Sour Cream and Chicken Enchiladas

I am a friggin' mess today. For whatever reason (I suspect because the little bro left, sad) I've woken up out of sorts. You know, just one of those days where you drag your butt from bed only to start blubbering over your cup of coffee? And then have 3 dogs looking at you like they might be preparing to commit you as you sit there looking like a hot mess in your pajamas, glasses askew, scrunchie bun on top of your head? 

Yeah, today is one of those days. Girls, I know we all have em'. 

Strawberry Avocado & Blue Cheese Salad

-with grilled chicken and flax seeds

I'm baaaaaack!

First things first, I have my computer! Woot woot! As many of you know, my Mac unceremoniously kicked the bucket last week. If I'd known the Mac was going to do it's final swan song, I would have taken my month-long break then. Instead, I was forced to take another break just when I was getting back into the swing of things. Talk about frustrating. I had ideas swirling, words that needed to be put to paper, recipes to be shared...and no where to put them. I also keep my journal on the computer, so there went that creative outlet too. Since I usually do all my blogging, social media, and catching up on the news in the morning, it was a week of catching up on sleep. I found it hard to drag my butt out of bed when I didn't have the computer to drag my butt to. 

Copycat El Torito Salsa

For about 2 years now, the only salsa I've been eating is my Homemade Salsa, or whatever random salsa a Mexican restaurant happened to be serving. I completely stopped buying my usual salsa at Sam's, which was my go-to salsa for about 2 years. Then, randomly, I bought a jar while stocking up on my normal groceries. It was so delicious. It was then that I realized I was getting tired of my salsa. 

Bruschetta Pasta Salad

The best laid plans...

Today's post is being brought to you thanks to a generator the hubby set up. We are currently without power, and who knows why. At 5 this morning (not even in the middle of a heat wave or a thunderstorm) our power went out. As it's almost 7, it's been out for about 2 hours. I was especially irritated as I planned on leisurely getting up, making a cup of coffee, and hammering out a new recipe post. Making coffee was out, so the hubby and I ran down to the local convenience store to get me some store-made swill. He hooked up the TV and the Internet to our little Honda generator, so here I am!

May in the Jarrell Garden

-plus an announcement!

Good morning, and happy Wednesday!

I know I've been away all week, and I apologize. It's been a fairly busy sort of week, between getting the garden going, keeping up with the lawn, and oh yeah, raising a puppy that's new to the homestead. I just wanted to share how the garden is looking at this oh-so-early time of year-

Recipe Redux: Tortilla Soup

Happy Cinco de Mayo! 

Tortilla Soup is one of my ultimate favorite soups. In the world. Like, ever. It would be included in my top 5 list. It's a soup that I have on hand at all times, via the freezer, joining the likes of Clam Chowder, Tomato Soup, and Potato Soup. There's rarely a time I would ever turn down Tortilla Soup. In fact, I can't even think of a reason I would turn up my nose. Well, I guess if I had food poisoning, but then I wouldn't be eating anything...

Turkey Bacon Guacamole Sandwiches

Happy Friday!

I still love weekends, even though I'm not technically part of the work force anymore. Fridays were my favorite day of the week as a school-aged kid. It remained my favorite day all the way through college, and even up through all my subsequent jobs. The day I quit my corporate job? Well, it was a Tuesday, but Fridays were still my favorite day at that point. I mean, aren't Fridays the best? When it's 5 o'clock pm after a long workweek, and you still have the entire weekend of possibilities in front of you? I loved that feeling.

Greek Pasta Salad

Bring on the warm weather, bring on the pasta salad. The two go hand in hand, don't you think? If there is one food item that epitomizes summer, it would be cold pasta.

And ice cream.

And seviche.

And gazpacho.

Ok, ok, scratch that. The correct terminology is probably more like "If there is one of many food items that epitomize summer, it would be cold pasta". But that doesn't sound as cool, does it?

Eggs Poached in Marinara with Arugula

Happy Friday folks! I've got a great, brunch-y recipe for you today. Perfect for a late Saturday morning meal with your significant other. Or for dinner. We have breakfast-like meals for dinner quite a bit. Eggs, Bacon, and Toast is one of the easiest dinners to pull together at the drop of a hat. It's also a meal the hubby can fix when I don't feel like cooking :) Mwhahaha. But I digress. 

