Word Family Uno, New Slow Cooker, and More - The Walnut Acre Daily Saturday November 30, 2013

WORDS TO LIVE BY

Trust in the Lord, all you that worship Him, He helps you and protects you. ~ Psalm 115:11 ~

WORKING, LEARNING AND PLAYING TOGETHER

Today was a quiet, good, productive day. Michael and Mateah enjoyed playing together most of the day. They get along so well and have so much fun together. They drew pictures, played outside a for short periods of time, and just had a great time together. 

We got a lot of work done around the house - laundry, cleaning, and cooking. Doug worked in the garage some too. 

I found a wonderful  Free Word Family Game: Uno (Short a) at The Measured Mom. There is an option to print to print these cards with a balloon print back but I chose to leave the backs of the Uno cards blank and instead use the back design to make word memory and addition fact memory games. After printing and before cutting them out I laminated the cards to make them more durable. The kids are going to love having new games next week and I love that they are covering important subject matter.

 

 IN THE KITCHEN

For brunch this morning we had sausage patties, hash browns, grits, blueberries and coffee. The kids snacked on the leftover blueberries and hash browns all afternoon. 

This evening we had chili, corn bread and oranges for dinner. The chili smelled so good in the slow cooker all day and was a great meal for this cold evening. 

When I went to wash up the slow cooker I realized that it had a large crack in the side. I had told my sister I would bring it down to her house so she could put the pot roast in it for our family dinner after church tomorrow. Doug suggested we go to Wal-mart and get another one. I use the slow cooker often and I knew it was really needed tomorrow so that's what we decided to do. I'm happy with the new one. It's even better than my old one - larger and with more cooking options. And I also got a small 16 ounce slow cooker for sauces and things like that. 

FURRY, FEATHERED AND FOUR FOOTED FRIENDS

These two little critters are so hopeful that Amanda will slip them a bite of the delicious food they are sure she is making. If only they realized it's only a banana she's cutting up.

OUT AND ABOUT

I had to pick my friend up from work again this afternoon and on the way home we stopped and got a few things from the grocery store. Then of course we ended up going back out to Wal-mart this evening for the slow cooker and taking it to my sister. 

TODAY'S QUOTE

Enough is as good as a feast. ~ Old English Proverb

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Tuesday - Tutorials & Tips Link Party

Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Soup

On Tuesday evenings Amanda does volunteer work at the SPCA and I go with her. Since I'm not home to make dinner that evening I like to have something in the slow cooker so we can eat as soon as Amanda and I get home. I found this recipe for Crockpot Bacon Cheeseburger Soup, made some adaptations and put it in the slow cooker this morning. 

1 lb ground beef, browned

2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes

1 onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

3 carrots, diced

2 potatoes, diced

1 cup frozen corn

8 oz cream cheese

4 beef bouillon cubes

4 cups water

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Mix all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low for 7-9 hours.

Ten minutes before time to serve add . . . 

1/4 cup flour

1 cup milk

2 cups cheddar cheese.

Mix flour and milk together stirring until smooth. Stir this mixture and the cheese into the soup. Cover and cook for ten minutes or until cheese is melted. 

Serve and enjoy.

Austin and Amanda insisted that this should not be called Cheeseburger soup because they had never seen a cheeseburger with carrots, corn, celery or potatoes on it! But it was still given a nod of approval by most - Austin ate two bowls of it and asked me to make it again, CJ said it was good and ate two bowls of it, Michael finished his bowl of soup even though when he first saw it he said he didn't want any and Doug said it was fine to put some in his lunch tomorrow. Amanda on the other hand did not approve . . . but there are a LOT of foods Amanda does not approve of so I'm not taking that too seriously. 

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Slow Cooker Cauliflower, Cheese and Bacon Soup

We tried this yummy soup today in the slow cooker and enjoyed it. It's very simple to put together and then the slow cooker takes care of the rest. 

Here is the recipe.

2 heads cauliflower, chopped

1/2 pound bacon, browned and chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

3 cups milk

1 lb velveeta cheese

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

pepper to taste

garlic powder to taste

Combine all ingredients and cook on low for eight hours. 

Enjoy!

Notes - If needed up to a cup of water can be added as the soup cooks. I added the water at the beginning and wished I hadn't. Also, I didn't add any salt and thought is was great the way it was. And this is from a person who nearly always adds more salt to her food. 

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