Fall is here and this Harvest Soup is going to be your new favorite thing. I don’t know why but lately I’ve been into soups. Which is actually crazy because growing up as a kid, I always felt that it was a great injustice to be served soup for supper. Soup? Really? Where’s the rest of my meal? She’s trying to starve me I would think to myself as I watched my mother serve it up. I couldn’t understand why adults would waste a ridiculously good opportunity to eat something great on soup.

Well I’m a big girl now, and just like I understand the need for a good Sunday afternoon nap, I have a also learned to appreciate a good bowl of soup.  I will say though,  that if your going to serve soup for supper, then you better have some real good bread to serve with it. I mean something fresh baked and cheesy maybe. I’m all about the cheese bread. In fact anything less would probably be unacceptable.

I actually made this soup by accident. I started off making another soup and realized I didn’t have half the ingredients I needed and ended up throwing this all together. The results were fabulous and I just had to blog it before I forget what I did. Forgive the picture as it really doesn’t do this soup justice. But again, I really wasn’t planning on blogging it!

I used my my absolute favorite dutch oven pot. I picked mine up a few years ago at the Care and Share thrift shop. It was $6 and I LOVE it, but you can use any large pot. Whenever I make soup, I make it in the morning so it has time to mesh and all that lovely stuff. I let it simmer for about an hour and turn it off for the day. You can thicken it up a bit when reheating it, just before serving. I find soup always tastes better after its sat on the stove for the day and don’t really trust those 2 hour soup recipes.

I served this Harvest Soup with mini B.L.T.S (bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches) on fresh cheese bread and it was wonderful!

As always, enjoy!

Laila

This post contains affiliate links. If you have questions about it please visit our privacy policy

The post Harvest Soup appeared first on The Good Wives Blog.

There are 14 days, 15 hours, 9 minutes, and 38 seconds until school starts up again. But hey, who’s counting? It’s August and to be completely honest with you, I’m done. I’m over it and I am waving the white flag. Not that anyone is coming for me.

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE summer.

I’ve done the picnics and the splash pads. We’ve hit the cottages and the beach. We have stayed up all night eating ice cream and we’ve stayed in pj’s until noon. We’ve lived the dream and we have the sunburns to prove it, but now I am ready to dust off the old lunch bag that I was so eager to ditch last June and HAPPILY walk those kids to the school yard. Which is why I have already started to work on some back to school lunches that you and your kids will actually eat. Like these easy and delicious sandwich kabobs. You’re Welcome.

Lets be honest. We are all tired of making sandwiches and I am guessing that your kids are probably like mine and don’t eat them anyway. If you are lucky enough to catch them before they completely decompose in the bottom of that brand new back pack then in my opinion you’re winning.

These sandwich kabobs are great alternative. So simple, yet so fresh you will wonder why you haven’t been eating them your whole life. Really the combinations are endless and you can be as creative as you want but here are a few ideas to get you rolling.  I usually send along a little bit of ranch dressing for dipping but you can substitute for your favorite dressing (we use the kids bentgo boxes around here which make it super easy to send along dips and sauces!) We absolutely love them.

Also, keep in mind one skewer cut in half can be pretty substantial for a kindergartner especially when packing other items where as my older son might eat 2-3.

And like I said before, the combinations for these sandwich kabobs are endless! We’ve done

• salami and bocconi
• fruit & cheese
• pepperoni & mozzarella

And For those of you who aren’t ready to think back to school just yet, these also work great as an appetizer at lake or go perfect at the beach! Do you have a great combination that your kids love. Feel free to share in the comments below!

I should also say that if you are worried about sending a stick to school you can easily cut the sharp points off off. Just make sure to assemble to kabob first before trimming the point though!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please visit our privacy policy.

The post Sandwich Kabobs appeared first on The Good Wives Blog.

Taco Stuffed Bell Peppers are HEALTHY!

I once heard someone say that the more colorful your food, is the better it is for you. I always think of that when I making these stuffed peppers. They have so much color and they taste as good as they look! I always use green peppers in this recipe but you can use whatever peppers you like. I’d love to try it in a roasted poblano pepper one day and if I do I promise I’ll share.

CHEESE

Let’s talk cheese for a second. I LOVE cheese. It’s honestly one of my favorite foods and it’s definitely my guilty pleasure. You can pretty much top these taco stuffed peppers with whatever cheese you like. If it were just me eating them, I would top them with a spicy monterey jack but since i have 4 kids and they would not be happy, I use a pretty tame mexican blend from the shredded cheese section. I have been known to make a few of them spicy in the past though. Which is another great thing about these stuffed peppers. They are so customizable.

Alright that’s enough talk. Let me know how it goes!

