Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe

Every Sunday night is soup and sandwich night at our house.  One of the reasons I love soup is because they are inexpensive to make and hard to mess up.  A lot of times you can just use a little of whatever you have in the house to make a vegetable or chicken soup.  One of my favorite soups to make is Broccoli Cheese Soup.  I have made it on the stove, in the crockpot, and in the InstantPot.  I have made it with different kinds of cheeses.  The recipe below is my favorite recipe (and yes it would be healthier if you used regular cheese instead of Velveeta but it is so good!)

6 tbsp butter
a small onion finely chopped
4 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup flour
3 cups of milk
1 bag of frozen broccoli
1 lb processed cheese (Velveeta) cubed

In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in flour. Add milk slowly and stir until thick and bubbly. At the same time, bring chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan. Add broccoli and boil for 10 minutes. Stir in to milk mixture until smooth. Add cubed cheese and stir until melted over medium heat. Do not let soup boil after adding cheese or it can separate.

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Favorite Recipes: Pizza Rolls

Pizza is the children's absolute favorite food.  Recently I needed to bring a finger food to a party and was looking for something pizza-ish, but not regular pizza.  I found the idea of making homemade pizza rolls, similar to cinnamon rolls but filling it with sauce, cheese, and whatever toppings you choose.  The children loved them and they were very easy to make.  Since then I have made them a few more times and they always quickly disappear.  So quickly, in fact, that I have not managed to remember to snap a picture of them.  Maybe next time!

Pizza Dough Recipe

1 cup warm water
2 1/2 tsp of yeast (or one packet)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 TBSP oil
3 cups of flour

Other Ingredients
1 Can or Jar of Sauce
2 1/2 cups of shredded mozzerella cheese
Toppings of your choice: mini pepperoni, ham, olives, any other toppings you like


Combine warm water, yeast, and sugar in your mixing bowl.  Add in your oil, salt, and flour.  I use my Kitchenaid mixer because it mixes dough so well.  Add in your flour and mix until all the flour is mixed in and the dough hook picks it up.

Roll out your dough into a large rectangle.  Top with sauce, enough to coat the dough.  Sprinkle with cheese, add toppings, and another layer of cheese,  Most of my children just like cheese on their pizza so we did not add any toppings.  Starting on a long side of the rectangle, roll up your dough tightly just like you would cinnamon rolls, forming a long tube.  Slice your rolls about 1/2 in a piece.  You should get around 15 rolls.  Place them on a greased cookie sheet or a stone.

Bake at 400 degrees of 12-14 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of cheese. Place back into the oven for 1-2 minutes to melt the cheese.

Enjoy!

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The Softest Peanut Butter M & M Cookies Ever!

Peanut Butter and chocolate is my favorite combination.  I love to bake and am always looking for new recipes to try out.  I saw a recipe for these cookies and decided to make them for dessert one night.  They were so good I could've eaten the eaten batch!  These cookies are super soft and chewy and taste yummy!  These would make a great dessert for a Christmas party if you used the red and green M & M's.

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 3/4 cup flour
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 bag of M & M's


Cream the sugars, peanut butter, and butter together.  Next add in the eggs, vanilla, and the salt.  Most recipes will tell you to mix the flour, baking soda, and cornstarch in a separate bowl and then add it in to your wet mixture, but honestly I use my Kitchenaid mixer and add the dry ingredients straight into the bowl and mix until combined.  Stir in 1 1/2 cups M & M's gently by hand.

Chill the dough for 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 350. Scoop the dough out and roll it into balls placing them 3 inches apart on your baking sheets.  I use my Pampered Chef stoneware because it gives me the best baking results.  Bake 10-12 minutes until the cookies are light golden brown.  Do not over bake or they will not be soft. Once the cookies are out of the oven you can press a few M & M's into the tops.  Cool and enjoy!

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Easy Summer Snack Recipe For Children to Make

My girls love to be in the kitchen.  The other day they wanted to make a snack and whipped up this easy recipe for Jell-O Pudding Pops.  It's such an easy recipe for children to make on their own, and it is inexpensive.

Ingredients for 6 pops (we double this)

1 box instant pudding
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of cool whip
popsicle sticks
paper or plastic cups


Add pudding mix to 2 cups of milk and whisk for 2 minutes.

