Soup Swap

Last night one of my friends hosted a soup swap. It was so much fun and such a great idea.

Each of us made 6 quarts of one soup. Then we brought our soups in one quart containers. We used one quart to share with everyone for the night and then everybody took home one quart of each soup.

The soups each person brought were so good!

We all agreed this was such a great idea and we will have to do it again.

My friend that hosted has such a beautiful house and it was so cute all decorated in her winter decor. She set out mugs and bowls for us all to use for each soup.

I realized while I took this picture that I wrote 2013 for the date! 

The soup I made was Taco Soup. It is an easy soup and my husband loves it! That always makes it a winner.
Enjoy this soup and maybe try a soup swap with your friends!
Taco Soup
Source: Weight Watchers

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef or ground turkey breast
1 (15 ounce) can stewed tomatoes (any flavor)
1 (15 ounce) can stewed tomatoes (Mexican flavor)
1 large onion (chopped)
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 (1 1/4 ounce) package hidden valley ranch dressing mix
1 (15 ounce) can hot chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn

Preparation
1. Brown the the meat and onions and drain.
2. Mix the taco seasoning mix and ranch dressing mix into the meat.
3. Add all the other ingredients, without draining.
4. Simmer for about 1 hour.
5. Serve hot, topped with sour cream, cheese, avocado, raw onions, or nacho chips (optional).

Valentine's Day Bundt Cake

 Valentine's Day is almost here. Do you have anything special planned? We usually keep it pretty simple around here. 

I was on the search for a special dessert to make this week so I jumped on Pinterest. The picture of this dessert definitely caught my eye. 
 For the last few weeks I have been taking a simple dessert to church on Wednesday nights for our dinner program. I took a half day today and thought since I had some extra time I would make something a little more special. This cake was pretty easy and even if I hadn't had the extra time today I still would have had time to make it after work. 

I can not wait to cut into this cake tomorrow. If you read the comments to the original link of this recipe you will see that many people left suggestions of other jello combinations you could use and other holidays you could use it for. 

Strawberries and Cream Bundt cake 
Source: Chocolate Chocolate and More
Makes 1 large bundt cake and 4-6 cupcakes

 2 boxes white cake mix (15.25 oz)
Ingredients called for on box

1 box strawberry JELL-O mix (3oz.)

1 can white frosting

Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray. Bake cake mix according to box directions. 

Pour 1/3 to 1/2 of the batter into prepared pan. 

Reserve 1 tbls. of JELL-O mix for frosting and add remaining to the rest of the cake batter. Stir well until just blended. Spoon batter into bundt pan to cover the white batter. Do not fill pan past 2/3 full. Place any remaining batter in cupcake tin.  Bake in a preheated oven for 45-55 minutes (19-22 for cupcakes). Using a toothpick test for doneness. Remove from oven and let cool for 20 minutes before inverting onto place to cool completely.

Frost the cupcakes first since you probably won't use the whole can of frosting. 

I melted my icing in the microwave for about 10 seconds. The original recipe says to melt it on the stove. 

Using the reserved JELL-O mix stir it into some of the frosting.

Place the frosting in a plastic bag and cut a very small hole in a corner.

Drizzle over the cake, alternating colors. 

Easter Lunch!

We had a wonderful Easter. Chad and I had my parents and my aunt and uncle over for lunch after church. I was so excited to entertain this Easter. My grandma gave me most of her Easter decorations a few years ago and I was determined to really put them to use. I only wish she could have seen it. She was always such a great entertainer and I am sure that's where I get my love for it from!
Here is the table.





For lunch we had a delicious spinach and strawberry salad, Ham, Macaroni, Asparagus and of course Sister Schubert rolls!
The macaroni I made is from this post.
The asparagus is a recipe from one of my aunts.


For dessert we had chocolate pie and strawberry shortcake.

Drop in and Decorate

Recently I was reading through my google reader and saw this blog post on Bake at 350. I have always wanted to do a cookie exchange but thought this might be a better idea. I recruited a friend to help me out. We ended up making about 100 cookies before the party.
We had a ton of fun last Saturday making these cookies. It was great to see some of our friend's hidden talents! We donated these cookies to the Ronald McDonald house at Riley Children's hospital in Indianapolis. They were so thankful for the cookies!