what's for dinner: baked potato soup (crockpot!)

I'm in love with this baked potato soup.  It was really, really good.

I will warn you that this makes quite a bit of soup.  So if you're a two-person family like us, you might want to either cut down on the recipe or prepare yourself to have a lot of leftovers. 

I hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Baked Potato Soup - Slow Cooker

from Mama Loves Food!

5 lbs. russet potatoes, washed but not peeled & cut into 1/2" cubes

1 lg. yellow onion, diced

10 cloves of garlic (whole, crushed, or minced - I used minced)

8 C. chicken stock (yes, all of it)

16 oz. cream cheese

1 Tbsp. seasoned salt or all-purpose seasoning

Bacon, cheddar cheese, or whatever else you use for a garnish

Add potatoes, onion, garlic, seasoning, and chicken stock to your slower cooker.  Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10 hours.  Remove and puree the garlic cloves (if you used them whole) along with 1/2 to 1/3 of the soup and then reintroduce to the crockpot.  (Since I used minced, I skipped this step.)  Stir in cream cheese and melt.  Stir every 10-15 minutes until well blended.  Top with your garnishes.

sugary goodness: avalanche bars

I had every intention of sending these Avalanche Bars with CJ to work.  Needless to say, they didn't make it.  In my defense though, this didn't make the typical 9x13" pan, so I guess that makes it better?

Avalanche Bars

from Cookies & Cups

12 oz. white chocolate chips

1/4 C. creamy peanutbutter

3 C. Rice Krispies

1 1/2 C. mini marshmallows

1/4 C. mini chocolate chips

Microwave your white chocolate chips for 1 minute.  Stir and continue in 30 second intrevals until melted.

Combine your peanut butter with the melted chocolate and add your Rice Krispies.

Now, this is where I deviated from the recipe:

It calls for letting it cool 15-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.  Then you're supposed to add the marshmallows and mini chocolate chips.

That seemed like a lot of hassle, so I went ahead and just mixed everything together.  As a result, my avalanche bars didn't look quite as presentable as they did on the other blog, but I achieved the same result for less time.  Win.

what's for dinner: walking tacos

First, isn't this bowl awesome?  I'm pretty much in love with the handles.  And the color.  It can be yours if you visit The Container Store.  I'm pretty much in love with that store too.

Second, I realize what's in the bowl may not look the most appetizing, but it's good stuff.  It's The Pioneer Woman's version of walking tacos (she calls it Frito Chili Pie).  I'm pretty sure every high school concession stand sells these, but I'm pretty sure they don't go to as much trouble and it's not nearly as good.  This version is definitely worth the time.

Frito Chili Pie

The Pioneer Woman

2 lbs. ground chuck (I used regular beef)

3 cloves garlic, minced (optional)

12-14 oz. tomato sauce

10 oz. Rotel

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. oregano

1 Tbsp. cumin

2 Tbsp. chili powder

14 oz. kidney beans, drained and rinsed

14 oz. pinto beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 C. corn meal (I'm pretty sure I used corn starch...is that the same thing?)

1/2 C. warm water

Fritos

Cheddar cheese

Sour Cream

+ any other toppings you'd like

Brown your meat with the garlic cloves.  Add tomato sauce, Rotel, salt, oregano, cumin, and chili powder.  Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add drained and rinsed beans.  Combine and cover and simmer for another 20 minutes.

Add in your corn meal.  Combine and simmer for 10-15 more minutes.

Serve with Fritos, cheddar cheese, and sour cream.

Enjoy!

drink up: mock champagne punch

If you're looking for a good punch recipe for the holidays or just for sometime in the future, bookmark this one.  A colleague of mine, Nancy, had this at a Christmas party and I made it for CJ's graduation party.  It's got a bit of a tangy flavor to it, which I really appreciate.

Mock Champagne Punch
2 - 2 liters of ginger ale
large can of pineapple juice
64 oz. white grape juice

A day before, pour one 2-liter of ginger ale into a round cake pan and freeze (I used a bundt pan, which was the perfect size).  The day of, put your ice ring in the punch bowl and add the other ingredients.

Enjoy!

my day in bullet points

My day in a handful of bullet points:

• I had the day off, the first of 11 days off.  This may come off as sarcastic, but in all seriousness, praise God for some time off.
• CJ and I had our Christmas together this morning.  He used my pinterest list and went off the list I made.  I married such a smart man.
• I went to the grocery store today.  Do you know what you shouldn't do on December 23rd?  Go to the grocery store.
• I made lunch:  Sandra Lee's cheddar-beer chicken in the crockpot, Panera Bread's mac & cheese, and pineapple casserole.
• To sum up lunch:  Sandra Lee failed me and CJ liked the Panera mac & cheese.  The pineapple casserole is an old standby.  (Want that recipe?  It's linked there on the sidebar.)
• CJ made cake/cookie pops and started to make pie crusts for Christmas meals.
• I made peanut brittle and peppermint bark in the microwave.  Both are winners.
• I made whiskey-caramel-marshmallow-bacon bark.  It's still in the freezer.  I was intrigued by the flavors.  It looks terrible though, soooo I'm not holding out on this being a winner.
• We are running our third load of dishes and the double sink is still full.
• I burnt my wrist.
• I burnt my fingernail.
• I spilled hot bacon grease on my floor.

