Cheeseburger Soup

     Are you one of the many states that has been hit by all the snow? Are you longing for summer? Do you miss those wonderful cheeseburgers made on a charcoal grill out in the park? Well your in luck my friend! No sadly I cannot bring back the sun or the summertime fun, but I can give you a little taste of it in your kitchen for your family to enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1lb hamburger
• cheddar cheese
• can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• mozerella cheese (optional)
• chopped bacon or bacon bits (optional)
• pinch of chili powder
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cloves garlic 
• small can evaporated milk
• 2 1/2 tblsp. flour
• 3 cups chicken stock (divided) 
• 3 potatoes

     Place your pot on stove burner and warm over medium-high heat. Add your hamburger and dice or grate garlic and add a pinch of salt (optional) Stir and cook until hamburger is no longer pink, then drain. While hamburger is draining place your pot back onto the stove and add your flour & 1/2 C of chicken broth, whisk together. When mixed add your cheese (2 C cheddar OR 1 C cheddar 1 C Mozerella) and whisk, when cheese is slightly melted add in the rest of the chicken broth, evaporated milk, tomatoes, chopped bacon, salt, pepper, chili powder and drained hamburger. Turn heat to low and stir occasionally. Wash, peel, and dice your potatoes (this is my soup version of the french fry!) add them to your soup turn heat up slightly and cook until potatoes are tender, making sure to stir here and there. 

     I have been making this soup of the past couple of months and I have finally tweaked it until it gives me a feeling of summertime on my insides ~sigh~ I am also proud to say this is my own original recipe , I am usually and epic fail at making my own but this turned out really good with a couple of test runs and my family as guinea pigs willing participants. I really hope you enjoy it and it puts a little summer into the rest of your winter!

~Birthday Week~ Food

     Thanks to the wonderful Hour and a half p90x yoga that was on my schedule yesterday and doing alittle packing I was unable to do a post, but have no fear I will still be able to cover all the basics money saving tips for birthday parties! Today I want to talk about food, because if you have a family like mine food is all important! Food can also be the easiest or the hardest thing to do at your party. There is 2 ways you can do food at a party, you can have basic party food that everyone loves OR you can theme your food to your party.  For example at my daughters birthday last year we did Pink Poodles in Paris, and we had it done like a little bistro with finger sandwiches, fruit, and lots of sweets

No matter which direction you go with the food themed or non there is always a couple rules I follow. 1. Always make it yourself instead of buying it Ex. cupcakes, the cake, brownies, fruit trays or salads etc. I do not mean make 12 pizzas if that is the main food you will be feeding people, or do homemade nugget trays, you can if you want but I opt out. 2. Ask family members if they would like to make or buy anything, usually if it is a grandparent they are more than obliged to help out. 3. Do not go overboard!!! I always like to do a big item (pizza, nugget trays, sandwiches, sub, etc.) Pretzels or chips, fruit, and then a dessert, this might even sound like too much for the party you are doing but that leads us to my next rule 4. Plan your food to the time & style on your event ex. tea-party theme before or after lunch (tea-sandwiches, little cookies) casual any time of the day (pizza & chips). I always have my parties at lunch time, so that is why I serve as much as I do. 

     So that is the basics I use when I am getting my food ready for my parties its a simple yet complex thing, as always I love comments and emails so if you need to know anything more in depth please let me know! 

Sweet Snow Cream!

    Well after 2 weeks I am finally over and well from the wonderful super flu that was going around! I am glad to be back on my computer and writing blog post again! Today my children and decided to have the Best Snow Day Ever! In our little area of WV we got 5 inches of snow in just a couple of hours and it hasn't stopped coming down, but that is okay because we loooove snow! So we started off the day by watching a ton of winter themed movies, and sang Do you want to build a snowman from Frozen so many times I lost count! Dinner included warm cheeseburger soup, and then after we all went outside to play in our winter wonderland! We came inside and I realized I was out of chocolate chips and half and half so that threw my homemade hot chocolate out the window, and the natives were getting restless, I had to do something but what? Then it hit me, Sweet sweet snow cream! I used to make it as a kid all the time and I loved it, and the best part is it only has 4 ingredients that most everyone has in their cabinets and outside their house on a snowy day! 

Ingredients & Steps 

• 6- 8 cups of Snow
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 
• 1/2 C of sugar
• 1 C of milk

1. Go outside and get some Snow, and make sure you know it is not in a "dirty" area, (stay away from the yellow and brown snow kids!) 
2. Add all the ingredients except for the snow in a bowl and mix it together 
3. Add 1 C of snow at a time into the sugar mix and use a spoon to mix it
4. Then dish it out between your little snow hero's and taste the snowy goodness! 

Now I know there are some moms out their reading this and saying "yuck" but listen as long as you are aware of your surroundings it is not going to hurt you or your children, I have been eating it for years and nothing has ever happened to me, I would never blog about anything hurting other's health. Enjoy the snow everyone! 

