Today I'm trying a recipe that a friend of mine put on her Facebook page, or maybe it was Twitter... it's a lot of prep, so next time I think I'll do that part the night before. However, the smell is unbelievable. Lots of people reviewed this as being delicious so we're looking forward to dinner!!
From the web:
Slow Cooker Potato Soup
Prep Time 20 Minutes (or longer if you're a slow potato peeler like me)
Cook Time 8 Hours-10 Hours on Low
Recipe Description
This is a souped up (ha!) version of a slow cooker potato soup recipe that I had. I felt like it could use a bit more lovin’ – so I added more to it! It’s a fave in our house (and friends LOVE it too!) Serve it with some of Pioneer Woman’s The Bread (on her site) – and for an added bonus, sprinkle a bit of parmesan on top of the bread before baking and it’s DIVINE with the soup!
Ingredients
8 cups Diced Potatoes (peeled) I bought a 5 lb bag of yukon gold and used about 80% of the bag
½ cups Diced Carrots
½ cups Diced Celery
3 cans Chicken Broth, 14 1/2 Oz Each
1 can Cream Of Chicken Soup (10 Oz. Can)
1 Tablespoon Parsley
2 teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Pepper
1 clove Garlic, Minced
½ pounds Bacon, cooked and crumbled
5 Tablespoons Flour
1 package Cream Cheese (8 Oz. Package)
Preparation Instructions
In a large slow cooker/crock pot, combine all above ingredients, minus the flour and cream cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. (You can opt to add the bacon at the end as a “garnish”, but I always just throw it in at the beginning.)
Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until potatoes are done.About an hour before you serve the soup, add the cream cheese. Stir until blended. (The cream cheese adds a whole ‘nother dimension to this soup…so wonderful!)We always like our soup thick, so you can scoop out about a cup or two of the soup into a separate bowl. Add the flour, whisking constantly to avoid any lumps. Then as you are stirring the soup, add flour/soup mixture back into the slow cooker. Replace lid and allow the soup to cook for another 20-30 minutes (or until you’re ready to serve).
You can repeat the last step of the flour/soup if needed to get the thickness desired.
Verdict:
This was DELICIOUS! It made a lot and we loved the way that it made the house smell all day long. Next time I'd add a little less pepper and then add it when served as needed. The only thing that this was missing was a blizzard outside (and I'm not sad about that!). It's the perfect winter soup. I highly recommend making this!!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Bacon-Wrapped Apple BBQ Chicken
This Christmas I got a new, and much bigger crockpot so I'm excited to try some new recipes and post about them! Last year I started blogging about what I was cooking and then got pregnant and NOTHING seemed appealing so I certainly didn't want to write about food (I couldn't even stand the smell of most food!) I recently came across a website through Facebook called The Crockin' Girls or www.crockingirls.com and this came from there. I made it with a few modifications:
1. no lemon juice (I have a severe lemon allergy, I hope excluding this doesn't ruin it)
2. I cooked it for 4 hours on high (I only had 4 hours before dinner)
3. I used precooked bacon (It was all we had in the house)
We will see how it turns out! I'll post a verdict later.
Bacon-Wrapped Apple BBQ Chicken
3-4 chicken breasts
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1-2 apples, peeled and grated
1 lemon, juiced
6-8 slices bacon
Directions:
1. In small bowl, combine BBQ sauce with grated apple and lemon juice.
2. Place chicken breasts in base of crock pot, pour BBQ/apple mixture over the chicken. Wrap 2 pieces of bacon around each chicken breast. Set to low and cook for 8 hours.
The website says to serve with sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes or rice. I think that we'll probably opt for rice because that's what we have in the house but I'd love some sweet potatoes!