Print

Taco Stuffed Peppers

A healthy and delicious twist on stuffed peppers. These Taco Stuffed Peppers are packed with goodness and flavor. Meaty bites of ground turkey in a delicious seasoning with black beans, corn, tomatoes, and shredded cheese.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Mexican

Keyword bell peppers, cumin, green peppers, ground turkey, jalapenos, mac and cheese, onion, stuffed peppers, taco stuffed peppers, Tacos

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes minutes

Ingredients

FILLING

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 small onion diced
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 2 tbsp chopped jalapenos I use the Old El Paso pickled ones in the jar. If using fresh make sure you remove all the seeds for less heat
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1 can black beans drained and rinsed
• 1 can diced tomatoes drained really well
• 1 cup corn drained if using canned

FOR THE PEPPERS

• 4 green bell peppers cut in half length wise
• ½ cup chicken broth
• shredded cheese for topping I use Cracker Barrel Tex Mex
• sour cream for garnish
• paprika for garnish

Instructions

FILLING

• In a large skillet (I use my wok pan) cook the ground turkey over medium heat. Breaking it apart and season it with salt and pepper.
• Add in your diced onion onion, garlic, cilantro, jalapeno, black beans, corn and tomatoes, taco seasoning and cumin.
• Mix well. Simmer on low for 20 minutes lid removed so that all the excess liquid evaporates

FOR THE PEPPERS

• Preheat oven to 400 °
• Cut the peppers lengthwise and remove the seeds and stems. Rinse them well and pat dry with paper towel.
• Place the peppers cut side up in an oven proof dish (I use a glass Pyrex dish).
• Fill each pepper with the turkey mixture trying to leave as much liquid in the pan as you can.
• Pour the chicken broth into the bottom of the pan and cover with aluminum foil.
• Bake covered for 30 minutes then remove peppers and top with cheese.
• Bake for an additional 2 minutes (uncovered) or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. I broil mine. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and top with cilantro and paprika for garnish

Enjoy!

Laila

If you love this you HAVE to try this Mexican Lasagna!

The post Taco Stuffed Peppers appeared first on The Good Wives Blog.

These are seriously the best oatmeal chocolate cookies ever. Bold statement I know, but they really are. The secret? Dark chocolate callets.

I actually used to boycott oatmeal cookies. Seriously, who wants to eat oatmeal in their cookies? It’s like healthy! I don’t know if it’s because I hit my 30’s and my brain switched gears (one day you’re 16 wearing a size 0, eating Big Mac’s like they are going out of style and all of a sudden your 30 wearing t-shirts in the pool) or whatever the case, I now have a love for them!

I’ve said it before, I really hate LONG POSTS on recipes. So I will keep this short and sweet (no pun intended haha). I’ve played around with a bunch of recipes and I think I now have it down to a science. These Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies are soft and chewy and made with dark chocolate callets ins instead of the typical semi sweet chip.

What’s a callet you ask? Callets are chocolate morsels formulated for melting rather than baking. They melt perfectly in the cookies and stay soft which in my opinion is better. Not feeling adventurous? Substitute for chocolate chips but keep them dark! These are seriously the best oatmeal chocolate cookies ever!

You’re instincts are going to want to do a few things with this recipe and I say don’t! At least give this way a try. If you hate it or need to make a modification I am open to your comments!

1. DON’T leave them in the oven any longer. Trust me, you will pull them out after 12 minutes and think to yourself, these need a few more minutes. They don’t. They just need to rest. As my dad always says, “patience is a virtue”.
2. DO use dark chocolate callets. I don’t know why they are better but they just are. Don’t fight it.
3. DON’T over mix. Just enough to blend the ingredients.

Okay, so now that I have that out of the way here’s the recipe!

Print

Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies

These cookies are soft and chocolaty. Seriously the best cookies EVER.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword chocolate, cookie, cookies, oatmeal

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 24 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter softened
• 1 cup brown sugar packed
• ½ cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 ¼ cups flour all purpose
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 cups quick oats
• 1 cup dark chocolate callets

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 330 °F
• In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar
• Then beat in eggs and vanilla
• In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. I sift just a tiny bit!
• Stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats and chocolate callets
• Drop generous tablespoon sized balls onto a baking sheets lined with parchment paper
• Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Don’t be fooled. Not a minute longer!
• Let cookies  cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before moving

Let me know how it goes in the comments below

Enjoy,

Laila

Need a little dinner inspiration?

TRY THESE

•  Smoky Meatballs
• Bacon and Chorizo Mac and Cheese 

This post contains affiliate links. For more information please visit our privacy policy.

The post Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies appeared first on The Good Wives Blog.