Soups, Successes, and Cranberry Sauce

Don't you love being able to stay inside on a cold, rainy day?  The temperatures have been dropping lately, and today the rain came.  Thankfully though....I am still inside, under a warm blanket and hot corn pack [thanks, Beth!].  I have already had a cup of tea, and a cup of hot chocolate.  I cannot get warm [doesn't help that our heater seems to be messed up, and therefore is turned off].

This cooler weather has increased our cravings for soup and baking [standing in front of a hot oven is the only think that compares to standing in front of a wood stove].  Maybe one of these days I will do a post solely on soup recipes....hmmm.

#1) Broccoli Cheddar- It claims to be just like Panera's, but [besides knowing we love it] we don't have it enough to be able to give an accurate comparison.  Regardless of whether it is like Panera's or not, it is delish!  I had never used gouda cheese before, but made this my first time.  We liked it a lot, but it is expensive, so I think next time we will try replacing it with a sharp cheddar maybe.
#2) Pumpkin Coffee Cake- We try to set aside at least one day a week that becomes our Saturday.  Because we don't share any days off, we make sure to take a morning where we enjoy sleeping in, having an out-of-the-ordinary tasty breakfast, and relax.  This was the results of one of our Saturdays.  I would make it every day if we wouldn't gain ten pounds each.
#3) Pumpkin Chicken Soup- This was surprisingly yummy.  Neither the mister nor I were too sure about it.  We love pumpkin but had never had it in a savory recipe before.  We were both pleasently surprised.  We added too much red pepper so it was quite spicey, but when we dipped some homemade bread in it, there was no problem.

For Thanksgiving, our plan is to make a day trip north with the mister's sister to our grandparents.  Almost the entire family will be there.  I plan to make homemade cranberry sauce.  This recipe first entered into our family from my aunt.  Since then, my mom makes it every Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We love it so much that she makes extra that stays in the refrigerator to ensure we have leftovers [she told me yesterday that she is making a triple batch this year, haha].  I made it the other night for a Thanksgiving party with some friends of ours and it was agreed upon that this recipe is wonderful [which is saying a lot, considering the mister and I usually do not like cranberry sauce at all].

Okay. Enough talking about it....here is the recipe:

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

1 c whole cranberries

1 fresh orange, pealed

1 3 oz lemon jello

1/2 c sugar

3/4 c boiling water

8 oz crushed pineapple, don't drain

grind orange first then grind cranberries in with it. Set aside. In small bowl combine jello, sugar and water. Stir to dissolve jello and sugar and cool slightly. Add cranberries and oranges and pineapple. Fold together and pour into bowl. Chill

What are your responsible for this Thanksgiving?