Broccoli Cheese Soup

I found this recipe on line the other day and I just loved it! I was looking for a broccoli soup recipe to use up 1/2 jar of Cheez Wiz I had leftover from Christmas dinner. Funny thing is the baby (21 months old) ate the most out of everybody! I couldn't even get my 4 yr old to try it, my oldest ate it but said, it's really good tasting, but on a scale of 10, it's a 2 for appearance, ROFL!! That made me laugh :-) I really fixed it for my husband to eat with his sandwich, but he ended up not even liking it and I loved it, go figure! Anyway, on to the recipe...

-2 1/2 cups diced potatoes (I just used 2 potatoes)
-2 to 3 grated fresh carrots (I used 2)
-1 onion (puree in blender)
-1 tsp sugar
-salt and pepper to taste
-2 to 3 chicken bouillon cubes
-1 pkg. frozen broccoli
-1/2 cup butter
-1/2 cup flour
-1 (8oz) Jar Cheez Wiz

1. Cook potatoes in enough water to cover. Add all other ingredients down to the broccoli, leave it out. Cook for 5 minutes then add 1 bag of frozen broccoli, cook till tender. DO NOT drain! I almost drained this just by habit!
2. In microwave, melt 1/2 cup butter and stir in 1/2 cup flour. Pour this mixture into soup and stir.
3. Add 1 Jar Cheez Wiz

*NOTE* I found the water amount to be insufficient, so I added 1 cup of chicken broth also.

Oh, almost forgot, I pureed everything also, since I don't like huge chunks of broccoli in soup. It's your personal preference!

I hope you try it and like it too!!
Oh, the picture I snapped of it, I added 2 croutons to the soup, I just wanted to show off my cute little Tea Rose soup and sandwich platter my amazing Mother-in-law got me a few years back. I just love it, it's so pretty!!
Vicky

Shhhh!!!!!!

I'm so happy! I just want to tell everyone I know! This past week I've been "hiding" pureed vegetables in everything I cook, and I do mean everything! From pinto beans and tomatoes in tacos, to sweet potatoes and carrots in banana muffins and even pizza casserole! Believe me, it's not even detectable and it's still tastes the same! I just can not believe it!
I feel so stupid for not thinking of this before! I just bought the cookbook The Sneaky Chef and Double Delicious. I already had Deceptively Delicious, I bought it after my 4th son was born and it's been sitting on the shelf for over a year now! I did some puree's here and there when he was eating baby food, but was scared to put it in many things, not anymore!!
It's gotten to the point where my 4 year old won't eat any vegetables anymore, not even corn! What kid doesn't eat sweet corn? While my 7 and 10 year olds just gobble down fresh broccoli by the cupful, my sweet little 4 year old only loves fruit! You can imagine how ecstatic I was when he gobbled down his food this week with multiple vegetables mixed into them!! I just couldn't believe it!
This morning I fixed them Cocoa banana muffins for breakfast and I loaded it down with flax seed, sweet potatoes and carrot puree!! They happily ate that with their yogurt and knew nothing about my sneaky deception, ahhhh, life is good, LOL!

I can't wait to try out new purees and see how they taste. Last night I fixed pizza casserole and broccoli and for the first time in a long time I wasn't threatening my 4 year old that if he didn't eat his broccoli that he wouldn't ever be able to eat candy again, LOL! I just feel like a new woman, with stress lifted from me :-)

Book Review: Grandma’s Back to Basics All Natural More than Just a Cookbook

I can't begin to tell you just how excited I was to receive this book! I have a passion for cookbooks and the title just seemed so incredible to me! I got the book in the mail and immediately opened it up, I was like a little kid on Christmas morning, LOL! The author describes her life with severe allergies. Although we're blessed not to have severe allergies, I found this very interesting and do believe we need to be more aware of the chemicals and additives that we ingest on a daily basis! Now, on to the book. First let me say, I think the title of the book is very catching and very "homey" feeling, that is what intrigued me the most! After looking through the recipes and trying some, I was left sadly, very disappointed! A lot of the recipes called for weird and odd ingredients. I was sad to see lard listed. Do they even sell that stuff anymore? Yes, my grandmother may have used lard, but I refuse to cook with that for my family.

I received a complimentary copy of Grandma's Back to Basics All Natural More than Just a Cookbook as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team. Visit dorrancebookstore.com to learn how you can become a member of the Book Review Team.

Sewing and recycling...