Recipe Redux: Caprese Soup

Happy Monday! Hungover from that stinker of a Superbowl? I'm not happy that the Patriots won. My motto is always, "Anyone but the Patriots". I can't stand Bill Belichick. I can't stand Tom Brady. I can't stand Tom Brady's wife and the way she lords their success over, well, everyone. There are better people out there, humble people, more deserving of such an honor. C'est la vie. 

25 Super Bowl Snacks, Treats, and Meal Ideas

Good morning, and happy Tuesday!

I meant to publish a post yesterday, but the morning ended up being way too hectic. The hubby and I had to leave the house at 7 am yesterday to drive my car about an hour away to the Nissan dealership. It was not the best day for travel (thank you, East Coast Blizzard!), not to mention the problems I was already having with the drivability of the car.

Creamy Chicken, Tortellini, and Spinach Soup

Uh, as far as soup goes, this is hands-down delicious. 

Creamy, savory broth?  Check.

Chewy tortellini filled with cheesy goodness?  Check. 

Crammed with the green goodness of spinach and protein-packed chicken?  Check.

Seafood Stew

Unbelievably, this is a leftover dish.

Yes, it's true! I had a handful of frozen bay scallops in the freezer, waiting for something to be used in.  I had one, lonely cod filet also hanging out in the freezer. And then, after the Ducks won the Rose Bowl (woot woot!), I had leftover shrimp. The last clue to this puzzle? An extra can of clams from making clam dip. 

Top Recipes of 2014

Well peeps, it's almost 2015. Only 2 more days. 2 days that are holidays to me every year. 2 days, you ask? Yes. Today is my birthday (!!!) and tomorrow is, of course, New Year's Eve. I coast right into the new year every year after 2 lively days of celebrating.

Oh my gosh, typing that sentence just brought Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah Song" to mind. "Instead of 1 days of presents, we get 8 CRAZY nights". LOL. Instead of 1 night of celebrating on New Year's Eve, I get 2 crazy nights :)

25 Winter Soup Recipes

Hap, hap, happy Friday folks!

I know, I know, I told you I was either bringing you a pumpkin recipe or DIY gift idea today. Well, guess what? I lied! Both posts need more work, so I'm here with another round-up. I think I'm going to be doing round-up's once a month from now on, they have been going over really well. People seem to like them, and I'm going to keep giving the people what they want. And as we march further and further into winter, soup becomes a very popular menu item. I can't count how many times the hubby has come home from a very cold day, and been utterly delighted to find cozy soup and crusty french bread for dinner. Indeed, I think we have soup and bread at least once a week in the winter. I end up making tons of soups to freeze, and then I pretty much just pull a meal from the freezer once a week. I love it. 

Soup is one of those things that pretty much anyone can make. You don't need to be a gourmet chef. It doesn't take much technique. In fact, I've found almost every soup has a similar preparation process. For most soups, you heat a little bit of oil or butter to sauté your mirepoix. Mirepoix is French for "onions, carrots, and celery". Not every soup has that exact combination, but almost every soup starts out by sautéing some vegetables. It could be onions and peppers. Onions, carrots, celery, and shallot. Garlic. You name it. After sautéing the mirepoix, it seems everything else goes. Except if it's dairy based. I'm talking wine, broth, vegetables that aren't as hard as onions and carrots, beans, meat, spices. After you throw everything else in, you simmer for any given amount of time. Next would come the aforementioned dairy, if you are making a creamy soup. And last, but certainly not least, you would throw in any fresh parsley, basil, or cilantro you would be using. Again, if any. It's really pretty simple. Never fear the soup recipe, my friends. 

Another benefit of soup--It can be prepared early, or even a day in advance. Soup always seems to come together the day after it's made to make extraordinary flavors. 

One more thing before I go... Most of you know I link my weekly recipes at the end of the week to several different "linky" parties. All in the hopes of driving traffic. I have a near-constant goal of getting featured on said parties, and sometimes, I reach my goal. Today is one of those days! My General Tso's Chicken was the most viewed recipe of the week over on The Country Cook's Weekly Potluck! This is huge honor, as the last time this happened (for my Pecan Pie Cake) I ended up with a ton of new readers, followers on Pinterest, and FaceBook likes. For the smallest of small blogs, this is  super-exciting and keeps me in a tizzy all weekend. I'll have a smile on my face for the next couple of days for sure! :)

There you have it folks. I'll leave you with 25 scrumptious soup recipes to try. Have a great weekend!

