Best CREAM of Potato with Bacon and Ham Soup EVER!!!!!

It’s still snowy and kind of yucky out.  ALTHOUGH that winter storm they tried to call a weather state of emergency?  Yeah… NOT SO MUCH!  I swear, the weather people had us prepared for the storm of the century and although it WAS more snow than St. Louis is used to having (in these past few years), the temperature rose to 37 F today and pretty much melted all that ice and snow they wanted to call the national guard about!  lol

what Julia’s lips look like after Hannah brutalized her

That’s okay.  We still had fun.  Julia (teenage munchkin) and her friend went to shovel driveways for the elderly people in the “hood”.  That was a blast in itself because Hannah (friend) knocked Julia (who’s a beast so please don’t feel sorry for her) in the mouth with a shovel.  NOW my little munchkin closely resembles Angelina Jolie!  One fat and bloody lip later, they came walking through the door, cold and hungry.  BTW…  These girls are like boys.  This is the way they play.  Earlier, Julia busted Hannah in the nose and they SWORE it was broken.  WHY did she do this?  Good question.  She says it was because Hannah scared her so she tackled Hannah to make her stop.  IDK.  I don’t get it.  lol  ANYHOO…  Hannah’s mama called to ask me about it. The sad thing is that I hadn’t heard a word about a broken nose (exaggeration)!  It happened in my house, granted it was in the basement but still!  The only way I found out about it is because Hannah “texted” her mother to tell her about it!  lol  Wow, I’m still not going to get that mother of the year award, huh?  Thank GOODNESS Hannah’s mom was okay and we’ve known each other ever since the girls were 7.

what Hannah looked like after Julia brutalized HER nose

Broken nose and busted lip deserves something special on this cold day, I think.  SOooooo…. I whipped up my favorite batch of potato soup.  Actually, this is EVERYONE’S favorite potato soup.  I have people telling me that it’s all they want for Christmas, as in for a Christmas present!  I’ve made half gallon sized mason jars full for family and friends to take home.  It’s THAT good.

Michelle’s Cream of Potato Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb bacon, cut up

4 cups potatoes, peeled and diced

1 large, sweet onion, diced

4 chicken bouillon cubes

2 tsp ground thyme (dried)

bacon grease

1 cup chopped ham

4 cups heavy whipping cream

2 cups milk

2 TBSP parsley flakes

2 TBSP cornstarch mixed in 1/4 cup water

Directions

Fry bacon in a Dutch oven or large soup pot until crisp.  Don’t drain bacon grease.  In the same pan, add potatoes, ham, onion, bouillon cubes and thyme.  Add just enough water to cover potatoes.  Bring mixture to a boil and then turn down heat, cover pot and simmer until potatoes are tender.  Drain potatoes in colander to remove water and return to pot.  Add cream, milk and parsley flakes to potatoes, bacon and ham.  Stir in cornstarch and water mixture for thickening.  Heat through and serve.

This is awesome with a little cheddar cheese added to your bowl!  If you don’t THINK you like potato soup, PLEASE try this one because chances are you’ll love it 🙂

What the girls are doing on this snow day? Making “cotton candy cookies”.

Teenage Munchkin and her BFF are snowed in with us today.  It’s been fun listening to them laugh.  You know teenagers don’t like to be bored and these two definitely aren’t bored.  They  came to me earlier, asking if they can make “cotton candy” cookies!  I’d never heard of this type of cookie but they found a recipe on the net and who was I to say no? EXCEPT that the recipe called for 4.5 cups of flour and all we had was 2 😦  We had  “self rising” flour, so the girls looked up how to substitute self rising for the regular all purpose.

This recipe calls for 4.5 all purpose and if all you have is self rising, you need 2.5 cups.  Hope that made sense.  I’m just going to give you the recipe they found on the net, the way it’s written (without our substitutions).  They were FANTASTIC!  They really just tasted like more of a really good sugar cookie 🙂

Teenage munchkin and her cotton candy cookies.

The mess of flour teenage muchkin left on my floor… but hey!  it’s a snow day, right?  lol

Cotton Candy Cookies

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

4 1/2 all purpose flour

few drops of food color

enough baking sugar to roll unbaked cookies in (they look like crystals) OR you can use regular granulated sugar.

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F

Cream together sugars, butter and cooking oil.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients (the next 4 ingredients), mix to incorporate.  At this point add the food coloring until the desired color.  Roll dough into small balls about the size of a quarter.  Roll ball into baking sugar.  Using a heavy bottom crystal vase or a cookie press dipped into bakers sugar (or regular sugar), smash ball out flat, leaving an imprint from cookie press (stamp) or bottom of vase.  Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.  Cool slightly before transferring to baking rack.

*I realize this recipe isn’t written the way I’d like it to be, where it’s easy to follow.  However, my girls followed it just fine and the cookies turned out perfect!

**we used enough blue food coloring for these cookies to look like a light blue cotton candy.  Especially after rolled in bakers sugar.

Snow day FINALLY!

We FINALLY have an official winter storm!  Yay Missouri!  I KNEW we had it in us to produce at least SOME snow!  The funny thing is that when I was growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, there was ALWAYS snow.  Tons of it.  We made igloos like this one:

(this one wasn’t ours but this LOOKS just like it)

We climber mountains  hills in our back yard and got lost.  By the time we made it home, we had frost bite.  Oh and we didn’t die! lol  We were better for the experience.  We ice skated in the caves behind our house and we (even the adults) made bon fires at night so we could warm up when sledding down the hill by our house, in the dark.  I can’t figure out why we don’t ave snow like we used to?  In 1982, we had over 3 feet of snow.  Most snow falls were over 6 inches.  NOW?  We’re lucky to get 3 inches and we’re ALSO lucky to get more than 2 snow falls during the winter.

I feel SO happy that we get to be snowed in today!  Here’s a pic of when it was just getting started early this morning.

White out at 2:00 pm

white out now.

More snow and ice predicted and a weather emergency has been declared.  We’re watching the traffic jam on the news now.  I’m amazed that some employers forced their people to come in, especially when we were told YESTERDAY that MODOT wanted everyone OFF the roads by 10 am!  They’re telling us that some employers didn’t care and wanted a regular work day.  NOW people are trying to get home and are stranded on the highways.  Some people have run out of gas, some people have just run off the road.  I’m feeling pretty thankful that I don’t have to work.

It’s nice to stay snuggled under the blanket, where it’s warm and so close to the refrigerator!  lol

““I love snow for the same reason I love Christmas: It brings people together while time stands still. Cozy couples lazily meandered the streets and children trudged sleds and chased snowballs. No one seemed to be in a rush to experience anything other than the glory of the day, with each other, whenever and however it happened”
― Rachel Cohn, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares