It must be Fall…

by Paulette of Smith Funny Farm

As the days grow short, some faces grow long.  But not mine. 
Every autumn, when the wind turns cold and darkness comes early, I am suddenly happy. 
It’s time to start making soup again.
~Leslie Newman

…because my mind is constantly on soup.  Happens every year at this time, I can’t wait to make my favorite warm, comforting favorites.  Add the season to the fact that I’ve been sick for a couple of weeks, and it’s no wonder I can’t get it off my brain.  

My absolute favorite soup is my home made potato soup. I make this a lot during the Fall and Winter, and it’s such a favorite of our family.  We always have it Christmas day, along with another soup or chili, and home made bread.  We love the tradition. 

One reason I love this so much is that after a long day at work I can come in and throw this together in no time at all.  After the potatoes cook, it’s just a matter of putting the other ingredients in and simmering while I unwind from my day.   A great recipe for a homemaker who works.

This soup can be made as ‘bad’ or ‘good’ as you would like for it to be, depending on the lightness of the ingredients you use. When I make it for just Mike and I, I make the ‘good’ version.  OK, ‘semi-good’.

Paulette’s Potato Soup
10 medium potatoes
1 stick of margarine (less for the good version, as much as 1/2 less)
1 small onion, chopped
1 pkg bacon, crumbled (this doesn’t go in the ‘good’ version)
½ to ¾ cup sour cream (light for ‘good’ version)
2 cups shredded cheddar (2% for ‘good’ version)
1 can cream of chicken soup and 1 cup of sliced mushrooms (or 1 can cream of mushroom soup instread of the mushroons…not for the ‘good’ version though) 
Salt and pepper
Parsley flakes

Peel and cube potatoes and cook until tender.
In separate pan, melt margarine and sauté onion until tender. Combine other ingredients and simmer until cheese melts. Don’t leave too much water in the potatoes unless you prefer a thinner soup. With potato masher, slightly mash some of the potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste, top with parsley flakes and bacon.

This soup is guaranteed to hit the spot on any day. It is so quick to make and so delicious.

If you don’t have a favorite potato soup, I hope you will try this one.  If you do have one, please share!

Shortcuts

by Paulette of Smith Funny Farm

Working all day outside the home, doing household chores, cooking dinner, being the wife I want to be…it’s  all a  little more difficult than it was 10, or even 5 years ago.  My energy levels aren’t quite what they used to be, so any time I can find a good shortcut to accomplish any of the things I want to accomplish, you better believe I jump on it.

I focus a lot on finding shortcuts in the kitchen.  I’ve managed over the years to come up with some pretty good quick meals, as many days we’re late getting in from the office and just don’t have much time to prepare a good dinner.   With Fall just around the corner, I’ve started looking through my recipes and getting ready for one of my favorite meals…soup.  This journey through my cookbooks prompted today’s post.  This is a recipe that I can’t get enough of in the cold weather…very filling and satisfying, and best of all, very quick and easy.

I just love soup.  It can be a very inexpensive, nutritious and hearty way to feed your family.  It can stretch a long way, and these days we are all looking for ways to be frugal and smart with our food purchases and choices.  In my family we cook very little meat, so it is very economical for us, and still very satisfying. 

This soup is one of my very, very favorites, I’ve been making it for about 20 years.  It is very easy to make, and it warms the body and soul, through and through.

Refried Bean Soup
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBSP oil
2 cups of refried bean (several ways to go here…use dried beans, canned bean, or, easiest and fastest if you don’t have much time…canned refried beans)
14 oz. diced tomatoes, undrained
10 oz. Rotel, undrained
14 1/2 oz. chicken broth

Cook onion and garlic in oil until tender.  Add beans, tomatoes, Rotel and broth, and cook until smooth.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.

How easy is that?? Incredibly easy, perfect for making when time is short. It’s great with tortilla chips or warm tortillas, but I’m a southern girl, so I’ll have cornbread with mine.

Top with cheese, diced green onions, sour cream…whatever you like. Delicious.

