Crockpot Hamburger Soup & Home Remedies for Colds

I've made this soup a number of times now - it's not too difficult to prepare (just cutting the vegetables) and is so delicious and hearty.

Crockpot Hamburger Soup
recipe adapted from Big Oven



Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef; browned and drained
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup potatoes; peeled and diced
1 cup carrots; peeled and chopped
1 cup onion; sliced
1 cup celery; sliced
4 cups hot water
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf (recipe calls for the leaf to be crushed, but I prefer to leave it whole and remove it before eating)

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in crockpot. Heat on low 6-8 hours or until vegetables are tender. Serves 4-6. I must say, if I have extras of the ingredients, I throw them in to make a bigger batch. For example, this recent batch, we added 3 potatoes - much more than 1 cup, but makes more meals we don't have to prepare for :) same with the others. The more the merrier I say.

Before cooking (I did stir in the spices after the photo BTW):

After cooking:

 So tasty!

Randoms

 I told you about some of the clothes my parents and in-laws got me for Christmas - this lace one from Kohls is so fun and makes me feel pretty. My MIL knows me well:) 

Here's our {naked} Christmas tree. We had to take it down this week to get it back to Nick's parents who lovingly store it for us at their place since we don't have room to store it at our place. I'll miss this guy. He'll remain in my heart 'til next year though. 

A few helpful things to try if you're one of the many with cold symptoms...

Hot water, honey, lemon juice, and a pinch of cinnamon. They all have healing powers. Really, they do! Antiviral, antibacterial, etc. Just drink it. 

We also tried this and it seemed to help a bit. If you're one of the many getting under the weather these days, it's worth a try! 

Another inside tip: soaking a few drops of peroxide in each ear for a couple of minutes. "They" say many colds start in the inner ear. I've been doing this every other day lately and often this winter with all of the sick people I'm around daily, and I swear it works! I start feeling a sore throat, do the peroxide soak, and feel better the next day. Google it;) This blog post is one I found that explains it also. 

Today's "A Little Consideration" Pinspiration:

(source)

Chili & Whole Wheat Beer Bread

It was a wintry mess outside today (so weird to say from Dallas)! Good day to stay in, make comfort food and watch the snow fall from the warmth of our home.

This yummy candle helped create the atmosphere I was going for...

Back to that comfort food...

Chili
For this chili, I combined two recipes; one that came in our crock pot recipe booklet and this five star chili recipe on allrecipes.com. I added what I had and you certainly don't need to add everything I did; give and take based on what you have and what you like. We lived on the edge and tried adding some new ingredients - it was a success!


Ingredients:
1/4 lb pinto beans: I used a 25 oz (I think...) can
1 can chili beans
2 14 1/2 oz can tomatoes
2 lbs ground beef, browned and drained
1 green pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/3 can beer
1 can tomato soup
1 1 oz envelope instant hot chocolate mix
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 - 3 tbs chili powder
1 tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 tsp hot sauce
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt

Soften beans by cooking in boiling water on stove (I did mine about 15 mins). Drain water. Put all ingredients in crock pot and stir. Cover and cook on low for 10 - 12 hours or on high 5 - 6 hours.

Whole Wheat Beer Bread
Apparently I was on a cooking-with-beer kick... and I don't even drink beer! But it sure is good for cooking :) I made it while the chili was cooking. The recipe I used is found here.


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 (12 oz.) can or bottle beer (flavor of bread will change depending on type of beer) We used Shiner
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Pour in beer, stir until stiff batter is formed. Scrape dough into loaf pan. Add 1/8 to
1/4 cup melted butter over the batter before baking (I added this after reading the helpful reviews of this recipe on allrecipes.com!).

Bake in preheated oven for 50 - 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Mine was done right at 50 minutes.

The crust is my fav part - crunchy, salty and sweet! Seriously good.

This was a very tasty and wholesome combo - I'll be stuffed all night!

Potato Chowder

We made this potato chowder last weekend and seriously loved it. You've GOT to try this one. The recipe is in the recipe booklet that came with our crock pot - all the recipes I've tried in it so far are great. With both of us working all day (and being tired at the end of the day), I love finding good crock pot recipes so we've got a great hot meal when we get home! I just prepare everything the night before so I pour it in the crock pot and set the time in the morning before work - love it!

