15 bean soup

YUMMY!

 

I knew that I wanted to make 15 bean soup with the leftover ham from our Christmas Eve dinner. I have made it on the stove before, but I wanted to do it in the crock pot this time. I asked some sweet friends of mine, Sandy and Ria, how they would do it.  I took their instructions and modified it just a bit.   I started soaking my beans, one bag of 15 bean soup that you buy at the grocery store,  last night. I think that they soaked for almost 16 hours!  I was told that the longer you soak them, the less gassier they are! I didn't know that!   

 

I cut up about eight carrots, one onion and one bell pepper and put it on the bottom of the crock pot.

On top of that, I added the ham hock and some of the ham meat.

Then I added the beans and 2 quarts (8 cups) of water.  It was all the way to the top! I didn't know how I was going to fit anything else in there!   I put it on low for 8 hours!  Man, my house was smelling so good!

About 3 or 4 hours in, I added a can of fire roasted garlic diced tomatoes, 1 teaspoon of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of chilli powder and a little bit more ham meat.  I ended up putting some more minced garlic and some garlic powder. Garlic is good!  When it only had about 30 minutes left, I added the seasoning packet that came with the beans. 

Finally it was done!  

My kids are not huge soup eaters, so my hubby and I sat down and had huge bowls of it! With a little dollup of sour cream and some cheese, man, it was SUPER good!  It has great flavor! The beans were a bit tough still, so I left it on low for another hour, hoping the beans will soften up some more!   

15 bean soup: mission accomplished! DELISH!!!!

BBQ chicken and fixins

Our dinner!

It has rained almost all day today. It is wonderful! I love the rain! So, because of the rain, it has been pretty chilly. I figured it would be a good night to cook in the oven and warm the house up!

I defrosted four chicken breasts.

 

I slathered them up all good with BBQ sauce. I put them in the oven for about 40 minutes or so, at 375 degrees.

I made some cream corn and Bush's Grillin' Beans, Sweet Mesquite flavor.

My MIL (mother-in-law) has taught me a cool trick. When you want to bake a potato, you take a regular produce bag from the grocery store, put your potatoes in it and push the potato button on your microwave.

They come out perfect!

We had BBQ chicken, cream corn, Bush's Grillin' Beans sweet mesquite flavor and baked potatoes for dinner. It was super yummy! And once again, we got to all sit down and eat together, since Eric was home! I really have been enjoying that!  And then once we were done eating, our power went out!  I was just glad that we got to finish eating! ;)  

PS:  The power was only out for about 20 minutes this time. It was most likely due to the weather, but it was our whole block again. On November 29th, the whole grid that we are on had gone out for over 2 hours. It has been strange, but at least it came back on!

 

Pizza

Ok, so I can't take credit for this dinner! LOL!  It was all Sam's Club! ;)

Tonight, I asked Jacob what he wanted for dinner and he said pizza!  Since we needed milk anyways, I ran up to Sam's Club and got a few things, including pizza for dinner.  The kids love cheese pizza and we love their supreme pizza.  The take and bake pizza is an inexpensive way to have pizza for dinner.  And I know that the kids will eat it! 

Chicken alfredo

Chicken alfredo

Once again, last night I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner. My friend, Nora, had posted that she was making beef stroganoff and I commented I couldn't figure out what to make. She suggested chicken alfredo! Easy peasy! Thanks so much, Nora!

I cut three chicken breasts into strips. I added some olive oil to the pan and cooked them. I sprinkled some garlic powder on them, just so they would have some flavor.

This is what they looked like when they were done. 

Perfectly browned, just a little bit! 

 

I cooked some corn.

the sauce 

I cooked some mini farfalle noodles and added the sauce and some cheese to it.

Eric helped me make dinner, so that was a big help!

Jacob liked it so much, he cleaned his entire plate! That is highly unusual. We were so proud of him! 

Baking goodies

Today, I went to my church's 2nd Annual Christmas Tea! I had a lovely time visiting with some great ladies, enjoying some yummy goodies and listening to a wonderful message from my friend, Heather! It was a great time had by all! 

They had asked us to bring some goodies, so last night, I baked something of course! 

  First up, brownies!

I am loving the parchment paper! I have to get some more! 

For some extra yumminess, I sprinkled some Andes mint chips on top of the brownies! Scrumptious! 

All done!

Next up, peanut butter cookies! Now, mind you, I love to make things from scratch, but when I'm in a hurry, these are great! Plus, they were on sale and I used coupons! ;)

I had never made these, but they were so fun!

I used a melon baller, which sure comes in handy, and then rolled them in the sugar.

Ready to go!

Ready for the Hugs!

So cute!

I really liked how these turned out! And they were super tasty too!

 

Needles to say, the brownies and the cookies were a big hit at the tea! I even had some cookies to bring home to the family, so they were happy! ;)

Sausage night

It has been really nice having Eric home with us lately! We all get to sit down and eat dinner together! LOVE it!    

Tonight, I kind of threw dinner together, but I knew that it would be a big hit.  I can't go wrong with any kind of steamed veggies for my kids! They love their veggies! 

