got 8 rolls). Place cut side down in pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. While the biscuits are cooking get started on the gravy. Reheat the drippings over medium heat,  Add flour, stirring until the flour is absorbed. Slowly add canned milk, and then the regular milk stirring constantly. Cook about 5 minutes or until thickened. Spoon gravy over tops of the rolls add salt and pepper to taste.

                     Enjoy

Halloween Round Up

I thought it would be fun to share a few different posts about Halloween. It's a busy time of year for us right now and I knew I wasn't going to have time to do any new Halloween projects before Halloween.

 I hope everyone has a Happy and Safe Halloween

Here's a few of my top viewed Halloween Posts

1.Halloween Snack Mix

2.Slimy Worms

3. Trashy Spider Webs

I may have to make these again this year! 

Enjoy

Apple Cider Cocktail

Every year that we’ve lived here we’ve gone to the Apple Squeeze. It’s a local festival where you can use an apple press to squeeze your own apple juice! It’s really really good! And always a lot of fun. I was trying to think of new drink to make with some of the juice. Last year I shared this Pumpkin Spiced Hot Apple Cider. The Hubster ended up going to a school last minute and I completely forgot about going. I was so disappointed too. Because I had this great drink I wanted to share with you.

I decided I could still share it, I would just have to buy the juice. Which is ok and still produced a really great drink.

The original recipe that I had found on Pinterest called for a few things I couldn’t find so I improvised, and I loved it! It’s a really refreshing drink and you can make it alcoholic or not depending on who you are serving it to. I think this would be a fun drink to serve at Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

1 quart Apple Juice/Cider

4 Pears Juiced

24oz Ginger Ale

Applejack (optional)

Apples for garnish

Directions:

Combine all the Juices and Ginger Ale into a pitcher. Fill each glass with Ice. If making the alcoholic version add 1.5oz of Applejack to each glass. Pour the Juice over the ice and stir. Add a few slices of apple as a garnish.

Enjoy

Fall Burlap Wreath

Have you all settled into your school routines? I’m still struggling with the getting up so much earlier! It’s tough! I’m even a morning person and I’m having a hard time with it! I’ve never been one to drink coffee on a daily basis and it has become an every morning thing! Some mornings it takes two cups to make me feel like I’m ready to go!

I am enjoying all the alone time though, at first I was like WHAT AM I GONNA DO ALL DAY? But now (6 weeks into the school year) I’m getting into my groove! We have about 4 more weeks of football and then Drew will be home earlier and I will have to figure out a new routine! In the meantime I plan on getting a bunch of stuff done!

This week I finally finished a wreath that I’ve been working on for the last month! It’s a bubble wreath using burlap. I’d seen them on Pinterest a million times and I really wanted to try to make one! I had to look at a few different tutorials and then I just kind of did it the way that worked best for me! I’m really happy with the results too.

Materials Used:

Wire Wreath Frame

4 rolls of burlap

Floral wire

Flowers

Directions:

I folded the burlap in half and attached it to the wreath frame using floral wire. I attached it on a different level of the frame each time. I varied the length of the burlap as well. When it was finished I attached the flowers using the floral wire. I also attached a few of the leaves from the flower stem using the wire in the leaves to secure it to the frame.

Enjoy

Grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly

 To me peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are just a classic, and since we are back in the swing of things with school I thought I would share this great way to eat the classic PB&J!

(On a totally random side note, do any of you have kiddos old enough to remember the show PB and J Otter? I always liked that one!)

 I mean what’s not to love right? Well unless you don’t like peanut butter, actually my oldest nephew doesn’t, which is CRAZY town to me and of course I guess people with peanut allergies probably don’t like it ok, ok so there are people who don’t like it but well I do! I thought I would do a little twist on the classic sandwich, and make it a Grilled PB&J. Like grilled cheese but well not of course.

My Mom actually made this for us when she came to visit last year. I’d never even thought of doing it and it was so good! The peanut butter gets all gooey and just awesome.

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 slices Bread (just use your favorite)

Peanut Butter

Jelly

Butter, softened

Here’s how you make it:

Heat a skillet over medium heat, while it’s heating up cover the outside of the bread with butter. Spread the inside with Peanut Butter and Jelly, how much is up to you. Put the two pieces of bread together Peanut Butter to Jelly of course, butter on the outside. Place in the skillet and cook until golden brown, flip and continue to cook until both sides are golden brown. Serve warm, my favorite is with regular potato chips!

