Friday the 13th

Last Friday was Friday the 13th and I had been looking forward to it for a while.  Why?  Because I was  going to be providing Friday lunch to the ministry team students and staff of The Well.  Each Friday a different person/small group/church etc. brings a home cooked meal to The Well House and the students come and everyone gets to enjoy a great meal while simply being together - no schedule or agenda, just being together.  This was always a highlight of the week, and way back in the spring I decided I wanted to provide one of the meals for this semester.  Friday, September 13th was the date I'd be doing it and I couldn't wait!

We used to get a lot of the same meals over and over so I wanted to make something they wouldn't be likely to have again, and I decided on doing breakfast for lunch.  I made breakfast casserole, hash brown casserole, fruit salad, biscuits, and muffins.  Cooking for 50 by myself was a little intimidating and there were times that I thought "What in the world have I gotten myself into?" but I managed to pull it off and everything was a hit!

Two of the reasons that I was able to pull it off was that 1) I'd made all the muffins the weekend before and then froze them, pulling them back out Thursday night to thaw and 2) I did the hash browns in the crock pot.  That way I only had to cook one thing that morning, the breakfast casserole.  Both casserole recipes were new, so I was a little nervous trying them out for the first time on a crowd of hungry, eager students, but like I said, they were a hit.  And really the hash brown casserole wasn't so much a casserole as it was cheesy hash browns, but still good.  The muffins I made were Pumpkin Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chip, and Apple Cinnamon Butterscotch.

Sitting on the front porch of The Well House, just like old times!

I had to work that night, and something happened that I knew would sooner or later - I spilled a drink on a customer.  She was so nice though and as I was down on the floor wiping it up she looked down and said, "Don't worry about it dear, it's Friday the 13th!"  I'm so thankful she had a good attitude about it, otherwise I probably would have a been a wreck the rest of the night.

Taco Soup

I like tacos and I love soup, so why in the world it took me this long to make taco soup is beyond me!  But I did recently and it was easy and delicious, so of course I had to share it with you!

Taco Soup 

Ingredients 

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1 (16 oz.) can of chili beans, with liquid

1 (15 oz.) can of kidney beans, with liquid

1 (15 oz.) can of whole kernel corn, with liquid

1 (8 oz) can of tomato sauce

2 cups of water

2 (14.5 oz.) cans of peeled and diced tomatoes *

1 (4 oz.)  can diced green chile peppers

1 (1.25 oz.) packet of taco seasoning mix

Optional - Sour cream, shredded cheese, and tortilla or corn chips for toppings.

Directions

1. In a medium skillet, cook the ground beef until browned over medium heat. Drain, and set aside.
2. Place the ground beef, onion, chili beans, kidney beans, corn, tomato sauce, water, diced tomatoes, green chile peppers and taco seasoning mix in a slow cooker. 
3. Mix to blend, and cook on Low setting for 8 hours.   

*  I wasn't sure if you were supposed to include the liquid of the tomatoes, but I did because I wanted this to be like soup, and not chili.   

 

From allrecipes.com

White Chicken Chili & Cornbread

I woke up this morning in the mood to cook.  So, while lying in bed I searched websites and blogs and landed on these two recipes from Sherri's blog.  Most of the recipes I try these days are from her blog, so if you haven't checked it out yet, you should.  She's delightful and so is her blog, and I'm glad she's my friend.  Anyways, I made White Chicken Chili and homemade cornbread.  I had an interesting time with the chili, since my crock pot wasn't big enough for all it.  I ended up having to put half of it in a pot on the stove, but it all worked out and it was quite delicious!  

Chili time!

One of my absolute favorite fall meals is chili.  A good hearty, chunky chili with cheese, sour cream, and Fritos.  When I moved out on my own and wanted to make chili for the first time, I searched allrecipes.com for crock pot recipes.  I'm not an anti-red meat kind of girl, so I don't know why I decided to make turkey chili, but all I know is that this recipe is easy and delicious!  It does have quite a few ingredients, but don't let that scare you, it's still pretty cheap, and like I said, easy!

Turkey Chili

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 2 (10.75 oz) cans tomato soup
• 2 (15 oz) cans kidney beans, drained (I use 1 dark and 1 light for more variety)
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tbsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tbsp. ground cumin
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 pinch ground allspice
• salt to taste

Directions

• Heat oil in skillet over medium heat.  Cook turkey until brown, drain.
• Coat inside of crock pot with non-stick spray.  Or, I highly recommend using crock pot liners, like these from Reynolds.  They prevent you from having to do practically any clean up!

•  Add all ingredients and mix well.
• Cover, and cook for 8 hours on Low, or 4 hours on High.