Tomato, Basil & Parmesan Soup

There are so many different varieties of tomato soup out there, it is very hard to choose a favorite. I'm sure you would all agree that on a crisp fall day, tomato soup and grilled cheese sounds like a winner combination!

It's an easy meal full of flavor! I found this recipe on my morning Pinterest search one day and saved it for a dreary, cool day. While I followed the recipe, I added a secret ingredient that brought this soup to a whole different level! I hope you give it a try, it is an amazing soup!

Ingredients
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
1 bay leaf
2 cans diced tomatoes with juice
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cups light cream or skim milk
1-1 1/2 cups of grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Drum roll please......the secret ingredient...........oh the suspense........

1 can of condensed tomato soup!

Directions: Heat oil in a 4 quart+ pot, add onions, celery and carrots. Let cook for 5-10 minutes until onions are translucent. Add oregano, basil, bay leaf, tomatoes and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer for 15-20 minutes until vegetables are tender. In a small sauce pan, melt butter and add flour to make a roux. With continuous mixing, slowly add 1 cup of soup broth, then add 2 more. (The mixture will still be thick, don't be afraid!) Add the mixture back into the soup and stir until soup is thickened. Remove the bay leaf before continuing.

At this point, I used an immersion blender to puree the soup. If you do not have one, you could add the soup to a blender.

Next add cream/milk, condensed tomato soup and parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes so flavors can combine.

The end result is a creamy, slightly rich bowl of tomato and parmesan goodness!

 Pair it with a grilled cheese and fill that tummy up!

Enjoy!

How to Budget and Meal Plan: Topic #2

For years, my husband and I just spent what we wanted. If we knew there was money in our account, then we were fine. All we had to do is take out that little evil card we had tucked away in our wallet.....our debit card. The one tiny piece of the puzzle that stands between you and your checking account.

My husband always said he never had a debit card until after he met me. He always kept cash in his wallet for the things he might need. I've heard some people still in the year 2012 refuse to have one, for it takes away from the human interaction, and they are correct. It also burns a hole in your pocket if you use it for every.single.little.thing that you may need or think you need. It's easy to do, but if you take the time and break down your monthly bank statements to see what your debit card is REALLY costing you, it's an easy thing to change.

Topic #2: Tracking Your Spending

I know we all live crazy busy schedules and the thought of doing one more tedious task every month, might make you cringe. It is a task though that I support 150% because it allowed me to see that our $2 coffee runs really add up! So do your measly $5 purchases, $10, $20, etc. It all adds up, to a lot in a month. Especially if you are taking that card out multiple times a day. So here is what I did...I tracked every single purchase for three months in a row.

Being that we are a technology based world these days, online banking made it easy for me. To be able to see every transaction and place it into categories, let me see where we were way over spending. I broke it down into these categories:

-Bills
-Gas
-Groceries
-Restaurants/Take Out
-Extras

You don't realize how much you spend when you wing it! My mouth dropped the first month when I saw we spent $1700 on extras! What?!?!?! I won't get into details about any of our purchases, but to see that number flash in front of my face, it was a jaw dropping moment. So I made sure it changed. It has been a slow steady decline over the past few months. I am proud to say that our extras are now about $100 a month.

Just by seeing all those numbers in front of me, I knew what needed to change and it will be the same for you. We all have different financial situations, but in the end we are all trying to live. The goal in life is to do what we can while we are here and enjoy it. Just by taking these little steps, you can save yourself a lot of money and be happier. We are.

We also put the debit card away. When we do our grocery shopping, we stop at the bank and draw out the amount we have allotted ourselves in our monthly finances. If for some reason we have any left over, than maybe we can treat ourselves to a coffee or save it for next time! It makes you stick with your budget if you only have X amount of dollars because you have not left yourself any other choice, right?

SO PUT THE DEBIT CARD DOWN! It's a life saving step, I tell you.

Until next time,

Pierogi Lasagna

When I was little, my grandma use to make pierogis and they were delicious! I remember sitting at the table with the big bowl in front of us with both of my grandparents, who I miss dearly. While we still enjoy pierogis in our home, I decided to take a different approach and make a lasagna! It is a great recipe and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients
12 cooked lasagna noodles

2 cups ricotta cheese

2 eggs

2 cups grated cheddar cheese, 

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

*2 1/2 cups mashed potatoes (prepared to your liking)

2 cups caramelized onions

12-16 oz diced ham

1 tsp onion powder

salt & pepper

Bacon- crisp & crumbled for topping (You can also use bacon bits)

*I prepared my mashed potatoes with a little salt, black pepper, garlic powder and milk. It was just the right amount of seasoning.

