Finding Contentment

Flavors of Fall (Our families favorite fall soups)

Hi all.  I love fall, and the cool weather we have had here in MIssouri for the last two days.  I am afraid it is going to warm up again, and I don't want it to!  LOL  I love fall, the colors, the leaves, the pumpkins, wearing my favorite sweaters, hayrides, etc.  And I do love soup weather as well.  So I decided to share some of my families favorite fall soups and other recipes with you.  I love to cook, and love the compliments I get from my cooking, but like many of you, I simply don't have time to spend 2 hours in the kitchen preparing it!!  So most of mine are crockpot meals (saves electricity anyway), and other quick meals.  Well, here are a few:

1.  South of the Border Chicken Soup

(Serves 4-6??)

(I have posted this before, because I love this soup even in summer with fresh corn and tomatoes instead of frozen or canned, but it is especially good on those cold chilly days.  I shared the recipe with my friend tractorchick72 here on HSB and it is one of her new favs and she says her son loves it as well!!)

1 tsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups cooked adn shredded chicken

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chilli powder

2 cans (14.5 each) diced tomato

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup frozen whole kernel corn

1 tsp Worchestershire sauce

1 can (10 3/4 oz) can tomato soup

2 cans (14 1/2 oz each) chicken broth

Saute' garlic and onion in oil.  Stir in reamaing ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for one hour.  Optional: Garnish with a dollop of sour cream adn some crushed tortilla chips.  (Yes you can do this in the crockpot!!!!  Super easy!  And this soup freezes very well!)

Yummy Beef Stew

(serves 8)

2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes

3T vegetable oil, divided

1 cup water

3 large potatoes, peel and cubed (1 inch)

4 medium carrots, sliced

1 large green pepper, 1/2 inch cubes

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tsps salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 T instant beef bouillon granules

1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoews, undrained

Brown meat in oil in a Dutch oven.  Add water, potatoes, carrots, green pepper, garlic, onion, salt and pepper.  Cover and simmer for 2 hours.  Stir in bouillon and tomatoes and heat through before serving.  (This recipe was from a Taste of Home book.  The original recipes calls to put the stew in a nice hollowed out pumpkin and bake it.  Then when scooping out the stew, you scrape the inside of the pumpkin to get some pumpkin in your stew as well.  I am not a real big pumpkin eater unless it is in pie, so I don't do this.  But it does sound interested and fancy doesn't it???)

3.  Broccoli Cheese Soup

(serves 4)

1 cup chopped broccoli

4 cups chopped fresh broccoli

2 cups peeled and diced red potato

1/2 tsps garlic powder

2 2/3 cups chicken broth

1 Bay leaf

3/4 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

12 oz can evaporated milk

Saute' onion with non-stick cooking spray in a Dutch oven.  Add 2 cups broccoli, potato, garlic powder, bay leaf, and chicken broth; bring to a boil.  Cover, and reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.  Discard bay leaf.  Puree broccoli mixture in batches and then return to pan.  Stir in remaining broccoli, cheese and milk.  Cook until tender.

4.  Jeanie's Sausage Bean Chowder

This recipe came from my mom's best friend.  She died about 6 months before mom did and I was so glad when I went through my mom's recipes to find this one, still in Jeanie's handwriting on a recipe card!!!  This is one of hubby's favorites!!!)

(serves 6)

2 lbs sausage, browned and drained

2 (16 oz each) cans pinto beans

46 oz tomato juice

4-5 diced potatoes

1/3 cup dried onion

1/2 green pepper, diced

1 Bay Leaf

1/2 tsp each: thyme, and garlic salt

1 1/2 tsps Lowrey's seasoning salt

Combine all ingredients in a Dutch oven (or crock pot) and simmer for 2 hours or until potatoes are done.  Remove bay leaf before serving.

5.  Best In The West Bean Bake

This recipe originally came from my Aunt Mary, my mom's sister, and now the whole family has this recipe and fixes it often.  It is like a baked bean soup almost, and don't forget to serve lots of cornbread with this one!!  YUMMY!!!!  This reminds me of deer season each year at my grandmother's.  They boys would gather early adn go hunting, and the women folk would gather early making hot soups and cornbread and biscuits, pies, cakes and cookies for the gentlemen.  At lunch time, the men came in to show down, and the women folk would clean up afterwards, and then add to if needed for supper.  Supper was the same, eating, and cleaning up.  But the times in between the kids played, the women sewed or crocheted, and visited.  I miss those times!