Ingredients:
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cup butter
2 tbs flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cups water
1 cup celery, chopped
2 cups potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup carrots, chopped
*(add in the end) 2 cups milk (I used 2% for this)
*(add in the end) 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated (we used shredded and it was fine)

Directions:
Add the first eight ingredients to crock pot and stir. Cover and cook on low for 6 - 8 hours (I did 8) or cook on high for 3 - 4 hours. *When cooking time is finished, add the milk and Parmesan cheese and cook for 30 minutes on high.

We loved this recipe and are making it again this week :) The recipe made enough for one person to have leftovers (because we had 2 helpings the first night!), so we want it again and will make a bigger batch this time. It's a hearty bone sticking type of soup, perfect for a chilly day!

Speaking of a chilly day... this is how our rooftops currently look in Dallas!

Yes, that is a bit of snow, it's still coming down and we're expected to get 1 - 3 inches. This could be interesting with ice coming overnight... but it's nice to watch the snow falling out there :)

Comfort Food & Christmas

Broccoli and Cheese soup, anyone?

I made this soup in the crockpot this weekend and we loved it. It's pretty easy to make, tastes fresh and has WAY less sodium/preservatives than the stuff in cans ;) This recipe is from A Year of Slow Cooking blog. She used her crock pot every day in 2008 and has some seriously good recipes for the crock pot! She's written a few books since then too...

Ingredients:

--1 qt chicken broth (or vegetable)

--2 cups milk (I used 2%)

--2 10 oz bags of frozen broccoli florets

--1/2 diced white onion

--1/2 t black pepper

--1/2 t kosher salt

--1/2 t ground nutmeg

--3 cups shredded cheese; I used a 4-cheese mix and cheddar

I didn't want HUGE chunks of broccoli so I chopped mine

Directions:

Mince the onion into really small pieces. I used my Pampered Chef chopper for this. The onions are going to soften in the milk and the broth, and need to be small so you don't crunch on onion pieces in your soup.

Add the onion to your crockpot, and top with the milk, broth, and spices. Stir in the two frozen bags of broccoli.

Cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for 4-6. The broth is done when the onion is cooked nicely.

20 minutes or so before serving, shred all the cheese you are going to use, and stir it in.

Photo adding the cheese before I stirred it. Then let it cook for 20 mins. We loved this soup! The texture wasn't a blended texture like many super creamy broccoli/cheese soups, but the flavor was amazing and I'll definitely make this soup again.

Next up... dessert... Fudge Revel Bars!!!

These bars are a happy marriage of an oatmeal cookie bar and fudge. Can't stop eating them. Seriously. The recipe from a guest post at Or So She Says (you've got to check out her mouth watering pictures of a batch she made - they sold me to give the recipe a try!).

Cookie Bar
1 c. Butter
2 Eggs
2 c. Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 1/2 c. Flour
2 tsp. Vanilla
3 c. Quick Oats

Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and eggs. Add the vanilla. Add the salt, baking soda, and flour. Mix. Add oats and mix well.

Press 2/3 of the dough into a greased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper like I did - SO easy to clean up!).


Fudgey Goodness
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 pkg (1 1/2 c.) Milk Chocolate Chips
1 Tbsp. Butter
1/2 tsp Salt

Put all into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute and stir. Keep cooking at 30 second increments and stirring until melted. Pour over the dough and spread out. Sprinkle the rest of the dough over the fudge. Bake at 350 for 20 min.

Before baking:

And after:

These are SO good. I'm taking them to a Christmas cookie/treat exchange at work next week and had to try out the recipe this weekend to see how it went. It's a definite keeper!

CHRISTMAS! My fav :) I wanted to share some of the ornaments on our tree, some Nick made when he was a little guy. I'm not one to only put up the store-bought ornaments, bring on the weird home made ones! haha Our tree has character and I love it :)

Old sugar cookies, anyone?! Just kidding.. :)

I found this one this year and LOVE it! It must be from Diane's tree...

The award I won last year ;)

I've started collecting ornaments of places we visit - this one is from our honeymoon and will always be a special ornament to hang!

My view from the kitchen :) I love the huge mirror there to reflect all of the lights on the tree too.

View from the living room... loveliness!

P.S. Today's high in DFW.. was... 75 degrees!! It was amazing to feel that fresh warmth on my skin. Our "cold front" (I say that because it's nothing compared to what we had in MN or the midwest) comes back tomorrow I hear, so we've got to be thankful for today! :)