Slow Cooked 15 Bean Soup

Dried beans are delicious, high in fiber, and very budget friendly. I wanted to try cooking a bean soup in my crock pot, which I thought would be the perfect recipe for a work day. I found a 15 Bean Soup mix and decided to try that.

There are a couple of things I will do differently next time, and I addressed them both in the recipe. One is that I would add celery. The other is that I would wait to add the onion and sausage until a couple of hours before the soup was ready. The sausage was a little too soft for my taste, which was the result of cooking all day long.

Slow Cooked 15 Bean Soup

1 package Cajun 15 Bean Soup Mix
1 lb sausage, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
8 cups water
1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste ( I thought it needed a lot of salt)
4 bay leaves
1 can petite diced tomatoes

The night before:
1. Place beans in a large bowl and cover with water. Soak overnight.
2. Sauté onion, celery, and sausage in a skillet with a small amount of oil until onion is tender and sausage is browned. Store in refrigerator until needed.

The next morning:
1. Drain and rinse beans. Place in crock pot.
2. Add tomatoes, thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper, and the seasoning packet included with the beans.
3. Cook on low for 10-12 hours.
4. About 2 hours before the soup is finished, add the onion and sausage.


The night before, sauté sausage and onion, (and celery, if desired) and store in the refrigerator.

Place the beans in a bowl and cover with water. Soak overnight.

The next morning (5:30 am for me!) drain and rinse the beans:

Place the ingredients in the crock pot and cook for 10 -12 hours on low:

The result is a rich, hearty, and fabulous soup. It will be particularly tasty this fall.

Oatmeal Parmesan Oven Fried Chicken

Oatmeal Parmesan Oven Fried Chicken
3-4 chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup flour
1 cup regular oats
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
salt and pepper

1. Place flour in a gallon size ziplock bag and place chicken, one at a time in the flour and shake to coat.
2. Pour buttermilk into a small bowl. Dip chicken into buttermilk.
3. Combine oatmeal, breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, oregano, and thyme in a shallow pan. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and place each chicken breast in the oatmeal mixture. Coat thoroughly.
4. Cover a baking pan with foil and lay a greased cooling rack on top. Place chicken breasts on the rack.
5. Bake at 350º for 45 minutes.\


Place flour in a ziplock bag and dredge chicken on piece at a time. Coat thoroughly.

Pour buttermilk in a small bowl:

Dip chicken into buttermilk:

Combine breading ingredients:

Place chicken on top and coat thoroughly again.

Place a cooling rack on top of a baking pan which is lined with aluminum foil. Make sure to spray the rack with cooking spray. This keeps the bottom of the chicken nice and crisp!

Bake at 350º for about 45 minutes. Smaller chicken breasts will require less baking time. It comes out crunchy and delicious.

I served it with a green salad and polenta rounds.

Double Chocolate M&M Cookies

I have loved M & M's since I was a very little girl. One night, when I was 5 years old, my parents left my brother and me with a sweet older lady named Mrs. Otts as our babysitter. She was a kind and gentle lady, but a little clueless. After we ate supper, I wanted some M & M's and I asked her for some. She said that we didn't have any. So, unbeknownst to her, I went to the phone and called the pharmacy down the street (for some reason I had the number memorized). I asked for the pharmacist, Ira West, who was a personal friend of my parents. When he answered, I told him who I was and that I would like a pack of M & M's. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang and it startled poor Mrs. Otts. I explained to her that it was just my M & M's. I opened the door, and there was a delivery man from the drug store with a white bag. Inside was a pack of M & M's. On the outside was a charge slip for 5¢. The pharmacist had a great sense of humor, and, fortunately for me, so did my mom and dad. They laughed so much about it when they got home that they couldn't get mad at me.

I also have always loved M & M cookies. I decided to make them even better with a double chocolate cookie dough base. They turned out to be amazingly good.

Double Chocolate M & M Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels, melted
1 cup plain M & M's
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 375°.
Stir together flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and melted chocolate.
Beat sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Mix well and add dry ingredients.
Stir in M&M’S and pecans. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Press several additional M & M’S into each cookie. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown

Beat sugars, butter, eggs, and vanilla together:

Combine flour soda, salt, and cocoa and add to the butter mixture:

Add melted chocolate and stir in M & M's and pecans:

Drop by rounded teasponfulls onto a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet:

Bake for 9-11 minutes at 375°.

The cigar box post is featured here.

Don't you wish that 5¢ would still buy you a pack of M & M's ?

Recycled Gift Boxes

I have always thought that cigar boxes made great containers. Back when I was in elementary school, we used to keep our crayons and other supplies in them. Now they are especially colorful and are made of wood instead of cardboard. Cigar stores have them and will sell them to you for a very fair price. I decided to buy several in order to have them on hand for unusual gift containers. I found these at The Humidor Room, which is a dark, smoke-filled casbah on Hwy 280. The man who ran the store let me pilfer around until I found my favorites. These were $2.50 each.

There is the Romeo and Juliet scene on a brown background:


The fancy lady on a yellow background:

And another fancy lady. I want a headdress like hers. I need that headdress.


There is one slight drawback, though. It's that whole surgeon general's warning label:

Yeah, that's a downer on a gift container. Some peel off easily and some don't. You could always cover it with a fancy gift label or sticker.


I am good as long as the general of surgeons does not start giving warnings about chocolate cookies.

Coconut Macadamia Macaroons

This is a recipe I found on a box of Premium Saltine Crackers. I love coconut macaroons and it sounded interesting to me that one of the ingredients was crushed saltines. They turned out to be moist and delicious!

Coconut Macadamia Macaroons

1 pkg. (7 oz.) frozen coconut
1 cup macadamias, chopped
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla
30 saltine crackers, finely crushed
3 egg whites
2 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate


Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread coconut and macadamias into 15 x 10 x1-inch baking pan. Bake 10 min. or until lightly toasted, stirring frequently. Cool.

Combine milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Add coconut mixture and cracker crumbs; mix well. Beat egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Add to coconut mixture; stir gently until well blended. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough, 2 inches apart, on lightly greased baking sheets. (I used parchment).

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until edges of cookies are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Melt chocolate as directed on package; drizzle over cookies. Place in wax paper-lined shallow pan. Refrigerate until chocolate is set.


Place crackers in a food processor:

Process until finely ground:

Toast coconut and macadamia nuts for about 10 minutes:

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form:

Fold ingredients together:

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto parchment:

Drizzle with chocolate:

Chili Mac

I had jury duty a few weeks ago which I actually really enjoyed. During that week, I had the opportunity to eat lunch at the Alabama Power cafeteria. I had Chili Mac and it was delicious. So I perused the interweb and adapted a recipe from a combination of several.

Chili Mac

1 lb ground chuck
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
8 oz pasta, cooked and drained (elbow macaroni is traditional, I used penné)
1 can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 can white shoepeg corn
1 pkg chili seasoning mix
1 can drained petite diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Brown ground chuck with onion and pepper until done. Drain. Return to skillet and add remaining ingredients. Pour into a large greased baking dish or individual oven-proof dishes. Top generously with cheese. Bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes. Serve with crusty buttered bread.


Cook pasta in boiling water according to package directions and drain:


Cook ground beef, onion, and bell pepper together until done and drain. Add remaining ingredients:

Top with cheese and bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes.