From The Good Life

Last year by this time we had who knows how many inches of snow. We went over three months with at least an inch of snow on the ground. This year we've been so lucky, our first significant snowfall of the season just occurred this past weekend. This snowfall is a beautiful, glistening snow. Unlike many of your who are enduring your second or third snowfall of the year, it's our first snowfall, so I can say it's pretty.

Crock Pot Taco Soup

Is it soup weather where you live? Much of the country is in the midst of winter weather! We've been lucky so far this winter. Just yesterday in Omaha we received our first major snowfall of the season in the form of about 8 inches of snow. How much snow do you have on the ground?

When it's cold and snowy, there's nothing better than a warm bowl of soup. If you like tacos, give this one a try. It's a delicious hearty soup that can be made without without the meat!

Courtesy of A Year of Slow Cooking--

2 cans of kindey beans
--2 cans of pinto beans
--2 cans of corn
--1 large can of diced tomatoes

--1 can tomatoes and chiles
--1 packet taco seasoning

--1 packet ranch dressing mix

--1 lb browned ground turkey or hamburger (optional.)
--shredded cheese and sour cream for embelishment
The Directions:
--brown meat if you are going to use it
--drain fat and add to crockpot stoneware insert (the meat. not the fat.)
--sprinkle seasoning packets on top of meat
--drain and rinse the beans and add
--add the ENTIRE contents of the corn and tomato cans
--stir.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5. I think the longer you cook soup, the better, so if you have the time, opt for cooking on low. Stir well, and serve with a handful of shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream

I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday's and Tuesday's at the Table.

Sweet Melissa Sunday's & A New Mac

I wonder how many years I've been using a computer? Maybe 30 and I've always been a PC user. It's time for a new computer! As much as I wanted an iPad, I needed a computer to do everything and that just wasn't the iPad. I'll continue to have iPad envy and occasionally borrow Tim's.

I wanted to find a computer that was really portable, light and easy to take along on vacation or wherever I go. The Apple MacBook Air seemed to fit the bill, perfectly! My concern was could I make the switch from a PC to a Mac? I called my son and asked his opinion since he'd been a PC user until a few years ago and he knows his mom. He was confident I could do it! I asked Tim to be honest and let me know what he thought. After all, he was going to have to deal with the fallout from my decision. He too said he thought I could do it and was willing to help me. I decided to take the plunge!!

So I bet you want to know two things, how am I doing and what does this have to do with my SMS post? First, how am I doing? Well..it's been a bit of a struggle, learning a new way to navigate. Thanks Justin for letting me know how to right click on the Mac. No Internet Explorer, where I've read all of your blog posts for two years? After a painful few hours, I think we've (really Tim) figured out how to set up the RSS Feeds in Firefox so they're similar to how I had them in IE.

I was looking so forward to this week's SMS. The SMS bakers took December off and I've missed baking with my SMS friends. I bought all of the ingredients. The Hazelnut Raspberry Layer Cake looks delicious and it's my favorite color, pink! I just don't have the energy to bake! Candy Girl is our host this month, you can find the recipe and her beautiful cake here! The links to the other talented SMS bakers can be found here!

Are you a Mac user? Any hints for me, I'd welcome them!

French Lentil Soup

Lentil Soup is one of the dishes my son Justin says he remembers from childhood. I was happy to hear this is a dish he often cooks now as an adult. I haven't made lentil soup in years. As I think back on it, I think the last time probably was when Justin was still living at home.

When I mentioned to Tim I was going to make lentil soup, I received the look. The look that says, where's the meat? I said it's okay, lentils are a great substitute for meat.

I found this recipe over at Tomatoes on the Vine. Velva has a great blog. If you haven't been there, stop by. You'll find some great recipes and an occasional special cocktail! I love the spice combinations in this soup. Lentils need spice or the soup can be too bland. This is a perfect soup for cold winter day.



French Lentil Rice Soup
Courtesy of Tomatoes on the Vine
Serves 4
Ingredients:
6 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely diced
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely diced
3 tablespoons uncooked white rice
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon herbs de Provence or dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground white or black pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream or sour cream, divided (optional)
1/4 cup chopped parsley, divided (optional)


Directions:
Stir together broth, lentils, carrots, onion, celery, rice, garlic, herbs de provence, salt and pepper in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.

Remove 1-1/2 cups soup and puree in a food processor or blender until almost smooth. Stir pureed soup back into the slow cooker.

