Sick Days and Soup Days

I love soup year round but Georgia summers are just a bit too hot to really enjoy it. Soup is the best when you can snuggle up in a cozy blanket and watch a movie. I'm not a fan of salty canned soups so it's not very often that I have soup at home. I'm a big fan of potato soup (Panera, Publix, Jason's Deli are my faves) but have only made it once. 

I have been a little under the weather this week and I'm finally starting to kick it! I've got this yucky seasonal stuff that everyone gets during the transition from summer to fall. Chris and I went home to Habersham for the weekend and I'm glad we did. I started getting sick over the weekend so it was nice to be at mom's so she could tell me what medicines to take. What do people do if their mom isn't a nurse? I swear! I'd be lost. Thanks, Mama!

When we got back Sunday night we made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up just enough things to make it through this week since we are leaving Friday for a long weekend in Gatlinburg. I had been thumbing through my Paula Deen cookbook last week looking for something new and ran across a soup that I thought sounded delicious! So, when I was sick on Sunday I thought I'd give it a try. Paula says it's a summer soup, but I changed it up and made it my own. I think it's a bit more hearty and perfect for these cool days! Give it a try, it's delicious!

Corn and Potato Chowder (adapted from Paula Deen)

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 large yellow onion, chopped

Bacon bits (I used about 1/2 cup)

2 cans corn, drained and rinsed

3 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

4 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup heavy cream (or half and half)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

Shredded Cheddar Cheese for topping

1. Melt butter over medium heat and add onion and bacon. Stir occasionally until onion is softened, about five minutes.

2. Add the broth, corn, potatoes, cream, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and salt and pepper to the butter mixture. 

3. Heat the soup until it comes to a boil. 

4. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until the potato is tender, about ten minutes.

5. Top with cheese, serve, cuddle up, and enjoy!

I'm a big fan of potatoes and corn so this was right up my alley! I really enjoyed it and hope you will too! 

Living life in the in betweens.

This been another uneventful week... but that's when life happens isn't it? I typically think of life as all the big events - births, deaths, graduations, marriages, holidays, etc. As I'm finally starting to get used to my life A.C. (After College), I realize these "uneventful days" are actually what life is all about. All these in between days are when we realize who we really are and what makes life worth living. It's easy to be happy when those big things are happening, but not so easy when we live real life day in and day out. That has been a pretty sobering realization for me. Don't get me wrong, I count down the days until our next big event but I'm learning to be just as content living the normal days. This is a big change for me because it feels like all my life I've been working towards the next big thing: middle school, high school, dating, driving, graduation, college, major, engagement, marriage... now what? What's my next big thing? I guess that's what I'm trying to figure out. For now I'll settle for all of these uneventful days. My student teaching mentor teacher, Pierre Oulevey, once told me, "Everyone always tells you these are the best days - high school, college, and your twenties. From my experience they were all wrong because the days just keep getting better. Life gets sweeter with time, you'll see Cari." So, here's to you, Pierre! I hope I'm half the person that man is one day.

 I'm finally starting to settle into our home here in Dalton. I know that this is partially due to finally having all my things here. It is actually starting to feel like my home too, not just my husband's. However, just when I really get settled it's time for another trip home or to Athens. I'm heading home tomorrow for my cousin's wedding on Saturday, the York family reunion and my sister's birthday on Sunday, and my dad's birthday later in the week. See, there's those big events creeping up on me again.  I'll actually have some interesting things to post about in the coming days, but for now here's a little recap:

This looks like nasty potato salad, but it's actually delicious snickers salad! Get the original recipe here.

There are so many storms here in Dalton - here's an eery picture from last night.

Today we headed into Chattanooga to pick up a few things. I love being so close!

My new nook cover! I feel like I could take over the world with all these books at my fingertips!

Broke out my favorite pot today! Recipe to come later.

See, pretty uneventful right? Well, it was a pretty great week if I do say so myself!

My new favorite mac & cheese recipe

Okay, so I am pretty excited about this discovery. If you know anything about me, you know I am obsessed with Macaroni & Cheese. We used to make so much fun of my grandma when we were little because she absolutely could not cook Kraft Macaroni and Cheese to save her life! She was the greatest cook and could make anything from scratch - but being the finicky kids we were we always wanted Kraft Mac & Cheese to go along with our fresh vegetables and homemade biscuits. Fast forward ten years and somehow I have inherited my little grandma's problem! I always tell my family "real cooks can't cook boxed food!" I'd like to think that was true... but I know better. I can cook almost anything except Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and Crescent Rolls. I hate crescent rolls. Bizarre, I know. Just ask Haley. It makes me cringe just thinking about those doughy little things.

