Cheesy Potato Soup

I'm not gonna lie, I use my blog for a recipe book for all the recipes I've made and we liked it! Throughout this pregnancy I haven't had energy but tonight I did so I made this with some homemade bread machine sweet bread! Yum!

Ingredients -
8-10 medium Red Potatoes
Water to cover potatoes
1 Green Pepper
1 large Onion
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 package Bacon, cut into 1" pieces
1 cup Milk
1/3 package Velveeta, cut into 1" cubes
1 teaspoon Celery Seed
Salt and Pepper, to taste


Preparation:
Quarter and cut potatoes into small pieces. You can peel them or scrub and leave skin on. You may leave the skin on for red or new potatoes, and peel if using others.
Place potatoes in large pot and cover with water; add salt. Boil, covered until tender.

While potatoes are boiling, place bacon, onion, garlic, and green pepper in another large pot and sauté until bacon is cooked, green peppers are tender, and onions are clear.

Drain bacon fat, except for about 1 tablespoon. Add celery seed, salt, and ground pepper and sauté for 1 more minute.

Add sautéd ingredients to undrained boiled potatoes. Turn heat to medium.

Add Velveeta and stir soup until cheese melts. Add milk, and stirring constantly, heat until soup is hot.

Be careful not to burn it.

Thanks friends and family!

I just want to take an opportunity to thank a few friends and my mother-in-law! My friends have been wonderful during this pregnancy. My friend Melissa knitted me a baby blanket in pink and green, it's GORGEOUS!

My best friend Ashley gave me a diaper stacker that sits on the changing table! Love it!

and my Mother-in-Law made us a crib skirt, recovered the cushions on the glider and made valances and curtains!


Thank you all SO much!

Nursery Completion and 23 week picture!

Well my awesome husband has worked all weekend (with a sick wife) on getting the nursery done! Here are some pictures we took this afternoon:





Thanks to our neighbor we were able to get the rest of the furniture up! She helped move the changing table up and hubby got the rocker and toy chest moved in!




Here is my 23 week picture!

Weekly Menu

Sat: Leftovers
Sun: Chili
Mon: Pretzel Chicken with honey dijon sauce
Tues: Pork Loin, Mashed potatos, veggie
Wed: GDC-Buffalo chicken lasagna, salad, garlic bread and oreo pie for dessert
Thurs:Potato Soup
Fri: Pizza Friday

Farmer's Casserole

One of the girls on the Bump board posted a list of recipes for make ahead freezer meals, I am trying them out! This is the first one I've tried, hope it's yummy!

Farmer's Casserole
3 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes (24 oz bag)
3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (3-4 oz)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (3-4 oz)
1 cup diced ham or Canadian-style bacon
(5 oz)1 4.5 oz can mild green chiles (optional)
1/4 cup green onions, sliced
4 beaten eggs (or 1 cup frozen egg product)
1 12 oz can evaporated milk
1/4 t pepper
1/8 t salt

Cooking day instructions:

Grease a 2 quart square baking dish. Arrange potatoes evenly in bottom of dish. Sprinkle with cheeses, ham, green chiles, and green onions. In medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, pepper and salt. Pour egg mixture over potato mixture in dish. (If not freezing, cover and chill several house or overnight, then follow serving day suggestions.) Freeze.

Serving day instructions:

Thaw completely. Bake uncovered in a 350-degree oven for 40-45 minutes or until center appears set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. If you prefer extra shredded cheese can be sprinkled on top during the last 15 minutes of baking.

Nursery Update

My wonderful daddy came to help with the nursery today and he got the chair rail hung and the chandelier put up!

This first one is just of my dad working on his grand-daughter's room!

Then he started on the chandelier which is so pretty!

I took several pictures on my dad working on it, I think I'll get them made in black and white and put them up on the wall!!!

Crystal's chicken creation

This entire pregnancy I have craved beans and I needed dinner the other day for me and the hubby so I opened up the pantry and fridge and this is what I came up with:

1 can rotel
1 can corn
1 can white beans
3 frozen chicken breasts
1 bottle of Italian dressing (I used light/zesty)
1/4 box of chicken broth

Put everything in your crockpot and cook on low for about 6 hours!

I served this with some Krash potatoes, and it was oh so good!