The grocery store trip, failed lunch, weird whiskey-caramel-marshmallow-bacon bark, and hot bacon grease mess aside, it was still a good day (I wasn't at work, was I?).

Merry Christmas to you all!

henry then & now

I'm not going to lie.  Sometimes I miss this fuzzy little twelve-pound puppy:

Henry - Summer 2009

Henry - Fall 2011



Today we have a very high energy, very friendly fifty-five pound dog.  And as much as I miss the fuzzy little puppy, I definitely appreciate the fact that he can stay home alone and so long as we don't leave the kitchen trash out, he leaves our stuff alone.

(Famous last words, I'm sure.)

showing off: christmas card wreath

Thanks to Martha Stewart, we now have a new way to display Christmas cards.  Thank goodness, because my old method of hanging a piece of ribbon to the wall wasn't exactly working.

My version doesn't exactly look as pretty as Martha's and I think I have some ideas for improving it for next year.  But as soon as we get some more Christmas cards (I'm sure hoping this isn't it!), hopefully this will look a lot better!

If you're interested in making one yourself, it just takes an embroidery hoop, clothes pins, wood glue, and ribbon to throw together.

what's for dinner: baked cream cheese spaghetti

Can we say lifesaver?  This baked cream cheese spaghetti was on so many levels.

1.  I panicked one night last week because when I went to throw the next day's crockpot recipe together, it required me to do a little pre-cooking.  At 10 pm, I wasn't going to thaw out chicken, cut it into pieces, roll it in flour, and cook it first.  Also, we know that we spend too much money eating out, separately and together, and we also have a full pantry, so we've been making a concerted effort to eat in whenever possible -- and I just didn't want to break down and eat out that night.

2.  I had all but one ingredient on hand and I estimate it cost me about $5.25 to make.  Lesson:  Buy stuff when it's on sale.  I purchased spaghetti in bulk a few weeks ago (a buck per box!) and cream cheese at a $1.25/package.  The french fried onions, the only thing I didn't have on hand, were on sale for $2.99 this week.  I had green peppers leftover from our garden, plenty of homemade pasta sauce from our garden, and a small bag of frozen onions in the freezer, so that all helped.  (Another lesson?  Plant a garden.  It's cheaper to buy one pepper plant at $1.99 than to buy one pepper in the middle of winter for $1.99.)

3.  CJ loved this recipe.  When we were engaged, I learned that he didn't like spaghetti.  (Imagine my horror.  What in the world would I cook?)  But throw in cream cheese, veggies, and meat, and he's a satisfied customer.

Enough storytelling already.  Here's the picture and recipe:

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti
from Salad in a Jar

8 oz. uncooked spaghetti
1 lb. ground beef
26.5 oz. spaghetti sauce
1 Tbsp. butter
1/2 C. chopped green peppers
1/3 C. chopped onions
8 oz. cream cheese
2 Tbsp. milk
Parmesan
French fried onions

Preheat your oven to 350.

Cook your spaghetti.  Brown your meat.  Add the two together.

Meanwhile, combine onions, pepper, and butter in a bowl and microwave on high for about 4 minutes.  Add cream cheese and milk to vegetables and stir well.

I used a 10x6" dish for this, by the way.

Then layer:
Spaghetti sauce
Spaghetti & meat
Cream cheese/veggie mix
Spaghetti sauce
Parmesan cheese

Bake for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven, add a layer of french fried onions, and then bake 5 minutes longer.

Enjoy!

december is finally here!

Yes, I know that technically it's been December now for 17 days.  But for quite awhile now, CJ and I have both just told ourselves that we need to get to December.  And it's finally here!

To us, December marks the point in which we can start to put this time behind us.  We will celebrate our third anniversary in a few weeks, and with the exception of seven months in the beginning of our marriage, one or both of us have been in school the rest of that time.  It was a challenge for me to work full-time and attend school full-time.  It was even more of a challenge for my husband to work full-time (that'd be 48-72 hours), attend class one night a week, and in this last semester in particular, cram in 150+ clinical hours between September and the very beginning of December.  And while there's still some more work to be done -- CJ has to pass his boards and we both need to find jobs that use our new degrees - we can breathe again.

What we learned though, is that God saw us through this period.  Loving one another is nice.  Having a supportive family and a handful of friends certainly helped too.  But God did this one, and we are so, so grateful.

CJ with his Bake Lore cake: an ambulance with a CJ wearing nursing scrubs and a firefighter helmet.  I wanted something that represented all three of his professions.

My sister-in-law's birthday was Thursday, so I asked Amy to also make watermelon cake pops -- "Saturdays," as she calls them.

The inside of the watermelon Saturdays.  These weren't watermelon flavored, but she just dyed the batter and chocolate coating to match and added mini chocolate chips for the seeds.  Love!

With my nephew Carson

Carson in his new Christmas outfit.

Free entertainment!

showing off: wooden nativity

With CJ now done with school (we'll be celebrating his graduation tomorrow -- so excited!), he managed to squeeze in a quick nativity project for me.  We stole the idea from here (thankyouverymuch pinterest).

Truth be told, I like the colors that blogger used on her nativity, so I might just repaint ours and distress them a little bit.  But for this Christmas, it'll do.  And the best part is, we had everything down to the paint and twine, so it was f-r-e-e.

Merry Christmas!  We hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season!