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook lasagna noodles according to packaged directions. Prepare mashed potatoes. In a saute pan, caramelize onions. In a bowl mix ricotta, eggs, onion powder, salt & pepper. Mix cheddar and mozzarella cheese together. Mix mashed potatoes with onions, ham and 1/2 cup cheese. Layer lasagna...noodles, ricotta, noodles, potatoes, and cheese. Repeat ending with noodles and topping with cheese and bacon. Bake for 30 minutes until cheese is golden brown.

Enjoy!

Chicken Enchiladas

I cannot tell a lie....I never had tried enchiladas before making this recipe. It just never was put on my yum I want to eat that radar. Until a few weeks ago and I'm so glad that we chose to make it. It was f.a.b.u.l.o.u.s. It is a quick and easy meal that took about 35 minutes to make, of that only 10 minutes worth of hands on cooking.

Ingredients
**2 cups of cooked shredded chicken
2 cups of monterey jack cheese
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 jalapeno peppers, minced (ribs and seeds removed)
8-10 flour tortillas
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
Juice of 1/2 lime

**Cook chicken beforehead to your liking. You can put it in the crock pot, boil it, use left over chicken or buy a rotisserie chicken to have on hand!

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine chicken, 1 cup cheese, 1 minced jalapeno pepper, and minced garlic. Fill tortillas with chicken mixture, roll and place into 9" X 13" baking dish. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add cornstarch and mix until well combined. Then add chicken broth and allow to thicken. Mix in sour cream, the other minced jalapeno, your seasonings and the lime juice. Bring heat to a simmer and allow flavors to combine. You may need to thicken the sauce if you feel it is too thin at this point. Make a slurry, combining equal parts cornstarch and water, stirring until cornstarch is dissolved. Add to sauce, stir continuously for 2-3 minutes. Pour sauce over the tortillas, top with cheese and bake for 25 minutes. (I will put the oven on broil for a few minutes to brown the cheese a little more.)

Then take some of that yummy sauce and smother your enchilada with it! You won't be disappointed by the flavors in this dish!

Enjoy!

Our Very 1st Date

October 1st, 2004, our very first date.....

The first meal we ate together.

The first restaurant we dined at together.

The first movie we saw together.

The first conversation we ever had.

The first kiss I gave him on the cheek.

The first day, of the rest of my life.

To us......

The man who stole my heart on the second date, my best friend and the love of my life. To many more wonderful years together.

I love you!

How to Budget & Meal Plan: Topic #1

It happens to all of us. That unexpected time in life where things don't go as planned, and you have to make it so you DON'T break it. Your bank that is.

For the past two months, I have relied heavily on sales, coupons, budgeting, and meal planning. Without these concepts, I wouldn't have been able to stay home while trying to find a job. Times are tough, the economy doesn't make finding a job easy, but you still have to eat, right?

I've tried budgeting before but I guess I wasn't fully prepared to go all out. I still knew that if I went over, there was still more money to do what we had to do and then some. It is different for us now.

We use to spend about $60-$100 a week on groceries. In total, we could have spent $400 a month for two people. We would just pick up things we thought looked good and while I liked a good sale, it wasn't my priority. I wanted what I wanted.

Having a very tight budget has allowed me to see what good sales actually are. Having a husband who works in food service has also shown me that all sales are not worth it, and sometimes you can find a better deal with a full priced item! <----- weird concept, right?

Through my coupon clipping, grocery store circular sale searching, and waiting for the right deals to pop up, I have been able to reduce our monthly grocery spending to $80-$100 a month! That's right folks, that's a $300+ savings! If I didn't do it, we wouldn't be able to afford our bills and I wouldn't be able to find the right job for me. I am completely grateful that we have been able to stick to our guns to get through this time. So I decided to write this blog series to maybe help someone else who wants to learn how to properly budget and plan to have delicious meals without going broke. I hope you enjoy and can learn some tricks to help you!

Topic #1: Making a budget

1. Write down all your bills and your projected payments. Tally them all up so you know exactly how much you need to have each month.