Stir in cool whip until combined.

Spoon into cups and add popsicle stick.

Freeze 6 hours or until firm.  To remove from cup run side of cup under hot water for a minute or two and pull pop out.

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Favorite Recipes: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I love to make muffins for the children to eat for breakfast.  My children are not big breakfast eaters and they all get up at different times.  If we have muffins ready they can grab breakfast as soon as they are hungry.  Banana Muffins are a favorite.  I have been using a new recipe and it has become one of our favorites.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (makes 24 muffins)

1 cup butter melted
6 ripe bananas (2 cups) If I am a little short on bananas, I use applesauce to make up the rest
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tsp salt
5 teaspoons baking powder
4 cups flour
2 cups chocolate chips


Mash your bananas.  Mix together all wet ingredients in one bowl.  Mix all dry ingredients in another bowl.  Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients then stir in chocolate chips.

In a greased or lined muffin pan, fill cups 2/3 of the way full.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

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Breakfast for Supper

I always like to have some quick, easy, and inexpensive recipes to make for supper. Since we have chickens we always have eggs making breakfast for supper a great choice especially on those nights when we have somewhere we have to be or my husband is not going to make it home for supper.


Some of our favorite hot breakfasts are: pancakes, waffles, blueberry muffins, banana chocolate chip muffins, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, french toast, scrambled eggs, omlettes, biscuits, cinnamon rolls, and egg casserole. 

Here is my favorite pancake and waffle recipes.

Waffles

1 3/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup oil or melted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup milk

Mix all ingredients until well blended. Follow waffle maker directions for cooking waffles.

Pancakes (I sometimes add chocolate chips or blueberries to this recipe)

2 1/2 cups flour
1tsp salt
1tsp baking soda
2 tsp sugar
3 tsp baking powder
4 tsp melted butter
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk

Mix ingedients until well blended. Drop batter in frying pan or electric skillet. Cook until pancakes are bubbly then flip to other side.

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Favorite Recipes: Spaghetti Soup

We have soup on Sunday nights. Sometimes it is homemade, and sometimes it is out of a can.  I am always looking for new recipes to mix in with our tried and true ones. I tried this recipe out yesterday and thought it was really good.  It was also easy to make which is always a plus!

Spaghetti Soup Ingredients

1 lb ground beef (I actually used more than that and my meat was a mix of venison and ground beef)
1 small bag frozen mixed vegetables
1 can Italian diced tomatoes
28 oz of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 can of mushrooms (I left these out because the kids don't like them)
32 oz chicken broth
1 pound of spaghetti (I used much less than this.  1/4 of a box)
2 tsp Italian Seasonings
cheese of choice

Note: The original recipe called for 2 teaspoons chili powder, 2 teaspoons oregeno and 2 teaspoons basil but I left out the chili powder and substituted the other with Italian Seasonings.  The beauty of soup is that you can use whatever spices you like!

Also for those that are gluten free you can use a GF pasta in place of regular spaghetti.  Just make sure your other ingredients do not contain gluten.  It hides!

Method:

Brown your ground meat and then drain.  In a large soup pot add your chicken broth and frozen vegetables until tender.  Add in all of the other ingredients (including browned meat) except the spaghetti and cheese and simmer around 10 minutes.  While that is simmering boil a pot of water to cook your spaghetti in. Break the noodles into small pieces (I broke them into fourths) and cook according to directions.  Drain your noodles and add them into the soup simmering a few minutes more.  Ladle into bowls and top with the shredded cheese of your choice.

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Favorite Recipes: Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Bread

I have a new favorite banana bread recipe!  We love banana bread and chocolate and peanut butter are two of my favorite things.  Adding them into the bread made a perfect combination.  I should've gotten a picture of it to share with you, but it was already halfway gone by the time I thought of it!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 medium ripe bananas
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips


I use a Kitchenaid Mixer for all of my baking.  It is probably the thing I use the most in the kitchen besides the dishwasher.  Mash your bananas and then add in your sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter.  Next mix in your oil, milk, eggs, and vanilla.  You are supposed to mix your flour, baking soda, and salt together in a separate bowl, but I just add it all in and mix just until it is all mixed together.  Stir in your chocolate chips.

