Albondigas Soup

We are just a few days into spring, so we're kind of getting out of what I consider to be, "soup weather", but I'm sharing this recipe anyway. This is another one of my family's favorite soups, and the best part about this, is that it's super-easy, super-fast, and super-yummy!

I'm sure you could find this recipe somewhere online, because that's where I got it. Years ago. For the life of me, I cannot remember where it came from, though.

It's rather meant to be a crock pot soup. And while I have prepared it in a crock pot, these days I'm actually more likely to prepare it on the fly, because it can go together in a hurry. If you're a bit more of a purist and and make-it-yourself kind of person, it will take a bit longer. You'll see why in a minute.

Here we go....

Albondigas is Spanish for "meatball", so this is a Mexican meatball soup. It's not really a traditional albondigas (So, sorry to my children, but heads up, guys: if you order it in a restaurant, it is NOT going to look or taste like this.), because this soup is really tomato-based, and usually Albondigas is not like that. But this is an easy soup because it starts with prepared foods:

Albondigas Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cans tomato soup

2-3 cans water

1 can corn, not drained

favorite salsa, to taste (up to 1 cup or more)

24-30 frozen meatballs

1 T. minced onion (I use the jarred Costco stuff)

If you're cooking it in a crockpot, then you would just combine all the ingredients, set it, and go. You want at least 4 hours cooking time, to develop the flavor and let the meatballs soak up the juices.

But this is how I usually do it: I cook the onion in a little olive oil in a skillet. I like it to get a little caramelized and take on some color at this point, but you don't have to. The important thing to know is that the sooner you're going to serve, the more important it is to cook the onion first. If you're throwing this on the table in a half hour, the onion will be too underdone if you don't cook it first.

Then start combining ingredients: soup, soup cans of water, corn, salsa, minced garlic, and the cooked onion.

The salsa is your choice, and if you want a milder soup, you can actually use a can of diced tomatoes with bell peppers, instead of the salsa. But if you like it hot, just use hot salsa, and lots of it. I usually use a mild-to-medium, pre-made salsa, and I put about a cup in. You can use more or less, it just depends on taste.

The easy part is the meatballs! If you're a Holly Homemaker, go ahead and knock yourself out making homemade meatballs. (I'd prepare the soup in the same pan that you cook the meatballs.) But frozen meatballs are the way to go. If you're doing it in the crock pot all day, you can put the frozen meatballs right into the crock. If you're in a hurry -- pre-cook the meatballs in the microwave, like I do, and then add them to your soup pot.

About 4 or 5 minutes on high, stopping once to re-arrange them.

Then add them to the soup. Stir it all up, bring to a boil, and then simmer until you're ready to eat.

Ok. Or put it all in the crock pot. Whatever floats your meatball.

We serve it by topping it with shredded cheddar, and the kids like to dip tortilla chips in it, as well.

It really is SUPER good.

The only one who doesn't like it is Emma. And she won't eat anything outside of her comfort zone. (Which includes anything with tomatoes. Not even ketchup.

I know. She's a sick, sick child.)

The rest of us scarf it down, and what little remains as leftovers is usually gone the very next day. That's my barometer for a winning recipe -- even the leftovers get eaten quickly.

Hope you like it, too!

laundry room progress

Since you don't live with it, you've probably forgotten that we're kind of in the middle of another remodel job. If you've been reading, you might recall that I wrote about the beginning of the project back HERE.

It's kind of interesting to be working on the laundry room. I'm pretty sure we have moved the washer and dryer in and out of the laundry room at least three or four times now, so far. And by "we", I mean "Todd." He takes them out so he can work on the room, and then moves them back in so I can get the laundry done again. The appliance hand truck is getting a lot of mileage on it!!

Here's some of what's been happening:

To accommodate some of the cabinetry, it was necessary to move the door to the laundry room. Last night, Todd and I were tallying up how many doors have been moved or changed or added in our house. So far, that is. We're at 6, and have another in the immediate plans. That doesn't count the replacement of 8 doors in the basement, not long after we moved in. (They didn't move -- just got updated and lightened up.)

So, moving the door meant patching in sheetrock and then mud, tape, & texture.

Now THAT, ladies, is a paddle attachment for your mixer!

Todd fills the hopper with the thinned mud, and attaches the air compressor to it.

Then he's ready to shoot:

We taped off EVERYTHING. Ceiling, floor, wall, brick, and hall space on each side. It takes about 4-5 times as long to get the tape and plastic all in place as it does to actually shoot the texture. Todd textured the inside of the laundry room at the same time.

 

I would have preferred no texture at all inside the room -- just smooth. Because it will go with the design plan. But Todd wanted at least a light "orange peel" texture on.

Outside the room (the hallway), Todd duplicated the "knocked-down" texture that is everywhere in the house. So he allows the mud to partially dry, then he comes back with his trowel and skims the top of it off. (When I was a kid, I used to look for "pictures" in the wall texture next to my bed -- like looking for cloud pictures in the sky.)

