It’s a cheeseburger in a bowl. Otherwise known as ‘flirting with your husband 101′. Need I say more?
Here’s what you’ll need:

1 1/2-2 pounds of ground sirloin
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, diced
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 bag of shredded hash browns (about 15 ounces), frozen
1 can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes
2 cups of chopped kale, discard the stems (use 1 cup if you’re scared but it gives the soup so much texture and vitta-mins, as Bear Grylls would say)
1/3 cup ketchup
a squirt of two or your favorite mustard
4-6 oz of shredded gruyere cheese
1 can beer (or just use a little more stock)
1 1/2 boxes of chicken stock
a douse or four of worcestershire sauce
2 T. honey
salt and pepper along the way to taste

Brown the beef and add salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until onions are translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients—-except the cheese— and let cook on medium for about a half hour until the hash browns are soft. Then reduce heat to medium low and add the gruyere cheese and cook until it melts. Pay attention and stir frequently after you add the cheese because the it will stick to the bottom and burn if you leave it too hot for too long. Serve with Cholula hot sauce and Fritos and enjoy!

As a matter of fact, why don’t we all just agree that they should both be pronounced this way from here on out?

Back to the soup.   It’s Eye-talian. It’s full of salami and pepperoni and ham. It’s better than a vacation to Hiii-wah-yah. Yah, it is.
We had this soup for Christmas Eve because my family is not a huge fan of the seafood stew I usually make.
I’m here to please. Eye-talian it is baby.  The cheesy garlic bread wasn’t too shabby either.  My cheese bread is pretty similar to  Pioneer Woman’s—which means you’ll need stretch pants and a clot buster.

This is an adaptation of an old Rachel Ray recipe that uses the ingredients in a sub sandwich and puts them into a soup.

You’ll need:

1 package of pepperoni cut in halves or fourths.

1 package of salami cut in halves of fourths.

1 package of canadian bacon cut in halves or fourths.

Whatever sandwich meat I have left over, chopped up and thrown in, usually ham.

1 medium onion, chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 green pepper, seeded and chopped

1 28 oz can of tomatoes  (I use San Marzano whole tomatoes and then just break them apart with my hands,  much to the chagrin of my observing children)

1 T. oregano or eye-talian seasoning

2 t.  red pepper flakes

1 box of chicken stock

1 T. balsamic vinegar

2 T. honey

fresh spinach (could use half or whole bag—I always use whatever I have, which is usually a partial bag)

salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste

Garnish with parmesan cheese and olives or whatever else you have that seems eye-talian

Saute all the meats in a few tablespoons of olive oil.  The meats are the star so you want them nice and caramelized.  After they sauté  a few minutes, add the onion, green pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and oregano.   When the onions are translucent, add the stock, tomatoes, spinach and then reseason and add the honey and balsamic.   Garnish with cheese and serve with cheesy garlic bread.

It’s like a homeade Eye-talian sub, only easier and cheesier and more fun!

P.S.  Despite the fact that I love good food and have made a host of yummy goodness recently, I had Lucky Charms for dinner tonight and was crowned Queen of the Scrabble Board today.  That’s good times.  Hope you’re living it up too

We made it to Friday, comrades! I don’t know about you but I wasn’t sure I’d make it to Friday in the same size jeans. I’m still not sure. I have the stretchy variety on at the moment and I wish for all the world I could keep it that way. I must confess that it’s been the kind of week has you scratching your head saying, “Exactly what in the Sam Hill have you been doing all week? Your house is not decorated. And those Christmas cards aren’t gonna send themselves. And how many days are you gonna fool with that mantel sister?” But I defend my honor with this one photograph. I declare myself absolved.

By all the right standards, it’s been a good week

And YOU’ve made it extree special with all your calories!

So now, wow me again with your tasty treats! It’s time for breads, breakfasts, and beverages. I’ll be sitting {in my yoga pants} on the edge of my seat!

Welcome to the party! Merry Christmas Y’all!

This is a party of appetizers. You share (with links or pictures) your favorite appetizer recipe(s) for Christmas and then link up here (to your blog or Facebook page) so we can all get some new ideas for fabulous starter food. If Thanksgiving food is all about the meal then Christmas food  is all about everything else—-the tapas, the sweets, the breads, the drinks, etc.
Monday (or now if you’d like)—-Appetizers
Wednesday—–Sweets
Friday—-Breads, Breakfasts and Drinks
Sounds like fun and I will participate myself sometime tomorrow when I get all this technical mumbo jumbo figured out.
Start linking tonight if you’re ready

Here’s the code for the party button if you’d like to display it on your blog.  If will link back to the party and is kinda cute if I do say so myself.  Just copy and paste the following  crazy stuff into the HTML tab of your blog and magic will occur.   If magic fails to occur, let me know.  I’ll sprinkle more fairy dust.

