Potato Cheese Soup

So-I’m just now getting around to writing about my weekend. Friday wasn’t very eventful. Jace worked on painting and fixing up the flatbed trailer he and his brother had bought. While he worked on that I went to the grocery store and then we watched a movie in bed with popcorn. Pretty exciting I know. Saturday wasn’t a whole lot better. We got up early to go help lay sod at my mother-in-law’s house. It went pretty quick surprisingly with everyone there. Then we went home and Jace, Jake and I finished the trailer. (I should’ve taken a picture because it did turn out pretty good). I cleaned the house and Jace worked on the garage. Then his brother and his friend showed up to play with RC cars. I was in the middle of making a dinner for my visiting teaching partner in the ward that just had a cute little baby girl. When I got to a breaking point though I took some time to run over to the new shopping area in Farmington with my sister-in-law Bonnie (she didn’t want to play RC cars with the boys). I found some cute candles and stuff for the house. I also needed a rolling pin and found one at Home Goods (my new favorite store). I ended up making Potato Cheese Soup, Halloween Rice Krispie Pumpkins and Ghosts. I saw the pumpkins on Kensley Rowland’s Facebook then found the Ghosts online. I think the pumpkins were cuter though. I also made the yummy strawberry salad my mother-in-law Janalyn made a few Sunday dinner’s ago (unfortunately Smiths didn’t have any strawberries when I went, apparently they are all really bad right now-but I replaced it with raspberries and blueberries and it still turned out good). I will post the recipes all below. After we dropped off dinner we just cleaned the garage and washed my car. We were both so tired that we just fell asleep that night. It was a pretty uneventful weekend but it was still fun to just have time off and get so much done. Tomorrow were going to Glenwood Springs, Colorado to visit some cousins and spend time with family. I’m excited to have a small break and see all the cousins. I will be sure to come back and blog about it J

Potato Cheese Soup

Karen Lewis

 Serve fresh cheese, green onion and bacon bits to add to the soup

Ingredients:

12 chicken bouillon cubes

2 large carrots, grated-food processor heaven!

3 qt. water (12 cups)

1 heaping Tbsp. parsley flakes

6-8 medium size potatoes cubed (tip-add more potatoes and cut BIG)

1 heaping Tbsp. minced onion

Directions:

Put all ingredients in pot, boil till potatoes are done. Add 1 qt. half-and-half. Bring to boil. Meanwhile in another pan melt 2 cubes butters. Add 1 cup flour. Mix with wooden spoon till smooth (make rue*) add to boiling soup mixture. Simmer 5 minutes serve warm with cheddar cheese, bacon bits and green onion.

*Mix some soup with the rue to make it runnier so it is easier to blend into soup. (Rue: corn starch and warm water)

Its also best to do more potatoes and less water to start with then add more so its not to runny to start with.

Strawberry Salad

Janalyn Olson

Dressing-I blended it in my magic bullet I got as a wedding gift. 

Dressing Ingredients:

 1 T. poppy seeds( + 2 teaspoons poppy seeds)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 T minced red onion

(I added 5-6 berries) 

* add all ingredients into your blender and blend

Salad Ingredients:

 Spinach 

 Strawberries (sliced)-I used raspberries and blueberries

 Feta Cheese 

 Sugared slivered almonds (instructions follow)

 The perfect dressing

Almonds

Toast 3/4 c sliced almonds in fry pan until light brown add sugar mixture and stir until coated.  Pour on wax paper.

2 cup sugar-This was way too much I thought, would use much less.

1/8 tsp of nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Pumpkin rice krispie (just add orange food coloring, a tootsie roll stem and green frosting)!

 

The ghosts just have coconut on the bottom and M&Ms. The pumpkins were easier and cuter I think.

Breadsticks were super easy. Take Rhodes rolls loaves, thaw, roll out and cut into strips. Put butter, seasame seeds and parmesean cheese then bake according to package.

 

Weekend Update

Hmmm where to begin to cover the last weekend. We didn’t have too much going on so it was a pretty nice weekend to just relax and get things done. Friday we had Jace’s step-grandfathers funeral. It was sad to see him go but at age 90 its hard to say he didn’t live a good long life. After the funeral we ran around and did some errands then had lunch at Chili’s. Good old Chili’s is our standard plan for date night if we can’t think of anything else and since there weren’t any movies we were dying to see we went to dinner. I still love going to dinner with Jace and just hanging out even after almost 2 years of marriage (end of the year). Then Saturday morning we had our rehearsal for the Primary program. We have the 10-11 year olds. Jace and I are pretty great at singing all the songs but I must say there must be a lot of new songs since I was in Primary because they all seem new to me. Anyways, after the rehearsal we came home and cleaned the house. I love cleaning and having a clean house. Vacuumed couches, dusted blinds, scrubbed showers and everything else is the best feeling. Jace was a wonderful helper! Then I ran a million different errands while Jace played with his RC cars. When I got home we headed over to Kayton’s football game. Unfortunately we must be bad luck because they didn’t win but it was still fun to go watch.

Me and baby Noah at the football game. 

Kayton and Noah after the game

 This week we had some broccoli cheese soup which was delicious. Then I also made some yummy spinach dip for a party we went to on Saturday night. The spinach dip is really easy and great for parties. We went to Jed and Amy’s since they ordered the fight to watch. Then Sunday was the big Primary program. It went pretty well and Jace sang along the whole time! All in all it was a good relaxing weekend. Nothing too exciting in our lives but its fun none the less. Below are some of the recipes I mentioned…

The recipe for the Broccoli Cheese Soup is attributed to our old neighbor Krista Hall that she gave to my mom.

Ingredients:

Make Rue:

½ cube butter

½ cube flour

2 cups milk

8 oz. package Velveeta cheese

Salt and pepper-to taste

Carrots and broccoli

Directions:

Cook broccoli in water (save water). Make Rue. Bring all contents to boil. Serve with bread.

The Spinach Dip recipe is from my mom.

Ingredients:

1 box Knoor Leek soup

1 cup sour cream

1 cup mayo

6 green onions

1 can water chestnuts chopped

1 box spinach, squeeze to drain water

Mix all together. Serve with sliced bread.

Jace and I before the party. Then the spinach dip in a bread bowl below. 

We also bought some pumpkins over the weekend. I want to carve them when it gets closer to Halloween. Also in case you were concerned about our grass as much as I am, below are some pictures of it coming in. We've put some fertilizer down so hopefully it helps it come in thicker.