Lately I have been very inspired by this blog.  Jessica not only has two beautiful children but cooks/bakes the most delicious looking food…Her blog make me hungry but also makes me want to try new recipes!

Yesterday I decided to make Rosemary Balsamic Chicken (a favorite of mine).  I wanted some biscuits to go along with our meal.  A while ago I blogged about my grandmothers recipe box.   I decided to bake her Cheese Drop Biscuits…looked easy and sounded delicious.

Preheat oven to 400.

First you add 1 cup of flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 4 tbsp softened butter.  Mix them together like pastry.

Grate 1 cup of sharp cheddar cheese.  Add to bowl. Then mix in 1/2 C cold water.

Spoon the biscuits on to a greased cookie sheet.

The recipe says to bake for 8-10 minutes however for me it was about 20 minutes…

They are so simple to bake and so yummy.  I highly recommend them!

My next attempt will be a combination of these scones.  I’ll let you know how they turn out!

Justin and I are on a cash only budget.  Every week I take out the allotted amount of money, divide it into its specific envelopes, and whatever remains is what I use for groceries.  Unfortunately by the end of the month that amount gets smaller and smaller.  Once we master the envelope system it should not be quite so tight…plus, we have been setting aside a large sum of money for weddings which will free up some money the end of this week!

In order to help me enjoy this system of budgeting.  (which I really do!)  Justin told me to order some sort of organizational system.  I chose this:

My original intention for this post was not to share our budgeting system but rather to share what happens when you are at the end of a week and have no food and no money left over.  You resort to the few things that remain in the fridge.  This past week it was carrots and red potatoes.  (and lots of bread..thanks to Kroger manager specials)  I looked up carrot and potato soup.  I was surprised to see how many recipes are out there.  I found three that looked good…combined those three and voila!  Here is the recipe.

Carrot Potato Curry Soup

1 onion, 3 C diced potatoes, 3 C diced carrots, 2 cloves garlic,  1 clove garlic, 5 C chicken broth, 1/2 C light cream, 1.5 tbsp curry, 1.4 tsp cayenne pepper, salt and pepper.

Turn on pot to heat.  Add olive oil or butter to pot.

Dice carrots, potato and onion.  Add to pot (along with garlic) and sautee until soft.

Once soft add 5 C Chicken broth ( or in my case 4 C and 1 C water), and spices. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Take off heat and cool for 10-15 minutes.  Pour in blender and blend.

Add soup back to pot, turn on heat and add light cream. Season with salt and pepper.  I then heated my .59 loaf of bread.

Steamed some broccoli (yes, interesting combo) and it was ready to serve.

This past Sunday our church had a “Bring your favorite family meal” potluck.  Um…favorite family meal?  Favorite meal before Cora or favorite meal since Cora?  I used to pride myself on healthy eating habits…now?  I cook whatever is fast and convenient.  I manage to live off carbohydrates and frozen vegetables.  Since I could not think of our family meal I thought I would ask Justin.

Grace: “Justin, what’s our favorite family meal?”

Justin: “All we eat is spaghetti”

Hmmmm…I could get offended that he said this…but if I was being honest with myself.  We do eat a lot of spaghetti, we eat a variety of different burritos, we eat homemade pizza, salads of all kinds…a lot of chicken..and???  AND?????  Oh my gosh.  I am the worst woman in the world.  All I feed my poor husband is pasta, chicken…and?????

Monday I took a much needed trip to Kroger.  I picked up some salmon, a rotisserie chicken, a variety of vegetables (we do eat and assortment of vegetables.  I could so easily be a vegetarian but Justin is not a big fan of veggies.  They are either too crunchy, squirty, tastes like dirt…and on and on.), focaccia bread, and all sorts of other inspiring things.

Tonight I decided to go all out.  All out by my post-Cora standards.  I found two different tomato soup recipes on-line and by combining them made some delicious soup.  This tomato soup was so good it may be the best I have ever tasted!  (don’t worry dad, I added some heavy cream)  So here is the recipe with a quick disclaimer:

This soup is good because it has a lot of fat.  Yes, the evil “F” word…And let me tell you, it was worth every high calorie, never to be burned off, fatty bite.

Tomato Soup

4 tbsp butter, 1/4 C olive oil, 1/4 C onion diced(I used more), 2 cloves garlic, 2 carrots diced, 3 tbsp flour, 3 C milk (I used 1/2 C heavy cream), 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 2 cans diced tomato (I used 1 can and 1 fresh tomato), basil, parmeson cheese

preheat oven to 450 Put canned tomatoes in oven proof dish, drain excess juices (keep for later), drizzle with olive oil, roast 15 minutes. I pureed the whole tomato in the blender, combined it with the canned tomato juices and began heating it on a pot on the stove.

In saucepan melt butter.  Add chopped garlic, onion and carrot.  Cook until tender.

Add 3 tbsp flour.  Stir until well incorporated. Gradually add milk.  Cook until mixture thickens and boils.

Add tomato puree and roasted tomatoes to mixture.

Add salt, pepper, basil and parmesan cheese.

To accompany the soup I made salad, added some shredded rotisserie chicken and heated the focaccia bread.  This meal was a hit.

We’ll see how long this inspiration lasts.  It may be weeks, months, or years before I post another recipe.  Maybe I’ll uncover some creative passion for cooking that I never knew existed.  Not likely but one can hope…It’s more likely I’ll be eternally motivated by my dear spouses all too honest comment.  Next church potluck, when asked, I’ll make sure he has a list of “family favorites!”