Lightened Up Cheeseburger Soup

Hopefully we will still have a few more cold days that will be perfect for soup days before spring officially arrives.  Soups are fun and versatile.  Of course I love the cream based soups the best... and those tend to not be the healthiest.  For this cheeseburger soup I've lightened it up by swapping out some regular ingredients I see in this recipe for some lighter options.  We're using evaporated milk instead of whole milk and only one tablespoon of butter.  We're using cornstarch to thicken instead of a butter/flour roué.  

Connor and I were having a Mom and Connor night and I gave him several options for dinner and he wanted Cheeseburger Soup.  I was happy to hear it because it was a chilly day and sounded good to me too.

Let's Get Crafty!
Ingredients:
1 lb hamburger
1/2 larger onion, diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
1 tablespoon butter
6 cups low sodium broth (I used 4 beef and 2 chicken)
3 large potatoes, diced
5 oz can evaporated milk
8 oz velvetta, cubed
1 T chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Brown hamburger with onions in a big pot that will eventually hold all the soup.  When done - drain off as much of the fat as you can.  (I like to take a paper towel and use my spoon to move it around.  I'm always surprised at how much it gets even after I think I have drained off the fat.)

In another pot sauté the celery, carrots and minced garlic with the tablespoon of butter.  Once the butter has been soaked up I added some chicken broth to help it keep cooking.  Doing it separately before adding to the group helps to bring out the butter flavor even though you are just using one tablespoon.

Add the rest of the broth to the main pot and bring to a boil.  Then add the potatoes and simmer under they are nearly done.  This took me about 12 minutes.

Then add the carrot/celery combo to the main pot, along with the can of evaporated milk, diced Velveeta and parsley.  Stirring constantly until the cheese is melted.  Remove from heat to mix together the 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with one tablespoon of cold water until smooth.  Then add to the pot and bring to a boil stirring constantly and boil for one minute to thicken.

Gotta love the toppings!  My choices for the evening were shredded cheese and french fried jalapenos.  Delish!

Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by!

Crockpot Roast Beef Sandwiches

Today I have a super easy and super tasty recipe to share.  This could go straight into the crockpot or frozen beforehand to pull out as a freezer meal on a day you don't want to have to come up with a dinner idea as you are walking in the door with starving kiddos.

I did mine as a freezer meal because I bought the roast over the weekend and we had already planned our dinner for that night.  And... yep-a-roni those are Valentine plates because they are fun and we had exactly 4 still on hand.

Let's get crafty!
In a freezer gallon bag mix the onion soup mix, Italian dressing mix, 1 diced onion and 1 can low sodium beef broth (not shown... most similar recipes I read don't do this... I think it helps the other seasonings soak into the beef better as it freezes and simmers.  No scientific facts.  I just believe it to be so!)

Once these are mixed well in the gallon bag then I added the full roast and mixed it around being careful to seal it when as much air as possible was removed from the bag.

On the day of cooking we put it on low for 9 hours and served it on rolls from the deli that were sliced in half and put in under the broiler on low for a few minutes with butter and (my secret weapon of deliciousness) garlic powder.  After both halves turn a golden brown - we like to take the tops out to add cheese to the bottom halves and then broil until melted.

Happy Day!  Thanks for stopping by.

Fry Sauce/Anything Sauce

I'm a lover of condiments and sauces.  I've been know to be more excited about the sauce of something than what the actual dish is... that trend continued when I played with a fry sauce recipe and found what's perfect for us.


2/3 cup mayo
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon white vinegar
black pepper to taste

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy crafting.

Stuffed Mushrooms

I love, love, love stuffed mushrooms.  There are very few appetizers that beat them like stuffed jalepenos or chips and salsa.  Mark and I like to put a lot of hot green chilis in because we've tried some without and the kiddos still don't eat them... so we make it the way we like them.



Get the mushrooms ready:
20 mushrooms with the stems removed (a large package from Costco)



Mix together and then stuff the mushrooms:
6 of the best mushroom stems, chopped
1 1/2 cups cooked sausage (we used jimmy deans reduced fat)
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 shredded Mexican cheese blend
3/4 cup hot green chilis, diced (we love things hot... so do more or less to your tastes)



Bake at 375 for 20 minutes until the tops are nice and brown

Thanks for stopping by!

Valentine's Special! Green Chili!

Green Chili is truly its own separate love language in our household.  I have so many wonderful memories of trying different green chilis from different places with Mark as we started dating.  It was the beginning of a wonderful future!  Over the last few years we've played with the recipes from our Moms.

Let's Get Crafty!
2 lbs diced pork tossed in flour and browned in a medium high skillet with some EVOO.  This generally takes a few batches so the pan doesn't get over crowded.  (The bummer of over-crowding is that your meat won't brown as well.  This is a choice we all must make... perfectly brown meat or done faster.  Hence - my husband now browns the meat while I work on the other parts.) We like to put the meat on paper towels to drain as much oil off as we can.  ("We" here is mostly me.  Mark would rather skip this step.)

