Tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons.

Hello!

On pintrest I re-pinned something that looked amazing. Roasted tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons. Here is the link. Looks great, right? Yeah you try and click on the link to the recipe and you get this crap. 

So I decided I was going to try it myself. Did not seem too hard.

My Ingredients.

1 can tomato soup
4 slices of bread
Cheddar cheese
Butter

Sounds hard right? I know I am funny.

So I used 9 grain seeded bread. It was what was in the house. I buttered one side and placed butter down on a cookie sheet.

I am the best photographer EVER!

I then cut up some marble cheddar. I only had a block handy. I placed it on the bread.

mmm....cheesy

I did one heavy cheese one light so it would not be too cheesy.

Then threw it in the oven at 350 degrees until the bottom was crispy and the cheese was melted.

It is like cloud shapes, I see a dog!

Then I put the sides together.

OMG I made a grilled cheese!

Then I placed them on the cutting board.

hard right?

Then cut into little pieces.

halfway done!

look soup magically appeared!

I then placed the cut up grilled cheese in the soup.

If you need me to tell you how to follow the directions on the can to make the soup I feel very sorry for you. Also I have a link for you to follow. Because I care.

But yeah it was yummy and stupidly easy. I kinda feel dumb writing about it.

My bowl.

Have a beautiful day.

Runza Casserole

Good evening. (read that in a creepy dracula voice)


Today I write about the Runza casserole.



Let me start by explaining what Runza is. Runza is a fast food joint in Omaha Nebraska. The link to their website is HERE


If you are ever in Omaha check them out. Seriously order a cheese runza with frings. Frings are their combo of crinkle cut fries and onion rings. Perfection!


SO let's start with the ingredients

• 2lb hamburger
• 1 bag coleslaw mix .
• 1 box french onion dry soup mix
• 2lb shredded cheddar cheese
• 4 cans crescent rolls

First you add the hamburger and the whole box onion soup mix to a large skillet. Brown hamburger.

yummy

Boil the coleslaw mix. Is done when slightly transparent and less stiff.

Then drain. Add to the hamburger mix.

While these things cook you can set up your casserole dishes. I use two 9x13 casserole dishes.

One can of crescent rolls layed flat will cover the dish.

Then cover with cheese!

Then add the meat cabbage mixture.

Then more cheese!

Then another layer of crescent rolls.

Then bake according to the package directions on the crescent rolls.

They are done when the top looks a beautiful golden brown.

Here is my plate.

My thoughts.

Is a great meal. Is awesome as leftovers. Is super easy to make. I was sick when I made this. I learned to do this as a teenager. A great teen meal. This made two casseroles.

Meatloaf, twice baked potato cupcakes and steamed broccoli

Good morning.


Today I am writing about meatloaf twice baked potato cupcakes and steamed broccoli.

This was not a planned meal. This was a looking the kitchen and see what I can come up with meal.

So let me write down a quick ingredient list and directions for you. I used my own recipe as I have been making this for years. 


Meatloaf

•  3lb hamburger
• 2 eggs
• 4 slices of bread
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• Worcestershire sauce
• black pepper
• ketcup
• mustard 

In a large bowl, crumble the bread over the hamburger. add the eggs. Add the rest of the ingredients with the exception of the ketchup and mustard.  Use your judgment. Mix by hand. Place into two bread pans. Cover with ketchup add a little mustard. Bake at 350 degrees. until no longer pink in the middle.

Mashed potato cupcakes

• 10 potatoes 
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/3 milk
• 3 tablespoon french onion dip
• black pepper

Peel potatoes, chop into 1 inch blocks. Boil till soft and will mash. Drain. add butter and milk. Use potato masher and mash those potatoes. Add the french onion dip and black pepper. Mix well.  Place into cupcake pan. Bake at 350 degrees until tips are browning.

Steamed broccoli

• frozen broccoli. or fresh whatever
• butter
• salt and pepper.

Using a steamfresh bag place broccoli till limit. Add a couple table spoons butter. then add a bit of salt and pepper. Then microwave according to directions.



**************

So let's begin with the meatloaf.

I took about 3 lb of hamburger and threw it in a bowl.

Then I took out the heels of bread out of the freezer. No one wants to eat them so I keep them in a bag in the freezer for stuff like meatloaf.

Also I buy bread on clearance and freeze it too. Means I always have bread on hand,.

I rubbed the bread between my hands to make it crumbs.  Then topped with eggs and spices. You really use your judgment. You can also add bell peppers to this but I did not have any on hand. 

There really is no way to get around this. You have to mix by hand. I hate touching uncooked meat. But you have to suck it up and do it. Just remember to take off your pretty rings and put them in your pocket.  I wear an apron when I cook because I am a mess sometimes. So I put them in my apron pockets.

Put these into your apron pockets!

(The apron is the only apron that I own that I didn't make and can be found here)

Now divide and place into two bread pans

I them pour ketchup over it.

Then add a little mustard

Then I mix it.

Then bake it at 350 degrees until it is not pink in the middle. About and hour or so.

*********
 Mashed potato cupcakes !


I usually just make mashed potatoes but I was feeling bored with that and really didn't feel the need to make gravy.


