One Crazy Weekend

Wow, it was a crazy, fun, scary, nerve-racking, silly, exciting, and relieving weekend.

To start off, Thursday (my very crazy day) was piano lessons, literacy night at Tina's school, then soup night at my house. Here are some recipes:

Baked Potato Soup #1

Melt2/3 c. butter and then add 2/3 c. flour. Whisk in 7 c. milk. It will thicken some.
Then add:
4 lg baked potatoes – remove skin and cube
4 green onions, chopped
12 pieces bacon – chopped and fried
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and then add:
1 ½ c. grated cheese
1 c. sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Taco Soup
Brown ¼ - ½ lb. ground beef.
Then drain grease.
Put meat in a large pot or crock pot and add:
1 can of each:
Kidney beans
Black beans
Pinto beans
Hominy
And add:
2 c. salsa.
Heat through and serve with chips and cheese

Baked Potato Soup #2

4 baked potatoes
6 Tbsp butter
½ c. chopped onion
1 c. chopped celery
6 Tbsp flour
5 c. milk
1 Tbsp parsley
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp pepper
5 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
Peel and cube potatoes. Melt butter in large saucepan. Add onion and celery and cook until tender. With wire whisk, stir in flour, salt and pepper. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until thickened and boiling. Stir in potatoes and bacon. Heat through. Spoon into bowls and sprinkle with cheese.

White Bean Chicken Chili

1-2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2-3 boneless, chicken breasts, cubed
2 cans Great Northern white beans
1 can white corn (optional)
1 can chopped green chilis
2 tsp. cumin
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
Heat the oil in a large pot. Add onion and garlic. Saute until the onion is clear. Add chicken and cook til no longer pink. Mix in remaining ingredients. Bring the chili to a boil; reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for 25 min. Serve with grated cheese and tortilla chips.

Egg Drop Soup

4 c. chicken broth, divided
1/8 tsp ground ginger
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ Tbsp cornstarch
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
Reserve ¾ c. of chicken broth and pour the rest into a large saucepan. Stir the salt, ginger and chives into the saucepan, and bring to a rolling boil. In a cup or small bowl, stir together the remaining broth and cornstarch until smooth. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolk together using a fork. Drizzle egg a little at a time from the fork into the boiling broth mixture. Egg should cook immediately. Once the eggs have been dropped, stir in the cornstarch mix gradually until the soup is the desired consistency.

Afterwards, Dave sent me up to Logan for the annual Chambers girls scrapbook getaway weekend. I LOVE spending time with them. We laugh at stories, and get our christmas present for Dave's mom done! Well, I actually did a year's worth of pictures into 32 pages! And I didn't think this year was eventful?! I did get them all finished and I actually like them this year! My favorite layout was one called "My favorites" I asked the family what their favorite things were and then took a picture of them. Here they are:

It was also the Primary program practice on Saturday, and the program was Sunday. So I had to go back over the mountain to practice with the kids. On the way over, the van just jerked really hard and went into neutral, on the highway! My heart was racing. Luckily I had my cell phone and called Dave to come get me. He came and we switched so I could take the kids to the practice while he towed the van with his dad. And yesterday we found out our transmission is DEAD. For those of you who don't know, this can cost over $2,000 to fix. YUCK. Just when we think that we can get out of debt, this happens! So we did get a quote from the car place we took it to - $2,590, but Dave's boss's husband fixes cars and found a transmission with 30,000 miles that he can put in for 1,400 something. Thank goodness, but we will still have to get a loan somehow:( I was relieved when I called to vent to my dad, and he said they had an extra car available, so we do have transportation thank goodness!!

The primary program was a hit! The kids sang the best they ever had and knew their parts very well. I love those kids:) I was glad that we got it done and now we can sing Christmas songs! My favorite!

So there you have it: The good recipes, the fun scrapbook days and primary program, and the very ugly car fixing price:(