Homemade Potato Soup

Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE potatoes! In fact I've been craving potatoes this whole pregnancy. I've been eating more mashed potatoes than any person probably should. Anyways, I've been wanting to find a good restaurant style potato soup recipe, so I did just that. I searched in Google "restaurant style potato soup" and came across this website with this recipe. I made it today for lunch and it was delicious. I didn't alter anything in the recipe, but I did notice the price of heavy whipping cream is pretty expensive, so I looked up a substitute. If you are interested go here for directions.

Ingredients

• Potatoes (6-8 depending on the size)
• 1 Onion, diced
• 4 14oz cans of chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• Celery salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 1 dash of basil
• 1 dash of sugar
• 2 sticks of butter
• 3/4 cup of flour
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Garnish

• 4-6 pieces of cooked bacon, chopped
• Chopped chives (amount depends on your preference – I like a lot)
• 2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack / Cheddar cheese blend.

Directions

1. Boil the potatoes, peel and set aside (someone suggested you rub with kosher sale and bake the potatoes, leaving the skin on)
2. In a large soup pot, melt the butter over a low to medium heat, being careful not to burn it.
3. Add the onion and cook until softened.
4. Add the flour and stir while it cooks for about 3 minutes.
5. Slowly add the chicken broth, water, salt, pepper, basil and sugar.
6. Bring to a boil, stirring often with a wire whisk.
7. Gradually add the heavy cream until you’ve reached the proper consistency.
8. Chop the potatoes into bite sized cubes and add to the soup.
9. Simmer for approximately 5 minutes to bring the potatoes to temperature.
10. Ladle the soup into individual bowls and garnish with chopped bacon, chives and the cheese blend.
11. Enjoy!

Baby Fun...

We've decided to wait until the baby is born to find out the gender... but just out of curiosity I found a chinese gender chart to see what it would say. I've done it before (after giving birth to both my kids) and it was right about both of them! So... according to the Chinese calendar, it's a BOY!! ha! I guess we'll find out for sure in July!

A lot of people have been asking me what gender I want and I can honestly say, "I don't care either way." Seriously, as long as the kid is super laid back and easy I don't mind. At first I was hoping for a girl because Gabriella has been such an easy baby, but then it occurred to me that not all baby girls are as easy as she is... so I changed my mind. Then I realized, boys might be harder the first couple years of life because they're so energetic, but I think they'll be much easier as teenagers.

So if you're up to it, see what the chart says about your kids... was it right or wrong? I'd like to know! :)

Ps. As of today I'm 11 weeks along and really hoping to get my energy back in the next couple of weeks as my first trimester comes to an end!

The end of one year and the beginning of another

The Holiday rush is officially over! Now that Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years have all passed, I feel like I can take a breath!

We had a great Christmas celebrating it with all of our families. Christmas day we had a lovely breakfast at home with just the 4 of us, followed by lunch with my mom and her husband and my brothers, step siblings, nephews, etc. Then we went to Jordan's parents and opened presents and ate a HUGE dinner! The next day we had lunch with my dad's side of the family and I was able to spend several hours with my grandma, which was truly the best Christmas gift I could get. I'm so thankful for her.

3 days after Christmas we packed up the car and drove 14 hours straight to the wonderful state of TEXAS!!!!! Jordan and I haven't been back since April 2008, so it was fun to take the kids and meet up with everyone again. We stayed with a wonderful family from our church and got the chance to see most of friends down there.

The kids did pretty great on the trip, we drove through the night so that they would sleep. Unfortunately, that meant Jordan and I weren't going to get the sleep we need. I have such an incredible husband, he drove for 9 hours and then asked if we could switch, I drove for 2 and then gave up. We took turns driving the last 3 hours. While we were there is was hard because we were going out to eat all the time, staying up late, always on the go, etc. and the kids did the best they could to keep up. I'm thankful now to be back to a normal everyday setting.

The whole reason we went to Texas was for a wedding. Our pastor's youngest son was getting married to a girl in the church that we've known for 5 years now. It was a beautiful wedding and I was so grateful we were able to be there! I love going to weddings as a married person because it's a great reminder of marriage and what God created it for!

We were also able to meet up with my former boss, friends from CFNI that we went to Guatemala with, we went to IKEA, Jordan led worship at a youth group and lots of chatting with great friends. I really wish we could have stayed another week because there are so many friends I wanted to see, but we simply ran out of time.

The trip was not only physically refreshing, getting to spend time together as a family and just enjoying each other. But it was spiritually refreshing as well. The name of the church we were at is Oasis, and it really fits the name! On Sunday, Pastor Barney preached about hearing the voice of God and walking with Him. The whole time I kept getting stirred up in my spirit because I know the things that God has anointed me to do are still within me and I am still called to ministry and I can't lose focus of that. I let the daily tasks of being a stay at home mom take priority over my relationship with God, and it's time I get those priorities straight.

After the service Pastor Barney came over and spoke with us and prayed with us. He really encouraged us by saying, God isn't done with the giftings and anointings that He placed on our lives. So we need to open to where He moves us this year. It was the same thing God was speaking to me during the service, I love confirmations like that!

I did a terrible job of taking pictures on our trip. The only time I took pictures was at the wedding.... So here are just a couple.

