Cheesy Broccoli Soup

There are some who like cream of broccoli soup with cheese in it, and there are some who like cheesy soup with broccoli in it ;) We are the latter! I have never been successful at making broccoli soup, but this recipe was easy peasy and delicious! Let us know if you try it!

I halved this recipe and it was enough to feed three adults and leave a bowl of leftovers :)

Ingredients:

• 2 cubes butter
• 1 C flour
• 8 C water and 8 tsp. chicken bouillon OR 8 C chicken broth
• 1/2-1 lb Velveeta cheese
• 1 large bunch broccoli, chopped
• 1/2 pt. whipping cream
• Diced onion
• 1 C diced celery (optional) 

Directions:

1. Melt butter, add onion and celery (if used), and cook 5-10 minutes until onion and celery are soft.
2. Add flour and mix well.
3. Slowly add chicken broth and heat through. 
4. Add broccoli and simmer 30 minutes. 
5. Add cheese, stir until melted, add cream, and heat through. 

Chicken Fajita Soup

On Sunday Six Sisters Stuff had this recipe on their blog and it just so happened that I hadn't been shopping for Sunday dinner, nor had I planned what I would be making when I saw this. I had everything I needed and it was a huge hit with my family!! Tis the season for warm, yummy soup!!

You will need:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
1 cup salsa
2 cups corn (frozen or canned)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. dried cilantro (optional)
Toppings (if desired)

**Spray crock pot with Pam and put the chicken on the bottom.
**In a separate bowl, mix together cream of chicken soup, salsa, corn, black beans, water, cumin, and cilantro. Pour over chicken in crock pot. 

**Cook on low for 4-6 hours (or high for 2-3 hours). 

**You can remove chicken and shred using 2 forks. (I just shredded it while still in the crock pot with the soup mixture because I'm lazy like that.)

**If you took the chicken out to shred it, put it back in. 

**Serve with shredded cheese, avocados, tomatoes, sour cream, tortilla chips, etc!

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

If you are a reader of Our Best Bites, you might already be familiar with this recipe. I LOVE me some yummy Alfredo sauce, so this does the trick without the same amount of calories and fat--if you're counting. :)

(Recipe found here)

You will need:

2 C low-fat milk (I use skim)
1/3 low fat cream cheese
2-3 Tbs. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. butter
3 garlic cloves
1 C grated Parmesan cheese

**Put milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. 

** In a non-stick sauce pan, melt butter on med-high heat and add garlic, sautee for about 30 seconds.

**Add milk mixture to the pan--stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it just comes to a simmer. Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes more. It should be thickening up. **When it’s thickened remove the pan from the heat. 

**Add the cheese, stir it up and then cover immediately. 

**Let stand for at least 10 minutes before using.

**It will continue to thicken upon standing. 

**Season with additional salt and pepper if needed.  

YUM!

Best-Ever Potatoes

So.  This is sort of random.  Every day I receive about five different recipe emails from various websites.  More than half the time I look at the name/ingredients and think, "Ew.  That sounds just teeeeerrible."  But once in a while I find one that looks easy/yummy/interesting and I print it out.  This is one of those recipes.  It is a little on the spicy side so you may want to adjust the pepper jack - cheddar cheese ratio if you don't like spicy.  Here's the details.

BEST-EVER POTATOES

 



7   cups coarsely chopped small red potatoes

Potatoes 1 lb For $2.00
Red
thru 2013-10-27

Bigg's

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Potatoes 3 For $5.00
Red
Klondike Rose or Goldust Express Baby Potatoes, 1-lb. Bag Microwavable MIX & MATCH, Loyalty Card Required
thru 2013-10-30

Marsh

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1   cup chopped onion

1  8  ounce carton dairy sour cream

1   cup (4 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1   cup (4 oz.) shredded sharp cheddar cheese 

1/2  teaspoon salt

1/4 - 1/2  teaspoon ground pepper

2   medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped

 

In a large saucepan cook potatoes and chopped onion, covered, in a small amount of boiling water for 12 to 15 minutes or until tender; drain. Stir in sour cream, Monterey Jack cheese, cheddar cheese, salt, and red pepper. Stir in chopped tomatoes. Spoon into a 2-quart rectangular baking dish. Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree F oven about 30 minutes or until heated through.

 

Give it a try!!  I swear you will love this!

