Broccoli Cheese Soup

This is my grandma's broccoli cheese soup recipe. Its really good, and super easy. It only takes a few minutes to make and is really good left over!
*Especially good with homemade rolls toasted with butter in the oven!
I did take a picture of this, but must have deleted it. Oh well, you know what soup looks like :)

Broccoli Cheese Soup
*Ingredients
1/4 cup margarine (I'm sure you could use real butter - I used "I can't believe it's not butter")
2 T chopped onion
1 T flour
4 cups milk
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp worchestershire
12 oz cooked broccoli
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded carrots

*Directions
1. Sautee onion in margarine till soft, then add flour. Cook until bubbly (making a roue)
2. Add milk then heat through, DO NOT BOIL!
3. Add remaining ingredients.... and you're done. Its that easy.

Note - make sure and cook broccoli all the way before adding to soup because the soup mixture won't do the rest of the cooking if you put it in half way done. I like my broccoli in my soup super soft so.. this is just my extra note :)

Slow Cooker Stuffing

From Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons rubbed sage
• 2 teaspoons dried marjoram
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 cups cubed day-old white bread
• 6 cups cubed day-old whole wheat bread
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) Progresso ® Chicken Broth

Directions

• In a large skillet, saute the celery, onion and mushrooms in butter until tender. Stir in the seasonings. Place bread cubes in a large bowl. Add vegetable mixture and toss to coat. Stir in broth.
• Transfer to a 3-qt. slow cooker coated with cooking spray. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until heated through. Yield: 8 servings.

* I halved it since I was just testing it out. I omitted the mushrooms, used dried parsley, ground sage, and no marjoram since I didn't have it on hand. I didn't have any regular poultry seasoning so I just used McCormick Montreal Chicken.

It turned out really good! My smaller crock pot cooks really hot and fast so I checked it after 2 hours and it was done. So I just turned it to warm and stirred it every 30 mins so it wouldn't burn. I was worried it would be super soggy, but it wasn't. The edge pieces were crispy and the middle was perfect. Dallas keeps asking me when I'm going to make it again. We loved it!

Raspberry & Cream Puff Pastry Doughnuts

I made these the other day... Yum they were SOO good, and so so easy! I got them from justgetoffyourbuttandbake.com Although I just used regular raspberry pie filling and didn't have bavarian cream, they were still good. But I bet they are even better with the cream! Yum.

RASPBERRY & CREAM PUFF PASTRY DOUGHNUTS
1 Egg
1 tablespoon water
1 package (17.3 ounces) Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets, thawed
Raspberry jam or Pie filling like Raspberry, Blueberry, Strawberry, etc.
Bavarian Cream
(I used Raspberry filling and Bavarian Cream from the Prepared Pantry)
Turbinado Sugar
ICING:
1 cup Confectioners Sugar
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1 tsp. Vanilla.
Now add:
*Enough Milk to make it the consistency of glaze that you like.
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork. Unfold 1 pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Using a round cutter, cut the pastry sheet into 9 (3 inch) circles. Repeat with the remaining pastry sheet. (Don’t waste the scraps – re-roll them and cut into as many circles as possible)
Place half of the pastry circles onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Spoon about 1 tsp. each of the berry or jam filling and also the Bavarian Cream. If you are not using the cream, add 2 tsp. of the berry filling instead. Brush the edges of the pastry circles with the egg wash. Place the remaining pastry circles over the filling. Press the edges firmly to seal. (I crimped my edges with a fork) Using a sharp knife or a pair of kitchen shears, cut a small slit in the top of each filled pastry.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown on the top and the bottoms. Let the pastries cool slightly and drizzle confectioners sugar glaze over the top, or simply shake confectioners sugar over the tops.
*You could be creative and add just about anything to the inside of these pastry filled doughnuts!

Crock Pot Italian Chicken

I was totally out of ideas today for lunch, so I decided to do my best and make something up with the little I had in the pantry. It turned out pretty good!

Italian Chicken
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 pkg Lipton garlic & herb soup mix
3-4 chicken breasts

Mix tomatoes and soup mix together, then pour over frozen chicken in the crock pot. Cook on low for about 4 hours.

This would have been good on pasta or rice, possibly with some other veggies added. We just had it plain with rolls and spinach salad. Low fat and EASY as can be!