2. Write down exactly how much money you make each month that is deposited into your bank account. Subtract your bills from this number. (I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but some don't write it down. If you SEE the numbers in front of you, it allows you to make a budget.)

3. Go into your bank statements for previous months and add up all the money spent on gas and groceries. Place them into their separate categories, Gas and Groceries! (I'm so smart! :-) )

This is where I noticed that we unfortunately spend a lot of money on gas for getting to and from work. Until we can afford a new non gas guzzling car for my husband, this isn't something we can change. We did however make changes that we don't just waste gas to go on long drives anymore. Every gallon of that expensive car juice has to actually take us where we need to go.

4. Subtract the $$ you spend on gas from the remaining money you had after step #2. This amount will be what you have left in a month to buy groceries, save, buy extras, etc.

This is where you need to come up with some numbers and goals for you and your family. Do you want to save a certain amount of money in a year? Do you want to buy a new couch? Do you need to replace a costly household item? What are your goals?

5. After finishing the above steps, (which took you far less time than I took to explain!) how much money you have left is what you can buy groceries with.

For example, after all your bills you have $300 left. You want to save some of it, so you put $200 in the bank each month, which would give you $2400 savings in a year! Then you take that remaining $100 and you make it work for you and your family. I realize some families are far bigger than mine! So you find a budget that works for you.

It may seem like such an easy thing to do, but if you don't see those numbers in front of you, you could be way overspending. Some think it's easier to just wing it and that is fine. I can tell you that wingin' it never worked for us! We would be in a much better place financially, if I had started doing this budgeting and meal planning earlier in our relationship. We didn't, but we are now!

It takes little steps to get to where you want to go, financially or otherwise. I hope you stick around to learn what has helped us.

Until next time,

Oh Monday Monday

Most people hate Mondays. It is the start of a new work week and the end of a perfectly wonderful weekend. I completely understand.

Although, I don't hate Mondays and I never have. Don't get me wrong, I love my weekends spent with the ones I love! I love seeing my husband and having early morning coffee with him. I love being able to talk to him whenever I want. I love being able to make memories with him, and I especially love pawning our dog duties off on him!

Then Monday rolls around and I feel like a new woman, every.single.week. I'm excited to get more things accomplished. I love to start the new week off refreshed and happy. I take Mondays as a day to plan, organize and set the tone for what the week will bring.

Maybe it's because I don't have the five day work week like some, and for that I am very grateful. I am cherishing the time I have to enjoy these Mondays. I know it can all change at any time.

Pumpkin Bread with Pumpkin Butter cream Frosting

Happy FALL!!! 

As the last days of summer came to an end, I felt very sad. It's like saying goodbye to a good friend who won't be back for another 9 months. Sad. On the other hand, a new friend has entered! One that is full of fun promises!

Beautiful colors. Fairs. Apple Picking. Pumpkins. Fall scented candles. Fall decorations. Warm apple crisp. Halloween. Fall baking. Light sweaters. Mums. Crisp mornings. Pumpkin desserts. Cool nights. Thanksgiving. Comfort food. Haunted houses. Candy. Pumpkin coffee. Snuggling. Long drives.

There is so much to look forward to, so goodbye summer!

I started the season off right with making a delicious pumpkin bread. It had just the right amount of pumpkin, cinnamon and a light texture. I felt what made the bread was the pumpkin butter cream frosting! It is delicious.....I would just eat that with a spoon! Although that's not very healthy!!!

Pumpkin Bread
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
2 eggs
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree

Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and allspice. In a separate bowl, beat eggs until yellow and fluffy. Mix in brown sugar and white sugar. Slowly add canola oil, then pumpkin puree. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Spray a 5"X 9" pain with nonstick spray and pour pumpkin batter into pan. Bake for 60-65 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Pumpkin Butter cream Frosting
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp milk

Directions: Cream butter, pumpkin, cinnamon and vanilla together. Slowly add in powdered sugar. Frosting will be very thick, add milk to thin. Spread it ALL over your pumpkin bread! Yum!

This picture may be deceiving, I didn't frost it for beauty. I layered the sweet pumpkin frosting all over the top in anticipation for sinking my teeth into it!

Enjoy!

Fall Goals

There is such satisfaction in setting a goal, no matter what it is and accomplishing it. I love the feeling I get when I cross off things from my to do list. That being said, I have decided to make up some goals for the fall. These will be goals that I WILL accomplish, with no excuses.

