The new year has kicked off to a fabulous start. While the weather here in the South is a bit unusual for this time of year, the unseasonably warm weather still is not enough to break our winter eating habits. We have been filling our bellies with lots of warm soups and stews and chili is of course a staple for this time of year.




Whenever I make a soup or stew, I always have to serve some sort of bread. Usually, we go for hearty crusty breads that make it easy to sop up the last bit of broth from our bowls. Sometimes we do sandwiches. I mean, seriously, nothing quite beats the soup and sandwich combo and who needs to dine out when you can get a deli experience at home. With four kids, making things at home and giving my kids a restaurant like experience is way easier on my pocketbook.



On Fridays growing up, my mom dubbed it Fun Food Friday. That was the day of the week when she brought the restaurant to us. She made chili dogs, homemade pizzas, whatever we could get at the fast food joint, she made for us at home. I love that I get to give my kids the same thing I got when I was their age. My mom even has these cute little baskets lined with wax paper and she goes from kid to kid, saying, "Can I take your order?"

So on this slightly warm day, with just a hint of a cool breeze, we went deli style. I made a huge pot of Wild Rice and Mushroom soup and I decided to give the melts by Better Bakery a try.



At the end of dinner, all bowls were empty and there were nothing but crumbs left where the Chicken & Bacon Club melt once lay. The melts are a pretty nice size. I cut them in half for my younger kids and it was very filling for them. Of course, my teens wanted a whole one and my 14 year old son scarfed his down like he was breathing. The bread was nice and crunchy on the outside and soft inside with the cheese oozing out. Seriously. Dude. It was so good. It was so good, I called my mom and told her about it.




For the soup, I kept it simple and hearty. I added a bit of heavy cream to the chicken broth to give it just a hint of creaminess. Pair that with some freshly grated Parmesan, it was so good.  Paired with the Better Bakery Chicken and Bacon Club melt, the soup was immediately inhaled by the kids. We loved dipping the pretzel crust into our soup.

This soup is something you can easily make in the crock pot. I cooked my rice separately because I really don't care for swollen overcooked rice. But of course, you can cook it along with your veggies.

Wild Rice, Mushroom Soup with Parmesan
You will need:
1 1/2 cup uncooked wild rice blend
4 cups of chicken broth
1 cup water
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup of grated Parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
1-2 stalks of celery (diced)
1-2 carrots peeled and diced
5-8 mushrooms sliced
1 tablespoon diced onion

Add all of your ingredients except the rice to a large pot and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for an hour or until carrots are tender.

Cook rice separately and then add to soup before serving. 

Serve with a bit of grated Parmesan on top. 




For a quick, simple and delicious lunch, why not try my super easy recipe for Pasta Salad and pair it with the Better Bakery Cheese & Pepperoni Pizza melt. I mean, who does not like pizza and what better way to serve it than with a little pasta on the side?




My kids and I are always having pizza in some variation. We make our own or embellish a store bought one.  These are certainly less messy than making our own and we still make it dinnertime or lunch time by adding a nice simple pasta salad.




I try to avoid a lot of chips and fries at our dinner table, and love giving my kids a healthy option that is not only --good for them--but good for them. This is a super easy and quick side dish that can be made ahead of time and placed in the fridge. There are many variations to this type of salad. I have an aunt who makes a delicious one using shrimp and chicken. Simply wow. This is also perfect for warm summer months.

Creamy Pasta Salad
You will need:
2-3 cups cooked pasta
1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan
1/2 cup Italian Dressing
1/2 cup Ranch Dressing
Blackberries
Cubed sharp cheddar cheese
Cucumber (sliced)
Watermelon (cubed)

Mix everything together in a large mixing bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve. Best served chilled.





If you would like to give these delicious Better Bakery melts a try, click here to enjoy a coupon for $1.50 off. You can use this link to find a store near you that sells them. Here they can be found at our local Kroger. Check out the frozen food section at a grocer near you to find these treats and other flavors/varieties they have.

This has been blowing up on pinterest, so I thought I would reshare! It is the perfect homemade summer treat.

My youngest son, Anderson just had a birthday. He turned 11 and being the Sonic slush-aholic-that he is, he wanted slushes at his birthday dinner. Mind you, he never deviates from the 'green apple' slush, I finally got him to try another flavor and I made it at home. These are super easy and perfect to make while we battle this heat here in the South.

