Sausage and Potato Chowder

Nothing beats a nice, hot bowl of soup on a chilly fall evening.  And this soup is so good!

I had about a pound of smoked sausage left over from another recipe, and an 8 oz. package of diced ham that I wanted to use up.  I was debating what to make with it, and finally decided I would make a pot of soup that could simmer for awhile so I could get some other chores done.

I just kind of decided what to put in as I went along, and it turned out so good!  I used gluten free cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup from Wal Mart.  It's just their private label stuff, but it is so good!  I use it all the time and no one can tell!  I think it's $1.39 a can, or something like that, and they have tomato soup as well.  So good!  If you don't need to make it gluten free, just use regular cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup.  Velveeta is gluten free, and I love to use it in soups because it melts so nicely.  Just makes it creamy!

The only thing to watch in this soup is the amount of water you use.  I needed to add an extra cup after I cooked the potatoes awhile.  You could also use milk, if you want to.  You will just have to judge as you go along.

Here is the recipe for the soup:
For a printable recipe card, please click HERE.

I hope you like it!  We sure did!

Looking for more meal ideas?  Check out my Weekly Menu Plan for this week!

This recipe is being shared at:
Meal Plan Monday #133 at Southern Bite
Full Plate Thursday at Miz Helen's Country Cottage 

Weekly Menu Plan for Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2018

Hard to believe, yet here we are saying goodbye to September!  Although here in Indiana, summer is making a comeback this week as we are looking at low to mid-80's all week long!  But the cooler evenings and chilly mornings definitely let us know fall and winter are lurking around the corner!

This week I spent some time trying to catch up on some sewing projects, but not much progress made.  Bummer.  Whenever I leave a sewing project lie around for awhile, it takes me SO LONG to get back into it!  I read and re-read directions, try to figure out what in the world I was doing, where I left off, and by that time it's time to go make dinner or do something else.  But I refuse to get more stuff out until I finish a few things.  Crossing my fingers I will do better this week.

Last night I went and bought some cute little fall decorations at The Christmas Tree Shop.  I love that store!  I am trying to achieve a more Pinterest-worthy fall mantel, even though I am seriously decorating-impaired.  We'll see how it turns out! There's always room for new learning and trying out new things!

This week's menu is a pretty easy one.  I needed more time for sewing!!  But still lots of yummy treats for dinner!

Here is this week's menu:
For a printable menu, please click HERE.
Recipe links and notes are below.

Sunday:
Grilled Hamburgers - this is just my own concoction, but nice for the fall.  We grill out regular burgers, but top them with slices of deli ham fried up in a skillet until the edges are crisp, sautéed onions, a piece of swiss cheese, lettuce, and beer mustard.  Serve them on a pretzel roll, and you have a burger worthy of any Oktoberfest!

Monday:
Speedy Chicken Ala King is from Genius Kitchen - I like to serve it over mashed potatoes, but you can serve it over toast, baked potatoes, biscuits, egg noodles, whatever you like!
Dutch Apple Pie with Cinnamon Roll Crust is from 21 Rosemary Lane - the family really likes this pie!

Wednesday:
Shepherd's Pie is from Cincy Shopper - it seems as if I must have a taste for mashed potatoes this week!  Since I always buy a 10# bag of them from Aldis, I'm sure I'll have enough!
Cheddar Bay Biscuits are from The Slow Roasted Italian - I have made these many times for my family, and they just love them!  Pretty much like Red Lobster's biscuits, but my grandgirls think they are even better!
No Bake Twinkie Cake is from The Country Cook - easy and yummy every time!

Thursday:
Baked Ziti is from Budget Savvy Diva - this is a new one for me this week!
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars are from Honey and Butter - another new one, but they sound so yummy! And I can easily put these in my granddaughter's lunch box!

Friday:
Tilapia Parmesan is from Genius Kitchen - my husband loves fish, so this one's for him!
Broccoli, Rice, and Cheese Casserole is from An Affair From The Heart - this is an oldie but goodie!