- I will go apple picking
-I will make an apple pie from scratch AND an apple crisp
-I will pick out a pumpkin and carve it
-I will go to a haunted house
-I will go to a corn maze
-I will take pictures of the beautiful colors of fall
-I will take my dogs on a fall hike

I think those are all very reasonable goals and I can't wait to start crossing them off. I'm thinking if the weather is good this weekend we might go apple picking! I sure hope so!

Source

Silence

Turn off your TV. Let the clothes dry in the sun. Save running the dishwasher until bed time. Just listen. Silence.

May you find the time in your day to just sit for a minute and listen to nothing. Think of nothing. Love the feeling of nothing. In those few minutes, the clarity you can feel is amazing. Just be.

Or you can lie down instead of sitting. Whatever position you fancy.

Choices

There are so many choices you have to make in life. From the moment you enter this world, it's just a bunch of left and right turns. Sometimes you make the right ones from the start, but a lot of the time you have to learn through wrong choices. You can think of the wrong choices as mistakes, or just paths that lead you in the right direction. I have my moments, where the little pessimistic beast comes out, but for the most part I like to embrace both the good and the bad, and take full responsibility for my choices.

I don't believe in regrets. I believe in following your gut and working hard towards the things you want. It doesn't mean things will ever come easy, but you just try until you get an outcome you are satisfied with. I've been persistent my whole life in everything that I've wanted.

I wanted a Jetta. So when it was time for my first car, a Jetta is what I got.

I wanted to go to nursing school, so I did.

I wanted to move out on my own, so I got my first apartment.

I wanted to work in the emergency department, so I did.

I wanted to date the man that stole my heart, and I got him.

I wanted a dog, so we got one.

I wanted a second dog, so I got one. Okay, sometimes you make decisions before really thinking.

We wanted a house, so we bought one.

I wanted a new car, so I got one.

I knew from the second day I met the Mr. that I was going to marry him, and I did!

Now, don't think any of these decisions were easy.  Life is not a complete fairy tale. What you tell people could always be the frosting on top of the cake, but it doesn't mean things didn't go wrong. They did and they still do. It took a lot of hard work, persistence, and let downs to accomplish the above goals, but I got through it and I'm proud of myself for that.

At the moment, I'm trying to figure out what I want in my career and what really matters to me. It's not an easy decision to make, so I'm trying to take the time I need while still being responsible. In the back of my mind is constantly the question, "is this right?" and I really don't know. What I do know is that all my choices, good or bad have gotten me to this point. So I'm going to have confidence in myself to keep on moving along and make decisions that I hope lead me to my next step.

Life is not perfect, but it can be absolutely wonderful if you just live it! You have the ability to make of it what you want, and I am always reminding myself of that. That's the beauty of it all, its your choice as long as you allow it to be!

Triple Chip Blondies

I think anything with peanut butter and chocolate is a winner. Then you add in another burst of sweet flavor from white chocolate? It's a sweet tooth's favorite dream.

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) of salted butter, melted
2 cups light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup white chocolate chips
2/3 cup peanut butter chips
Optional: 1/3 cup chocolate chips and 1 tsp of vegetable oil for drizzling on top)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl add melted butter into brown sugar and mix well. Add in vanilla and eggs. Slowly add in flour until well mixed. Fold in all the chips. Spray 9" X 13"pan with nonstick cooking spray and evenly distribute batter into pan. Place in oven for 25-30 minutes until top is slightly browned. Optional: Melt 1/3 cup chocolate chips and vegetable oil together and drizzle over the top of blondies. Allow to cool before cutting.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love to bake. There is something about measuring and adding sweet delicious ingredients in a bowl together, that makes me happy. The aroma that slowly leaves the toasty oven and fills your home with the promise of a delightful treat, that is pure bliss. I could bake all day long, and maybe one day I will. Until then, I leave you with a delicious cookie recipe.

Ingredients
1 pound (4 sticks) of unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups plus 2 tbsp pastry flour
3 cups All Purpose flour
1 tbsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 lb semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 lb milk chocolate chips

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper, nonstick mats or nonstick spray. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla and chocolate; mix until well combined. Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1- ounce scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 13-15 minutes. Cook slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire wrack to cool completely.

