Cauliflower Cheese Soup like Zupas

Cauliflower Cheese Soup like Zupas is one of my favorite lunchtime cravings.
We have a sandwich shop that I love in our town in Utah. It is called Zupas. I love that you can choose between like 12 different sandwiches and 12 different salads and 12 different soups EVERY. SINGLE. DAY!
Cauliflower Cheese Soup…so creamy and yummy! This recipe will get you hooked! I have gone there about 6 times this month (I’ve lunched with lots of friends since I’m a teacher off for the summer!) and have never gotten the same salad or soup or sandwich combination yet. And they always give you a little chocolate covered strawberry with every meal.

 Zupas is a delightful place! One of my favorite soups there (I have 3 favorites) is the Wisconsin Cauliflower Cheese soup. It is rich and creamy and the color of clam chowder. I like to add some crunchy tortilla strips or homemade buttery croutons to the top. Yum! 
Cut up and then Boil or steam the cauliflower florets in a pan.

So I decided to mess around with some Cauliflower and some online recipes and doctor them up how I like them. I wanted a rich soup, but not as cheesy as some recipes out there. So here is mine. It is similar to my potato cheese, only with the potatoes switched out with cauliflower. And a little richer than my Clam Chowder. 

I’ll start by chopping up my medium head of cauliflower and boiling it in some water. I will save 1/2 cup of the hot water to soak the bullion cube in. Drain Cauliflower, then Dump it in a blender and add some of the Half & Half to cool it down. 
Then start chopping up your onion while the cauliflower is cooling down in the blender with the half & half.  
 Once your onions are chopped put them in a pan with the 2 Tablespoons of butter and saute for about 10 minutes till onions are clear and soft. 
Saute for about 10 minutes and then add flour to make a roux for your Cauliflower Cheese Soup.
Then add the flour and a little of the milk and make a roux with the onions and butter. Cook the flour for a minute before adding the milk.You don’t want to taste flour. 
Once your roux looks like this and onions are clear and soft dump this mixture into the blender too, and blend the cauliflower and onion mixture with the rest of the milk and half & half till creamy. Then put the mixture back into a pan.
 Add the bullion cube that was sitting in the half cup of cauliflower water. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low till cheese is melted.Add the spices and let simmer for a few minutes….you are almost done! You can add some milk if you want a thinner soup. Add more spices if you like. Sometimes I like to add a dash or two of lemon pepper to my soups. 
Now I start making some fun homemade croutons for the top of the soup. 
Butter a piece of bread, and cut up into squares, then toast in the oven for less than a minute on broil at 400 degrees. If you want add some garlic salt, but this soup is rather rich so I think I like it better just with toasted, buttered croutons. 
This is a delicious soup for any time of year. It reminds me of potato cheese soup from Marie Callendars too. It is just a slightly different taste. Go try it this week! 

  • Cauliflower Cheese Soup
  •      1 medium head of cauliflower, chopped, boiled and pureed
  •      1/2 cup chopped sweet vidalia onion chopped,sauteed, pureed 

  •      2 Tablespoons real butter

  •      1/4 Cup flour for a roux
  •      1  Cup half and half 

  •      1  Cup milk
  •      1 small can of chicken broth
  •      1 chicken bullion cube soaked in 1/2 cup hot water
  •      1/2 cups cheddar cheese shredded 
  •      1/2  cup Monterrey Jack cheese shredded
  •      1/2 teaspoon Johnnys or Lawry’s seasoning salt or to taste
  •      dash of lemon pepper
  • Cauliflower Cheese Soup like Zupas. 

Everything should be done in about a half hour. It is THAT easy! And it is yummy. For a variation use potatoes and make potato cheese soup.

5 EASY 4th of July Desserts

Tomorrow is the 4th of July holiday! It is one of my favorite summer holidays. You get to have a BBQ and eat lots of fun foods, and then watch fireworks too! And we all get to be patriotic and put out our flags and think about how lucky we are to be Americans! We just got done watching LONE SURVIVOR last night on REDBOX. Nothing makes you prouder to be American than watching an intense war pic like this one. I’m proud of the Navy SEALS today! They are simply the best. 

