My Five Favorite Soups List Of 2014

With the new year just a couple of days away, I wanted to share with you my five favorite soups that I cooked this year. Soup is such a delicious and comforting meal, and perfect for those chilly nights that winter brings.

I hope you enjoy my soup round-up, which starts with Italian Sausage, Noodle, and Kale Soup. This soup is extra hearty, and even people who say they don't like kale, end up loving this soup. And the Italian sausage in it, brings a great flavor to it.



For me, Butternut Squash Soup is earthy and delicious. I roast a couple of squashes in the oven to make a double batch of this soup, and freeze half of it. It's so great to come home on a cold day and know you can pull a batch out of the freezer and have it for a yummy meal.



I'm such a big cheese lover, and it's so packed with cheesy goodness, that this soup is one I make over and over again. Cheesy Vegetable Soup lets you be very flexible about using the veggies you have on hand. I usually always have most of the ingredients on hand, and this soup is very quick and easy to put together.



Your slow-cooker can be your best friend when it comes to making soup. It's so easy to toss ingredients into it and let them simmer away all day. This Chicken and White Bean Soup is packed with flavor, and my whole family adores it, especially the kids.



I think every cook should have a really great vegetable soup recipe. This Easy Vegetable Soup is mine, one that I make year-round. It adapts well to veggies you have on hand, and the flavor really is deep and delicious. I love pairing this with a hearty bread, and it makes a delicious and comforting meal.

Recipe for Cranberry Muffins

Cranberries always remind me of Christmas, so I make sure to include a few baked goods with them as an ingredient. I love the tartness of them balanced with sweetness. Muffins are quick and easy to make, and you can even make these ahead and pop them in the microwave to heat up.

 

Recipe for Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh cranberries
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Stir in cranberries; make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, butter, rind, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pan immediately; place on a wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

Recipe For Turkey Meatloaf, A Favorite Family Meal

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Quaker. All opinions are mine alone. #CollectiveBias #LoveMyCereal #QuakerUp

Like most cooks I know, I have certain things that I make over and over again. My family loves my meatloaf, so I try to make it for us a few times a month. I recently decided to put a little different spin on it, and have begun making it with ground turkey instead of ground beef.

My family still loves it made with the turkey, and I love giving them a tastier meal. I've also started making my meatloaf with Quaker® Life cereal as the filler, instead of overly salty crackers.

The cereal gives it a great earthy flavor. It's delicious with our favorite sides, which are mashed potatoes and gravy, and green beans. This is one of our favorite dinners, especially in fall and winter.

Of course, we also eat Quaker® Life cereal for breakfast. I  always bought it for my kids when they were growing up, and now I buy it for my grandchildren, too. And it's delicious different flavors make it great for baking, yogurt parfaits, snacks, and more.

When I'm doing my grocery shopping at Walmart, I always pick up a couple of boxes of Life cereal. I'm always a little surprised at how much cereal my family and I eat, but it is one of our favorite breakfasts.

I also picked all my ingredients to make my meatloaf dinner. My grandchildren tend to be picky eaters, but they love a dinner of meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy. So do I, and I always hope there's enough leftover meatloaf for a sandwich the next day.

Turkey meatloaf is very easy to put together, and has pretty basic ingredients. Sometimes I'll add things like green peppers, or tomatoes packed in oil, but usually I make it very simple.

I use my rolling pin to crush the Life cereal to add to the meatloaf. It works really well, and so much easier than having to get out the food processor.

Just put the ingredients in a large bowl, and use clean hands to mix it up. My favorite way to make meatloaf is to bake it in a loaf pan, but it works well too in very small loaf pans, or even cupcake pans. Any way it's baked, I love it!

After the meat mixture has been put into the loaf pan, spread 1/4 cup of catsup on top of it. I love the sweet flavor of the catsup baked into it. Then I add lightly crushed Quaker® Life cereal as a topper.
It gives it a great, added crunchy texture and flavor.

Bake the turkey meatloaf in a 375 degree oven for 1 hour. I always let my meatloaf rest for about ten minutes after it comes out of the oven. It holds together better when you take it out of the loaf pan, and I think it just taste better this way.

