Tag: Comfort Food

Stitching Through the Snow: A Cozy afternoon of Sewing and Chai
beverage · Crafts

Stitching Through the Snow: A Cozy afternoon of Sewing and Chai

RefreshHer3 Comments

This weekend’s winter storm was unexpected, and I’m sorry for those who were challenged by its arrival. However, for me, it was a blessing. Winter storms are different than other kinds of weather because they make us stop and hunker in.

After a couple of very busy weeks, we were forced by the snow storm to stay inside, to slow down and rest. We didn’t have little ones tugging at our arms to go outside like young parents did. We had the blessing of quiet peacefulness as we watched the snow fall all day Saturday.

I took advantage of the opportunity to settle into my craft room and do some needed, yet fun sewing projects. I mended an item, then made a couple of little zippered pouches. I’ve shown before that I made small bags using my dad’s old ties for the fabric. The first make-up bag I made for myself a couple years ago had gotten tattered, so I made a new one to replace it. The large bag below is tie fabric. The smaller coin bag is just a piece of fabric I had left over from another project. It was fun to have the time to create something at the sewing machine.

Once I get started, I want to keep making these! I have hopes to create a bunch in the future.

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Creamy Chicken & Rice Soup
Chicken · Comfort Food · Fast meal · soup

Creamy Chicken & Rice Soup

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It was one of those days that were extremely busy and I decided to purchase a rotisserie chicken at Sam’s Club for our supper. When I got home with it, I wanted to take that chicken breast and turn it into something really savory. The search I did on Pinterest led me to a favorite site – Sally’s Baking Addiction. She has some incredible recipes that I’ve tried in the past and this one did not disappoint, either! My pictures don’t give this soup an accurate representation. Why not? Because it was so good, I ate half of my portion and THEN remembered to snap a photo! (Any other bloggers relate?)

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Comfort Food · Dinner

What To Do With that Ham Bone?

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Holiday meals are creeping up on us, believe it or not! Last weekend I baked a Smithfield Brown sugar glazed ham (it’s one of the best I’ve ever bought!). After I sliced all the meat off, I tucked the bone into a freezer bag and put it in the fridge. I knew that bone had all kinds of possibilities! I usually always make Senate Bean Soup with our Christmas ham bone, but I wanted to venture out and try a new recipe.

I found this a recipe for Creamy Ham and Potato Soup and it sounded savory and delicious. It also didn’t take hours to make! The recipe suggested making ham stock with the bone and using that as the base of the soup. That’s exactly what I did. All that took was popping the bone into a stock pot with water to cover and simmering it for an hour. Easy peasy.

Here’s the simple recipe with my slight changes:

Creamy Ham and Potato Soup

NGREDIENTS

  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 cup large carrot peeled and diced
  • 1/2 cup diced celery
  • 3 cups peeled and diced potatoes
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked ham, diced
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (plain flour)
  • 2 cups Ham Stock or chicken broth
  • 2 teaspoons chicken Bouillon
  • 3 cups milk 
  • 1 pinch of salt, if needed 
  • fresh cracked black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Heat the butter in a pot over medium heat. Sauté the onion, carrots, celery until beginning to soften (about 4 minutes).
  • Add the potatoes, cook for 2 minutes, then add the garlic and sauté until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
  • Mix the flour through and cook for 2 minutes.
  • Stir in stock and bouillon and ham, mixing all ingredients together. Increase heat and bring to a boil until potatoes are ‘just’ fork tender, about 10-12 minutes.
  • Reduce heat to medium-low, add the milk and stir over the heat until thickened (about 5 minutes).
  • Add more and salt and pepper, as needed
  • Serve warm.

This was so savory! I was so happy to make such good use of that flavorful ham bone! It made a whole pot of ham stock, so now I also have more frozen for a couple more recipes of this wonderful soup!

To make your own ham stock, place the ham bone in a stock pot and cover with water. Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for one hour. Discard bone. How easy is that?!

If you don’t have a ham bone on hand, you can purchase a bone at Honey Bake Ham! But I’d also encourage you to save this for those holiday hams in your future!

Here are a couple of our other favorite savory soups:
Sausage Corn Chowder
Chicken Gnocchi

Happy ham bone season!