Divide soup evenly among 4 serving bowls, garnishing each with 1 tablespoon cream and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, if desired.

I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum and Souper Sunday's at Kahakai Kitchen.

Peppermint Whoopie Pies

If you have a Trader Joe's in your area, did you have the Candy Cane Joe Joe's cookies this holiday season? If so, you know how delicious they are. These cookies were my inspiration for Christmas Eve dessert, Peppermint Whoopie Pies. When I shared with people I'd be making Whoppie Pies, most people didn't know what Whoopie Pies were. They'd say are they like Moon Pies? Funny after I decided to make them, I received my Bon Appetit with an article discussing whether Whoopie Pies or Macarons are the new cupcake. My vote would be for Whoopie Pies, Bon Apetite chose Macarons.

These were were fun and easy to put together. I used a medium cookie scoop and it worked perfectly. Although, mine weren't all a unfiform size. These are like little cake tops filled with delicious marshmallow frosting. If you haven't tried Whoopie Pies yet and are looking for a new dessert, give these a try.



Peppermint Crunch Whoopie Pies
Recipe Courtesy of Paula Deen
Prep. Time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 12 minutes/batch of cookies
Level: Intermediate
Yield: 18-21 large whoopie pies or 33-38 medium

For Cookies
Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
6.5 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two half-sheet pans with Silpats or lightly grease.

In a large (at least 5 quart) bowl of stand mixer, cream sugar and butter with paddle attachment for 3-5 minutes. Add eggs, beating well after each. Add vegetable oil and vanilla and beat.

In a large separate bowl, sift dry ingredients together.

With mixer on very low speed, gradually add half of the dry ingredients to the egg mixture. Blend well. With mixer running on low, add 1 1/2 cups of the milk. Mix until blended. Repeat with remaining dry ingredients and milk.

Using a standard 1/4-cup ice cream scoop, place batter on baking sheets, spacing 2-3” apart. Bake 12 minutes, rotating pans (move lower pan to top level and top level to lower level) after the first 6 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and transfer to cooling racks. Repeat with remaining batter. Don’t worry if some are a little cracked on the top – that’s normal! Cool completely prior to filling.

For Filling
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter
1 1/2cups vegetable shortening
9 cups confectioners’ sugar
4 cups marshmallow creme
4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
½ teaspoon salt
1 lb hard peppermint candies

Combine first 7 ingredients in large bowl of mixer and beat until fluffy with paddle attachment.

Place peppermints in heavy plastic bag and crush with hammer or flat side of meat tenderizer. Sift crushed mints through fine sieve to separate dust from bits of candy. Fold ½ of candy bits plus “dust” into the filling. Reserve other half of candy pieces for garnish.

ASSEMBLY: Place a scoop of filling on the flat side of one cookie. Place another cookie, flat side down on top, pressing down gently. Roll edges of icing in remaining crushed peppermints.

I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday's, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tuesday's at The Table.

A Winner and Little Bit of Everything in 2011

Happy New Year!! The winner of my CSN Stores Giveaway is Debbie of Debbie Does Dinner Healthy. Thanks to everyone for entering and congratulations, Debbie!!

As 2010 came to a close, I took a look back at my blogging goals. My goals were to participate in Adopt a Blogger, create more recipes on my own, take a cake decorating class, bake more homemade bread and make better use of my cookbooks and my mom's recipes.

How did I do? Adopt a Blogger, Cake Decoating check! One of my homemade bread recipes produced a funny loaf of bread. Mom's recipe, Dorothy Mackey's Apple Dapple Cake delivered one of my favorite dessert recipes of the year. All in all, not too bad. The only real failure was using my cookbooks more. I really need to work on that one. What do I do? I just keeping buying more cookbooks.

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been jotting down my 2011 food and blogging related goals.

Entertain More - I love to entertain. In 2011, in addition to having friends over for dinner, I'd like to host a wine and cheese tasting party.

Read My Recipes Well - I tend to glance over the recipes. I think I understand prep or pre cooking times. When I start preparing, I realize I didn't understand and the recipe takes longer than the time I'd allotted.

Advance Prep - To help reduce the time it takes to cook a recipe and have healthier snacks in the fridge, wash and prep fruits and veggies when I bring them home from the store!

My Top 50 - Continue to focus on the recipes on this list.

What are your 2011 blogging goals?

Happy New Year and Pink Saturday!!