You will need:
Nerds Candy
Airheads Extreme Sours
Hawaiian Punch To Go
Ice
Water

I used the Hawaiian Punch To Go because each of my children wanted a different flavor. Being that you can get like six packets for a dollar and each packet is enough for one drink, I thought it was perfect.

Mix your drink mix and water and pour over ice in your blender. Add in a few Nerds candy if you like (they will lose their color in the slush, so they will be white pellets of sugar). Blend until ice is that nice slushy consistency. Pour in your glass, top with Nerds and garnish with a sour Airheads candy ribbon. I placed mine of a toothpick to make the ribbon garnish.

My kids loved them. Simple, quick and made right at home.

* I have seen adult versions of these with much more candy on top and of course, alcohol. Would make a nice frozen cocktail.

Here in the South, it gets HOT. We love our slushies, our ice cream, and our popsicles. We absolutely love them.

Here are some popsicles I found on pinterest that caught my eye. Oh yes, will make. ASAP.

When you think of the South, you might think acres and acres of nothingness. You might think poverty...you might think the place where everyone goes when they want to retire into a an area full of hospitality and....of course great comfort food.

One thing that is synomous with the South, we sum up in two words:  Sweet Tea.  And when we say sweet tea, we don't mean the kind you gently place two sugar cubes in while it sits into a dainty china tea cup...no we mean, iced, sweet and sugary brown. The kind that you sip slow on a lazy afternoon or enjoy at a fancy restaurant.

When it comes to tea in the South, we are picky. Boy are we picky. It has to have the right balance of tea, water and of course sweetness. We like our tea freshly brewed and placed in the fridge until it is the right kind of cold...but guess what, when we don't make it ourselves, there are definite go to grocery stores we find ourselves at with a cart full of gallons of already chilled browned goodness.

Milo's Tea is the closest I have come across that equals the Southern goodness that is my mama's sun tea.



I remember growing up and having to bring in the glass covered jug of  'sun tea' so that my mom could sweeten it and get it chilled for supper. Sun brewed meaning, she did not boil or microwave, she placed the jug full of tea into a sunny spot to brew on it's own. Milo's tea reminds me of my mama. It reminds me of goodness. It reminds me of the South.

I got the awesome priviledge to try out some of Milo's brand spanking new products. Oh lawd, when I tell you heaven is their tea and lemonade blend....I mean it. I bought several of the gallon jugs home and why no...it did not make it to see the light of the next day. Gone. My kids, family and friends gulped it down in  one seemingly  simultaneous guzzle.

The next day, I decided to try something. I got a recipe from Milo's and thought, hey, this is perfect for these hot Mississippi summer days.

Sweet tea and Lemonade granitas.

I mean, who doesn't love a great slushy drink?

With the recipe being soooooooo easy, why not try it!? I made the sweet tea and lemonade blend and the lemonade.

You will need

Milo's Tea, Tea and Lemonade, or Lemonade



Fill a casserole dish with the drink of your choice. To be creative, add a bit of chopped fruit or mint leaves. Fill the dish fingernail deep.  Place into the freezer for 45 minutes or until it begins to freeze. Take a fork or spoon and stir the mixture. Freeze again for 45 minutes and stir again.



This method is helping create the snow cone/slush texture.



Who needs shaved ice? You can do this at home with out a machine!

And then...serve! Seriously, how easy and how deliciously cool and slushy is that?!

Yeah, any excuse to eat ice cream is a good one, right?

So the weather is nice, the sun is shining bright and bold and my kids need a treat. I do what any other mom would do....I head to pinterest.com and eye photo after photo for some ice creamy inspiration. I found it...boy did I find it. I saw a photo of an ice cream cake that took me all the way back to the late 80s when my fifth grade (highly fashionable with my lopsided ponytails) self knew what it meant to be cool and have the coolest birthday party. You could not be cool and awesome without an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. So there it was. My inspiration and what I would make. Nevermind I had never made one before. Who cares about that? You gotta try.

I tried it and I loved it. Man, oh man, did I love it. The kids loved it and my friends loved it. Let's just say, last year was the Year of the Popsicles but this summer will be the Year of the Ice Cream Cake.

While it is not perfect, my first attempt....Death By Chocolate and Peanut Butter...