Merry Late Christmas and Happy New Year!

I know I've been gone awhile, Santa was quite demanding this year and had me doing to many things all at once! I.need.sleep. And a clean house. We went out of town and just got back in yesterday and my house is knee deep in toys in every room.

RIDICULOUS!

I have the next couple of days that are going to be busy, and lots of wine drinking to do. Kidding! Well kinda... But I just wanted to stop in real quick and tell all of you

Merry (late) Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed holiday! My family and I sure did and can't wait to bring on the New Year!

Love, Kirby

The "Bestest" Cheeseburger Soup

Bestest.

Is that even a word? Not so sure, but in my vocabulary it sure is! That's the first word that comes to mind when I take a bite out of this soup. The Bestest.

It is cold here. I mean a bitter-10-degrees-cold. That's just ridiculous Mother Nature. Poo on you for the time being! I don't see how people up North can handle this kind of cold all of the time! When it's this cold out, you have to make soup just to warm you up. It's a rule. So I have one for ya to try out and to warm you up on days and nights like these!

(Such a festive soup, huh?)

"Bestest" Cheeseburger Soup

1 lb ground turkey, or beef-cooked and drained

1 small onion, chopped

1 tsp each of basil and parsley

4 tbs. butter

32 oun. of low sodium chicken broth

4 c. diced potatoes (dice small)

1/4 cup flour

8 oun. Velveeta, cubed

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 c fat free, or regular, sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

Brown your meat in a big pot that you will use for your soup. As that is cooking in a small pan, melt 1 tbs of butter and add in your onion, basil and parsley. Cook until onion is tender. In your pot with the beef in it, add in the onions, broth, and potatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer 10-12 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. In the same pan you used for the onions melt your remaining 3 tbs of butter and add in your flour, stirring constantly to make a roux. Let this go for about 3-5 mintues stirring the whole time until thick. Add in with your soup and stir until all mixed throughout to thicken it up a bit. We don't want no runny soup here tonite! Bring to a boil again and let simmer for 2 minutes. Add in your cubed Velveeta and milk. Once the Velveeta has melted take your soup off the stove and add in your sour cream. Stir until all is mixed up and you are good to go!

Garnish with croutons, I used Cheese Garlic ones, this is a must! It tastes so good with the croutons in it! Promise! 

Hope this one warms yall's little bottoms up for a bit!

This has been linked up Tuesday Night Supper Club and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Kirby

Crockpot Apple Butter Ribs with Couscous

Oh.My.Gosh.

This is probably one of my favorite suppers now! I was feeling a little on the lazy side yesterday and was thinking okay, time to break out the crock pot and let it do the job for me! And did it ever! Luckily I had some country style ribs sitting in my freezer and I came across this recipe awhile back that I had saved. I found it over at Crock Pot Recipe Exchange. I had everything to make this and so that's just what I did! So easy and so so good! It really tasted like it had been on the smoker all day long but had that hint of Apple Butter in it. It ended up shredding up, but that's okay because I had a box of Near East Parmesan Couscous in my pantry so I just cooked some of that to go along with it.

Hubs doesn't like couscous, I just love the stuff! There's nothing to it either to make it! I noticed after he ate, the couscous was still on his plate. I shoved it down the garbage disposal mumbling under my breath as I was doing it, I won't share with you the comment I made. He's a freak! How can you not like couscous, it's so....fun! Yea, we'll go with that.

Alongside with the ribs and the couscous that my picky husband didn't touch I made green bean casserole and some Sister Schubert Dinner Rolls. God Bless that woman and her rolls! Those are the best darn rolls ever, shoot forget making em' homemade when they are that easy and good! I picked up a big package of them from Sam's the other day and I'm almost tempted to go stick some in the oven right now. Then I'd have to share with Hayden and Sadie and I don't feel like sharing today. Forget it, I'll go make me some toast. Maybe they won't hound me for that. I swear they eat 3 breakfasts every morning. Theirs, Mine, and whatever they can climb up in the pantry and find. I need to find me a lock for that door...maybe I'll do that today, I already have one on my fridge. (Mind you, it' also very irritating to try to open the door and forget theirs a lock on it.)

