Easy Chicken Soup

Source: yummly.com via Anne on Pinterest

Easy Chicken Soup

2 Pkgs. Chicken Ramen Noodle Soup
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
Shredded chicken (as much as you want)
2 corn tortillas, torn in bite-size pieces

Boil water. Add Ramen Noodle Soup and cook for three minutes. Stir in Cream of Chicken soup, shredded chicken, and tortilla pieces. You may add one of the Ramen Noodle seasoning packets if you prefer. I don't (less sodium).

Easy, quick, and tasty!

Christmas Baked Favorites

December is filled with favorite Christmas cookies, breads, candy and hot apple cider or hot chocolate filled to the brim with creamy marshmallows. Now those items may not be on your December grocery list, but those are things that come to my mind when I first think of December and Christmas foods. That doesn't mean that those are my favorites to eat during the Christmas holidays. They just happen to come to mind because this evening was a chilly evening with friends over hot apple cider and delicious brownies covered with powdery sugar. YUM!

Baking for my family and friends makes me happy. It brings back memories of family and comfort, Christmas holidays with those I love, times of fun and laughter, singing carols to elderly families not able to go out, lighting fireworks with cousins in the freezing cold on Christmas Eve. Christmas memories - and baked goodies with each one.

Brownies, festive cookies, chocolate meringue pie, coconut pie, lemon pie, Pink Salad, Chocolate Cake, pumpkin bread, and banana bread. Those are among the ones that quickly pop up in my mind.

Source: sprinklebakes.com via Jenn on Pinterest

Source: thebookofsecrets.tumblr.com via Keren on Pinterest

Source: tasteofhome.com via Heidi on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Joy on Pinterest

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday because of spending more time with family and friends, not having to go to school, and enjoying days off from work. Time of relaxation. Time of making more memories.

Angie's Spicy Beef Chili

What sounds better than a big bowl of chili on a chilly and rainy November day like today? I made my own version of spicy chili last night (the leftovers taste even better). This is a new recipe because I just made it up last night with a different ingredient than I've used before.

Angie's Spicy Beef Chili

1-2 lb lean beef

green onions

salt

pepper

garlic powder

onion powder

medium hot chili powder

ground cumin

2 Serrano peppers

1 red chili pepper

a generous sprinkle of dried red chilies

1 can red beans

1 can Ro*Tel tomatoes

1 can cream corn (the different ingredient)

grated cheese, optional

Directions:

Add chopped green onions, peppers, and seasonings to skillet as your are browning the ground beef. When the ground beef is done, add red beans, tomatoes, and cream corn. Do not drain any of the canned items. After the canned items are added, stir well with the beef mixture for a few minutes. Now you have a meal. Serve with crackers, tortillas, bread, tortilla chips, or like I did, make a taco salad with it. 

Angie's Spicy Beef Chili

Taco Salad with Angie's Spicy Beef Chili

Spring Green Mix with Small Spinach Leaves

Angie's Spicy Beef Chili

Russian Dressing (tastes kind of like French Dressing)

Grated Cheese

Tortilla Chips

De-licious!

 I'm linking to Simply Designinghttp://simplydesigning.blogspot.com/.

November Comfort Food

What is so special about a plain ham sandwich? Comfort maybe?

Ham, Cheese, and Mayo

November reminds me of comfort food because of the special and delicious recipes my mother and grandmothers used to bake for the holidays. I cherish those memories. Funny how one bite into a ham sandwich with mayo can trigger a sweet comfort memory, like the days when one of my parents would send me off to school with a ham and mayo sandwich. Sometimes the sandwich would be bread, mayo, and bacon. For some reason, I can't remember other lunches. I must have really liked pork. Just for a moment today I felt like I was a little girl at school eating my ham sandwich that Daddy made me. My mother was an awesome cook, but my dad usually made breakfast. I imagine he made my sandwiches from whatever meat he cooked for breakfast.
Come back for another visit this week to read about my next old-fashioned southern comfort food for November.