Cream Cheese Stuffed Pumpkin Cookies

If you are a fan of pumpkin this fall season, and/or a fan of our Pumpkin Cake Roll, you will probably love this yummy little treat! This was another one of those Facebook recipes that my friends were sharing so it would be pinned to their walls. I must say, these did not disappoint!

     
Cookies:

•  3 cups flour 
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon salt 
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg 
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup brown sugar 
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil 
• 1 - 15 oz. can of pumpkin 
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

 **Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

**Beat together brown sugar, sugar, oil and pumpkin. Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition, followed by the vanilla. 

**In a separate bowl, shift together the dry ingredients. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.

**Drop by teaspoon onto a Pammed baking sheet

** Bake for 11 minutes and cool on a rack. 

  

Cream Cheese Filling 

• 1 - 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened 1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 1 - 16 oz. package of powdered sugar 
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Pinch of cinnamon--to taste

**Beat together cream cheese and butter. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Frost flat side of half the pies and top with another piece!

YUM!!!

Banana Bread

We are all in love with my Aunt Di's banana bread she brings camping and to our Girls' Weekend. Mindy and I have both tried it out at home and our families have helped us devour it too! If you like banana bread, this is a great recipe to try!!

4 medium bananas

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 C vegetable oil

1 C sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 C flour

1 tsp. salt

**Mash bananas with potato masher until lumps are gone. 

**Dissolve soda in 2 Tbs. of hot water. **Add soda to bananas and mix well. **Mix all remaining ingredients into bananas. 

**Pour into greased 8x8 pan. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

(I actually did mine in 2 medium sized loaf pans--rather than a square pan like the recipe originally said--and they took more like 45 minutes. Mindy did one big loaf pan and I think she said it took more like an hour to bake.)

White Chicken Enchiladas

This here was one of those recipes floating around on Facebook that I just knew I had to try! I was NOT disappointed and hope you won't be either!!

(Recipe from here: http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/3043084-White-Chicken-Enchiladas?full_recipe=true)

• You will need:
• 10 soft taco shells
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 (4 oz) can diced green chiles. 

DIRECTIONS

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan
• 2. Mix chicken and 1 cup cheese. Roll up in tortillas and place in pan. 
• 3. In a sauce pan, melt butter, stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add broth and whisk until smooth. Heat over medium heat until thick and bubbly.
• 4. Stir in sour cream and chilies, but don't boil it!
• 5. Pour over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.
• 6. Bake 22 min and then under high broil for 3 min to brown the cheese.

Chicken Tortilla Stack

Anyone else out there wondered if this blog was still alive? All of the Howe sisters are alive and well, just busy as little bees!  But, today I bring a new post to you containing a simple and delicious meal that even my PICKY kids ate {insert jaw drop}! Pretty delicious if you ask me.

Original recipe and picture from this website.

You will need:

• 8 oz sour cream
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 cup grated Mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 5 9-inch flour tortillas
• 2 1/2 cups cooked chicken, shredded (I cooked mine and shredded it in the    
•           KitchenAid--GENIUS, I tell ya!!)
• 6 green onions, sliced (optional)
• shredded lettuce, tomatoes, diced avocados or guacamole, additional sour cream, or anything else you would like to put on top!

Instructions:

• **Spray a 9-inch spring-form pan with nonstick cooking spray.
• **Combine the sour cream, hot sauce and seasoning salt in a small bowl.
• **Combine all 3 cheeses in another bowl.
• I**In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil. Using one tortilla at a time, add to the hot oil to crisp up, flipping over when the first side gets lightly brown. Continue with the remaining tortillas, add more oil as needed.
• 
  
• **In pan, place 1 tortilla  and spread on some of the sour cream mixture, followed by a layer of chicken, green onions (opt.), and some of the cheese mixture. Add another tortilla, sour cream, chicken, green onions and cheese. Repeat 2 more times, then lay the remaining tortilla on top. Spread with the remaining sour cream mixture and top with the remaining cheese. 
• **Cover with tinfoil.
• **Bake at 400 until the cheese is melted and the stack is heated through, about 30 minutes. I then removed the tinfoil and put it back in the oven for a few minutes to brown the top a little bit.  
• **Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes for easier slicing. 
• **Top with the remaining green onions, lettuce, tomato, avocados (or guacamole!) and more sour cream, if desired.

