Taco Soup

This recipe is super easy and really good.

 

1 lb ground beef, browned and drained

1 onion, chopped with your vidalia chopper (go get one if you don't have one!)

1 qt tomatoes - If you have fresh tomatoes, toss them in a blender, skins on and all. If not, you can use 1 qt tomato juice and 2 c. tomato sauce. (I used fresh tomatoes from my parents garden and probably used closer to a quart and a half of blended tomatoes. We like leftovers around here so I wanted to make it go far. The soup was still really thick and chunky. I could have done even more tomatoes.)

1 package taco seasoning

1 can red kidney beans
2 cups frozen corn
(I added a little garlic salt just for fun)

Add all ingredients into a pot. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Serve with sour cream, cheese, and chips.

Cream Cheese Chicken Potato Soup

Just made this soup tonight and it was fabulous!!! With easy, normal ingredients. My kind of meal! I thought I'd just put a link to the blog in case any of you want to check out any of her other recipes. They're mostly desserts.

Healthy Ranch Dip

I'm not kidding. This stuff is great. You can smother your veggies in it without feeling guilty!! I love it.

I don't have an actual recipe (or pictures) but all you do is put some cottage cheese in the blender, add a little milk, and some ranch dip powder.

I used about a half carton of cottage cheese (the small carton) and maybe I'd say a tablespoon or two of milk, and then I just poured in some of the powder, I think I used about a third of a packet of powder. The dip will thicken up in the fridge so it's okay if it starts out a little runny.

Home Made Salsa

I have made this 4 times in the last week and it is oh so good. All of the ingredients were from my garden and my dad's garden except the cilantro and garlic salt. I didn't have a recipe to go off of, I just put in the basics and it turned out great. Add as much as you want of everything until you like it. Add jalapeno peppers if you like spice. Brandon and I are not fans of spice.

Tomatoes

Green Peppers

Onions

Cilantro

Garlic Salt

Shish Kabobs

On Saturday night we made some awesome shish kabobs. I thought I would share it here just to give people ideas. I think this mostly needs to be done for a party-sized group, it seems like it would be hard with just two people.


What we used:
Marinated beef
Marinated chicken
Fresh pineapple
Green peppers
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Onions
Mushrooms
Squash

They were so good!!

Easy Chicken Skillet

To save time, I'm just going to post a link for this recipe. I printed it off like a year or 2 ago and finally just made it tonight. It is so easy and tastes absolutely amazing!

Spring Stir-Fry in Peanut Sauce

Jess, I talked to Ryan about this recipe in Phoenix and told him I would post it on here so you could make it for him. I got it from kraftfoods.com. It's so yummy!

1/2 cup Catalina Dressing

2 Tbsp. peanut butter

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 Tbsp. oil, divided

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

4 cups mixed cut-up fresh vegetables (broccoli florets and red bell pepper strips)

8 oz. fettuccine, cooked and drained, reserving 2 Tbsp. of the pasta cooking water

2 green onions, sliced

MIX dressing, peanut butter, soy sauce and crushed red pepper; set aside. Heat 2 tsp. of the oil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir 5 to 8 min. or until chicken is cooked through. Transfer chicken to large serving bowl; cover to keep warm.

HEAT remaining 1 tsp. oil in same skillet. Add broccoli and bell peppers; cook and stir 5 min. or until vegetables are crisp-tender.

ADD pasta, vegetables and dressing mixture to chicken; mix lightly. If desired, gradually stir in enough of the reserved pasta cooking water until sauce is of desired consistency. Sprinkle with the onions.

Nutrition information can be found here.

Easy Fruit Salad

Everyone knows by now that I like to make easy stuff, right? Well here is a super easy fruit salad.

I gotta admit, the picture doesn't make it look that great, but it really does taste good.

All I do is cut up whatever fruit I have (this morning I used an apple, orange, banana, and some grapes) into bite-sized pieces, and pour yogurt over it and mix it around. I used strawberry mango yogurt this morning.

Totally healthy, easy, fast, and yummy.

Hawaiian Haystacks

I know this isn't a new recipe to anyone, but I thought I'd put it on here just for an idea of something easy to make. I am all about making easy recipes. The ones with lots of ingredients taste good and are fun to make as well, but I don't always have all that stuff on hand. For this recipe, I do!





All you need is:

• Rice
• Chicken Sauce (Cream of Chicken soup, 3/4 can milk, chicken)

And then you can add whatever toppings you have on hand. Last night I used:

• Mandarin Oranges (a must...for us anyway)
• Pineapple
• Green Onions
• Tomatoes
• Cheese

I also like to use:

• Chinese Noodles (we're out right now)
• Celery
• Raisins
• Peas

Chicken Broccoli Stir-Fry

Does everyone want to hear how cute my husband is? So Sunday after Church he rushes home and starts making dinner. He is a WAY better cook than me and doesn't have to use recipes. So, there is no recipe for this, but if you're looking for a good idea for a quick meal, he just cooked some broccoli, chicken, and spaghetti noodles, and then stir-fried it together with some Teriyaki sauce. It was DIVINE.

Crock Pot Italian Chicken

This is the best stuff ever and seriously easy to make. There are TWO ingredients: Chicken and Italian Dressing. All you do is put some chicken in your crock pot, cover it with Italian dressing, and enjoy!!! Serve it with rice. Just leave it in there however long you normally leave chicken in the crock pot. I used chicken tenders so I did it on low for about 4 or 5 hours.

Deluxe Peas and Celery

This recipe is SOOOO good.

2 T butter
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 T finely chopped onions
1/2 t. salt
black pepper to taste
1/4 t. seasoned salt
1 10 oz. package frozen peas cooked and drained

In a fry pan, saute celery and onions in butter.
Add seasonings.
Add cooked peas.

Pumpkin Cake

Yields: 12 servings

Ingredients:
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups white sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspooon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one 10 inch bundt or tube pan.
2. Cream oil, beaten eggs, pumpkin and vanilla together.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and salt together. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix until just combined. If desired, stir in some chopped nuts. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn out onto a plate and sprinkel with confectioners' sugar.