<a href=”http://www.lifeingraceblog.com/2011/12/christmas-cheerappetizers-link-party.html”><img src=”http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6455740323_7c6fd13415_b.jpg” width=”875″ height=”450″ alt=”christmas cheer”></a>

Now let’s get cooking!

p.s.  If noone shows up to the party, I’ll be forced to make full page collages of the foo dogs all week.  And judging from your comments, some of you would be very afraid

p.p.s.  I know some of you have had trouble with the photo button but I think it’s working now.  You could also just drag the photo onto your desktop and then add to your post and make the photo a link similar to the way you’d make a text link.   If you post the ‘html’ code I’ve given and then hit ‘publish’ without going again to the ‘compose’ tab, it should work though.  For some reason when I switched between compose and html, it adds stuff to the html code which makes is then not work.   See what I mean about blowing up the internets?

The girls and I didn’t finish school until 5pm and I cooked and cleaned and decorated all day in between teaching/facilitating school.

Whew!  I’m weary.

But I did manage to make my favorite cheese ball.  I made it up a few years ago and make it every Christmas.   Don’t tell anyone but I’ve already put it in the freezer for my company next week.

Yes, cheese balls freeze well.   Pretty much everything freezes well.  Other things I put in the freezer today, you ask?   Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, homeade honey wheat bread,  and meatballs.

I earned my ‘whew’ today.

So here’s what you need for the cheese ball.

8 oz package of softened cream cheese

8 oz cheddar cheese, shredded (don’t buy it already shredded–do the hard work and you’ll thank yourself later)

1 small can crushed pineapples

4 scallions chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries rough chopped

1 t. garlic powder

1 t. onion salt (or a little more if it needs more salt)

Mix together and let sit for a couple hours.   Serve in a traditional ball shape or in the fun pineapple shape shown.

Invite all your foo-dog loving friends over to enjoy cheese and chinese legend.

Speaking of foo dogs (I know, I can’t let it go),  my brilliant friend Annie reminded me of the ‘Chinese dog’ statuaries in Anne of the Island (3rd book in Anne of Green Gables).   Anne adored them.

“Gog looks to the right and Magog looks to the left.”   It’s all so grand and apocalyptic.

It’s the most brilliant timing ever.   Now my foo dogs have names.

And I can tell them apart.

(Thank you Annie, you kindred spirit, you.)

But all and all, we’re pretty solid, you and I.  I would totally hold your hair back in a crisis.  I adore you.  I do.

So, I wanted to say thank you. For meeting me here so faithfully after all this time, through all these trials and all this joy.
For rescuing me from despair when my life fell apart.
I am so humbled that you come. And that you make it okay for us to be who we are.
You are like family to me. I couldn’t be more blessed by having you in my life.
A few goodies and links to say thank you!
I made this banner 2 Thanksgivings and 2 kitchens ago and hope to make time to print it out again this year. Link up in the comments if you print it and post about it!

The pdf files for the letter are here for you to download and print.
G in Give
I in Give
V in Give
E in Give

T in Thanks
H in Thanks
A in Thanks
N in Thanks
K in THanks
S in THanks

Here are some links of food I’m making, in case you need a few last minute ideas.

Obviously, this list isn’t complete.   At least my family hopes not.

But these were easy to find and I hope all your dishes are wonderful and tasty!

Chocolate Banana Cream Pie by Emeril—don’t make it until Thursday, it doesn’t ‘keep’ well.

Green Bean Casserole–-Alton Brown (an alternative to the cream of mushroom version)

Red Velvet Cake—Cuisine at Home  (I’m making the one from Cuisine at Home, which has no online link but it’s close to the one I linked to.  It’s made in 2 8×8 pans and then the cakes are sliced in half to make a 4 layer cake.  The sides aren’t frosted so you can see the red—it looks amazing!  I made the cakes already and froze them and will ice them on Thursday.)

Parker House Rolls—Martha Stewart  (I make these every year and they are amazing!)  Make on Thursday.

Vicki’s Olive Salsa—appetizer    (Stevie LOVES olives and thinks it’s a downright disgrace not to have olives on the Thanksgiving table.)