By the time we were done, you can't even tell that the wall is new there. It looks like it's always been that way. In fact, a lot of the family members don't realize that the door is over about a foot. We've painted it with the hall color/living room color, and it's all finished out, except for the door casing. 

(Don't start a discussion on the actual COLOR of the paint. Todd maintains that it's "green", and I say that it's more of a neutral tan/taupe [with green undertones]. It kind of depends on what light and time of day it is.) Take a look at the living room, and see what you think, in THIS POST. Sometimes the room just looks like a different color.

Anyway. Then we moved on to painting. Since the drywall is new, it needed primer first.

Emma loves to help painting. Don't you love her form?!

The color might be hard to tell in photos, but it's a gray with definite blue tones in it.

(Typical breakdown of painting tasks: Todd does the rolling, and I do the brush in the corners.)

That was also the kidnapping weekend (read about our spontaneous weekend trip to get Alyssa, HERE.), so Alyssa helped Emma out with painting, also. And, trust me, when I tell you that having FOUR people and a stepladder in a 6'x9' room was rather cramped!

The new laundry room will be less than half the size of the old laundry room, but it should be fully functional and -- can I say it? -- even PRETTY -- when we're done.

And finally, ...

Yesterday, Todd finished getting all the tile laid for the laundry room floor.

And yes.

We know that it looks really weird (and wrong) to have a flooring change right in the middle of the doorway. That's what we get for moving the door, right?

We'll get that taken care of, too. It's just not high on the priority list at the moment.

And don't you just love Todd's pricey tile spacers he's using here? They work!!

And I guarantee, they don't cost more than a penny apiece.

I'm loving the wood-look tiles we chose, and the weathered gray coloring. They are 6"x24" tiles, and laid in a 1/3 offset, so they really mimic a wood floor, but WAY easier to clean, maintain, and they're perfect for in a "wet" area of the house.  SO excited, here!!

You may not be able to see, but the grout is not done yet.

I'm thinking we need to move the washer and dryer back into the room again so I can get caught up on laundry again before we move on to grout!!

(And in the mean time, last night, Todd wired up 4 can lights, and is ready to hang the pendant -- though we'll probably wait for the cabinetry to be installed first.)

It's certainly coming along!!

spring forward

Last night, I went around setting all our clocks forward.

Because, seriously -- who ACTUALLY stays up until 2:00 am to do it right then? Nobody.

I've seen quite a bit of commentary lately on my Facebook feed about this very topic. And, most of it is negative.

I can't figure out why people feel so strongly about this. Is it really that big of a deal?
(Apparently it is to some people.)

Sure, it's a pain to change all your clocks.

Except for my iHome, next to my bed. It literally has a switch on the back, just for Daylight Saving time. Flip the switch, and DONE. So easy. And atomic clocks take care of themselves, for the most part. I have a finicky atomic clock that fights the time change.

And sure, we "lose" an hour every spring. You don't hear near the complaints in the fall, when we "gain" an hour. We're not losing or gaining anything -- it's merely a shift of time. They should call it, "Daylight Shifting Time".

I never think of it as "losing an hour's sleep". Of course, I'm probably chronically sleep-deprived, so I can fall asleep ANYtime. When the kids were younger, I would sometimes take a few days to adjust their bedtimes, to help them transition, but REALLY ---- it has never been a problem for my family. I tend to think of it more as "losing" the time to get things done. One ONE weekend a year. (Because I "gain" the hour on the opposite weekend.) And it's the weekend, for pity's sake. When Life is a bit more relaxed ANYWAY.

And I  LIKE  the fact that I have more daylight during those summer evenings. Spending time out in the yard, the garden, the patio, .... I really LIKE that.  And as the days get longer, I LIKE the fact that daylight doesn't start at 3:00 am. But then, I like daylight. I've said it before.

I'm totally fine with Daylight Saving Time. Do I think that we actually save on energy costs? Probably not. We Americans are such energy hogs, it doesn't make that much of a difference.

You may disagree with me about Daylight Saving Time. And that's fine. You're in the majority.

In the mean time (no pun intended), our country still follows it.

SO, ........ I win!

Me and Benjamin Franklin.

kidnapped.

We sure love our kids.

About a week ago, I was talking with Alyssa, who told me that her Friday classes were cancelled. This is significant when you know that she also has no classes scheduled on Thursdays. It became an un-scheduled four-day weekend for her.

Her text to me said, "Come get me???"

A bit unusual, considering it's nearly a 6-hour drive, one way. She's fully aware of that, so she really was only half-serious. She didn't actually expect us to come and get her. Normally, we might have just dismissed it, and said, "suck it up, buttercup" ---- but......

-  the weather has actually been pretty good lately (winter weather + travel = misery)

- gas prices are down

- the schedule at work was empty for the day

- her sweetheart was out of town for job-training

- we miss her, too!!

