Sample at the grocery store are awesome. Couple weeks ago at the 27th and Pine Lake Super Saver they were giving out samples of Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Soup from Taste Traditions of Omaha. It was pretty good.

We have been trying out a couple new recipes for soup and I want to keep trying more. I was planning on making my own version. Looked cheesy tortilla soup recipes and they varied a bunch. Theresa said we should just try the taste traditions one first and see if it would be something she would like and get ideas to make our own version. We checked Russ’s and they carried it for around $7.

It comes in a boil in bag. I split it in half and sucky bagged them. Prep time was about 10 minutes and we poured right from the bag. I enjoyed it, but Theresa found it a bit odd and nailed it when she said it was like liquid chicken tacos. They have a good range of offerings and we look forward to trying others.

I have found a new favorite food blog called Food Wishes. John makes some amazing meals and his videos are top notch. I have been drooling over his vids for a while and wanted to try a simple one first. Being cold outside we turn to winter meals and nothing beats a thick potato soup. I have my own potato soup method, but it is time consuming and makes too much. I wanted a fast soup and we shot for just two bowls worth. It was amazing.

Food Wishes – Ham and potato soup recipe with video.

It was simple and fast. I really cooked down the onion, celery, and carrots because Theresa does not care for them in the soup. I wanted them to pretty much dissolve, and they did. I was not following the recipe exactly since we only wanted a small batch. It turned out so good that I am going to continue tweaking the recipe.

I have been looking for these for a while, but I could not find them. Theresa finally found them at Target. The cinnamon flavor is very subtle and is most noticeable in the aftertaste. I was expecting them to pack a bit more punch.

Leftover chicken will feed me for lunch for a couple weeks

We have been doing a sides only dinner a bunch lately. A slab of meat is always nice, but we make some rocking sides and enjoy them. Tonight was skillet fries, cheddar bay biscuits, and Daniels sweet corn.

With the weather being so nice and the windows open all day I made up a batch of five minute a day dough. I have been wanting to make pizza shells for a while for lunches. Made up 3, but one was a bit thick so I tested it out last night.

It was pretty good with the thicker crust, but I still prefer it thin when I make my own. I used the toaster oven last night, but I have the oven set to turn on before lunch so I can have a hot stone to bake it on. Yum.

I sent her a pic of these awesome cake ball cones as a challenge. She accepted. She used google pic search to find the recipe. They used fluff to stick the crumbs together. Prob is fluff has so little flavor. They were mediocre at best, but looked great. It was a fun project though.

The fluff just added no flavor to the balls. The Bark is meh as well. They looked cool, but eating one was not something one would do on purpose. They looked cool as hell though.

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SCANDYBARS

This is my first pork Boston Butt (pork shoulder) that I have smoked. When it comes to a big sloppy pulled pork sammich I cannot refuse. I wanted some for lunch so bad that I got a tub of insanely over sauced that it was just gross. I knew I would be around all day so I got the smoker rolling. I did a generic rub on it right before it went on the smoker. Kept the temp around 275 and a thin blue smoke from applewood and hickory well into the evening. Once it hit 175 I pulled it from the smoker and finished it in the oven.

I went a bit too heavy on the smoke. the crust is black and tasty as heck. It pulled so easy. I split into 4 piles and sucky bagged 3 of them. I prob should of done my own sauce, but Famous Dave’s was much easier. Lunch was great.

We have been waiting for these for a while. They are decent, but a few things were a little off. The package is smaller than a normal package of Oreos. They say double stuff, but it does not seem like it. You are getting a lot of cookie in each bite. I am more of a fan of the golden ones, and not a fan of the chocolate creme, but it is still a yummy cookie.

Each triple double cookie is 100 calories.
A normal oreo is 80 calories
a double stuf is 140 calories

The impulsive buy has a much more informative review.