A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

I'd call this Six Can Soup, really. Doesn't that sound more fun? I think so! My friend, Kim, is a great cook! I always love to have dinner with her for two reasons. She makes it look "souper" easy (a little funny since she gave me the soup recipe!) It always tastes amazing. Nothing, absolutely nothing , bothers her! Well, I know that's not exactly true, because then she'd be a Saint. She is a Saint, but not that kind of Saint! But when things do bother her, she doesn't show it like I do! She's raising three great boys and a husband and they have a dog named Chief. "Chief!"  That tells you Chief isn't a tea cup poodle -- Chief is big enough to count as one of the boys. But I didn't include him! Why did I tell you all of this? Because when Kim cooks, it has to please! She gave me this recipe almost a year ago. Or at least when the weather was cooler and we were freezing together at the baseball fi...

I'd like to say "Beef" in the title, or "pork." or maybe even "chicken." But because this is versatile, I just called it meat. Doesn't sound appetizing, does it? I know! I'm not sure that I would have read much further than the title! But I'm just saying, that if you'll give this a whirl, you'll be glad that you hung with me! This can be as spicy as you want. I like this recipe because it's kind of a sweet heat. Because my girl cherub is a wimp when it comes to much spice, I kept it easy. But I will say, I could have easily added an extra toss of the chipotle peppers! Which!  Let me tell you my most exciting find on the grocery aisle this past shopping trip! Normally, I have to buy a can of chipotle peppers. Like this: I pop the top, use what I need and freeze the rest until another recipe. But then I found the peppers, chopped, in a jar . . . a small jar, but none-the-less, a jar! That means I...

I've made reference to our trip last Summer to different European countries. My prized souvenirs are cookbooks from each country. I'm not sure, of the 4 cookbooks, which is my favorite, but I surely enjoy the one I purchased while in Greece. I'll tell the quick story: We were in an open air market in Greece, searching through antiques and junk. Along the perimeter of where we were shopping were business. In typical European fashion, outside one of the restaurants was a young man leaning against the doorframe, as if to summon customers into his restaurant. When he heard our English, he asked where we were from, as he had studied in the States when he was in school. That question led to a great conversation and he invited us into the restaurant which he and his mother owned.  We sampled all sorts of incredible foods that afternoon and when I told him that I would love to have a cookbook because of the great experience we had just had, he showed me the co...

Hotel in Paris, France The Summer of 2012, we took the family on a European vacation. My souvenirs from the trip was a cookbook from each country that we visited. It has been so fun to make some of the foods that we enjoyed while we were away! Last week, I used the book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking . I love this cookbook because it not only has recipes, but it gives the technical information about the dish or the style of cooking.  It's very interesting to read! For example, this dish, in French, is called Supremes de Volaille a Blanc. Doesn't that sound much more interesting? "Supremes" is a boneless piece of chicken breast. If the wing is left on the breast, it then becomes a "cotelette." The breast of a cooked chicken is not a "supreme" but a "blanc de poulet." Can you believe that I learned all of this from this amazing cookbook? It will not surprise you that Julia Child is one of the contributin...

I really should have planned better! I made a menu and went to the store. I planned for some new recipes. Recipes from cookbooks that I bought while we were on our Summer vacation last year in Europe. Exciting recipes! Recipes that weren't cooked in the crockpot.  . . . and there's the dilemma! I worked all week! I put everything in the freezer and revamped our weekly menu! One night, I created this dinner sensation!  It's a keeper in our family . . . maybe your family will like it too! Southwest Gravy over Cornbread 1 1/2 pounds ground beef 1 can tomatoes with chilies 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed 1 can cheddar cheese soup 1 tsp. chili powder cornbread mix necessary ingredients for your cornbread mix green chilies Prepare your cornbread according to the package directions.  Add the desired amount of green chilies to the batter.  Place in the oven and cook according to directions while you cook the meat mixture. Ov...

I wish I had a picture of this to post for you. But I don't! Here's our dilemma . . . we want to eat Chinese food, But we can't find a Chinese food place we like. I'm not talking Pei Wei, although, that's nice fru-fru Chinese food. We just want noodles, rice, chicken, sauce. That's it! I make sticky rice at home occasionally. It is a gluten rice that makes it sticky. Get it!  "S.T.I.C.K.Y" rice? You can take a smidge, smoosh it together into a little ball and it stays. It's great for dipping in your Chinese sauce. If you have Chinese sauce. Which we don't always have. So we use soy sauce. But it's not the same. We want Chinese sauce. I found this recipe and made it. I think I've solved our dilemma for Chinese food! I'll make it at home and be very content! I got this from a website, but I have absolutely no idea where it came from . . .that was many weeks ago!  I'm very sorry if it cam...