Soup-y Tuesday

It's that time of the week again. . . . which means soup for dinner in our house! 

I'm trying to keep this fairly consistent so hopefully there will be many more soup-y Tuesdays to come.  :)


On today's menu I have a new recipe I tried - Stuffed Pepper Soup which was posted on the Women Living Well blog.  The pic looked so yummy and I loved when my mom made stuffed peppers growing up so this was a MUST try recipe.  Glad I tried this recipe because it was awesome!  Tasted just like the inside stuffing of the stuffed peppers I remember.  I added a bit of shredded cheddar to my bowl and that was perfection.

*My only caveat with this dish had nothing to do with the actual recipe, but with my crock pot.  It didn't cook the rice evenly so I had some mushy rice on the bottom, nicely cooked rice in the middle and some semi-crunchy rice on top.  *sigh*  No worries, though!  I just transferred the soup from my crock to the stove top in my large soup pot and finished it off there after adding some water and more garlic salt & pepper.  Saved the dish! 

And to top it off, the batch I made over the weekend was a big enough batch so I don't have to cook today. . . . . 2 bonuses in one day!!   *smile*

Resurrection Rolls

I found this great recipe from the 'Habits for a Happy Home' blog - which is not only yummy, but also can help give the kids a visual understanding of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. . . . . . hence the recipe name of Resurrection rolls!   Here's how we did it. . . .


Ingredients

• 1 can of crescent roll dough (or more depending on how many you want to do)
• melted butter
• cinnamon/sugar mix (about 2-3 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon)
• marshmallows

Here's what the ingredients represent:

• marshmallows = Jesus
• crescent dough = cloth to wrap Jesus
• melted butter = oil for embalming
• cinn/sugar = spices for anointing

Though the recipe mentions reading the passage in Matthew 27:57-61, our boys were very anxious to get baking . . . . as illustrated by Wookeese eating 2 of our marshmallow Jesus before we even got started!  So as we worked, I explained to the boys how after Jesus died, Joseph of Aramathea took his body and prepared it for burial (Luke 23:50-53).  So we took our marshmallows (Jesus), dipped them in the melted butter (oil), coated with the cinnamon sugar (anointing spices) and then wrapped a piece of crescent triangle (cloth) around the marshmallows.

We made sure to cover all openings so 'Jesus' was nice & secure inside. Then place the filled dough on the pan to load in the oven. *Pretend the oven is the tomb and that you are about to bury Jesus.

Bake the rolls according to the package directions - 375 degrees for approx. 11-13 minutes. 

Once they're done, tell the children that it's been 3 days and have them help you check the tomb to see if Jesus is still there (caution w/Littles by the oven of course!).  When you cut open one of the rolls, the kids will see that Jesus (which was the marshmallow) is gone! 

 
If the kids have not already tried to devour the rolls at this point, like mine did!, now would be a great time to read Matthew 28:5-8 explaining the resurrection of Jesus!! 

This story/activity is actually meant to be done around Easter, however we were excited to try it!  Besides, who wouldn't want to hear a great bible story coupled with warm, buttery, cinnamon/sugary, gooey crescent goodness?!   *wink*

Snacks for the Brood & Co.

I must confess - my blog is still in the infant stage but after seeing on my blog roll a posting from Raising Olives about linking with snacks for a crowd - I wanted to do a double post today so I could participate! 

Usually, our crowd that needs snacks are my own brood - YES, they can eat me out of house and home once the Bigs (Spillz/C-funk) get home from school and with Wookeese going through a growth spurt I believe! - or their friends. 

This week I tried to be prepared!  Aside from the usual cut/whole fruit, veggies, cheese chunks, I decided to do some batches of muffins.  Makes a great after-school snack, take to school snack, or a curb-pregnancy-craving snack!  No matter the flavor - WE LOVE MUFFINS!

I did two kinds this week.  A basic chocolate chip muffin and a cranberry orange muffin (recipe below).  I did a dozen of each and many have already disappeared! . . . . may be back to the kitchen by the end of the week!  :) 

Cranberry Orange Muffins:
2 C Flour
3/4 C Sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C dried cranberries
1 egg
3/4 C orange juice
1/4 C vegetable oil
1 tsp grated orange rind*
      *I didn't have oranges on hand to use the rind and they still came out orange-y with just the OJ

• Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Mix wet ingredients and then incorporate into the dry ingredients - making sure not to over mix; just til moistened.
• Spoon into 12 muffin cups in muffin pan (or greased muffin pan - like I had to do since I ran out of muffin paper liners!).  Sprinkle tops with extra sugar and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until slightly golden on top.
• Enjoy!!

Also, made a batch of cranberry & chocolate chip granola bars cut into bite size pieces to also keep hungry tummies at bay until dinner time!   I love this recipe because it can be tweaked with any type of goodies you have on hand and/or have a tasting for.  :)

*Sigh* . . . . now to see how long these snacks last in the house. . . . .

**Linked to Raising Olives blog:

Soup-y Tuesday

I'm not always good at routines, but when implemented and utilized they tend to work wonders for our family.  Wow, imagine that!!  ;)  So it's definitely an area I need to really focus on and try to maintain.  One area is meal planning.  I've had way too many nights of throwing together something last minute, thus feeling anxious and stressed afterwards due to my poor planning -  *confession of my imperfection*

I've quickly come to the realization that as our family expands, so should my knowledge & ability on how to get good stuff on the table in a timely manner. . . . . otherwise the natives get VERY restless, LOL! 

Which brings me to Soup-y Tuesday! 

If I can make some nightly meals revolve around a theme it's much, much easier to plan . . . which means I can better streamline my shopping.  So, Tuesdays will most likely be designated at soup night - aka Soup-y Tuesday.  Here's what I'm thinking for how an ideal week might look for our brood. . . .

Sunday - Group Night - meet w/our church group so dinner is covered but still need to feed the kids
Monday - no theme
Tuesday - soup, bread & maybe salad
Wednesday - Leftovers
Thurs - no theme
Friday - Pizza night
Saturday - no theme
      
'No theme' nights can easily be converted to an ethnic night, casserole night, sandwich/chip night, grill night, another leftover night, etc.  Just depends on what baby and I are craving and what we have on hand.  This helps me remain flexible as well as keep the rest of my brood on their toes as to what Mo-Mo is going to cook!! . . . . sheesh, I can't have them knowing ALL my secrets, can I?!?!  *wink*

Tonight on the menu will be. . . . . Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings w/salad & bread!

What are you having tonight???  :)

**Linked up to:  I'm An Organization Junkie blog. . . . yesterday's topic was 'Menu Plan Monday'