Potato Leek Soup & Brown Bread

Burt's Potato Leek Soup

3 Big Leeks (all of the white part and as much of the green part you think is edible)
3 lbs of potatoes (russet) cut into bite size chunks
1 onion minced
6 cups chicken broth or stock
1/4 cup butter for sweating, sauteing the leeks and onions
1/4 cup butter into the soup after the potatoes and stock are added
2 tbsp of minced garlic
Salt, Pepper (didn't measure these. Use until you think it's enough)
about 1/2 tsp each of Rubbed Sage, Celery Seed, Onion powder, ground thyme
2 to 3 tbsp of dried chopped chives
1 cup of half & half

Put the butter into a soup pot on med high, melt it, throw in the leeks, onion, garlic, salt and pepper and sweat/saute them until they break down and get soft. Takes about 10 to 15 mins.

Throw in the potatoes, toss them around and get everything nice and mixed up. Pour in the 6 cups of chicken broth, all of the herbs/spices and the rest of the butter. Bring to a quick slight boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are soft and all fall aparty. (it's a technical term)

At this point you can use a potato masher to kind of mash it all and leave chunks of everything or pull out the stick blender and blend until nice and smooth.

For the final touch pour in the half & half (or heavy cream if you want), stir it all up, add more salt and pepper if it needs it, then serve it up. Enjoy!

And the delicious molasses brown bread recipe came from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and can be found HERE.

I am posting Mel's full recipe here just in case her website goes away.

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups warm water (about 110 degrees)

1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast

1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon unsulphured molasses

2 tablespoons unsweetened, natural cocoa powder

3 tablespoons oil (see note)

1/3 cup honey

2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (optional – see note)

3 cups white whole wheat flour

3-4 cups all-purpose flour

2-3 tablespoons butter, melted

Old-fashioned oats for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS:

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or in a large bowl with a wooden spoon if powering through this by hand), combine the water, yeast, molasses, cocoa powder, oil, honey, salt, gluten (if using), and 2 cups of the whole wheat flour. Mix until combined.

With the mixer running, slowly add the rest of the whole wheat flour. Start adding the white flour gradually until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Knead for 5-7 minutes (about 10-15 if kneading by hand). The dough should be soft and slightly tacky but shouldn’t leave a lot of residue on your fingers if you grab a piece.

Turn the dough into a large, lightly greased bowl, cover with greased plastic wrap or a light towel, and let rise until doubled, 1-2 hours.

Lightly punch down the dough and divide into three equal pieces. Form into tight oval loaves and place on parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheets (I fit two loaves on one large, rimmed 11X17-inch baking sheet and the third loaf on another baking sheet). Lightly cover with greased plastic wrap or a light towel and let rise until puffy and doubled in size. Optional: right before baking, using a very sharp razor, knife or bread-slashing lame (I use this one from King Arthur Flour), cut three deep slashes in the top of each loaf.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the loaves for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and lightly brush with about a tablespoon of butter. Sprinkle with the oats and bake for another 5-7 minutes.

NOTES:

I’ve used all sorts of different oil making this bread: olive, avocado, melted coconut. You could also use canola or vegetable oil.

The vital wheat gluten is optional but I highly recommend it if you want a really soft, light, chewy loaf of bread. Another alternative is to use bread flour in place of the white flour (and omit the gluten). Also, if you don’t have wheat flour, you can make this with 100% white flour. I haven’t tried making this with all whole wheat flour – if you experiment, I’d suggest increasing the kneading time by a few minutes to really develop that gluten and get a soft, light loaf.

The oats in the recipe are more for looks – and they tend to fall off while slicing but I like the look and texture of them so I’ve kept them along for the ride. You could easily omit them if they’re not really you’re thing.

This recipe transitions very well to rolls (about 12-14) or any size of loaves.

My own carrot soup!

So maybe a year ago, maybe longer, I decided to absolutely keep linking to the sources of the recipes (copyright, etc), but also to copy the actual recipe in here, just in case that website ever took it down. And this is why: I cannot for anything find the carrot soup recipe I loved.
I never printed it, that I can tell, so that added to my frustration.
In my notes I said to half the butter, but not one recipe I found used any butter and in fact only used very small quantities of any oil at all!
And most of these had savory spices, or lemon, and mine had sweeter spices....
This meant I had to get creative and make my own recipe up, off memory and based upon the ones I found online. So here's what I did....

2 tbsp coconut oil
1 onion, chopped
2 lbs carrots, peeled and chopped
3 small russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp fresh ginger root
1 tbsp minced garlic
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup water
plenty of freshly ground black pepper
dash of salt
1 tsp nutmeg

Saute the onion in the coconut oil (on the stove top) til soft and translucent.
Put the onion and all other ingredients into the crock pot, cooked on high for 2.5 hours.
Puree with a stick blender, and serve!
*we did add salt to taste, after it was pureed, to brighten the flavors. And one or two of us added some shredded parmesan to the bowl.

It was a hit! Everyone enjoyed it, and one of the kids even had more later!! Trust me- that tells you it was good!

Grilled Peaches: Revisited!

