Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is so easy, and very yummy. You can easily adapt it to what your family likes, but here's my favorite mix:

2-3 cans petite diced tomatoes - with the juice
2 cans chicken broth
about 1 cup salsa
about 3/4 cup white sweet corn
about 3/4 cup black beans
about 1-1 1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken (cook it before adding it to the crockpot)
garlic powder, dried cilantro, and minced onion - all to tast (I just sprinkle it in until I think it is enough, probably about 2 teaspoons of the cilantro and garlic powder, and maybe a tablespoon or 2 of the dried onion).

Cook it on low 6-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. Top it with cheese, crushed tortilla chips, sour cream, green onion, guacamole, or whatever else you want!

This is a great recipe when you are feeding lots of people because you can easily double or triple it. Enjoy!

Crock-Pot Stew

I love this recipe! But since I've been in Minnesota I have had bad luck buying stew meat. I can always find it but it's not the same as what I used to buy in Utah, it's way more fatty and hard to chew. So if it doesn't look like nice big chunks of cut up beef I would either find something that is just chunks of cut up beef instead of the "stew meat" or get a round roast and cut it up yourself. It really makes a difference.

Crock-Pot Stew

1lb stew meat
4 potatoes – cut into bite size chunks
4 carrots - bite size chunks
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can tomato soup
1 pkg dry Lipton onion soup mix

Mix together and slow cook in crock pot until meat and potatoes are tender. About 6-8 hours on Low.

Exercise

Something I have been struggling with lately is finding time to exercise. And especially after having a 3rd baby I really want to start doing better. But I keep trying different things and nothing seems to stick. So I was wondering what you guys do to keep in shape? And how do you find time to do it? I know you must have some secrets to it since you ALL look so great!

Girls Night

Hey girls! I'm just wondering if you would like to have a girls night (or day, or whatever)?? (If you out-of-staters would like to fly in, the more the merrier!) I have a bunch of karaoke revolution games for the playstation 2, and I think it would be fun to get together. We could do it at my apartment sometime this week, or after I get back from Wisconsin (sometime in the week before Christmas), or we could even do it in January. Don't worry, it doesn't require opera singers, just a bunch of girls that like to have fun! Let me know what you think!

Perfect Mashed Potatoes

These are the best Mashed Potatoes I have ever had. It is Martha Stewarts recipe, it it easy and yummy. I'm taking these to Thanksgiving tomorrow. These are in my own words. If you do a search at marthastewart.com type in perfect mashed pototoes.

2 lbs russet potatoes
1 Tbsp. salt plus more for taste
1 cup milk or cream
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Rinse, peel and cut potatoes. Place potatoes in pot and cover with cold water one inch above potatoes, stir in salt. Simmer until soft, or until a fork goes in and out smoothly. Drain potatoes. In small saucepan heat milk until low boil. Place potatoes in Bosch (that is what i have) or other mixer. Mix until smooth, then add the butter, add hot milk in slow stream while mixing. Add pepper and nutmeg.

Homemade ginger ale and pumpkin butter

I know, I know...I have not posted my welcome profile posting yet....but I will soon, I promise!

I made two recipes this evening for our gathering tomorrow and they are so tasty that I had to quickly share them!

HOMEMADE GINGER ALE

2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 lb fresh ginger, cut into 1/4 inch thick "coins"
1 cinnamon stick
pinch of cayenne pepper
sparkling water

1. Bring sugar, ginger, cinnamon stick, and 2 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan. SImmer 5 minutes, then remove from heat, and stir in cayenne pepper. Let cool.
2. Strain liquid into small pitcher, and discard ginger and cinnamon (I kept the ginger, cut off the outside peel and made it into candied ginger instead of throwing it away). COver, and refrigerate until ready to use.
3. To serve, ladle 1/4 cup ginger syrup into tumbler filled with ice. Top with 3/4 cup sparkling water (6oz), and stir.

PUMPKIN BUTTER

2 1/2 cups pumpkin, cooked and mashed (or 1 can)
1/2 tsp ground cloves
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 cup Apple cider, orange juice, or apple juice concentrate
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens. Cover and chill. Makes 3 cups.

Enjoy!

