Tamale Soup Recipe

Since I let Lenore post my recipe on her blog, I figured it was time I share it with my own blog readers. This is the soup I'm whipping up for tonight's dinner. It is so good! And I learned that it's pretty darn tasty even when you forget the ground beef. Hope your family enjoys it as much as we do!

Tamale Soup

What You Need:
1 lb lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 (16 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (16 ounce) can pinto beans with jalapenos
1 (16 ounce) can pinto beans
1 (16 ounce) can creamed corn
2 cups of water
2 to 3 beef bouillon cubes
1 dozen tamales, remove husk and slice

What You Do:

Brown beef, onion, and garlic and drain fat.

Do not drain any of the canned ingredients.

Add all the remaining ingredients, other than the tamales and simmer for about an hour. I sometimes turn this one extremely low and simmer for several hours, which makes for a thicker soup that we all really like.

Twenty minutes before serving, add the tamales.

This is a little on the spicy side, so two cans of plain pinto beans can be used instead of one plain and one with jalapenos.

This is great as is or topped with sour cream & cheese!

The Simple Woman's Daybook ~ January 26

FOR TODAY...
Outside my window... I see a foggy, drizzly, grey day.
I am thinking... The warmer weather seems to be gone for awhile.
I am thankful for... Our cozy house.
From the kitchen... Beef stew and rolls are on the menu today.
I am wearing... Navy blue pants and a floral printed thermal shirt.
I am creating... I haven't decided on a creative project this week.
I am reading... Can't Wait To Get To Heaven by Fannie Flagg
I am hoping... That the van will be out of the shop by the end of the week.
I am hearing... Dixie & Shelby snoring.
Around the house... Laundry and straightening up after the chaos of the weekend. This seems to be the norm for Mondays.
One of my favorite things... Lenore's decadent dark chocolate raspberry pudding whip.
A few plans for the rest of the week: Get caught up on laundry, once and for all. Make up a months worth of menus with shopping list. Scrub out the chest freezer and get it ready to go again. Figure out where to buy a side of beef from.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...
Mommy & Daughter

Click here for more great daybook entries!

The Simple Woman's Daybook ~ January 19

FOR TODAY...
Outside my window...a sunny morning with birds singing sweetly.
I am thinking...I love Monday, I get some quiet time.
I am thankful for...My wonderful DH and Nore for forcing me into the sunshine, whether I like it or not.
From the kitchen...Irish breakfast tea and cinnamon toast
I am wearing...Grey sweat pants, grey Eeyore sweat shirt, pink fuzzy socks.
I am creating...An idea book of ideas I like for the house redo.
I am reading...Sundays At Tiffany's by James Patterson.
I am hoping...To be able too hang dry some laundry today.
I am hearing..."Beneath The Cross" by Keith & Kristyn Getty.
Around the house...tidying, reorganizing, laundry, Ebay work
One of my favorite things...Fluff
A few plans for the rest of the week: I plan on working out at least three times this week.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...

This is the print we are thinking about for our living room.

I found The Simple Woman's Daybook at The Simple Woman blog and thought it was something I'd love doing. Just click here and go read the other lovely ladies' daybooks.

Recipes of Days Gone By ~ Apple Crisp Recipe

What You Need:

1 1/2 lbs. (about 5 medium) apples, cored & sliced, unpeeled

2 T. fresh lemon juice

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

2/3 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal

1/3 cup margarine

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a 2 quart casserole dish with vegetable oil spray - I'd use my nonstick pan coating instead. Arrange apples in prepared dish. Sprinkle with lemon juice and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, and oatmeal. Cut in margarine with a fork or pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Spread over fruit. Bake 40 minutes or until apples are tender. Makes 8 servings.

Use this recipe with a variety of fruits for a healthy treat.

Recipes of Days Gone By

For my birthday, my wonderful mother-in-law bought me two old recipe boxes at a local antique store. Much to my delight, they were both crammed full of yummy sounding recipes. I will be sharing these on this blog from time to time. Please join me while I dig through these Recipes of Days Gone By.

Cafe Baked Spaghetti Recipe

Life here has been crazy this week. So much chaos going on in our neighborhood and with our friends. I feel so helpless! So, because I'm weird this way, I am trying to feed everyone. It's what I do in times of crisis. I don't know that it helps anything at all, but I try. I can't make everything all better, but I can keep your belly full. So, due too these really stressful days I am craving comfort food. One of my favorite dishes that I consider comfort food is Cafe Baked Spaghetti. Like many of my recipes, I got this one in an email and it was an instant hit with us! It is so tasty and topped with gobs of melted cheese - yum! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

What You Need:
8 oz. package uncooked spaghetti, cooked
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped - optional
1 heaping T. minced garlic
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1 cup shredded cheese - we like the Mexican blend

What You Do:
Combine hot drained spaghetti, milk and egg, mix well.

Pour pasta mixture into a greased 9X13 casserole dish.

Brown ground beef with chopped onion and pepper, and garlic - drain of excess grease.

Return drained meat back into the skillet and add seasonings, cooking for an additional two or three minutes.

Stir in tomato sauce and cook for two more minutes.

Spread meat mixture over pasta mixture.

Cover the top with cheese.

Bake at 425°F for 10 minutes or until cheese melts and is bubbly.