Crab Rangoon Dip—appy (new for me this year)

Oyster Dressing-–Pioneer Woman   (I make sausage dressing too but I LOVE oyster dressing and so does Grannie.   And I think we’re the only two but try it and lemme know!)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins—I already need to make another batch!  They disappear so fast and are perfect for a lazy after-Holiday breakfast!

And here’s my fail proof turkey method—–LOW and SLOW.    We don’t eat until 6 pm so my timing is based on that.  If you plan to eat at noon, you need to put that baby in the oven at 2 or 3 am.

I start with a 20-22 pound turkey and soak it in a salt water/apple juice brine either overnight or at least for a few hours.  (about a half handful of salt and one container of apple juice and then submerse in your sink by filling the rest with water.      At 6 am, I turn the oven on 300 while I prepare the turkey.  I pat the turkey dry and stuff it with sausage stuffing.   I them rub softened butter over the outside skin.    Put into the oven and leave at 300 for an hour and a half.  Then reduce the temperature to 250 and cook for several hours.   At around noon, I check it to see how we’re progressing.  If it seems to be cooking along very well, I often turn the oven down to 200 and leave it for the rest of the afternoon.   Sometimes, I turn it down to 200 but after checking it at 3 pm, if it’s not starting to fall apart, I increase the temp back up to 250.    There has never been in the history of the world a juicier turkey.

LOW and SLOW.

It’s the key to all of life.

******************

I leave  you with this prayer for the home!

Lord God, our home is among the most precious gifts we receive in this life.

We realize this all the more as we remember our Lord Jesus. He set aside home and family. Having no place to lay His head throughout His ministry, he chose to sojourn among those He came to save. We prayerfully invite Him to dwell in our earthly abode even as He continually invites us by Word and Sacrament to dwell forever in our heavenly home, which He prepares for us.

Make us ever grateful for this shelter from life’s storms.

Keep this house always the home of comfort, joy, peace, and forgiveness.

According to Your will, protect this home from the spiritual assaults of Satan, but likewise make our home a fortress against the calamities of nature and the wickedness of sinful man.

Grant us the virtue of hospitality, the joy of harmonious living, and the blessing of gathering around Your Word and bringing our families’ prayers before You.

May all who dwell in our home be blessed by Your presence and Your peace,

and may all who go forth give thanks for the grace they receive from You, through us, Your dear children

We receive Your loving kindness in our home as a reminder of the eternal home we inherit through Your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.
Amen.
{prayer taken from the Lutheran prayer book which can be purchased at Concordia Publishing House.}

Sweet blessings on your  home this Thanksgiving season.

I’m cheating and digging into my archives to find some goodies for you. But this post is so October-ish! I’m having company this week—the first weekend guests to the cottage—-and I’ve been fluffing on overdrive. I’m making this soup while they’re here and thought you might enjoy it too. Come back tomorrow for the final week of the series and for the room tours.
Here’s how it happened.

I went to bookclub at Sandy’s and she served two kinds of soups:  pumpkin-apple and chicken and barley.

I’m  a mixer, a layer-er, a lumper not a splitter.    I layer clothes and jewelry and apparently food.     So I mixed the two together and it was fantastic.

I came home, put another necklace on,  and then searched pumpkin soup recipes and found this wonderful recipe by Bobby Flay and then tweaked it and added chicken and barley to it.

Phenom Soup.  Par Excellence.  More stately if pronounced  ’par eggselonce’.    Stevie says phooey on any soup that doesn’t have beef or cheese or beer.

I say,  you should try it and judge for yourself.  {He really liked it despite its’ obvious lack of all things manly–although in my book chipotle and barley are right up there}

You’ll need:

2 T butter and 2 T. olive oil

1 onion

1 large carrot

3 stalks of celery

3 cloves of garlic

2 boxes of good chicken stock

1 can of pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie mix)  the smaller sized can ~14 oz

3 c. cooked chicken

1/2 c barley

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. ginger

1/4 t nutmeg

2-3 T honey

1-2 t. chipotles chopped very fine (it comes in a small can in the mexican section of the store and is packed in a heavy sauce)—it has a lot of heat so be cautious.

1 c. sour cream

1/4 c. heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

To begin,  saute the veggies in the oil and butter until carrots are almost tender.   Always salt as you go along and then adjust the salt at the end.   Don’t wait til the very end to add salt or your dish will lack a depth of flavor.    Add garlic after the veggies have cooked about 5 minutes.

