Crock Pot Taco Soup

My kids and I made a tradition last year that on the first snow fall of the season we make sugar cookies and have hot chocolate. It's flurried here and there but nothing I would call "the first snow."

Today has been kind of a nail biter! Is it the first snow fall? Really? Is it going to melt in an hour? Can I for sure give it the first snow label? I can't decide, and the clock is ticking!

In the meantime, taco soup. Need I say more? Warm up with this gem. I served it with the Olive Garden Bread Sticks and it was a big hit! Which is extremely rewarding since it was a typical "threw it together" meal. Whew!

What you will need:

• 1 can black beans, rinsed
• 1 can kidney beans, rinsed
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles
• 3 cans beef broth
• 1 1/2 pkg. taco seasoning
• 1 1/2 pkg. ranch mix 
• 1 lb. ground beef

Directions

• Dump all the canned ingredients into the crock pot 
• Mix in the taco seasoning and ranch mix
• Brown the ground beef and add it into the crock pot to mix in
• Cook on low 4-6 hours
• Top with grated cheese and a healthy dollop of sour cream if desired!

Kiss Pies

So I tried to make some pie pops a couple weeks ago. It turned into a complete disaster. I was frazzled the entire time. I was suppose to make my pecan pie filling mixture, but went along not realizing I was making my 6 minutes caramels mixture. Once I realized that (and noticing the time crunch I was in), I was just a mess doing two things at once and didn't use my head at all!

That being said, I had some extra pie crust that needed to be used and just happened to scroll past this recipe from the Picky Palate that looked easy and perfect to do with my kids!

You can totally leave them plain but we definitely wanted to dust with some powdered sugar and drizzle with a chocolate/butterscotch drizzle for an extra bit of deliciousness. These would be adorable on everyone's plate at the Thanksgiving table.

What you will need:

• One roll of refrigerated pie crust rolled out pretty thin
• Hershey kisses
• Circular cookie cutter or a knife to cut a circle around each hershey kiss
• egg wash mixture
• Sugar
• 1/2 C Chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/4 C Butterscotch chips (optional)
• Powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350*
• Roll out the pie crust
• Place a Hershey kiss on the crust and cut a circle around the kiss
• Bring two ends of the dough together and pinch
• Bring the other two ends of the dough together and pinch
• Pinch each side
• Place them all on a baking sheet
• Brush them with some egg wash
• Sprinkle sugar on top
• Bake for about 23 minutes
• Let them cool while you melt chocolate & butterscotch
• Drizzle with the chocolate
• Dust with powdered sugar

Cheesy Broccoli Potato Soup

So we had a cold and rainy day. Is there anything better than soup when the rain is tapping on your windows? I use to say, "If I had soup every time it was rainy, that's all I'd eat" after living in Portland. 

But now we get to feel like rain is special again ;).

I actually didn't mean to make this on a rainy day. It was just what was on our dinner menu. I had the bread rising for the bread bowls (I tried a new bread bowl recipe and it was only so-so, so I won't be bothering to post the recipe) when I realized it might rain so the girls started getting all excited and sure enough. By the time dinner was served it was raining.

This soup is 100% delightful. Pioneer Woman again. Of course. I wonder when I'll try a new recipe that isn't hers. I'm in no rush for that. She did state not to go crazy with the salt because of the cheese. I used sharp cheddar and I used oooooh probably double what she said in her recipe and I was still adding salt to it at the dinner table so? Just do what she says and you can always add more later if you need to! You can always add more but you can't take it out so better safe than sorry!

I also added cubes of potatoes to mine. I just can't not have them.

Original recipe here!

 

What you will need:

• 1 yellow onion, diced (or minced if you're like me)
• 1 stick butter
• 1/3 C flour
• 4 C whole milk
• 2 C half & half
• 3-4 crowns broccoli, cut into flourets
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 C grated cheese of your choice

Directions:

• Melt the butter and saute' your onions with it for a couple of minutes
• Add in your flour and mix well until it forms into a roux (like a paste)
• Let it cook for a minute or so, stirring constantly
• Add in the milk and half & half and blend together
• Add in the broccoli flourets
• Let it simmer about 25-30 minutes until the broccoli is tender
• Add in the cheese and stir until it's all melted in
• At this point you can either serve it as is or mashed up the broccoli so it's a bit more chunky. OR you can puree' it, which is what I did.