Cooking Thursday: Slow Cooker Curry Chicken and Italian Meatball Soup (comfort food time)

 

Hello Dear Friends! 

It's a nice chilly low 60's today and it gets me so in the mood to think comfort food thoughts. I'm picturing moments I loved last Fall:

We would take Ruby for a beautiful long walk. The air crisp and cold enough to need a sweatshirt. The trees really putting on a show with their glorious colors. And I'd have something in the slow cooker back home that had been simmering all day long. And we'd come in from the cold and smell the wonderful aroma of whatever was cooking and know that something comforting was going to warm us and feed our souls. 

Here are a couple of recipes that would be warming and comforting to make this Fall. 🍁🧡💛

The first is this slow cooker curry chicken recipe we had several weeks ago. I found the recipe on instagram and I don't remember exactly where? It was so flavorful and comforting and we both loved it! It reminded me so much of a takeout curry I used to get from a favorite Asian restaurant that isn't around anymore. It will definitely be a go-to on repeat over the season ahead!

slow cook the chicken and yummy veggies in a chicken broth that includes peanut butter, soy sauce, coconut milk, onion, garlic etc.  

take out the chicken towards the end and shred it...

then add in some sliced red pepper and cook a little longer and serve over rice of your choice (we had it over cauliflower rice) and we topped ours with some chopped peanuts for extra crunch

Here's the recipe for Curry Chicken:

The next recipe is one I made just last weekend up at the lake. It was a chilly 60's kind of weekend and this soup was perfect for it. I had taken a pic from this cookbook I had gotten in one of my Taste of Home boxes. 

Here it is cooking away in the slow cooker at the lake - I didn't take an after pic but the recipe shows part of a pic of the finished bowl. We topped ours with some parmesan cheese to serve. And we ate it with crusty french rolls right out of the oven with the pats of butter melting inside. The were perfect dippers for this tasty soup. Another one I will definitely make again! 

Here's the recipe for Italian Meatball Soup:

On a side note: please pray for MN. The horrendous shooting yesterday continues to sit on my heart. This one hits so close to home because it's only a few hours from where we live. And my son lives right next door in St. Paul. Also, the fact that I'm Catholic too. 

My heart breaks for those poor families and that this continues to happen and nothing changes!! What lawmakers are doing now isn't enough as it continues to happen with far too much regularity. I pray for real change to happen in some form - to at least try something different that may help with this constant terrible problem in our country. 😢🙏🏻

Happy Homemaker Monday

 

Hello and happy new week to you my Friends!

Did you have a lovely weekend? I sure hope so. I can't believe it will be September next week! I'm excited for Fall and yet letting go of summer is always bittersweet. 

We had a busy weekend and visited a few places. It was cooler this weekend and definitely had more of a Fall feel. 

Friday we headed to where my son lives and we dropped Ruby off at his apartment. So we could go to a video game event that Matt and Aaron wanted to check out - I was just tagging along. Lol Aaron is more of a gamer person and Matt loves the nostalgia and collects games consoles and games. He does like to play a bit - but it's more how it all brings him back to his childhood. We all had fun checking it out. And then we took Aaron out for an early dinner (poor Jill had to work) Then we took Aaron home and grabbed Ruby and headed right to the lake to help Matt's folks out. His Dad just had a hip replacement so we were there helping out with several things over the weekend. 

There were definite Fall moments over the weekend. Some tips of trees starting to change color already. It was only in the 60's for temps and windy and chilly both days. And we watched some football movies. My Hubby has 2 top movies - one is the Shawshank Redemption and the other is the move Rudy. Well we watched Rudy all together this weekend as I hadn't seen it in forever. I forgot how good it is. And then it reminded him of another true story football movie he likes called Invincible with Mark Wahlberg....so we watched that too. Also a good movie. And then we watched preseason GB Packers on Saturday.  I made a cozy slow cooker soup that was yummy comfort food we all enjoyed. 

Then on the drive home Matt & I chatted with Annie all about her being back in FL for college and settled into her new apartment. 💗 She was giving us the scoop on her roommates, meal planning, decorating etc. She definitely takes after her Momma. Lol 

It was also in the 40's here this morning - very nice and chilly! And Annie has her first day of her sophomore year today! So yep, definite Fall in the air as we get ready to say goodbye to August. 

*on a sad note: I found out over the weekend that my Aunt had died. It was truly a blessing though. She was in her mid 80's and couldn't leave her home and had been home bound for about a year.  She would say she was very ready "to go home" as she put it. She died peacefully in her sleep in her own home - which is what I think most folks hope for in this life. I know she's in heaven with her hubby now, and her parents and other family. I have no doubt she'll still be cheering on the Packers from up there 💚💛

 

 

 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

iced pumpkin spice coffee (tis almost the season so I couldn't resist), half of a bagel

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

time with my Mom, haircut, errands & groceries, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT: 

How blessed I am to be a part of this community and to make such amazing Friends here. 

One of those wonderful Blogland Besties is my dear friend Jules over at the blog Along the Way  She lives in such a beautiful part of England and shares gorgeous photos of some of her excursions. She had recently spent some time in the Yorkshire Dales and I shared how jealous I was and how very much I love that area and adore the show All Creatures Great and Small. It's on my bucket list to get there on day. And I had heard that parts of York were some of the inspiration for Harry Potter. Specifically "the Shambles" as being a lot like Diagon Alley. (I've read all of the books and I've seen all of the movies and love them too)

Well that tremendously thoughtful Sweetheart sent me some treasures from those areas in a very surprise package I found when I got home last night. I was blown away and I just can't thank her enough for thinking of me!! From the sweet tote, to the cozy tea moments, and of course the nod to All Creatures Great and Small. Thanks again Jules - your'e the best! :) 

This community is such an amazing place to meet and connect with so many and I'll forever be grateful to share here...but especially to get to spend time visiting and getting to know friends like Jules...and all of you. 

💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

😊😊😊

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

Surprise packages that touch my soul. 😉

CURRENTLY READING

I've decided to finish all the Dream Harbor series before moving on to my other books

ON THE TV TODAY:

 Americas Got Talent, The Office, Big Brother,The Last Kingdom, American Pickers

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY -  might do dinner with my Mom & step Dad tonight (or may need to be another night depending on some things in their schedule)

TUESDAY -  leftover Italian veggie & meatball soup I made this weekend (maybe a sandwich for Matt too)

WEDNESDAY - I froze the chicken from last week so will thaw them and finally going to make slow cooker honey lime chicken tacos with fixings

THURSDAY - leftover honey lime chicken lettuce cups or nachos

FRIDAY - not sure?... out for dinner or clean out anything left in fridge

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

go for walks with Matt & Ruby, read, work on an ongoing scrapbook project

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

FROM THE CAMERA:

At the convention with my gamer Boys. :) 

This adorable car was parked next to us in the lot and I had to take a picture. Look at those hubcaps. Lol And the bumper stickers cracked me up.

Lake life beauty....

Lake life food and fun. BLT's made from crispy bacon, farm stand tomatoes, and wild rice cranberry bread. The sweet corn was also from the farm stand. And some homemade Italian veggie & meatball soup in the slow cooker. Perfect football food. 😋

Driving down the road with the one you love while the sunset puts on a show out the window - does it get better? 

Missing my Girl already 😢...a polaroid selfie she took before she headed back to school. 💝

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace.  For Annie to have a great start to her school year. For my fellow family that will be missing my Auntie and the light she brought to this world. For Matt's Dad's continued healing. 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I hope you get to enjoy these last days of August to the fullest my Friends. 

I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Cooking Thursday: Chocolate Brownie Bundt Cake with Ganache, a Casserole, a Breakfast Bake & More!

 

Hello Beautiful Friends💗

The weekend is in sight! Have you been having a nice week? 

It's been busy around here. Matt went to the lake to help his folks with his Dad's post surgery needs, as he recently got a hip replacement. I opted to stick around here to give his Dad easier space for recovery - keep Ruby from being underfoot there etc. It's also been a nice time for me to catch up with some of my peeps. I had a fun evening with my Mom sharing chickie chip dinner (it was always one of her faves), and also a fun charcuterie and wine night with a neighbor girlfriend of mine. I'll share some recipes from both evenings in this post!

But first I wanted to share the recipe from Aaron's birthday cake. It was a chocolate brownie bundt cake with a chocolate ganache poured over the top. It was a recipe found at olivesnthyme.com It was basically the mixture of a chocolate cake and a brownie mix. In my case I used a dark fudge cake mix and a traditional brownie mix. He loves brownie sundaes so this was an elevated version of that. We had the cake with some vanilla bean ice cream. He gave it 2 thumbs up - so it was a birthday success!

Here is what the cake looked like out of the bundt pan before it was frosted with the ganache:

And here it is all decked out...along with the recipe:

Next up I wanted to share...or I should say re-share a couple of recipes I have under my recipe tab that some of you commented about on my post earlier in the week. One is for Chickie Chip Casserole. It's an old favorite my Gram used to make and it's a chicken mixture that has potato chips in it and you bake it as a casserole (I know sounds weird -but so good!) and we have it served on toast. I forgot to get a pic of it though.  You can find my post all about that recipe if you click here. I highly recommend it - I literally get a craving for it sometimes. Lol But it's also nostalgia for me. It has hard boiled egg in the recipe....and I omit that part. But if you like them my Mom says add it in. 😂

Next up is Blueberry French Toast Bake. I made this when Annie was home because it's one of her faves. She has told me this recipe is "fire". Lol And I gave some of the leftovers to my Mom & step Dad and he reiterated Annie's sentiments about it. 😋 I share all about it and the recipe if you click here.

Lastly I wanted to share about the fun charcuterie dinner I had with a neighbor girlfriend of mine the other night. I told her Matt was out-of-town and asked if she wanted to come over and catch up. She texted back 'yes, yes, yes!' and that she would bring the wine. So gabby girl dinner it was! 

Here's some pics of the spread...she hadn't gotten here yet, but I was all set and ready! :) 

I put out salami, cheeses, crackers, veggies & dip (including 2 different kinds of cukes from my garden), chips, watermelon, grapes, little meringues and cookies. Just a hodge podge of what I had around here. 

Lots of good finger foods and nibbles that went great with the sauvignon blanc she brought. But the highlight for us both was when I took:

some of these butter crips crackers and filled them with...

pieces of Babybel cheese I had melted a bit, a little piece of salami, and...

a dollop of this red pepper jelly. 

I had seen several things about "savory s'mores" and here are some images I googled to give you an idea what our savory s'mores looked like as I didn't take pics of them.

But to make savory s'mores you basically take a cracker of choice, a piece of meat, a topping of choice (like the red pepper jelly or you could do something like fig preserves or hot honey), and then put a melted piece of babybel or brie or other melty cheese. And put it all together in a little sandwich. 

We both went bonkers over how good they were! Also, you can skewer your cheese and cook it over a fire just like a marshmallow in a s'more if you want to. But I just melted them in the microwave  for a few seconds and then made the little sandwiches and they were stellar! 

Oh and speaking of food - I got this in our last thrive box and highly recommend if you're a pumpkin spice girlie. SOOO addictively good. And pretty low in calories. 

Enjoy!! 

xoxo