Cheddar Soup

All of my family loves this soup and since it is Fall at my house, soup season is on.  Hope you enjoy this as much as we do.  By the way, this is really easy to make a really big batch or as small as you want.

INGREDIENTS;

• 4 medium size potatoes, peeled and chopped in bite size pieces
• 2 c. frozen corn
• 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
• 1 T. salt
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/2 c. flour
• 2-3 c. milk
• 2 c. sharp cheddar cheese
• salt/pepper to taste

Direction:

* In medium stockpot, put potatoes, corn, carrots and salt.  Add enough water to barely cover mixture.  Bring to boil and boil until potatoes are soft.

* Meanwhile, in small saucepan melt butter over medium heat.  Add flour and mix.  Add milk, whisk until smooth.  The amount of milk depends on how much soup you want to make.  Keep stirring every minute and do not let it burn.  When mixture starts to thicken, add cheese and whisk until cheese melts.  Keep over heat until it reaches a thick, pudding like consistency.  Remove from heat.

*  When potatoes are done, pour into large bowl (do not dump off the water).  Add cheese mixture and stir together.  Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.  Goes great with cornbread.

Chocolate Banana Cream Trifle

Sometimes we like to get fancy at the Farm Girl.  This was so easy to make and very yummy.  If you don't have a trifle bowl, it would work great in a regular bowl, you just wouldn't be able to see all the layers. I got this recipe from Pampered Chef, but have altered it to my liking.

18 whole graham crackers, divided
1 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 container (16 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 pkg, 3.4 oz, banana cream or vanilla instant pudding
1 c. milk
1 lemon
6 bananas

* Coarsely crumble grahoam crackers into a medium bowl.
* For ganache, place chocolate morsels and 2 1/2 cups of the whipped topping into small bowl. Microwave on HIGH 45-60 seconds or until melted and smooth, stirring every 15 seconds. Combine pudding mix and milk in another bowl and whisk until mixture begins to thicken. Fold in remaining whipped topping, set aside.
* Peel bananas and slice into bite-size pieces in medium bowl.  Cut lemon in half and squeeze juice onto bananas and toss gently. Set aside abt. 12-15 slices to garnish the top.
* To assemble trifle, place half of the crumbled graham crackers over bottom of Trifle Bowl. Place half of the bananas over the crackers and top with one-third of the ganache (see tip at bottom). Spread half of the banana pudding filling over ganache, spreading to edges. Repeat layers one time. Decorate with remaining ganache. Arrange reserved banana slices around edges of trifle.
*Tip: To make the ganache easier to spread, spoon into resealable plastic bag. Cut the corner of the bag to allow ganache to flow through. Pipe around the inside edges of the bowl, then drizzle remaining ganache over the bananas.

No Bake Cookies

This is a recipe from childhood and still one of my brothers favorites.  At our house though they go by a much more colorful name: "Gorilla Poops".  There is a story for the name, but that's for another blog and another day.

No Bake Cookies

(click here for printable version)

1/4 c. butter

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

3 T. cocoa

1/4 c. milk

1/2 c. peanut butter

2 c. quick oatmeal 

1.  In saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter.  Add brown sugar, sugar, cocoa and milk.  Stir until mixed.  Let come to a boil and boil for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Add peanut butter and stir until blended.  Add oatmeal and mix well.  Drop by tablespoon or medium scoop onto wax paper.  Let cool and serve.  Enjoy!

Poppyseed Chicken

I admit, I need a new camera, but until then this will have to do.  My husband and I really enjoyed this, my kids weren't too impressed.  We served it with rice and it made great leftovers.

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

1 can cream of chicken

1 c. sour cream

2 T. butter

1 package (roll) Ritz crackers, crushed

2 T. poppy seeds

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix chicken, crm of chicken and sour cream in 8x8 pan.  Melt butter and combine with crackers and poppy seeds.  Spread over the top.  Bake for 30 minutes and serve with rice.

Hillbillies

I know these are called many things (German Pancakes, Puff Pancakes, etc.), but at our house we call them Hillbillies and my kids love it for breakfast.  They love how they puff up so much and are so excited to see them when they come out.

1 cube butter

7 eggs

1 c. flour

1 c. milk

* Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  While oven is heating, put butter in 9x13 pan and let melt in oven (don't let it burn, watch closely).  While butter is melting, in medium bowl whip eggs.  Add flour and mix, will still be lumpy at this point.  Add milk and whip until smooth.  Take 9x13 pan out of oven, pour egg mixture into pan and return to oven.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Serve hot with maple syrup.

Shredded Pork Tacos

This recipe comes from my friend Erica.  It is a huge favorite and so easy to make.  It reminds me a lot of Cafe Rio pork.

3-4 lb pork roast

2 c. salsa

2 c. brown sugar

* Put roast in crockpot.  Mix salsa and brown sugar together and pour over roast.  Cook for 6-8 hours on low.  Before serving, pull apart with two forks and let sit in salsa mixture for half hour.  Serve with your favorite taco toppings: cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.  It's that easy.  Go great with Spanish Rice.

South of the Snake River Salsa

This is my salsa recipe that I can every year.  My husband loves it so much that he drinks it.

12 pounds roma tomatoes (any others will make it very runny)

4 onions

22 jalapenos

5-6 green bell peppers

3 c. white vinegar

3 large garlic cloves

1/2 c. salt

1/2 c. sugar

2 cans 12oz. tomato paste

* Grind, puree or chop all your vegetables.  We grind or blend them up at our house because my kids don't like chunks.  A note on the jalapenos.  Everyone is different so it could be roasting hot with 15 or very mild with 22.  I usually take out the seeds of every other pepper to reduce the hotness.  Remember you can always add more pepers if it is too mild and don't forget to wear gloves when working with the jalapenos.

* Put everything in thick-bottomed pot (I use my pressure cooker because it has such a thick bottom and it will hold a double recipe of salsa).  Add vinegar, garlic, salt, sugar and tomato paste.  Simmer on stove 1-2 hours, the longer you let it cook, the thicker it will be.

* Process 15 mins for pints.