But now back to my awesome dinner I'm bragging about today, it was nothing that I had to slave over and it tasted like I did! So you have GOT to try it! Please I beg of you...I did not change a thing, made it just like the recipe stated, the only thing I didn't do was make the gravy to go along with it because it was just right the way it was! Now the pic does not do it any justice but trust me on this one...

3 lbs boneless pork country style ribs (Mine was almost 3 1/2 lbs)

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 medium onion sliced

1/2 cup apple butter (Okay I think I added about a cup of this!)

2 tbs packed brown sugar

1 tbs liquid smoke

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Sprinkle ribs with salt and pepper. Spray your crock pot with non-stick spray and place your ribs inside of it. Top with onions. In a small bowl, mix remaining ingredients and pour over ribs and onions. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. (That's all it took for mine) After the 8 hours, I just took 2 forks to it and shredded it right then and there. Serve by itself, with couscous, or rice.

 I know what's for lunch...but now I need to go make me some toast and hide out.

Have a fabulous day!

I'm linking this up with Foodie Friday, What's Cookin in the Kitchen, and Potluck Sunday

Kirby Nicole

Smokey Baked Beans

I love beans. I really do. You can add them into so many meats, soups, casseroles and really get away with it. Almost. That is until your 5 year old sighs and says, "Eww beans again, I don't want this anymore!" and shoves her plate off to the side.

That's when mean ole Mom says "I don't care, you will eat it or it goes to the dog and he can chow down on it and be happy and you will go to bed hungry because I refuse to make anything else!"

or this one really gets her

"Oh, look at Hayden eating her dinner with the beans in it, she's a big girl and she gets whatever dessert she wants after dinner!"  Hayden then precedes to look at her and laugh.

That usually does it!

She'll put on her pouty face and scoot her plate back in front of her and try to argue with, "Well what if I eat 5 more bites, then I get dessert?" I roll my eyes and say fine. I don't have the energy to argue with it anymore. Brat...

So even though I do add beans to alot of my dinners and even through the complaining, this is one recipe right here that she will gladly eat every time. All of them do actually. Even baby Sadie does, or she wears it, I can't exactly tell which one she does. I wanted some baked beans one day but alot of beans always calls for some type of bacon or meat in it and I didn't have any so I started just putting a little bit of this and that into a bowl, baked it and was actually kinda surprised how well it turned out. You still get the smokey flavor in it as if I did add some bacon in with it and that's what I like! Plus its super cheap to make and a perfect side to anything!

I used a 28 oun can of Great Value Pork and Beans and then 1 (15 oun) of the same kind of beans for this. So 43 ounces of Baked Pork and Beans! Ok it's all I had in my pantry, okay?
3/4 cup BBQ sauce
1 small onion, chopped
3 tbs prepared yellow mustard
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs liquid smoke (A must, trust me!)
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp ground black pepper

Set your oven to 325. In a large bowl combine all of your ingredients (Do not drain the beans) Spray your casserole dish. (I use this medium size oval circle bowl, any medium size dish would work) Pour your beans into it and pop it into the oven. Now this is kinda the pain in the butt part. Your going to cook it for a total of 2 hours but every 20-25 minutes give it a quick stir. Do I always remember to do it every 20 minutes? Nope, then I run into the kitchen and beans have exploded everywhere. I'm kidding. But it just keeps them from sticking to much, I don't even take them out of the oven, just stir and close the door back up! After 2 hours take them out, stir again and let sit for a couple of minutes or you could chance burning your tongue off. Whichever.

I happen to need my tongue to stick out at my children.

I'm such a mature mother that teaches my kids such great things that they will carry with them throughout life.

This has been linked up to



Kirby

Pizza Chili Soup...

