Tomato Basil Soup
(Rachel Rae)

30 oz. chicken stock
28 oz. crushed tomatoes
1 c. heavy cream
20 leaves basil
salt and pepper

Combine the broth and tomatoes over medium heat, when it bubbles, stir in the cream and turn to low. Simmer 15 min. then add half the basil, salt and pepper, stir occasionally. Blend with a submersion blender, top with remaining basil leaves.
Serve with grilled cheese on the cheese bread from the Durango bread store (so yummy...) if you can't get your hands on a loaf of bread from Durango, regular sourdough is a good enough substitute.

Smoothies for a Sunday Afternoon

1 10 oz. bottle naked mango juice
1/2 C. Fat Free Greek Yogurt
1/2 C. Frozen Strawberries
1/2 C. Frozen Blueberries
1/2 Frozen Banana
1/2 C. milk
ice
honey

Make sure the liquid is on the bottom and blend it. We make these often, and started buying the variety pack of naked juice from Costco. The mango is my favorite though.

Marinara Sauce

1 28 oz. can crushed Italian tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
1-2 cloves garlic
1/4 c. olive oil
8 fresh Basil leaves, torn
salt and pepper to taste

Combine in a sauce pan and simmer 15-20 minutes. I will also put this in a crock pot and add extra veggies (Zuccini, onion, peppers, etc.) and then use a submersion blender to make it a sauce.

Fool Proof Whole Wheat Bread

2 1/2 C. Hot Water
3 C. Whole wheat flour
1/3 C. Honey
1/3 C. Oil or melted butter
1 1/2 Tbs. Black Strap Molasses
1 Tbs. Salt
Yeast mixture: 1/4 C. warm water +1 Tbs. yeast + 2 tsp. sugar
3-4 C. whole wheat flour
2 Tbs. Wheat Gluten

Make the yeast mixture and set aside. Combine the hot water and 3 C. whole wheat flour. Add the honey, oil and molasses (you can use extra honey or regular molasses if you don't have black strap). Add the salt and mix. Add the yeast mixture until well blended. Add the remaining whole wheat flour and wheat gluten, mix for 8-10 minutes adding a little extra flour as needed.
Makes 2 large loafs. Spray pans and counter top with Pam. Form loaves and cover with a damp towel. Let rise 1 hour. Bake @ 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Bread Bowls

Simple French Bread (also bread bowls)
Ingredients:	1/2 C. warm water 2 1/2 T. yeast 6 C. flour 2 C. hot water 3 T. sugar 1 T. salt
Directions:	Mix yeast and warm water. Let sit. Mix 3 cups flour and all other ingredients with electric mixer for a few minutes. Mix in remaining 3 cups flour. Knead a few times. Let rise 10 minutes. Punch down. Let rise 10 minutes. Punch down. Repeat this procedure a total of five times. Shape into two sausage shaped loaves and place on a cookie sheet. :Let rise 10 minutes. Bake at 375º for about 30 minutes. To shape bread bowls, cut dough in desired size, and roll in a bowl shape. Bake for about 20 minutes, but watch closely.

Cheesy Soup!!!

DISCLAIMER... this recipe is NOT healthy but it is YUMMY!!! Amy you may want to stop reading now.

8-10 medium red potatoes

Chicken broth

1 small onion

1 green bell pepper

½ package bacon

2 cloves garlic, minced

Salt

Pepper

Celery Salt

½ package Velveeta

1 cup milk

Scrub the potatoes and cut them into small pieces. Cover them with chicken broth and turn heat up to high. As the potatoes are boiling, cut bacon into small pieces and cook it until crispy in frying pan. Remove bacon from pan, and add to soup. Chop onion and bell pepper and add to bacon grease, cook through. Once the veggies are cooked, add some salt, pepper, celery salt (just whatever you like) add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute longer. Add the veggies to the soup. By this time, the potatoes should be soft (if not just continue to boil until they are). I use a potato masher to mash up the soup a little bit, but if you prefer a chunkier soup you can skip this step. Turn the heat down to medium, add Velveeta (cut into cubes) and stir until melted. Then add milk and heat though. Be careful once you add the cheese because at that point it gets easy to burn.

Baked Parmesan Chicken

Also from Pinterest and also very easy

Ingredients:

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 package Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Mix cheese, dressing mix and garlic powder.

3. Moisten chicken breasts with water; coat with cheese mixture. Place in shallow baking dish.

4. Bake 20 to 25 min. or until chicken is no longer pink in the center.

BBQ Chicken

This one is super fast, easy, and yummy! And you only need 3 ingredience!

4 (or so) Frozen chicken breast

1 can Pinapple chunks

BBQ sauce

Put it all in the crock pot at the same time on high 2-3 hours or low for 4-6 hours. I put it on rice and it was super good. You can also add veggies like canned corn or black beans, that is what Brandon did and he liked it.

This also came from pinterest

Avocado and Bacon Sandwich

So I found this recipe on Pinterest and I elaborated on it by on putting the turkey meat.

Pepper Jack Cheese

Bacon

Avocado

Turkey lunch meat

Sour dough bread

Pretty much you just make it like a grilled cheese sandwich and it is super yummy!