Good morning! I am going to spend the day with the new Nicholas Sparks book, The Wish!💜 Have an awesome day my friends and be well!💜
WHAT I MADE FOR DINNER!
I tried a new recipe tonight for dinner and it was so good I just had to share! I did not put the pickles on top because……ewww!!! There is a crock pot link at the bottom if you don’t have an Instant Pot!
instant pot cheeseburger soup
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
DESCRIPTION
Creamy and cheesy soup that is made so fast in your electric pressure cooker. Serve it with diced up dill pickle and tomatoes to get that authentic cheeseburger taste. Add crumbled bacon for bacon cheeseburger soup! Miss the bun? Make homemade croutons out of a toasted sesame seed bun to get the total effect. Bottom line…you need to make this today!
INGREDIENTS
- 1 pound of ground beef (I used 80/20 and drained off the grease)*
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 lb Russet potatoes (about 2 large potatoes), cubed
- 1 large carrot, grated or finely diced
- 1 celery rib, finely diced
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 (10 oz) can evaporated milk
- 2 cups medium or sharp grated cheddar cheese
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch
- 3 Tbsp water
- Diced pickles, tomatoes, lettuce for garnish
- Optional: sesame seed bun croutons (see notes section below)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Turn your Instant Pot onto the saute function. Use the adjust button to set it to the medium setting. Once the pot has heated up, brown the beef and drain off all the extra grease. Saute the onion for 2-3 minutes, until it is translucent.
- Add in the broth. Keep the pot on the saute setting so that the broth will get heated up while you are preparing the rest of the ingredients. This will cut down on the time it takes your pot to come to pressure. Add in the potatoes, carrots, celery, salt, pepper, parsley, basil and garlic powder.
- Cover the Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to “sealing.” Set the timer on manual high pressure to 5 minutes. When the timer beeps let the pot sit for about 10 minutes. Then release any pressure that remains.
- Stir in the evaporated milk. Make a cornstarch slurry by stirring the cornstarch and water together in a small bowl. Add the slurry to the pot. Turn the saute function on. Stir in the cornstarch mixture. The soup will thicken within just a couple of minutes. Add in the cheese and stir.
- Ladle into bowls and serve with diced pickles, tomatoes and lettuce. Serve with croutons, if desired.
NOTES
*You can also use ground turkey for this recipe. I’ve made it both ways and they both are amazing.
Add a handful of cooked and crumbled bacon to make cheeseburger soup.
To make sesame seed hamburger bun croutons: Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Cut 4 sesame seed hamburger buns into crouton size pieces. Add in the pieces of hamburger buns and cook until they are crunchy and lightly browned. Be sure to use tongs to rotate them so all sides are able to brown evenly.
Click here for the slow cooker version of this recipe.
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot for this recipe.
Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful night!🍜
CAN’T – WAIT WEDNESDAY
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. If you’re continuing with WOW, feel free to link those up as well! Find out more here.
This week, I’m waiting for…
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 8, 2022
FROM GOODREADS:
In Bonnet, Texas, Liddy Latham, the queen of funeral dinners, keeps a southern comfort-food tradition alive—until fancy-schmancy Matilda Monroe moves back to town. She wants room at the table for her own style of consolation and closure: healthy, modern, and vegan. But this is about more than fried chicken versus tofu turkey. Matilda’s return is also stirring up their volatile, unresolved history. And just when they thought it couldn’t get more personal…
Matilda’s son, Nick, and Liddy’s niece, Amelia, have met and the sparks are flying. For Matilda and Liddy, their precious kin’s romance is their worst nightmare. Now, it’s all Nick and Amelia can do to survive a family feud that has the whole town talking.
The battle for the funeral dinner crown is on. As two strong-willed women wrestle for control, making peace with the past may be the only way to serve the star-crossed lovers a happy ending.
Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!🎃🍁🎃
REVIEW: EVERY WINDOW FILLED WITH LIGHT BY SHELIA STOVALL WITH A GIVEAWAY
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Every Window Filled with Light
Series: The Weldon Novels #1
Author: Shelia Stovall
Publisher: Elk Lake Publishing, Inc.
