Fall in my Imagination

First and foremost, a big thank you to those of you who read my pitiful blog post about how sad I was regarding my lack of a KitchenAid. My sister-in-law Kelly MAILED me a hand mixer that she didn't use any more. Can you imagine my joy upon opening that care package?! 

Secondly, my fellow NFL wife and warm climate dweller Cissie gave me the recipe for this pumpkin spice cake. She used to live in North Carolina but now resides in Florida because of her husband's job, and she took pity on me and texted me "combine a spice cake mix with a can of pumpkin and bake! It'll give you a taste of fall." I've done this before with a yellow cake mix, and the spice cake mix is so much better. I also made a cream cheese apple cider frosting, and it was delicious. The recipe for the frosting can be found here, just scroll past the cupcake recipe. And FYI, the cider takes awhile to boil down to 1/4 cup. Be patient.

{We may or may not have eaten this portion of the cake straight from the pan.And the lighting in our apartment is awful, hence the weird yellow light in the picture.}

And Baby A has been making me crave this Santa Fe Soup that has always been a favorite. I made it last night and we were not disappointed.  Thomas is loving the things that I crave these days! Meat and beans?! His dream come true. I got the recipe from Caroline over at Savory Sister years ago, or so my recipe card says. Also, the recipe says not to drain the beans, but I drained and rinsed them to cut out some of the sodium.  I just added a little extra water to make up for it and we couldn't tell the difference. Oh, I also only used 1 pound of ground beef. Thomas didn't even know. And it makes a LOT, so freeze half or share it with a friend. 

Santa Fe Soup

2 lbs ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

2 (1 oz) envelopes of Ranch dressing mix

1 envelope taco seasoning mix

2 c water

1 (16 oz) can black beans, undrained

1 (16oz) can great northern beans, undrained

1 (16oz) can kidney beans, undrained

1 (14.5 0z) can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 (10 oz) can Rol-Tel tomatoes with green chiles

1 (11 oz) cans shoepeg corn, drained

Brown beef with onions, drain. Add remaining ingredients and blend well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve with grated cheese, sour cream and chopped green onion. Yields about 3 quarts.