Saturday:
Hearty Beef Soup is from The Slow Roasted Italian - pure comfort food
Sweet Butter Bread is from Genius Kitchen - so good, makes me wish I could eat it!!  This is a bread machine recipe, easy and smells so delicious!!
German Chocolate Sheet Cake is from Chef In Training

That's it for another week!  I hope you find my menus helpful, and you find some recipes you like!  Have a wonderful week!

Click HERE to see the parties I link to!

Apple Cobbler Oatmeal

Fall.  Apples.  Pumpkins.  It's so predictable, but so right!  The first hint of fall weather and all I crave are apples in EVERYTHING and pumpkin spice.  

This morning I got up and was ready to make Apple Cinnamon Waffles, but I just didn't feel like making them today.  What I wanted was a nice big bowl of oatmeal, and apple pie.  Just one of those crazy cravings!

So, I made Apple Cobbler Oatmeal instead.  Just throw everything in a big bowl, mix it up real good, and bake it.  Easy as pie! Even easier!

The kitchen smelled like apple heaven, and breakfast tasted like a warm apple pie oatmeal cookie.  So good!  Just perfect for this morning - and any morning, for that matter!

I ate mine plain.

But my husband poured some warmed milk on his.  He said warm milk on Apple Cobbler Oatmeal makes it breakfast, but tonight vanilla ice cream on it will make it dessert!  Great idea!

However you eat it, I think you'll enjoy a taste of fall with every bite!

Here is the recipe card:
For a printable recipe card, please click HERE.

Enjoy your breakfast!

Weekly Menu Plan for Week of September 23 to 29, 2018

I blinked and here we are at the last full week of September!  Yesterday was hot and humid, then today it turns to fall and it is chilly and rainy!  Summer just skidded to a stop!

We have had a fun September, full of birthdays, marching band contests, and football games.  I can't wait to see what October brings!  Fall fun!

We had some major hits from last week's menu plan.  The Crockpot Mississippi Pot Roast was a huge success.  I added a can of gluten free cream of mushroom soup to the ranch dressing and onion soup mixes, and wow!  It was so good!  Also, Trisha Yearwood's Crockpot Pork Loin was delicious! I wound up watching the grandgirls last night so Mom and Dad could have a date night, and made them the Chicken Chow Mein from Dinner At The Zoo.  They gobbled it up and raved about it!  I didn't try it because it had wheat noodles, but judging from their statements it was delicious!

So on to this week's menu.  The cooler week ahead called for some soup, and I'm using up a lot of frozen chicken I have in the freezer.  Every time I go to Sams Club I buy a big bag of frozen chicken tenderloins, and when I opened the freezer this week it looked like the Tyson factory exploded in there!  So I thought I better use up some more of it!

Here is my menu for the week:
If you would like a printable version of the menu, please click HERE.
Recipe links and notes are below.

Recipe links:

Sunday:
Apple Cinnamon Waffles are from Betty Crocker
Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken is from The Recipe Critic

Monday:
Sausage 'N Sauerkraut is from Taste of Home - this is one of my favorites!  I don't know why we love this so much, but it is just so good, and easy!  We always have it over mashed potatoes.  Pure comfort food here!
Apple Butter Bread is from Lemon Drop - This is a bread machine recipe.  It is the only way I make homemade bread!  Love my bread machine for both regular and gluten free breads!
Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake is from Plain Chicken

Tuesday:
Chicken Noodle Soup is from Iowa Girl Eats - this is a really great gluten free recipe! I like to use Rice Noodles that you find in the Chinese food section.  Everyone likes them!
Apple Praline Pie is from The Cottage Journal - never made this one before, and I can't wait to try it!

Thursday:
Chicken Pot Pie is from Dizzy, Busy, and Hungry
Fried Apples are from Deep South Dish
Chocolate Mousse is from Southern Bite

Friday:
Tuna Pasta Salad is from Five Dollar Dinners

Saturday:
3 Ingredient Pork Chops are from Plain Chicken
Ho Ho Cake is from Six Sisters Stuff

And that wraps it up for the last week of September! Hope your first week of fall is a good one!!