Release Date: March 23, 2021
Genre: Women’s Contemporary Christian Fiction
A heartwarming small town story of faith and forgiveness, friendship, family, and hope.
Welcome to Weldon, where the only things the locals love more than fried fruit pies are gossip and match-making.
Librarian Emma Baker, a young and childless widow, believes her dream to build a family is over. It’s been two years since a student accidentally stabbed Emma’s husband to death, and her grief has stifled any interest in romance—until she meets Pastor Luke Davis. But when Emma learns Luke is counseling her husband’s killer fresh out of jail, her temper gets in the way.
Meanwhile, Emma discovers twelve-year-old Harley, abandoned by her drug-addict mother, hiding in the library, and takes the girl in as her foster mom. Then a young mother is made homeless by an apartment fire, and Emma opens her home again. One person and one prayer at a time, Emma begins to discover hope.
MY THOUGHTS:
EVERY WINDOW FILLED WITH LIGHT is the first book in a new series and I loved every minute of it. The story takes place in Weldon Kentucky and Shelia Stovall describes it so beautifully that I am ready to pack my bags and go see it for myself. What more could you ask for right? EVERY WINDOW FILLED WITH LIGHT deals with so many different emotions that one minute I was giggling and the next tearing up. I love when an author can do that to their readers! Don’t you just love small town romance stories?
EVERY WINDOW FILLED WITH LIGHT will surely pull at your heart strings and make it very hard for you to put down. If you are like me, you won’t be able to stop until you know what happens to all of these beautiful people in Weldon. Reading how Emma and Pastor Luke responded to each other is very funny since both are so stubborn. Is it possible for them to get a chance at love if they would just stop and listen to the other? I’m not going to tell you, but I will say that you really should read A EVERY WINDOW FILLED WITH LIGHT and get to know this lovable small town. Also, when you learn about Harley, the young girl hiding in the closet at the library and what she has been dealing with, it will break your heart! That’s all I can say!
EVERY WINDOW FILLED WITH LIGHT is an awesome way to spend the afternoon or evening. I’m so excited to continue with the series and learn more about my new found friends. Once you start EVERY WINDOW FILLED WITH LIGHT you won’t be able to put it down and will find yourself cheering for Emma, Luke, and Harley as they try to navigate their way through a very different and unique situation. Be prepared to have Harley steal your heart! Shelia Stovall will pull you in from the very first page and never let you go!
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author through JustRead Publicity Tours. All opinions are my own.
“Every Window Filled with Light by Shelia Stovall is a warm and delightful story of forgiveness and hope. Stovall skillfully paints a great word picture of her fictional little town of Weldon and peoples it with characters you will be glad to meet as you follow their stories. You’ll love the generous heart of Emma and admire her resilience as she faces the challenges of life and love. If you like feel-good stories, then Every Window Filled with Light is a book you won’t want to miss.”—Ann H. Gabhart, best-selling author of An Appalachian Summer.
PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | IndieBound | BookBub
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shelia Stovall is the director of a small-town library in southern Kentucky, where only strangers mention her last name, and the children call her Miss Shelia.
It tickles her to see shocked expressions when folks learn she’s traveling to Africa—again. She’s the worst missionary ever, but God continues to send her to the ends of the earth as He attempts to mold her into something useful.
Shelia is a country girl who relishes eating a bologna sandwich at a country store just as much as savoring an elegant meal in a posh restaurant.
Shelia and her husband Michael live on a farm, and she enjoys taking daily rambles to the creek with their three dogs. Spending time with family, especially her grandchildren, is her all-time favorite thing. The only hobby Shelia loves more than reading uplifting stories of hope is writing them.
CONNECT WITH SHELIA: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
TOUR GIVEAWAY
(1) winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card and an autographed copy of Every Window Filled with Light!
Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway began at midnight October 12, 2021 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on October 19, 2021. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US/CAN only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
HAPPY WEDNESDAY
Good morning! Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!🍁🎃🍁
REVIEW: SECOND CHANCE ON THE CHESAPEAKE BY LEE TOBIN MCCLAIN
MY THOUGHTS:
So, I started to read book five in the Off Season series and totally fell in love with the setting and the words of Lee Tobin McClain. I quickly went on a hunt to find the previous books in the series. SECOND CHANCE ON THE CHESAPEAKE is a quick, thirty seven page novella that starts it all off.
SECOND CHANCE ON THE CHESAPEAKE introduces you to Gemma McWharter. She lives in Pennsylvania in a big huge house that she shared with her now ex husband. She decides to visit her cousin, Bisky, to help her redecorate her daughter’s bedroom. She needs to get away from her family and the memories. Almost immediately upon arriving, she runs into Isaac Roberts. Isaac and Gemma haven’t seen each other in twenty years but its obvious to Gemma that her feelings have never weakened for him.
Gemma has always felt like an outsider when she is on The Eastern Shore. She comes from a very well to do family and has never had to struggle, as far as money goes. Isaac is just surviving with the family hardware store and taking care of his mom and aunt. He feels as if he has nothing to offer Gemma and his aunt feels the same exact way. Gemma even over hears his aunt say as much one day at the store. She knows she must go back to Pennsylvania but Isaac has other ideas.
I totally enjoyed SECOND CHANCE ON THE CHESAPEAKE even though it was very short and I just wanted to continue reading about these wonderful people. I’m going to try and squeeze in the rest of the series ASAP. I’m swamped with blog tours for the rest of the year but I have to return to Chesapeake very soon. Lee Tobin McClain is such a wonderful author and I love how her stories make it seem as if she is writing just for me.
FROM GOODREADS:
Revisit the Chesapeake Bay…where love always finds a new beginning.
When wealthy, recently divorced Gemma McWharter returns to the coastal town where she spent childhood summers, she plans to help her cousin redecorate her teenage daughter’s room and forget about men. It’ll be girl power all the way. So she’s shocked when she literally runs into the carpenter on the job—her first love, Isaac. Her stuck-up family never approved, but the sight of him still makes her pulse race.
Isaac Roberts lives a solitary life providing for his mother and running the family hardware store, but he longs for romance and family. Gemma’s arrival sets his emotions on a roller-coaster ride all over again. Twenty years ago her family interfered, but he and Gemma have never forgotten each other. Could this be a second chance with the one who got away?
Thanks for stopping by and have a terrific Tuesday!🎃🍁
HAPPY TUESDAY!🍁
Good morning! Happy New Book Tuesday! Have an awesome day everyone and be well!💜
IT’S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?📚
Good Morning!
It’s the start of another week. It’s Monday! What are you Reading is hosted by Kathryn from Book Date , this is a weekly event to share what we’ve read in the past week and what we hope to read, plus whatever else comes to mind. I’m hoping to squeeze in some of my books that I own but remain unread!
LAST WEEKS READS:
Present Day. After tragedy plunges her into grief and unresolved anger, Sarah Ashby returns to her childhood home determined to finally follow her long-denied dream of running Old Depot Grocery alongside her mother and grandmother. But when she arrives, her mother, Rosemary, announces to her that the store is closing. Sarah and her grandmother, Glory Ann, make a pact to save the store, but Rosemary has worked her entire life to make sure her daughter never follows in her footsteps. She has her reasons–but she’ll certainly never reveal the real one.
1965. Glory Ann confesses to her family that she’s pregnant with her deceased fiancé’s baby. Pressured into a marriage of convenience with a shopkeeper to preserve the family reputation, Glory Ann vows never to love again. But some promises are not as easily kept as she imagined.
This dual-timeline story from Amanda Cox deftly explores the complexity of a mother-daughter dynamic, the way the secrets we keep shape our lives and the lives of others, and the healing power of telling the truth.
