Fun and Games and Soup!

That is the Las Vegas Strip as seen through the dust and wind!

It is spring here in the desert, the wind is blowing and my allergies and horrific. I may have to go get a shot to help me out. You can only blow your nose so many times before it falls off!

I am still trying to have fun though. My friend of 33 years, Debbie, came to town, we played bingo, I took a cooking class. We sat home and I cooked some fabulous meals. We played dominoes, yahtzee and scrabble, and drank bloody marys and margaritas, played more bingo and shopped at walmart, she loves the big walmart out here (she lives in a small town in California) so we go and she finds all kinds of cool stuff.

They gave out free chocolate bunnies that had prizes attached at bingo,
my little bunny gave me 10.00!!

I made us a ham dinner for Easter Sunday, I love ham and I really miss it, Hubby does not enjoy it so I don't cook it, but he actually liked the one I got, it was a spiral from walmart. Deb left the next morning so I dropped her at the airport and came home and made a nice pot of soup with the leftover ham, it was yummy! The wind was really blowing outside and it was so nice to have homemade soup to warm us up, and the hubby loved it too!

My pot of soup! It was so good!

The recipe comes from mygluten-freekitchen.com
I changed the recipe slightly, I added 1 cup of chopped celery and omitted the corn. if you like you can add both or none...

Ham, Potato, Cheddar Soup

2 cups water
4 cups chopped potato, I used the yukon gold, they are so soft and buttery and you can leave the soft skin on. (yay, no peeling!)
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
3 garlic cloves minced
1 teaspoon garlic salt/powder
2 cups chopped ham
2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper and crushed red pepper to taste

1. In a large pot, bring water, potatoes, carrots, and garlic to a boil. Stir in salt, garlic salt, and pepper.
2. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are tender. Add the ham. Reduce heat to lowest setting.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter, then whisk in the cornstarch.
4. Add the milk to the butter/cornstarch mixture and whisk together.
5. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.
6. Add cheddar cheese and stir until melted.
7. Pour creamy contents of medium saucepan into the large pot of ham and vegetables. add some salt and pepper and some crushed red pepper if you like a little kick, bring back to a boil, then put on a simmer until ready to eat, I let it simmer for about an hour until dinner time. I then served with hot loaf of french bread from the oven and a salad.

I hope you try it and enjoy it, and I hope your spring is sunny and warm!

See you soon with more fun in the Las Vegas Sun!