And these cupcakes are the best tasting things you can make. But I had a few more ideas too.
1. 4th of July Cupcakes are an easy favorite for your 4th of July BBQ dessert table. They are healthier than some other desserts with fresh fruit on them, and you can easily top them each with a little flag pick or sprinkles for more pizzaz. 
For the cupcake icing Use 1 cup cool whip, 1 cup marshmallow Creme, and 1/2 block of cream cheese mixed together in your mixer. Yummy! It also makes a great Marshmallow Whip FRUIT DIP! 
I make my icing with cool whip, cream cheese and marshmallow whip. It is to die for!  
Aren’t these so cute with the little flags? The Patriotic table runner and placemats I got from Kohls. I love red white and blue decorations! 

 2. Another dessert that is perfectly in season right now is PIE! I just made a lemon meringue pie last night and it is almost gone already! Yummy. I used only 2 lemons. HERE is the Lemon Pie recipe I used.

Peaches and Strawberries are in season now. So what about doing a fresh peach pie or fresh strawberry pie. I use the “glaze” recipe from a small box of jello. The flavors come in peach and strawberry so it makes it so easy.

The recipe for the jello “glaze” is HERE.

Strawberry Glaze Ingredients and Directions
1 cup of water
Mix with 3/4 cup sugar and
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 small 3 oz. box Strawberry Jello
Mix first 3 ingredients and put it in a saucepan on the stove till it is smooth and when it is bubbling….boil  for about 2 minutes. Then take it off the heat. Whisk in the jello for a minute till it is dissolved and then put it in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool.

Here I am adding the glaze. It’s just made from a box of Jello! So you could do peach, raspberry, or strawberry! I should try blackberry too! That might be good! 
You could add a little American flag to the top of this Strawberry Pie too! 

OR 3. you could make Lemon Bars. They go great with any BBQ spread. Kids love them too. And people don’t take the time to make them much anymore even though they are SO super easy! 

Food Network had a pretty good recipe for Lemon Bars. This is before I added the sprinkling of powdered sugar to the top. I would just place them in red, white and blue patriotic cupcake papers on a red pie plate for the dessert table! 

 4. Then there is my all time favorite stand by treat, the Chocolate Bundt Cake like Nothing Bundt Cakes. It is cheap, easy, and yummy. And you can top it with many decorations for the season. Flags with red and blue sprinkles would be great.

I just use a zip lock bag with the cream cheese icing, snip a little hole in the corner edge, and fill it and spread it in long lines around the cake. 

Just like this. It doesn’t have to be perfect. People will still love it! I always do! Now I just have to go look at the craft store for some blue sprinkles. That would be cute wouldn’t it? With the little flags?
This was a very cute way to decorate the bundt cake for 4th of July. I might do this instead. I love fresh fruit better than sprinkles anyway. This is from Style Horse.
4th of July fruit pizza! 1 package of sugar cookie dough for crust. 8oz cream cheese + 1 cup powdered sugar for frosting. Decorate with fruit!
5. Lastly you could do a fruit pizza. I saw this one on Pinterest. This one is made from a sugar cookie dough recipe or refrigerator roll sugar cookie dough from the market. Spread out on a pizza pan and bake. Then spread with lemon yogurt and fruits or cool whip and a block of cream cheese, then fruit. You could also do cookies topped the same way. Either way it is yummy. The yogurt topping has less calories of course and it is fresh tasting. Cut the strawberries in thirds and add fresh blueberries.

Have a GREAT 4th of JULY PEOPLE! 

Bowtie Pasta Summer Salad with Feta Cheese and Greek Dressing

 For Father’s Day every year we do a barbeque. I don’t know why we always make dads do the work on Father’s Day. But they like it at my house. So we do. And this year we decided to do hamburgers after asking all the dads what they would rather have. I had 3 dads for dinner; my son, son-in-law, and my hubs. Great Grandpa came for dessert after visiting one of my hub’s siblings for dinner.