Welcome to Weldon, Kentucky, where the only things the locals love more than fried pies are gossip and match-making.
Librarian Emma Baker, a young and childless widow, believes her dream to build a family is over. It’s been two years since a student accidentally stabbed Emma’s husband to death, and her grief has stifled any interest in romance—until she meets Pastor Luke Davis. But when Emma learns Luke is counseling her husband’s killer fresh out of jail, her temper gets in the way.
Meanwhile, Emma discovers twelve-year-old Harley, abandoned by her drug-addict mother, hiding in the library, and takes the girl in as her foster mom. Then a young mother is made homeless by an apartment fire, and Emma opens her home again. One person and one prayer at a time, Emma begins to discover hope.
CURRENT READS:
Don’t miss this brand-new Christmas romance by New York Times bestselling author Lee Tobin McClain!
At 25 years old, preschool teacher Kayla Harris is embarrassed to admit she’s never been kissed. When Tony DiNunzio and his grieving nephew show up in her classroom, she can’t help being drawn to both of them. If only her insecurities-and his guilt over his sister’s death-would stop standing in their way.
As Christmas approaches, can these three come together to form a family… not just for the holidays, but forever?
When Wendy Harper inherits her family’s beachside cottage in Seaside, Maine, she sees it as a way to finally pay off the debts that have mounted since her husband died. But before it can be sold, the neglected property must be renovated. She and her 12-year-old son Jackson move in–temporarily, she reminds him–in order to do the work themselves, even though Christmas is coming. The charming town, along with local craftsman Caleb Colton, pulls on both Wendy and Jackson, who even registers himself for school in a bid to get his mom to move them there permanently. Wendy knows that the most responsible thing to do is to sell the cottage and return to Ohio, but the lure of the sea is hard to resist.
Join award-winning author Melody Carlson for a Christmas story that will warm your heart and have you dreaming of your own enchanted seaside holiday.
READING NEXT:
1996 was the year that changed everything for Maggie Dawes. Sent away at sixteen to live with an aunt she barely knew in Ocracoke, a remote village on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, she could think only of the friends and family she left behind . . . until she meets Bryce Trickett, one of the few teenagers on the island. Handsome, genuine, and newly admitted to West Point, Bryce gradually shows her how much there is to love about the wind-swept beach town—and introduces her to photography, a passion that will define the rest of her life.
By 2019, Maggie is a renowned travel photographer. She splits her time between running a successful gallery in New York and photographing remote locations around the world. But this year she is unexpectedly grounded over Christmas, struggling to come to terms with a sobering medical diagnosis. Increasingly dependent on a young assistant, she finds herself becoming close to him.
As they count down the last days of the season together, she begins to tell him the story of another Christmas, decades earlier—and the love that set her on a course she never could have imagined.
In this raucous psychological thriller, a millennial office worker finds relief from her crippling ennui in the embrace of a cliquey fan club, until she discovers the group of women is bound together by something darker than devotion.
Day after day our narrator, a gloomy millennial, searches for meaning beyond her vacuous job at a women’s lifestyle website—entering text into a computer system while she watches their beauty editor unwrap box after box of perfectly packaged bits of happiness. Then, one night at a dive bar, she hears a message in the newest single by child-actor-turned-international-pop-star Adriana Argento, and she is struck. Soon she loses herself to the online fandom, a community whose members feverishly track Adriana’s every move.
When a colleague notices the extent of her obsession, she’s invited to join an enigmatic group of adult Adriana superfans who call themselves the Ivies and worship her music in witchy, candlelit listening parties. As the narrator becomes more entrenched in the group, she gets closer to uncovering the sinister secrets that bind them together—while simultaneously losing her grip on reality.
With caustic wit and hypnotic writing, this unsparingly critical thrill ride through millennial life examines all that is wrong in our celebrity-obsessed internet age, and how easy it is to lose yourself in it.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!🍁🎃🍁
MONDAY ALREADY?☕
Good morning! Have a glorious day my friends and be well!💜
