Cabbage Roll Soup

Welcome to Wednesday! :)

It's finally feeling a bit fall-ish around Middle Tennessee, so soup is allowed on the menu. :D (Sorry, but I cannot BEAR to eat soup when it's freakishly hot outside...) Kenn loves cabbage, and cabbage rolls, so this is what I made him: Cabbage Roll Soup from Hey! That Tastes Good!

I was surprised at how much I actually liked this soup. I don't tend to enjoy too many tomato-based soups; I think perhaps it's the texture. I used the tomato sauce, NOT the diced tomatoes in here, and that just might have made the difference!

I probably should have made my cabbage ribbons just a tad smaller, but that would have been an aesthetic thing. :D The recipe says it serves FOUR. When I told Kenn that, he looked at me and said, "Four WHAT?!" - it made a HUGE pot of soup. We ate these big bowls, AND I have several jars in the freezer! It's a YES, PLEASE! recipe - easy, healthy, gluten-free, and hearty.

Come back on Friday and see the rolls I made to serve with it. BOY, HOWDY. :D

Have a WONDERFUL day, friend. Be BLESSED!

BLT Nibbles

GOOD MONDAY MORNING! :) Sorry it's been so long since I posted; I got one of the viruses going around, AND I got super busy - I've done a show since I was last here! :D

SO. Today's share is these BLT Nibbles from Food.com.

I made these for an event; they were really easy - except for the complete mess of the kitchen I made when coring the cherry tomatoes! :D

I didn't change anything in the recipe at all. Yea, me! :D

They're a bit sharp at first, but they're very addictive - and rich. I'm giving this a YES, PLEASE! They add a nice pop of color to the table/buffet, you can make them in steps, and the filling-the-tomatoes part is something you can give to someone else to do! :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful day, friend! BE BLESSED!!!!

Jo Mama's World Famous Spaghetti

Good Wednesday morning! :) I hope you're having a great week. It's been a rough week around here; lots of loss of loved ones of people I deeply care about. Please pray for the King family and for the Ingram family. Thank you!

Today's review is for Jo Mama's World Famous Spaghetti from Food.com; we just used the sauce recipe. :)

We're trying to control more of what we eat, where we can do so fiscally-responsibly. And we decided to try making our own sauce; we even froze it in useable portions, so we could use it whenever we needed.

It was a very pretty sauce. We let it simmer in the slow cooker longer than the recipe said; I think our onion was bigger than necessary, and I really felt like it needed to cook into the sauce a bit more. Besides, a good sauce is nice and thick, right? :D

We also didn't add the meat. I wanted to be able to use it for anyone, even vegans or vegetarians. And it freezes flatter without meat. :D

It was a really good recipe. My dad thought it was too "spicy", but I thought it was really good! Of course, season it to your taste. :)

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

Caprese Salad: re-designed

Happy Monday! Sorry, no Manicure Monday this week; my nails are always weak, and I went too long without polish on them last week, so they mostly broke. So, I've got polish on them now, hoping to grow them out again quickly. :D They're fun to play with!

I did this Caprese Salad: re-designed from The Party Dress for my hostess appreciation luncheon in October.

Caprese salad is one of my all-time favorite dishes. I love the fresh tastes, with the balsamic vinegar topping it all off. So when I saw this salad presentation, I knew I wanted to try it.

For presentation, this is DEFINITELY a YES, PLEASE. I wish there was a way to be able to keep the dressing more with the other ingredients, but the only way I can think that that would be possible is if they were served on individual plates.

I used a steak knife to cut the tomatoes; I like to cut them with a serrated blade of some type, so the skin doesn't cause an issue with tearing. The steak knife made it possible to control the depth of the cut pretty easily; cutting almost all the way through is not my easiest task! :D

I do recommend you try this. It was absolutely beautiful!

OK, I'm outta here. I'm trying to recover from a cold that's settling into my chest. UGH. Prayers appreciated! Have a wonderful day! be BLESSED!!!

Pico de Gallo

Good Wednesday morning! Sorry I wasn't around Monday; between working too hard this weekend, and being sick, I just didn't feel like blogging. :D So!

With that being said, :D, here is Family Favorite Recipes' recipe for pico de gallo.

OK. I have to say this: this recipe is almost EXACTLY what I would use for a bruscetta topping - except the herb is cilantro, not basil, and it's got a jalapeno in it.

But it's GOOD. :) It's just amazing to me how similar Mexican and Italian can be sometimes. :) And it was part of a grander scheme of a recipe, so as an ingredient, it was good. We didn't eat it all, and I think it's because I was trying to squeeze in as much cooking as I could while my parents were gone. :D We ate WELL that week. LOL!

I'd say try it. I'd also say, if you're looking for a bruscetta topping, just change out the herb and don't worry about the jalapeno. :D So, it's going down in the history books as a YES, PLEASE. :D

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED - and try something new!

Beef Vegetable Soup

Welcome to Wednesday. :D Have you had a good week so far? I've got a doctor's appointment today. booooo, hisssssss. <sigh>

So, anyway. :D Today's recipe is for "steak soup" - aka vegetable beef :D - from Gimme Some Oven! :D I made this soup last Monday, when I opened up the stampin' studio for a free evening. The bread I shared on Monday was a nice accompaniment for this soup.

The soup got a definite YES, PLEASE! from everyone who tasted it. I used 4 cups of beef broth, then about 5 cups of water with a container of Knorr Homestyle Stock (it's condensed) and an envelope of Swanson Flavor Boost. The recipe includes Worchestershire sauce - a touch of brilliance, there. It's got so much "stuff" that I wouldn't think to add to the soup, and a little goes a long way to boosting the flavor and richness of the broth. As a matter of fact, when I made beef stew a couple of days later, I used some Worchestershire sauce in it, too. It was wonderful. :)

This soup was wonderfully hearty, and I have to admit I don't really like soups with tomatoes in them. I cut the amount of tomatoes I added in half from the recipe; I also used fire-roasted tomatoes, which I'd gotten as a freebie to try.  I thought, if you have to have tomatoes in the soup, they were pretty decent. :D And I ate two bowls of this soup. Unheard of for me. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a BLESSED day! And do try this soup! :D

Chickpea and Tomato Salad

It's Wednesday! How's your week going? It's supposed to be getting warmer here; today's recipe is a no-cook recipe.

It comes via Green Lite Bites. It's created to be an entree all in its own; I used it as a side dish, but it's full of nutrition and freshness!

Believe it or not, I didn't change a THING on this recipe. :) It's a LOT of garlic; I used bottled minced, instead of doing it myself. I think it was probably a bit milder - which was good, because raw garlic tends to make me nauseous if it's too strong. Go figure. :D

I've made it twice; once for Kenn and me, and one for the infamous barbecue for Kenn's discipleship group. :D I let it sit longer when I made it for the party; the tomatoes were especially tasty! I can't say that chickpeas - AKA garbanzo beans - are my favorite legume, but they're OK. I like hummus, but I think it's because of all the other stuff you add in. :D

So, this is obviously a YES, PLEASE! recipe. It's now safely pinned to my "Favorite Recipes" board! :D Let me know what you think - or if there's something you'd like me to try and review for you. :) Have a WONDERFUL day! Be blessed!