BeautyRevealed | The Blog of Melissa J. Dillon

“When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be in the kitchen because it was warm,

and that’s where my mother was.”   –  Dolly Parton

This delicious soup is perfect for warming up the kitchen on a fall or winter day:

Mom’s Wild Rice Soup

1 cup of Wild Rice (Rinse really well. Add Wild Rice to 3 cups of boiling water and simmer for about 45 minutes, covered.)

1 Large Onion, 3 Chicken breast, 2 cans of cream of potato soup, 4 cups of milk, 1 package of American cheese slices.

Directions: Add all ingredients together except cheese. Heat on LOW heat and do not let boil as the milk will curdle. When soup is getting hot, add ½ to whole package of American Cheese slices and let melt. (Use as much or as little cheese as tastes good to you. The slices melt the best and won’t cling to the chicken.)

Serve with some yummy fresh baked bread on a cold evening and you will have one happy family! This also freezes well so make a double batch!

“Hold on to your hat! Today is going to be a blustery day.”

- Winnie the Pooh

The winds picked up a couple of days ago and finally blew in some chilly Autumn weather for us. That’s when I get in the mood for baking and making yummy soups to warm us up. Last night we turned on the heat for the first time this season to take the chill off the house, and while Mark watched “The Bourne Supremacy”, I headed to the kitchen to bake Snickerdoodles. I love the smell of fresh baked cookies on a cold evening. We could hear the wind whipping around outside and it felt so snug and warm inside. That’s what home is all about: a place of refuge and safety; a place to surround yourself with all things that make you feel “at home” and cozy; a place where you should feel the most loved and wanted.

After we enjoyed a few warm cookies and milk, I put the rest in the freezer to save them for our camping trip coming up this weekend. Looks like it’s supposed to be chilly (especially at night… brrrrr!!), but that’s the fun of camping in the fall and huddling around the campfire with a cup of cocoa. Next year we’ll have to plan it a little earlier since we’ll have a baby with us~ Ooohh, I can hardly wait!

Here’s a yummy recipe for Snickerdoodles if you don’t already have one:

Snickerdoodles

Cream together:

1½ cups sugar, ½ cup softened butter, ½ cup shortening, and 2 eggs

Sift together and add to above ingredients:

2¾ cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons cream of tarter.

Shape into 1¼ inch balls. Mix ¼ cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon in a bowl. Roll balls in mixture. Place 2 inches apart  on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes in a 400 degree oven (or until set). Cool. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Today I am making a big pot of my mom’s yummy Wild Rice Soup to take along with us on our camping trip. I’ll try to get the recipe posted before we head out on Thursday. I hope you are all enjoying these Autumn days! Many blessings!

~ Melissa Joy~

Along with the warm, summer evenings comes the wonderful aroma of smoky barbecues wafting through the neighborhood. Mark and I are not expert grillers by any means, but we are learning… and are so enjoying the process (as we must taste-test all of our experiments).  I am trying to cut back on the amount of carbs that I eat, so grilling is a good way to try new things with protein: salmon, tilapia, shrimp, chicken, turkey, etc.  I have been enjoying a magazine called Clean Eating, and have been trying out some healthy recipes that we really enjoy. We’ve even been grilling our dessert! Last night we tried grilling pineapple, bananas and mangos to make a Tropical Vanilla Fruit Salad. Soooo yummy! But I’ll save that for another night. 

Grilled Shrimp

Ingredients:

1 T. olive oil, 3 T. lemon juice (about ½ a lemon), 2 garlic cloves (minced), and 1 pound of fresh medium-sized shrimp. 

Instructions:

In a small bowl, stir together olive oil, lemon juice and minced garlic well. Place shrimp in another bowl and pour marinade over top. Let sit for 15-20 minutes.

Thread shrimp onto 10-inch skewers (previously soaked in water for 10 minutes) or put into grilling basket. Place over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes, turning halfway through cooking time. Serve immediately. 

Ultimate Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:

1½ pounds ground turkey, 1 medium red pepper (diced), 2 garlic cloves (minced), 1 T. parsley, ½ t. sea salt, ½ t. freshly ground pepper.

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients together well. Make into patties (should make 6). Grill over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes on each side (or until burgers are golden brown and firm in the middle).

Serve burgers on whole grain buns with lettuce, tomato and onion. 

Well, hope you enjoy these as much as we did! What are some of your favorite grilling recipes??

“What a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about

three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.” 