Slow Cooker Turkey Breast

*Found this on All Recipes

1 4-5 pound boneless turkey breast
1 packet of dry Lipton Onion Soup Mix
1 Tablespoon of Butter (or more if you want)

If your crockpot is not non-stick, then grease well. Place turkey breast in crockpot, rub butter all over the top, then sprinkle onion soup mix all over - top, bottom, and sides. I did add just a little bit of water, but its not necessary. There will be a lot of juices when its done. Cook on low for 7-8 hours until done.
(My crockpot has an automatic setting where it does the first hour on high, followed by 7 hours on low and that is what I set it on.)

Super yummy! It literally melted in my mouth when I was eating it. The turkey came with a small gravy packet, but I'm sure if you wanted to make a gravy with all the yummy juices that were left, it would be tasty. It didn't taste super onion-y so that was nice. We loved it! I also made stuffing in the crockpot, which I will be posting later on this week.

Easy Weeknight Favorites

A few of my favorite ones that we posted last year! (Click to view)

Beef Fried Rice

Crock Pot Southwestern Chicken

Pineapple Chicken Burgers

Skillet Lasagna

Turkey Pesto Sandwich

Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars

Yum! These were at my cousins reception and they were delicious! I definitely want to make some now that I have the recipe!

Crème Brûlée Cheesecake Bars from Betty Crocker

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix

1 box (4-serving size) French vanilla instant pudding and pie filling

Mix 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs plus 3 egg yolks

2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup toffee bits, finely crushed

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, pudding mix, brown sugar, melted butter, 1 teaspoon of the vanilla and 1 whole egg until soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of pan.

2. In small bowl, beat cream cheese, sour cream and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining whole egg, 3 egg yolks and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla; beat until smooth. Spread over crust in pan.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until set in center. Immediately sprinkle top with crushed toffee bits. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate about 3 hours or until chilled. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator. Makes 36 bars

Easy Shredded Chicken

Sorry, no picture, cause its just shredded chicken.....I'm pretty sure you can imagine what that looks like!

Fall is coming and I am getting that urge to deep clean my house and be organized. So many times, I realize its five o'clock and I'm unprepared for dinner, even though I try to plan ahead. I went to Costco and bought a huge bag of chicken and a case of diced tomatoes to make this since it freezes so well. I did 4 breasts and froze it in 2 cup quantities. I ended up with 4 cups and enough extra to have some for dinner. I'm planning on doing another batch tomorrow to freeze again, along with this recipe for basic shredded chicken that my sister shared with me. I hate it so bad when I pull out a recipe that calls for cooked chicken and I'm not prepared for it! I figured this is a good thing to keep in the freezer for those days!

~Simple Shredded Chicken~
3-4 chicken breasts
1 can chicken broth
2 tablespoons McCormick Montreal Seasoning
Place everything in crockpot,
cook on low 8-9 hours
high 4 hours.
Freeze!
(You can use Montreal Steak or Montreal Chicken,
just depends on your preference
or what you have on hand.)

So many uses for this! Use this recipe instead of buying a rotisserie chicken at the store.

Cheese Stuffed Shells

From foodnetwork Magazine.

I made this last night. It's a pretty good vegetarian meal (youre supposed to use tofu but I opted NOT to use it). It's not quite as good as Jan's Lasagna but thats because it's better for you :) Imagine that! I halfed it and it made plenty for us, we have a little more than half a pan left. I'll let you know how leftovers are.

Ingredients
For the Sauce:
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup grated zucchini
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
Freshly ground pepper

For the Shells:
1 12-ounce box jumbo pasta shells
8 ounces silken tofu, mashed (I just omitted this and added more mozz cheese :)
1 10-ounce box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 clove garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Cooking spray

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Make the sauce: Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the carrot, zucchini, onion and celery and saute until soft but not brown, 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the basil, oregano, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, prepare the shells: Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 8 minutes; drain. Mix the tofu, spinach, cottage cheese, parmesan, 1/2 cup mozzarella, the egg and garlic in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper.
Mist a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread about 1 cup of the sauce in the dish. Stuff the cheese mixture into the shells and place in the baking dish, open-side up. Pour the remaining sauce over the shells. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup mozzarella and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

Peach Scones

Mmmmm more peach recipes :) These look so good. They would be good with raspberry jam (I have always loved the combination of raspberry and peach), or maybe even some peach jam. Or would that be peach over load? No, not possible. haha

Peach Scones (from TwoPeas)
2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

4 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup diced, peeled peaches
4 tablespoons heavy cream, for brushing the tops of the scones

