Happy Birthday Kaylee!!

Kaylee turned 9 yesterday. I can hardly believe my first little baby is getting to be so grown up. We always make birthdays a big deal around our house. Usually birthday's end up being more like birthweekends. And Kaylee's birthday was no exception. On Friday night we had a big friends birthday party she invited 16 girls and I think all but one showed up. We had a very noisy house that night. Lots of laughing and screaming. She had a Valentine themed party. We decorated giant heart shaped sugar cookies, had a heart shaped pinata, and made heart shaped flowers for their hair. On Saturday we went to Chuck E Cheese with just the family. We spent about and hour there, about as long as the parents could stand. Sunday was here actual birthday, we didn't do too much except open presents and have her favorite thing for dinner, tortilla soup.

All the crazy girls at her birthday party!

Kaylee taking a whack at the pinata.

Tortilla Soup

(Kaylee's Favorite, and one of mine too because it is so easy)

1 family size can of Campbell's chicken and rice soup

1 can corn

1 can ranch style bean

1 can Rotel brand tomatoes Mexican style

2-3 chicken breast cooked and diced or shredded

Precook chicken, I like to cook a bunch of breast in my crock pot, shred the meat and store in cup proportions in my freezer for recipes like this one.

Then just dump all the cans into a big pot add one large can of water, add chicken and heat through. Top individual bowls of soup with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and a couple drops of Tabasco sauce if you like heat. I like to add tortilla chips to my bowl, but some people prefer to dip.

The perfect Fries

We decided to save a few bucks and make french fries instead of going out. I looked up how to cook french fries on the Internet, because I had heard there was a trick to getting them crispy and cooked all the way through. I tried it out, and it was a little more work, but the fries turned out perfect. I know a lot of my friends and family have gotten deep fryers recently, so I thought I would share the recipe here.

This is what you need:
Russet potatoes cut into 1/4 inch fries (with or without skins)
A large bowl with ice cold water in it
1-2 cookie sheets (depending on how many batches you make) line them with paper towels

First heat oil to 350
In the mean time cut your fries and throw them into the cold water as you are cutting them. The cold water keeps the fries from sticking together and ensures maximum crispness. Leave in water about 10 min, then take out a batch at a time, (aprox. 2-3 handfuls) dry and put in fryer.

blanch in oil at 350 for 3 min. When done, they will still be white and soggy, don't worry. Place on cookie sheet and put somewhere cold like the refrigerator or outside.

Repeat for all batches.

Now heat oil to 365. Take the first batch out of the refrigerator and fry again for 2-2 1/2 min. They should come out golden brown crispy and delicious. Repeat for all batches. Salt dip and enjoy!