Refried Bean Soup

Daily Do’s

Over the past few months of summer, we have fallen into a wonderful routine!  The kids sleep in, sometimes until 9:30!  I get up and get the day started, play in the garden or knit a little.  My daughter and I have tea time with our leisurely breakfast, and we spend our days playing and learning.  It’s been a wonderfully relaxed, but busy summer.

My 6 year old started back to school this past week and I realized that over the summer we’ve also fallen out of the routine of some things.  She has stopped brushing her hair in the mornings, leading to wavy balls of knots.  She has forgotten to brush her teeth many mornings and with genetics like ours we need all the brushing we can get.

She also wants a pet of her own, to which I replied “if you can show me that you will take care of a pet on a daily basis without any reminder… I’ll think about it”.  So, she has started feeding the cats and dog.  All of this got me thinking about how often I have to write list of things I need to remind others to do… “Don’t forget to water the plants.  Don’t forget to write thank you notes for your gifts.  Don’t forget to make your doctors appt.” (Yes honey, I’m talking about you!)  In an effort to reduce my own energy output, I’ve decided to create a “Daily Do” chart.  This one will be focused on my daughter’s chores/things she wants to be reminded of.

So, I took a trip to the local craft store and got a magnetic dry erase board and some flexible magnetic sheets (you can draw on them and cut them out), and some jeweled stickers (because every girl needs her bling!).  You certainly don’t need to buy anything new… you can improvise with paper, tape, sticky notes, thumb tacks… whatever you’ve got.  We already had colored pencils and sparkle tape (more bling!) at home.

I put strips of tape vertically on the dry erase board to mark the 7 days of the week, and horizontally for each “to do”.  We colored pictures of her “daily do’s” on the magnetic paper (seven of each, for each day of the week) and cut them out.  Th pictures correspond with “brush teeth”, “brush hair”, “feed animals”, “practice Tae Kwon Do”, “take a bath”… Whenever she does one of her “to do’s” she moves that magnet to the corresponding day.

Putting on the bling!

Now, each day, she can look at her To Do’s and make sure they have been done, without having to be reminded.  I know that they have charts and things like this at the store, but because she took part in creating it, I think she will be more likely to use it.  Plus, she can add new things when ever she wants.  It doesn’t have to be all about chores… she can make ones for fun accomlishments too… like “Give mommy a big hug!”

Daily Do's

For only four easy payments of $19.95!!!

 I keep seeing all these commercials for the latest gadget….you know the ones, the ones you would use once or twice and then it collects dust on the countertop or takes up space in the cabinet.  I have a toaster oven that I got as a gift that was slowly going down that road until I realized how much cooler the kitchen stays when I use it instead of the oven.  Since the one step kid that lived with us moved out on her own it is only me and my husband.  It’s much easier to cook with the toaster oven when there are only two people so if you have more in your household you may use it for a small casserole or dish. I started taking a good hard look at my kitchen.

I got rid of my electric can opener and I do not miss it at all.   I have a microwave that will soon need to get replaced unfortunately. I really dont want to but I use it too much  I also have 2 food processors a mini one and a medium one.  I use them a lot for things like massive chopping, grating things and making butter.  Of course if they break down I will probably not replace them both.  I could go with a regular grater if need be but my laziness and need for speed intervene here! 

We have a rice cooker since I kept scorching the pan (I get distracted in the kitchen sometimes).  We have a blender for parties, a coffee maker for fall and winter use, a small electric hand mixer with double beaters and a couple stick blenders.  Im keeping at least one stick blender for when I start making soaps the other is being given away. Most all of this stuff can be stashed in one cabinet under the counter.  Most of these things were either gifts or bought at a garage sale.

The only a few things I really want to ADD to my kitchen. Number 1 is a kitchen-aid mixer. Im not sure what model,  Im not sure I can afford all that I want in the way of attachments and Im not sure that I would use it as much as I envision I would.  So I will wait until one of those factors change.  Number 2 is a food vacuum sealing system.  Im still undecided on Food Saver vs Rival.  The only thing really holding me back is I dont want to pay $100+ for something that I end up not liking.  I’d really like to test drive this one.  I know hands down it would be used by me and my husband.

