Taco Soup

09/20/2025

When you happen to be in Germany and LOVE Aldi so much that you make a special trip to an Aldi Sud, just to take pictures!!

So nany similar/exact same items, and so much more!!

I did buy some Kinder Eggs to bring back!

05/06/2024

OMG Chicken casserole

6 medium boneless, skinless chicken br, cooked and shredded.
1 jar of artichoke hearts (marinated or not) roughly chopped
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and excess water squeezed out
1 16oz container sour cream
1 8oz block cream cheese (room temp, or soften)
Ranch powder
Salt & Pepper
Other spices to taste
~12oz Shredded cheese (more or less to taste)

Shredded cheese for topping (I uses the 3 cheese cheddar blend from Aldi)

Steps: cook chicken br until no pink remains. See how I cook mine in the picture comment, always come out juicy and savory and never dry in my air cooker/grill. Once cooked, SHRED and add to large mixing bowl.

Start oven @ 350 f

Defrost spinach, squeeze out as much excess water as possible and use a kitchen shears or knife to roughly chop a bit smaller. Drain artichokes and roughly chop. If cream cheese is still cold, microwave at 15 sec intervals until very soft. Add both to bowl.

Add softened cream cheese and sour cream to bowl. Add ranch powder to taste. Mix throughly.

Spread mixture out in large cake/caserole dish. Spread shredded cheese on top. Bake uncovered until the cheese is melted and the interior is hot. All ingredients are already cooked or ok cold so no worries about cooking the center to a certain temperature. By the time the cheese is melted and starting to brown the interior should be sufficiently heated.

Great on its own as a main dish or top of noodles, or heated and put into a tortilla for an on the go snack,

04/03/2024

How do you cook your bacon?🥓🥓🥓
There is no wrong way, but there are multiple methods and this writer did all the work and tested them to find 'the best' way.
I usually make it in a casserole dish w/o parchment in the oven, which yields great results but a lot of clean-up. I will try 'the best' method next time.
Can you guess which one was determined to be 'the best'?

A lot of the methods were great, but only one rated a 10/10.

03/08/2024

Garlic Lime Chicken
Recipe in photos
I quadrupled the spices and used boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 10 thighs)
I pan fried the thighs in butter and olive oil after dipping in the spice mixture until a crispy coating was created then baked for about 40 minutes to make sure they were cooked all the way through.

A little spicy, you can dial down the cayenne for less heat!

All Aldi ingredients except some of the spices!
🧡🩵💙💛

02/21/2024

Good lord this is delicious!

This is Carols Casserole…a slice of my childhood.

My parents were on the board for a summer camp associated with our church when I was young. Throughout the off season, there were many many board meetings and they made the most of it by having potlucks at different board members homes to discuss business.

Kids were always invited and great food was brought by all. The grownups drank wine, ate and talked shop while the kids grazed the food tables and entertained themselves playing games and hanging with the hosts kids.

This casserole was brought to a potluck by my moms friend Carol and my mom asked for the recipe.

It didn’t have an official name, and was christened “Carols Casserole” from the get-go.

This became a staple dish made for gatherings, x-country ski outings and for special occasions.

It’s as good as I remembered and it got two enthusiastic thumbs up from both the mister and his daughter who lives with us.

My mom emailed me the recipe and it’s in the photos here. I don’t know what she is talking about when she says it’s not as good as she remembered….we all disagree!

02/18/2024

I can’t decide!!!
I’m all of them except: #8 & #9.
Which were your faves?

02/18/2024

It’s about time!! Big batch of Taco Soup bubbling in the crockpot today!
Stay warm, eat soup!

02/04/2024

If you tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said.

02/02/2024

Not only is it Groundhog Day (and Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring this morning) but it is also is: (not a complete list):

Bubblegum Day 🍬
California Kiwi Day 🥝
Crepe Day 🥞
Hedgehog Day 🦔
Marmot Day 🦝
Brown Dog Day 🐕
Brendan AND Frank Day 💁🏼‍♂️
River Day 🌊
Tater Tot Day 🥔
Ukulele Day 🪕
Wear Red Day 👠
Working Naked Day 👔🩳🚫
Sled Dog Day 🦮
Number Day 🧮

Choose how you would like to celebrate and throughly enjoy your Friday!