Enjoy

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Biscuits

I posted this recipe last year but thought it was the perfect time of year to share it again!

 I think I may need to whip up a batch too!

 The other day I saw a recipe on Pioneer Woman for pumpkin cinnamon rolls. They sounded so good but I really didn't have the time to make regular cinnamon rolls, nor did I want to wait that long to eat them! I decided to see if I could tweak the the Cinnamon Roll Biscuits I made this past summer. It's super easy too even easier than the regular recipe!

Ingredients:

3-4 cups Bisquick

1/4 cup Sugar

1 can Pumpkin Purée

1/4 cup Butter, melted

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon 

1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

Frosting:

1 8oz package Cream Cheese

1 cup Powdered Sugar

b 1 tsp Vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the Pumpkin, and Bisquick until pumpkin is thoroughly mixed in and dough ball has formed. Scoop out the dough onto a lightly flowered surface. Sprinkle with flour and roll out into a 16x12 in rectangle. Brush 2 TBSP of the melted butter over the dough. Then combine the spices and brown sugar and spread them over the dough. Roll the doughStarting at short side, roll up tightly; pinch edge of dough to seal well. Cut into 1 1/2-inch slices. In pan, place slices, cut sides down. Brush with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter, Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pan. In small bowl, mix powdered sugar and whipping cream until smooth. Spread glaze over rolls. Serve warm

FALL Mantle Decor

FALL IS HERE! YAY! 

I love Fall, I’m not sure if it’s because my birthday is in the fall or if it’s because the weather is beautiful and the trees are so pretty, whatever the reason I’m just glad it’s Fall!

I love having a mantle! It’s so much fun to decorate for all the different seasons. I decided to get my fall décor out last week, and I realized that I didn’t have enough to fill up the mantle the way that I wanted it to look! I knew I had a few orange pumpkins from the dollar store so I knew I could add them, but I really wanted something other than just a plain orange pumpkin. Looking through all my craft supplies I found some gold paint, and thought I would give it a try. 

Now I’m not usually a gold kinda person, in my decorating or my jewelry, but I thought I would try it. I’m so glad I did too because I love the gold with all the yellows and oranges in the leaves on my mantle. Just goes to show you that it’s good to try new things because you might just like it!

After I had added the newly painted gold pumpkins I thought I still needed a little something, so I went to Hobby Lobby (of course) and got a bunch of wheat stalks. I love them they really added a fall element that makes the mantle look complete to me.

What’s your favorite thing about Fall?

                                                                                  Enjoy

Easy Boston Cream Pie

Finally I’m getting back to doing my blog thing! I really was planning on being back weeks ago, but my plans got derailed a little. And then school started and I wasn’t ready for that! I mean really getting up at 6am is not my thing! I’m a morning person but this is testing me! I have so much “free” time now while Man-Child is at school from 7:20 until 5:30 when football is over! It’s a little crazy to me! I’ve actually had a hard time getting back into my groove. But I feel like I’m getting back in the swing of things.

I made this dessert for my Mom in California for her birthday this summer, it was a big hit with everyone and was so simple I knew I had to make it again and share it with you. Originally I had planned to make this as a We survived the first week of school but that didn’t happen, it ended up being just a middle of the week, random cake! And I'm completely fine with that!

Ingredients:

1 Pound Cake

1 pkg Vanilla Pudding (prepared according to the directions for Pie)

1 tub cool whip

1 cup Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Thaw the pound cake and slice in half length wise, Make the pudding according to the package directions for PIE and let chill until set up. Meanwhile take the tub of cool whip and microwave for 30 sec, take out and stir in the chocolate chips, return to the microwave for 30 sec, remove and stir, continue to do that until the chocolate chips are melted. Let cool for a few minutes.

Spread the pudding over the bottom layer of cake, place the top of the cake onto the pudding. Pour the Chocolate Ganache over the top of the cake, chill until ready to serve. 

Enjoy

Summer Got in the Way

So remember how I said I was going to post once a week during the summer and well then I did like once but then I haven't posted anything since? Yeah know why? Summer that's why! It's been crazy, not bad crazy just busy crazy and good crazy! We've had family visit and friends visit, then we went to visit family and friends and I just decided it was too much to keep up with everything! So I let my blog slide for the summer!

