Happy Summer!

I found the best soup recipe. It's Chicken Tortilla Soup and reminds me of the soup I loved eating at Apple-bee's. I found it on Mennonite Girls Can Cook. They have some of the best recipes, most of which call for ingredients you have in your home. I used a quart of chicken breasts that I canned and I also cooked it on the stove top because I didn't have to cook the chicken. I know you'll love it as much as I do.

1/2 cup salsa                                      1 lb chicken breasts cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 cups frozen corn                             1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cans cream of chicken soup           1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup water                                    1 tsp cumin

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used maybe 1/4 cup)

1/3 cup cilantro (I have gone without this before but it's growing in my herb garden now)

Stir the salsa, chicken, corn and beans in either your crock pot or soup pan. Then add the soup, tomatoes, water, cumin together and pour over crock pot mixture. In the soup pot I just added this individually. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours. I just cooked on medium heat and then we poured it over corn chips. This is so creamy and delicious!

I also want to share a Banana Chip Muffins recipe I found in one of my Amish cookbooks. These are so moist and you really can't eat just one!

1 3/4 cup flour                                   1/4 cup sugar

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder                   3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk                                      1 egg

1/3 cup vegetable oil                         1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (I used 2)

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (I used our home canned applesauce which has just a bit of sugar)

1 c. mini chocolate chips (I used regular chips)

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the milk, egg, oil, banana and applesauce. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and then remove. Makes 1 dozen of the best muffins!

Read Across America!

I thought I would put this in to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday! Such a cutie!

 I wanted to share a great crock pot recipe using black beans. I had canned some black beans for future use and some of them did not seal. So I made this great Spicy Soup! It's from Stockpilingmoms.com!

Easy Crock pot Black Bean Soup

2 (15 oz) cans of black beans, drained and rinsed

2 (14 oz) cans of tomatoes, not drained

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1/2 cup water

1 Tbls. chili powder ( the recipe called for 2 but that's too hot for us)

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp garlic salt (called for real garlic, but I  didn't have any)

Pour everything into your crock pot and set it for 8 hours on low. This was delicious and filling!

No Technology

So for whatever reason blogger is not letting me load any pictures. I hate it when technology doesn't work. Life continues to roll along and we're excited to roll along with each of you!

Last night we tried something new for dinner. I'm trying to reduce my intake of wheat so we did tortilla pizzas. I used corn tortillas and dad used flour ones. Just a bit of pizza sauce and a little mozzarella with lots of veggies. I had two of them with a salad and it was delicious. It's been interesting trying to find new recipes that don't include a lot of dairy, gluten and sugar but well worth it. We are eating healthier than we have in a very long time, maybe ever.

Okay, I got a picture to post by copying and pasting the image. It's not a clear photo but her cuteness shines through! Sure do love our family!

Love being a grandma!

Dad and I so enjoy these pictures of our grandbabies. Keep them coming please!

I wanted to share this recipe for Stir Fry Sauce. We'll throw in any and all veggies that are in the fridge and cook them in our wok pan that dad found at a thrift store. Cook the veggies until soft! Then put in 1 cup water. While this is heating up, in a small bowl mix 1 T. cornstarch and 1/8 cup brown sugar and 1/4 tsp ginger. To this add 2 T. soy sauce and 2 T. cider vinegar and blend. Add it to veggies and cook until thickened. It's delicious over rice! Last night dad put in peppers, carrots and chopped celery! There was no meat so this was really inexpensive. Double or triple the recipe for larger families!

Sometimes we just need a snuggle to get us through the day!

It's been a great 4-day break for me! Although I have a sneaking suspicion that I am now lactose intolerant! Not good news for someone who lives for dairy! I'll be seeing in the next few days if my stomach pains dissipate as I ban all dairy from my diet. 

I think the whole thing got rolling with this awesome tuna recipe that calls for mozzarella cheese! I'm sharing it for all of you who enjoy a good casserole recipe.

Easy Cheesy Tuna and Rotini

8 oz rotini, uncooked  

2 Tbls. margarine

10 oz frozen mixed vegetables (thawed and drained)

cream of mushroom soup

3/4 c milk

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 can tuna, drained 

Cook rotini according to directions and then drain. In a medium skillet, melt margarine and add mixed vegetables and a little bit of garlic salt until veggies are golden. In a medium bowl, blend soup and milk. Add to vegetable mixture. Stir in remaining ingredients except rotini and tuna. cook, stirring constantly, until cheese melts. Stir in rotini and tuna and heat through. Serve immediately. Serves 6.