...

My return text to her said:

,
"Can you be packed to leave at noon tomorrow?"

"Wait. Are you serious?!?!"

...

"Pack your bags, sister. Prepare to be kidnapped!"

So, I got a sub for my seminary class that morning, we pulled Emma out of school, and off we went. Despite glorious weather at home, we did come across this scene, not long after leaving home:

... but after that, all was good.

Emma's a good little traveler, and a few hours later, we showed up at Alyssa's dorm:

And went out for lunch...

Oh, my. Those two DO look alike!!

The sneaky part about this was misleading Darcie about our trip that day. We told her we were headed in the opposite direction, and made no mention of Alyssa. Miss Darcie is so busy right now with softball practices and pit orchestra rehearsals (for the school's spring musical), and she wouldn't be home most of the day anyway. Lately, she doesn't even see Emma, since Darcie leaves before she's up and comes home after she's asleep.

So even after 11+ driving hours, going out to lunch, and doing some wedding shopping, we still arrived home that night before Darcie.

She was speechless when Alyssa popped out and said, "Boo!"

It was so great to visit with her again. All of us thought so:

We'd thought that Alys would drive her Jeep back to school, since she didn't take it this semester. But she elected to still leave it behind -- the price of a parking permit doesn't seem very cost-effective. So we packed up again when the weekend was over, and drove her back to school. This time, we stayed overnight, to break up all that driving.

Emma's favorite part of traveling is going to the hotel pool. She showed off her new 3-piece swimsuit for us:

Sure can tell she's had cameras in her face all her life!!

And finally -- I'm such a sucker for sleeping kids. Emma's new habit is to say goodnight after we read a story, and then read to herself in bed. It almost always ends like this:

And then I take the book away and tuck that sleeping adorable-ness under the covers. Sure love her.

And sure love our Alys. I mean, it takes LOVE to go drive that distance, and get her for the weekend, right??

And ..... we sure miss this little sweetheart, too:

(That's her first time sitting like a big girl in the shopping cart. She's growing SO fast!!)

I'm turning into quite the old mother hen. I miss my kids when they're gone, and I love to have them all back under our roof again. (Well, at least to visit!!)

Valentines, sunsets, and life.

Sometimes, I find myself on "pause" from all the busy-ness of life, and I remember to be thankful for my blessings. I've been reading another blog lately, which brings a lot into perspective for me. It's a good reminder.

Our winter has sure been mild this year. That's a mixed blessing, I think. Milder temperatures, minimal snow and cold, ... sounds wonderful, right? But when we're in the hearth products business.... well, it's not so easy to sell stoves and fireplaces when people aren't really feeling the cold, you know? Still, we have been able to support our family and our business, which is really all I pray for.

Mild temps bring the bulbs out of the ground in a hurry:

Those are daffodils that are 16" out of the ground in the middle of February. In Idaho. It's unreal!

My "vintage" yardstick -- has '57 Chevy on the other side of it. Kinda fun!

As an early celebration of Valentine's Day, we and some of the extended family went out to dinner at one of our favorite Italian restaurants...

Todd was a real sweetheart and got this huge arrangement of roses and lilies. He sure knows my favorite things.

I had a singing Valentine come to work that morning... still trying to figure out how to get that video off my phone and onto the computer.

Todd also went out on a date with another girl:

She was over-the-moon excited when she found out that we'd gotten tickets for her and Todd to go to the community's  Daddy Daughter Dance together.  Since it was the day before Valentine's Day, I did a fancy hairstyle for her:

Todd took her out to dinner to one of her favorite restaurants before the dance, too.... 

And they posed for the photographer at the dance, as well:

Emma was just so excited about the whole thing! It sure made me smile to see the two of them heading out together. Todd said he got a lot of positive comments from total strangers at the restaurant, as well. 

As for us, we kept our Valentine's Day celebrations kind of quiet this year. We decided to eat in, instead of trying to fight the crowds at the restaurants in town. We know that Todd can cook steak better than them, anyway! 

So we ate home-grilled smothered steaks that night:

Realllly good!!

And I experimented with a copycat recipe of one of Todd's favorite restaurant desserts:

If I'd been completely happy with the results, I would have posted the recipe here. Since there are definitely changes I would make in both the blondie and the warm sauce, I will wait to post the recipe until I've got it the way I want it.

February has also been giving us some pretty sunsets along with the warmer weather. And it's warm enough (and dry enough) to even be out jumping on the trampoline in the late afternoon/evenings. 

(With a jacket, of course!)

One of these days, I will take the time to learn the settings on my camera, better than I know them now. After all the pictures I take, I'd think the quality would have improved a bit more. It's not perfectionism. It's just desire for self-improvement.

This morning, I told my Seminary students that I want them to go out and be different, so they can be better. If we keep doing the same things, we're going to get the same results. If I want to be better, I've got to do things differently.

And that, my friends, is my little gem of wisdom for the day!