Grease an 8 " bread pan and pour in your mixture.  Bake at 325 degrees for 65-75 minutes until baked all the way through and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool and enjoy!

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Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

Fall is a great time for Pumpkin recipes!  This recipe for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins is one of my favorite muffin recipes ever!  They are easy to make and taste delicious!  We usually make a double batch with good intentions to freeze them, but they hardly ever make it to the freezer, though they do freeze really well.  My family loves to eat them for breakfast or snacks.  I have never added the walnuts because my children just do not like them.

1 15 oz can pumpkin
1 2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
2 cups chocolate chips (optional )

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pumpkin, sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spoon mixture into greased muffin pans filling 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 minutes.

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Quick and Easy Ice Cream Cake

Several weeks ago, I found and pinned a few recipes for homemade ice cream cake.  I had thought I would make one for Anthony for his birthday next month, but he decided he would rather have cupcakes so I made it for Father's Day instead.  This ice cream cake was so easy to make, and did not take long at all.  It also tasted really good and cost under $10.

Ingredients:

I box of brownie mix of your choice (plus what that recipe calls for)
1 package oreo cookies (does not have to be name brand)
1 container cool whip
Chocolate Syrup
1 box of ice cream sandwiches

First, make your brownie mix according to the directions on the box and pour it into a greased 13x9 pan.  Bake according to directions.  Allow to cool slightly and then press brownies down to form a crust.  Let brownies finish cooling completely.

After brownies are cooled, spread half the container of cool whip over top.  Drizzle a good amount of chocolate syrup over that.  Crush around 20 oreo cookies in a plastic bag and sprinkle over top of syrup, reserving a small amount for sprinkling over the top of the cake.  Now cut your ice cream sandwiches in half and put them over top of the cookies.  I had one and a half sandwiches left over but children were very willing to eat those ;)  Spread the rest of your cool whip over top.  I wrote Happy Father's Day using the chocolate syrup (it came out a bit messy) and sprinkle your remaining cookies.  Cover and freeze until firm.

Before serving, I would allow the cake to sit out for 15-20 min so it will be easier to cut and serve. My family loved this cake!  I will be making it again soon.

I found the recipe here.

Enjoy!

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Strawberry Freezer Jam

My children love to help in the kitchen.  They especially love making desserts and snacks.  One of their favorite things to do over the last few summers was a Jam and jelly workshop at 4 H.  We do not have one scheduled for this year though so when I noticed that strawberries were on sale the other day, I decided to pick up some extras for Strawberry Freezer Jam.  Then maybe next week we can tackle a different jam or jelly.

The girls were quite excited to help me out.  It is easy enough that they could do everything themselves except the pectin that has to be cooked and boiled on the stove.  This is the recipe we used:

2 cups crushed strawberries
4 cups sugar
1 box of pectin mixed with 3/4 cup of water

Cut and crush strawberries and add to a bowl.  Add in sugar.

Let sit 10 minutes stirring every few minutes.  In a small sauce pan add water and pectin and mix together.  Bring to a boil and boil for one minute stirring constantly.  Add pectin mix to strawberry/sugar mix and stir for 3 minutes.

Fill jars and allow to sit at room temperature 24 hours before eating or freezing.  At our house, it doesn't usually make it to the freezer.

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Easy Homemade Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Last summer, our church had a homemade ice cream contest.  When it first was mentioned, Alex was determined he was going to win the Golden Scoop Award and started searching for recipes.  He found this one.  It was easy to make and delicious! He won the award and was so excited!

Yesterday he decided he was going to teach Christian and Anthony how to make the ice cream.  It was very sweet! 

Ignore the mess on the island.  They didn't clean up before they started.

The recipe:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp peppermint extract

2 Tbsp water

3 drops food coloring

2 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips

Whip all ingredients except chocolate chips for several minutes until the mixture is thickened.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Cover and place in the freezer at least 6 hours until frozen. Serve and enjoy!

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4 H Bread Workshop

One of the cooking contests the children can participate in fir 4 H is a bread and cookie contest.  There are several different categories: yeast breads, quick breads, muffins, specialty breads, drop cookies, bar cookies, shaped cookies, and more.  This contest is for ages 5-19.  Children under the age of 9 can use a mix, children 9 and over have to bake from scratch.  This is one of my children's favorite contests.