I don’t know why dads always like a good burger but they do. So I made some side salads to go with them and we had fresh corn on the cob, watermelon, potato salad, and chips and cream cheese and chili dip too.

Here is the hubs with 2 little grandkiddos who do NOT want to pose for a picture. Isn’t this a funny one anyway? Dylan is trying hard to squirm away. I think I got one decent shot of about 8 tries. 

Grandpa and his 2 newest grandkids on Father’s Day 2014. Lena and Dylan both just over a year old. (Lena is 17 months) 
This is the Greek dressing that make this pasta salad so delicious. This dressing mixed with the Feta Cheese of course. It is hard to find. And it is wrapped up like a bottle of wine. But it is thick and really rich with herbs and spices and really kind of pricey too. It is $4.00 or more a bottle. I usually find it at Target or Smiths Market. 

 Recipe for Bowtie Pasta Summer Salad 
1 pkg bowtie pasta boiled and drained
3/4 bottle of Girards Greek Feta Salad Dressing
1/2 cup quartered cucumbers
1/2 cup diced tomatoes (or grape tomatoes sliced in half)
3/4 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup finely diced purple onion
salad seasoning just a few shakes (or season salt and pepper)
A shake of dried parsley 
Mix up and toss and let marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving. Makes 10 – 12 servings. 

Then you can buy the Feta Cheese in a brick or already crumbled. I had a small brick of it so I just chopped it up into crumbs. 

I boiled up a package of bowtie pasta too and then drained and cooled it. 

I sliced and quartered a long, hothouse cucumber I got from Costco and added that to the Pasta Salad. 

Then I chopped up a few tomatoes and added them to the Greek Pasta Salad. 

Gotta have some purple onion to add some zest! 

I dice it up really really fine though. I don’t like large chunks of onion in salads. It seems to overpower them. So I dice them tiny. 

Then I added the dressing and about 3/4 cup of Feta Cheese. I usually use 3/4 of a bottle of the Girards Greek Salad Dressing to the Pasta Salad. It takes a half hour to marinate in the fridge. Then it is ready to serve. 

Last thing I do is add some Salad Seasoning. I just shake it on and toss and shake it on again and taste. Sometimes one more shake is needed. If you don’t have any of that use some Lawry’s seasoning salt and pepper to taste.

Here’s me and my most local grandbabies. My first two on the left and my only grandson on the right. I lub these critters sooooo much! Can’t you just die looking at that cute little vest Dylan is wearing? I think it is just the cutest little preppy look he’s got goin on! You should see him trying to walk. He looks like a drunken sailor. It is super cute. 

Two of the grown boy cousins. My nephew Tyler on the left and my son Devin on the right. There’s a lotta love in this family. 😀 

It must have been a plaid shirt convention. Even my son wore one! My hubs on the right and his brother on the left and his daddio in the middle. Behind him is a giant flat screen we got great grandpa for Father’s Day along with John’s siblings. He was so surprised! And who can’t use another bigscreen T.V. around the house? Hmmmm? 

Great Grandma Merlene and my daughter Tiff and hubs Gary and Marisa my first granddaughter. Hope you all had a fun Father’s Day. We sure did! 

Buttery Breadsticks and Pizza Dough

Cheesy Parmesan Breadsticks from Pizza Dough…..
Homemade Pizza and breadsticks…..a great Monday night quickie dinner! 

I used this recipe to make some pizza tonight at home. I had some leftover Parmesan cheese from making chicken alfredo the other night. It is great on breadsticks too. So I used half of the recipe for a medium sized pizza for the hubs and I, and the other half I made some mini breadsticks that will will go great with some cream of broccoli soup tomorrow. (that’s not sayin they will last till tomorrow!) tee hee….

Gather your ingredients, start with WARM water to sprinkle the packet of yeast into.  

