The Rose Cake

I just finished course 1 in cake decorating. Our final cake was the rose cake. Don't look to close, but I am pretty happy with it.

The Yummiest Soup

My sister-in-law gave me this soup recipe a few years ago and it has become a family favorite. The name sounds gross and it has Velveeta cheese in it - but seriously, this is the best soup. Be brave and try it. I promise your family will ask for seconds.

Cheeseburger Soup

• 1/2-1lb ground beef (I use ground turkey)
• 1 small onion finely chopped (I use a food processor for all the chopping)
• 3/4 cup finely chopped carrots
• 3/4 cup finely chopped celery
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups peeled, diced potatoes (I dice them small)
• 2 TB cornstarch mixed with a little water
• 8 oz Velveeta American cheese (If you want you can use shredded cheddar)
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup sour cream

Prepare all your ingredients before you start. Brown the beef or turkey, drain the fat, and set aside. In your soup pot, saute onions, celery, carrots, basil, and parsley in a little olive oil. Once they soften, add chicken broth, potatoes, and beef or turkey. Bring to a boil then cover, reduce the heat and simmer for a good 20 minutes. (I like it when the potatoes are really soft)

While stirring add the cornstarch mixture until soup thickens. Turn heat to low and add the cheese (make sure you cut it up or it takes forever to melt), milk, salt, and pepper. When the cheese is melted, remove from heat and add the sour cream.

Serve and enjoy.

Halloween Madness

Halloween was crazy for me. I got home from science camp at 1pm. I threw my bags in the house and immediately started putting together our haunted house.

Somehow we pulled it all together and had a great time! Our friends even brought their popcorn and cotton candy machine and passed out the goodies to those waiting to go in the haunted house.

The real bummer is that I was in such a rush to get it together, that I didn't take any pictures. Luckily I was able to steal a few from my friend Meredith!

Jeff played the crazy witch doctor. He bought a wireless microphone this year. It was so funny to listened to him torment all the neighbor kids with his booming scary voice. I was the bush in the corner that jumped out at you.

Sammi got to ham it up as the wicked witch!

Our friend Shane, (in the mask) was a hit with all the Asian ladies!

Back from Camp

I survived 3 days of chaperoning 11 year olds at science camp. I have never heard so much giggling in my entire life. (Well maybe when I went to 6th grade camp)

Here's Sammi panning for gold. Gotta love the camping hair-do!

I sure love this kid!

MIA

I am off to 6th grade science camp with my daughter, and won't be back blogging until Thursday.

Until then, my friends...

Happy Halloween!

A Really Good Flick

Jeff is out of town, so I stayed up late and watched this movie.

I was surprised how much I liked it. It was so uplifting and a great movie for the whole family. Check it out here.

Book of the Week

I have been asked what happened to the 'book of the week'. Well, my friend Jen, wrote a 500 page book, and I was lucky enough to do some editing for her. It took me over a month to get through it. (I think she will be famous someday!)

Anyway, here's a book for you. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. This is an incredible story of a man who's ship goes down in the middle of the ocean, and he is stuck on a life boat with a tiger. I have never read anything like it. The end is a kicker. It really throws you and makes you want to go back and figure it all out again. Don't worry, I didn't give anything away.

I have heard from others that they thought the beginning was slow (I didn't think so). Stick it out - it's well worth it!

Happy reading!