About Me

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As a cancer survivor, I try to take life one day at a time. I sell my creations on the web on the following sites www.linrae.etsy.com, www.linraevintage.etsy.com, www.linraesupply.etsy.com, bonanza.com/booths/linraeonline. I also list items on eBay.com/claire402. Thank you for stopping by to read my blog and I hope you will stop in again. All comments are welcome.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Favorite Soup Recipes With More To Be Posted At A Later Date

It is a cool and crisp day.  The sun is shining now and then, so it isn’t totally drab outside.
Here is the start of only some of the favorite soup recipes that I have collected.  I will list more in my future blogs so as not to overwhelm everyone.  There are more to come.  Enjoy!


 Cheesy Potato Soup

 Janice Huberg

In 2 cups water - add
Potatoes

Celery
Carrots

Onion
2 tsp parsley flakes

3 chicken bouillon cubes
Salt & pepper
 
Boil until vegetables are done.
 
Whisk together until smooth, 2 cups milk and 2 Tbls flour.  Add to above stirring constantly. Cook until thick.

At at least ½ lb cubed Velveeta cheese.  Cook until cheese is melted. 
=============================================
Ingredients
6 poblano peppers
1/4 cup onion, small dice
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups chicken broth , preferably fresh
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 cups milk or half and half
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Garnishes (optional)
1/2 cup Monterrey jack cheese, (shredded)
2 ea corn tortillas (6-inch) cut into thin strips and crisp-fried and drained on paper towels



Instructions
1. Preheat oven to broil. Place poblano chile peppers on a cookie sheet and place in oven. Allow skin to blacken and blister, turning the chile peppers until all sides are done. (Note: Do not overcook.) When they are done, place them in a paper bag and seal. In about 15 to 20 minutes, take them out of the bag and peel the skin off each one. Remove the stems and seeds.

2. Combine in blender, chile peppers, onions, garlic, broth, salt and pepper to taste and nutmeg. Blend until smooth. In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk and set aside. In another saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter or margarine, add the flour and stir well. Add the warmed milk and stir until well blended. Add the chile pepper mixture and mix well. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
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Creamy Turkey-Vegetable Soup
 
Makes: 4 servings
Start to Finish: 30 minutes

·         3  cups  reduced-sodium chicken broth or homemade turkey broth
·         2  medium  carrots, thinly sliced
·         1  cup  chopped cooked turkey
·         1  small  zucchini, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
·         1/2  cup  uncooked instant rice
         1  teaspoon  dried thyme, crushed
·         1  10-ounce container  refrigerated light Alfredo sauce
·             Oyster crackers (optional)

1. In a 4-quart Dutch oven or saucepan combine chicken or turkey broth and carrots. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Stir in turkey, zucchini, rice, and thyme. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand about 5 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in Alfredo sauce; return to heat and warm through. If desired, serve with oyster crackers.
Makes 4 servings.
=================================================================
Buffalo Chicken Soup 
 
Makes: 6 servings

A creamy, cheesy recipe that I’m sure you will enjoy.  This can be made with leftover cooked turkey.
1  2-1/4 to 2-1/2 lb.  deli-roasted chicken, skinned, boned, and coarsely shredded
2  Tbsp.  butter
1/2  cup  coarsely chopped celery
1/2  cup  chopped onion
2  14-oz. cans  reduced-sodium chicken broth
1-1/2  cups  milk
1  tsp.  bottled hot pepper sauce
1-1/2  cups  mozzarella cheese (6 oz.)
1-1/4  cups  crumbled blue cheese (5 oz.)
1/2  cup  shredded Parmesan cheese (2 oz.)
1/3  cup  all-purpose flour
Bottled hot pepper sauce to taste (optional)
 