These are the things I put on top of my cheesy-garlic Parmesan breadsticks! I keep Parmesan in the freezer in the baggie it comes in. I bring it out when needed and that way it is always fresh. It is GREAT on Italian green salads and also in pasta dishes of any sort! 

I just LOVE these little Skookie cast-iron pans I got for my birthday a few years back from my son Jeff and daughter-in-law Wendy. They are perfect for individual pan pizzas!  WOOT! Here is a link for the pans HERE.
Added the sauce and then topped with cheese…..easy peasy…..

Homemade Pizzas and breadsticks ……make it tonight! 
The Weekday Chef loves breads. It’s sadly, my downfall. And Pizza and buttery breadsticks are kind of the devil. (stupid buttery morsels of delight….stupid things….) sounds of sniffing….

Here is the recipe. It is from Jamie Cooks it UP!  love her! 
30 minute Pizza Dough 
1 Cup of Warm Water
1 T sugar
1 T. Yeast (I use active dry yeast)
1 teaspoon salt 
3 T vegetable or canola oil 
2 1/2 to 3 cups of flour 

I just pour a cup of warm water in my mixer and then dump in the yeast and then sugar and leave them to bubble up for 5 minutes while I gathered the pizza ingredients. Then I added the teaspoon salt and 3 Tablespoons of oil. (Olive oil works great too) and added 2 cups of flour slowly and then about 2 3/4 when it was about done. Just add enough so it isn’t sticky anymore and pulls away from the pan. 

Roll out the pizza dough onto a pizza stone brushed with oil. 
Breadsticks from Pizza Dough…I let them rise a little before baking…..then I painted melted butter on them with a silicone soft brush and topped them with Parmesan Cheese and Johnny’s Garlic Salt Mixture.

 I used a little more than half of the dough on my pizza stone and rolled it out and then let it set while I grated the cheese. Then I used the other half, rolled it out in a short rectangle about 1/3 of an inch thick. Then I cut rectangles, twisted them and layed them in my little mini pizza pans. They rise while the pizza is cooking. 
I add PREGO spaghetti sauce for my pizzas and top with Mozzarella cheese and pineapple bits, bacon, tomato slices and green peppers and purple onion. Sometimes I add mushrooms and olives too if we have them on hand. It’s yummyrific! 

Homemade Pizza  and Parmesan Breadsticks made from a really EASY PEASY Pizza Dough! 


Add favorite toppings to pizza and cook at 475 for 8 to 12 minutes depending on your oven. 

This is one of the easiest and quickest dinners around….homemade pizzas and breadsticks! 
Homemade Pizza dough breadsticks topped with butter and Parmesan cheese!

Maybe we’ll start having pizza nights every Monday! mmmhmmm….

Orange Bunny Buns

Budget Gourmet Mom had a cute bunny orange roll I wanted to try to make.  I love the recipe for orange rolls that I have used in the past but I have never done this cute shape for Easter before. What fun it will be for my grandkids!

That cute site had this cute bunny roll. I liked how they made the eyes with little lumps of dough. 


Orange Rolls
from Simply So Good

¼ cup warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
3 eggs
½ cut butter
¾ cup milk
½ cup sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
4 ½ – 5 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water, set aside for 5 minutes.  In a large mixing bowl mix together eggs, sugar, and salt.  Set aside.  

In a small saucepan, melt butter then add milk.  Slowly pour into egg mixture mixing all the time.  Add yeast mixture and 2 cups flour.  Mix until dough is smooth.  Add remaining flour 1 cup at a time.  Only use needed amount of flour to form a smooth yet sticky dough.  DO NOT ADD MORE THAN 5 CUPS OF FLOUR. Cover dough with plastic wrap or aluminum foil.  Place in refrigerator overnight. 


Orange filling:
1/2 cup butter – melted
1 cup sugar
Juice from 1/2 orange
Zest from 1 orange


To make the orange filling:  Combine all ingredients in a medium size bowl and stir to blend. 

