A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

I was at home one day this week and it was cool outside after the rain and I wanted needed a quick lunch but I didn't want a sandwich. I saw a chicken tortilla soup recipe on-line and thought about that, but I didn't have all of the stuff. Soup sounded good, though, so I improvised! This is what I came up with.  A vegetarian spicy Mexican soup. The next day, the Mr. took the left-overs to work for his lunch and he shared with his secretary. They both liked it -- so I think I'll keep it!  What's great about this recipe is the flexibility!  If you want more potatoes, add it!  If you don't like black beans, leave them out!  If you prefer red enchilada sauce over green, make the substitution!  You can't go wrong! Mexican Potato Soup 1/2 onion, chopped 1 TBSP oil 3 tsp. chopped garlic 1 can rotel tomatoes, undrained 1 can black beans, drained 1 can green enchilada sauce 2 cans chicken broth 1 can green chilies 1 cup south...

In Tennessee there is a GREAT restaurant called The Apple Barn. Everything there is delicious. Everything! Once you order, the waitress brings this little cup of cold drink. Emphasis is on little . Because I want a big cup of this cold drink. I want the entire pitcher of this drink on my little table. I want to be hooked up intravenously to this drink. I bought The Apple Barn Cookbook because it had the recipe for this drink . . . this was way before smart-phones. . . where I could take the book in a corner and act like I was totally interested in the book and be all "consumed" with the incredible recipes, all the while, trying to get my smart-phone camera out so that I could snap a picture of the single recipe that I wanted,  then decided that I really didn't need the recipe book . . . Not that I would have done that; I'm just saying I have the whole recipe book for this one recipe! Apple Barn Julep 1 quart apple juice 1 cup pineapple ju...

Pretzels are a great snack to have. They're so user friendly:  you can eat them plain, dip them, or transform them! I've given you a recipe for a spicy pretzel but here's a treat for a sweet pretzel. It's easy as can be and even your kids can help you make this snack. I have seen variations of this recipe in Midwest Living , Taste of Home , and other easy-to-do recipe books. Sweet and Crunchy Pretzels 1 (16 oz) bag pretzels (twists, butter squares, nuggets, sticks . . .whatever you prefer!) ⅔ cup vegetable oil ½ cup sugar 2 tsp cinnamon Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Pour pretzels into a roasting pan. In a medium sized bowl mix together vegetable oil, cinnamon and sugar. Pour over pretzels and stir to coat. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes, removing twice to stir. Allow to cool before serving (although, the warm sugary pretzel sure is tasty -- wink, wink!) Store in a ziplock bag. **Once you've finished your bag of pretzels, any ...

Marshmallow popcorn -- so yummy! Follow my directions of "remove unpopped kernel" as it makes your treat more treat-y! At my house, we really do love popcorn. Sometimes we eat a lot of popcorn; as in everyday we eat popcorn. Then, there are times that we don't eat any popcorn. Until we find a recipe like this one. This makes you want to eat popcorn every day. Maybe twice a day! If you love caramel popcorn -- then feast your lips on this easy to make treat! It's so easy to make, it's almost dangerous! Here's the good news . . . or maybe it's bad news . . . This is a "fix and eat" kind of treat.  It's not good left over -- so for whatever that's worth -- go make yourself a "I gotta eat it now" popcorn treat! Marshmallow Popcorn 1 bag of microwavable popcorn, popped (regular size) 5 TBSP butter 1 cup mini marshmallows 1/3 cup brown sugar Pop the popcorn.  Once cooled, pick out the unpopped kern...

Image from the Internet I have always liked chocolate dipped cones. Always! On a Summer day, there is no doubt, they are messy. But they're great. There's an art to eating a chocolate dipped cone. First, you bite the very top off of the chocolate. This allows you to suck some of the soft-serve ice cream from the inside of the chocolate shell. But you have to be careful or the chocolate shell will crack and some will fall in on itself, and the other bits will fall onto the ground. Those pieces on the ground are gone forever. And that's sad. But once you have removed just the right amount of soft-serve ice cream, you then bit the chocolate shell again, being careful to only get a small amount. Then you suck more ice cream out. You continue this pattern . . . Very quickly. Because it's a hot day and everybody knows that the chocolate is not a strong fortified shell and there's always at least one tiny hole. A small place where the cho...

image from the internet Yesterday we had lunch with some friends at their house. It was a great time and fantastic food! My friend served some delish Mexican food and I begged her for the recipes! She shared with me. I share with you. You'll be happy! Today, I give you the Green Chili Rice recipe. You can't go wrong with this stuff! Hurry up and make it, you'll be happy you did! Green Chili Rice Casserole 4 cups of cooked white rice, instant rice is great 2 (4oz.) cans diced green chilies 3/4 pound Monterey Jack cheese, (1 1/2 bags if using pre-shredded) 2 cups sour cream 1/2-3/4 tsp. seasoning salt to taste (I use Lawry's) chives and cheese to top Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.  Pour into a 9X13 greased baking dish.  Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes or until thoroughly hot.

My oldest cherub loves pumpkin . . .   . . .bread  . . . cookies  . . . pie  . . . and waffles! It works out really well that the Mr. found pumpkin on sale at the store the other day for about $0.25 a can!  Honestly, that's what the Mr. goes to the store for . . .sale items! Now that I have 10 cans of pumpkin in my cabinets and it's not anywhere near Fall, I'm searching the recipes for delicious recipes that we'll enjoy in the Spring! I found this recipe on the internet and made some small changes to it and we all thought they were delicious waffles! On a wonderful Spring Saturday morning, you may want to serve these delicious Fall pumpkin waffles to your family! Pumpkin Waffles 1/4 cup brown sugar 3 Tbsp. cornstarch 1 1/4 cup flour 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 2 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. King Arthur Pumpkin flavoring 2 large eggs, seperated 1 cup whole milk 1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin 4 Tbsp. unsalted b...