 This was delicious and creamy due to the amount of cheese. I hope you enjoy it!

She is so Sweet!

Having a bit of trouble with my back again and this morning it was easier to stand than sit. So I decided to try a new muffin recipe. It's from Sweet Pea's Kitchen and it's delicious!

Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Muffins

Muffins

 1 3/4 c flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 (I recommend only 1/4) tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 egg

3/4 c milk

3/4 c sugar

1/3 c butter, melted

Coating

4 T butter, melted

1/2 c sugar

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Into a medium-sized mixing bowl place flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Toss it all with a fork to combine.

3. Crack an egg into a small bowl and whisk it together until fluffy.

4. Into a small mixing bowl pour 3/4 c milk. Add the beaten egg and whisk the two together. Add sugar and mix it in with your fork.

5. Melt 1/3 c butter and pour it into the sugar mixture. Whisk it in to combine.

6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Mix them together, just until combined. You don't want to over mix the batter. It will be a bit lumpy.

7. Line a muffin tin with liners.

8. Scoop batter into the liners, just a little more than 1/2 full.

9. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

10. Grab two small bowls. Melt 4 T of butter in one. Mix 1/2 c sugar and 3/4 tsp cinnamon together in the other bowl.

11. While the muffins are still warm dip the top of each one in the melted butter and then in the cinnamon sugar.

These are so moist and delicious!

What a great week for family photos! Thanks Zach for asking!

 Hello Tyler!

 Ticklish, Ivy?

 Sibling love!

Yes, Judah that's a cute nose!

What a sweet picture!

We are enjoying our 3-day weekend! Hooray! So how is your food storage preparation going? I'm hoping to get to Winco's tomorrow after my 8:00 AM dental appointment to pick up food for our 72-hour kits. And yes Brady and Zach we have them for you two! Remember the month of January is for buying toilet paper, bleach, deodorant, shampoo, soap and evaporated milk, powdered milk and juices. Remember, don't go into debt to get these things, just buy what you are able to.

Love this photo!!

I downloaded a preparedness list of goals from preparedldsfamily.blogspot.com and put it in my preparedness binder. It breaks down into monthly increments what you can purchase to build up your home storage. For instance for the month of January I will work on toilet paper, laundry bleach, deodorant, shampoo and soaps. Dad has already stocked us up on deodorant, shampoo and soaps so I will work on toilet paper and bleach. That's the non food items. The food items include evaporated milk, dry milk, cocoa drink mix and juices. We buy our milk from the cannery and are well stocked up on everything else. January should be good. We do need to restock the food items in our 72-hour kit however. Maybe that will be our FHE for tomorrow. And of course I need to increase our supply of drinking water. Dad and I will have to discuss how we want to do that, bottled water or saved tap water? What do you all think? If you don't have your food storage yet I highly recommend this information. It takes the worry and stress out of the process because you are working on it throughout the year instead of trying to get it all done at once. 

Another good blog is foodstoragemoms.com. She has some great information you can download and print as well as some food storage tips. 

Hope you're inspired to work on your food storage this year! We can do it!

"When contentment is elusive, it's time to re-examine our priorities."

I found this quote on one of the blogs I follow, 'Cheryl's Frugal Corner'. Catchy name isn't it? This picture typifies for me what contentment can and should be.

As we enter 2018 let's reassess what our priorities are. Does it include our families, our joy in the beauty around us, our hope in Christ? If not then maybe we should sit down and as the quote says 're-examine our lives'. 

I Really Dislike Goodbyes!

This was the last picture I got as we prepared to drive to the airport! Ivy was so sad and Tyler was already looking for us!

So I get on my blog to post and realize that it's been almost one year to the day that I last posted! What?!!! I guess it's been a busy year. I'm going to try to do better but life happens.

I think I'm going to have to specifically set up a time to blog. I'm thinking that on Sunday's after I send out my email might be the best time. We will be attending church at 9 in the morning so that will probably be my best bet as I will have the entire afternoon!!! Let's hope it works! 

I'm so excited for the New Year and hope and pray that it will include great things for all of you!