Crunch Wrap Supremes

When I saw this little bite of heaven on Pinterest, I knew I had to try it out. We weren't disappointed, quite impressed actually, with just how tasty they really were! If you are a fan of Taco Bell's Crunch Wrap Supreme, you won't be disappointed! (Recipe found here!)

You will need:

Large (burrito size) flour tortilla shells

Small tostada shells

Queso (I used the Tostitos brand that is just plain cheese sauce)

Cooked taco meat (I used ground beef with taco seasoning)

Shredded lettuce

Shredded cheese

Chopped tomatoes

Chopped avocados

Sour cream

 

Directions:

**Warm your tortilla in the microwave to make it soft enough to bend

**Put a spoonful of queso sauce in the center of your tortilla, leave a wide edge so you can wrap it later.

**Spoon some taco meat on the cheese--you could also put refried beans here if you wanted to.

**Place the tostada shell, on top of the above layers, spread sour cream over the shell.

**Sprinkle shredded lettuce, shredded cheese and any other ingredients you choose on top of the sour cream.

**Wrap the edges up toward the center until they close around your filling.

**Quickly flip your crunch wrap upside down into a warm non-stick pan, fold side down. Lightly pressed down with your spatula to seal the folds and brown. It goes pretty quick.

**Then carefully flip it over once the edges are sealed and lightly brown the bottom side. This won't take long either because you are just trying to warm up the Queso on the bottom layer.

SOOOO yummy!!!

 

 

 

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

"Howe" in the world did I ever forget about these delectable little morsels? Our cute secretary, Linda, brought them to school the other day and I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of them in so long! If you have never tried these, do it.....NOW!!!

(Don't mind my photo skills, I know they are crap!)

Ingredients:

1/2 C. Creamy Peanut Butter

1/2 C. butter

1/2 C. brown sugar

1/2 C. sugar

1 egg

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 C. flour

1 pkg. Miniature Reese's PB Cups

**Mix all ingredients together (except BP cups)

**Roll into 1 inch balls

**Drop into Pammed mini muffin tins

**Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes.

**Let cool 1-2 minutes, then press PB cups into center and let cool.

**Run a small knife around the edge and they should pop right out of the pan!

Beef-Broccoli Lo Mein

Recipe and photo found here

Hello, hello!!  Wow it's been awhile since I was here!  Have you all missed me??  Yes? Anyone?  Bueller?  (Name it!)  Anywho.  Well this here is a recipe I stumbled across some time ago and have been making it ever since.  It is yummy and easy and yummy....my three fave things!  I even did a cooking demonstration at the Utah State Fair with it last Saturday and it was a hit with the crowd who got to sample it.  And just so ya all know, I am always at the State Fair the last Saturday it runs.  I am involved with the beef cook-off (you should enter next year!!) and then I usually do a demonstration of a dish using beef.  Come see me!  Also if you are interested in seeing some great beef recipes that were demo'ed this year, as well as the entries from the beef cook-off you can go to utahbeef.org.  And noooow onto the recipe!!

Beef-Broccoli Lo Mein

You'll need:

• 4 cups hot cooked spaghetti (about 8 ounces uncooked pasta)
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil (I use olive or whatever I have)
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups chopped broccoli
• 1 1/2 cups vertically sliced onion
• 1 (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed and cut across the grain into long, thin strips (I usually use sirloin because it's in my freezer)
• 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon chile paste with garlic (I use Sriracha cuz I like it!  Be careful with this stuff.  At first it doesn't seem that hot so I always add more and then I regret it.  So please use caution with this stuff!)

Preparation

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain. Combine pasta and sesame oil, tossing well to coat.
2. While pasta cooks, heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Add broccoli and onion; sauté 3 minutes. Add steak, and sauté 5 minutes or until done. Add pasta mixture, soy sauce, and remaining ingredients; cook 1 minute or until lo mein is thoroughly heated, stirring constantly.

This is seriously soooo good!  It's not super saucy but seems light and flavorful anyway.  I serve it with some baked, store bought egg rolls and it's good to go.  You're gonna love it!  Give it a try tonight!

epic room makeover

hey, readers! we've been a little m.i.a...we know. we're working on it. in the meantime, this is not a recipe, but i really really need your help! i have entered to win mandi @ vintage revivals's epic room makeover giveaway. will you help me win? pretty please??

head over and vote for my epic fail of a room to win an epic makeover! click on the link, scroll down, and vote for #47. it's super easy and takes 5 seconds. i will love you forever if you do it!

Click here to vote!