Cheesy Tortilla Soup Recipe

So I'm totally not a soup person, but I was flipping through my tasteofhome cook book, 'Mom's Best Made Easy'. And found this recipe and thought, this could be awesome. So what do you know, I went to the store, purchased all the ingredient's, and it was the BEST soup I've ever had. Caleb absolutely loved it too. It also made enough to store two huge containers in the freezer for a rainy day!

1 package of Taco Seasoning
1 pound of boneless chicken breasts, diced
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 butter, cubed
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 cans chicken broth
1/3 cup canned diced tomatoes with chillies
1 cup cubed Velveeta
1 1/2 cups of shredded Monterrey jack cheese
1/2 milk

Toppings
Guacamole
1/2 cup shredded cheese
tortilla Chips

Prepare Taco package as directed with chicken. Cook chicken with package until no longer pink in a large skillet.

In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in flour. Gradually stir in broth. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add tomatoes, Velveeta and a cup of Monterrey Jack; cook and stir until cheese is melted.

Stir in milk, and reserved chicken; heat through. Garnish with toppings.

New Brownie Peanut Butter Cupcake!

I'm so excited about my new Brownie Peanut Butter Cupcake. I'm adding it my cupcakes for 'Lil Miss Cupcake'! It was extremely easy to bake, and taste awesomely yummy.

Caleb's Crafty Day

Caleb had a wonderful day yesterday. He had speech therapy at J.Z. Mann earlier that morning, and his teacher advised me to start working on 'my turn', 'your turn'. So I got out the daddy craft box and we started working! We made a cow finger puppet together (a piggy too!). And worked on: being mommy's turn, then Caleb's turn to glue the felt on, and put the little pieces together. It was an awesome day of sharing, and working together. He's speech is improving everyday! I'm so incredibly proud of him. Next step, Potty Training Central. We need to work extra hard on working with Caleb to go on the potty FULL-TIME. We are planning to enroll Caleb into pre-school within the next month so it is very crucial for him to learn as soon as possible. We have tried everything though, treats, stickers, etc... Nothing seems to work. I've even tried just switching him to undies for him to realize he has to go potty, but that just turned to a big mess. I defiantly could use some tips.

Recipe: Chocolate Cupcakes with Fondant

2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup(s) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon(s) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
1 cup(s) sugar
1 cup(s) mayonnaise
1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
1 cup(s) cold water




1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

2. In a small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a large bowl, with electric mixer on medium speed, beat sugar, mayonnaise, and vanilla extract until combined. Beat in flour mixture in thirds, alternating with water, until blended. Beat 1 minute, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

4. Bake 22 to 24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in cupcakes comes out clean. Let cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely. Top with Fondant.

Seryna's 1st Birthday Party

Saturday, March 6th was Miss Seryna Isabella Gaito's first birthday party! It was held at a park close by our house. Delicious hot dogs, hamburgers, salads, and the cake (my first fondant cake EVER) and vanilla cupcakes I made of course were all served on that beautiful day! All the children who attended seemed to have had a BLAST! So did my little Caleb. Although I shouldn't say "little" he seemed more grown up then ever since he trotted off away from mommy and daddy to explore the BIG kids play ground. Although he seemed to really be into picking up random sticks, and play ground sand rather then playing with the other kids (such a boy) on the swings and such. But for others, bubbles, baseballs, and slides were the actives of choice, and when it came time for Seryna to open all her presents, the kids had front row center for the show. It was a delightful day. And, oh so exciting for Mr. and Mrs. Gaito for their beautiful daughter to be turning one! They have so much to look forward during the next few years. Lots of more photo's to come. Not much time to post right now, nannying little miss Seryna, and trying to maintain my patience with Caleb running around like a caveman. Tootles.

P.S. If you love to bake, go get some fondant at Micheal's and just explore the possibilities! It's really not that hard. And not too expensive.

Feedback please: For my first cake, don't you think it's pretty awesome? Anyone have any idea's to make it look more professional?