Stuffed Cabbage Soup

Well life kind of got away from me yesterday, so this is a day late, but here it is!

Stuffed Cabbage Soup

1 medium Yellow Onion

1 tbl Olive Oil

1 tsp Salt

1 tbl Minced Garlic

1 small Butternut Squash (peeled and cubed)

1 lb Ground Beef

2 tbl Italian Seasoning

3 cups Cabbage/kale

1 can Tomato Sauce (28 oz)

2 cups Chicken Broth

1 cup Rice (Brown)

Heat the olive oil in the pot and add onion and salt. Allow to saute for a few minutes. Add the garlic and butternut squash, the squash is optional, but its a great way to get the kids to eat more veggies. It was Lulu’s favorite part of the soup, she thought they were potatoes. If you don’t have squash add some carrots instead.

Sqoosh all the veggies over and brown the meat on the other side of the pot.

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You could also substitute the beef for turkey.

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While the meat is browning add salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. When the meat has cooked through add the cabbage, I used cabbage and kale.

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Allow the cabbage to wilt only slightly before adding the tomato sauce and chicken broth.

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This is our favorite kind of tomato sauce, if you are going to use canned. A lot of canned sauces taste overly sweet and you have cook them even longer to reduce that sweet flavor.

If you are using instant rice go ahead and let it cook in the sauce, if you aren’t I recommend cooking the rice according to the package before adding it to the soup. Hard rice is sad rice.

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And there you have it, Stuffed Cabbage Soup. I like to add a bay leaf while it simmers.

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Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffins

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I love all things pumpkin. Sunday after church we tried to go to Robinettes the local apple haus, our plan was to get apples for applesauce and a pumpkin pie for family dinner later that night. We got to Robinettes as they were opening and the line was already out through the parking lot…so we ate our picnic on one of their tables outside and went home to make our own pumpkin treat.

and so I introduce you to Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffins

1/3 cup Butter

1 cup Sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw)

1 cup Pumpkin Puree

2 Eggs

2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1/4 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda

2 cups Flour (I used whole wheat)

1/4 cup Milk

8 oz Cream Cheese

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. We used some muffin liners because we had some Halloween ones on hand.

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I had some extra helpers in the kitchen…

Mix butter, 1 cup sugar, and pumpkin

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Add in eggs, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking soda. Mix these items, then add half the flour, then the milk, then the remaining half of the flour. I use my 1/4 cup measuring cup with handle to scoop into the muffin trays, it keeps them consistently the same size and doesn’t over fill the tin.

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Here are my new measuring cups from World Market, and Brandon measuring the sugar, only $12!

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For the cream cheese fililng mix cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, and the vanilla. I put a tablespoon of the filling on each muffin and baked, but next time I am going to layer the filling. So a little batter, then a little filling, then a little more batter. Let me know which way you try.

Bake for 25 mins or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

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Cuddle your babies while you wait for the muffins to bake.

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Enjoy!

Kitchen Remodel Nightmare

My kitchen still isn’t done (we started in April) so I’m not ready to share a before and after, but I need some opinions.

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Here are are the counter tops, backsplash and cabinets we chose. The counter tops are Formica brand solid surface and we’ve had nothing but issues. It has now cracked twice and so we are ripping it out and putting in granite.

I love the white with the maple, but I’m not sure what direction to go with the granite and now I’ve already got my new backsplash in! This isn’t our forever home so I’m not looking to spend a fortune on this remodel, but when I google for inspiration a lot of what comes up is black granite, and I feel that looks like the 90’s.

Anybody have any suggestions, or better yet a picture?!