01/30/2024

Valentines Day is swiftly approaching!! ❤️❤️

Made truffles between yesterday and this evening. Easy but messy!!

Everything except the vanilla is from Aldi.
💙🧡🩵

Decadence Truffles
8oz chocolate (GOOD CHOCOLATE, not chocolate chips) finely chopped
2/3 C Heavy Cream
1 TBS Butter @ room temp (not melted)
1/2 tsp Vanilla

Finely chopped Pecans & Freeze Dried Strawberries to finish.

I used my food processor to chop everything;
Chocolate, nuts & berries. Make sure there are no large chunks and everything is finely chopped. I used sealable plastic bags to put the nuts and strawberries in.

Put the finely chopped chocolate in a heat safe bowl. Mix in the room temp butter.

On the stovetop in a small saucepan on medium heat, warm the cream to a low simmer.
Stir as it’s heating, do not let it boil!

Pour over the chocolate and LEAVE sitting for 5 minutes. Do not stir. Come back and, using a spatula, mix until you’re sure all the chocolate is mixed in and melted. Add in vanilla.

I wish I would have used chocolate molds but didn’t have any on hand and put the mixture in a long casserole to cool.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight. Mine were in the fridge about 24 hrs.

I used a cookie scoop to get it out of the pans (I ended up making one batch with milk chocolate then a double batch w/dark chocolate) and drop onto plastic wrap. Roll as best you can into ball shapes. The milk chocolate ones were very soft and sticky. The dark chocolate ones were way more manageable. It’s messy any way you do this. Use plastic gloves or make sure your hands are very very clean!

Let them rest a bit before rolling in either pecans or strawberries. Other options are cocoa powder, other nuts, heath bits…lots of possibilities! What would you use?

Once rolled in the covering of your choice, stack in a single layer, cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for up to a week or freeze for up to a month. Let come to room temp prior to eating.

I haven’t had one yet, but after I was done rolling I scraped the bottom of the pan and put the bits in the strawberries and then…
in. my. mouth!!! 🤤😋

Delicious!!

01/12/2024

I’ve moved this class up to this afternoon…I’m also waiving the class fee. BYOS, (bring your own shovel), I’ll have coffee available for $1/cup.
(nothing is free these days!)
😂🤣

11/29/2023

It’s souper cold in Wisconsin today…looks like we’ll get above freezing for the rest of the week, but tonight I make (keto) Buffalo Chicken Soup!

Everything is from Aldi!

I used my instapot, I got it years ago and am just getting around to figuring out how to use it!
You can use a regular stove top pot or crockpot (3 hrs on low) just follow the instructions and add the dairy AFTER it’s done cooking, just like the IP.

Ingredients:
4 smaller chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
2 Tbs olive oil
2 onions (chopped)
4 stalks celery (chopped)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
48 oz chicken broth
1/2 c hot sauce

8 oz cream cheese (room temp!)
12 oz shredded cheddar blend
1/2 c heavy whipping cream

With my instapot on sauté, heat olive oil in the pot and sauté onions and celery (stir occasionally) until just starting to brown (5-10 min)
Add garlic and sauté another minute.
Turn off. Add broth and chicken. Stir to combine.
Close instapot and make sure it is on ‘sealing’ Press the ‘soup’ button and set the cook time to 5 minutes. Let the IP do its magic!
Once the 5 min are up, let it natural release for another 5 min. Once the timer reaches 5 minutes CAREFULLY use a wooden spoon to tap the release k**b (keep back and don’t have directly under a cabinet) and release the steam. Once the pressure button drops, it is safe to open the lid. NEVER attempt to open an IP if the pressure button is still up!
Set lid aside and scoop up about 2c of liquid (no chicken/vegs) from the pot and put it in a flat bottom bowl or blender. Add soft cream cheese and using a stick blender or your blender or whisk, whip cream cheese into liquid until smooth. Add to pot along with shredded cheddar and cream. Stir and enjoy!!

Store in fridge for up to 5 days.
Serve with celery sticks and Aldi Buffalo Chicken dip!