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Hearty Homemade Corn Chowder – Recipe

April 24, 2015 By Laura Leave a Comment

Every once in awhile, an urge comes along, and I have no idea where it came from. And really, it doesn’t usually matter from where!  I just know I want to roll with it. As of late, that urge was to make a big pot of hearty homemade Corn Chowder for my family! When I spoke these thoughts aloud, I got lots of encouragement to go ahead and do it, from everyone in the house. So, I got looking for a good recipe.

However, I never managed to find a recipe quite to my liking. I didn’t want to use heavy cream (for our heart health), I did want to use certain kind of potatoes, more or less of this or that, and a little of somethin’ else, etc.  So….in the end, I just comprised my own recipe. And since it was quite a satisfying success, I thought to share it with all of you!  (You can thank me after you have some for yourself. 😉 )

Corn Chowder Recipe Does it look delicious to you, or what?

I’m going to give you the general step-by-step first, with some photos, and then [Read more…]

Filed Under: Recipes, Soups Tagged With: chowder-recipes, chowders, cold-weather-meals, corn-chowder, corn-chowder-recipes, healthy-chowders, homemade-chowders, homemade-soups, recipes, soup-recipes, soups

Stuffed Pepper Soup – Recipe

February 20, 2014 By Laura Leave a Comment

 Winters tend to be brutal and long here in New England!  We often have multiple snowstorms right on top of each other, and bitter cold temperatures more days than not.
It’s our least favorite season, but we always make the most of it, and keep our eyes on spring! Meanwhile, there is nothing like a delicious hot soup, to warm your soul and put a smile in your belly!

So today I’m going to share with you a new a great recipe: Stuffed Pepper Soup!  I don’t know where I even got it. I’ve had it printed out in my recipe folder, and we’ve enjoyed it a couple of time now. We’re about ready to make it again!  It’s a recipe you’ll want to have on hand to enjoy from the start of fall, right on through winter!

If you even ‘like’ stuffed peppers, you just might ‘love’ . . . . . .

Stuffed Pepper Soup!

Ingredients
1 lb of ground beef (we only use organic/grass fed)
1 small onion
1 large bell pepper; diced
1 can (29 oz.) diced tomatoes
1 (10 oz.) can tomato soup (or tomato sauce)
1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth (or beef broth)
2 c. cooked rice
1 tbs. sugar
1 tsp. garlic powder, salt and pepper, to taste
Shredded cheese;  topping

Directions

1. In a large pot, brown and crumble ground beef along with diced green peppers, and onion over medium high heat.
2. When cooked, drain excess grease from beef mixture.
3. Put beef back into pot.
4. Add in diced tomatoes.
5. Add in chicken broth, (or beef broth if using that).
6. Give it all a good stir. Then add in rice.
7. Stir again.
8. Then add seasonings: sugar, garlic powder, salt and pepper. (To taste.)

Cover and let simmer on low-medium heat for about 30 minutes to let the flavors get to know each other. 🙂 The longer they sit together, the better the soup is. So consider making it one day, refrigerating, and serving the next day. Or….just have leftovers the next day, and you’ll find it’s even better!


You might want to Pin this one. 😉
Enjoy, and keep warm!

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Filed Under: Recipes, Soups Tagged With: fall-meals, fall-soups, recipes, soup, soup-recipes, stews, stuffed-pepper-soup, stuffed-pepper-soup-recipe, stuffed-peppers, winter-meals

Christmas Gift Jars and Baked Good Ideas

January 1, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

For those who have been visiting our blog long enough, you’d probably know that we usually get very crafty for Christmas gifts for loved ones.  But unfortunately, some years we were low on both time and money, to really craft as much as we would like to for gifts.  Still, we prefer to show our love to our loved ones at Christmas, with more homemade sort of gifts, if we can.  So we had the idea this year of sending some Christmas gift jars and baked goods.   It would be simple, inexpensive, yet appreciated we were sure.  Who doesn’t love food…right?

You should know, this post is not sharing the actual recipes we used. We are just sharing with you the idea of gift jars, and some presentation ideas, as inspiration, for your own gift giving.  Gift jar recipes are very easy to find though! You can just do a web search, or….check Pinterest for a wealth of jar recipe ideas!  Here though, we just want to show you what we came up with.

gift-jars

So some jars we made up with most of the ingredients to make Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.
All they needed to add was the butter, egg and vanilla!

gift-jars-1

Most of our gift recipients got a jar just like this, with the measured dry ingredients and directions.  But we knew my 2 bachelor brothers, and my Dad, were not going to be baking anything.  lol.   So…..we baked theirs for them, and filled up the jar with the cookies.  Cookies in a jar! So there is another idea for you!

gift-jars-2 We also gave some people the dry ingredients for this Curried Lentil Soup.  What a big project THIS turned out to be.  Because the recipe calls for red and yellow lentils.  After visiting 6 stores all over town, over the course of a week, we settled for red and green.  Maybe you know better where to get them? If not, don’t toss the idea all together, if you like the idea of soups. Again, search for recipes, and you’ll find more than you can shake a . . . . . . a . . . . . . spoon at. 🙂

gift-jars-3

Initially, we could only find tan, and made some soup ourselves to test the recipe.  Not being lentil experts, we thought only the color was different.  But ummm….not so much.   We HOPE the red & green works out alright for everyone.