~Heathere

THANK YOU CHALECE

Hey everyone, I just wanted to give a little shout out to Chalece! I made her Marvelous Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes today for our dinner tomorrow. I had to double the recipe so I made 10 pounds of mashed potatoes! My sink was FULL of peels, it was crazy. But I had heard this great idea to use your bosch to mash them, so I tried it and it worked beautifully, it did all 10 pounds like it was nothing, and then I added all the stuff from Chalece's recipe and they are SO good. I was licking the beaters and laughing at myself.
I took a picture of my bosch FULL of potatoes, if you want to see it, visit my blog: http://themortensenfamily.blogspot.com/

THANKS CHALECE!

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes

We are not big pie fans and the only time I actually made a pie, the process was so long that it was definitely not worth it. So I can't wait to try out some of these non-pie recipes that have been posted!! And here is another one that I found on foodnetwork. I thought it looked pretty good and not too hard so I hope it tastes good too!

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes

Cake:

1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix

1 egg

8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin

3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla

8 tablespoons butter, melted

1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.
To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey.
Serve with fresh whipped cream.

**Also, I'm changing the labels a little so that the recipes are easier to find. So now we'll still be using the label "recipes", and then either "main dish", "side dish" or "dessert". Then hopefully you won't have to sift through all of them when you're trying to find something.

Pumpkin Crunch

This recipe is the best!!! This is a family favorite!!!!

1-29oz can pumpkin
3 eggs
1-12 oz. can evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice -OR- (1/2 tsp cloves, 1 tsp nutmeg, 3 cinnamon)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick melted butter
1 yellow cake mix

Mix all ingredients exept buter and cake. Pour into well greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle cake mix on top and then drizzle butter over that. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

I really like pumpkin cookies and pumpkin bread. So, I think these cookies are a great, kid-friendly Thanksgiving dessert. Especially with vanilla ice cream! These are also nice because they don't use eggs (I often go to make cookies and don't have enough eggs)

INGREDIENTS
2 cups white sugar
1 cup shortening
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Cream the sugar, shortening, pumpkin and vanilla together. Mix until light and well combined.
3. Mix the flour, baking soda and ground cinnamon. Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture. Mix until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Drop by teaspoons onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 12 to 15 minutes or until set. Let cookies cool on a rack.

Can you see me now??

Yay the background is fixed! It's a little different than the original but hopefully now everyone will be able to see it! Let me know if you can see it this time (and still like it)! I hope everyone can!
This girl has a lot of really cute backgrounds that are super easy to install (and they don't mess up your sidebar). And they should all be working right this week (some are sized a little wrong so she's been fixing them).

Marvelous Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes

I have gotten so many compliments on these potatoes. They are my personal dish to take to Thanksgiving dinner!

You can make them ahead of time so that on Thanksgiving all you have to worry about is putting them in the oven. Also, as this was a big hit, I have doubled the recipe and they've still been eaten!

5 lbs potatoes, cooked and mashed
1 (8 0z) pkg cream cheese
1 c sour cream
1/2 c milk
2 t garlic salt (you may want to add more, depending on how much you like the garlic taste!)
Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients. Mix well and place in a large, greased casserole dish. If making ahead, refrigerate. Otherwise, cover and bake 325 degrees for 45 minutes (If refrigerated, let stand 30 minutes at room temp. then bake as directed.)
Makes 6-8 servings.

Fun Turkeys

MIke and I are the Nursery Leaders in our ward. We are in charge of the Sr. Nursery too. These are the snacks I made for Nursery tomorrow. The kids will love them. Its fudge striped shortbread cookies, mini reeses pieces, candy corn, graham crackers and chocolate frosting to glue it together. You may think it looks like a lot and it is, there are 15 turkeys, we actually have 18 names on the roll (for sr. nursery alone). We generally have between 10 and 12 show up, but just in case there's more I'm prepared.

Pink Fluff

I've never actually had this as a Thanksgiving side dish, but it is yummy and I'm taking it this year to Thanksgiving.

1 small pkg. strawberry jello
1 small pkg. cook and serve vanilla pudding
1 small pkg. cook and serve tapioca pudding
fresh cut strawberries (i'm using frozen)
12-16 oz. cool whip

Mix jello and puddings with 3 cups boiling water. Let cool until firm. Beat jello mixture, add cool whip and strawberries.

Background

If you're wondering why in the world I changed the blog colors from pinks and blues to boring browns and blues that probably means you can't see the really cute background I put on a couple days ago. This is because the creator of the background is redoing some things and so she took some of her backgrounds down. For some reason you can still see this one on some computers... I can see it on Brian's laptop but not on my home computer... I have no idea why. So if you don't mind, let me know if you can see the background or if it's just white.
And it should be fixed soon.
Thanks.