Verdict:
This was not my favorite but we might try it again. I made a LOT of modifications on this one because I wasn't planning on making it and so I had to use what I had in the house. In the future I think I'd use a sweeter BBQ sauce than I had on hand and also use raw bacon (I used precooked for the recipe). Also, a honey crisp apple would probably bring a lot of flavor. We'll see. It was super easy! One thing that I learned was that I hate using a manual grater. I never use it but I thought it would be faster than using the food processor (when you consider the cleaning). WRONG! I should have just used the food processor to grate the apple. Oh well! Live and learn!
1. no lemon juice (I have a severe lemon allergy, I hope excluding this doesn't ruin it)
2. I cooked it for 4 hours on high (I only had 4 hours before dinner)
3. I used precooked bacon (It was all we had in the house)
We will see how it turns out! I'll post a verdict later.
Bacon-Wrapped Apple BBQ Chicken
3-4 chicken breasts
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1-2 apples, peeled and grated
1 lemon, juiced
6-8 slices bacon
Directions:
1. In small bowl, combine BBQ sauce with grated apple and lemon juice.
2. Place chicken breasts in base of crock pot, pour BBQ/apple mixture over the chicken. Wrap 2 pieces of bacon around each chicken breast. Set to low and cook for 8 hours.
The website says to serve with sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes or rice. I think that we'll probably opt for rice because that's what we have in the house but I'd love some sweet potatoes!
Verdict:
This was not my favorite but we might try it again. I made a LOT of modifications on this one because I wasn't planning on making it and so I had to use what I had in the house. In the future I think I'd use a sweeter BBQ sauce than I had on hand and also use raw bacon (I used precooked for the recipe). Also, a honey crisp apple would probably bring a lot of flavor. We'll see. It was super easy! One thing that I learned was that I hate using a manual grater. I never use it but I thought it would be faster than using the food processor (when you consider the cleaning). WRONG! I should have just used the food processor to grate the apple. Oh well! Live and learn!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Macaroni Taco Bake
Since I've been pregnant, I've really neglected this blog, mostly because at the beginning of the pregnancy I was so turned off by all food and so I got out of the habit. However, now that we're almost done, I'm trying to freeze some things we can make easily after baby GIRL comes! This magazine has had a bunch of stuff I'm going to try.
Tonight we tried this recipe from the Taste of Home: Church Suppers magazine tonight. Believe it or not, I found the magazine at the Lowes' checkout! It was good, and my husband said to cook it again. I liked it enough to make again, especially because my 2 year old gobbled it up!
Macaroni Taco Bake
2 packages of Macaroni and cheese dinner mix
1 lb ground beef
1 cup chunky salsa
2 cups crushed tortilla chips
1 can 2 1/4 oz ripe olives drained (we skipped these)
2 cups shredded mexican cheese blend
Sour Cream, optional
1. Prepare mac and cheese according to the package directions. Meanwhile in a large skillet cook beef until no longer pink; drain. Stir in salsa and set aside.
2. Spread macaroni into greased 13x9 baking dish. Layer with beef mixture, chips and olives; sprinkle with cheese/
3. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. Serve with sour cream if desired.
Tonight we tried this recipe from the Taste of Home: Church Suppers magazine tonight. Believe it or not, I found the magazine at the Lowes' checkout! It was good, and my husband said to cook it again. I liked it enough to make again, especially because my 2 year old gobbled it up!
Macaroni Taco Bake
2 packages of Macaroni and cheese dinner mix
1 lb ground beef
1 cup chunky salsa
2 cups crushed tortilla chips
1 can 2 1/4 oz ripe olives drained (we skipped these)
2 cups shredded mexican cheese blend
Sour Cream, optional
1. Prepare mac and cheese according to the package directions. Meanwhile in a large skillet cook beef until no longer pink; drain. Stir in salsa and set aside.
2. Spread macaroni into greased 13x9 baking dish. Layer with beef mixture, chips and olives; sprinkle with cheese/
3. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. Serve with sour cream if desired.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
What's For Dinner: Saucy Chicken with Mushrooms
Hello and Happy 2011!