Directions
1. In 4-quart Dutch oven melt butter over medium heat. Add celery and onion; cook and stir until onion is tender. Stir in broth, milk, and the 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce.
2. In bowl toss together mozzarella, 1 cup of the blue cheese, Parmesan, and flour. Add gradually to soup, stirring after each addition just until melted. Stir in three-fourths of the shredded chicken; heat through. Top with remaining chicken, blue cheese, and hot sauce.
Makes 6 servings.
=====================================================
  • cheeseburger soup
    1/2 # ground beef
    4 tablespoons butter or margarine (divided)
    3/4 cup chopped onion
    3/4 cup shredded carrots
    3/4 cup chopped celery
    1 tsp basil
    2 cans (14.5 oz) chicken broth
    4 cups (3 med) peeled and diced potatoes
    1/4 cup all-purpose flour
    2 cups (8 oz) cubed pasteurized prepared cheese (velveeta)
    1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
    3/4 tsp salt
    1/2 tsp pepper
    Cook ground beef until brown; drain. Melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery and basil; cook; stirring occasionally, about 10 min or until tender. Add broth, potatoes and cooked beef; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover. Cook, 10-12 min or until potatoes are tender.
    Melt remaining butter in saucepan over med heat. Add flour, cook, stirring constantly 3-5 min or until bubbly. Add to soup; bring to a boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes.
    Reduce heat to low; add cheese, milk, salt and pepper. Stir until cheese is melted.
    This soup is quite rich...but also delicious!!! ENJOY!




Saturday, November 5, 2011

Autumn Is Here

The today started out with heavy fog.  How depressing.  The fog started to lift in the middle of the morning and looked like maybe there was hope for a good day.  Then the fog set in again and stayed that way until well into the noon hour.  You see this weekend is prime time for “leaf lookers” here in eastern Tennessee.  The higher elevations are far beyond that but here at the lower elevations the leaves are just beautiful.  The rust and deep golden colors have been spreading over the forested areas all around us.  The fog finally lifted and stayed away for the rest of the day.  It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day with plenty of sunshine and calm wind.
I found a poem book at Habitat For Humanity yesterday.  I love poems so definitely thought it was worth the $.50 price tag.  Love second hand stores.  You never know what you will find as you search through the items that other people do not want anymore and donate them.  I have picked out the following untitled poem to share with you.  I hope you enjoy it.  I can’t take credit though I sure would like to be able to write poems.

UNTITLED Poem by Jonathan Kivett

Autumn is here
And the facetious Indian Summer
has crept away.
The terminal earth
cracks and groans
in the sharper air.

Winter hangs overhead
a kite
poised, ready to sweep
leaves to the ground and
gutters.

The cruel summer is dead-
vanquished like an athlete
fighting brittle wind.

The false warmth is gone,
replaced by an honest death.
The sky, grey with
mourning.
And I walk alone,
carrying dreams
wrapped in denim
against the cold.
By Jonathan Kivett

Autumn is a great time of year.  Hope it has been kind to you. 

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Wednesday,April 27, 2011 - The day so many lives were changed forever.

This last week has been a very stressful one with all the storms we had in this area on Wed, April 27Th.  A total of 5 tornadoes went through our county (Bradley).  Two were on the west edge of the county and went south to north parallel to Interstate 75.  Three others went from the SW part of the county and angled to the NE through the entire Bradley County.  285 homes totally destroyed, 195 with major damage, 176 with minor damage with another 120 affected by the tornadoes.  I’m sure these numbers will be adjusted as the clean up progresses.  The death toll now stands at 9 with one person on this list that is still unidentified.  A MI women here visiting her son was among those killed.  There is still 4 roads closed due to powers lines down or trees.  Our county is a heavily wooden area.  There is so many trees down everywhere.  Some homes seem to be untouched while all the trees around the house where blown downed by the storm.  Two elementary schools heavily damaged.  Only 3 weeks left of this school year so they are trying to get set up in temporary quarters to finish the year.  Electricity needs to be restored to some other school facilities before they reopen this coming week.  Went out into the city Sat morning to get supplies.  They don’t want people out and about if they don’t need to be.  The worst storm Wed evening came within half a mile of a new elementary school that is under construction but won’t be finished until sometime this summer.  It was amazing how the Cleveland historical downtown area and Lee University as well as the entire business districts were by-passed.  As bad as it is here it is much worse in AL and GA. with hundreds of deaths (more still  missing) and thousands still without electricity.  Stories can be read on the clevelandbanner.com website if anyone is interested.

It seemed that as each storm came through they were a little farther east until that last one was less than 5 miles from our house. We live in the very eastern part of the county (only half a mile from the Bradley/Polk County Line).  We had no damaged to homes in our neighborhood.