Remove from oven and let stand for about 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

I Have a Confession

Dan and I are huge DDD fans. That's Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives on the Food Network. WE watch every chance we get; it's one of the few shows we agree on. Anyway, this morning we were piled up in bed, watching past episodes, and drooling like we normally do when watching this show. They did a feature on a restaurant that made the tastiest looking breakfast dishes I've seen in ages. I really must eat there and as soon as possible! They made this dish called a jumbot and it looks heavenly! Check it out!


I was thrilled when I found the recipe for this amazing looking breakfast! I am going to be making this dish really soon!

What You Need:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
8 ounces hot sausage link
2 tablespoons water
1 (4-ounce) stick margarine
6 cups peeled, chopped, boiled potatoes
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1 1/2 cups chopped green peppers
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup jalapeno peppers
9 eggs, beaten
10 ounces shredded Cheddar

What You Do:
Heat the oil in a skillet and brown the sausage over medium heat. Add about 2 tablespoons of water to the skillet, cover with a lid, and cook for about 20 minutes, turning once during the process. Roughly chop the sausage links.

Preheat a large skillet or flat grill over medium-high heat and melt margarine. Add the cooked potatoes and saute until golden brown. Add onions, green peppers, tomatoes, browned sausage, and jalapeno peppers. Saute together for 5 minutes. Mix in beaten eggs until the eggs are cooked.

Divide jumbot in half in the skillet or grill, and add 8 ounces of the cheddar cheese to 1 half of jumbot. Take the other half of jumbot and lay it on top of cheese. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Recipe List

You might notice that I'm trying to organize all the recipes I've posted here, as well as at Ramblings.When I'm done, hopefully I'll have one nice alphabetized list over here. This should make things easier for all of us.

Our Favorite Pot Roast Recipe

Since I scored such a great deal on dry onion soup mix today, I decided to share the recipe I use it the most in...pot roast. I originally found similar recipes online, but did a lot of tweaking to combine them into the one my family now calls the best!

What You Need:
3-4 lbs roast - we really like Boston butt pork roast

1 (10 1/2 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup

1 package dry ranch dressing mix OR 1 package dry onion soup mix

1 12 ounce can of Pepsi

1 large onion, chopped

3 or 4 large potatoes, peeled and quartered

What You Do:
Place roast in the bottom of a well oiled crock pot.

Place potatoes and onions on top of roast.

Now pour cream of mushroom soup over veggies & roast.

Sprinkle whole envelope of ranch or onion soup mix on top. Sometimes I use both ranch & onion soup mix for a little something different.

Then pour Pepsi over all of it. Sometimes I use two cans of Pepsi. I like for it to come almost half way up the roast. It makes this have a really tasty gravy. You might want to experiment with the liquid amounts to find what you like best and what is right for your crock pot.

Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, then dig in!

Fast & Frugal BBQ Sauce Recipe

I discovered this morning that I didn't have enough BBQ to properly sauce all the ribs I was making for dinner. Since I've set a pretty strict budget for groceries this year, running out to get some was out of the question. After reading dozens of recipes online, I found one that I had most of the ingredients for, so I tweaked it a bit and voila yummy, fast, cheap BBQ sauce. I really enjoyed this so much more than the store bought stuff.

What You Need:

1 medium white onion, chopped very fine

1 T. minced garlic

3 T. vegetable oil

1 2/3 cups ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons chili powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

What You Do:
Put oil in a sauce pan on medium heat and cook onion and garlic until they are soft.

Then add the vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, and cayenne pepper.

Let this simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often.

Now, does anyone have a good recipe for homemade mac & cheese that you make on the stove top? My old stand by recipe is MIA and the stuff I tried tonight was a disaster!

New Year, New Nessa?

Well, here we are. 2009, can you believe it? I can't. Time sure does fly. Anyway, one of my many New Year's resolutions is to be a better housekeeper. I know that probably sounds silly to a lot of you, but I bet some of you know exactly what I mean.

I'm a Messie, I read that in a book somewhere so I know the actual term. I was raised by an extreme Messie with huge hoarding issues. It sure made my childhood interesting and left me with no housekeeping skills whatsoever. I'm serious about that. When I got married I couldn't do laundry, iron, cook, nothing. Remind me to tell you the can opener story one day. I had grown up in filth and worse yet I had no clue that was abnormal. Sad but true.

So, it turns out that I married a clean freak. Funny isn't it? We spent at least the first five years of our marriage arguing about the house. He loved things tidy; I was clueless as to how to run a house. Those were very interesting years.

Now we are almost 13 years into this marriage and I've realized that a clean house is much less stressful than a dirty one. In fact, I really dig order, dusted furniture, and that yummy Pine Sol clean smell. Unfortunately, our house is not as clean as I want it to be. Now don't freak out, it's not filthy, nasty, or gross. It's just really well lived in, untidy, and somewhat chaotic. No one in the house seems to be able to pick up after themselves, so I am one frazzled mama.

So, I've been trying to work on getting everyone to pitch in and at least take care of their own stuff. I mean, I'm the Mom not the servant girl. I think the kids are getting it, maybe. As for me, I need routines and schedules and less clutter...I need FLYlady!

So, starting on Monday, I am going to start doing the FLYlady baby steps. Maybe if I can make some positive changes in me the rest of the family will get inspired and join in. Wish me luck!

What about you? Do you struggle with your house or are you a June Cleaver type? What routines work for you? I'd love to hear what does and doesn't wok for y'all.