Cheddar Chicken Soup

It's been a mild winter, but I have still discovered that my favorite recipes lately are soups. I also discovered Soupapalooza, so I'm linking up!!

I've had this soup for ages and we love it. I have had to add to the original because my family has grown! :)  and I've increased the vegetables to make it a little healthier. This soup is made delicious by it's secret ingredient!

Cheddar Chicken Soup

Ingredients:
2 cups diced potatoes
2 cups diced carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 cups chicken broth

Dice your potatoes... and your celery & onions... and your carrots, using the handy-dandy Pampered Chef Food chopper... one of my favorite Kitchen tools. Mine is starting to crack and I am very sad!!

Combine first 5 ingredients and bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes until vegetables are tender.  Add 1 cup water w/ bouillon cube if you need more broth.

Dice your 3 cups cooked chicken (with Pampered Chef food chopper, as well)

Add SECRET INGREDIENT: 1 Tbsp steak sauce (I highly recommend A1)

Then add 1 1/2 cups milk. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium.

Stir 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper together till smooth.

Gradually stir into soup until boiling and slightly thickened.

Add 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese. Heat and stir on medium low until melted. Do not boil.

Serve and enjoy!!

It even passes the test of my most picky 4 YO!!

 

Come join SoupaPalooza at TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored by KitchenAid, Red Star Yeast and Le Creuset

also linked up to Works For Me Wednesday, because my Pampered Chef Chopper works for me!
and Feasting in Fellowship; Tasty Tuesday

Printable Recipe available here

Joy Dare ~week 8

February 20
165. a fresh jar of Nutella
166. lunch with a friend
167. homemade bread for dinner

February 21
168. tissues, tissues, tissues
169. white cheddar popcorn... so yummy
170. using my hubby's MacBook for blogging

February 22
171. free dinner of pizza for the family!!
172. an addiction to Downton Abbey :)
173. Dark Chocolate Kreme filled doughnut from a friend

February 23
174. canned goods,  great for quick meals
175. candle jars
176. fresh wood chips in the chicken coop

February 24
177. 2 hour delay for the kids
178. time to make french toast for breakfast
179. an apology for an outburst

February 25
180. a dying dishwasher, not quite cleaning all the dishes
181. a long nap
182. friendship bread that didn't turn out quite perfect

February 26
183. reflections on James 1 "Hear the Word, Do the Word!"
184. sparkly glitter craft reflected in car window
185. sun shine reflecting everywhere!

not much in photos this week, but still counting!

Project 52 --Cabin Fever

So, this has pretty much been the most mild winter I can ever remember... so far!! I know it could change in the next month. But still, any time it snows, it melts within 24 hours and that's just not normal! That being said... I am NOT complaining! This girl loves the sun, is not a fan of the cold, and enjoys ONE good snowfall a year.

This week's theme for Project 52 is Cabin Fever. We haven't really had much opportunity for cabin fever around here. The kids have been outside a lot more than usual and without all the snow pants and boots and paraphernalia! So I am counting my blessings for lots of blue skies and sunshine around these parts...

ps.  I took this picture yesterday afternoon... today it's gray, cold, and rainy!

linking up to Project 52--Cabin Fever



Previous Project 52 entries:
True Love
Drink Up
Shadows
Self-Portrait
I Dreamed a Dream

Ombre Birthday Card

So did you all see my cute Ombre card yesterday? I have another one for you today. This one is for BIRTHDAYS!! Everybody needs birthday cards, so I hope you like this one.  I really love The CSI Project for truly inspiring me to try new things in my paper-crafting!!

Shades of blue used to hand stamp the presents, sentiment and balloons!

coordinating mini presents are stamped inside with the same colors.

and on the envelope! :)

PS. I love my square punch! :)

linked up with the CSI project for the Ombre Challenge.

You Color My World

The theme this week at The CSI Project is Ombre... I confess, I had no idea what Ombre was and had to Google it... thank heavens for Google!  I confess... I just don't get the Ombre hairstyle, it just looks like you are behind on your highlights! but Ombre crafts?!?!  There are a lot of cute ideas out there.  Because I am mostly a paper crafter, I got to work at my card table and came up with two cute cards! I'm sharing one today and one tomorrow and linking them both up to The CSI Ombre Challenge!


Just your basic card... but so cheery with color.  I pulled out my hexagon punch and went to town with white, pale pink, bright pink, red, and dark red...  I did a lot of playing around on the background before I found a design I liked.

I was just struggling with what the sentiment should be... thank you, birthday, thinking of you, get well soon... I just didn't like anything I had! Then I came up with "You Color My World." When I discovered that I had enough different ink pads to make words Ombre, too, I got really excited!  I just love the way it came together!

I sponged the edges of the white shapes with light pink so they would be easier to see on the white card.

I love the way this card turned out and might have to check my stash of paper to see if I can create it with other colors, too!  I also love to make coordinating envelopes and something matching inside the card... any ideas?!?!

And handmade cards are great for framing... double gift!!

I hope you like it. I would love to hear your comments, compliments, constructive criticism... And if you really love them, check out my card shop and order one!