We all need to continue to pray for all those who lost loved ones, those that lost their homes and businesses.  They have had their lives changed forever by these storms.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

I am very excited today. I had a coffee shop in Alabama contact me this week. The shop wants to display and sell my creations. What really made me proud is that they said they only carry unique items from artists. They consider me an "artist". No one has ever said that to me. I am putting together a list of the items I feel will sell. A variety of prices will be important as some people will be looking for more economic products while others will be interested in products in a little higher price range. Now the work begins. I have a list of new designs that I am planning to add to my inventory. I am sooooo excited about this new step in my life. I will keep you updated as to how everything progresses in the next few weeks. Yea for me!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

It's a Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood

It feels like fall is slowing arriving here in TN. It has been so hot and humid this summer. Has been quite dry so we are grateful for any rain we get. This time of year we get in the mood to start cleaning out the items we no longer need or want. We have been busy posting and selling on ebay for the last month or so. Good way to help declutter the house. Hope the sales continue. Have also listed items on Craig's List and the local TN trader (local shopper that has free ad listings for non business people) that are too large and heavy to ship. I'm sure it will get to the point when we will donate items to Salvation Army and/or Goodwill. Maybe, just maybe, we will actually be able to get the Chevy Blazer in the single car garage.
It has been a good morning so far. The internet did not crashed this a.m. like it usually does at 8:08 EDT. Cable company says it is our eguipment. Funny it is at the same time of day. "You can almost set your watch by it" as the old saying goes. Very frustrating sometimes.
Mornings are cool now (yea) with the day heating up to lower 90s later in the afternoon. I have a large potroast that I browned and put in the crockpot along with potatoes and veggies. Yummm!
Soooo, to end on a good note, "It is a wonderful day in the neighborhood".
Hope you enjoy my posts and please feel free to comment. Have a great day and stop back again.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Cades Cove and Great Smoky Mtns National Park

I was at the Cleveland Public Library the other day to read some magazines (to get out of the house for awhile that afternoon). Since it was in the upper 90s with very high humidity it sounded like a good idea. The newly remodeled library has a nice reading area on the second floor with big comfortable chairs and short sofas to sit on while you read. After sitting there for over an hour I decided to see if I could find a good book to check out before I headed home. As I strolled through the rows of books I found a display of paperback books that the FOLA (Friends of the library Assoc.) group had read as the book of the month. I decided to take it home. It is titled "Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different" by a local TN author by the name of Kristin O'Donnell Tubb. I didn't notice until I got home and started to read that it is actually a children's book. It is full of humor and is based on historical facts. The heading for Chapter one reads "I do things different. It helps to remind yourself of that when you're attending your own funeral". Or Chapter 7 "I do things different. It helps to remind yourself of that when you're filching explosives from the United States government." I truly enjoyed the book. If you get a chance to read it, it is worth your time. Since it is by a local author I don't know how available it is outside of this area. It is a Yearling book which publishes books for kids. Autumn is a fictional character that is based on people that were real residents of the Cades Cove town and area. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the only national park formed from privately owned land. It was a very interesting book that melds together fact and fiction. A person would think that Cades Cove became a part of the Great Smoky Mtn. National Park but after reading this very interesting book. It is more like The Great Smoky Mtn. National Park became a part of Cades Cove. Therefore, preserving the character of the mountain families in Cades Cove and throughout the Smoky Mountains that had lived there for generations. It is now the most-visited national park in the U.S. And the section of the park that is visited the most is Cades Cove.

Monday, July 5, 2010

That Old Rundown Shed

As I sit on my back patio I look out onto the pasture behind our house. My husband and I grew up on a farm so we enjoy having a pasture and occasionally some cattle back there to watch. It is a beautiful sunny day. Rather warm and humid but still a nice day. In that pasture there are no cattle right now. The last three that we there have long since been taken to market. There is a brand new storage shed there now that was built in May. Larger than the one it replaced and certainly more useful. It is good to have progress and renewal. As I gaze at that new shinny shed, I realize that I miss that old shed. It had part of its roof missing. Very small so it wasn't very useful. But, there is just something that I miss about that old shed. It reminds me of the farm I grew up on back in IA. I have happy memories of that time on the farm. Glad that we took some pictures of it last winter. We have a chance to look back at that picture now and keep the memory of that old rundown shed alive.