View here for places I party and share - you will find an amazing amount of posts with recipes and crafts!

Gluten Free Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Last week, I was using up a ton of over-ripe bananas that somehow found their way into my kitchen.  After making a loaf of banana bread, I still had 4 bananas left.  After searching around for a good banana cake recipe, I found this one at Spend With Pennies.  And I have to tell you, she was right...this is the BEST banana cake I ever made!

I used the recipe at Spend With Pennies and adjusted it to make it gluten free.  It turned out fabulous!  But if you are not gluten free, use the recipe Holly has on her site because it is awesome!  It actually didn't take much tweaking to make it gluten free, just changed the flour and added some more liquid with an extra banana and an extra egg.  Easy Peasy!

Here is the recipe if you'd like to try it:
For a printable recipe, please click HERE.

This is a really good banana cake, and it keeps well in the fridge!  It stayed fresh and moist for 3 days, until it was gone!
Thanks, Holly, at Spend With Pennies for an awesome recipe!

Weekly Menu Plan for September 16-22, 2018

Good morning!  I'm still on my first cup of coffee, so if this post isn't making any sense, I'll blame it on caffeine deficiency.

Last week, I got behind in just about everything.  It seems no matter how I planned to spend my day, something else came up and I got sidetracked.  So this weekend I have been playing catch-up, but I'm not where I need to be yet to start a new week!  Does that ever happen to anyone else??  Hopefully, after a couple cups of coffee, I will be ready to tackle this day and be ready for the coming week!

My menu plan this week has some of our favorites on it.  Even though it looks like summer has returned for this coming week, I am still cooking like it is cooler fall weather.  That little taste of fall we had last week just made me crave fall weather food.

Here is the menu plan for this week:
For a printable copy, please click HERE.
Recipe links are below.

Recipe links:

Sunday:

Trisha Yearwood's Crockpot Pork Loin is from Food Network - this turns out great every time!

Monday:

Crockpot Mississippi Pot Roast is from The Country Cook - I haven't made this before, but it sounds really good and I love just about everything from this site!

Lemon Custard Cake is from Taste of Home - I have made this so many times, and it is always a favorite with my family.  You can switch out the pie filling to other flavors, and it's still good!

Tuesday:

Slow Cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu is from Chef In Training

Stick of Butter Rice is from Thirty Handmade Days - this is a classic side dish, everyone loves it.

Pea Salad is from Love Bakes Good Cakes

Easy French Silk Pie is from The Domestic Rebel

Wednesday:

Ground Beef Stroganoff is from Reasons To Skip The Housework

Friday:

Pizza Burgers are from The Taylor House

Three Musketeer Chocolate Cake is from Just A Pinch

Saturday:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie is from Like Mother Like Daughter

Chicken Chow Mein is from Dinner At The Zoo

And there you go!  Another week of good home cooking!  Hope you find something you want to try!

This and That Zippered Pouch

I made another zippered pouch.

I cannot quit making pouches.  I love them!  I used (loosely) a pattern called This and That from No. 2 Abbey Lane.  I LOVE this pattern, and the next one I make is going to be following their directions!

I messed up on this pouch from the get-go.  The original pattern is more of a patchwork effect, but I liked the texted fabric so much I didn't want to cut it into small pieces.  So I altered the size and the blocks.  When I cut out the pieces, I cut the wrong sizes twice! Then, the pattern came with the flocked letters 'This & That', but after I put the black strip in the middle I realized the letters wouldn't show up.  So I had to go buy iron ons.  When I ironed the letters on, they took up the entire space across the front, so I only had a little seam allowance left or I would sew over the last T in THAT.

But, after all those mess-ups, I still wound up with a really cute pouch!  I like it!

I made this one for my youngest granddaughter's teacher.  Just a little back to school gift!  Gotta love those teachers!!  After I made it, we stuffed it with all kinds of goodies - little soaps, lotion, Burt's Bees lip gloss, pens, a small can of Lysol spray, wet wipes, Tylenol, and a bunch of snack size candy bars!