Ice Festival tradition

I don't know about you, but I expect traditions to go perfectly... if it's a tradition it must be a happy memory, right? But then if I think it should be perfect, chances are it won't and I'll get mad, miscommunications will happen, and I will probably cry... the good news is that even though I was exhausted at the end of the day, we had a great time and to look at the pictures you would never know we started out rough!! :) Our local town has an ice festival every February and we have been going for the last four years!! so here's 10 pictures of the day for Top Ten Tuesday!


1. We always start the day at Krispy Kreme for breakfast...

2. although it wasn't super cold, the kids were "freezing" before we even started! :)

3. We rounded the first corner... and almost ran into Frosty... literally! :)

4. my little ballerinas with the ice skater (it was a London/Olympics theme this year)

5. Our annual family photo... this year with Big Ben (the ice sculpture sponsored by my husband's place of employment!)

6. another great photo opportunity on the medals podium... my son was none too happy about not being on top!

7. Ella saw this sculpture of Michael Jordan and immediately tried to copy the pose... maybe I have a future basketball star in my mix?!

8. Buckingham Palace...

9. catching a Live ice carving of a bobsled!

10. at this point, we were all pretty tired, but we made one more stop which is more a festival for kids (and it's indoors). They had Walking Tacos, which were awesome and the kids all got their faces painted!!

We do this every year and it isn't always perfect, but my kids talk about it ALL YEAR LONG... so I know the happy memories outweigh the rough patches!! :)

PS... I am also linking up to Sweet Shot Tuesday because my kids are so sweet... and I can't choose my favorite! :)

Joy Dare ~week 7

I am so excited that I am still going strong with the Joy Dare Calendar... it's soo much fun and I love that my son checks the paper everyday too!!  Here's my list from last week!!


February 13
140. Gift behind a nesting box door.

141. Gifts behind a freezer door, a pantry door, a fridge door... well-stocked with food to meet the needs of my family
142. Gift behind the oven door... fresh brownies cut out into hearts for after-school snack!

February 14
143. Grace, Amazing Grace;
144. unconditional love shown thru Wesley
145. life filled with loving family!
146. The whole book of 1 John!

February 15
147. LOSING clutter in the "junk" drawer
148. FINDING bathroom sink under all the toothpaste spit
149. MAKING pinwheels for cardmaking

February 16
150. Listening to my kids look for shadows
151. The shadow of my coffee stream from the Keurig
152. My son finding a turtle shadow on his field trip to aquarium
153. Bonus shadow next day... Little girl coloring on sun porch

February 17
154. watching the fog roll in while feeding the chickens

155. Working with my girls to make pizza dinner
156. Folding laundry for my family... So thankful for abundance
157. Giving (and receiving) hugs from my kids and husband

February 18
158. Festival of Ice maps
159. Recipe cards
160. Making baby shower gifts with paper

161. Using the February Joy Dare calendar


February 19
162. running to Krispy Kreme with my son for Dark Chocolate Donuts
163. taking lots of cold meds
164. sun all day

always counting... and giving thanks that my kids have started counting with me!!

Five Minute Friday --Delight

EDIT: This card I made came from an idea I found on Pinterest. Here is the original pin of the cute card that inspired me... but she didn't show how to make a pinwheel, so I had to figure it out myself. I did up a little tutorial near the end of this post just for YOU! :)  I am linking this to The CSI Project's Pinterest Inspired Week.




Delight
It's Five Minute Friday... time for writing without worrying (impossible for me)! 
Stop by The Gypsy Mama and give it a try!

So, my card making "business" has been heavy on my mind lately... I REALLY want to go somewhere with it. I find delight in hiding in the basement with all of my stamps and inks and paper and punches and ribbon and buttons... I love creating cards that are made from my heart and with my hands.

I delight in finding someone who loves my cards (namely my mom and sister). Thankfully I have a few friends who like them too, and buy from me occasionally. I have also found great delight in donating them to causes in an effort to support friends/ministry and getting my name out there. I also delight in giving cards as gifts. Handmade thankyou notes make a unique shower gifts... wedding or baby!

I was on a card making binge before the holidays because I participated in a craft show... but in the busyness of the holidays I haven't spend much time at my card table since. This week, I had a friend ask for a couple of birthday cards, and I had the urge to create for CSI Project Red theme, so I am delighted to say that I made it back into my craft room this week.

What do you delight in?

STOP


Not sure I can do 3 blog posts in one day, and I already posted my Project 52 post, so I am combining my Five Minute Friday with my CSI Red theme note card... hope you like it!

My favorite part of this card is the pinwheel...  Here is how I created it.  This would be a great addition to any paper crafting or scrapbook project!!

Take two coordinating squares (mine are 1 1/2 inches) and offset and glue together. Punch a little hole in the middle. Take printed paper and fold corner to corner twice, unfold and punch a hole in the middle. Then cut about 3/4 of the way in on each corner. Using adhesive, fold the corners in to create a pinwheel, then glue to accent squares and secure with small brad.

I love the red and turquoise together and then just jazzed up the card with some more red paper and red and gold ribbon!

I have 9 more pinwheels made so we will see what other fun cards I can create with them... got an idea for me? Share it!!  Want to order the card you see here? Stop by my shop!



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