Cheeseburger Soup

Though I've eaten it many times, I don't often cook cheeseburger soup. Usually Yaya makes it as it's one of my brother's favorite meals. The last time she made it Aaron came to dinner with me and he liked the soup so much that I think he would have licked the bowl if we hadn't been at Yaya's house.

Sausage and Cheese Tortellini Soup

It's cold, y'all! At 11:30 at night it's 26 degrees outside. And I live in Tennessee! I don't mind the cold, I actually prefer it to the heat, especially the muggy, humid heat we get here. Bailey doesn't seem to mind the cold either but we have two cars with the heat somewhat on the fritz. Aaron's truck has no heat at all and mine only has defrost or it blows at your feet. I guess that's better than last year when the defrost didn't work but it makes it hard to take Bailey anywhere when she can't wear a coat in the car and it takes forever (and a ton of gas) for the car to warm up.

Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana (copycat)

When Aaron and I first met we ate out often. We frequented Applebee's, Chili's, Ruby Tuesday's, and one of my favorites, Olive Garden. Aaron's order was predictable. Almost everywhere we went he ordered chicken tenders and fries, but at Olive Garden that was not an option. He doesn't like salad (or anything in it except for croutons) and he's not a fan of minestrone or pasta y fagioli, but one night he tried their other soup (I know they have chicken gnocchi soup now but at the time they did not), the Zuppa Toscana.

2:00 AM Chili

I have been craving chili for weeks now. Aaron keeps saying he's not in the mood for it but I just couldn't wait any longer. I made the decision during nap time today that it was time for chili and he could just deal with it.

Chicken and Tortellini Soup

Ah, comfort food.

Comfort food is different for everyone. It's usually the foods that you remember from childhood. Meals that your mother made for you, especially the kinds of meals that didn't make it into regular rotation on the menu.

Crock Pot Ham and White Beans

So this was the scene outside outside my house yesterday afternoon. It may not look like much snow, but for East Tennessee it is.

See, the problem with snow in Tennessee is that it frequently comes on quickly and unexpectedly so we have little time to prepare for it. When it started snowing Tuesday morning Aaron was already at work. The weather report showed snow flurries and maybe a dusting in our area and our roads were not treated. I woke up very late (almost 11:00) and by that time the roads in my neighborhood were slick and completely covered with snow.

Crock Pot Potato, Barley, and Canadian Bacon Soup

Two recipes from Iowa Girl Eats in two week? Yes, I think that is a very good idea! Oh man, she just can't go wrong. Every recipe on her blog is amazing, and I've tried quite a few of them.

I actually came across this soup when looking for healthier new recipes for January. I kept looking through Pinterest, but all I had pinned were high fat recipes. Most of them were for fried foods or were smothered in cheese or cream sauces. Don't get me wrong, those sound like fabulous meals, just not exactly what I'm looking for right now.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Dinner tonight was A-MA-ZING!!

I really need to stop cooking such incredible food because I can't keep myself from overeating.  I probably had three bowls of this soup.

Leftover Roast Beef Stew

Sooooo I'm an idiot.  I admit it.  I willingly admit that I'm a nerd and a dork, but tonight I am a total idiot.  Dinner tonight was supposed to be made in the crock pot.  I put all of the ingredients in the crock pot just like I was supposed to.  I turned the crock pot on low and went to sit down in the living room.

Crock Pot Chicken and Barley Vegetable Stew

I think I may have found a new second favorite blog!

My favorite blog is still Annie's Eats, possibly because she posts tons of really original cupcake recipes (most recently Samoa Cupcakes which I can't wait to try) and because I have yet to try a bread recipe from her blog that did not turn out amazing.

Lasagna soup

It's new recipe night at our house!  I scoured my Pinterest "Dinners" board to find a recipe that Aaron would eat and finally settled on this one:  Lasagna soup!  It's an adaptation of a Paula Deen recipe, and who could possible turn down anything by Paula Deen?

Chicken and dumplings

When it comes to chicken and dumplings, I'm not a fan of homemade dumplings.  I don't particularly like fluffy dumplings.  They always just seem soggy to me.  Mom and Nana have always made dumplings with canned biscuits as long as I can remember.  Those are the dumplings I prefer so those are the dumplings I make.  Of all the foods that I make homemade because they are just better/fresher/healthier... I will never add dumplings to that list.

Chili

I have got to get back on a normal sleep schedule.  We were at Yaya's house last night for dinner and somehow we didn't end up coming home until almost 11:00!  Then of course I couldn't sleep and was still awake when Aaron got up to get ready for work.

Beef stew

One of Aaron's favorite meals that his mom makes is beef stew.  A few years ago my mom made this family cook book and when Aaron said he wanted me to make him beef stew I thought No problem, I'll find the recipe in the mom's cook book.  I was wrong.  It turns out my mom never made us any beef stew so we didn't have a recipe for it.

Cheesy taco soup

Bailey got hold of my iPod this morning while I was snuggling with her and took a few pictures of herself on accident.  There is nothing cuter than watching her realize that her face is on the screen she's looking at!

I love recipes that say "cheesy" in them!  I love cheese!  I buy it in massive quantities every month because I add it to anything I can.  I put it on spaghetti and chili and eggs.  I've even been known to add shredded cheese to the top of macaroni and cheese!  Bailey loves it too.  She can't get enough little cheese cubes at lunch time and you should see her devour a grilled cheese.

Chicken Taco Chili

I just want to start out with this:  I cannot wait for my cat to get better!

I love her so much, but she fights tooth and claw against her medicines and her food.  I'm actually pretty good at getting cats to take pills.  I used to take care of my former boss's cats when she would go out of town and they were all very old and on lots of different medications.  I could get them to keep their pills down no problems, but Rhada is a different story.  Every single pill is a fight and she has to have 7 each day.  My patience is wearing thin.