Mmm Mmm Mondays #4 (On Tuesday)

I know that I am a day late in getting this post up, but to be honest yesterday was a pretty hectic day and I really didn't have a recipe to share until today. Since hubby was out of town for 3 days last week I didn't do much cooking, so I just now got back on the bandwagon. I apologize to those that were waiting to see what I was going to post, so I won't waste anymore of your time and will get straight to the point.

Once again this is another recipe found off the wonderful website that is Pinterest. It is supposed to be a copy of the baked potato soup from Outback Steakhouse, but I have never actually had theirs so I can't tell you whether it taste like it or not. So if you have had their soup before, you'll have to let me know what ya think. Here you go.

Crockpot Baked Potato Soup

You will need:

1 30 oz bag of frozen hash browns (recipe called for shredded but I used southern style because I like chunks of potato)

3 14 oz cans of chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup onion chopped
1/4 tsp ground pepper (or to taste)
1 pkg. cream cheese (not the light because it won't melt)

In a crockpot combine everything except for the cream cheese. Cook on low 6-8 hours. About 1 hour before serving, add the cream cheese and heat until thoroughly melted.

I actually didn't remember to put this meal together this morning so I ended up making my soup in a pot tonight. It ended up taking about an hour from start to finish. Either way you do it, it should turn out the same. Here is how I made mine.

Add everything to your pot except for the cream cheese. Turn your heat to medium-high and let your soup come to a boil. Simmer for about 20 mins.

Add the cream cheese to your soup mixture. Stir frequently until cheese is melted thoroughly.

Simmer the soup on medium to medium-low for about 30 mins. Soup should be quite a bit thicker by now. We added a bit more pepper to our soup than what the recipe calls for to add a little more flavor.

And there you have it. You can add any toppings of your choice to the soup such as green onion, sour cream, cheese, bacon, etc.. We decided to just stick to cheese and bacon. I also toasted us each a piece of Texas toast that went perfect with the soup. I am definitely one of those people that eats all the bread before their meal comes and by that time I am not hungry anymore. Whoops!

This dish was super easy and fun to make. Hubby even helped me out a little this time.

When he wasn't helping me this is what he was doing. We had Christmas music playing while we were cooking, and so he and sweet pea did a little dancing. Makes me smile so big when I catch moments like this!! :)

Hubby's rating for this dish: 4 1/2

This recipe made A LOT of soup. so if you have a big family to feed this dish would be perfect for you. It would also be great for a Holiday party or any kind of get together. There is definitely nothing better than a hot bowl of delicious soup when its nice and frosty outside. (Although is wasn't too frosty here today, I think it almost got up to 60 degrees)

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did, and I hope that you will come back next week and visit me for Mmm Mmm Mondays. I just might have a holiday recipe for ya. Until next time, BYE!

Linking to:

Savvy Southern Style

Weekly Wrap Up

Whew, this has been one busy week! Since so much happened this week I thought I would just wrap it all into one post instead of trying to write a bunch of individual posts. Bare with me this could get long, but I will try my hardest to keep it short and simple. Sweet pea had the awfulest (yes I made that a word) virus last weekend so she was just starting to feel a little better when Monday rolled around. My sister in law called Monday and asked if we would like to go to Lights under Louisville with her family that night, so we decided since you get to stay in the car it would be alright for sweet pea to go.

Here in Louisville we have the only underground lights display in the country, so it was pretty neat to be able to go see it. Sweet pea loves looking at lights, and always go "oooo" whenever she sees them. All 7 of us piled in one car together so it made it a lot of fun. Here she is all ready to go with her "nack' (snack).

They had different Christmas songs playing throughout the cavern, so you could just roll down your window and enjoy! My camera takes horrible pictures in the dark, so most of them turned out pretty blurry, but I did get a few decent ones.

It took about 20 minutes to drive through the whole thing, so it wasn't too bad. My favorite part of the night was when I asked my nephews how they liked it, and the 4 yr old replied "It was kinda boring and kinda fun at the same time". So silly!

Tuesday through Thursday hubby was out of town for work, so sweet pea and I got to spend a lot of quality time together. We spent the night with my parents on Wednesday night and at 12:30 am got a call from my sister saying that she was in labor (she wasn't due until the 23rd). My poor parents drug themselves out of bed to get to the hospital while I stayed with sweet pea. She didn't end up having the baby until 10:52 am on Thursday morning, so needless to say everyone was really tired that day! His name is Cooper Thomas and he weighed 6lbs 11 oz and was 19 inches long. Here I am snuggling with him.