Smoothie Review & Recipe

So we have made it in the 2nd day of 2014!

Can I get a big whoop whoop??!!?

So of course everyone knows that a New Year brings new year resolutions

Lets face it, resolutions are over-rated and over-done, I have never met 1 person who has actually finished out a resolution. 

I think instead of resolutions which spread through the whole year we should do monthly goals, something small that is more easily achieved , and since it only last for a month your more likely to do it. 

So if your resolution is to loose weight set a weight loss goal for whichever month your in and then work towards it! 

My family has decided that each month we are going to try several new healthy meals, and then I have my own goals on the side. So to prepare for healthier eating habits I decided to try out some smoothie recipe's and tweak them, or if they were fine the way there were leave them alone. 

Apple Pie

• 1 apple 
• 1//2 C milk 
• 1/2 C greek yogurt
• Sprinkle of Nutmeg 
• Sprinkle of Ground Cinnamon
• Half a banana (optional)

Review

This was a very good smoothie! I made several changes to the original recipe because it did not taste like apple pie at all!  After I added the sprinkle of spices it really brought the flavor up a notch! I added the half banana the 1st time I made it and the 2nd time I left it out because I think whenever you add banana to a smoothie no matter how small the portion it dominates the flavor and instead of tasting like apple pie it tasted like banana pie yuck!

Orange Julius Copy Cat 

6 oz frozen orange concentrate (half of the can)

1 cup milk

1 cup water

1/4 cup truvia 

1 tsp vanilla

8 ice cubes

Review

Okay this is a great copy cat recipe I found, and this is what I call my "cheat" smoothie because instead of using fresh fruit and the natural sweetener you get from the fruits and veggies you use the concentreate and truvia. The original recipe calls for sugar but since I am trying to eat healthier I went for the better option and used the truvia, this does taste like a true orange julius and since they are hard to find in some areas you can have it right in your own home! This is also the only recipe you will find that says I used ice* (see smoothie tips at bottom of page)

Strawberry/Blueberry Blast

• drizzle of honey 
• 1/2 C blueberries 
• 1 cup strawberry 
• 1/2 C greek yogurt  

Review

Great smoothie with a great taste, I had found several recipes for a blueberry/strawberry smoothie and most of them led to spam sites or were loaded down with sugar (really why do you need sugar added to this?) So this is my recipe, and not only do I like it but my little avengers like it too! 

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries 

• 1/2 C strawberries 
• 1 tablespoon dark chocolate cocoa powder 
• 1/4 C greek yogurt
• 1/4 C milk 

Review

This is yet another great recipe and something that is kid approved! If your having a day where you need chocolate but don't want to fall into bad eating habits then this smoothie is for you! The cocoa powder is great for you, ad gives you that "junkfood" fill you need to keep you on a good path! 

*Tips*

• Never use ice, instead freeze your fruits the night before in a plastic baggie, this saves you time on getting it made the next morning, and by doing this you do not dilute your flavor.
• Buy a couple ice cube trays from the dollar store, freeze your yogurt and then use it when you make your smoothies, it makes them more creamy and smooth! 
• Have left over smoothie? Pour what you have left in a ice cube tray, the next morning if you want the same smoothie, take a couple cubes pop them in your blender and Viola! 

Well there you have it, these are the smoothies my family and I liked the most, we are also going to start making our own recipes and trying them out. You and your family can also do this! A few years ago my Zumba instructor gave me a paper that had a smoothie key on it, try it out and tell me the flavors your family comes up with! 

Grinch Cookies (Mint Alternative)

Grinch Cookies

So it is Grinch night in our household tonight! We usually wait till it gets closer to Christmas but I couldn't hold back anymore! I love The Grinch, its my favorite Christmas story, and movie. My mother did not realize the monster she was creating when she first put the movie on for me all those Christmases ago. So we always make Grinch night a big thing in my house. This year I wanted to do something extra special, so to Pinterest I went! I found  recipe for Grinch cookies and thought they looked good......until I found out they had mint in it. I hate mint and chocolate together, I always have and always will, to this day I get sick to my stomach when I think about the combination yuck! So I decided to modify and simplify something I do well! 

You can take any old chocolate chip cookie recipe you have, OR you can do what I did and get a roll of toll house cookie dough and a pack of food coloring. 

Make your cookies dough to your recipe and then put in a mixing bowl, for pre-made dough just add the amount you want into a mixing bowl, then add 5 or more drops of green food coloring and mix. I have a kitchen aid mixer so my dough was mixed very quickly 

Then drop your cookies onto a cookie sheet, I line mine with wax paper its an easier clean up and the cookies come off easier. 

Bake to your desired crispy or gooey level ( we like ours gooey) 

I bake at 350 for 11 minutes 

Taadaa! Easy, Quick, and Inexpensive! 

Enjoy with your little who's while watching The Grinch!