Butter or grease 2 muffin pans then set aside. Roll into a rectangle.  Spread half of the melted butter and orange mixture on the dough leaving ½-inch border around the sides.  Roll dough from the long end.  Cut roll into 24 slices and place in prepare muffin pans.  Allow to rise until double in size.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Immediate remove from oven and flip rolls out onto a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.  Allow all the orange glaze to drizzle over the rolls.
Easter Bunny Bread Recipe
Taste of Home   made this cute bunny from bread and added dip.  I like the face on the bunny. I’d like
to add that to my little bunny rolls if I can. 
Taste of Home had these cute rolled bunny rolls.  

    Pomegranate Mango Salad with Almonds

    Martha Stewart had a good looking recipe I thought I would try to go with our Lasagne for Sunday dinner today. Here is Martha Stewart’s recipe. I wanted to doctor it up a little bit.

    Pomegranate Almond Green Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette  

    . It would be nice with a crumbly cheese too as an option. Or you could add grilled chicken pieces to it!!

     I sliced up some red onion, mango and threw some slivered almonds and the Pomegranates into a bed of greens for the Pomegranate Almond Salad. Then I drizzled a little bit of Kraft low calorie Raspberry Vinaigrette on top.

    POMEGRANATE MANGO SALAD with Almonds
    2 to 3 cups Salad Greens
    1/4 cup Cut up mango 
    1/4 cup slivered almonds
    `1/4 of a pomegranate (just take seeds out and drop them on top of salad)
    slices of red onion (optional) 
    Red Raspberry Vinaigrette 

    It was yummy.  It went very good with our Lasagne dinner. It would be great for a Christmas party too.

    It would also be good with cut up pears or strawberries in place of the mango. And it would be great for a pretty holiday salad!

    Chicken Hawaiian Haystacks

    I must be on a rice kick or something. All I want to make are recipes including rice. Why is that? Well this Hawaiian Haystacks recipe is good for all the right reasons, one of which is that you can make it how you want it. Each person’s plate looks a little bit different because you get to decide what goes on top! As you can see, I like mine with a cherry on the top! 🙂

    Hawaiian Haystacks are a great meal when you have a crowd coming over….just make more rice, and more toppings! 

    Toppings for Hawaiian Haystacks can include any kinds of cut up fruits and veggies! 

    The last few days have felt like semi-summer weather with temps in the 60s. It was fun to go out and play kickball with my 2nd graders in the SUNSHINE! I was SO over the freezing cold and windy temps of last week. I had recess duty a week ago during the day AND after school and it was snowing and super WINDY. My umbrella that I was holding kept doing the backward blow up thing and then would almost send me down the street like Mary Poppins. It was embarrassing!  Just call me Mary.  So I long for the white beaches and sun and unfettered relaxation of a Hawaiian Island.

    I love the crunch these chow mein noodles add…

    Add Cream of Chicken soup, sour cream, milk and spice it up with Lawrys or Salt and Pepper….that’s it! 

    I like slivered almonds to top my Hawaiian Haystacks….

    The kids love coconut….
    Have to have a cherry on top!  Or a handful! 

    But since I can’t wrangle that for now, I can at least eat yummy food with the taste of Hawaii in it.  This recipe is easy, quick and really yummy.  And it’s a great choice if you have to feed an army or a crowd at a party.

    I diced up some cooked carrots….. chow mein noodles and slivered almonds….

    And lots of fresh fruit and veggies…..

    The hubs likes my Hawaiian haystacks……..that sounds a little weird saying it out loud though……hehe…

    So here are the easy ingredients for the basic chicken mixture that goes over rice.  Then the toppings are whatever you decide you want to add. I use one of those veggie and dip platters when I’m doing it for a crowd. You can find them at the dollar store for…..well…..A DOLLAR!  I use them when I’m doing cookie decorating in my classroom too. They are very versatile for putting out little piles of stuff.

