Monday's Menu: Outback Potato Soup

This soup was very good and so easy to make. Great flavor and perfect for the cold days ahead.

Here's the recipe:
*One 30 oz bag of shredded hashbrowns
*Three, 14 oz cans of chicken broth
*One can Cream of Chicken soup
*1/2 cup copped onion
*1/4 tsp ground pepper
*One package cream cheese (Not the fat free kind.  It doesn't melt.)
In crockpot, combine everything EXCEPT cream cheese.  Cook 6-8 hours on LOW heat.
About an hour before serving, drop in the cream cheese and let it melt completely.
Serve with grated cheese, bacon bits, sour cream...etc.
I made a skillet of cornbread to go with ours.

Definitely a keeper for the recipe book!

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This past weekend, some of the ladies from church ventured up the mountain to Mrs. Ava's house near Boone.

We had a good, relaxing time.  Most of the ladies went shopping Saturday morning, but three of us stayed at the house and did nothing.  Absoutely nothing.  Just sat and talked and had a good time doing it.

I'm thankful for the church family I have in my life and for the friends that I have made there.  They are a terrific group of ladies and a blessing. 

My sweet husband and I have been facing a giant lately, that only God knows about.  It's been a difficult past couple of months, and I really needed this get away to just let go of things.  It really could not have come at a better time.  I've been sick this week and, although I probably should have stayed home and taken it easy, I'm glad I got to go on this trip and share some laughs with good friends.  God is good to give us what we need through good friends and great fellowship, and lots of laughs!  After all, laughter IS the best medicine, right?

Here's a few pics from our trip... 

This picture below is for my friend "S's" son.  When he heard we saw deer up there, he really wanted to be there with us.  So, "E", this one's for you...  :D

Here's another one, "E." 

This little sweetie was perfectly content to lay down right in front of us and stayed there for a very long time.  We kept coming out to look at her and she was perfectly content to keep resting.

OK, "E," look at the picture below carefully.  There's a deer in there for you too.  Can you find it??

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We had a family reunion after church yesterday.  It's always good to see those we don't get to see that often and catch up on things over the last year.

I made another recipe I found on Pinterest.  And Hannah made some cookies I found on Pinterest also.  I'll post those recipes later.  They were very good.  Especially those cookies.  Pumpkin spice!  YUM!  I'll probably make a batch of those for Thanksgiving at my Aunt's house.

After the reunion we had our church kid's fall festival.  As always, it was total chaos and fun for the kiddies.  And then we had an amazing service Sunday night.  Love it when the Lord shows up and just sits down in the meeting. 

And that was my weekend.  :) 

 

Bus Ministry Fall Festival, 2012

We had a good time last Saturday at our Bus Ministry's Fall Festival.  Mrs. Janet had the hot dogs and popcorn and all the game stations were in full swing.  Candy was the goal!

We even had a clown.  I didn't know who it was at first.  But I figured it out.

Before we got started, though, the gospel was presented and several people came to know the Lord.  It was a blessing to see a parent of one of our bus kids getting saved in the middle of all the festivities.

Sweet Na...

Sand art is a popular table...

And who doesn't like milking a cow?

We go through a lot of face painting too.

Harrison was in charge of the PLINKO game.  The kids just kept coming for that one.

And "F" was feeling cheesy for the camera.  I tried to get several of him for his daddy who is stationed in the sand box.

Pitching apples into a basket was giving Chey a workout.  They were throwing those apples as fast as they could.

Madison worked the Foosball table.  That was a popular game too.

Mrs. Rebecca and Mrs. Mott.  Two of the sweetest ladies.  I love them both.

"F" was pulling the clown's hair.  Nice.

And last, but not least, our sweet Pastor's wife.  She is terrific.

Had a photo shoot with two families this weekend.  One, of which, was shortly after bus ministry.  And then after that, we met up with some people for a bond fire.  Had a good time.  Also spent Sunday afternoon at other friend's home.  It was so relaxing and I still got my Sunday afternoon snooze before Hannah had to be back to church for practice.
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And on a "lighter" topic, I am down more pounds and am officially down into the next set of tens.  YAY!  I have plans for my before and after picture but want to lose about ten more pounds. 
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I didn't do a Monday's Menu this week.  I had a brain burp and forgot to take my list of needed ingredients to the store this weekend.  We were just too busy to try and get back to the store. 
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Fighting a chest cold right now.  Not feeling very well, but I'm pumping up on my vitamins and echinacea, hoping it will pass soon. 
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School is going great.  The kids are working double time right now so they can have a longer break over the holidays.  I'm all for that!  Just another reason I love homeschooling.  More holiday time to spend with my kids doing holiday fun things.  I'm glad they're motivated and working hard to earn those days.
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And that's all folks!  Have a good week.  :)

Monday's Menu: Cheesy Chicken Enchilada

Well, I didn't think to take a picture before we ate today.  But I took one off of the blog where this recipe comes from.  She has some great recipes on here and I'm looking forward to trying more of them.