This recipe makes a lot of cookies if using a small cookie scoop. I slightly overfill the small cookie scoop and the size of the cookies are perfect! I made multiple batches and even froze enough to make 2 more dozen cookies at another time. The recipe freezes well.

Enjoy!

BBQ Pulled Pork {Slow Cooker}

This is an easy to make dish that you will crave time and time again! Whenever I see pork on sale at the grocery store, it is scooped up in anticipation for this amazing dish!

Ingredients
2 lbs or more pork loin or roast
salt and pepper
12 oz of coca cola
Bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce (we use Sweet Baby Ray's Chipotle)

Directions: Place pork into slow cooker, season with salt and pepper. Pour coca cola into slow cooker and set to low. Cook for 7-8 hours. Drain out cola liquid and shred pork. Stir in BBQ sauce.

That is it! It's delicious, so please try it!

Half Way & A Little More

I just remembered that I made a short little list of things I wanted to accomplish in the year 2012. At the end of 2011, I posted them and I thought it would be an eye opener to see what I have done and what I have not. So here goes......

1) I want to be healthier. I want to look healthier and I want to feel healthier- I have not accomplished this, which is unfortunate. BUT, even though I haven't during the first half of the year, in the past 2 weeks I have focused on my food choices, and started to be much more active. So I am getting there.

2) I want to make exercise fun and something I look forward to most days of the week- Well, this kind of goes with the above goal. I am taking more walks with my dogs and doing zumba which I find fun. I'm still not up there to the "Yeah, let's exercise all day long people" excitement but I was there once, I will find it again.

3) I want to fix the husband's and my schedules so we are able to spend more time together-COMPLETE!!!! The hubby got a new 7-3ish job during the week, giving him every night and every weekend to be at my disposal! My schedule wasn't as enjoyable the past 6 months working nights, but we are definitely spending so much more time together. It is friggin fantastic!

4) I want to spend more time with my family members- We have made a point, every few weeks to get together for some sort of gathering. We have remembered that family is mostly all you have and we are learning to spend much more time together. I am expecting my first little niece or nephew in December so we are all excited about that!

 

5) I want to start a family of our own- In time this will come, in time.

6) I want to finish the two rooms in our home that we now use as over sized closets- We have finished one room, changed it into my workout room. Its much bigger and brighter and I love it. I'm working on the 2nd room right now.

7) I want to take our dogs on more walks- Well we have definitely improved this but it still needs some more. I want to take them on daily walks with my husband. I can't walk 3 dogs, especially since one of them is awful at walking. My fault, well OUR fault... we are working on it.

8) I want to swim in our pool every day this summer- Wish I did this, especially since summer is coming to an end, but I still have time and it's still warm. The new goal...to get in the pool with the husband! Yeah, it's bad.

9) I want to figure out what I'm suppose to be doing with my nursing career- Another goal that is a work in progress. I changed my job from Emergency Department Nurse to Nursing Supervisor and while it was alright, the hours didn't agree with me and I don't feel that it is what I want to do in my life.  So as I said, work in progress.

10) I want to go on a vacation for our 1st anniversary- We went to Atlantic City for 3 days! Wasn't a tropical vacation but we had a good time and are looking forward to a vacation sooner than later!

 

11) I want to go out more and experience more of what is beyond our home's walls- We have definitely spent the past 8 months hanging out with each other all the time. Dinner dates, movie dates, concerts, long drives to nowhere, Mystic, and Atlantic City. We could be doing more now, but we are on a tight budget so we will do stuff when we can!

12) I want to go to Six Flags once- Not yet. I have put this on the to do list for the past 3-4 years and we still have not completed it, but we will...one day.

I plan to do the next four this year, for sure.

13) I want to go apple picking in the Fall

14) I want to go to a Haunted House

15) I want to continue holiday traditions and start new ones

16) I want to give to a family in need during the holidays

17) I want to do a better job of keeping my house clean all the time- I am working on this! Getting everything more organized and loving it!

18) I want to plant flowers and make our house pretty from the outside- probably won't happen until next year.

19) I want to do more with my life, and sleep less- well working nights, I definitely slept less!!! But now that I'm back on a regular schedule, I do feel I have started to conquer this one!

20) I want to be happy- The past 6 months have been hard but I wake up everyday and remind myself that it is MY choice to be happy. It usually works!!!

So there we have it, I have some things to work on! But not as bad as I thought! Can't wait for the rest of the year to get it done!!!