It's been a great summer though! So many great memories made! Ones we will cherish and ones we will tell over and over again. Like the one about me falling out of the raft on our rafting trip, yep fun times there! Or maybe the one about the leopard pants I couldn't convince anyone to try on, or how we maybe slightly looked like a paligamist family when we rented a 15 passenger van while my Mom & sister and all the kids were here! Of course there was "freckles" which will forever more be a funny inside joke with my bestie and her family!  And I for one will cherish the baby cuddles I got to enjoy! So many good memories!

So as summer is winding down and we get ready to start Drew's first year of  (gulp) HIGH SCHOOL I am going to get more focused on my blog and find some cool posts to share with you! But no promises I'm going to get any more posts up in the next few weeks, cause well...SUMMER!

Blackberry Sun Tea

I can’t believe that they have school supplies out already in all the stores, I feel like summer is just getting to the good part, and yet it’s almost over. Soon we will be back to school lunches and football games and falling leaves and apple cider… which really I mean won’t be that bad. But I’m trying to enjoy this crazy warm summer that we’ve been having this year and I’m not really ready for it to be almost over!

I still want to sit outside and sip iced cold sun tea and feel the warmth of the sun on my face! And with all that in mind I decided to JAZZ up my regular Sun Tea! I like my Sun Tea just plain usually no sugar no lemon no honey just good ol’ Sun Tea. But I saw this recipe on Pinterest for Raspberry Sun Tea and while the link for it ended going nowhere I decided to try to make a recipe for it subbing in blackberries for the raspberries.

It ended up being really good and refreshing!

Ingredients:

Sun Tea (4-5 tea bags to 1 gallon of water)

2 cups Blackberries

½ cup Sugar

Ice

Directions:

In a small bowl combine the berries and Sugar and smash up the berries. Cover and let sit in the refrigerator for a few hours to bring out the juices of the berries. Strain the berries to remove the seeds (I didn’t do this because I couldn’t find my mesh strainer) In a drinking glass add ice, 2-3 TBSP of the Berry’s and Top with the Sun Tea, stir and enjoy.

ENJOY

Summer

Ok y'all Summer is supposed to be relaxing a peaceful right?! WRONG! It has been crazy busy for us this summer! We had family up for 2 weeks and friends coming up in another week then we are going to see more family for a few weeks, and Man-Child has football 3 days a week and I have my FRG stuff and whew... Is it September yet?! No? Well really I'm not ready for that either, but when you throw blogging in on top of all the other stuff I've been feeling a little overwhelmed!

So I decided that instead of sharing a new post 3 times a week I am going to cut back to just once a week. Then once school starts we will see what happens!

So go out enjoy your summer vacations, find a little time to relax and unwind, I know I'm going to try to find mine!

                                                                      ENJOY

Hot Dogs 3 Ways

OH MY GOODNESS, it is HOT I mean H-O-T hot! Ok so maybe not for a good portion of you reading this, but for the Pacific Northwest it is! We are averaging mid 80’s and it’s supposed to climb up into the 90’s almost every day this week. No big deal you say? Well remember our average temps this time of year are usually in the mid 70’s. So pretty much no one has air conditioning or ceiling fans! So we are sweltering.

In the midst of all this heat you still have to feed your family, at least that’s what they tell me, so I’ve elected to use the grill more nights than not. Cause seriously my oven isn’t getting turned on any time soon!

A few weeks ago we had hotdogs, 3 different ways, and they were all so good. So if it’s too hot to turn on your stove tonight, try one of these hotdogs, heck why not try all 3!

Ingredients:

Hotdogs

Buns

BLT HOT DOG:

Bacon

Lettuce

Tomato

Mayonnaise

CHILI CHEESE DOG:

Chili

Cheese

NACHO DOG:

Shredded Cheese

Jalapenos

Cilantro

Salsa

Sour Cream (I forgot this one)

Directions:

Select which hotdog you are going to make then top with appropriate toppings! Have fun with it! Do what the Hubster did and make an EVERYTHING DOG. Yep you guessed it he put everything on one hotdog! YUM! My favorite though was the BLT dog. Give them a try and let me know what you think

Enjoy