- Robert Fulghum

I think our great-grandma’s were on to something when they set aside a day a week for their homemaking duties (Monday: wash day… Tuesday: Ironing… Wednesday: Sewing… Thursday: Market Day… Friday: Cleaning Day… Saturday: Baking Day… Sunday: Rest). Of course we all need to adjust ours to our own schedule and needs, but I’m finding that it really helps. I started a baking day every Wednesday a few weeks ago, and its really simplified my life. I make my kitchen a gigantic mess and bake 3 or 4 different things for the week. Then I clean up, put everything in the freezer and we’re set. Then I don’t have to buy the preservative-filled things at the grocery store. I am trying to develop healthy recipes for muffins, cookies, breads, etc, so if you have any good ones, let me know. My mom has been teaching me how to substitute healthy ingredients in my recipes… I’m still working on cleaning out the junk from my pantry and replacing it with organic, nutritious ingredients. If anyone has some good health tips for me, let me know! 

Here’s a cookie recipe that mom and I adapted, and they turned out really good. Mark really likes them, too, because they are soft and chewy. 

Now I just need to pick out my days for laundry… gardening… grocery shopping… cleaning… sewing… and the list goes on and on…

My friend, Heidi, made a heavenly strawberry desert awhile back for Bible Study and I fell in love. She so graciously let me share it with you all, and I think you will love it as well… especially if you are a strawberry fan. My mom and I pick beautiful, ripe strawberries in the summer at the local berry farm and freeze them so we can enjoy them all year long. Mmmm. So good.

Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

Combine: 1½ cups crushed pretzel, 1½ cups sugar and ½ cup melted butter. Press into a 9×13 pan and bake @ 375 degrees for 7 minutes.

Cream together: 8 oz. Cream Cheese and 1 cup of sugar. Spread over pretzel crust and let cool.

Dissolve 2 (3 oz.) pkgs. of strawberry jello in 2 cups of hot water.

Add 2 (8-10 oz.) pkgs. of frozen strawberries, halved and quartered. 

Add frozen strawberries to jello; let cool. Fold in 8 oz. of Cool Whip.

Spread strawberry mixture over Cream Cheese mixture and let set in refrigerator for 2-3 hours. 

Serve with a dollop of Cool Whip. Enjoy! 

Two of my favorite cookbooks to thumb through to get inspiration from are: “Apples for Jam” and “Falling Cloudberries” by Tessa Kiros. Beautiful photography and yummy recipes. I need to get better about trying new things. I tend to stick with the “tried and true” recipes… ones that I know I won’t mess up. But I get in moods to try new things… I’m in that mood today. I’ll let you know if I find one that’s a keeper. 

Last night for a ladies tea at my house, my mom made her wonderful Cranberry Orange Scones. These are my absolute favorite, so I thought I would share the recipe. I was so excited to have one for breakfast this morning with a steaming cup of tea, but alas… it turns out that hubbies like them, too (There not only wonderful for fancy tea parties, but also for grabbing as you run out the door ☺). 

Mom’s Cranberry Orange Scones

                                1¾ c. flour                                    ⅓ c. butter

                                3 T. sugar                                    ½ c. dried cranberries

                                2½ t. baking powder                    1 egg, beaten

                                2 t. grated orange zest                4-6 T. half and half  

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, orange zest; cut in ⅓ c butter. Stir in cranberries, egg, half and half until dough leaves sides of bowl. Knead 10x; roll into 9″ circle, cut into 12 wedges. Brush top with 1 egg, beaten; sprinkle with 2 T sugar. Bake @ 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. 

Orange Butter

½ c. butter

2 T. orange marmalade

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly

about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”

– George Eliot

1. The warmth of home after being in the cool, crisp outdoors.
2. The smells of Hot Caramel Apple Cider and Pumpkin Spice candles.
3. Making creamy soups and Honey Bread.
4. Cozy socks.
5. Pumpkins.
6. Fireplaces crackling.
7. Down Comforters and snugly kitties.
8. Pulling out the knitting needles again.
9. The gusty wind whistling through the trees. 
10. Jumping in a big pile of leaves.
11. The glow of lamplight in the windows.
12. Candles flickering.
13. Caramel Apples.
14. Listening to George Winston and the Little Women soundtrack.
15. Autumn Hikes.
16. Hot Cocoa, a warm blanket and a good book.
17. Playing cards with Hubby when the days get shorter.
18. Mom’s Wild Rice Soup.
19. Campfires and ’smores.
20. The beauty of changing leaves.
21. Candy Corn and peanuts.
22. Pulling out the sweaters, hats and mittens.
23. Slow-cooker Apple Pie.
24. Cinnamon Toast and Tea.
25. Family.