I pulled these two different kinds of sausages out of the freezer to defrost earlier today.  I am not a huge sausage fan, but I love the Johnsonville chicken sausage. It has great flavor and my kids love it too!

They are also really easy to cook and that's why I really like them too! What mom does not want the easiest thing possible? ;)  All you do is fill your pan with water and boil them for about 10-15 minutes!

I made some chicken noodles for a side.

I cut up some carrots and two zucchinis to steam! I love fresh steamed veggies! And my kids do too! If you were to put chicken and steamed veggies in front of them, they would eat the veggies first! Yes, I am one blessed mama! ;)

Our dinner

 

Both the kids gobbled up their dinner, so they got a fun size M&Ms for dessert! They were happy! 

And to top it off, Daddy read them two bedtime stories!  I love it! 

Like I said, I am really enjoying having Eric home for right now!

Chocolate chip cream cheese cookies

Chocolate chip cream cheese breakfast cookies

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Breakfast Cookies

Makes approx 15 cookies

Ingredients

- 1 can seamless crescent rolls

- 1 (8 oz) block cream cheese, room temperature

- 1/4 cup sugar

- 2 tsp vanilla

- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

How to Make

1. With your hand mixer, beat sugar, cream cheese and 

    vanilla together until smooth in a medium sized bowl.

2. Unroll the crescent roll sheet. Stretch dough out 

    slightly. It should be in the shape of a rectangle.

3. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the top of the  

    crescent sheet, leaving a gap at the edge about 1/2 

    inch.

4. Sprinkle your chocolate chips on top of cream cheese.

5. Roll the crescent sheet up tightly and wrap in cling wrap.

6. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

7. When chilled preheat oven to 350°.

8. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper to prevent 

    sticking.

9. Slice the crescent roll into 1/4" slices. Bake on prepared  

    cookie sheet for 12 -14 minutes until crescent roll 

    appears golden brown.

10. Transfer to wire rack. 

11. Eat warm or room temperature.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and wanted to try it out. I figured it would be pretty easy.  I have seen several recipes that use the seamless crescent rolls, but I still have not found a store that carries them!  So if you have, please let me know!!! ;) Thanks! 

I rolled out a can of crescent rolls and smooshed all the seams together.

After blending together the sugar, cream cheese and vanilla, I spread it across the top of the crescent roll sheet.  It was a lot of mix, but I just tried to make it even.

Next, I sprinkled some mini chocolate chips on top of that. I didn't measure it and just eyeballed it! 

I also add some Andes mini chips, just for fun! Plus, that is Eric's favorite candy!

I rolled it up as tight as I could, but one of the seams was already starting to rip open. I decided to let it sit in the fridge overnight, because the dough was really soft!

I cut them into small strips to get ready to go into the oven. I ended up having to cook it for around 20 minutes or more, because the crescent roll was not browning up! 

NAILED IT!!!!  LOL!  Eric reminded me of those funny pictures that you see on Pinterest. 

See next picture as example!  

Anyways, the cream cheese made it super melty, but as soon as it cooled, it hardened up a bit! 

LOL!

This time, I cut them a bit thicker.

These turned out much better! 

They are ok, but not my favorite! 

Another Pinterest recipe tried!

Thankful day 30

Day 30: What I am thankful for

Good doctors


Today, Eric had hernia surgery. I am very thankful for the skillful hands of the surgeon.  I am thankful for the wonderful nurse's staff at Dolores Hope Outpatient Care Center. I am thankful for the sweet lady who talked to me while I was waiting for Eric and she was waiting for her husband to come out of his hernia surgery.    Most of all, I am thankful for prayer and that today is over with and my husband is home with me!

Today is the end of the month. My friend made a very good point.  Why should we only express our thankfulness during the month of November? We should do it every day and say something that we are thankful for, because, there is always something to be thankful for! 

Thankful Day 29

Day 29: What I am thankful for: My parents!

My parents

Tomorrow morning, my husband, Eric, is having hernia surgery. We were trying to figure out what we were going to do with the kids, because I, of course, want to be there with him. It is an outpatient surgery, but we weren't sure exactly how long it was going to take. My parents came to the rescue, like always. They offered to pick up the kids after my mom got off work today. The kids would spend the night and my dad would take Shianne to school tomorrow.  We were going to play it by ear about me picking her up from school tomorrow, but it looks like my dad will do that too! Eric had originally been told that he was going in at 7am and we had to be there at 6am, but now his surgery is at 8am and we have to be there at 7am.  I am just glad that we don't have to get up as early! It's going to be a long enough day as it us!   My mom said that they might keep the kids Friday night also, so Eric can get some rest!

I am so thankful that my parents have ALWAYS been there for us! They are there when I need the help or need an encouraging word and most of all, they are there to pray for me when I need it! Thanks again for ALL that you do, Mom and Dad! I don't know where I would be in this world, if it wasn't for you both! I love you!

Thankful day 28

Day 28: What I am thankful for

Gorgeous days like today!

the view from my front sidewalk

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! ;)  

The sun is shinning and it is simply gorgeous! 

I am so blessed to live somewhere where it is so beautiful!