{ Easy: Lasagna Soup }

I'm sure you've seen many recipes for Lasagna Soup, but I'm here to help. I've simplified those recipes with numerous ingredients and spices into something you can whip together quickly and easily on a busy weeknight.

Lasagna soup, if you don't already know, tastes almost exactly like lasagna, except in a rich, thick soup form. Is good.

You'll need pretty basic pantry ingredients: tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, chicken stock, etc. You won't need container after container of different spices, just salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning.

This soup will come together quickly and easily. You can brown your burger in the soup pan, then add all the ingredients in, making this a one pot clean up.

This soup is great for these fall (and yet to come winter) dinners. It is a warm, delicious comfort food great for chilly nights.

Add a salad and some garlic bread and you have an easy, hearty meal

Soups on!








Lasagna Soup
By Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

1 pound ground beef
8 Cups chicken broth
1 Large Can (28oz) Crushed Tomato
1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce
10 Lasagna Noodles, broken into small pieces (or other pasta) 
1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Small onion, finely chopped
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
2 Teaspoons Italian Seasoning
Ricotta, shredded parmesan & shredded mozzarella cheeses

In a large pan, brown burger for about 5 minutes. Add in chopped onion and cook for approx another 5 minutes until the meat is no longer pink and the onions are soft. When cooked, drain excess grease from meat.

To the pot add: chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, and spices and cook at medium heat until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Add pasta and allow to cook on low until al dente.

Ladle into bowls and top with ricotta, shredded parmesan & mozzarella cheeses.

{Frozen Cupcakes}

Today is the birthday of my friend. She's my incredible, amazing, awesome, geek twin.

Happy Birthday, Darla!!!

I wish I could be there to take you out to lunch and hang out, but a few thousand miles put a little kink in that plan. So... virtual cupcakes it is! Darla is having a Frozen themed birthday this year because she love, love, loves the movie. I knew right away what I was going to do. I was going to make Elsa cupcakes for her!

I knew the cupcakes needed to be a vanilla cake with a vanilla buttercream and they needed to be topped in "ice". First thing I thought of was disco dust. Disco dust, if you've never used it, is AMAZING. You won't be able to believe that it is edible. It's SO sparkly and looks just like a super fine craft glitter. Glitter on cake? I'm in!

Sadly, it does not photograph well. I really wish you could see how it sparkles. Go buy some today, ok?

This needed more than just a little sparkle. I considered white chocolate or fondant snowflakes, but... that wasn't right. Finally, I thought of some cupcakes I'd seen at Halloween. They were gory with broken glass and red sauce, but the idea would work here!

If you've seen the movie (or even the commercials), you've probably seen the ice Elsa creates. That's where this idea came from.

Shards of ice atop pillows of sparkly white buttercream.

I found these shiny "Elsa-ish" cupcake wrappers on Bake It Pretty.

Sugar Glass is just a hard candy, but... since you want this as clear as possible to look like ice, you have to go VERY SLOW. This sugar glass took me an hour. It still has a very light amber tint to it, but it's as good as I could do. If you cook too fast, the sugar will begin to caramelize and you will end up with a very amber glass. We don't want that for our ice! It's definitely not hard to make, it's just tedious and requires a lot of patience.

But............ isn't the effect worth it??

I think so!

However, if you want to make this easier, and I can't blame you if you do, try using purchased rock candy. The look will be different, but the effect will be similar!

A very happy birthday to you, my friend! May it be festive, fanciful, and Frozen.

Love ya!

Tina



Frozen Cupcakes
by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

Vanilla (white) cupcakes (any recipe/box mix will do)
Vanilla Buttercream
Disco Dust edible glitter
sugar glass

Sugar Glass
adapted from All Recipes

1 cup water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 3/4 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

Mix ingredients in a medium saucepan; SLOWLY bring to a boil. Use a candy thermometer and boil sugar syrup until temperature reaches 300 degrees (hard ball), stirring often. Keep temperature on low to medium. Do not go over medium. It will thicken as the water evaporates. It will take a long time to reach 300 (up to an hour). When sugar reaches 300 degrees, quickly pour onto a rimmed metal baking pan. Cool until completely hardened. Break as desired.

