Creamy Potato Soup

This is one of those soups I make when a family member is sick.  It is warm, creamy, and just make the soul feel better. 

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of turkey bacon
• 6 small or 4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 small onion, chopped fine
• 2 carrots, chopped fine
• 2 celery stalks,chopped fine
• About 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup half and half
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• Grated cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce to garnish

Directions:

1. In a large pot cook bacon until crisp.  Set bacon aside.
2. Add potatoes, onion, carrot, and celery to pot.  Add enough chicken stock to cover vegetables and cover.  Cook over low heat until tender, stirring occasionally
3. Stir in milk, half and half, salt, and pepper.  Bring to a boil.
4. In separate bowl, stir together sour cream, flour, and paprika. Gradually stir in 1 cup of hot soup mixture into sour cream mixture.
5. Pour sour cream mixture into soup mixture.  Cook until small bubbles break soup’s surface.  Top with grated cheese, sour cream, crumbled bacon, and hot sauce.

Asian Lettuce Rolls

This recipe is from Pampered Chefs, All the Best cookbook.  It makes enough to feed us (me, hubby, boogie, and pumpkin).  My hubby and I like spicy, so we add hot chili sauce which you can purchase on the Asian food isle at your grocery store.  The leftover store nicely in the refrigerator.  I typically just make a salad with the veggies, throw the noodles on top, and add a little of Newman’s Own Asian salad dressing.
2 pkgs. (3 oz each) oriental-flavored ramen noodles
2 C. coarsely chopped cooked chicken (I uses what is left over from a whole roasted chicken.)
1 each: red and yellow bell pepper, sliced
½ C. thinly sliced green onions with tops
2 T. reduced-sodium soy sauce
¼ tsp. ground red pepper
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1½-inch piece peeled fresh gingerroot, pressed
1 medium cucumber, scored, seeded and thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into julienne strips
¼ C. chopped peanuts (optional)
24 Boston lettuce leaves
1 jar (11.5 oz) sweet and sour sauce
1. In large bowl, microwave 3 cups water on HIGH 6-8 minutes or until boiling. Break each block of noodles into quarters; add noodles and seasoning packets to boiling water. Microwave, covered, 2 minutes; stir. Drain noodles and rinse under cold water.
2. Coarsely chop chicken. Slice tops and bottoms off bell peppers; remove stems and chop tops and bottoms of peppers. Set center portions of bell peppers aside. Place noodles, chicken, chopped peppers and green onions in batter bowl.
3. In small bowl, combine soy sauce, ground red pepper, and oil. Add garlic and ginger. Pour over noodle mixture in batter bowl; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate.
4. Slice reserved bell peppers into thin strips. Thinly slice cucumber. Cut carrots into julienne strips. To serve, spoon noodle salad into medium bowl; sprinkle with peanuts, if desired. Place bell peppers, cucumber, carrots, and sweet and sour sauce into small bowls. To serve, top each lettuce leaf with noodle salad and vegetables. Drizzle with sauce and roll up.

Menu planning

I am sitting here planning out our meals for the week. It got me thinking, How many of you plan out your meals? Do you ask your family for input? What is a sample week?

This week we are having

Asian Lettuce Rolls (requested by the hubby)

Fajita Pizza and Cheese Pizza (requested by Desi)

Beef Macaroni

Tortellini with Spinach & Ham

We have a salad with most meals and I bake bread and sweet through out the week. This week I am making wheat artisan bread, graham crackers, and pound cake.

I am going to post pictures and recipes as I go this week. I can not wait to see what meals you have planned!!!

Update:  So what happened to all those promised photos and recipes you ask?  Well, LIFE!  I lost my memory card for my camera.  BUT while doing so deep cleaning in preparation for family to visit, I found the card!  YEA!!  So, I will be posting them soon.

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.

I am not one to stand up for myself. I get mad. I will bitch behind the scenes. But never one to stand up for myself. I just don’t want to cause a scene. I hate to see people yelling and cursing. I hate fighting period. It makes me nervous and stressed, and I usually end up in tears. I prefer to walk away.

On this day, I decided to make a change. It was over something silly and trivial, but I needed to be heard. I am glad I did it.

I was in a big box store purchasing some items. I am not going to go into details, but suffice to say that I was told that I wouldn’t be able to make the purchase without substituting the item with what the person said I should purchase. At first I balked. In my quiet, please-just-go-along-with-me-voice, I explained that I was right and she was wrong. When she didn’t agree, I just said ok, thank you, and walked away. There was a line of people and I didn’t want to cause problems.

I walked out of the store upset, confused, and angry. Not at the cashier, but myself. Why did I always take the easy way out? Why am I so scared to use my voice? I decided on the way to the car that I was going back in that store and setting the record straight!

I loaded my purchases in the car and marched back in. I made sure to keep a smile on my face. I didn’t want to yell and scream at anyone. (We had already witness someone doing that) I simply went back in and explained my side. This time she listened and actually agreed with me. Yay me!!

I know that there are other women in the world who have done bigger and better acts, but for me this was huge. Now I know that I don’t have to back down. I can say no, this is the way it is going to be….and I can do it with a smile!

And I am not the only one standing up around here!

Look at her!!! She is pulling herself up on everything now.

She is growing too fast!!!