Anyway, point of the story is I would much rather make real mac and cheese any day. It's just so good. I made it many college night and ate it for several days. It's just so good, right? For the past few years my staple recipe has been this one from OK Cafe. I'm a big fan of ranch so I love that aspect of the recipe. This version is delicious but not quite creamy enough for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not fond of soupy macaroni, but I like a little creaminess. I have pinned several mac and cheese recipes straight from pinterest and from many different sites but this one really caught my eye. I was intrigued that the recipe called for chicken broth and knew it had to be delicious! Boy was I right! 

Once again, I apologize for the horrible iPhone pictures! I promise I'll do better!

ps, the chicken doesn't look too appetizing but it's delicious. Click below for the link

Baked Fried Chicken

If you're like me and hate opening up multiple pages here you go:

Easy Baked Macaroni and Cheese

1 (16 oz.) pkg. macaroni

1 c. milk

2 c. chicken broth

2 c. sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1 c. swiss, grated

1 c. monterey jack cheese, grated

8 oz. cream cheese, cubed

2 tsp. onion salt

fresh ground pepper

1/2 c. flour

In a large bowl, stir together the macaroni,  milk, and chicken broth.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix together using a large wooden spoon.  Pour into a very large, deep casserole dish.  Bake uncovered in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until pasta is fully cooked.  Turn oven broiler on for the last two minutes of cooking time to brown up the top part of the mac and cheese.  Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Next go around I would probably add some sea salt and parsley, but that's just me. I was a little worried about all that cream cheese, but trust me - it is delicious! It's what makes it so creamy. Just make sure you get it mixed well before pouring it in the pan. A word to the wise, go ahead and get the biggest bowl you have to mix. I made a huge mess!

Now, I'm off to have some of this deliciousness for lunch! :)

Pizza my way!

So I had no intentions of writing a post about what I cooked for dinner last night, but I also didn't realize it would be so delicious! I didn't take any action shots but here's a couple after I was done cooking: 

Sorry for the mess - I was unprepared! 

I made pizza quesadillas and they were SO delicious! Chris is totally obsessed with them already. It didn't occur to me that they are perfect for me since I'm not a fan of thick dough or a lot of pizza sauce. In other words that means I love the cheese and pepperoni... shocker! This go around those were the only toppings I used, but next time I'll probably add some chopped peppers and onions for flavor.

Here's what I used:

Large Flour Tortillas

Marinara sauce

Pepperoni

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Garlic Salt

First I fried the pepperoni in my black skillet on medium heat. It doesn't take much time at all since they are so thin. Be sure not to overcook them or they shrivel up and get tough. After frying them I recommend dropping them onto a plate covered with paper towels to soak up some of that nasty grease! After you're done pour out the left over grease so your tortillas won't get soggy.

To make the quesadillas use two tortillas for each. On the bottom tortilla spoon out as much sauce as you would like - I use very little sauce. Next add a layer of mozzarella followed by whatever toppings you are using and a little garlic salt for flavor. Then add another thin layer of mozzarella to bind the tortillas (be careful not to add too much - it takes less than you would think). Add your top tortilla and voila! I cooked my quesadillas in my handy dandy cast iron skillet on medium heat. I found that if it was any higher than that it would overcook the tortilla without properly melting the cheese. 

I'm still getting used to cooking the appropriate amount for us - it's definitely taking some getting used to. I way overestimated how much we would eat last night! I cooked three large pizza quesadillas thinking that Chris would eat a lot more than he did. I barely ate half one and Chris had a whole one so we had a lot left. The good news is they reheated well for lunch today! Yum!

I may never eat s'mores again!

I wrote a couple of posts ago about the beginning of Camp Agape and Vacation Bible School at church. Well after all the Agape campers got checked in and settled into their "cabins," they all headed over the city park for some fun and food with our church family. Everyone was asked to bring a dish (I'll save that one for next time) and a dessert. Haley and I always get really excited when we are asked to bring a dish - take a wild guess what we do first... Obviously go running to Pinterest to search for our next masterpiece. WRONG. Since we knew we would be at church all day on Sunday we had to make our dishes Saturday night and planned to store them in the church refrigerators the next day. 

The church provided hot dogs and hamburgers for everyone and we all brought everything else. As you can imagine all the usual side items were present - baked beans, slaw, potato salad, etc. We assumed there would be a multitude of cupcakes, brownies, and cookies as well so we wanted to make something different. Since the picnic was essentially a big cook-out we thought it would be fun to bring s'mores for the kids. What kid doesn't love s'mores? They tasted delicious - they just looked like a holy hot mess. I think the photos speak for themselves.