To prepare for it, every year there is a bread workshop.  in 2012 we made yeast dough that we could take home.  My boys turned it into pizza :).  In 2013 we made pretzels.  Last year we missed the workshop because we were in Florida.  This year we learned how to make the perfect muffin and made pineapple muffins and corn bread muffins.

Nick, Alex, Christian, and Lily participated in the workshop.  Anthony did not want to and Emmie is still too little.  They split the children up in groups of 3-4 and put a teen leader in charge of each group.  They did a really good job making sure all of the children had an opportunity to participate, and they did everything including washing the dishes and cleaning up their areas.

The muffins were delicious!  We had never had pineapple muffins before.

Here is the recipe they used:

Muffin Ingredients:

2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
8 oz can crushed pineapple
3/4 c milk
1/4 c melted butter
1 egg beaten

Topping Ingredients:

1/4 c melted butter
1/4 t cinnamon
1/3 c brown sugar
1/2 c flour

Instructions:

Stir together flour, sugar baking powder, and salt.  Drain pineapple reserving 1/4 c of the juice.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in reserved juice, eggs, milk, and butte.  Stir until just moistened.

In a separate bowl mix together topping ingredients.

Spoon batter into sprayed muffin cups filling 2/3 of the way full.  Spoon one heaping teaspoon crushed pineapple over top and sprinkle with topping mixture.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Makes 16 muffins.

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Homemade Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

I made these yesterday and they were quick easy and yummy.  They use brown sugar and honey so are also a little healthier than some.  I had two little girls helping me and they had a lot of fun making them!

Ingredients

2 cups rice crispy cereal (generic will work)
2 cups quick oats
1/2 cup peanuts (I left these out but they were in the original recipe)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Process

Line an 8x8 or 11x9 in pan (smaller will give you thicker bars) with wax paper or foil.  Mix cereal, quick oats, and peanuts in a bowl.  In a saucepan combine honey, brown sugar, and peanut butter. Stir over medium heat until everything is smoothly combined and peanut butter is slightly melted.  Add in vanilla and stir well.  Add peanut butter mixture to dry mixture and stir well.  Pour into pan and press down.   Sprinkle chocolate chips over top and refrigerate 30 minutes.  Cut into squares and serve.

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30 Minute Rolls Made With Honey

There is nothing better then freshly made bread.  But sometimes you just don't have the time to make it and wait for the dough to rise.  These rolls are not only easy to throw together, they take less than 30 minutes from start to finish, and they use honey instead of white sugar.  They are also great for when you have little ones in the kitchen who want to help. I found the original recipe here.

Recipe:

1 cup milk

1/3 cup butter

2 TBSP yeast

1/3 cup honey

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

3 1/2 cups flour

Heat milk and butter on the stove on medium until the butter is almost completely melted.  In the meantime put your yeast and honey in your mixing bowl and combine.  Add in milk/ butter combo and then egg and salt.  Last mix in your 3 1/2 cups flour.  

The dough will be sticky.  Flour your hands and pull apart the dough forming rolls and place them on a cookie sheet or a Pampered Chef stone.  Cover and let rise 10 min.  Heat your oven to 375 and bake for 9-12 minutes until they are golden brown.  Brush butter over the top and serve.  I get 14 rolls out of one batch.  If you want them to turn out a little larger, allow the rolls to rise longer before baking.

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Quick and Easy Fall/Halloween Dessert

Looking for a quick and easy Fall/Halloween dessert?  I made this the other day and not only was it quick and easy, it was pretty inexpensive (around $4) and the kids LOVED it!

Halloween Cake and Oreo Bars

1 pkg Halloween Oreos
1 pkg Halloween Funfetti Cake Mix
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup milk


Spray a 9x9 baking dish with no stick cooking spray.  Line the dish with oreo's.  Mix cake mix, egg, oil, and milk together.  This mixture will be very thick.  Spread it across the oreos (I used my hands to do this.)  Crush remaining oreos and sprinkle over top.  Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 min, cool, cut, and serve.

I found the original recipe here.

Happy Homeschooling!

