The BEST Cheesy-Potato Soup Ever!

Jordan has been spending endless hours in the field.  This past Sunday after church, Jordan had to go to field around noon, but he was going to be off around a decent hour (which is 7 or 8 pm around our house this time of year).  I decided that instead of PB&J's and Ramen Noodles, which I have been frequently eating recently, I would actually make a meal that Jordan and I could sit down and share before he jumped back to work the next week.

I will be the first to admit that I am not the best cook in the world. I have been raised around a very good cook - my mom.  As a kid, she made all of my evening meals from her memory- no cookbook, which is a quality I admire.  Now, as an adult, I have a good friend, Sarah, who is a great cook - she literally makes everything from scratch. I am not that type of cook.  I enjoy cooking and I LOVE eating. So, I thought I would share this amazing recipe that my mother allowed me to steal!

Cheesy-Potato Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups peeled & diced potatoes

1/2 medium white onion (diced)

1 bag California blend - frozen (mix of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots)

4 chicken bouillon cubes

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

1 lb of Velveeta cheese 

Steps:

In a large stockpot, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil.  Add diced potatoes, onions and chicken bouillon cubes and bring to a vigorous boil.  Once boiling, lower heat to a medium setting and let the contents of the pot continue to slow boil for 20 minutes.  PS - check out my cute piggy timer!

After letting that boil, add your California blend to the pot.  I set my frozen veggies out on the counter when I began cooking to let them thaw a little bit.  Before I added them to the soup, I cut the larger pieces into smaller bits - because I like smaller chunks in my soup. You can cut the vegetables like I did, or by all means, leave them as they are.  

Once you have added the mixed vegetables, let the soup continue to boil for an additional 10 minutes.  On this occasion, I boiled my soup for an extra 5 minutes on top of the 10 minutes called for by the recipe (so, 15 minutes total after adding veggies).  The aroma that fills the house smells delicious! 

After you have boiled your potatoes, onions, and vegetables to your desired tenderness, add the pound of cheese and cream of chicken soup.  At this point, the soup goes from some-what-healthy to fattening and scrumptious at this point.  ** A pound of cheese is half of the regular sized Velveeta block - I used Velveeta but any other similar type of cheese would work! 

This savory soup is delicious served in a bread bowl or with a PB&J and it will warm your heart.  Going into winter, I am so grateful that my mom, the amazing cook that she is, shared one of my favorite recipes with me. Thanks Mom - chalk up another mark on my "firsts" list! Enjoy!

** Since this is my first recipe upload, I may have forgotten a major step. If anything seems off, feel free to contact me. I truly hope you love this recipe as much as I do.

There is a first time for everything...

Welcome! As the title of my post implies, there is a first time for everything, and this is my first time "blogging." My cousin, Emily, actually started a blog - which I love to read - and it led me to begin this blog where I hope I am able to look back in 5 years and remember. And of course, for any of you who read this, I hope you also get joy out of reading it. 

Over my 23 glorious years of life, I have experienced many firsts - first words, first steps, first mass, first day of school (as a student), first friend, first boyfriend, first basketball game - I could go on and on, but many of my major firsts happened toward the later years of my life - first love, first college degree, first day of school (as a teacher), first game as a coach, first pregnancy. These various firsts have formed the crazy, adventurous day to day experiences that I call life. 

One of the most interesting firsts I have ever experienced was my first day as an official farm wife.  One could say this began when I married my third generation hog and crop farmer. Did I ever, once, think that I was going to be driving a tractor and grain cart at age 23? No, never.  Jordan and I got married on September 21, 2013.  It was a picture perfect fall Missouri Saturday and was literally the best day of my life (thus far of course).  This was the one day in our lives where our families joined together and enjoyed the day - mingled, ate, drank, danced, and partied the night away.... *sigh* 

Anyways, like I said, this majestic event occurred on a Saturday and we began harvest on the following Monday.  Now, you may be thinking that I just jumped into a tractor and drove for hours upon hours until we harvested our crops but that isn't the case.  I spent my first eight months as a married woman teaching high school kids  the basics about personal finance and character education. In addition to teaching, I spent a few hours helping Jordan tend to our hog buildings. However, that wasn't what I was meant to do forever. Farm wife was calling my name.  Can you work outside of the home and still be a farm wife? ABSOLUTELY! Ladies, more power to you! But, I have found the best job/career in the world. I get to wake up everyday and go to work with my husband and my family. I have flexible hours that allow me to visit my parents when I wish. Plus, I love what I do! I like to call myself a financial manager, and I am, but the general public would call me a book keeper.  I, along with my mother-in-law, am responsible for the financial aspects of our family farm and I hold that responsibility very highly.  Thus, my first day with farm life duties occurred over the summer of 2014.  I am now officially employed by our family farm! 

There are many more first experiences that the farm life has presented me with, and I expect there will be many more - aka many more posts.  As for all the "firsts" you experience but forget to acknowledge -- don't forget and enjoy!