    HAWAIIAN HAYSTACKS RECIPE

    Here is the Chicken base all mixed up….then I just microwave it to warm it …

    RECIPE INGREDIENTS
    Hawaiian Haystacks
    2 cans cream of chicken soup  (or use large family sized can)
    3  chicken breasts diced
    1 t. salt  (or Lawry’s Season Salt)
    1/8 t. pepper  
    1/2 cup sour cream
    3/4 to 1 cup of milk 
    3  cups Steamed Rice

    My finished plate of Hawaiian Haystacks….a work of art really!  

    DIRECTIONS
    Boil the chicken and dice up.  Mix soup, salt and pepper, milk and sour cream and milk. 

    I boiled 3 chicken breasts with a handful of carrots…..


    Cook rice until tender. I have a rice cooker so I added around 2 1/2 cups.  Put soup mixture on top of rice and top with any or all of the following:

    Toppings: Canned pineapple tidbits, mandarin oranges, grated cheese, slivered almonds, chopped red pepper, celery, olives, diced tomatoes, chow mein noodles.

    Veggie and fruit toppings for the Hawaiian Haystacks can be as varied as what you can find to cut up from your fridge and then add a few canned fruits and maybe some dried fruits and nuts too….


    Well, now he’s just acting like Vanna White…he’s such a tease! 

     It’s really filling, and everybody can pick their own preferences for toppings. That makes it even more of a fun meal. You can see my husband is having fun doing his own toppings…LOL.  Actually I made him pose…he’s just a good sport. :O

    He doesn’t like the fruit as much….he’s more of a veggie man….

    He does like the almonds and the white grated mozzarella cheese….

    Hawaiian Haystacks…My plate is still prettier than the hubs….just sayin……..

    This recipe for Hawaiian Haystacks is a KEEPER!   Enjoy!  

    Luscious Lemon Meringue Pie

    I LOVE lemon meringue pie. I bought a few lemons last week on a whim and now I had to do something with them ….

    Soooooo……I decided to make a LEMON MERINGUE PIE! yUmMLy!!! 
    Doesn’t it look good? Well it all started with a few lemons…..
    So I squeezed them and zested them!  SLURP! 
    Mixed them up with egg yolks and sugar SWEET! and cooked them!

    And poured them in a pie shell I baked up….

    Ingredients

    1 finished pie crust (I use real butter in mine)

    • 1 1/4 cups white sugar
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1 1/2 cups water
    • 1/2 cup cornstarch
    • 1/3 cup water
    • 4 egg YOLKS ONLY (Separate the whites and set aside)
    • 1/2 cup lemon juice
    • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
    • 3 tablespoons butter
    Then I whipped up the 4 egg whites….

    Meringue 

    4 egg WHITES ONLY (be sure no yolk gets in)
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 1/2 cup white sugar

    Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar, salt, and water on high heat and bring to a boil. In a separate bowl mix cornstarch and 1/3 cup water and whisk adding it into boiling sugar mixture. Stir until thick and clear and take off stove. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolks and lemon juice and little at a time whisk egg yolk mixture into hot sugar mixture. Return pan to heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest and butter last. 
    Let it set till you are ready with meringue. Pudding should still be semi warm.




    Meringue


    Boy it sure made a lot of meringue! 

    Then I topped the pie with the fluffy stuff and baked it! 

    Mix the 4 egg whites and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a clear glass bow and whip it up till it looks kind of foamyl. Be sure nothing extra gets into the egg whites or they won’t peak. Gradually add the 1/2 cup sugar as you whip till it forms stiff peaks. Add a little 1/2 cup of meringue to your lemon pudding. Then pour it into a pie shell that has been cooked. Add the rest of the meringue to the top of the pie up to crust edges. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 10 or so  minutes until peaks look golden brown.  Set it set for 1 hour before serving.   



    And it turned out pretty! 
    And it was delicious too.  Yummly!   SO…… That’s what I did today! 

    St. Patrick’s Day Decor and Peanut Butter Cup Cake

    Well, it’s the Irish holiday of St. Patrick’s Day almost upon us…..I decorated a bit.