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Favorite Recipes: 1 Hour Homemade Bread

I almost didn't post the picture because I do not think that my bread looked as good as the photo of the one that I found!  But it tasted really good and I wanted to share the recipe, and not every loaf of bread is going to be picture perfect.

Homemade bread is really good, but most of the time, people are just too busy to take the time to make it.  I saw this recipe the other day (her bread is much prettier) and had a chance to try it tonight. It takes one hour from start to finish and makes two loaves of bread.

5 1/4 cups of bread flour (I did not have bread flour and used all purpose but I think bread flour would work better)
2-4 TBSP sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 TBSP yeast (the recipe called for saf instant I did not use this brand)
1 1/2 TBSP oil
2 cups warm water

Put dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and combine.  I use a Kitchenaid Mixer with the dough hook.  Add wet ingredients.  The dough is supposed to be sticky.  If it looks dry try adding more water.  Mix for 5 minutes.  Spray kneading surface with cooking spray and knead briefly until smooth.  Divide dough in half and shape into loaves.  Spray your baking sheet with cooking spray and place dough on it.  I used a Pampered Chef stone.  Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise 25 minutes.  In the meantime preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Use a sharp knife to make three slashes across the bread 1/4 in deep.  Put in the oven to bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

This was so easy and tasted really good.  My crew finished off both loaves with supper tonight.

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Favorite Recipes: Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (gluten free)

My picture may not be as pretty as some, but I made these for a snack last night and they were delicious!

1 cup peanut butter
6 TBSP brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips

You can do the mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls and then combine method, but I am usually in a hurry when I am baking and never do that.  Instead I use my favorite kitchen appliance, the Kitchenaid mixer.  I started out with the peanut butter and then added in the brown sugar and the egg.  Next I added in the soda, cinnamon, and oats, saving the chocolate chips for last.  While I was preheating the oven to 350, I put the dough in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.  Then I made small balls of dough and placed them on my Pampered Chef cooking stone (my second favorite item in my kitchen), flattened them slightly with a spoon, and baked the cookies for 10 minutes.  I wish I had remembered to count the cookies, but I did not.  I baked a double batch for my crew and after everyone had 2 last night there were still some leftover for today.  These new cookies were children and daddy approved!

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Favorite Recipes: Bubble Pizza

I saw this recipe floating around Facebook the other day, and knew it was one I was going to try.  It's quick, easy, and inexpensive and all of my children love pizza.  I made it for them for lunch and I have already had requests to make it again.  Next time though they want me to make two pans as it was gone rather quickly!

Ingredients:

2 cans biscuits
pizza or spaghetti sauce
shredded mozzarella cheese
any toppings you like on pizza: ground beef, ham, mushrooms, peppers, pepperoni, etc...


Grease a 13x9 casserole dish and preheat oven to 400.  If any of your toppings need to be precooked, (ground beef browned, peppers sauteed, etc) do that first.  Then add in your sauce.  I did not list an amount because people like different amounts of sauce, but we used one can of Del Monte Traditional Spaghetti Sauce.  Cut your biscuits into quarters and place in the bottom of the casserole dish.  Pour your sauce/toppings mixture over top.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and spread shredded cheese over top. I used half  a bag.  Put back in the oven 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Cut into squares and serve.

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Beach Party Snack

This past week was VBS a our church.  The children really enjoy VBS and I am thankful that i am able to be a volunteer.  I also am thankful it only happens once a year because we were exhausted by the end of the week! Our theme this year was Beach Party, Surfin Through the Scriptures.  We had some yummy snacks all week long, but the Beach Party we had on Friday was so cute, I just had to share.  This would be a great easy snack for birthday or summer parties or activities.

Ingredients:

One large cookie
Blue icing
3 Teddy Grahams
One gummy life saver
One small piece of Fruit Roll Up
One Crushed Graham Cracker

The children spread the blue icing on half of their cookie.  Then they put the gummy life saver around one of the bears and set him in the water.  They put another bear in the water as well.  They laid a teddy graham on the piece of fruit roll up (beach towel), and sprinkled crushed graham cracker over top as sand.  Another cute addition would be a small drink umbrella to put over the bear on the beach.  After they made their snack, they got to eat it!

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