2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling on top

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Drop the cubes of butter over the flour mixture. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender, or your hands. Work until the mixture resembles course meal.
3. In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk together the heavy cream, egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Pour over the flour and butter mixture. Mix with a spatula or wooden smooth just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix. Carefully fold in the chopped peaches.
4. Transfer the dough to a flour surface and gently form into a ball. Flatten the dough into a round disk, about 3/4 inches high. Using a biscuit cutter, cut scones into circles and place on a baking sheet. You can cut scones into wedges.
5. Lightly brush scones with heavy cream and sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Let scones cool on a wire rack before serving.
Makes 14 small scones

Peach Vanilla Syrup

*From The Sisters Dish

Ingredients:

• 5 cups peaches(pureed)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 2 t. vanilla

Directions: Bring first 3 ingredients to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add vanilla and stir well. Pour into hot, sterile jars and screw the hot lids and rings on tight.
Process the syrup in a boiling hot water bath for ~15 minutes, to make sure that any bacteria is killed. Start timing when the water comes to a full boil. Set jars out and listen for the pop to ensure they have sealed.

*This is what I will be doing tomorrow with my sister so I will post a picture when we are done! I'm super excited, I think its going to be way yummy!!

**Okay update! We made this and it was so good! The first batch, we forgot to add vanilla, oops! But it still tastes good. In the other batches, we put it in, but you can't really taste it, so if you want a stronger flavor, add more. We doubled it, so 10 cups of pureed peaches, and we got 7 pints out of it. We ended up with about 21 pints when it was all said and done.

Buttery Onion Corn on the Cob

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 envelope onion soup mix
• 4 medium ears sweet corn, husks removed

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine butter and soup mix; rub over corn. Place each ear of corn on a 12-in. x 10-in. piece of heavy-duty foil. Fold foil over corn and seal tightly.
• Bake at 450° for 15-20 minutes or until corn is tender, turning once.

*Dallas was a little skeptical when I told him this is what I wanted to make, but we loved it! It's baked in butter, you can't go wrong with that. I baked the corn for about 17 minutes and it was perfect! I halved it for us, and just used half a stick of butter and there was plenty. I think next time, for just 2 ears of corn I will do about 2 tablespoons of butter.

Blueberry Muffins

From Taste of Home Baking Classics Cookbook

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• 
  TOPPING:
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine oats and orange juice; let stand for 5 minutes. Beat in the egg, oil and sugar until blended. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; stir into oat mixture just until moistened. Fold in blueberries.
• Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over batter. Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm. Yield: about 1 dozen.

Note: If using frozen blueberries, use without thawing to avoid discoloring the batter.

*Dallas made these for breakfast yesterday, can you believe it! We've been married for 8 years and this is the first time he has ever baked anything!! They were really good too! Be generous with the topping.

Raspberry Lemon Whoopie Pies

*From Martha Stewart Everyday Food Magazine
I couldn't get the picture to download so just click on the link to see what they look like!

Makes 15

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons light-brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup fresh raspberries (4 ounces)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, 1 cup brown sugar, and lemon zest until light and creamy. Add vanilla and egg and beat to combine, scraping down bowl as needed. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With mixer on low, beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk and ending with flour mixture (scrape bowl as needed). Beat well to combine.
2. Drop batter in 2-tablespoon mounds, about 2 inches apart, onto two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until puffed and pale golden around edges, 17 to 19 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cakes cool completely on sheets on wire racks.
3. In a large bowl, whip cream and 3 tablespoons brown sugar to soft peaks. In a small bowl, mash raspberries with a fork, then fold into whipped cream. Divide raspberry cream evenly among bottoms of half the cakes, then sandwich with remaining cakes. Dust with powdered sugar.
   

Mmmmm! So good! It says to drop in 2 TBS mounds, but stay on the smaller side. Ours turned out huge.

Strawberry Limeade

Must be summer... Look at all the cold drinks we're putting on here :)

This is from 2peas and looks yummy. I think I might try it with Raspberries and Lemons (since thats what I have).

*Ingredients

1-1/2 cups quartered fresh strawberries

1 cup fresh lime juice
5 cups cold water

3/4 to 1 cup granulated sugar (depending on how sweet the strawberries are)

Ice cubes

Lime slices-for serving, if desired

*Directions
1. Blend strawberries and lime juice in blender or food processor until smooth.
2. Pour strawberry and lime mixture into a large pitcher. Add cold water and sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves.
3. Add in ice cubes and pour into individual glasses. Garnish with lime, if desired.
4. Pour over ice cubes in tall glasses; garnish each with strawberry or lime wedge, if desired.