Blueberry Chocoloate Chip Muffins

Thanks to my mom who made a wonderful lunch yesterday, making egg salad, fruit salad and Amy's Organic Tomato Soup, I am still hungry for Egg Salad. So while I got the eggs on to boil I made these muffins, which came about because I made blueberry-chocolate brownies for our lunch yesterday! I found this recipe on Cooks.com:

1 - 1 1/2 c. strawberries, blueberries or chocolate mini chips, etc.
3 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. melted butter
3 lg. eggs
1 c. milk

Mix all dry ingredients together. Combine liquid ingredients and stir into dry ingredients until just blended. Fold in berries or chips, very lightly. Spoon into well greased muffin tins. Bake 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. 20-24 muffins.

Weekly Menu 1/30-2/5

Sat: out with hubby

Sun: ham & bean, cornbread, fried taters

Mon: Roasted chicken with corn and potatoes

Tues: Spaghetti casserole, garlic bread

Wed: Potato soup

Thurs: Farm Casserole ( with hashbrowns and ham)

Friday: Pizza Friday

Nursery update #3!

Well my BFF came over today, for the last time during her vacation from school. It was soooo nice to spend a last day with her! I want to take this time to tell her that I am so very proud of her! But I also want to send out a huge thank you to her mom, Linda, for suggesting her beautiful home for my shower! I love you girls!

We were able to get all of the paint done today, touch ups, stripes, EVERYTHING!!! So now my daddy is going to come install our chair rail and my hubby gets to pull the carpet up! We'll paint the baseboards and just enjoy our work!



Also I had her take a belly update so here ya'll go!

The nursery #2

Well today my BFF came over to help with the nursery and we got all the stripes measured off and taped! It is looking great! We are doing 4" white, 3" pink and a 1" green. I am so excited to be done with it, and she took a picture of me while we were at it! Here I am a little over 20 weeks!

Weekly Menu 1/17-1/22

Sunday: Creamy Chicken Enchiladas (didn't make last week)
Monday: Breakfast for dinner, pancakes, sausage, poached eggs
Tuesday: Shredded pork sandwiches, fries
Wednesday: Chicken in the crock pot, potatoes
Thursday: Soup and grilled cheese
Friday: Chuck e cheese for our nephews birthday
Saturday: We'll still be it at in-laws so who knows!

#1 Project 365 picture

I have seen alot of stuff on Project 365 on the blogs/boards and have decided to participate. It mans over the next year you will see lots of pictures from me. This first one is from our new nursery. I am sure this is just first of many so all of you can follow our decorating process with this!



We are going to make a stripe below, a chair rail in the middle and need to paint the doors the bright white and all the trim!

Weekly menu 1/10-1/15

Sun: Delicious Meliscious's skyline chili over spaghetti with cornbread
Mon: Chicken with fried rice and veggies
Tues: Leftover night (it'll be a big day, we find out what bean is!!!)
Wed: Leftover chili--this time put on pizza
Thurs: Roast Chicken and potatoes
Fri: Sub sandwiches

Buffalo Chicken Crockpot Lasagna

So my fellow May Nestie posted this on her blog and I just knew I needed to make it. I am so happy I did, it will stay in the rotation, for sure!

Uncooked traditional lasagna noodles
4 cooked chicken breast halves, cut up (mine were frozen, I dethawed them so I could cut them and then tossed, they were cooked through all the way)
Jar of prepared pasta sauce
1 c. buffalo wing sauce (I used Franks Buffalo sauce)
3 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers (didn't use, DH doesn't like them)
15 oz tub ricotta cheese
2 c. shredded cheese (I left this off)
1/2 c. bleu cheese crumbles (I didn't use since they say bleu cheese is bad if you are pregnant)
1/4 c. of water (Used but I don't think it needed it, I will leave off next time)

Spray a 5 qt crockpot thoroughly or use a crockpot liner. (it’s important to have your crockpot at least 1/2 full.)

Combine the cut-up chicken, pasta sauce, and wing sauce in a large bowl. Ladle a big spoonful of the sauce into the bottom of your crockpot. Cover with a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles, breaking to fit the shape of the crockpot as needed.

Add a smear of ricotta cheese to the top of the noodles (I just dropped it in) Add a layer of chopped bell pepper, followed by a handful of shredded cheese.(left out)

Repeat layers until you run out of ingredients.

Add the bleu cheese crumbles, if desired. Put the 1/4 cup of water into your empty pasta sauce jar and shake. Pour the liquid over the top of the entire lasagna.

Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or on high for 4-5. When cooking time is complete, unplug and take off the lid of the crock. Let it sit for 20 minutes before cutting into

***Picture to come***