Yum, this is such a great family dinner, with the kids usually asking for seconds of meatloaf. Here's my easy recipe:

Recipe for Turkey Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey
1-1/2 cups crushed Life cereal
2 eggs
3/4 cup barbeque sauce
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

For Topping:

1/4 cup catsup
1/4 cup semi-crushed Life cereal

Directions:

Combine first 7 ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together well with hands. Pat evenly into loaf pan. Spread catsup over top of meatloaf. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cereal on top.
Bake in a 375 degree oven for 1 hour. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, remove from pan and slice.

A couple nights ago, my family decided to drive around and look at Christmas lights in a neighboring town. We do this every year, and the kids love it. But they do get restless in the car, so this year I put together a bag of tasty snacks for them to enjoy.

I just mixed together some pretzels, a little candy, and some Life cereal. The kids loved it, they were little angels (well, almost!) and we all had a great time looking at all the lights.

Cereal makes such great snacks, especially if you mix different kinds together. Quaker® Life is also great mixed with Quaker® Oatmeal Squares, Quaker® Real Medleys®, and Quaker® Simply Granola.

You can find all these delicious Quaker® cereals at Walmart, in the cereal aisle. Besides Original, Life cereal comes in lots of different flavors too, so be sure and look for them.

You can also connect with the Quaker® brand here and find lots of recipes and great snack ideas. 

Do you use cereal for more than just breakfast? Do you cook or bake with it, too? Please leave me a comment and let me know.

Disney Planes Rollback Prices at Walmart

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PlanesToTheRescue #CollectiveBias

Looking for last minute holiday gift ideas? Delight the little ones in

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Disney Planes Flight to the Finish Speedway ($24.97)

Disney Planes: Fire & Rescue Die-Cast Vehicles, 3-Pack ($14.97)

Disney Planes: Fire & Rescue Deluxe Talking Vehicle Assortment ($19.97)

Hearthsong Toy Review and $50 Gift Certificate Giveaway

 I was provided with a product for my review. All opinions are mine alone.

  

 As a mom and grandmother, I have been buying toys for almost 40 years. What's important to me now when I give my grandchildren toys, is that they are well-made, creative, and sparks their imaginations.

That's exactly what Hearthsong toys do. Hearthsong lets parents provide their children with wholesome, age-appropriate, and high-quality playthings.

When I was given the chance to review the Skyscraper Glow-in-the-Dark Marble Run, I knew my grandsons would really love it. And they do, with it providing hours of creative play and fun.

Here are this toy's very cool features:

Our bright-window-filled skyscraper blocks are fun to play with day and night! Glittery windows soak up the sun and reflect it back to you after dark. Build stacks of varying heights and connect their tops with a marble run so you can watch the glow-in-the-dark marbles jump down, around, and along that fun run's stair step, water wheel, seesaw, and funnel. Illuminating!

• Glow-in-the-dark skyscrapers make a marble run
• Wooden blocks with glittery windows
• Windows soak up the sun and glow at night
• Build stack of varying heights
• Connect stacks with marble runs
• Includes tricks like stair step, water wheel, seesaw, and funnel

It's really been fun for me to see how creative the boys are with this Marble Run, and the glow-in-the-dark feature is awesome. They love turning off the light at night and playing with it. It's an absolutely great toy that boys and girls will love, all the while using and developing their imaginations.



 You can visit the Hearthsong website here to shop for toys. It's actually one of the best shopping sites I've ever used because it's so in-depth and easy to navigate. It lets you find the perfect toy for your child by age groups, interests, categories, and prices. And using the Gift Finder is very helpful to narrow down your choices from the hundreds of selections available.

I love talking about the Hearthsong company because it's toys remind me of the days when children had the chance to be creative and make using their imaginations a part of growing and learning. Good toys like these are important, I think, for developing creative thinking and imaginative playtime.

Besides the Hearthsong website, you can visit them on Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.

I'm so happy to share with you that Heartsong is giving away a $50.00 gift certificate to one of our readers. Be sure and enter and have your own chance to experience these great toys.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


 *Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts Dec. 18, 2014 and ends on Jan 1, 2015 at 12:01 am EST. Winner will be emailed and has 72 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize. I was sent a product to review for this post.