Two Family Favorites: Toasted Cheerios (Stay With Me Here!) and Tomato and Rice Soup

In my life I have found that some of my very favorite recipes are those that have been passed down from family member to family member. I have two of those recipes to share with you today. The first is my Great grandmother's recipe for Tomato and Rice Soup. Big Granny taught my Mom how to make this soup and it really has come to be one of my favorite comfort foods when I'm feeling sick, or when it's really cold outside or when it's a day that ends in "Y.". You get the idea. Believe it or not, I had never made it for myself until the other day. I was sick and Mom's Tomato and Rice soup popped into my head and Jeremy was so sweet to go get the ingredients for me. It turned out delicious, so much so that we made it again the next day!

The soup sounds unusual, or maybe not, but not many people have had anything like it. It really couldn't be easier to make, and with only 2 main ingredients, you can just about make it from what is in your pantry. Here goes:

Big Granny's Tomato and Rice Soup
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1/2 - 3/4 cup of uncooked rice
1 can of water
Butter
Salt (To taste)
Pepper (To taste)

Bring the diced tomatoes, water, salt, pepper and a big pat of butter to a slow boil and the soup is really frothy looking. Add the rice and cook on low until the rice is plump and tender, which usually takes about 10-15 minutes.

That's it.

Serve with grilled cheese sandwiches for the perfect easy winter meal! I promise that you won't be disappointed with how easy and delicious this soup is, because seriously, if someone named "Big Granny" used to cook it, you know it's good!

And for my next recipe I thought I would share one of my Dad's favorite things to eat in the entire world: toasted cheerios!

Not only that, but they are toasted cheerios with garlic! Like I said, stay with me here.

My Dad's Mom, my Granny Betsy, used to make Toasted Cheerios for my Dad. They really are an acquired taste, but even Jeremy has come to enjoy eating a bowl of them every now and then. I had a hankering for them the other night and Jeremy and I enjoyed them, despite the fact that Jackson was not so keen on the fact that I was cooking "his" cheerios!

Granny Betsy's Toasted Cheerios
Regular cheerios
Garlic Salt
Butter

Put the cheerios into a skillet with a really big pat of butter. Then add more butter because seriously, can you have too much butter? I measure how much I want to cook by first pouring the cheerios into serving bowls to guesstimate serving sizes. Then I add more. Add garlic salt to taste (I love a lot of garlic) and cook (stirring frequently) until the cheerios have absorbed the butter. You want the cheerios to look golden brown like this:

Serve hot. Now, considered yourself warned that your breath will be kicking after eating this, but my oh my is it worth it! The best cheerios are the really tiny ones because they just soak up all the buttery, garlicky goodness. Delicious! It's totally a yummy snack and it's worth giving it a shot, even if you have to skip your goodnight kiss afterwards!

Enjoy!