So look around in your kitchen. What can you absolutely not live without?  What do you actually use more than once every couple months?  If you dont use it consistently at least once every three months you should really consider if its worth having.  Some people say pitch it if its less than once a month but Im way nicer than that What can you lose?   What is is that you REALLY want to get and why haven’t you?

my favorite kitchen gadgets

by Stacy from Little Blue Hen

It was my intention to do a non-kitchen post this week, I swear, but I am opening a show on Saturday and (after being sick for a week) I’m running about two days behind and gave up. I’m still about 12 hours behind where I want to be – in fact, this post was supposed to be up Thursday morning. But here we are!

While I enjoy both cooking and baking, as much from scratch as possible, I have some great kitchen gadgets. Not basics, like knives, wooden spoons or colanders, but appliances, special-use items and time-savers. You may disagree with some of these depending on your preferred cooking style, but this is what is constantly in use in my kitchen. These brands are mentioned only because they are what I own and know.

Kitchen Aid

I love my stand mixer! Making bread dough, cakes, whipped cream, pie filling, and so much more is a cinch in this stand mixer. Personally, I don’t have any attachments (grinder, juicer, pasta-maker) and still use mine all the time. Awesome tip (and gift!) from my mother-in-law: buy an extra bowl. When you make cake, you don’t have to wash the single bowl before you can make frosting, or you can make different batches of batter or dough right in a row.

Food Processor

While I honestly still slice-and-dice most of my veggies with a nice sharp knife, my food processor gets used a lot. I happen to have a blender/food processor combo which is handy for saving on storage space instead of having two separate units. The downside is that the food processor doesn’t have a very large capacity. The blender doesn’t get used that often, so if the motor ever dies, I will likely replace it with just a food processor. Hummus, pesto, salad dressing, dumpling filling, and peanut butter are all things that take mere moments in a food processor.

Microplane Grater

My Microplane grater is constantly in use. Parmesan cheese, lemon zest, or ginger are continually shredded by this wonder gizmo. I want a larger one for vegetables (think potatoes and zucchini) and softer blocks of cheese. I rarely use my box grater anymore.

Toaster Oven

When we first started dating, I told my now-husband that he seemed almost perfect, but he didn’t own a toaster oven. Two days later, he bought one. We do also have a very nice toaster, but I love using the toaster oven to broil a single sandwich, or to bake a small fish filet without having to wait for the oven to heat up. I even make mini-apple crisp in a small glass baking dish that fits perfectly inside the toaster oven.

Coffee Pot

Your weapon of choice could be a French press or espresso machine (we have one of those, too, but it gets saved for special occasions), but my drip coffee pot is lovely. It’s programmable. It makes coffee. It’s considerably cheaper than buying coffee at a coffee shop every day. I finally bought a reusable mesh filter to reduce waste (even though we compost paper filters, coffee ground, and tea bags), too.

Coffee/Spice Grinder

Perhaps a “duh” accompaniment to the coffee maker, but more. I use my electric coffee grinder for not just coffee beans, but for flax seeds, small amounts of nuts, and other spices. These cheap grinders don’t give the precision of burr grinders, but they do the job. Whirl a few teaspoons of rice inside to help clean out stubborn, pungent coffee dust.

While I have other useful gadgets, these are the top picks. My salad spinner almost made it in, but five was a nicer number. While I own one, I’m not much of a slow-cooker-user. Again, depending on your menu choices, you may have a much different  list.

What are your top five kitchen appliances/tools? I’m interested in hearing how other people prioritize! Again, no need to mention basic equipment.

Small Project Bites

by Kathie of Two Frog Home

Did you know that there’s no rule that says you have to start and finish an entire project in one sitting?  Ok, I jest, but sometimes I behave in that way.  I act as if starting and stopping is some kind of major instance of law breaking that could land me in jail.  I’m trying to change that by taking small bites of projects instead.  Doing things in this small bite manner, seems to help me stay more refreshed and less freaked out about everything that needs doing.

Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

• Instead of a massive whole house deep clean once a week, I try to do one room a night or every other night.  Doing one room at a time seems more manageable and if I keep up on it, takes very little time.
• When its time to can large amounts of produce, I break it up.  I snap green beans one night after work and let the sit in the fridge until I’m ready to can the next night or over the weekend.  The same can be done for other items.  I bake and puree the pumpkins one day and freeze it to be canned into pumpkin butter another day.j
• Who says I need to be awake when the dehydrator runs?  If the item I’m drying takes more than 8 hours to dry, I put the trays in before bed and remove the dried goods in the morning.
• I keep a small supply of note cards in my car so that I can write letters when I’m sitting in construction during my work commute, on my lunch breaks, etc.  It’s ok to start a letter, put it aside and come back to it later. 
• I run a load of laundry through the washing machine in the morning and hang it out to dry all day while I’m at work.  I check the weather first to make sure its not supposed to rain, but if it does that’s ok, too. 

How do you take small bites in order to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed?

Going high tech

A little high tech helper

By Judy of My Freezer is Full

Sometimes when you’re really busy, a little help comes in handy.  It’s great if you have others around who can help, but, now and again, I rely on a bit of high tech fun.  A few years ago my husband came home with a Roomba-  A robotic vacuum.

Okay, I was a bit skeptical at first. I mean, come on, a robot?  But after a few tries I was sold.  We have hardwood floors which are a pain to keep clean.  With our little friend, we can start it in the morning when we leave for work.  It will tool around the house, vacuuming around the furniture, up and over the throw rugs (as long as you don’t have fringe) while we’re gone.  It follows a random path around the first floor, it has a ‘bumper’ so that when it runs into furniture or a wall, it turns a different direction. When it decides that it has covered the area, it will turn itself off. When we get home, we just need to empty the dust bin and plug it in to recharge.  Of course, it’s not perfect, it doesn’t get everything on the floors and it occasionally will miss a place or two or not manage to find it’s way into the kitchen.  But it is small enough to fit under the china cabinet (where my regular vacuum won’t), it runs itself, and it does a pretty reasonable job of cleaning the floors.

In a house with children and pets, where there is dirt and fur tracked in on a regular basis, it has become a handy helper.  It’s not for everyone, and it was a bit pricey initially. But the time saved in vacuuming has been wonderful.  When my husband and I were both working full time, we would run the Roomba every other day or so and save the ‘real’ vacuuming for the usual weekend cleaning frenzy. It really helped save the finish on the wood floors from being scratched up by all the sand and grit that gets tracked in from outside.

I hear that the new models will even find their dock and recharge themselves but we probably won’t upgrade any time soon. There is even a model that will wash your floors for you and suck up the water. But I’m happy with what we’ve got- it’s a bit of high tech help that saves me time- time I can use for something much more fun than vacuuming the floors.

Saving time in the kitchen

Written by Maria of DirtUnderMyNails

It seems that posts here will often be dedicated to saving time in the kitchen.  As a homemaker I spend a lot of time cooking, preserving, and working on meal plans.  So, when I come across a recipe that everyone likes, including the picky 6 year old, I get very excited!  And when that meal can be doubled, tripled, or quadrupled and freezes well.. well, that’s cause to celebrate!!  (Note: It is possible for  your face to turn cherry red and have smoke blow out of your ears from hearing “Yuck, Mom!  I’m not eating that!” too many times!!!  Oh, I long for the day when she will cook us meals instead! )

Lately, we’ve all been enjoying this fantastic quiche recipe.   Many of the ingredients can come from our land or from local farmers!!  Yay!

Cheesy Greens Quiche

• 12 ounces fresh greens (spinach, chard, kale… they will all work fine) or 1 bag of frozen greens (about 12 oz.)
• 2 pie crusts
• 8 eggs
• 1 cup half & half
• 1 cup mozzarella
• 3/4 cup feta cheese
• 1 large onion
• 1 tsp.salt
• a pinch of pepper
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Pre-heat oven to 375.  Chop onion and sautee over medium heat with butter or olive oil until soft.  Wisk together eggs and cream, then add greens, onion, all the mozzarella and half the feta.   Stir in about salt, nutmeg, and pepper.  Divide evenly into the two pies, and sprinkle the remaining feta on top.  Cover with foil.  Bake them for about an hour and 10 minutes, then remove the foil, turn the oven up to 400 and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until brown on top.