My first encounter with marshmallow creme - yum!

Lookin' good!

Everything seemed to be going alright up until this point... The chocolate was way too thick for dipping

Nope, not even close

So we improvised. Hey, let's just scoop the thick mess into a ziploc bag and make pretty designs (like all those fancy people on pinterest!)

Okay, okay, this might work...

NOPE

In two seconds time our ziploc bag had a giant hole. That looks appetizing, huh?

Last but not least, we decided to just spread the chocolate on top - if you didn't know any better they look pretty good, right? 

S'mores evolution. 

Disastrous. 

I'm not a very patient person. Ergo, I'm really bad at breaking the graham crackers. Oops. 

So in the end we covered them all with chocolate and put them in the refrigerator overnight in hopes that the marshmallow creme and chocolate would harden. Unfornately, that was not exactly the case. In case you were wondering marshmallow creme does not harden - it just turns into thick goo! More bad news: they don't hold up so well when it's ninety-something degrees outside. The good news is they tasted delicious and the little campers loved them! Just don't ask Hal to make you any because she's still traumatized...

A few of my favorite things

Here's a glimpse at what I've been up to lately. Christmas seems like it came and went in a flash, didn't it? I only realized it was gone as I was walking through the mall today and saw Santa's empty chair. There is still New Year's but after that is the most depressing time of the year. I feel like an animal that goes into hibernation waiting for the first signs of spring! This year I won't be doing much hibernating - places to go, people to teach, weddings to plan! Anyway - here's a few of the things I've enjoyed the past couple of weeks.

My mother's beautiful mantle. Nothing makes me happier than these cheerful decorations! I have got to learn how to make these.

Home made sugar scrubs! They were really simple to make and smelled delicious (minus the ones I made in pickle jars... those had to be thrown out!)

You can find the tutorial I used here:

 http://www.maybematilda.com/2011/04/baby-shower-gift-homemade-sugar-scrub.html

Not sure what other people call these, but they are like homemade "turtles." Just pretzels, rolos, and pecans. SO easy and so delicious.

This is seriously my pride and joy! I am a sucker for all things involving Christmas ornaments. I've been wanting to make one of these for so long and finally got the courage to do it. I bought about 90 red ornaments from Family Dollar (less than $9), ribbon from JoAnn's ($1) and used an old wire coat hanger. It was a little more difficult than I thought but with the help of my handy-man dad it all worked out.

You can find the tutorial I used here (LOVE the six sisters' blog):

http://sixsistersstuff.blogspot.com/2011/12/6-dollar-wire-hanger-christmas-ornament.html 

These were just for fun because I thought they looked so pretty - and who doesn't love marshmallows? Just melt white or milk chocolate in the double boiler and dip them in. They would be cuter with more festive colors but these sprinkles were all I had on hand.

I made these "no bake cake batter truffles" for my mom's work Christmas party. They were deliciously easy and turned out pretty swell. They have a very different taste from real cake, so if that is what you are looking for stick to cake pops or the like. They are simple, pretty, and you can whip up enough to feed an army real quick!

You can find the tutorial for these pretty bitties here:

http://chef-n-training.blogspot.com/2011/09/no-bake-cake-batter-truffles-take-2.html

How can you not enjoy slaving away in the kitchen when you have this sweet little helper wolf? He makes everything better. If you're looking for a precious furry friend check out your local animal shelter :) Don't breed or buy while shelter pets die!

This was a "during" picture of my first candle making disaster adventure. I forgot to take an after picture. I could tell from the very beginning that this wasn't going to be as successful as I had hoped so I was a little lax on the picture taking. After melting the soy wax in my double boiler I attempted to use liquid coloring - bad idea (see that red at the very bottom...). Next time I will stick with the wax coloring. Otherwise it turned out okay - next time I know to use more wax because I didn't account for the melting, use more oil (sweet pea for this one), and non-waxed wicks because of the heat. I'll definitely be trying this one again.

You can find the tutorial I used here:

http://ruffledblog.com/diy-eco-friendly-soy-candle-favors/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Ruffled+%28Ruffled%29 

There are several other DIY projects I have in mind. What did we ever do before pinterest? Oh yeah, productive things! Any ideas what I should try next?

Alright, sleep time! Chris and I are going to the travel agent bright and early in the morning - let's see what we can get ourselves into...