We sure hope she likes it!  I love the little pencil charm on the zipper pull!

Now off to start another pouch!

Gluten Free Banana Bread

Last week, I had a ton of over-ripe bananas.  I mean a TON!  I don't know where they came from!  It was like they appeared overnight!

I knew I had to bake some banana bread.  But if I make normal banana bread (with gluten), I don't get any.  And for some reason I was craving banana bread.

So I had an idea.  I wanted to try making banana bread using Aldi's Gluten Free Yellow Baking Mix, which is really (I think) their gluten free yellow cake mix.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out, and I figured it would probably flop.

But I was wrong!  It turned out BEAUTIFULLY!  Everyone liked it, including all family members who eat gluten by the truckload!  The recipe is super easy, and such a nice treat!

It came out moist, flavorful, and quite yummy for breakfast or snacking!  

Give this recipe a try, especially if you eat gluten free like I do!

Here is the recipe:

For a printable recipe, please click HERE.  

Hope you like it!

This recipe is linked up to Meal Plan Monday at Southern Bite and Weekend Potluck at South Your Mouth. 

Weekly Menu Plan for Sept. 9 to 15, 2018

I can feel autumn in the air!  It's such a cozy time of year.  I love getting out the sweaters and sweatshirts, high school football games, apple cider, apple pie, apple EVERYTHING!  And...my pumpkin spice cheerios are back!! Thank you Cheerios for making gluten free pumpkin spice cheerios!!  

This week's menu is just a hodgepodge of tried and trues mixed with some new ones.  I wasn't feeling particularly inspired with planning this week, for some reason.  Maybe the rain affected my brain!  I just wanted to spend most of my time cross stitching, curled up in my chair in front of the TV.  

Today I am going to experiment with some gluten free banana bread baking.  Crossing my fingers it will work!  I have a plan.....and of course it will probably backfire!  But if it works, I'll be sure to let you know!

Here is the menu plan for this week:

For a printable version, please click HERE. 

Recipe links and notes are below.

Recipe Links:

Sunday:
Bacon and Egg Muffins are from The Busy Baker
Barbecued Chicken Pizza is from Will Cook for Friends
Peach Cobbler is from Gonna Want Seconds

Monday:
Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup is from It's Always Autumn ( I LOVE this lady's blog! Definitely one of my favorites.)
German Chocolate Bundt Cake is from A Bountiful Kitchen

Tuesday:
Chicken Fried Rice is from Life in the Lofthouse

Wednesday:
5 Layer Peach Cobbler Coffee Cake is from Genius Kitchen (tried and true and FABULOUS!)

Thursday:
Tuna Casserole is from Art and the Kitchen

Friday:
Apple Cinnamon Pancakes are from Crème De la Crumb
Sausage Cabbage Dinner is from The Seasoned Mom
Dutch Apple Pie is from my good old friend Betty Crocker

Saturday:
Meatloaf is from Yummy Healthy Easy

That's it for this week's menu!  Hope you all have a great week of fall fun and family!

This post is linked to

No Bake Key Lime Cheesecake Pie

I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!  We enjoyed ours, and due to a last minute change in plans, I had to come up with a quick dessert to take to a picnic.

I only had about 5 hours notice, and it was SO. HOT. I couldn't think of baking anything!  I took a quick look in my pantry, and thankfully I had stocked up on pre-made graham cracker crusts.  I decided a cream pie would be quick, and as I checked my canned pie fillings, I saw a can of Key Lime Crème pie filling I had bought last month.  I always make my own Key Lime pie filling, but I had never seen it in a can before!  So into the cart it went, because I was curious to see if it was any good.  It is made by Duncan Hines, and I got mine at Meier.  

I only had 1 can, so I knew I had to add something else.  I always keep cream cheese in the fridge, so I took 2 pkgs. out, and was debating how to make a key lime cheesecake filling when I spotted a few cans of sweetened condensed milk in the pantry.  Voila!  The dessert was born!  I pulled a tub of Cool Whip out of the freezer, and an hour later was ready to assemble the pie.

