Roasted Green Beans

My new additive crave is roasted vegetables.  It gives the veggies such a different and crunchy texture as compared to steamed mushy vegetables.  I made these roasted green beans tonight to serve with my
Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken               

~1 lb of fresh green beans

~3 tbsp olive oil

~1 tsp paprika

~1 tsp garlic salt

~1 fresh squeezed lemon

~Salt & Pepper

Cut the ends off of the green beans on both sides and give them a good rinse.

Next in a large bag mix all the ingredients listed above and toss till coated.

Once evenly coated spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet and place in a 325 degree oven for about 25 minutes.  Time may vary depending on your preference on how crispy you like your green beans.  I like mine a little more crisp.

Kate Anne

Happy Easter

Praise the Lord.  He has risen and we can experience new life through Him.  What an amazing day it has been.  Church this morning was awesome.  I have never been to a church when the pastor has had such a huge heart for the congergation.  I'm sure that all pastors love the church body.  But never have a felt cherished and so welcomed as I do at our church.  The people are so warm.  I am sure going to miss our church when we leave Iowa.

Didn't the eggs turn out beautiful!!

Yesterday Shawn, Noah and I went to the church Eggstravaganza.  The church filled 26,000 eggs for the hunt.  While Noah and I stood at the starting point, Shawn stood in the back hoping not to be trampled.  Once the whistle blew it was on....I had told Noah that we were going to run to the back and skip all the eggs in the front.  I knew that all the kids would begin collecting in the front.  He did pretty well for himself.  He collected about 25-30. 

Noah must get some of his weird quirks from myself or Shawn.  As you can imagine, with 26,000 eggs to scatter they tend to be pretty much on top of each other.  Most kids would stop at a pile with 20 eggs and collect them all right?!  No, not Noah.  He would stop at a pile of eggs and collect just a few select eggs and move to the next pile.  He sure makes me smile.  I love that boy.

Look at this madness.  Notice that all the kids are in one place.  I'm smart and we started in the back and moved toward the center.

Luckily security was not needed. 

I'd say it was a pretty good weekend.

Hope you enjoyed yours.

Kate Anne



Grilled Carrots

The past few times I've bought carrots at the store I've opted to buy regular carrots and not baby.

The flavor is much better in the long carrots.

Last weekend I decided to throw a few on the grill while I cooked the chicken legs.

They turned out delicious.

Just wash and cut the ends off.

Place in some tin foil and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with your favorite seasoning.

I used a Mrs. Dash salt substitute.

Turn a time or two during cooking.

Try them...you'll love them.

The carrots before the grilling goodness.

Kate Anne

Cheddar, Broccoli & Potato Soup

One last Hoo-Rah to winter has been in order since our early arrival of SPRING!!  Hoo Rah!!!  So I figured on this gloomy Saturday that a bowl of delightful soup would hit the spot.

As some may know, my husbands favorite dish in the world is all things potato related. 

Mashed potatoes, french fries, hash browns or scalloped potatoes.

And as much as I adore pleasing him, there are only so many ways to prepare potatoes.

On the other hand, a favorite meal of mine to prepare is any type of soup.

Beans soup, tortilla soup, vegetable soup or chili.

You name it and I've made it.

My husband is not a big fan of soup but I thought it might work if I combined the two

my love of soup

and

his love of potatoes.

Surely it would be a hit!!

-8 medium potatoes

-8 cups fat free milk

-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

-3 heads of broccoli

-1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

-1 lb of bacon

-6 tbsp corn starch

-1 tbsp minced garlic

-3 oz light cream cheese

-1/2 cup sour cream

-2 oz Romano cheese

-1 lemon

Peel the potatoes, and cut into small chunks and place in large pot of water and boil until tender. 

 Meanwhile cook the bacon and place on paper towel to drain off grease. 

Click Cooking Bacon in the Oven for directions on cooking it all at one time

and without the mess.

 Wash and cut the broccoli into small pieces.

Add the butter to bottom of large pot.  Once melted add the broccoli and cook till tender.

Squeeze the juice of one lemon into the broccoli.

Add the milk, cream cheese, sour cream, and minced garlic. 

Warm on medium.  Drain and mash the potato's slightly before adding to the soup.

Set aside about 4 pieces for bacon for the top of the soup.

Chop the bacon into small crumbled pieces before adding to soup.

Add the shredded cheddar and Romano cheese.

The soup will seem really thin.

