25 SLOW COOKER SOUP RECIPES

Fall is officially in full swing and soup is the name of the game around our house. With the weather changing, these 25 Slow Cooker Soup Recipes will make the upcoming cold season much more bearable! Fall brings busy packed schedules for all and this roundup of recipes will eliminate the stress of the dreaded question, “What’s for dinner?”

Inspiring Bookshops Around The World

My mother shared her love of reading with me. I grew up loving to read. I married a man who loves to read. We gave birth to two children who love to read. We are a family of readers and bibliophiles — book lovers. I am extremely grateful for this. 

A good date night for Mr.P and me is dinner, a trip to one of our favorite independent bookstores, a little late night music and maybe a trip to a coffee house or the frozen custard shop — depending on the weather!

ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas 2014 Schedule

It's that time of year again. The 2014 Holiday Season is upon us, can you believe it? The older I get the faster time flies. It seems like I just took down our 2013 Christmas decorations. 

Has anyone watched a Christmas movie or television program yet? Well, I have! The Hallmark Channel started playing Christmas movies 24/7 on October 31. Yes, on Halloween. And yes, I watched one as soon as they started running them that night.

As much as I love watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel—and will continue to do so—I have a fondness for the Christmas movies and shows that the ABC Family Channel starts running on December 1. The ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas not only schedules fun family movies but those awesome Christmas cartoons we all grew up on. Rudolph, the Grinch and Frosty, I love them all!

Get your Christmas shopping finished early and celebrate the season with some much needed downtime—sitting in front of the fire with your kids, a cup of hot chocolate and a bowl of popcorn watching a family favorite Christmas movie! Enjoy the season my sweet friends!

MY FAVORITE THINGS - NOVEMBER

With the airing of 'It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' last night I officially ushered in the 2014 Holiday Season and I could not be more excited! The cherished month of November is a feast - visually, emotionally, mentally and gastronomically. From the rich colors and flavors of Thanksgiving to the upcoming sweet and soothing traditions of Christmas, I hope you savor every image, every fragrance, every thought and every delicious morsel. Along with My Favorite Things collage, I send my very best wishes for joyful celebrations to you and all those you love. 

-Ronda, The Domestic Curator

Mr.P's Favorite Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans

Family recipes are our most favorite foods.  We've made them so many times that we don't even need a recipe to follow. Do you have recipes from your mother, mother-in-law, aunts, grandmothers? Are your family recipes filed in a recipe box, stuck between the pages of a cookbook, shoved in a kitchen drawer or like me...in a huge accordion file folder? Do you have written copies of family recipes to pass on to your children and grandchildren? I have to say that I LOVE written recipes the best! I enjoy baking a cake from a recipe that my grandmother wrote out by hand. I somehow feel more connected to her, almost as if she were in the kitchen instructing me on how to make 7 minute frosting.

My niece and her little family live in Maine, her husband is in the Navy. During the holidays we enjoy putting her on  speaker phone or Skype while we are in the kitchen cooking. It helps us keep that bond across the miles. In the early years of her marriage we would talk her through some of the family favorites but now she knows exactly what she's doing and she is doing it quite well.

Jared, our oldest, is a great cook.

L-R..Steph, my sister; Gloria aka MeMe and or mother, and then me..Ronda.

Hand-written recipes are a special gift from past generations and a part of our family history. If we don't preserve them for the next generation these wonderful pieces of history will end with us. Depending on how much time and effort you are willing to spend dictates your method of preservation. You could have them all printed up into a spiral cookbook. You have seen these, every little church has one. You could use pictures of your grandmother or mother at the stove along with their recipes. I might do this someday, but for now I am just scanning recipes. Mr.P has been after me for YEARS to type them up on the computer. I think the need to preserve my  family's recipes is one of the reasons I started blogging. When I post recipes, sometimes there's a story that comes along with it, that's what I want my children and grandchildren to know. They didn't have the privilege of knowing all of their grandmothers, and this food, these recipes will connect generations of our family. I am SO thankful that the young ones in our family enjoy cooking and spending time in the kitchen. They are eager to learn and I'm equally eager to teach them. 

Most of my old recipes have been ripped out of magazines. This  is a scan of a meatloaf recipe I tore out of a magazine back in 1994. It is a staple here at Porter South. Nothing fancy and really easy to prepare. Who knows someday this may be a recipe Elizabeth cooks for her family!

If you have a meatloaf pan use it. It will keep your meatloaf from sitting in fat. If you don't have a meatloaf pan you can buy an aluminum loaf pan and poke holes in the bottom, then sit this down inside your loaf pan. When I take the meatloaf out of the oven to add the glaze I drain off as much fat as I can. It helps the meatloaf to brown on the sides. This is something I do but most definitely not a requirement.

ROASTED GREEN BEANS
These roasted green beans are heavenly. I like my green beans a little crunchy, like at the Chinese buffet! They pair well with this meatloaf. Round out your meal with homemade mashed potatoes. YUM! I think I'm in love!! I know Mr.P is! Hope your family enjoys as well.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound fresh whole green beans
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chopped tarragon
• 1 teaspoon whole grain mustard

WHAT TO DO

• Toss 1 pound green beans on a baking sheet with 6 smashed garlic cloves, 1/4 cup water and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Roast at 450 degrees F until the beans are tender and slightly charred, about 20 minutes. 
• Toss with a teaspoons of each: chopped tarragon and whole-grain mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. Remove the garlic unless you like to eat them whole.

  MASHED POTATOES

INGREDIENTS

• 2 - 2 1/2 pounds Russet Potatoes
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cups Butter
• 1/2 cup to 3/4 cups Half-and-Half

WHAT TO DO

• Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt and the potatoes. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until a fork easily slides into the potatoes with no resistance, and the potatoes should almost fall apart.
• Drain the potatoes and add the butter. Mash, mash, mash! Slowly add the half and half, stir and taste for seasoning. You can add more salt and pepper if you like.
• Stir well and place in a medium-sized baking dish. Throw a few pats of butter over the top of the potatoes and place them in a 350-degree oven and heat until butter is melted and potatoes are warmed through.

Start writing down your families recipes and cooking traditions for your children and your children's children...

...you'll be glad ya  did!

ENJOY!

~THE DOMESTIC CURATOR~
RONDA

MR.P~ my sweetie pea!

Jared's Favorite Apple Crisp!

What is it about the this time of year, the cooler nights and Autumn in the air, that causes us to crave the warm aromas of vanilla, cinnamon, or coffee?  There is just something heart-warming to the soul about pulling a steamy apple pie or crisp out of the oven!  What a delicious surprise for your family at the end of a long week of work and/or school. Surprise them as they come in from school, or on a cool brisk Saturday after 'the' big game. A dessert dotted with butter and brown sugar somehow always puts a smile on my face and the faces of my little family!