We also made loaves of fresh homemade bread (not pictured) , and included those in most packages.

And homemade donuts!  : D

homemade-donuts We got calls and messages from everyone, and they all seemed to really enjoy our tasty gifts! We think they probably ‘tasted the love‘.  But one did tell us the bread and donuts were kind of hardish, or heavy, when they arrived.  Now….the bread crust is.  You can knock on the loaf, but it’s soft on the inside.  It makes excellent toast, it’s great for sandwiches, and it goes well with soup, too!

But the donuts, being fried, we really weren’t sure HOW they would fair in shipping.   So I guess they arrived….a little dense.  Now, we take these things very seriously.  So, we asked ourselves what we may have learned from that outcome, and this is what we came up with:

homemade-donuts-1
Don’t share our donuts anymore!!
No, seriously, we’ll be working on our recipe, to make them a little lighter.  😀  For the rare occasion we make them again, because they aren’t the healthiest regular food to eat. But they are a real treat, and that’s in part what make the holidays so special.

Some pretty ribbon on your jars, with an attached tag that shares the recipe or directions, is a very warm and thoughtful gift, for anyone who eats!
Your tag can be hand-written as well. It actually makes it all the more handmade-appeal.

We hope these ideas make your Christmas gift-giving season fun, delicious, and budget-friendly.

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Filed Under: Baking, Breads, Rolls and Muffins, Crafts & Creations, Holiday Crafts, Homemade/Handmade Gift Ideas, Recipes, Seasonal Crafts and Creations, Soups, Treats, WINTER Crafts and Creations Tagged With: Christmas-gift-ideas, cookies in a jar, easy-cheap-Christmas-gift-ideas, gift-ideas-for-hostess-host, gift-jars, homemade-gift-ideas, homemade-gifts, homemade-gifts-from-kids, recipe-gift-jars, soups-in-a-jar

Taco Soup Recipe

December 11, 2008 By Laura 1 Comment

taco soup recipe

Here’s a soup recipe that’ll be sure to warm your chilled bones.  If you love tacos, you’ll love this taco soup! I do love tacos, and I also love soup. Good soups – which are usually home made of course. I also LOVE Panera Bread’s Broccoli Cheddar Soup (and so do our kids). I had some today as a matter of fact. It was just the pick-me-up I needed in between the stores of a little Christmas shopping.  Ate it in a quiet van.  It was the weirdest experience! lol

Now I didn’t invent this Taco Soup recipe, but I did revise it a bit to make it…well, better!  No one needs as many beans as was in the original recipe, to start. Unless you just want a bowl of beans, with a little burger mixed in.  My kids keep asking me when I’m going to make my Vegetable Soup again. (That was another altered version of a recipe. )  But I just feel like that’s a spring/summer soup…when vegetables are fresh and more locally grown.  This is a heartier soup that suits winter meals, and they love this one too.  So here’s how I make it, and I hope you give it a try if it sounds good to you:

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. extra lean ground beef (I use 85%)
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 15.5 oz can pinto beans / undrained
  • 1 8 oz can *Green Giant Niblets Corn / undrained * (we use this brand because it’s sweet and and has snap)
  • 2 8 oz tomato sauce
  • 1 pkg. Taco Seasoning Mix
  • 1 1/2 C water
  • Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Brown beef with onions in large saucepan; drain.

Add all remaining ingredients except cheese; stir. It’s important NOT to drain the cans of beans and corn! That’s where some of the flavor and liquid comes from.  Bring to a boil. Simmer on medium-low for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. At this point it’s ready to eat really, but I like to turn it to low and let it continue to simmer, still stirring occasionally – letting all of the ingredients get to know each other a little better.

