Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Delicious as it sounds! And Simple!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients

6 Large Potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 Large Onion, diced
1 Quart Chicken Broth
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
1/4 Cup Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Cup Milk
16 oz Container Sour Cream
1 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Oven bake the potatoes and let cool enough to remove the skin. Crisp bacon in the bottom of a large pot and remove. Add onion and sauté in bacon drippings. Add garlic, don't not allow it to brown or burn. Stir in a couple tbsp of butter and a couple tbsp of flour to make a rue, stirring continuously. Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Toss in potatoes and boil for 5 minutes. Remove a couple cups of potatoes and a little broth and pulse in a food processor or blender. Reduce heat and incorporate milk and sour cream. Pour the previously removed portion back into the pot. Simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally. Melt cheese into soup and season with salt inf pepper. Stir continuously for as long as you keep it on heat so the cheese wont stick and burn. Serve topped with sprinkle of the bacon bits you made and chives or green onions. 

Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

1-1/2 Ground Chicken
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp Oregano
1 Egg
1 tbsp Milk
3-4 tsp minced Garlic
1/2 tsp Garlic salt
1 tsp Black pepper
1/2 tsp Sea salt
1/2 tsp Onion powder

Season meat. Mix all ingredients and let stand in the fridge for 30-60 minutes if possible. Form into large meatballs so you have enough surface area for sauce and cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until slightly browned. Remove from the oven and spoon red sauce of your choice over each one with a sprinkle of shredded italian or mozzarella cheese. Bake for another 5-10 minutes or until brown and bubbly. Serve with penne or angel hair pasta tossed in your favorite red sauce. I like to use four cheese marinara.

Breakfast on the Go

Hi my name is Raven and I'm a skipper. The first step is admitting, right? Yes I skip breakfast most of the time. You already know I always have tortillas on hand, most of the time corn, but every now and again I find a sale on flour and make quesadillas or burritos. The problem is they don't last as long as corn so I usually have to eat them pretty quickly: breakfast, lunch, and dinner quesadillas? Burritos? I do enjoy breakfast burritos and I ran across a post on Pinterest where a mom had made them all at once and froze them. Problem solved! I no longer waste half the bag of tortillas and I have no excuse for skipping breakfast because I can grab one out of the freezer, pot it in the microwave and go! I made two kinds, one with bacon and the other with chorizo.

What I used:

10 10-12" Flour tortillas

14 Eggs

5 Strips of bacon

1 1/2 Cups of southern style potatoes (frozen)

1/4 Small onion (chopped)

1/4 Small green bell pepper (chopped)

1 Package of Mexican chorizo

3 Small white or russet potatoes

1 Cup of Cheddar Jack or Mexican Cheese

For the bacon burritos (makes 5):

Cook the frozen potatoes in a drizzle of oil, add the onion and bell pepper, and season with salt and pepper. Bake or pan fry the bacon (1 strip per burrito) and rough chop. Scramble the eggs. Let everything cool before assembling.

For the chorizo burritos (makes 5):

Oven bake or microwave the potato(es). Set aside to cool. Cook the chorizo until all the grease is cooked out. Make a well in the center of the cooked meat and add 5 eggs and scramble until cooked thoroughly. Peel the potato(es), chop, and add to the chorizo mixture. Let cool before assembling.

Spoon all ingredients into the tortillas, sprinkle with cheese, and roll. Then wrap with plastic wrap, pop into a freezer bag, and freeze.

For best results warm on a low setting for 2-3 minutes.

Toffee Chip Cookies

For those who don't love chocolate as much as others or just want to switch it up and try something different, this one's for you! Dare I say it, I'm a woman and I'm not a huge fan of chocolate. I don't like chocolate cake, cookies, ice cream, milk, etc. Oddly enough I do enjoy the occasional brownie, but I usually make chocolate chip cookies without the chips and just add nuts. People usually say aren't those just sugar cookies but, anyone who knows cookies knows that isn't the case. I didn't know what to call them since they're technically not chocolate chip cookies, but a little while ago a friend told me to call them "feel good" cookies because I usually make them when people are feeling bad to cheer them up. 

