Cooking Can Be Easy!!!

A good friend gave me the following recipe for Baked Potato Soup and I can't believe how easy it is.  I know for many of us cooking can be really difficult and I don't do much any more - for my family's sake and mine.  :)  This is very hearty but also very tasty.  You can make it with meat or not - I have two vegetarians in my family so it is always nice to find easy recipes like this.  Let me know how you like it.


Tony Roma's Baked Potato Soup
You can substitute vegetable stock for the chicken, and imitation bacon bits for the real ones for a vegetarian dish.  Serves 6-8
2 Medium Potatoes - Baked
3 teaspoons butter
1 cup diced white onion
2 teaspoons flour
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups instant mashed potatoes
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/8 teaspoon thyme
1 cup half and half

Optional Garnish
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 crumbled cooked bacon
2 green onions chopped

I saute the onion in the butter and then add to the soup pot along with the stock and water. Then cut your potatoes up (sans skin) and add to the mix.  I then added all of the seasonings and let simmer for about 30 minutes.  I then added the flour and mashed potato flakes and whisked a little to be sure everything was disolved and smooth except the potato chuncks.  Then add the half and half and stir well, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.  It is delicious!!!

Mirror Makeovers Traveling Book........

 I was given a wonderful gift by a friend and I know that anyone who reads it will agree.  Please visit the link below and check it out.  Even for those who don't have cancer, it is a like a welcome visit with a good friend.  I have a different type of chronic health issues and I really enjoyed it.  I found the book to be uplifting and inspiring as well as a guide or map to handle those difficult times in our lives as women.  If you feel you would like to sign up for the traveling addition, please do - it is a wonderful experience!!  There is also a video link below - check it out as well!!

www.MirrorMakeoversTravelingCancerBook.blogspot.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9choRJAmoYA

 

A New Year.......

I really can't believe we are well into the first month of 2010!  When I started the process of trying to obtain Social Security Disability Income, this year seemed too far away to even imagine.  Now that we have made it through the long process and I look back and, like much of life, it just flew by.  I was very fortunate that my case moved along - it could have taken much longer but the assist from a wonderful group called Allsup made all the difference.  I would greatly recommend them to anyone going through this and especially to those who have something that may be questioned such as an autoimmune disease.  They plowed through the issues and knew what to do at every turn.

It is funny - you say to yourself again and again - when I get my disability settled, I will do this or that and you dream and wonder what it will be like.  I am so very thankful and I can't even begin to comprehend how I got here but none of those things that I thought I just had to do or have matter any longer.  At the end of the day, you just want a little security and to be able to keep what you have, eat and have some health care and try to help take care of your family - similar to when you were well.  I am forever grateful.  Now, I fill my days with thinking about how, in my humble way, I can make a difference and help others who will follow me and have the same, although different, journey - because we all must handle the walk in our own way and with our own set of circumstances.  But - if I can make it just a wee bit easier for someone else, then I will feel that I have done something worthwhile.