“Hello!”  “Hi there!”

taco soup recipe

Then just serve up in bowls, and top with as much shredded cheddar as you’d like.  We like a lot. : )

taco soup recipe

If you try it out, let us know how many gold spoons your family gave this recipe.  : )

Filed Under: Recipes, Soups Tagged With: mexican soup, soup-recipes, soups, soups-for-cold-weather, taco soup, taco soup recipe

Better than Mmm Mmm Good! – Vegetable Soup Recipe

May 1, 2008 By Laura 4 Comments

bowl of soup with spoonful

Yesterday morning, with several tasks on the day’s agenda ahead of me, I decided I was going to make that vegetable soup one way or another! Michael had to be out on a morning job, so to manage schooling the little ones (5 year old triplets) and make my soup, the kids took all of their school work and moved to the breakfast bar from the school room.  It was the perfect set up for us to still be able to work together, communicate and multi-task. So they got to work in their books, taking turns reading the concepts and directions, etc, and I got to chopping! : )

Of course, they were on the distracted side, wanting to watch what I was doing in the kitchen. (Whenever we’re cooking in the kitchen, the kids come like ants to a picnic.) Then {O} says in that sweet, polite little voice:

{O} “What are you cutting up there, Mama?  Are those green peppers?”

(Me) “Yes, they are green peppers, Honey.”

{O}  “Ohhhh.  I sure love green peppers, all cold and crunchyyyy.”

{S}  “Me too!”

{J}  “Me too!”

Next thing I know, we have green peppers and pencils sticking out of little fists all over the place. The room was filled with the chewing sound of crunching vegetables and the scratching of writing pencils on workbooks.  As I kept working on the soup, they kept working in their books, with very frequent breaks to look up and see what I was doing next, and asking questions about what this was, or why I was doing that. I guess they were having a culinary arts class, as they did their reading, writing and math!  They really loved the smell of garlic saute’ing in the pan.

Eventually they got all of their work done, and my soup was really coming together! Both tasks took longer than they would on their own, of course, as I also needed to stop what I was doing sometimes to help them with something one or the other was stuck on, (which was ok of course), but both jobs did get done, which was all that mattered.

Once Michael got back in awhile later, and after a little soup-taste-test from every mouth, big or small, in the house, I had some errands to run.  Later when I got home, it was time to put together the May Baskets. They just took turns putting the goods in each basket, and tied a bow and ‘Happy May Day’ tag on it.  But really, they were far more anxious to eat dinner (as early as it still was), because they just kept asking if it was time for dinner to have that soup yet.

I have to say, it came out way better than I even expected! They eagerly scoffed up one bite after another, injected with the occasional “Mmmm” or “This soup is so good, Mama!”.  After emptying their bowls, and eating up their sandwiches, I offered them graham crackers, which they of course eagerly accepted, and then guess what?  Two of the kids wanted more soup!  Michael had another big bowl too. I had to chuckle, because it turned out {O’s} mouth wanted more, but her belly was quite full already. So she couldn’t quite eat her seconds, but I was happy she enjoyed it enought to want more.

I guess now I should share this new soup recipe of mine, huh?  (I can call it ‘mine’ because it’s an altered version of another recipe, and because I will be making more.)  As good as it was, it is so simple in ingredients and really, I am not always inspired to be in the kitchen cooking. I have to be in the mood I guess.  Of course with a family this size, I am in there quite a bit, whether I am in the mood or not! But I am also very blessed to have a husband who usually rather does enjoy cooking, and is quite helpful in the kitchen.  If we’re in there together, he makes it fun for me, with his humor and sprinkles of loving hugs. (Always when my hands are wet or dirty, or I have sharp knife in my hand – nothing stops the boy. lol)

In giving you the ingredients, I have no real measurements.  I mean, it’s soup!  It’s a montage of ingredients and it depends how liquid-y you want it, or how much stuff you want in it. I just eye-balled it all. (What a funny saying…lol.) So here’s the contents of the soup:

  • Green & red peppers, zucchini, summer squash, and onion, coarsely chopped
  • Minced garlic
  • * Swanson Natural Goodness Chicken Broth (w/ 33% less sodium)  *During Lent, replace with College Inn Vegetable Broth
  • Condensed (Low Sodium if possible) Tomato Soup
  • Salt, Pepper & Basil
  • Just  spray a 4qt+ pan with non-sticking spray, and saute’ chopped onion and minced garlic for 2 minutes over medium-high heat.
  • Add rest of chopped vegetables, and saute/stir until tender-crisp.
  • Pour in broth and condensed soup, stir, and bring to a boil.
  • Reduce heat, cover, and let cook for 10 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
  • Add salt, pepper, and basil to taste.
  • Serve hot & enjoy!    : )

It may not be a gourmet soup, but it got 4 gold spoons in my family!

six bowls of soup

 

Filed Under: Recipes, Soups Tagged With: food photography, mmm mmm good, recipes, soup, soup recipe, vegetable soup, vegetable soup recipe

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