You need to clean the potatoes before you skin them. No one liked a dirty potato.

Then you skin them. (I skinned one before I thought to take a picture.) (really it was to torture the rest of the potatoes, see what fate lays before you? *big evil laugh*)

LOOK THEY ARE NAKED!

After I have removed their skins I cut them up and put them in a pot. (That sentence could have been taken directly from a serial killer's journal) (am I the only one who thinks like that?......yes.....ok I will go sit in the corner now....)

Then cover with water.

The Boil.

When it is done boiling the pieces should be slightly transparent and be soft. They need to be drained.

(drain in the sink. I just pictured it on the towel because my sink had dirty dishes from other stuff I was cooking and did not want to show a dirty sink.)

I then put it back into the pot and added the butter and milk.  Using a potato masher I mashed the potatoes. You can also use a electric hand mixer or a fork.

I then add the seasonings. I usually put sour cream in my potatoes. But I was out. I did however, have french onion dip. So that went in along with pepper.

Mix well. IF you want to this could be your stopping point. I chose to make it a bit more fun. I placed them into cupcake cups!

Then stuck them in the oven with the meatloaf. I baked them until the tips and points turned brown.

**************

Steamed broccoli.

I wanted to serve a vegetable. We had lots of broccoli. I think I have enough to feed an army.

I also LOVE steamfresh bags. Makes having veggies so much more convenient. Here is a link to what I am talking about.

So I filled to the line and added a couple tablespoons butter.a dash of salt and probably too much pepper. (I LOVE PEPPER, L.O.V.E. )

It even tells you how long to cook it on the bag. How awesome is that?

I dumped it into a bowl for serving.



****************

Not too hard of a meal and very yummy.

Here is my plate.

Not food related.

Just wanted to write a quick word or two not food related.

One of my friends has started up a web comic. It is defiantly worth a read.

Lost in Confusion

Read it you will love it.

***************

Also I would like to write a word about how idiotic I think a company was.

A little background I am planning a big family vacation for next year. One of the places we were looking at going to was the Wisconsin dells. We have since changed out minds and are now looking at a cruise.

That being said over a month ago I contacted the Wilderness Territory resort for more information. Today I received their information. They gave me coupons that expired 12 days ago. Great job guys.

Best brownies EVER!

HI!

I am doing brownies in this one!

I was sitting online chatting to my friend Cira, then out of nowhere I felt like something was wrong. That there was a sense of impending doom. Anxiety is fun right?

I wanted to eat something sweet. Nothing really qualifies in the house for that. So I decided to bake brownies. When I started grabbing the ingredients everything felt alright again. Weird right? What a great coping mechanism. I sometimes bake when I am having anxiety issues. But not all my baking spurts are caused by anxiety. At least not that I notice.

So I searched online and found THIS

Here is the recipe Copied and pasted.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
•  
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.
2. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.
4. To Make Frosting: Combine 3 tablespoons butter, 3 tablespoons cocoa, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 cup confectioners' sugar. Frost brownies while they are still warm.

*****

SO, let's see me attempt!

I started by collecting the ingredients and putting them in one place for a lovely picture for you!

And you can see my netbook!

Ok, I put the butter in a bowl and cut it up a bit. I use unsalted sweet cream. I microwave it for about 20 seconds. It comes out perfect.

The recipe says you need to grease and flour your pan. You can save the wrapper from you butter to grease the pan with and spread flour on it. OR you can cheat and use bakers joy like I do...

The pan looked like someone sneezed in it. Appetizing right?

I added the sugar to the butter, and the eggs, and the vanilla. I also added almond extract. Whenever a recipe calls for vanilla I always add almond extract. Makes things way yummier. seriously try it sometime. It smells divine.

When that was done I added the rest of the ingrediants.

 Then I decided that Walnuts would be a lovely addition. We just happened to have some lying around.

 I placed this all in the pan.

Then baked it the time recommended in the instructions.

I should have tested to ensure it was done all the way. (foreshadowing here)

***
Now onto the frosting!

I combined the ingredients except the powdered sugar(and almond extract!)

Then added the powdered sugar

Then I tried to spread it on the brownies.

The center appeared to not be done......

*****ALWAYS TEST!*****

So I thought Well, can't hurt to bake it some more.

I threw it back into the oven.

15 minutes later

(I spread the frosting around a bit 10 minutes in)

Looked yummy.

Was a bit gooey. But very very yummy. VERY YUMMY. Seriously go make some now! Better yet make two and hide one for yourself because they will be gone if anyone else tastes them.

My thoughts. Will make again and again and again. Super easy. Very yummy. And the ingredients are easy to have on hand.

And now some gratuitous shots of the cute toddler. I gave him the spatula from the frosting.

Enjoy!



****************************************
Update. made these again last night. I doubled the recipe. Used a 9x 13 pan. Also I checked for doneness lol.

I put the icing on in globs evenly over the whole thing. then stuck it back in the oven for a few minutes.  When I took it out it was all melted. I then took a spatula and spread it out evenly. When it cooled it took on the texture and flavor of fudge.

So baking the frosting turns it from a frosted brownie to a fudge topped brownie.