I got to thinking about the bedroom curtains we have, actually they are all technically valances, but I always call everything that hangs on a window a curtain :) The ones in the kids room were made from a flat bed sheet, the ones in my bedroom were made from an old table cloth, both were bought from Goodwill for a buck each! I made my oldest son's curtain/valance out of material that I bought at Wal-mart, he has Louisville Cardinals. So for around $8 I made 5 valances, not too shabby considering you can't buy 1 for that price~! They're not the best in the world, but they serve the purpose and add niceness to the rooms!
Before I would never have thought about taking things like bed sheets or table cloths to make curtains out of them. But if you have the right fabric and materials, you can do it and it will save you money!!

Vicky

School...

School is starting back up in a week. I won't be attending college for the spring semester. Part of me is sad, part of me is relieved. Although I whined and complained about all the work, it really wasn't that bad, school wise, just very time consuming. I got A's in 3 of my 4 classes, and got a B+ in the last one, I was actually only 1 point away from having 4 A's! I realized that this is Evan's last year home with me (tears filling my eyes!) and I want to enjoy what little time we have left together. He starts K this fall and I don't want the next few months spent with him playing around and me doing homework on the computer. There's plenty of time for me to finish my degree, but I will never get this time back with him!
My kids are growing up on me too quickly! I don't want to look back in 10 years and say I wish I did this differently when I know I should be doing it differently now!

I never heard anybody say on their death bed that they wish they spent more time at work or in school, instead you always here about people saying I wish I spent more time with my family.

Some part of me wishes we would go back to the 50's mindset where when you had kids you were expected to stay at home with them and just raise them, not like nowadays where you're expected to do everything else under the sun but stay home with your kids. Society puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on stay at home Mom's. We're made to feel guilty if we stay at home, like we're just lazy or we're wasting all of our time and talents. Just think of all this stuff you could have if only you worked too, a big house, fancy cars, 1st class vacations, ____________________ you fill in the blank. But I ask you, at what cost?

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm not Super Woman, I can't do it all! Raising kids is a FULL time job and no I can't have my cake and eat it too! MMM, did somebody mention cake? LOL!

So I guess I will be a drop out in the eyes of society for not finishing my degree right now, but it's not the eyes of society that looks at me with the utmost love every day and the little arms that wrap around me and I hear I love you Mommy! Now that's what counts as being successful to me! My 4 little people God blessed me with, that's what I want to invest my time and energy into!

I guess I went a wee bit off the title post about school, LOL!

Vicky

Ham and Potato Frittata

I made a Ham and Potato Frittata last week with the leftover ham from Christmas dinner and let me tell you, it was great! So yummy!! It's like the dish I make for breakfast with leftover ham, but only better! Here is the link to the actual recipe and an amazing new website I have found
http://stolenmomentscooking.com/ham-potato-frittata/

you won't be disappointed with this recipe!

Vicky

Happy New Year!!

Ok, so I'm a little late to the party :) My 4 year old has had a very nasty stomach bug and it's been a very rough couple of days.
As most of you already have thought about New Years Resolutions, I was inspired to write about something else. I read somewhere that instead of calling them resolutions, why not call them goals instead? I found this to be very clever! According to the most recent polls, every single year people say the same thing, #1 is to lose weight. I would have to say that is pretty high on my goal list also. I also want to de-clutter my entire house, I mean really de-clutter, donate so much junk that the kids are gonna wonder if their beds are next, LOL! I live in a small house and the clutter is just overwhelming. No matter if your house is clean, when it's cluttered and junked up, it looks dirty! So if I had a list, it would look something like this:
1. Lose weight (should put, continue)
2. De-clutter
3. Be more organized
4. Follow my menu plan better

I'm sure you may have noticed that I didn't put anything about my family. I don't believe in setting New Year's Resolutions for these things, they should be daily goals that you work at. We're all guilty of not doing this or that, if you realize it, then do better. One of my favorite quotes is, "When I knew better, I did better". I just love that one! Your family should be your #1 priority in life, so that should be the best goal to work on, not necessarily the easiest. Relationships take work, even ones between parents and children, and definitely ones between husbands and wives.

My husband said that he reads my blog and wonders why I never write anything bad, meaning negative, airing our dirty laundry so to speak. Well I could, easily, and could write about him being a jerk sometimes, or me blowing up at him over stuff, but what would that solve? I seriously doubt there's one person out in cyberland that honestly thinks another family is perfect. We all have our own problems, our own hurdles and mountains to climb. So if you wanna read about someone talking about how much they hate their husband, or how their kids are killing them, well you're reading the wrong blog!
I want to stay positive and think about the best! Life isn't always positive, so why read all the negative stuff on the internet and fill your head with it? Instead you could be filling your mind with happy stuff and fill your mouth with yummy food, LOL! Ok, so maybe a nice apple :-)

So this year, 2011, I want it to be my year to get my weight under control, to be physically fit and get my house under control also!

Vicky