1 lb hamburger

1 onion, chipped

1 lb bacon, chopped

1/2 cup BBQ sauce  

4 T prepared mustard

1/2 cup ketchup

4 T brown sugar

16 oz can red kidney beans, undrained

16 oz can pork and beans, undrained

16 oz can butter beans, undrained

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Brown hamburger, bacon and onion in a Dutch oven.  Combine remaining ingredients and bake for 1 hour at 350.   Of course this is another that could be done in the crockpot.   The butter beans sound unusual??? Yeah, maybe it is.  I don't like butter beans, but I love them in this dish. LOL  If you don't like them, or the other beans, substitute your own choice.

6.  Easy Texas Chilli

1 lb lean ground beef

1/3 cup chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1 1/2 cups water

1 T chili opwder

1 tsp salt

16 oz can chilli beans, undrained

6 oz can tomato paste

Brown meat with onion and garlic in a Dutch oven until meat is no longer pink.  Return meat to pan and stir in remaining ingredients.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

7.  White Bean and Ham Soup

2 cans (15 1/2 oz each) great northern beans, rinsed and drained

2 carrots, diced

1 small onion, diced

2 T butter

2 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 cups cubed fully cooked ham

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp white pepper

1 bay leaf

Mash one can of beans, set aside.  IN a large saucepan, saute carrots and oinon in water and add remaining ingredients, including the mashed beans.  Cook over low heat until heated through and discard bay leaf before serving.

8.  Sausage With Four Beans

(serves 6)

1 can (28 oz) whole peeled Italian tomatoes

1 can (15 oz) of EACH : cannelli beans (or great northern), pinto beans, butter beans, kidney beans

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup finely chopped carrot

2 garlic cloved, minced

1 Bay leaf

2 tsps dried parsley flakes

1 tsp dried basil

1.2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/8 tsp pepper

1 1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage links

4 pieces precooked bacon, crumbled

Combine all ingredients in a 6 quart crock pot, making sure to polke the sausages down into the liquid.  Cover and cook on LOW for 4-5 hours.  Cut sausages into serving size pieces and serve with bean mixture.

9.  French Onion Soup

(serves 6)

2 T butter

3 large onions, peeled and sliced

1 can (14 1/2 oz) beef broth

3 cups cold water

1 Bay leaf

6 sliced french bread, toasted

\1 cup shredded mozerella cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a large skiller and cook onions over medium heat until golden brown.  Add broth, water, and Bay leaf.  Stir to combine and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove bay leaf and preheat broiler.  Ladle soup evenly into 6 ovenproof bowls.  Top each with a toast slice and sprinkle with mozerella and parmesan cheese.  Broil 5-10 minutes or just until cheese is golden.

10.  Italian Bread Soup

(serves 4)

2 cans (14 oz eac) chicken broth

4 cans (14.5 oz each) fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undiced

3 cups Caesar-style croutons

1 cup chopped onion

1 pkt. ( 0.7 oz) Italian dressing mix

grated Parmesan cheese

shredded fresh basil

salt and pepper, to taste

In a slow cooker, combine chicken broth, tomatoes, croutons, onion and dressing mix. Cook on HIGH 4-6 hours.  Season with salt and pepper and serve with parmesan cheese and fresh basil.

I hope your family will love these soups as much as mine does.  Maybe you can start making your own family memories with these yummy cool weather soups.

Please feel free to print out these recipes.

Fishing pics

Gustav and Summer UPDATES!!!!!

WE HAVE ELECTRICITY AGAIN!  There were several "Thank you, Lords" and "Hallelujahs"  spoken (loudly) around here by my hubby and I when the power came back on yesterday at 5:pm!!  I even found out today that at least one of our grocery stores is up and running and has replenished what they lost.  So after being shut in for days I'm off to the bank and the store today.  I hope I never take those things for granted again...try going for very long without your bank, grocery store or gas station...

As for my daughter, Summer, she is expected to be in the hospital on into next week we know.  They are trying to reach her Urologist but haven't been successful due to the phone systems being down in the city where he is.  They have found that one of her kidneys is not emptying like it should.  It's emptying at about half the speed her other one is and there is a blockage.  That's probably why she's been swelling so much.   All along it's been kidney stones and infections but now kidney function?  That worries me a lot.   Poor thing.    Thank you for remembering her in your prayers.  God bless you for that!

Taco Soup

Believe it or not...IT'S SEPTEMBER!!  Those cooler temps are on the way!  I LOVE fall...it's my FAVORITE time of year!!  Along with those falling temperatures that invite us to pull on our favorite sweaters, collect pumkins, go on hayrides and build bonfires comes my desire to make wonderful, hearty soups and stews!  One of our family's favorite cold weather soups is Taco Soup!!  Oh...it is yummy, stustaining, it's even attractive to look at in your bowl.    I hope you enjoy it!!

Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><

TACO SOUP

1 lb. ground beef or chuck
1/2  med. onion - finely chopped
1 lg. bunch of fresh cilantro - finely chopped
4-6 jalapeno peppers (depending on your taste buds & stomach lining!) - finely chopped
2 15-16 oz. cans kidney beans (UNdrained)
2 14-15 oz. cans whole kernal corn (UNdrained)
1 15-16 oz. can black beans (optional)
2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
1 pkg (1-1/2 TB) taco seasoning
1 c. water

~ Brown beef, drain; add onion, peppers, 1/2 of the cilantro and cook until onions and peppers start to get tender.
~ Mix everything together in a dutch oven OR crockpot.
~ Heat through in dutch oven for 45 min. - 1 hour OR in crockpot for 2-3 hours on low.
~ Top with shredded cheddar or colby-jack cheese, sour cream and corn tortilla chips crumbled like crackers.

More recent news....

aka the Biggest Photo Blog EVER!!!! Haha!

You ever get so far behind on news that you end up skipping major things, otherwise you'd have to put up like 8 posts in one day?

I do that.

But not today! Here is the whole enchilada.

We celebrated my brother's 23rd birthday a while back. THAT IS CRAZY! I was married 6mo when I had my 23rd birthday! That mean's I've been married 4 years. Okay, I know, we celebrated our 4th anniversary in June but it's just different to watch a younger sibling hit that kind of milestone....

Happy Birthday, bro!

More pics from the farm....

We stayed late.

Oh, and before I forget, which I have forgot numerous times, here is my new sink:

And here is the $5 dresser after Jonathan finished working on it and moved it to the boy's room. I wonder if it will be my boy's and girl's room before long?

Then, Jonathan's brother and  his wife visited from Florida. We went to the Zoo together and hung around for an entire week generally making constant pests of ourselves. The boys really hit it off with their aunt & uncle!

Here is Elijah with his Aunt Clare. Clare is pregnant. A month ahead of me, but I'm the one getting the strangers asking about my pregnancy. I guess by #3 you don't have much left to hold it all in. Oh, well, Jay is thrilled that I'm "showing" this time around sooner. And it is fun telling people that it's our THIRD when they ask, of course, if it's our first. It makes it seem all that more real. Our third child!

Five years ago we had our picture taken "with the bear" and it was just the two of us. I love, love, LOVE having my lovely family doubled!!!

My boys really liked the zoo.

On Friday night, a soon-to-be Air Force .... guy. .... took us up on a Cessna 172. Did I mention he's 3 years younger than me and Jay? And that made me feel old to trust him to fly us up into the sky?

The airplane was ENTIRELY TOO SMALL. It made our car feel huge when I was back on the ground. Every little thing made it dip and buck in the sky. It was like a rollercoaster without anything beneath us. My stomach churned. Samuel freaked out. I had to comfort him by saying things like,

"The airplane is just bouncy! It's fine! Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy! Isn't this fun?"

.... while resisiting my urge to grab the pilot's shoulder and beg him not to kill us all.

Right before he freaked:

A field. Full of round bales. BIG BALES, folks!

My parent's farm. I tried to get Jonathan to take pictures. I really did. He said I would do "fine". Then, after we had circled and I took the camera full of pictures and we headed back, he turns in the seat and says:

"You took all the pictures zoomed in all the way, right?"

Appearantly, he was so confident of my answer he turned back around without waiting for one. It was too noisey and I deemed it the wrong time to tell him . . . NO. I hadn't even thought of such a thing, while trying to take pictures out of the window over my son while bouncing through the sky. My bad.

I still contend that Jay is partly to blame. He should know I'm no photographer by now!

It was a good flight anyway.

And that is about all, except I wanted to share two pictures of my boys. This old picture of Samuel (he was 7mo):

And this one, of Elijah (he's 11mo but probably close to the same size his older brother was):

My little boys! They are growing up so fast! I'm so ready for a tiny little newborn that wants to snuggle and nurse, this tiny new person that is bumping me from the inside to get to know. A unique, different individual that will be somewhat like the rest of us yet totally different in a whole new way . . . .

Still no washer and dryer. I have some tile to walk on (ungrouted and unsealed) now but it's a big, big project. I probably won't be able to do laundry until Monday or Tuesday or possibly later. My hamper floweth over, but we haven't come close to running out of things to wear. So it's all good!  And when it's behind me, I shall have tile!!!

~Ashley~