I got two great crockpot cookbooks for Christmas, one from my husband and one from my sister. I thumbed through both of them briefly and found a bunch of new recipes that we'll be trying as I try to keep up the energy to try new things. One of the things that's cool about the book that I'm cooking from today is that it will give you a recipe on how to prepare some meat then give you 3-4 simple (non crockpot) recipes that you can use the meat in for a quick meal. Very cool.
The book that my husband got me is "The Ultimate Slow Cooker Book" put out by Better Homes and Gardens.
Saucy Chicken with Mushrooms
Ingredients
8 oz fresh button mushrooms, quartered
6 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms stems removed, and caps sliced
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves (about 1.5 lbs total)
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 0.7 oz packet Italian dry salad dressing mix
1 10.75 oz can condensed golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 of an 8oz tub cream cheese spread with chives and onion
Hot cooked rice or angel hair pasta
Snipped fresh chives (optional)
Directions
1. In a 3.5-4 quart slow cooker combine button and shiitake mushrooms. Top with chicken. In a medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat; stir in dry dressing mix. Stir in soup, wine and cream cheese. Still until the cream cheese melts; pour over chicken.
2. Cover and cook on a low heat setting for 4-5 hours.
3. Serve chicken and sauce over hot cooked rice. If desired, sprinkle each serving with chives.
Unfortunately, when I went to the store they only had one type of mushroom so I got enough of one kind to equal the total amount of the mushrooms that it called for. I'm hoping that this doesn't damper the recipe too much.
Later, I'll post a verdict!
I got two great crockpot cookbooks for Christmas, one from my husband and one from my sister. I thumbed through both of them briefly and found a bunch of new recipes that we'll be trying as I try to keep up the energy to try new things. One of the things that's cool about the book that I'm cooking from today is that it will give you a recipe on how to prepare some meat then give you 3-4 simple (non crockpot) recipes that you can use the meat in for a quick meal. Very cool.
The book that my husband got me is "The Ultimate Slow Cooker Book" put out by Better Homes and Gardens.
Saucy Chicken with Mushrooms
Ingredients
8 oz fresh button mushrooms, quartered
6 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms stems removed, and caps sliced
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves (about 1.5 lbs total)
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 0.7 oz packet Italian dry salad dressing mix
1 10.75 oz can condensed golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 of an 8oz tub cream cheese spread with chives and onion
Hot cooked rice or angel hair pasta
Snipped fresh chives (optional)
Directions
1. In a 3.5-4 quart slow cooker combine button and shiitake mushrooms. Top with chicken. In a medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat; stir in dry dressing mix. Stir in soup, wine and cream cheese. Still until the cream cheese melts; pour over chicken.
2. Cover and cook on a low heat setting for 4-5 hours.
3. Serve chicken and sauce over hot cooked rice. If desired, sprinkle each serving with chives.
Unfortunately, when I went to the store they only had one type of mushroom so I got enough of one kind to equal the total amount of the mushrooms that it called for. I'm hoping that this doesn't damper the recipe too much.
Later, I'll post a verdict!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
What's For Dinner: Swiss Chicken Bake
This is a recipe that someone put on my friend's Facebook wall when she said that she had boneless chicken breasts and needed some ideas what to do with them. We tried it and now it's in our rotation.
Swiss Chicken Bake
Ingredients
3-4 boneless chicken breasts
1 can cream of celery soup (you could also use cream of chicken)
1/2 cup milk
2 slices of Swiss cheese per chicken breast
1 stick of butter (I always feel like this is a lot of butter, but it does make it yummy)
1 package of stuffing (like stove top or pepperidge farm stuffing cubes)
Directions
Preheat oven 350.
Take chicken and pound with tenderizer then season with salt and pepper.
Spray 13 x 9 pan with non stick cooking spray. Place chicken in pan.
Cover chicken with Swiss cheese slices.
In a separate bowl combine soup and milk into a sauce. Pour sauce over chicken and cheese.
Melt butter in microwave.
Pour stuffing cubes over the chicken. Top with the butter.
