African Inspired Vegetarian Crockpot Soup with Peanut Butter, Chiles, Brown Rice, and Lentils

African-Inspired Vegetarian Crockpot Soup with Peanut Butter, Chiles, Brown Rice, and Lentils for Meatless Monday.

(Updated with step-by-step photos and better pictures, March 2013.)  In Utah the spring weather can change in a minute, and I always like to have soup in the freezer for those days when the weather suddenly gets cold.  Before I moved I made this soup with Jake to reshoot the photos and had several containers in my freezer on moving day.  Sadly, that soup (and a whole cooler full of food) was ruined in one of those moving tragedies where something gets put in the wrong spot and isn't discovered for days.  On Saturday I had a few friends over for dinner, so I made more of this tasty soup, and now I'm happy to  have some in my freezer again!

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Ten Fun Recipe Ideas Using Leftover Boiled Eggs, Ham, or Asparagus from Easter

Ten fun ideas for using leftover boiled eggs, ham, or asparagus from Easter.

I've been in such a frenzy of unpacking boxes around here that I can hardly believe Easter is in two more days!  I still have at least 30 more boxes to unpack, so there won't be much Easter cooking going on at my house.  Instead I'll be enjoying dinner at my sister Pam's house, which is now only about five minutes away.  For those who are celebrating Easter, I'm guessing many people are cooking at least one of the traditional Easter foods like ham, asparagus, and boiled eggs, so here are ten fun ideas for using those leftovers from Easter, if you're lucky enough to have any!

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Thai-Inspired Ground Turkey Larb Salad Recipe with Sriracha, Mint, Cilantro, and Peanuts

A Thai-inspired salad with ground turkey, Sriracha, Mint, Cilantro, and Peanuts.

Last Saturday about 20 Denny family relatives gathered at my house in Salt Lake and moved all my belongings to my new house in Bountiful, which is the suburb of Salt Lake where I grew up.  I've done plenty of complaining about how hard it was to move 25 years of accumulated stuff, and I'm grateful beyond words for all the family members and friends who helped with the move, either on that day or in the weeks of packing that came before.  Now all my belongings are in the new house, including 23 boxes of cookbooks!  Most of my stuff is not that organized yet so there's not much cooking going on, but luckily I made this delicious Thai-Inspired Ground Turkey Larb Salad a few weeks ago so I'd have something to share with you today.  The dressing for the salad has the sweet-sour-savory-spicy flavor combination that makes Thai food so appealing and Jake and I loved this salad when we tried it.

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Easy Recipe for Roasted Bell Peppers and Red Onions with Turkey Italian Sausage (and Moving!)

An easy and delicious dinner that started with a new turkey sausage product I found at Costco.

It feels ungrateful to complain about how hard it is to move (especially when you're lucky enough to be moving to a wonderful house that you love), but I will confess that days and days of sorting, packing, giving things away, and schlepping stuff to the new house is really giving me a wake-up call about the possessions I've accumulated in 25 years.  It's also reminding me that I'm not as young as I once was, and having a not-still-broken-but-recovering arm is certainly not helping.  Moving is also not something that brings out the desire to cook! I'm in the final stages of packing now, with the big move happening on Saturday, so after I share this easy and delicious recipe for Roasted Bell Peppers and Red Onions with Turkey Italian Sausage I'm going to take about a week off from both my blogs and concentrate on settling into the new house.   (Wish me luck with the hundreds of little details I need to take care of between now and then!)

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Slow Cooker Greek Rice Recipe with Red Bell Pepper, Feta, and Kalamata Olives

Slow Cooker Greek Rice with Red Bell Pepper, Feta, and Kalamata Olives may not be that photogenic, but this dish is completely delicious and perfect for Meatless Monday.

I haven't moved for 25 years, and there's no question that I had completely blocked all the memories of just how awful moving really is, so it's a good thing I'm excited about the hew house!  It's now pretty much sorting through stuff and packing for the move every spare minute around here, but a few weeks ago before the new house frenzy switched into overdrive I made this delicious Slow Cooker Greek Rice with Red Bell Pepper, Feta, and Kalamata Olives with Jake.  This is one of those slow cooker recipes that could be made on the stove, but cooking the rice in the slow cooker means you don't have to watch it much at all.   Definitely this could be a nice side dish for a meal with Greek flavors, but I think this rice also makes a nice vegetarian main dish with all the flavors going on here.  The rice didn't end up being overly photogenic, but if you like these flavors, I guarantee you'll love this rice.

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Easy Baked Sour Cream Chicken (A kid friendly recipe, first made with Sophia)

If you're not against using canned soup, this Baked Sour Cream Chicken is easy, kid-friendly, and delicious.

(Updated March 2013 with better photos and step-by-step instructions.)   Right now I'm completely overwhelmed by the mess of moving to the new house, and feeling thankful that I have The World's Greatest Family, who are generously helping me pull off this enormous move.  (Thanks everyone, and I love you all!)  Needless to say, thinking up new recipe ideas is on the back burner for the next couple of weeks.  Luckily I planned ahead over the last month and took updated photos of some past recipes to share while I'm busy moving.  This Baked Sour Cream Chicken is one of those recipes from the very first days of the blog, and although I rarely cook with canned soup now, the recipe does have some fans and it's quite delicious for a quick dinner.  (I've included the link for a make your own chicken soup replacement if you prefer not to use the canned soup, although the replacement recipe has flour and butter, so it may not be very diet-friendly.)

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Recipe for Leftover Corned Beef Soup with Sauerkraut and Tomatoes

If you have leftover corned beef on hand, this soup is a tasty way to use it.

(For Friday Favorites I highlight recipes from the past that you may have missed, and this delicious soup with leftover corned beef is a great way to use leftover corned beef from St. Patrick's Day.  I've been so moving to my new house this year that I haven't even cooked any corned beef, but I have happy memories of this from other years.)

By the time most people read this it will be St. Patrick's Day, and I'm guessing you might be cooking Corned Beef in the Crockpot.  I've been experimenting with recipes for leftover corned beef, and this soup is the happy result.  This recipe was inspired by Ground Beef and Sauerkraut Soup, but the finished soup was quite different in flavor.  I ate it with some Swiss cheese sprinkled on top (to continue the decomposed Reuben Sandwich theme) and drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar.  And I didn't have any, but 100% Whole Wheat Irish Brown Bread would have been the perfect thing to dip into the soup.  Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

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