My sister was really glad that he came early so she didn't have to be in the hospital on Christmas. We are really glad he came early too so we get to spend his 1st Christmas with him. Isn't he cute!!

Friday night we finally got our Christmas tree put up. Hubby took sweet pea with him to get the tree and she picked it out all by herself, isn't that cute!! Here we are starting to decorate it. She didn't get to help me finish it because it was WAY past her bedtime, but I enjoyed the "help" she gave me.

This morning we woke up to the tree on the floor. It feel over sometime during the night and got water everywhere! We think that the trunk is too skinny for the tree stand that we have, so we are going to have to get a new stand tomorrow. For now we have it leaning towards the wall in case it decides to go down again.

Tonight my Mom and I took sweet pea to church to see Santa. I wasn't sure how she was going to react, but I had a feeling that there were going to be some tears involved, and sure enough I was right. She HATED him, but it makes for a cute memory to have.

The church is kinda set up like a little town and the have what they call "Main Street" so they had snow machines blowing snow on Main street and it was so cute. The kids were having so much fun playing in the fake snow. Mom and I managed to get a few shots with sweet pea.

I LOVE this one of sweet pea and her Nana!

They also had horse drawn carriages that took you around the campus so you could look at all of the lights and they rode you past the live Nativity where they also had a little petting zoo with a mini horse, donkey, sheep, cow, etc.. Sweet pea had no interest whatsoever petting the animals. Unfortunately we did not get to ride in the carriage because the line was WAY to long, but we still had fun walking around and looking at everything.

They were also giving away Free hot chocolate (which was prefect, because it was freezing tonight!) and had Dickens characters and Carolers walking around. I hope they do it again next year, because it was a lot of fun!!

After we left we stopped by to let sweet pea meet her cousin Cooper for the 1st time. I think she liked him because she kept rubbing and kissing his head. It was so cute!

Since tomorrow is Sunday and hubby and I are both off work, we hope to get the chance to get some lights on our house. I don't think we are going to put everything that we usually put out since it is so late, but I would like to have a least something up. I hope to post some pics of my Christmas decor soon.

What did you do fun this week?? Hope you have a happy Sunday!

Mmm Mmm Mondays #3

Hey ya'll, I can't believe it is Monday already! I feel like the weekend just flew by since we had so much going on. Saturday morning my mom and I went to a craft fair that is held every year at my old high school. I was able to pick up a few Christmas gifts, and it was fun to spend some one on one time with my mom without sweet pea. (My sweet cousin Caroline kept her for me) Saturday night we celebrated mom's birthday by having everyone over to our house for dinner. I made a chicken parmesan bake that I found on pinterest. I did not get any pics though since the evening was a little hectic, so I will just share the link with you all in another post and you can try it for yourself. You won't be disappointed!

Sunday hubby and I had our work Christmas party, and it was a blast! It is so nice to be able to relax and chat with our co-workers outside the working environment, and to see everyone in their "normal" clothes (Everyone wears the standard CFA uniforms). Sweet pea had been fighting a virus all weekend so she stayed with my mom while we went to the party. It was a nice break for hubby and I because she had not been sleeping or eating and was NOT a happy camper (that is putting it nicely!!)

It has been raining here all day so I am trying to catch up on laundry and thought I would share this new recipe with you while sweet pea is napping. This is another recipe found on pinterest. This again was a very easy recipe and required almost no prep work at all. It can easily be put in the crock pot before you go to work, and dinner will be ready by the time you get home. So without further ado here is Mmm Mmm Mondays post #3.

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

You will need:

2 chicken breasts

2 cans rotel (medium or with med w/ green chilies)

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can corn, drained

1 onion chopped

2 cans chicken broth

1-2 cups water

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp dried cilantro

*instead of the spices you can opt to use a packet of taco seasoning

Put chopped onion, beans, rotel, corn, chicken broth, water and spices in crock pot and stir to mix.

Put thawed chicken breasts on top of mixture and make sure they are partly submerged in liquid. I ended up using 3 breasts instead of 2 since mine were kind of small.

Cook on high for 6-7 hrs or low 8-9 hrs. I cooked mine on low for about 6 hrs and it was done, but it will just depend on how big your chicken is and you want to make sure that it gets done. Once your chicken is done remove it from the soup and shred.

Return to the pot and stir.

Place a few tortilla chips in bottom of a bowl, pour soup over and then top with toppings of your choice. We used sour cream and cheese and I added a few jalapenos to hubby's. Serve and Enjoy!

This makes a wonderful cold winters night meal. If you didn't want the tortilla chips, you could probably just serve the soup with a side of jalapeno cheddar cornbread or something similar. Hubby and I loved this dish. His only comment would have been to add a little more spice to the soup. He LOVES him some spicy food!