We double the recipe and freeze a couple!  It’s good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!!  Mmmmmmm…

Kitchen Time Savers

by Paulette of Smith Funny Farm

I love to cook. There’s nowhere I’d rather be in my house than in my kitchen whipping up something yummy for my husband for dinner. But, I have to admit, a lot of days I drag into the house after working all day and just don’t feel up to spending hours in the kitchen to wow him with Catfish with Spicy Strawberry Sauce (yes, this is a real recipe) and Chocolate Crème Brulee.

As much as I love to cook, I also love to chill out with my hubby in the evenings and wind down from the day. And of course there are those every evening little things that have to get done outside the kitchen, especially this time of year. So, to minimize my time and effort in the kitchen during the week, there are a few things I’ve picked up over the years that work for me to give me that much needed extra relaxation time.

Some of these are very common sense, and I’m sure you have many of your own tips, but I’d like to share some things that work for me.

• Wash all fruit and veggies when you bring them home from the grocery (or garden) and store as you will use them – chop what needs to be chopped, slice what needs to be sliced, etc. This is one of my least favorite but one of the most beneficial things I do.

• Keep a garbage bowl or bag nearby when cooking, to collect scraps and paper and save trips to the garbage, as well as making clean up easier. I don’t know why it took so many years for me to figure this one out. One morning this week Mike was preparing raw vegetables to take to work to snack on, and I noticed he first got out a bag to put peels, etc. in. I was impressed, he’s caught on!

• Make extra – Many times I cook more than I plan to use for a meal…more pasta than needed, extra beans, a few extra chicken pieces. The next day for lunches or dinner I can add different ingredients for a different meal. Many things like beans or chicken can be tossed in a salad for a light dinner, or different ingredients added to pasta salad can make an entirely different meal. This can save valuable time in the kitchen a few times a week. This gives us more time to weed the garden, play with the animals, or sit on the porch with a big old glass of iced tea and rock. Well, for those of us that don’t have children to take care of. For those moms with kids at home, it’s more time for building a baking soda volcano or shoe box ecosystem, or baking 24 cupcakes for a party that you just found out about after dinner.

• Freeze food in thin layers and small pieces when possible. Items will thaw much faster.

• Freeze broths and sauces and cooking wine in ice cube trays, then transfer to freezer bags. Whenever you need a few cubes, just grab from the bag.

• Cut food into small pieces to reduce cooking time. A good example of this is potatoes…if you are making potato salad or mashed potatoes, small diced pieces are great and cook very quickly.

• Place dishes into hot soapy water or the dishwasher as you are preparing a meal. This saves a lot of time on cleanup.

• Use your crockpot. Enough said. LOVE it.

• Make a meal plan for each day. Do it weekly, and shop accordingly on the weekend. This seems so simple, but so many people don’t do it. It’s a tremendous time saver, knowing exactly what you will prepare, and it is a real stress saver…how many times have you wanted to cook something or started to cook it and realized you were missing a main ingredient?

• Keep it simple. It’s a wonder I survived being a working mother when I was younger. I know I had a lot more energy, but I still look back in amazement at all that I did, and a lot of this was in the kitchen, because I do love to cook. But I also remember I was tired a lot. Now that I’m older and wiser I probably would do things a little differently. Like making simple meals during the week and maybe one special gourmet experiment on the weekend, instead of trying to be Julia Child/Martha Stewart and supermom all in one.

• Have a handy collection of 5-ingredient or less recipes. These can be great weekday time-savers. Wish I had done it when my kids were young and I was always in a hurry or exhausted.

• Solicit help. If you are lucky enough to have a spouse or children that enjoy helping out, use them! Little things like gathering ingredients, setting the table or helping clean up as you go can get the meal on the table a lot faster, and I think there’s no more lovely place to build relationships and enjoy others than the kitchen.

As I said, many of these are obvious, but I still get a ‘wow, never thought of that’ from my daughter occasionally when I mention things like this, so hopefully there will be something here that will be useful.

What kitchen time-savers do you have to share?