Add 6 tbsp of corn starch to a small bowl and mix with about 1 cup of cold water.

Mix till all corn starch is dissolve in bowl before pouring into soup mixture. 

Soup will begin to thicken. 

Cook for another 10 or 15 minutes.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with crumbled bacon and cheddar cheese on top if you like.

Kate Anne

Recipe adapted from Live A Little Wilder.

Cooking Bacon in the Oven

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with foil for easy clean up.

Place a single layer of bacon on the cookies sheet.

Place in over for 10 minutes.  Then turn each piece of bacon and place back in the over for an additional 10 minutes. 

All your bacon will be cooked at the same time without the mess.

Kate Anne

Stuffed TWICE Baked Potatoes

My husbands all time favorite dish would have to be anything that involves the use of potatoes.  Baked potatoes, fried potatoes, mashed potatoes and everything in between.  Potatoes are okay, but far from my favorite food to prepare, so a few weekends ago I started brainstorming possible creations that would be more enticing for me.  What makes a baked potato even better?  A baked potato with cream cheese and blue cheese and shredded sharp cheddar cheese.  Any food that ends or beginning with the word "CHEESE" is bound to be amazing.

You'll need:

6 potatoes (I use red for everything)

4 oz Neufchatel cheese (cream cheese would work fine)

3 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup of milk (less or more depending on the size of your potatoes)

1/2 cup salsa (optional)

2 Romano tomatoes

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

Next time I make these I'll use crumbled bacon.  That would make these rockin!!

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Wash and poke holes with a fork or knife all over the potatoes.  Do not cut potatoes until after they have cooked in the microwave.

Place potatoes on a plate and microwave on high for about 12 minutes, or until soft all the way through.

Next carefully remove the potatoes from the plate and let cool a few minutes.  They are too hot right out of the microwave, but you don't want them to cool so much that they don't melt the butter and cheese.

After they have cooled a bit cut them in half and scoop out the middles into a large bowl.  Be careful not to scoop too much and break the skin on the bottom.  With an electric mixer, mix the butter, neufchatel cheese, garlic salt, pepper and salsa together in the large bowl with the potatoes.  After completely mixed, spoon the mixture back in to the skins and place in oven for about 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, take out of the oven and place the blue cheese, diced tomatoes and shredded cheese on top of the potatoes and place back in the oven for about 7 minutes longer or just until the cheddar cheese is melted.

Don't these look wonderful?!

Kate Anne

Indoor Terrarium with Succulents

Many months ago, while flipping though my Better Homes & Gardens magazine I noticed an article entitled, Tips For Your At Home Terrarium (or something along those lines).  I was intrigued.  I love plants, and although I'm not great at keeping them alive, the few months they last me works with my schedule.  I do have a teeny, tiny problem though, I HAVE CATS.  Cats eat everything, well at least mine do.  No they don't clean up my floor, like the dog.  They enjoy nibbling on my plants which either makes them vomit in various areas around the house, OR (it hasn't occurred yet) but kill them.  I'm not a fan of either option, so I was excited to see that with a terrarium you put a lid on it.

The article was from the December issue of Better Homes & Gardens so I immediately ran into a problem...there are no succulents for sale in the winter.  I learned of this negativity after I had already scoured several Goodwill stores for the perfect home for my succulents.  So.....many months later......my succulents are finally in the stores and up for sale.  I was thrilled when Shawn texted me last week from Lowe's telling me of this great news.

I started with 3 little succulents.  I got the bigger rocks at the Dollar Store.  Noah loaned me his gardening tools.  The smaller pebbles are from Wal-Mart in the crafting section.  A bag of dirt.  And the terrarium home I bought at Goodwill and I'm pretty sure it's an old cookie jar.



Add some dirt to the bottom of your jar and place your succulents on top of the dirt.  When you take your plants out of the containers that they come from in the store in, make sure to gently break up the root system before you place them in the new dirt.  Cover the roots with more dirt.  Now add you larger rocks and them sprinkle the smaller pebbles to fill in the gaps.  Do this slowly so as not to get the little pebbles in the succulents.  Noah sprinkled the little pebbles for me and got a few in there.  I think I'll be okay though.

There she is...isn't she a beaut.  I have her sitting on my kitchen counter.  I water about once a week.  I'll definitely be making some more of these babies.  I always have my eye out for neat little homes I could use.  I'll share some more if I find some great ones.

Kate Anne