Pioneer Woman at Heart

I noticed that a few of my recipes I collected to try, contained quick-to-buy processed foods.  One of those "food" ingredients happened to be condensed tomato soup. I have, in the past, been consistent in making homemade condensed chicken, celery, mushroom, and even cheddar cheese soups.  So making this was super easy.  Last year's tomato harvest gave us a good supply of canned tomato sauce. I decided to not whip up a recipe, but freeze one to see how well it freezes too. Make this when you have opened tomato sauce and have extra that needs used up.   I may even try this by adding water to make "tomato soup" and compare the taste to my lemony-basil tomato soup I canned last fall.

I'm joining Diary of a Stay at Home Mom today.  It's Happy Homemaker Monday!

Say that three times - Bourbon Blueberry Banana Bread.  Ha! I made up the recipe.  Sort of.  I whipped up a loaf of it, and frosted it with an oh-so delicious, bourbon-y frosting.  Not kid friendly, but a guaranteed way to make your bread last longer if you do have kids.  Oh, and I forgot the oil, but because I added blueberries, I was lucky it added some moisture to it.

Saturday was a big shopping day.  We hit four stores to restock dog food, salt for the softener tank, organic meats, and so forth.  We had to make one stop for a new printer too.  We had the trunk filled, our stomachs were empty and screaming for dinner. Thankfully, before we left, I filled the crock pot.  It's my healthier version of Pasta e Fagoli.  I make this with whatever I have, and it always tastes good.  Some years I use tomato sauce and paste, with extra broth, but this time I used some tomato basil soup and paste.  The combination was delicious.  I just had to boil the penne noodles and add them when I got home.

It was a high of 74°F here yesterday.  The wind kicked up, but boy it was the strangest and oddest weather for us.  Although I don't think it broke any weather records.  I hone stly don't remember it ever being this war m in February.  Woke up to find this fella laying near the driveway.  It' s not an odd thing.  Every year we find one there for some reason.  Usually after a rain storm too.  He is far from the river tha t runs behind us, but he may be on his way there from the ditch too.  We left him alone, bu t Kin g wanted to eat him.

Looking for ways to cook green beans? Or Mil let? We had a very good harvest of green beans and this combination of vegetables was not only delicious, but utilized my garden goods we stocked up on. Here is what I did using organic and homegrown ingred ients.

The homemade Kahlua I gifted at Christmas has been a hit.  You can get the link to it here .