Our amazing friends: Landon and Kristin

The beautiful couple: Lindsey and Jodi

White Chili Recipe

My sister gave me this recipe a long time ago and I never bothered to make it until yesterday. I bought a bag of dried navy beans at Walmart and decided to give it a try. I quick soaked the beans and then followed the recipe except I omitted the chicken. It was delicious and pretty easy, plus I loved making it in the slow cooker and smelling it for the 4 hours it took to cook! :)

3- 15oz cans of great northern’s bean drained OR 1 pound dried navy beans

8oz cooked and shredded chicken breasts

1 c chopped onions

1.5 c chopped yellow, green or red bell peppers

2 jalapeño peppers stemmed seeded and chopped (optional)

2 garlic cloves minced

2 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp salt

½ tsp dried oregano

3 ½ cups chicken broth

A dollop Sour cream

Cheddar cheese

Tortilla chips

Combine all ingredients except sour cream, cheese and chips in slow cooker. Cook on Low 8-10 hours or on high 4-5 hours.

Simplicity

Sometimes after being a Christian for almost 10 years I seem to make it more complex than it needs to be. The doctrinal differences and theology arguments start to cloud the true simplicity of the Gospel. I love ministering to children because in order to be effective you have to keep it simple.

Last night when I was reading my bible before I went to bed, I read Romans chapter 3. I was so moved by this chapter that it took me another 20 minutes to digest what I read. It's a chapter often used in evangelism because it takes people from sinners to saints in a matter of 31 verses.

>We're all sinners, we all fall short of God's glory. (verses 10, 23)

>We are made right with God through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. (verses 22, 24-25)

See how simple it is???

Being a Christian is so simple. We just have to realize that we are sinners and because of that we don't meet God's standard. So we need something to bridge that gap. That's why Jesus came. That's why He shed His blood as a sacrifice that we could be made right with God.

It's Christmas time and we sing songs and celebrate the birth of Christ, but He didn't just come to find out what it felt like to be a human. He came with a purpose of bridging the gap between man-kind and God. So celebrate your freedom from sin! Don't just celebrate a fat guy in a red suit.

Isn't it a wonderful thing that all we have to do is say, "Yes, Jesus!"?

New Years Resolution=FAIL!!!

In a previous post I told you all about my 2 resolutions for the year 2010. While I have done a good job at one, I recently found out that I FAILED the other!

That's right... I'm pregnant! 2 days before Thanksgiving I took a home pregnancy test and it came back positive. I'm due July 28th, which makes me 8 weeks along. It was a bit of a surprise to find out that we're expecting again, but a good surprise. I've always wanted a big family, at least 4 kids.. but now that I have 2 and I'm pregnant with my 3rd I'm wondering if 3 could be our magic number. :) We've talked about adopting, so I guess we'll see what the Lord has for us in the future.

For the past 2 weeks I've been struggling with fatigue and morning sickness, but thankfully everyday it gets easier.

We've decided to wait until the baby is born to find out what we're having. Everyone says it's the best surprise! Since we have everything we need for either a boy or a girl we're fully prepared. If I had to guess, I'd say I'm carrying a girl because the morning sickness has been nothing compared to when I was pregnant with Jayden... but maybe my body just handles morning sickness better with the more children I have?? haha! Who knows!

So the age gaps will be almost 3 years between Jayden and baby #3. And 21 months between Gabriella and baby #3. I'm hoping to get both the kids potty trained by the beginning of next Summer so I don't have 3 kids in diapers! Even if I can just get Jayden potty trained I'd be happy!

One more thing! We've applied for CHP+ which is an insurance company that is government funded for children newborn-18 years and pregnant women 19+. We meet the income requirements which means we'll be able to have this baby without having to pay a dime!!! All the prenatal care, labor and delivery and postpartum care is free!! It's a huge blessing!

One of those days...

This has been the longest day EVER!!!!!

I don't like Tuesdays to begin with because it's my long day. Jordan has been taking a class for the past 10 weeks every Tuesday night in Longmont so we only get about an hour together as a family.

I slept terrible last night... probably because of the 2 hour nap I took yesterday. Then Jayden came into our room at least 3 or 4 times before 6:30am. I finally crawled out of our bed and landed in his around 7:15 to allow Jordan more time to sleep.

We came downstairs after I showered and Jordan left for work and I got the whiney kids breakfast and milk. Gabri and Jayden both chugged their sippy cups dry. While Jayden finished his yogurt I took Gabriella upstairs to change her diaper and her clothes. When we got to the bottom of the stairs she puked all over the both of us. So I went back upstairs changed her clothes and my shirt, cleaned us both up and then went back down to get Jayden.

Probably an hour later I was upstairs changing Gabriella's diaper AGAIN and I was on the phone with my sister. I had just put socks on my cold feet and I started walking down the stairs holding Gabri in one arm and the phone in the other when I slipped and fell down the last 4 or 5 stairs. I managed to hold on to Gabri and my hip and hand caught us as we slid down. It was painful.

Gabri took her nap and Jayden and I just hung out and watch "Go, Diego, Go" since I wasn't feeling well, I wanted to just rest. Lunch time rolled around and after eating only his 4 slices of apples and maybe 2 or 3 bites of chicken noodle soup Jayden was throwing a tantrum. I took him upstairs to his room and within 15 minutes he was asleep (that was a bonus!).

Anyways, I won't continue to bore you with the details, but it's been rough around here. I feel like I've been the ugliest person to my kids, especially Jayden. I realized Jayden was just getting stir crazy and need to run around outside and play. He needed attention. One of the hardest things about being a parent to more than one child is learning how to balance their needs. It's not always easy and I fail a lot. Isn't it amazing how children learn from our bad behavior so much quicker than they learn from our good behavior?!

I'm so thankful that His mercies are new every morning and His grace is sufficient for me! I need God's help everyday. I lose my mind when I try to do everything on my own. God is the perfect Heavenly Father, He's the best parent there is, therefore He's the best example. I know that I'm far from perfect and I have a lot of learning to do as a parent, but I am so thankful I have the perfect example to follow!