Daddy Time and Soup

Last night Jon pulled out his guitar before Jai went to bed.  Jai use to fall asleep to the sound of his daddy singing and playing but now all he wants to do is strum the strings!  Enjoy the pics!

And now for the food part!

Sherried Tomato Soup (Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients:

1 medium white or yellow onion

6 tbsp (3/4 stick) butter

Two 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes

One 46 oz bottle or can tomato juice

3-6 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp chicken base or 3 chicken bouillon cubes

Ground black pepper

1 cup Sherry

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

1/4 cup chopped basil

1. Dice the onion
2. Melt the butter in a large pot or dutch oven
3. Put onion in pot with butter, cook until translucent
4. Dump in diced tomatoes and stir
5. Add the tomato juice
6. Now add the 3-6 tbsp of sugar. Ree (author of pioneer woman) puts 6 tbsp....so that is exactly what I
    did!
7. She also puts 3 tbsp of chicken base, which is what you need to add next. I would put one tablespoon at
    a time and taste to make sure 3 is what you want.
8. Add lots of fresh ground black pepper.
9. The best part!! Add the sherry!
10. Heavy cream is next!
11. Add your chopped parsley and basil. Walmart was out of basil so I only used parsley and it was still
      awesome.
12. Now more black pepper!
13. Keep it warm and serve! We ate with grilled cheese and it went together like peanut butter and jelly!

THIS WAS A BIG HIT WITH JON! One of the best soups I've ever had....ummmm


                                    

 This is what Jai does to the front room while I'm cooking :)

His new marshmallow blower.

Shrimp Jambalaya!

Tuesday Shrimp Jambalaya-Recipe from Emeril

(Tomorrow another Pioneer Woman recipe-Sherry Tomato Soup (from scratch) with grilled cheese!)

Ingredients

12 Shrimp-I bought a bag of small peeled and no tails

4 oz chicken (I used canned chicken)

1 tbsp creole seasoning

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped celery

2 tbsp chopped garlic

1/2 cup diced tomatoes

3 bay leaves

1 tsp worchershire sauce

1 tsp hot sauce

3/4 cup rice

3 cups chicken stock

5 oz sausage, sliced

salt and pepper

1. In Bowl combine shrimp, chicken and creole. MIX

2. In large sauce pan heat oil over high heat with onions, peppers, celery for about 3 minutes, add garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves, worchershire and hot sauce.

3. Add rice and slowly add chicken broth.

4. Reduce heat to medium and cook until rice absorbs liquid and becomes tender, stir occasionally for 15 minutes.

5. When rice is just tender add shrimp, chicken and sausage. Cook until meat is done about 10 minutes.

6. Season to taste with salt/pepper and creole.

All I had was ground sausage, so I cooked it in a separate pan and put in at the end. I also put double the veggies and meat because Jon isn't eating carbs so I couldn't use the rice. It was REALLY yummy but be careful not to put to much hot sauce! Mine was hot! lol

Jai ran to his table and said "EAT EAT" while it was raining. lol

ENJOY!!

Easter and Meals!!

So...I have decided a new plan for my blog. Since I'm really not good at posting what my daily inquiries are I've thought of a new approach. Here it is: Every Sunday Ill put my weekly meal plan on my blog along with any occurrences I'd like to share from the weekend. Following that (hopefully) every night or other night ill post pictures and recipes of the meal/s. Yes, I really do weekly meal plans because I've come to know that it saves me money when I do my grocery shopping on Mondays. (idea from Janelle! Click here to see her blog) Hopefully you enjoy!!!

Weekend: Friday-we headed back to Caney to spend some much needed time with family. That night mom fixed homemade chicken and noodles and Jai headed home with my sister and his best bud Michael for the night. Jon and I got a night to relax and sleep in :)! Saturday-Jon and I helped mom decorate the Easter cupcakes (wish I had a picture). They looked amazing of course. After that we went to test drive some cars and I got a pedi before going into labor soon (at least something will look good). Jai and Michael played ALL day at my sisters! That evening we headed to Frank and Lola's to eat. I LOVE this place and a good friend of my brother-in-law's is the cook so we always get lots of extras headed to our table..like basically every appetizer they serve! Dr. Craig was also there having a date night with his wife. They sat and chatted with us for a while. This is the doctor that Jon idolizes, so he was pretty excited to see him! Sunday-was church and lunch/easter egg hunt at my grandma's. Yes as you can see by the pictures I have a huge family with many kiddos. (some didn't make it). It was a great time and even got the hunt in before that bad rain! Enjoy the pics!

Mom and the Boys

Watching the kids hunt eggs

Dad, Ty (brother-in-law), Brandi (cousin)

Jon supervising lol

Mom giving more gifts out after the hunt was over!

Lined up ready for more!

Yes I know my face is huge...come on I only have 4 wks to go!

Weeks Menu!

Monday- Meatloaf (pioneer woman recipe)

Tuesday- Shrimp/sausage Jambalaya (Emeril Recipe)

Wednesday- Sherry Tomato Soup (pioneer woman)

Thursday- BBQ Meatballs (Aunt Bonnies recipe)

Friday-Dinner with Friends :)

Saturday-always a surprise!

Sunday-Breakfast food

Before picture of meatloaf the first time I cooked it. Jon loved it!