We had such a beautiful weekend here in Tennessee. Steven had to work, but I had three days off and I thoroughly enjoyed it. On Saturday I spent the day working on a table runner for my Mom out of the new line from Fig Tree Quilts for Moda called Breakfast at Tiffanys. I'll post some pictures as soon as I get the sashing and borders on. I also got the borders put on the Zig-Zag quilt I've been working on. I still need to put some ric rac on. Steven and I actually went to get the thread for this on Saturday evening and got to Hancock's just as it closed, so it wasn't meant to be. Instead we went to eat at a new place called Newk's, which is kind of like Panera Bread but yummier! I had a baked chicken sandwich and salad and it was soooo good. They also have wine by the glass so you can relax and enjoy a glass with dinner. After dinner we went to a little bakery called Gigi's Cupcakes which I had been wanting to try because I just love cupcakes. The cupcakes were pretty good, but waaaaay to much icing in my opinion.
On Sunday we laid low and didn't go any where. We didn't have any special holiday plans since my family is out of town at the moment, and Steven had to be at work around 5 am the next morning. I did make some homemade chocolate chip cookies using a new recipe from V and Co. that has instant pudding in the dough in place of white sugar. The cookies are good, but very soft. I like my cookies a bit crunchier. If you prefer soft cookies, this is definitely a good recipe for you.
I also caught the last day of the semi-annual sale at Bath and Body Works online. Hand soap was 4 for $10 and I had a 20% off coupon and free shipping. My soap ended up being $2 per bottle which is such a great bargain for their terrific smelling soap. I always stock up once or twice a year when its on sale.
On Monday we went to lunch at the new Panda Express in our town. Steven is a Chinese food junkie. He'd probably eat it every day if I'd consent. After that we went to see Eclipse. Steven is Team Jacob, I'm Team Edward, LOL. We enjoyed the movie. I noticed almost every preview stated that their coming attractions were in 3D. Am I the only person who hates 3D movies? I feel cross-eyed most of the movie and then for the next few hours or more I get "3D hangover" dizzy feeling, headache, blah. Give me a 2D move any day please! After that we picked up a few groceries and headed home.
My fortune from Panda Express
Today my sweetie requested that I make my homemade potato soup. It's his fave and since the poor guy worked all weekend I obliged him. A couple of years ago after trying several different recipes and not coming up with anything great, I decided to get brave and just make up my own. My measurements aren't exact because I've made it so many times I just wing it now, but below is my potato soup recipe if you'd like to try it:
Caylee's Potato Soup
Potatoes peeled and diced, enough to fill up a large mixing bowl or 6 15 oz cans of diced potatoes
1 regular size can cream of chicken soup
1 2lb box chicken stock
Water
Flour
1 lb bacon
1 medium yellow onion
1 cup half and half
3 to 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese depending on how much you want for topping
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 tsp Tabasco or more to taste
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Chopped green onions for topping
Chop uncooked bacon in to small bite-size-ish pieces and cook in a skillet until fully cooked (but not over cooked). Reserve 4 Tbsp bacon grease and drain bacon on paper towel lined plate. While bacon is cooking, finely chop the yellow onion (I used a Vidalia Onion Chopper and it works great!) In a large pot (I used my biggest pot, the one with 2 handles) cook the chopped onion in the 4 Tbsp bacon grease until onion starts to turn light brown. Add the chicken stock, the cream of chicken soup, and 1 can of water to the pot over medium high heat. Stir until well combined. Add basil, garlic, salt and pepper. Add the diced potatoes and 2/3 of the cooked bacon. Bring to boil over medium high heat. If you're using raw potatoes, then you'll need to boil the soup long enough for the potatoes to become tender, this could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour depending on the size you cut the potatoes to. I used to be a stickler about using raw potatoes here, but have lately discovered that there is no taste difference if I used canned, and it saves a lot of time and cleanup. If you use the canned potatoes, then I let it sit at a rapid boil for 10 minutes and then take it off the heat onto a hot pad. Now here's where it may sound weird to you. To thicken the soup, I take a large ladle and put three ladle-fulls of BROTH ONLY (try to leave the solid stuff out of this) into a separate medium sized bowl. Start gradually adding flour little by little to the broth you just sat aside. With a rubber spatula mix the flour and broth together until it begins to resemble the consistency of mashed potatoes. Now add the "mashed potato" mixture back to the large pot of soup a little at a time mixing in between each addition to combine thoroughly. This thickens up my soup nicely. Now stir in the half and half, 2 good handfuls of cheddar cheese, and the Tabasco sauce (Don't' be afraid if you don't like Tabasco. I hate the stuff but its good in this) Once everything is well combined, then you're soup is ready to eat! Garnish with the remaining bacon, cheese, and green onion. I usually make yeast rolls to go with this. This makes a lot of soup. Each time I make it we have it at least twice for dinner and then we both have it for lunch here and there also.
Wow, that was longer than I thought!
Tata for now.
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