Hubby's rating: 4 1/2

Well I am going to jump off here now. We are going to see the Christmas lights show in the cave underneath the Louisville Zoo tonight with my sister in law, her hubby and my 2 nephews. I will be sure to take some pics and share with you all another time. Until then, BYE!

Mmm Mmm Mondays #2

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I had a great time getting together with my mom's side of the family, whom I don't get to see that often. When we all get together it is like a madhouse, but I love every minute of it! I have been fighting a terrible cough/laryngitis for about week now, but am starting to feel a little better. I have been bummed because I am one of those crazies that LOVES to sing in the car, but since having no voice I haven't been able to. (boohoo!)

Sweet pea and I did a little holiday decorating today, and I hope to show you all once we get our big tree put up. We have a wooden reindeer in the living room that has a light bulb nose, and sweet pea is mesmerized by it. We will see if things stay where they are with little curious hands. (She has literally started getting into everything!!)

Well on to why your really here, the second installment of Mmm Mmm Mondays. Today I am featuring a recipe that I found via pinterest. There are some awesome recipes out there and this one really caught my eye. I am an Italian loving fool, so I could probably eat this everyday if I had too. It also contains my other favorite food and staple, chicken. Here ya go.

Chicken and Cheese Lasagna Roll-ups

You will need:

3 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1/4 cup milk

1/8 tsp white pepper

8 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained (I boiled mine for about 10 mins)

2 cups spaghetti sauce

(milk not pictured)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In medium bowl combine chicken, cheeses, milk and white pepper. I added a little black pepper as well, because pepper just makes everything taste better, and I told you how Hubby loves his food seasoned. This is what you will have once everything is mixed.

Spread 1/2 cup mixture on each lasagna noodle and roll jelly-roll style like so.

Spread 1 cup spaghetti sauce in bottom of 9x13 baking dish. Once all rolls are complete, arrange them seem side down into the sauce.

Top the rolls with your remaining sauce. Cover and bake for 30 minutes or until hot.

Serve with a salad and bread and ENJOY!

Don't they look delicious??


That is it, quick and simple just like I like. This meal took me no time at all and and was delicious. Like I stated last week I am one of those cooks that likes to be in and out of the kitchen (especially trying to cook while watching a curious 18 mo. old), so this was the prefect recipe for me.

Hubby rating: 4

He said next time I make this I need to try and make my own sauce.

Well that is all that I have for you today. I hope you all are having better weather than we are, because it has been raining non-stop for the past few days. Ugh! Until next time, BYE!

Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

From All of Us Here at Simple and Sweet Pea!

GOBBLE! GOBBLE!

Soggy Day At The Track

Today we invited hubby's boss, his wife and some other co-workers of ours to the track (Churchill Downs) for one of the last weekends of the Fall meet. Hubby and I try to always go at least once during the Spring and Fall meets. Growing up in Louisville, I have gone to the track since I was little, so it is nice to share this with my hubby, who did not grow up here, but still enjoys going as much if not even more than I do! It was not the prettiest of days outside, but we still made the best of it and had a good time.

The horses were very unpredictable today since the condition of the track was SLOPPY, so needless to say we didn't do too well in the betting department. Hubby and I lost every single race we bet on, which I don't think has ever happened before. Hubby did come real close to a couple trifecta's though.

I hate that the poor horsey's had to run in the rain and mud, but it didn't look like they minded too much. The horse ambulance did have to come out once today, which always scares me because if you have ever watched a race where the horse gets severely injured and it's life threatening you know they euthanize it right there on the track and it makes me so sad every time, but luckily they just loaded this one in the back, and I am hoping it was ok.

Tana and Emily both had winning tickets from the day, so we took a picture with them. I was holding one of Tana's winning tickets (she had 2).

(clockwise: Me, Emily, Tana)

The boys didn't fare so well for the day, but a good time was still had.

(left to right: Josh, Hubby, Bruce-hubs boss)

The track closes next weekend for the winter and will re-open a couple of weeks before Derby. We will definitely be going again as soon as it opens. Hopefully the weather was better in your neck of the woods today, but if not I hope you made the best of your Sunday.

I am starting a series for the first time on this little blog of mine tomorrow, so stay tuned and come back and see me. BYE!

Mmm Mmm Mondays #1

Hope everyone is having a good day today. I had to take sweet pea to get her flu shot this morning, and I am not feeling the best either, so needless to say we are kinda puney in this household. I am trying to fight it off , because I DO NOT want to be sick for Thanksgiving. It is the one day a year I get to indulge in all kinds of wonderfulness (is that even a word?) and I want to be able to enjoy it to the fullest! I can already smell the turkey and stuffing and boy is my mouth watering. YUM!