Autumn Bundts

There's a little bakery cafe in the High Desert of Southern California that is called Bodacious Bundts that makes the best cinnamon rolls. Though I've never ordered a bundt cake there, I'm sure they would be delicious. In fact I'm going to this bakery cafe this weekend for a meetup group with bloggers.
Have you ever decorated a bundt cake for Halloween? Check out these ideas:

Source: Uploaded by user via JaNae on Pinterest

Source: scrapbooklady.typepad.com via Mindy on Pinterest

Source: cookingwithsugar.com via Andrea on Pinterest

Source: thecakeblog.com via Krista on Pinterest

Source: lollyjaneboutique.blogspot.com via Holly on Pinterest

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Source: myrecipes.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Speaking of bundt cakes, I love to bake them and other delicious desserts during the autumn and holiday seasons. One of the cakes I've favored through the years are a bundt cake my grandmother would make with baby food applesauce. It was delicious and moist with such a good flavor. But as you might can tell by the extra huge slice of cake photo added above, my most favorite cake is the one that was my mother's specialty when I was growing up - German Chocolate cake. 
Don't those delicious looking bundt cakes make your taste buds almost taste those cakes? Mmmm...I would love to have a big bite of that German Chocolate cake right now.
I'm linking to:

• This Chick Cooks

Garden Squash and Fresh Brussels Sprouts

This afternoon I saw a couple of very small yellow crookneck squash veggies in my garden. I sliced them and pan fried them with a few Brussels sprouts in butter. The recipe is a basic "little of this" and a "little of that" but tasted buttery delicious on this National Greasy Food Day. You can't beat this kind of healthy greasy food dish.

Sizzling Buttery Vegetables

Tasty and Fresh

• 2 little yellow crookneck squash
• 4-5 Brussels Sprouts, halved
• salt
• pepper
• onion powder
• sugar (to taste)
• paprika
• butter

It's a little ironic that yesterday was National Food Day to promote healthy eating, and today is National Greasy Food Day. I guess one healthy food day is all some people might can stand, so eating greasy fried chicken or fried potatoes might sound really good after a day of veggies and fruit. It's not that yesterday's emphasis on vegetables and fruit made me want to eat healthy today. I just happen to like squash and Brussels Sprouts, the little cabbage-like vegetables that can taste awfully bitter if you don't prepare them just right. Now "just right" to this southern girl is like you see it in the recipe above, especially that last ingredient - real butter. Add a slice of toast with it, and you've got a tasty dinner like I had this evening.
Until next recipe...HAPPY EATING!
I'm linking to Wow Us Wednesdays and Polka Dots on Parade.

A McRib Sandwich Memory on Food Day

Today is Food Day, a day focused on "real food...meals built around vegetables, fruits, and whole grains...delicious and satisfying." Have you ever tried the famous McDonald's McRib sandwich that will be sold at all the chain's locations through November 14? It's meat, but it's delicious and satisfying. According to McDonald's nutrition information, this is what you're consuming when you eat one of these delicious sandwiches:

• 500 calories
• 26 grams fat
• 44 grams carbs
• 22 grams protein
• 980 mg sodium

Source: None via Stacy on Pinterest

Let me tell you about my most memorable experience with this tasty sandwich. My husband and I had just returned from a trip to Israel. On our way home from the airport, we stopped at a McDonald's. We wanted breakfast but it had just ended, and we could only order lunch. We both ordered the McRib sandwich. While we were eating, a man walked in with his young daughter to order their meals. When they learned that breakfast was over, the man said loudly, "Let's go, Sherry, we can't eat breakfast here." Until this day my husband and I have laughed about that incident. I'm sure that it was terribly disappointing to the man that he could not have his breakfast. I felt sorry for the young girl having to be humiliated by her father in front of the very-crowded McDonald's that day.

Part of Food Day's goal is wanting "fewer people at drive-throughs and bigger crowds at farmers markets." Though I love fresh vegetables and fruits and going to farmers markets, I think discouraging people from going to drive-throughs will not be such an easy task. Our society lives in too big of a rush, and drive throughs accommodate our fast pace of living. If you're curious like I was about where Food Day originated, it was created by Center for Science in the Public Interest.