Then add chicken stock, pumpkin, chicken, barley and all the spices.    Cook at medium to high heat  for about 45 minutes to an hour or until barley is tender.    Turn heat down to simmer.   Add sour cream and whisk so that no lumps remain and then add cream.   Taste and reseason.  I had to add more honey to balance the heat of the chipotles but DON’T leave out the chipotles.  The smokey flavor makes the soup.  It just wouldn’t be the same without them!  Enjoy!  And make promises to your husband that the next soup promises to be full of beef and cheese.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 pounds ground sirloin

1/2 pound pork sausage

1 large onion

5 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1/2 t. cayenne pepper

3 T. cumin

3 T. chili powder

1 T. hot mexican chili powder

1 28 oz can San Marzano tomatoes

2 – 14 oz cans diced tomatoes

4 -5  15 oz cans of various beans  ( i use black, pinto, chili, cannel ini) all in their sauces, no draining

1/2 jar chili sauce (12 oz jar)

2 T. Country Bob’s steak sauce

2 T. worcestershire sauce

3 T. honey

1 T. balsamic vinegar

1 12 oz beer or chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

I was gonna go all Pioneer Woman on you and blog every step of this chili masterpiece.

And though I love her like a sister (though we’ve never met—and did you know she now has a show on the food network?!),  I honestly don’t have the patience to upload/edit every step of this 8 billion ingredient recipe.

Don’t be scared by the list.  I’m laid back with my chili.   I throw in what I have and if I don’t have it on hand, I find a willing and able substitute.

That being said, you’re gonna email me and ask me about Country Bob’s steak sauce.  If you’re lucky enough to live in a city where you can get it,  you make us all green with envy.

I bought mine whilst in Minnesota this summer and then blogged the event on Facebook thanking Issues for introducing me to it.   That’s how good it is.

But if you don’t have Country Bob’s, use something else or just omit that step.

Here’s what you must not, under any circumstances, monkey around with—-

I like to call these “tomatoes that will change your life.”   At any given time, I have 10 cans of these on hand.   I never want to be caught unawares.   It’s all very apocalyptic sounding but trust me on this one.

I put them in EVERY soup, EVERY sauce,  EVERY tomato-requiring dish.   They are pricey, I’ll give you that.   So if you need more than one can of tomatoes, only use one of these.

But don’t scimp here.

As for the chili, here’s what you do:   brown the meats,  remove the meats and add a few swirls of olive oil and the onions and garlic.   Saute those til translucent, add back the meat and add the rest of the ingredients.   Simmer it as long as you have.  I usually cook mine a couple hours in the am and then turn it back on the afternoon.   You will need to re-season!!!!   If you taste it in the afternoon and it needs more salt, add salt.   More heat, add Sriracha,  more sweet, add honey,  more umpffff, add chili powder and cumin.   If you don’t know what it needs, add a little salt and a strip or two of bacon.   That always set the world aright.    Don’t be scared.  I always add more stuff and usually multiple things.   That’s why they call me the chili queen.  I’m not scared.   I throw things in until it brings a tear to the eye.

Serve with fritos and sour cream and salsa and green onions and cheddar cheese.

And then dance a little Rocky Top jig!

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Taylor and Caiti were home this weekend for the Verity’s last concert and we had one of our old favorites—cheese tortellini soup.   I think my friend Sue first made it for me and then I just took the idea and figured it out for my family.    My finicky nieces even love it.  (Right, Hope-y? or is it only Marlea that likes it?)

Anyways, it’s easy, healthy-ish, fast, no crazy ingredients.

Caiti wanted me to write down the recipe.   Typing is faster.   And I thought you might like something fast and easy too!

So for posterity’s sake, I’ll even post on Sunday.

Here’s what you’ll need:

2 T. olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, diced

2 1/2 boxes of chicken stock (10 cups)

1 bag of fresh spinach

1 large bag or two small bags of cheese tortellini (our grocery store has it in the dairy section)

1 28 oz can of San Marzano tomatoes (you can use another brand but these make the BEST soup)

1 T. balsamic vinegar

1-2  T. honey

salt and pepper to taste

{always add salt along the way and don’t wait until the end}

Saute the onions, celery and carrots in olive oil for 5-7 min or until the onions are translucent.  Add the diced garlic and sauté another 2-3 minutes.

Add the chicken stock, tortellini, tomatoes,  spinach, vinegar and honey.   Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer until the pasta is tender.

Serve with grated parmesan cheese and crusty bread!

It’s even better for lunch the next day.   Ask Stevie, he knows

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