Yep that's right, Pizza Chili Soup, why is it called that you ask? Because I can't figure out if it's more of a chili or more of a soup so I figured I would let yall decide on that one! But I can tell you it's dang good and it's filling! And super easy, basically you just dump everything into the pot and ta da...done in thirty! I threw in a loaf of frozen garlic bread in the oven to serve with it and I don't think I could have eaten it without it. This is perfect for a cold night and when you just don't feel like making a crust for a pizza but still want pizza...

Does that make any sense???

Ok yes that's what I thought.

1 lb ground turkey meat, or ground beef (I had already made this and froze it so I just let it thaw out and threw it in the pot with everything else) drained

1 small onion, chopped (this was also already added in the meat beforehand)

1 jar (16 oun) pizza sauce (used Great Value brand)

1 (8 oun) can of tomato sauce

1 (16 oun) can of Great Northern Beans

1 can Italian stewed tomatoes

1 1/2 cups of chicken broth, you could use water if you wanted to

Pepperoni (I used half the package so more or less depending on how much you like)

1 small green bell pepper, chopped

1 tbs Italian seasoning

1 tbs garlic powder

1 tsp basil

1 tsp each ground pepper and salt

mozzarella cheese

Cook your meat and onion together, drain. In a big pot, add in your beans, sauces, tomatoes, broth, seasonings and bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer uncovered for 25-30 minutes or until thick. Top with cheese and serve with garlic bread.

Oh so good!

This has been linked up with Tuesday Night Supper Club

and

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Kirby

Rosemary Turkey

So yesterday was the last day for my $35 CSN Giveaway and thru True Random Generator the winner was.......


laxsupermom!!!! Congrats!!!

She said:

This year, in this economy, I'm most thankful that my wonderful hubs still has a job that affords me the luxury of staying home with my kids every day.

I sent you an email! Enjoy shopping!!!

We didn't make it home with any leftovers from Thanksgiving....grrr....That's the best part! So I had actually bought a turkey the week before for really cheap and we thawed that sucker out and made our own turkey on Sunday! With plenty of leftovers! We actually kinda had a little feast of our own. Everything turned out great! This was only my second time of making a turkey and I get nervous making one because I think of "Christmas Vacation" where "Clark" goes to cut the turkey and it splits in half because it is so dried out, one of my favorite movies of all time I might add, but fortunately it hasn't happened to me...yet. I found this recipe off of Allrecipes last year and I love it, I did not change a thing! The rosemary makes your whole house smell so good! And there isn't alot to it either. It makes for one darn good turkey!

See even that little Santa Baby Freak back there can't keep her hands off of it!

Hey you, Santa Baby Freak, get your hands off my Turkey!! She looks like a little Oompa Loompa dressed up as Santa!

Oompa Loompa doompadee doo...

I've been a bad little Oompa dee Doo...

I should be a song writer....

*still laughing...

Ok I have waaayy to much time on my hands today...

Anyways, here is the way to make a Rosemary Turkey.

3/4 cup olive oil

3 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

salt to taste

1 (12 pound) whole turkey

Preheat oven to 325.In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, basil, Italian seasoning, black pepper and salt. Set aside. Wash the turkey inside and out; pat dry. Remove any large fat deposits. Loosen the skin from the breast. This is done by slowly working your fingers between the breast and the skin. Work it loose to the end of the drumstick, being careful not to tear the skin. Using your hand, spread a generous amount of the rosemary mixture under the breast skin and down the thigh and leg. Rub the remainder of the rosemary mixture over the outside of the breast. Use toothpicks to seal skin over any exposed breast meat. Place the turkey on a rack in a roasting pan. Add about 1/4 inch of water to the bottom of the pan. Roast in the preheated oven 3 to 4 hours, or until the internal temperature of the bird reaches 180.

Pure Awesomeness right there! Make sure to save some of the broth to make your own gravy out of it!

Alright gotta go dig a whole roll of toilet paper out of the toilet now, yall have a great day! That dang Oompa Loompa Santa Baby Freak has stuck once again....

This has been linked up with Potluck Sunday

Kirby