Hi Cooking Moms, Dads & Friends,

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful week. I’m in Minneapolis today getting my daughter Ireland settled in for her last semester of college. She’s been home with us since before Thanksgiving. It was wonderful having her home for the holidays. We cooked up a storm and made lots of memories too! It’s always hard to say goodbye but I’m excited for her! I can’t believe she’ll be graduating from the University of Minnesota this year!

This weekend I plan on making a big batch or two of soup. A hot bowl of delicious soup makes everything better!

If your kids like pizza, you gotta make my Pizza Soup. It’s so quick and easy. It really is like a piece of pizza in a bowl. The fun part is just like a pizza everybody gets to choose what they want on it. Just set out extra shredded cheese, pepperoni, black olives, and green peppers. Then your gang can spoon their favorites on top of the piping hot soup. Don’t forget the Pizza or Parmesan flavored Gold Fish crackers. They are really fun to sprinkle on top.

Looking for some healthy recipes for the New Year? I get it. I’m right there with you! Try my slow cooker Southwest Chicken Stew. Just throw it all in your slow cooker in the morning and go do your thing. When you come home after a long day, the house will smell amazing and you’ve got one delicious guilt-free dinner. Go ahead, have seconds because it’s good for you. LOVE THAT!

I like to serve it with my Big Batch of Corn Bread with lots of homemade Honey Butter. Oh man, is this good!

Click Soups, Nice ’n Lite, Appetizers and Sides for more of my favorite recipes.

This time of year, my slow cooker is a real life saver!

My Hot Beef Sandwiches are always a WINNER! Perfect for game day too!

Sometimes I like to keep it a little lighter for dinner. My Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken is AMAZING! So easy and healthy too!

If your gang likes Asian food, they’ll give my Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken two thumbs up! It’s like Chinese take out without the wait. Easy on the wallet too. Click Slow Cooker, Sandwiches, and Dinner for more of my favorite winter recipes to warm you up.

If you still have leftover candy canes, use them to make my Snow Flake Hot Cocoa. It’s so yummy after sledding or a day out in the snow! Click Drinks and Desserts for more of my favorites.

Join Me on a Culinary Trip in 2021!

Things are looking up for 2021! Hopefully it will be safe to travel again by summer!

Join me for trips of a lifetime to Mackinac Island this summer and a river cruise through Germany, Austria and Switzerland in September. I’m working on two more AMAZING trips for 2022! Details still to come. Stay tuned!

A few weeks ago I announced my next culinary trip. I’ve always dreamed of traveling to Ireland. Come with me in April of 2022! From Irish cooking classes, to scone baking, whiskey tasting, a VIP tour of Guinness, and so much more. We’ll do it all. We’ll even stay in a real castle outside of Dublin! I can only take a small group so this trip is going to fill up quickly! Click Join The Cooking Mom in Ireland to read more about this trip and find out how to reserve your spot. I’ve got two other trips planned for later in 2021!

To find out more about my trips and what makes them so unique click Culinary Vacations with The Cooking Mom.

If you want to get on the list for updates and details on all my trips email me at info@thecookingmom.com!

Order Amy's Cookbooks!

If you like my recipes, I think you will love my cookbooks. Both cookbooks are filled with nearly 200 unique recipes. They're available on Amazon. Click Amy's Books on Amazon to order.

Gotta run. Ireland and I are going grocery shopping to stock her up and then I’m headed back home. You can always see what I'm up to on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Check out my videos on YouTube, too. Follow me!

I hope you all have wonderful weekend! Stay safe and cook up some memories!

Take care,
Amy, The Cooking Mom