{ Cocoa Cupcakes }

Welcome to Christmas!

Now that Thanksgiving is over here in the United States, the Christmas season is officially upon us!

Today is Black Friday. Also known as Maim and Injure Day. For the most part, I stay home, in my PJs and shop Amazon. Today, I will be wandering out, but not until later, and not for Christmas gifts.

I need a new tree. Our old tree has served us well for many years, but it's time she was retired. I will miss her.

I really want a slimmer tree. Not the pencil thin trees, but a nice, not so chubby tree. Sorry chubby trees. You are beautiful, you are just not the right fit for my house. So, I will brave it. For the sake of Christmas decorations.

I hope you all (in the U.S.) had a lovely Thanksgiving. Mine was small this year with only my parents, my grandmother, my mother in law, and my grandmother in law. In the morning, as I was cooking, we (Hubs, Bean, and me) stopped to watch a bit of the Macy's Parade, then after everyone left we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Oh, Clark!!!

It was unseasonably warm (64) here in Ohio, so I did get a few lights put up outside. I won't lite them until tonight though. I'm having a party tomorrow, something I've done for nearly my entire marriage. It's an Ornament Party. When we first started, we'd all make enough ornaments to exchange, but pretty soon, we just had TOO MANY ornaments. Now we just do a make and take at the party, play silly games, and eat yummy food. We all look forward to it every year.

I just LOVE Christmas, don't you?

This is really just my S'mores Cupcakes adapted for Christmas... but...whatever works, right?

I'm so excited to shared Christmas recipes with you. I have so many planned. Let's just hope I can get them all made a posted!

Happy Christmas ~ Tina

 Cocoa Cupcakes

Cupcakes:

24 Chocolate Cupcakes, baked and cooled

2 Graham Crackers

2 Tablespoons Sugar

1-2 Hershey bars

Chocolate Glaze:

4 Tablespoons of Butter

3 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa

1/2 Cup Confectioners Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

2-3 Tablespoons HOT water

Marshmallow Buttercream*:

 2 Sticks (1 cup) of Butter (softened)

2 Cups Powdered Sugar

2-3 Tablespoons Heavy Cream or Milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1- 7 oz container of Marshmallow Fluff

 1/4 teaspoon of salt

Topping:

crushed candy candy or pepermints

coarse sugar

red sprinkles

I make up these Cocoa Cupcakes the other day. Like a good cup of cocoa, they are chocolate, chocolate, marshmallow, chocolate, and a little mint.

Crush up one candy cane. Add a tablespoon of coarse sugar (or regular works fine), and a tablespoon of red sprinkles. If you want more mint flavor, you can crush more candy canes.

Bake up 24 chocolate cupcakes & allow to cool.

Now, make your chocolate glaze.

Melt the butter in the microwave, then add the 3 Tablespoons of cocoa. Mix well, add in your 1/2 cup of Powdered Sugar & 2 Tablespoons of Hot Water & 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Whisk until glossy. If too thick, add the 3rd Tablespoon of Hot Water.

Drizzle over cupcakes. You can also dip your cupcake into the glaze, twisting a little as your take it out to get rid of excess chocolate.

Let the glaze set up while you make your Marshmallow Buttercream.

In a mixer, add the 2 Sticks of Butter. Beat for about a minute. Then add the 2 cups of powdered sugar in a little at a time. Next, beat in your Vanilla & Marshmallow Cream. Now add your milk/heavy cream 1 Tablespoon at a time. If thin enough, stop there. If not, add more.

This is not a firm buttercream, keep that in mind. It's a softset & kind of a little sticky.

Top each cupcake with a nice sided dollop of the frosting. You don't need to cover the whole cupcake. 

Sprinkle finished cupcakes with the sugar/candy cane mixture.

If you like more mint flavor, add a teaspoon of peppermint extract to your Marshmallow Buttercream.

*My Marshmallow Buttercream is adapted from this Vanilla Buttercream Recipe

 

{ Cheesy Potato Soup }

I know what you are thinking.

