Cheeseburger Soup

 

Ingredients:

5-6 strips of cooked bacon

1 lb hamburger

¼ cup butter

½ onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

6 Tbsp flour

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup whipping cream (Use milk if you don’t have whipping cream; it just won't be as thick) 

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 pound potatoes (3-4 medium), peeled and diced

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional diced pickles

Start by browning the hamburger. Drain the grease and remove the burger to a paper towel-lined plate. 

Melt the butter in the pot. Add the onion and celery and sauté for a couple of minutes. Whisk in the garlic and flour. Let that cook for about a minute. Whisk in the chicken broth. 

Add the whipping cream, Worcestershire sauce, potatoes, and burger to the pot. Cover and let simmer for about 15 minutes. When the potatoes are cooked, remove from the heat and stir in the cheese. Add the cooked bacon pieces and salt and pepper to taste. 

Bouquet Charcuterie

 

I used a brown paper lunch bag to make the bouquet wrap. I cut it open and trimmed it into a rectangular shape. Then I hot glued it together in the design above. I added ribbon and a sticker for decoration. I pushed breadsticks out the bottom to resemble flower stems. Then I just filled it in with a variety of cheese and meat flowers, fruits, crackers, a mini sparkling juice from the Dollar Tree, and a Mother's Day Little Debbie. 

Instant Pot Brown Fried Rice

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups washed brown rice. 

1 Tbsp oil

1/2 cup chopped onions

2 tsp minced ginger

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 1/4 cup water

3 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

4 eggs scrambled

optional: cooked peas and/or carrots

Turn your instant pot to sauté. Add the oil and onions. Sauté for about 1 minute. 

Turn the instant pot off. Sauté the ginger and garlic for about 20 seconds. Add the water, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. Stir to mix. 

Add the rice and don't stir. Just press the rice down until it is covered by the liquid. 

Close the lid and cook on high pressure for 25 minutes. Let it naturally release for 10 minutes. Then finish releasing. 

Add cooked vegetables and the scrambled eggs. You could also add cooked chicken. I added fried salmon bites to this batch. It was delicious. 

 

Flag Charcuterie Board

 

Book Cake

 

Teacher Retirement Cake-Driver's Training Theme

 

NFL Draft Party

 

We are pretty big Detroit Lions fans, so we had a little party to watch the first picks of the draft. 

These were meatball/spaghetti sauce/mozzarella cheese stuffed pie dough footballs. I brushed them with egg wash and cooked for about 8 min. 

May the 4th Be With You Party

 

Kentucky Derby Party

 

For the Kentucky Derby we had virgin mint juleps, chicken tenders, hot brown bites, horseshoe cocoa krispies, and salami roses. 

Cinco de Mayo Party

 

We had a taco bar, chicken fajitas, and churros for Cinco de Mayo. 

Homemade Churros

 

Ingredients: 

1 cup water

2 1/2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp oil

1 cup flour

Topping:

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Oil for frying

Start by putting the water, sugar, salt, and 2 Tbsp oil in a saucepan. Boil and add the flour. 

Remove from heat and stir until it forms a dough. 

I didn't have a piping bag, so I just put balls of dough into a star tip and pressed it through to make short churros. 

Heat oil to 375 degrees and add the churro dough to the pan. Fry until they are golden. 

Roll the hot churro in the cinnamon and sugar. 

Solar Eclipse Dinner

 We have been waiting for the Solar Eclipse since the last one in 2017. We did a few of the same things and added some new food options for our eclipse-themed dinner party. 

I froze orange juice in our round ice mold. I put melted white chocolate around the rim of the glass and dipped it into yellow sprinkles. Then I added a drop of black food gel to the cup of Sprite before adding the orange juice ice. 

I checked out a couple of books about the sun from our public library. We put the Earth/Moon/Sun Lego together, and bought some eclipse shirts. I also decorated a small round cake to resemble the sun. I used blueberries and pineapple to make a sun fruit tray, and made an Oreo eclipse display. 

We had cheese bread with pepperoni showing the eclipse stages. 

I baked some brownies in a round cake pan and put a mason jar lid in the middle while I sprinkled powdered sugar on the brownie. I removed the lid before serving. I also cut some mozzarella and cheddar cheese into triangles and placed them around a small bowl of grapes. 

The eclipse care package had Starburst, Sun Chips, Cosmic Crisp apples, Sunkist pop, Sunny-D, Orbit gum, Eclipse gun, Cosmic Brownies, Star Crunch, and Milky Ways. 

Unicorn Cake

 

Read Across America Party

For Read Across America Day this year, Rachel and I gave ourselves a challenge to read a book that is set in each state. We gathered some from our shelves and from the local library. We found 17 to start with. We are going to color each state as we read the books. 

 

Homemade Fondant

Put one 16 oz bag of mini marshmallows and 2 Tbsp water in a microwavable bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minutes. Stir. Heat for another minute and stir. If it is not fully melted, heat for another 30 seconds. 

Add four cups of sifted powdered sugar to the marshmallows. 

Stir

Spread Crisco on the counter. Dump the marshmallow/sugar mixture out. Add two more cups of powdered sugar and knead. You will need to put Crisco all over your hands while you knead the dough. 

Break off amounts of dough to color. 

Add the food gel and knead. 

Put Crisco over the dough and wrap in plastic wrap. Store in a Tupperware and put in the fridge until ready to use.