I liked this dinner ok.  Bruce, not so much.  He said the taco shells were too wet on the bottom for him.  The kids seemed to like it ok, but basically had the same opinion.  It sounds GREAT, it just didn't meet up to expectations.  You might know to do something different to make a dryer bottom.  If so, please share.  I would try it again.

Here's the recipe:
10 soft taco shells
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
2 cups, grated, monterey jack cheese
3 Tbs butter
3 Tbs flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1, 4oz can diced green chilies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray
The person that originally posted this recipe suggested several ways to cook the chicken.  Buying a rotisserie chicken and picking it off the bone, boiling it, or roasting it.  Once you decide on that, shred the two cups of chicken.  She suggested using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.  I used my kitchen aid and I'm telling you, it was perfectly shredded!  What a great idea! 

Add 1 cup of shredded cheese to the chicken.  Here is where you want to add your seasoning (salt and pepper) if you boiled your chicken, to give it some extra flavor.

Place chicken mixture in each of your ten soft taco shells.  Roll them up and place them in your baking dish.

In medium sauce pan, melt butter.  Stir in flour and let cook and thicken for one minute.  Do NOT let it burn.  Add chicken broth and whisk until smooth.

Stir in sour cream and chilies.  Be sure not to let the mixture boil.

Remove sauce from heat and pour over enchiladas.

Top with remaining shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

If you'd like, turn the oven to broil and let the top broil for one or two minutes.  I did this, and it was good.

I served ours with refried beans and chips like she did.  Other than the bottom of the shells being too damp, they were delicious.  Any suggestions for the bottom of the shells?

Click here to visit The Country Cook.

Monday's Menu: Chicken Tater Tot Casserole

Today's Pinterest recipe is Chicken Tater Tot Casserole.  You make this in the crock pot so it's really easy clean up on those busy days.  Who doesn't like that?? 

Big hit with the family.  My honest opinion is that it was good, however, I don't think it could be considered great.  My family, on the other hand, loved it and said it was a definite keeper for the cookbook.  The council has spoken and it will be added. :)

I tweaked this recipe to the size of my family.  I didn't really double it, but I did add a little extra of each ingredient.

Here's the original recipe:
One 32 oz bag of Tater Tots
One pound of chicken breast
1/2 cup of bacon bits
2 cups, shredded sharp cheddar cheese plus extra for topping
3 green onions
salt and pepper
3/4 cups milk

Cut chicken into bite size pieces and thinly slice green onions
Layer half the tater tots in the bottom of your crock pot
Top with 1/3 bacon bits, 1/3 cheese, 1/3 green onion
Add all the chicken on top of this and add salt and pepper
Layer on another 1/3 bacon bits, 1/3 cheese, and 1/3 green onion
Layer on the rest of the tater tots, followed by the rest of the bacon bits, cheese, and green onions
Pour 3/4 cups of milk, evenly over the top
Cover and cook on high, 4 to 6 hrs.  Mine was done in about 4 1/2.  To check it, I just made sure the chicken was cooked through.

This recipe was pinned from Lisa's Dinnertime Dish.  I look forward to checking out more of her recipes.

Monday's Menu: French Bread Pizza

Monday's menu was French bread pizza.  The kids and Bruce loved being able to make their own pizza the way they wanted it and it was a big hit.  You can choose your family's favorite toppings and they'll have fun putting their pizzas together.  I thought younger children would love this idea if you have family night at home.

Here's how you make the French Bread Pizza:

*Preheat oven to 500 degrees. 
*French Bread loaves, enough to feed your family, cut lengthwise.  (We used two and a half loaves for our family and that made lunch and supper. :)
*Pizza sauce (I bought the smaller jars and we used one and a half of those.)
*cheese (we used grated sharp and mozzerella)
*Toppings (use your favorites.  We used sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, and green peppers)

Layer your sauce on the bread, add your favorite toppings and cheese, and place in the oven five to six minutes.  Keep an eye on it.  It cooks pretty fast.  The edges will get nice and crisp while the center stays fairly soft.  ENJOY!

I found this on Pinterest from a site called, What's Cooking with Ruthie.

 

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There was a boy, about nineteen years old, that accepted Christ at church yesterday morning and then we had six baptisms last night. 

What a blessing to see some men from the mission and some of our younger children follow Christ into believer's baptism.

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We had a fellowship after church last night for our Sunday School class too.  It was a cookie social.  So needless to say, there was cookies and milk.  It was fun and we had a lot of good laughs. 

I have no idea what happened in the picture below but that whole table of teens was dying in laughter.

My friend, Sam, especially had me cracking up.  She'll read this and know why.  But, Sam, I have laughed off and on all DAY over what you told me.  Ohhhhh, you are wonderfully sweet and funny.  And I love you to pieces!!  :)