I'm posting a soup recipe in June. 

You are thinking I've gone off the deep edge.

Note: this is not going off the deep end, or off the edge. This. is different.

However:

A. It's been in the 50s & 60s here! What??

(95 to  58 in the space of 4 days is not cool, man. Not cool. Actually, it is technically quite cool though, and therein lies the problem).

B. I've never understood the concept of not eating soup in the summer. I mean, hamburgers are hot, we eat those in the summer. Lasanga is hot, we eat it in the summer. Pork Chops are hot, we eat those in the summer... and so on.

Poor soup gets a bad rap.

I think we should celebrate soup and eat it year round!

GO SOUP!

I've been asked for the recipe for this soup often. Like, very often.

Problem?

I don't use a recipe. This makes giving a recipe more difficult.

I've been making this soup for something like 132 years. Yes, it started from a recipe in a community book. Do you know what I mean? Where an organization pulls recipes together, sends them off to a printer and then sells them as a fundraiser? They are way common here in rural 'Merica.

I have no idea what book it came from, and I can say for certain that over the years, this has very much become my own recipe.

The other night when I was making it, I decided to measure things (gasp!) and write them down for you (double gasp!).

This is the result.

This recipe uses a lot of potatoes. You can use less, up to you.

My husband's grandmother tells about how her brother in law used to call her sister's potato soup "Huntin' Soup". See, he had to hunt for the potatoes. We don't want that to happen here. Unless, you know, you LIKE hunting for your potatoes.

Warning- this is a LARGE recipe. Great for big families or leftovers. Or you could halve it, if you feel the need. This is easily 3 meals for my family of 3.

Here we go:

Tina's Cheesy Potato Soup

8 Cups Water 
(salted to taste, remembering your bouillion & cheeses will be salty)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1-2 teaspoons dried parsley

1/4 cup diced onion

Butter (to taste)

2 teaspoons of powdered chicken bouillon

(or 1 can of chicken broth. If you use this, only use 7 cups of water)

Stir together in a large pot.

Add in 3-4 cups peeled, diced potatoes (depending on how many potatoes you want in your soup)

Bring to a boil, turn to medium, and let boil until potatoes are tender.

Once they are tender, add 1/4 cup flour to 1 cup water in a small bowl/measuring cup/etc. Mix together until smooth. Slowly pour this into your soup. 

You can use more/less flour. This will make your soup thick and hearty. 

Turn the heat down. This is where we add in the cheese. Do not let boil after the cheese is added.

We are all about high quality here, so add in 

2-3 cups of processed cheese food (aka Velveeta)

this photo is deceptive, but I used about 2 1/2 cups

 Feel free to use other cheese, but I have tried the lot and always end up back at Velveeta.

After that is melted, I throw in a couple handfuls of whatever cheeses I have in the fridge.

Here I used Mozzerella & Mild Cheddar.

Let melt.

This is most delicious with toppings of green onion, crumbled bacon, sour cream, and more cheese.

Sadly, I'm the only one in the house who thinks so.

Just cheese it is.

Serve this up with a salad, my Red Lobster Clone Biscuits or a nice crusty bread & it's a tasty meal.

And yes, even in the summertime.

Tina

Easy, squeezy printable here.

{ Snowflake Crunch Popcorn }

It finally snowed. Enough to cover the ground anyway. 

*grumble grumble*

Is it bad that I want it to snow, like, a lot? 

I love snow, I love to watch it fall. It’s beautiful and magical.

Yay…snow!

Unless I have to drive in it.

Then I HATE snow.

Boo… snow!

Snow makes me think of all things white.

And blue.

What’s with the white/blue/snow trend anyway? Is it because of the blue sky against the white snow?

Or because your lips turn blue if you are out in it too long?

Either way, when I think snow, I think white and blue.

I’ve mentioned I’m not that much into fake, ahem, white chocolate, yes?

Other people, apparently, like this stuff.

A LOT.

So, I made some white chocolate covered popcorn.

Blue and white… pretty, right?

(ooh, unintended rhyming!)