I was in the store this past weekend and all the baking candies were on sale so I picked up Heath chocolate toffee bits and butterscotch chips to try in my "feel good" cookies, that's how this adaptation came about. It's a basic recipe; I'm pretty sure this one is on the back of the Nestle Toll House package.

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup heath chocolate toffee bits

Note: I usually half the recipe even for two or three people but if you're serving a group make the whole thing.


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.

3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

I've never had butternut squash soup, let alone made it. So this was an experiment for sure. I looked at an array of recipes but I didn't really use any one in particular. I winged it and this is what I came up with:

Ingredients

1 Large Butternut Squash
2-3 Cups of Chicken or Vegetable Stock
4 oz. Cream Cheese (Half the bar)
1 Small Onion
2 Tbsp Garlic (Minced)
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Dash Ground Clove
1 Sprinkle Nutmeg
2 Dashes Cinnamon
Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper to taste

Prep

1. Saute the onions and garlic in butter.
2. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. (The amount depends on the consistency you want and how large the squash you have.)
3. Dice the squash and add it to pot.
4. Cook until tender.
5. Remove from heat and add the spices and room temperature cream cheese cubed.
6. Use an immersion blender or carefully transfer the contents of the pot to a blender (add the cream cheese and spices after you put it in the blender)
7. Return to low heat and simmer so the flavors get incorporated. Stirring for 10-15 minutes.

No Bake Chewy Granola Bars

Ran across this chewy goodness on another blog (Vittles and Bits). What drew me to the recipe in the first place was the pretzels. Apparently these granola bars are an adaptation of a Rachael Ray recipe but my favorite part about this interpretation is the added peanut butter! If you're not a fan, just leave it out and they still taste great! They're quick, delicious, and of course a great snack. Next time I'll leave out the peanut butter, and add walnuts, almonds, and Craisins. 

No Bake Chewy Peanut Butter Pretzel Granola Bars

1/4 C. butter
1/4 C. honey
1/3 C. packed brown sugar
1/4 C. creamy peanut butter
2 C. quick cooking oats {not to be confused with rolled oats!}
1 C. crispy rice cereal
3/4 C. coarsely crushed pretzels
1/2 t. vanilla
2 T. mini chocolate chips

Line an 8x8 square pan with foil, and grease foil with nonstick spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir oats, rice cereal, and pretzels together.  Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter, honey, and brown sugar together over medium high heat until mixture comes to a bubble.  Reduce the heat and add the peanut butter; cook 2 more minutes. Remove saucepan from heat, pour in vanilla and stir. 

Pour peanut butter mixture over dry ingredients, and mix to coat evenly.  Using a spatula, empty contents of bowl into prepared pan, and pack the mixture into the pan very tightly.  You really want to press them down so they stick together.  Sprinkle top of bars with mini chocolate chips and press down lightly (& quickly before they start to melt!) 

Cool to room temperature for two hours, or until the chocolate chips are set.  Lift out of pan using the edges of the foil, and cut into 9 bars.  Stack bars between layers of waxed paper, and store in airtight container at room temperature.

Semi Homemade

After a long day sometimes I want a home cooked meal but I don't want to do much work. Semi homemade I the best thing that ever happened to my little kitchen. At this point in my life I only have to feed myself (no husband or children to worry about), so it is extremely easy to cop out and pick a bag of fast food or order in. Eating smarter and healthier is always on mind; I'd rather feel full after dinner rather than guilty. I actually saw this recipe on a commercial and decided to try it.

Just brown a few thin cut pork chops (bone-in or out), saute a whole white onion, pour on a jar of salsa verde (Goya or Herdez), simmer for 30 minutes, and serve over white rice.

If you have the time try the following recipe for your own salsa:


1 1/2 lb tomatillos
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 Jalapeño peppers OR 2 serrano peppers
Salt to taste

*courtesy of Simply Recipes

You can oven roast, pan roast, boil, or fry the tomatillos. Authentic salsa would then be mixed with mortal and pestle but you can just toss all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and enjoy.