Any who, after many months of enjoying others' blog series and link parties, I have decided to start a series of my own. It probably won't be as exciting as some of the others out there, but I thought I would share anyways. I am calling it Mmm Mmm Mondays, and I am going to be sharing recipes that I have been trying lately. Most are going to be other people's recipes that I have found via pinterest or just the plain old world wide web, but I am going to try to throw in a few of my own every now and then. I haven't always enjoyed cooking in the past, but this has given me a little extra boost and excitement on the matter.

Since Hubby is usually the only one that eats my cooking besides myself, he will be the one to rate each dish. The ratings will be as follows:

1-Terrible, Disgusting, don't ever put that in front of me again!

2-Needs a lot of work, but might eat it again once it's tweaked.

3-Has potential to be a good dish.

4-Pretty darn good, make that again please!

5-DELICIOUS! I would eat that everyday!!

The first dish that I am going to be sharing is one that I saw made on the Rachael Ray Show. It is Emeril's recipe for Turkey Club Casserole. It wasn't a very hard recipe to make, but it took quite a while to prepare, so if you are a get-in get-out kinda cook like me, I would not recommend this recipe for you, unless you are wanting to make a special dish one night. It was also A LOT of food and very filling, so not the ideal dish for a two person (+baby) household. I would recommend making this if you were inviting some friends or family over for dinner. Here is what you will need to get started.

Turkey Club Casserole

You will need:

8 large eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp spicy brown mustard

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

5 tbsp unsalted butter

thin sliced sandwich bread (about 48 pieces)

1 lb thin sliced turkey

2 tomatoes, sliced

1 lb bacon, cooked

8 slices ham, cut in half

16 slices sharp cheddar cheese

bechamel sauce

Bechamel Sauce:

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp flour

2 cups whole milk

1/4 tsp white pepper

pinch of nutmeg

In medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon for about 2 minutes. DO NOT BROWN. While whisking constantly add milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cook mixture, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook until sauce thickens and flour taste is gone (about 8 mins). Remove from heat and transfer to a heat resistant bowl. Place piece of plastic wrap on surface of bechamel and set aside to cool.

*I recommend making this first and letting it cool while you prepare everything else.

Your next step is to start making the sandwiches. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, milk, salt, mustard, cayenne pepper and nutmeg. Set mixture aside while you prepare the sandwiches. Grease bottom of 9x13 dish with 1 tbsp of butter.

Cut crust off of all slices of bread. Arrange 8 sandwiches in this order bottom to top: bread, bechamel, turkey, tomato, bacon, slice of bread, bechamel, ham, cheese, bread spread with bechamel (side down). Place in dish.

This is what it will look like. I ended up only making 6 sandwiches since my pan wasn't big enough for 8.

Once you have the 8 sandwiches complete, repeat the steps and make 8 more. Place the second layer directly on top of the first layer. Here is what it will look like.

Once you have done that, grab your egg mixture that you put aside earlier and pour it over the top of the entire casserole. It should look like this.

You then place a piece of wax paper on top of the sandwiches, and then place a second casserole dish on top of the wax paper. This will help compact the sandwiches so they are able to soak up more of the egg mixture. Refrigerate your casserole for 1-2 hrs. Bread should absorb most of the mixture.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove paper from casserole. Slice 4 tbsp of butter into 8 slices and place on top of each sandwich. Bake casserole uncovered until puffed and golden, around 40 mins. This is what it will look like when it comes out. Set aside briefly to cool. Serve and Enjoy!

My casserole didn't soak up as much liquid as I thought it would, so it was a little eggy around the edges. I think part of the problem was that I only made 6 sandwiches instead of 8 so there was less bread to soak up the mixture that was meant for 8. That was really the only complaint that I had with the dish. Hubby on the other hand thought it needed to be seasoned more. He likes his food extremely flavorful so this was a little on the bland side for his liking. I wasn't sure what to serve the casserole with, so I just threw some tater tots in the oven that I already had in the freezer. (Not the healthiest choice I know)

Hubby's rating: 3 1/2

With a little work this dish could be pretty good on the taste buds.

Well there you have it folks, the very first edition of Mmm Mmm Mondays here at Simple and Sweet Pea. I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and I hope you enjoy this recipe as well. If you end up making this dish, come back and leave me a comment with how you liked it, or if you have any ideas on how to make it better. Until then we will see you next time, BYE!

Linking to these link parties:

Savvy Southern Style-Wow Us Wednesdays

At The Picket Fence-Inspiration Friday