    I love the cute little leprechaun my class made a few years ago out of laminating empty rolls….they were cute! And look at that awesome tablecloth I actually sewed myself! Yeah, I rock just a little bit on that machine. lol.

    Some of my favorite March St. Patrick’s Day story books I read to the kiddos. 

     I love the holiday full of rainbows. I taught the kids all about ROY G. BIV. That is the clown who reminds us of the rainbow color order.  Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. I just mix up indigo and violet and call it purple instead. Then they do a pot of gold with a 1 inch x 12 inch strip of each of the 6 colors and glue them on the back of a pot. We add fake coins glittered to the top.

    We made Leprechauns, March Book Reports and some Leprechaun similes and pots of gold. 

    I loved this arrangement on my dining room table. I have a green, painted basket full of leprechaun napkins on the table. 
    My classroom St. Patrick’s Day Bulletin Board we just finished today at school. I love how it turned out with all these pots of gold and Leprechauns! Check out my classroom blog HERE at Patties Classroom.

    My front entry room table decorated up with St. Patrick’s Holiday stuff. 
    I love this picture of 2 of my granddaughters from Chuck E. Cheese of all places! 
    PEANUT BUTTER CAKE AND ICING – I made a chocolate cake and put some peanut butter, powdered sugar, butter and milk together and topped it all with Reeses Peanut Butter Cups on top. How decadent is that? Yum. It was really great.  HERE is a link to Food.com’s recipe for the peanut butter icing. It is to die for, really, truly. 
    I love this story The Luckiest Leprechaun! 
    Coffee Table with Happy St. Patrick’s Day decor at my house. 

    I love this holiday. It is fun to get out all the green stuff for March. I’m glad Easter is late this year so we get a whole month to enjoy the Irish stuff. Kiss me I’m Irish!

    Sweet Potato Casserole (with pecan crunch topping)

    I went to a class the other night on making your own mixes and seasoning packets for ranch dressings, tacos, and spaghetti sauce. The gal gave a few good tips that I want to pass on. 

    For her chicken she goes to Costco and buys 4 rotisserie chickens every 3 weeks or so. Then she just pulls the chicken pieces off and puts them in baggies and freezes them for recipes. So easy! 

    I also love her idea for listing the menus on her inside pantry chalkboard contact paper. On the other side she lists missing ingredients she needs to buy. Smart idea!   Check out her blog HERE.

    The other great idea was she puts her dinner fixings into a bin and she keeps 3 bins lined up in her pantry at all times. That way if she is missing an ingredient for something coming up for dinner in a few days she can get it restocked in her pantry before it comes up. Then when it is dinner time she just grabs one of the bins and starts dinner having all her ingredients on hand. What a cool idea! 

    This is a similar idea from Life With Both Hands Full’s blog. She puts mixes in her bins. But I do love the dinner ingredients in a bin idea too! How simple that would make it, no standing in front of the fridge just staring with that dazed and confused look! 

    Anyway, here is a yummy recipe for a dinner side dish, that we don’t make often enough. She had made some sweet potato chips that had a New Orleans hot rub sprinkled on them. They were so yummy. I’ll have to try them this week! 

    Sweet Potato Casserole
    Ingredients:
    4 cups sweet potato, mashed
    1/4 c white sugar
    2 eggs, beaten
    1/2 t salt
    4 T butter, melted
    1/2 cup evaporated milk
    1 t vanilla extract
    topping:
    1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
    1/2 c brown sugar
    1/3 c flour
    4 T butter, softened
    1 c chopped pecans
    Place canned, or baked and mashed  sweet potatoes in a large bowl and add sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Pour into 9 x 13 glass pan.
    Sweet Potato Casserole – great for Sunday dinner with almost anything! Yummy! 
     In another bowl mix topping ingredients and sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potatoes. Bake for 30 minutes at 325 or until topping is light brown. 
    This always makes a delicious side dish that goes great with chicken, beef, turkey or pork! Yummy! Next I’m trying Sweet Potato Chips!