Potato Soup

This is another favorite for cold/chilly days! My brother loves to call it "Sleepy Time Soup", he believes it makes me sleepy every time he eats it! Never mind that he eats like 3-4 bowls of it! :)

Potato Soup

6 cups cubed peeled potatos

5 cups water

2 cups chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots

1/4 cup butter or margarine

4 tsp. chicken bouillon granules

2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

Spicy Italian sausage (really any kind you want; we just like some added protein)

3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley or 2 tbsp. dried parsley

In a large slow cooker or pot, combine the first nine ingredients. Cover and cook until the vegetables are tender. Meanwhile I cook up some sausage and since I like some added flavor or “kick” to it I use some spicy Italian sausage. When it comes time to add the milk and parsley I add the sausage too: Mix well. cover and cook for about 30 minutes longer to heat all the way through.

*If you choose to do in a crock pot it usually takes about 7 hrs. to cook. On the stove top usually takes about 1-2 hrs. depending on how big you cut your potatos.

Menu Planner

I've made a Menu Planner to go along with my cute Recipe Book. I've made several of these before also and absolutely love it! When I actually incorporate it. It's very useful. I added some velcro to keep it closed, a previous one that I had made I had added some stretchy cord to go around it. I also added some extra pockets, who doesn't need extra pockets! I figured this way I can carry, extra notes, recipes, coupons, etc. You can really make it your own way. One of the other ones I've made had a spot for a small sticky note pad, a little pocket that held paper markers to hold your place in cook books and a big pocket to hold recipes.

I have templates if you want to give it a try. :)


Supplies: All supplies from Stampin' Up!

Herbs

I love cooking with fresh herbs but hate buying them at the grocery store because the bundles they come in are always bigger than I want. Why buy so much when it's just going to go to waste? Well I decided it was time to plant my own! Yeah! I will now have (if they'll grow) Cilantro, Spearmint, Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, Chives, Parsley & Basil!

For the little individual pots I just made some little tags so I knew what was in them for now. So easy with some scraps of cardstock & punches!




Supplies: All supplies from Stampin' Up!

Chinese Chicken Salad

This is what we had for dinner last night and it was a big hit with the girls, they LOVED it! It's super easy and quick to make. I totally forgot to take a picture though. Sorry. :)

Chinese Chicken Salad
2 cooked chicken breasts
1/2 head cabbage
1 pkg. Ramen Noodles (uncooked, crushed)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 Tbsp. toasted sesame seads (optional)
1 green onion, chopped

Sauce:
1/4 cup salad oil (olive or canola work great)
2 Tbsp. Rice Vinegar
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Combine chicken, cabbage, Ramen Flavor Packet, almonds, sesame seed and green onion. Pour the sauce over and refrigerate before serving. Right before serving I like to add the crushed up noodles to keep them from getting to soggy from the sauce.

Recipe Book

So I've been working on this recipe book for a while now. Not that it is hard or anything it's been more that I keep running out supplies and it just felt like one thing or another popped up and kept me away from completing it. But it is finally done! I started out with a blank Art Journal from Stampin' Up! When you order one what you get is a plain art journal, it has grey chipboard cover covers and plain white pages (no lines, no anything). I love it this way because it allows me to be able to decorate it anyway I wish to. I'm posting the pictures up in a slide because I wanted to post quite few of them to mainly show some of the details on the book...

I should also add that idea is not entirely my own. :) I got the idea from this other stamper's Blog: Stamps, Paper, Scissors She used a smaller book, and I've done several (like 4-5) of this size but I wanted something bigger for myself so I played around a bit. :)

Supplies: All supplies from Stampin' Up!

Ravioli

Last night for dinner I asked the girls if they had any ideas of what they would like. And surprisingly they asked me had any Ravioli. Now the reason this is surprising is because we have NEVER had Ravioli! But as it turns out I had bought some frozen pre-made Ravioli to try sometime! But I still needed to make a sauce for it.

So for dinner last night we had Ravioli stuffed with cheese and Ravioli stuffed with meat with a side salad. The sauce I made to go over it turned out really well.

Ravioli Sauce
2 lg. ripe tomatoes, peeled & chopped (you can use a can of stewed or diced tomatoes)
1/2 c. chopped fresh basil (you can use dried Basil just half the amount)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/8 tsp. black pepper

Now combine everything together and put over low heat to just warm up a little. Then pour sauce over pasta.

Ravioli was a big success in our house! My kids really surprise me at times. :)

Mother's Day Album

For Mother's Day I made my Mother-in-Law a 6x6 album. We went down to Richmond on Friday and I had my little sister take some family pictures of us. It had been awhile since we had done some family pictures. It was actually quite fun taking the pictures, but it did get a bit chilly. Here's the album I made [Now I do have to apologize for the quality of the pictures of the album. I completely forgot to take pictures before we left and when I realized that I hadn't was in a big hurry right before I gave it away. :) Terribly sorry] :




There are two little poems I added to the album also:
on p19

"Ten Little fingers, Ten Little toes..."
Ten tiny toes that always want to play That never stop exploring the wonder of today. Ten tiny fingers that from the very start Will reach out for tomorrow, yet always hold your heart.

p23

"Little Girls..."
By Karen Barnes

Little girls are made of daisies and butterflies and soft kitty cat purrs
And all the precious memories of times that once were.
Little girls are made of angel's wings and giggles and a firefly's glow
And all the happy feelings, deep inside, that we all know.
Little girls are made of cinnamon and bubbles and fancy white pearls
and snowflakes and rainbows and ballerina twirls.
Little girls are made of sunshine and cupckaes and fresh morning dew,
And these are the reasons, little one, why everyone loves you.

Supplies: All supplies from Stampin' Up!