1. Roasted Fennel, Chickpea, and Tomato Soup

2. Winter Minestrone

3. Vegetable Beef

4. Creamy Broccoli and Cheese Soup

5. Creamy Chicken, White Bean, and Green Chile Soup

6. Semi-Homemade Chicken and Dumplins'

7. Chickpea Minestrone

8. Caprese Soup

9. Chicken Soup with Egg Noodles

10. New England Clam Chowder

11. Chicken Soup with Shells and Kale

12. Chicken Taco Soup

13. Eggplant and Orzo Casserole Soup

14. Loaded Baked Potato Soup

15. Lentil Soup with Spicy Sausage and Kale

16. Oktoberfest Stew

17. Pasta Fagoli

18. Skinny Potato Soup

19. Roasted Cauliflower Soup

20. Smoky Black Bean Soup

21. Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili

22. Spanish Rice Soup

23. Turkey Pumpkin Chili

24. Tortilla Soup

25. White Bean and Spinach Soup

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party, Snickerdoodle Sunday, Treasure Box Tuesday

25 Meatless Meal Ideas

Yay! It's Friday!

My 25 Easy Mexican-Inspired Recipes post went over so well, I thought I'd do another 25-recipe roundup. The Mexican-Inspired post was one of my most viewed posts of last month, so I think, I think, you guys like them. It's unusual that my most viewed post of the month is posted on the last day of said month. Plus, I have another reason I'm doing a roundup. Occasionally I get into a mood where none of photographs look good to me. I've got 3 posts in the pipeline and I couldn't bring myself to post any of them because none of them were "good enough". These moods come and go, so I'm guessing I'll end posting all of these recipes at some point. I suspect all photographers are like that at some point.

Meatless meals. While the hubby and I are by no means vegetarians (as evidenced by the 2 large New York strips we devoured early in the week!), we do try to eat a balance between lean meats and meatless meals. We mostly eat chicken, which we have 3-4 times a week while the rest of the week we eat meatless. Once or twice a month, we eat steak or ground hamburger. Some weeks, we have a couple of turkey meals. Some weeks, we have a couple of seafood meals. We rarely eat pork anymore. The most pork we eat is bacon a couple of times a month. I know a lot of people don't consider a meal a real meal unless it has meat. However, in the last 2-3 years that the hubby and I have been experimenting with meatless meals, we've found meatless doesn't have to be light or un-filling. Meatless meals can be just as satisfying, sometimes more so. I've found you can eat a lot more when you are eating more vegetables than meat. I've also found my weight is easier to maintain with the hubby and I's current grubbing. Plus, the best part- meatless meals tend to be cheaper. Meat is expensive, and only seems to be getting more so these days. I'd highly recommend trying a meatless meal once or twice a week, just to try it out and see if it's something that would work for you. 

Well, the weekend is here and the hubby has to work all weekend. Boo. I've got a busy day on tap that includes a trip to the big box store, the dreaded Walmart, prepping the hubby's lunches for a stint of day shifts, a photography session, and making a large batch of soup. Whew. It's going to be a busy day. Tomorrow, I'm starting up workouts again (feeling lots better!) and cleaning house, and Sunday shall be reserved for football and reading. So that's my weekend, hopefully yours is going to be a tad more exciting than mine :)

Have a great weekend bloggy friends!

1. Creamy Broccoli and Cheese Soup

2. Spinach Artichoke Pizza

3. Cheesy Eggplant and Orzo Casserole

4. Grilled Heirloom Tomato Caprese Sandwiches

5. Mediterranean Falafel Salad

6. Garlicky Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta

7. Greek Salad Sandwiches with Hummus

8. Oven Baked Eggplant with Alfredo Sauce

9. Orecchiette with Roasted Peppers and Spinach

10. Chickpea Minestrone

11. Pasta e Fagioli

12. Pizza Margherita

13. Porcini Mushroom Risotto

14. Parsley Pesto Pasta

15. Roasted Fennel, Chickpea, and Tomato Soup

16. Rotini with Salsa di Limone

17. Roasted Vegetable Pizza

18. Spanish Rice Soup

19. SW Chopped Salad with Creamy Cilantro Dressing

20. Traditional Greek Salad

21. Winter Minestrone

22. Whole Wheat Tortellini with Corn and Tomato Relish

23. Zucchini and Brown Rice Casserole

24. Eggplant and Orzo Casserole Soup

25. Black Bean Flautas with Avocado Dipping Sauce

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Treasure Box Tuesday