There was a lot of filling, and you can't really tell from the picture, but I mounded it all up nice and high like a Mile High Pie!  It was nice and thick and creamy - and I saved the last little bit for me to sample.  The crust wasn't gluten free, but the filling was, and it was quite delicious!

It only took a few minutes to mix up, and I put it right in the fridge to set.  I like creamy pies to set up nicely, and not run when you slice it.  In fact, I like all my pies that way!  Too much juice just makes a soggy mess!  So I was hoping it would set up nice and firm, and it did!

Here is a fresh slice of pie, and look how creamy and yummy it looks!  Everyone loved it!  It had a nice hint of lime, not as much as a regular key lime pie, but still you could definitely taste it.  It was cold, creamy, and very refreshing!  I think you will like it!  And it couldn't be much easier to whip up!

Here is the recipe:

For a printable version, please click HERE.

I am linking this up to Meal Plan Monday #129 at Southern Bite.

For more ideas on what to serve this week, check out my Weekly Menu Plans.  Click HERE to see this week's menu plan.  Hope you find something you like!

Weekly Menu Plan Sept. 2 to 8, 2018

Happy September!  This year is flying by, but I have to admit I love this time of year!

Even though it is still hot and humid here, you can feel fall in the air.  The mornings are a bit cooler, there is a gentle breeze blowing almost all day, and just the way the sun shines on the trees looks like fall is near.  And of course the sun is coming up later in the morning, and going down earlier in the evenings.  Time to start more inside time!  I am looking forward to some cozy, candle-lit nights cross-stitching and watching some favorite old movies.  And maybe a caramel apple or two!

I think it is so important to make good meals for my family.  First off, it is one way I nurture them.  I take time to plan for them, I take time to prepare food for them, and I take time to care for them.  In the world today, I see so many moms that are just too busy to nurture their families.  They have so many responsibilities outside of their homes, that no one has much time to nurture what is INSIDE their homes.  Families need taken care of!  They need moms and grandmas that TAKE time to SPEND time with them!  My family includes, for me, a husband, children, and grandchildren.  There are plenty of people for me to love and care for around here! And there are plenty of days when my grown kids don't have time to think about meal time, so I try to help out as often and as much as I can.  That is why I cook like I do, so there is always plenty to go around!  And believe me, it does go around!

That being said, my kids (jokingly, I hope) often call me Marie Barone!  You know, Doris Roberts' character on Everybody Loves Raymond!  Yep, that is pretty much me.  And my husband is pretty much Frank!!

But enough about that!  Let's get on to this week's menu plan!  We are grilling this weekend, and then it's back to routine cooking and cleaning for me!  I am so looking forward to baking some yummy fall treats as soon as this heatwave ends!  I did include a couple apple recipes in this week's menu, even though I haven't made it to the apple orchard yet!

For a printable version of my menu plan, please click HERE.
Recipe links are below.

Sunday:

German Apple Pancakes are from Smoked 'N Grilled

Lemon Pepper Grilled Chicken is from Plain Chicken

No Bake Cherry Cheesecake Bars is from Just So Tasty

Monday:

Best Ever Potato Salad is from Brown Eyed Baker

Peach Crisp is from Tastes Better From Scratch

Tuesday:

Apple Pie Baked Oatmeal is from Quaker Oats

Sausage Quiche is from Genius Kitchen

Southern Ambrosia Salad is from The Country Cook

Wednesday:

Classic French Toast is from Tastes Better From Scratch

Thursday:

Tuna Macaroni Salad is from The Country Cook

Saturday:

Paula Deen's Apple Pie is from Something Swanky (although technically I guess it's from Paula Deen!)

That's it for this week!  I hope you find something that you and your family enjoy!

No Bake Twinkie Cake is also from The Country Cook - my family loves this dessert!

That's it for this week!  I hope you and your family have a great week!

This menu was shared at Coffee With s 3 Pintastic Party #225!