Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

I used to use a lot of cans of cream soups.  They are so easy to throw into a casserole to make it creamy and yummy!  One time though, I was completely out of cream of mushroom soup but didn't discover that until after I had started making something.  I needed something quick, so I got out my trusty Betty Crocker Cookbook to see what I could use instead.  It recommended making a thick white sauce and adding in mushrooms.  After finding out how easy it was and how much healthier our dinners could be, I have almost completely quit using canned soups.  I've also done a bit of experimenting to make cream of chicken and cream of celery soup with almost the same recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 cup of milk

Directions:
Saute mushrooms in the butter in a saucepan over low heat.  Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly.  Gradually stir in the milk and heat to boiling, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir for 1 minute or until thickened.

For cream of celery, substitute 1/2 cup celery for the mushrooms.  For cream of chicken, substitute chopped chicken for the mushrooms and 1/2 cup of chicken broth for 1/2 of the milk.

This will make about 1 can of condensed soup, but often I will triple or quadruple the amount and put the extra in jars in my fridge or freezer to save for later.  It's not as easy as opening up a can of soup and dumping it in, but if I have some ready to go, then I only have to cook it up once in a while and the rest of the time it is just as easy as dumping it in!  It is very tasty in Chicken Tetrazzini or Chicken Pot Pie!

Blessings,

Linked up with:
Raising Homemakers
Far Above Rubies
The Better Mom
Teach Me Tuesdays
Titus 2sday
Women Living Well
A Delightful Home
Raising Arrows
The Modest Mom
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Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Plowing Match

The kids got to experience a living history lesson yesterday!  We headed out to watch the International Plowing Match to see how plowing was done with horses.  Living on a farm, the kids are quite familiar with tractors being used for field work, but it was fun for them to see how it was done in many of the stories we've been reading in school. 

One of our employees was one of the contestants and she placed first in the ladies division and second overall!  Someone made a YouTube video for her that you may watch too.  She is the one in the pink tee-shirt.  She did a great job and you would never know that she is going to have a baby in a couple months by the way she was working! I don't think I would've tried plowing during any of my pregnancies!



The kids had lots of fun, but I don't think it really made them appreciate how much easier farm work is today, they just keep saying that we should have horses instead of tractors! :)
Blessings,

Wildflowers From Winter {Review}

Bethany Quinn grew up in a small town in Iowa, where her life is less than ideal after her father dies.  The only place she enjoys going is to be with her Grandpa, working with him on his farm. When she grows up though, she escapes her past and small town life to become an architect in Chicago.  Fast forward ten years and Bethany is called back home when tragedy strikes.  Despite her plan to keep her stay as short as possible, Bethany ends up staying indefinitely when she unexpectedly inherits 500 acres of farmland.  Bethany would like nothing more than to sell her land and get back to being an architect, but her Grandpa's handsome farmhand, Evan, stands in her way and it seems God has other plans for her life.  As she sorts through feelings of her past and her faith, she and Evan begin to fall for each other. 
I thoroughly enjoyed Wildflowers From Winter by Katie Ganshert!  It was such a great reminder that God's plan is not always the same as our plan.  Bethany struggled with letting go of her plan, but when she did, she found that God's plan was even better!  I also like that this book was about farming!  Growing up on and now having our own farm, I could very easily picture the farm scenes in the story.  The author did a very nice and accurate telling of many farming details.  I highly recommend Wildflowers From Winter and look forward to finding more books by Katie Ganshert.

I received this book for free for review from Waterbrook Multnomah

Blessings,

Sunshine!

We had some great weather today!  The kids love going barefoot and are so happy to finally be allowed to!  They enjoyed their lunch out on the picnic table and played outside most of the afternoon.  We let the cows out in the fields too and today they were right next to the play area.  They are very curious girls and had to come watch the kids for awile. :)

I think they will all sleep well tonight! :) Hope you are all enjoying some nice spring weather too!

Blessings,

Jellybeans!

Our Peanut is already 18 months old!  I can hardly believe it!  She is getting so big, discovering new skills, and speaking new words daily.  One thing that she has figured out how to do is grab things off the counter.  She can't quite see what's there most of the time, but she grabs whatever she can get.  Last week, she snagged herself a newly opened bag of jellybeans and quickly shoved as many in her mouth as she could before she got caught! :)

Blessings,

More Science Fun

We recently had fun making fizz for our science experiments.  Besides the usual vinegar and baking soda, we also made some fizz by adding baking soda to hot water.

Then we made some fizz for our mouth!  We mixed 2 spoons of citric acid, 1 spoon of baking soda, and 8 spoons of powdered sugar together.

Then when we tasted it, the water in our mouth caused them to react and make fizz.

 

Some of the kids didn't like the taste too much, so they preferred adding water to it and watching it instead.

Did you know that the holes in cake are bubbles made by the baking soda in the cake batter?  It makes bubbles as it gets hot and this is what makes your cake rise!  See, even I get to learn something new in school too! :)

Have you done any fun experiments with your kids lately?
Blessings,

Song of My Heart {Review}

Song of My Heart, by Kim Vogel Sawyer, is a sweet, but fairly predictable romance.  It took me a bit to get into this book, and I thought it was a little slow to start, but it had a great ending.  Sadie is a sweet, rather naive, young girl working far from home to help support her family after her stepfather is injured.  She moves to Goldtree, Kansas, where her cousin Sid lives and told her of a store clerk job and an opportunity to use her musical talents at the town's new opera house.  When the opera house owner coerces her into performing bawdy songs for "invite-only" performances, Sadie does so to continue to be able to send money home to her family.
Thad McKane is also a new arrival in Goldtree.  He has been hired as the sheriff to discover who is running an illegal liqueur operation in town.  When Thad begins to discover that the illegal activity seems to be connected to Sadie, he wonders if their new found romance will be able to last.
Despite being predictable in the beginning, I liked how the ending of the story came about.  I also really enjoyed the quirky side characters of Melba and Shelba Baxter, the owners of the mercantile who give Sadie her clerk job and take her into their own home.  Kim Vogel Sawyer does a very nice job of weaving in the lesson of learning to trust God.  Sadie was trying to do what she thought she needed to to, but instead she should have allowed God to provide for her and her family.  Once she realized this, she was able to do what was right and have the courage to face the consequences of her actions.  Song of My Heart is a good romance with a strong faith base and I recommend it to anyone.

I received this book for free for review from Bethany House Publishers.

Blessings,