So, you can do this one of two ways.

Or two of two ways, if you prefer- who am I to say?

You can do this with a marshmallow base, or just straight white chocolate.

Both recipes are below.

Of the 2, I prefer the marshmallow only popcorn.

But then again, I don't like white chocolate, remember? So who am I to judge?

So, you’ve probably figured out already that I had to pick all the blue M&Ms out of the package for this.

This is a great menial task for teenagers. Let them eat all the M&Ms they wish EXCEPT the blue.

Eating the blue should be punished harshly. You know like refusing to buy Pizza Rolls or something.

However, I noticed looking in the blue-less bowl how odd the M&Ms looked.

Then I realized, this is almost what they looked like when I was a kid.

Whoa.. weirdness.

C’mon people, you know you remember them too.

There *is* one color missing from then. Hint, it’s not blue

Who can name it?

Tina

Marshmallow White Chocolate 
Snowflake Crunch Popcorn

1 bag of popped 94% Fat Free popcorn (unpopped kernels removed)

1/4 cup butter (butter only)

1/2 bag marshmallows

Melt butter in pan, add marshmallows. Melt those as well.
Once melted, stir popcorn in to fully coat.

Turn out onto parchment paper/wax paper/foil lined baking sheet to cool.

Once cool, eat as is- OR proceed with chocolate step (using the popcorn you’ve already coated, of course, not popping another bag).

White Chocolate Snowflake Crunch Popcorn

1 bag of popped 94% Fat Free popcorn (unpopped kernels removed)

3-4 blocks of white almond bark

2 teaspoons oil/shortening

blue M&Ms

blue sprinkles

In a microwave safe bowl, add the almond bark and oil. Melt at 30 second intervals (stirring between). Should take less than 2 minutes to melt.

Pour over popcorn.  Gently stir to fully coat.

Add in blue M&Ms and blue sprinkles

Lightly toss to incorporate.

Turn out onto parchment paper/wax paper/foil lined baking sheet to cool.

Once cooled, you’ll need to break apart larger pieces.

Shared at:

Oopsey Daisy
The Country Cook 

Everyday Mom's Meals

Hugs & Cookies XOXO

{Chicken Tortilla Soup. Amen}

After 5 days of vacation, and 5 days of eating out, it was good to get home and prepare my own food.

It should seriously be illegal to eat out that often.

So, what did I make 2 hours after returning home?

Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Om. nom.

I’ll get back to the yummies in a minute.

So, how was my vacation?

Wet.

It rained, every. single. day. all. day.

argh.

We made the best of it. We were soaked, we were chilled, we paid $15 for an umbrella that broke within 2 hours.

But, we had fun.

Even if our fingers did turn pruney.

For a minute there, I thought I was Forrest Gump. Remember when he said, “One day it started raining, and it didn`t quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin` rain... and big ol` fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath.”  

Yeah, it wasn’t four months for us…. but it felt like it.

The Bean took this photo that I really like.

I love the line of umbrellas reflected in it.

Anyway, in case I haven’t made it clear- it rained.

So, naturally, soup seemed like the best thing to make upon arriving back home. Something I’d been craving all week.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
6 cups water
1 teaspoon chili powder
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash of black pepper
1 cup diced onions

Throw all of this into a pot and cook until chicken is done. Remove chicken and shred, place back into pot along with:

1 can diced tomatoes OR crushed tomatoes (depending on how chunky you want your soup- I use diced)
1 can (10 oz) Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 can (4 oz) green chilies (optional)
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained
1 can chicken broth
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro (optional)

Bring to boil and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.

Check seasonings. Add more to taste.

To one cup water, add 3 Tablespoons flour. Whisk well. Slowly pour into soup to thicken. Allow to simmer another 15-20 minutes.

Top with your choice of the following:

sour cream
guacamole
diced onion
jalapenos
shredded cheese
tortilla strips or crushed tortilla chips
salsa

It’s seriously pretty too with all it’s colors.

A fest for the eyes.

And the belly.

Amen.

Tina

Print Me!

Shared on EMM's Church Suppers for 9/18/11