You can do the rest of this on the stove on the stove or in a crockpot.  Either method works great.  I like the stove top method because I like to see the reduction of the liquid as it simmers for an hour or so and intensifies the flavors.  We like the crockpot method too because generally we are throwing it together before church on a Sunday morning and then dinner is essentially ready for us when we are ready for it.

2lbs browned pork

1 tablespoon oregano

1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 cans diced tomatoes, drained

1 large onion, diced

2 cans low sodium chick broth

1 1/2 - 2 cups green chili

Awww... the green chili.  Growing up we always used canned green chili and they were good.  For this dish my Mom would buy the whole ones and cut them up so you get chunkier green chili verses the canned diced green chili.  Meeting Mark opened up my world to a whole new green chili.  In the fall there is a weekend dedicated to chili roasting!  Then you bag them and have green chili on hand all year long!  It is the most amazing thing!

The ways to eat green chili are endless... here lately I've liked adding some shredded cheese and chips for crunch.  (I forgot the sour cream in this picture... I added it promptly after taking my first bite.  I'm a huge fan of hot and cold contrasts when eating.)  On this particular night - we also made beef and bean burritos (for the kiddos) and Mark put his on that.

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Chicken Tacos on Naan with Peanut Sauce

Happy Sunday Funday!  I'm excited about the recipe I'm sharing today because it evolved from one that I wasn't super excited about into something quite tasty.

I made Hawaiian chicken in the crockpot.  It's a frozen meal that I made two of... my family wasn't a fan of it served over rice but I didn't want the second meal to go to waste.  On a day I knew was going to be particularly busy... I put it in the crockpot with the plan of trying it again for dinner and hoping we all liked it better than the first time.

I ended up getting home with a few minutes to spare and pulled the chicken out and tasted the sauce. It had flavors that I thought might go well with a Thai style peanut sauce.  We also had some naan bread on hand and fresh veggies to help pull the "taco" together.

Let's Get Crafty!
For the chicken:

4 boneless chicken breasts

1/4 cup BBQ sauce

1 20 oz. can pineapple chunks, undrained

1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

Cook in the crockpot on low 8 hours (if frozen.)  

For the peanut sauce:

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 teaspoons lemon juice (I've seen recipes with lime but I always have lots of lemon on hand)

4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon honey

1 tablespoon minced garlic (taking help from the store on this one.  I love the jars of garlic when it's ready to go.  We like a lot of garlic - if you don't then this could easily be reduced to fit your taste buds)

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (fresh grated would be even better!)

Mix all together well adding water to get to the sauce consistency you're looking for.

To build my taco I added some sesame seeds and crunchy noodles.  

It was truly delicious and a hit with the whole family.  

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day!

Everyone's Favorite Chicken - Recipe from my Mama

My Mom gave me this recipes maybe 10 years ago.  I think she clipped it from a newspaper- that sticks out to me because it doesn't seem like newspapers have that many recipes in them.  This one is truly so delicious that I can understand why it was in the paper for everyone to see.

I'm going to first give you the recipe as it was given to me and then explain little differences I do when I make it.

Here's the lineup:
3 cups diced cooked chicken
2 celery stalks finely chopped
8oz can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1/3 cup sliced almonds
2oz jar pimentos, undrained
1 T minced onion
3/4 cup light mayo
2 T lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup French fried onions
6 oz shredded cheddar cheese


Preheat oven to 350

Grease 11x7 baking dish

Mix all ingredients together except the French fried onion and cheese

Spoon into baking dish and top with French fried onion and cheese.

Baked covered 30 minutes or until cheese melts


Some changes I've done when I make it:

• We love the textural difference that comes from water chestnuts, so I usually like to do 2 cans if I have an extra hanging out in the pantry. 
• I'm a lover of the lemon and the acid it brings to the dish, so I usually juice a whole lemon instead of just doing 2 tablespoons. 
• I forgot to put the cheese on this time and I liked it just as much. 
• I used a rotisserie chicken this time to cut down on the prep time because we were having it during the week and it was truly delicious.  The slow cooked chicken really added some extra flavor. 
• I've never baked mine covered... I actually never realized the recipe called for that until right now as I was typing it up. 

Enjoy!  Thank you for stopping by!

Carnitas from the Crockpot?!

This is a two step process that starts with the crockpot and then ends in the oven to achieve that crispy carnitas texture.  It was very tasty and a big hit to the kids because they could put whatever they wanted on theirs.

Let's Get Crafty:

3lb pork roast (I just bought whatever was on sale) - cut into chunks

Mix together and then toss with the pork until everything is well coated:

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons salt

Toss into the crockpot along with 1 large diced onion and 1 cup chicken broth

Cook on low 8 hours.

You could then shred the meat and put it on tacos- but to get the crispy delicious edges of carnitas this next step is key.  Shred apart and bake in the oven 45 minutes at 275 degrees.  The picture right below is coming straight from the crockpot to the foil lined baking sheet.  You can see the crispy magic that comes when comparing this picture to the top one.

Thank you for stopping by!