John & I enjoyed a wonderful weekend full of fun, food & friends. We hosted our annual Dove Shoot (more on that in another post) and the weather (which was forecasted for rain) held off and ended up being a great day!
We awoke yesterday with not a cloud in the sky and decided to go to our favorite restaurant to eat on Sundays:
The Mt. Pleasant Grille is just about 3 minutes down the road from the lake cottage on John's parent's farm. It is owned by one of my dad's best friends, Jim & Jennifer Barrier. They restored this old building and made it into a beautiful restaurant!
It has a very 50's vibe to it, with old pictures of Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles, etc...John & I are a HUGE fan of their Sunday Brunch. They offer the traditional Southern Sunday food ranging from fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, mac n cheese, broccoli casserole, pinto beans, okra, etc, etc...and 3 different dessert options. The main meat, changes weekly. They always have fried chicken, but they offer 2 other options ranging from Pot Roast, Turkey & Dressing, Mexican Casserole, Meatloaf, etc, etc.... Yummy Yummy Yummy!!
After lunch, we headed down to the farm and decided to enjoy the beautiful day. We took 2 chairs up to the top of our farm and just enjoy each other's company and the leftover beer from the dove shoot. (Yesterday was NOT the day that we were watching what we were eating or drinking in regards to our waistlines! But you need days like that every now n then!)
Sitting on top of the hill made me think that picnics are so wonderful in the fall!
Don't these pictures below make you just want to call a bunch of friends, gather with some good bottles of wine, everyone bring a picnic basket full of fall goodies & enjoy the weather, together!
So, for Monday's recipe, I'm letting y'all in on one of John & I's favorite soups! I'm actually making this tonight for dinner & thought that this would be perfect to share on this beautiful Monday in September. This soup is very popular when I bring it or serve it to friends & family, and the best part about it is.....It's so EASY!!
Neelley's Corn & Sausage Soup
1 lb of ground sausage (mild)- [if doubling, use 1 lb mild and 1 lb hot]- browned & drained
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced (about the same amount as the red bell pepper diced)
2 Tbsp of butter or margarine
1 can (4 oz) diced green chiles
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 1/2 - 2 cups of frozen corn, thawed..... I like lots of corn in our soup.....
1 1/2 cups of milk
2 cups Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese
1/4 - 1/2 tsp of Ground Red Pepper (depending on your love for spiciness)- Is that even a word?
salt & pepper to taste
- Brown & drain sausage. Set aside.
In medium sized pot, melt butter over Medium heat. Add onion & red bell pepper. Cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes or so. Add rest of ingredients to pot. Stir. Bring to a small boil and let boil (stirring continously once boiling) for about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Serve!
** I usually serve this soup with one of 3 different sandwiches. Either:
1) Grilled Cheese (make sure you get the Velveeta Extra Thick Sandwich slices. They make grilled cheeses Soooooooooo much better!)
2) BLTs
3)- Sausage & Cheese stuffed Pitas
- I ground another lb of sausage (usually 1 hot & 1 mild) together at the very beginning of recipe. Take 1/2 of it & put in soup. Take the other 1/2 & set aside. In pan where you browned sausage, take 1 Red Bell pepper & 1 green bell pepper & some onion chop in long strips. Saute in pan with a little bit of butter. Add sausage. I usually sprinkle just a little bit of garlic powder, salt & pepper in there too. Add some shredded cheese and remove from heat when adding cheese. Fill a wheat pita and then I slide in the oven at about 400 degrees for about 5 minutes (most)- just long enough to let that cheese melt all together.
Yummy!
Happy Fall Y'all!!
I just love my grandmother's homemade preserves. She makes them all~ Strawberry, Peach, Blackberry, Raspberry, etc. It is a staple when visiting with her that she always has readily available. So this year I decided that I was going to make my own homemade preserves. So far, so good. I have made my Strawberry, Blackberry, and Peach (and I did a some extra peach preserves enhanced with some cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and a couple of more yummy spices to make it Spiced Peach Preserves. Thinking this might be the perfect thing to have for breakfast on a Scone with a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks. Yummy!!)