Cook in over for about 45 minutes.
Enjoy!
If you have any ideas about how to cut out the butter but get a similar flavor, please share, I'd love to know!
Swiss Chicken Bake
Ingredients
3-4 boneless chicken breasts
1 can cream of celery soup (you could also use cream of chicken)
1/2 cup milk
2 slices of Swiss cheese per chicken breast
1 stick of butter (I always feel like this is a lot of butter, but it does make it yummy)
1 package of stuffing (like stove top or pepperidge farm stuffing cubes)
Directions
Preheat oven 350.
Take chicken and pound with tenderizer then season with salt and pepper.
Spray 13 x 9 pan with non stick cooking spray. Place chicken in pan.
Cover chicken with Swiss cheese slices.
In a separate bowl combine soup and milk into a sauce. Pour sauce over chicken and cheese.
Melt butter in microwave.
Pour stuffing cubes over the chicken. Top with the butter.
Cook in over for about 45 minutes.
Enjoy!
If you have any ideas about how to cut out the butter but get a similar flavor, please share, I'd love to know!
Friday, December 24, 2010
What's For Breakfast: Simple Sausage Casserole
This is a simple sausage breakfast casserole that is a favorite at my MOPS group. I made it for the first time today. It must have been good, my hubby gobbled several pieces up! One thing that I can't promise is that it's easy on the waistline. However, you could modify the recipe to use all the lower fat versions of the ingredients.
Simple Sausage Casserole
Ingredients
1 lb Breakfast Sausage (I used a tube of Jimmy Dean which my supermarket has in the frozen section)
2 rolls of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
1 bar (8 oz.) cream cheese
Directions
Preheat oven to 325
Roll out crescent rolls in one piece in the bottom of a 13x9 pan.
Brown sausage, drain, rinse and crumble.
Return to low to medium heat.
Add in cream cheese and heat until evenly melted and mixed with sausage. (I cut the cream cheese up into about 6 pieces and blended it that way, it seemed to make it easier).
Spread out sausage and cream cheese mixture onto flattened crescent.
Unroll remaining can of crescent rolls over the top. Pinch edges like a pie.
Cook in oven until crescent rolls are golden brown. In my oven this took about 20-25 minutes.
Enjoy!!
Merry Christmas!
Simple Sausage Casserole
Ingredients
1 lb Breakfast Sausage (I used a tube of Jimmy Dean which my supermarket has in the frozen section)
2 rolls of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
1 bar (8 oz.) cream cheese
Directions
Preheat oven to 325
Roll out crescent rolls in one piece in the bottom of a 13x9 pan.
Brown sausage, drain, rinse and crumble.
Return to low to medium heat.
Add in cream cheese and heat until evenly melted and mixed with sausage. (I cut the cream cheese up into about 6 pieces and blended it that way, it seemed to make it easier).
Spread out sausage and cream cheese mixture onto flattened crescent.
Unroll remaining can of crescent rolls over the top. Pinch edges like a pie.
Cook in oven until crescent rolls are golden brown. In my oven this took about 20-25 minutes.
Enjoy!!
Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Merry Christmas: Christmas Funfetti
This Christmas I am so excited to celebrate. For the first time Joshua actually understands the real meaning of Christmas. While it's fun for him to know who Santa is, it warms my heart even more than I can explain to hear him singing "Happy Birthday to Jesus."
Though we all seem to be a little under the weather this year, it's been a joy to have Dan home starting on the 23rd so we can start to spend time as a family celebrating. I can't wait to see the look on Joshua's face Christmas morning when we reveal what his big present is, I think he'll be thrilled!
Tomorrow as part of our celebration we'll be having our favorite, funfetti (either a cake or cupcakes) to celebrate the birthday of our King. Extra fun is that the funfetti is red and green, so it's especially "Christmasy."
I hope you have a joyful Christmas and get to experience some of the most special times of your life over the next few days.
I'll leave you with some of my favorite Bible verses ever:
Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
Merry Christmas!
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