Something about "teaching a man to fish..." comes to mind...hahaha!
I have wanted to grill peaches for several days now and my husband hasn't had a chance except when we have plenty of other food ready to eat, ie: dinner time. (see the previous post HERE)
So today when I asked for it at lunch time, I also asked if there was a way *I could 'grill' them inside and just do it myself, hahaha....
Here's how we did it:
Put a sheet of tin foil over a 6-cup muffin pan. Lay a peach half, cut side up, in the cups. Put under the broiler for 3 minutes. Pull the pan out of the oven and turn it to 500*. Sprinkled on a bit of brown sugar. When the oven reached 500*, I put the peaches back in for 5 mins.
Yep! That worked great!!

*however, this time it was much tastier with the peel pulled off...maybe the peel burned? I don't know, it just wasn't very tasty.

"Lunch Lady" Peanut Butter Bars

Earlier this week I pinned THIS recipe to my Food board... And maybe it was the next day I moved it to the "Tried & Approved" board! haha!

Yep, I made them almost as soon as my husband and I saw them. We have talked many times thru our relationship about the yummy pb bars we used to have at school, and wishing we could get the recipe... This one claims to be "spot on", so it was definitely worth a try!
If we're being honest, my husband and I are a few years apart in school, and we attended different school districts... That said, I don't recall and oats being in my school's peanut butter bars...and he doesn't think this frosting is quite right for the ones he grew up with... hahaha!

However!! These are super scrumptious!! Both of us have said we could easily eat the entire pan- and that is a lot of sugar, even for me! The bars are rich and dreamy!

 And soooooo good!

The recipe is from the Six Sisters Stuff blog, so go check it out and try these. Then tell me what you think- is it like what you had at school?? haha...!

Mexican Chopped Salad- my version

Well, I absolutely enjoyed tonight's dinner, which means I'm going to be crazy and post it here!
(I know, it's been a few months...but I'm not sure we've tried very many new things that we've liked in that time, so you really aren't missing out...)

Tonight's dinner was totally inspired by THIS recipe which I found on Pinterest. However, I changed it up.
...mostly because I wasn't interested in finding out if I'm allergic to raw zucchini or jicama...wimp? maybe...but allergic reactions to food are not nearly as fun as they sound.

So here's what we did:

Salad:

• 1/2 head chopped ice burg lettuce (in separate bowl) 
• 1 thick chicken breast, cubed and browned in pan with olive oil, black pepper, cumin and granulated garlic
• 3/4 cup sliced frozen bell peppers, chopped 
• 1 red onion, minced
• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 fresh corn-off-the-cob
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 avocado, chopped

Dressing: 

• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• fresh cilantro

I started by getting the corn boiling, and the chicken browned. My husband and I chopped up all the ingredients and put it all in a bowl. I mixed up the dressing with a fork, and my husband poured into our mini chopper/food processor. He added cilantro to taste, and we have no idea how much, haha... Then he poured it all over the salad ingredients. I chopped up the lettuce and we kept it separate. To serve, we "made little nests"! I put a serving of lettuce on the bottom of each wide bowl, then a big scoop of the salad. 

I was surprised how much I liked it, how much the lettuce added to the dish, and how nicely it filled me up! I added the chicken to make it more of a meal but considering it was only one chicken breast, it was just a nice addition. 

Tortilla chips would have been a nice touch, my husband even suggested Cool Ranch Doritos crumbled over the top. My son added cheese, which works well with all things Mexican. But I really enjoyed it exactly as it was. And aside from the corn and chicken, which you could easily grill, it wasn't a lot of 'cooking' involved, making it perfect for these hot summer days!

*I ate it for two dinners and two lunches in a row, the family had it both nights for dinner. They all liked it much better with Cool Ranch Doritos crumbled into it, haha! I liked it just as it was! 

Cheesecake Sandwich

This is her son here. I'm not technically supposed to be doing this, but hey, this is good sandwich. It's got a very weird ingredients list though. It was really created by my mom's suggestion, technically speaking. I was going to have some Cheese Nips and a piece of bread with Nutella on it. My mom saw me and though I was going to eat Cheese Nips with the Nutella. That's when I got the idea of Cheesecake Sandwich. Here's how to make this disgusting-looking-but-really-good-sandwich.

2 pieces of bread
Nutella
Cheese Nips
Sugar

Spread the Nutella on both pieces of bread. Place the Cheese Nips on top of 1 slice of Nutella covered bread. Then put a dash of sugar on the other one. Fold it together like a regular sandwich and enjoy! If you are wondering it's called 'Cheesecake Sandwich', that's because it tastes like Cheesecake! If you seem revolted by this recipe, give it to the kids! Thas good stuff moms!

This blog post approved by Link

Smoothie Ideas!

Yep, I'm still pretty much stuck on my two classics - made as kits twice a month and how I start most mornings!

Pineapple Green Smoothie and

Berry Green Smoothie:

• spinach (1 cup)
• frozen mixed berries (1/2 cup)
• fresh ginger (very thin slice)
• coconut oil (1 Tbsp)
• ground almonds (1 Tbsp)  (spinach, berries, ginger, oil, and almonds go in the kit)
• vanilla yogurt (1/4 cup)
• milk (3/4 cup)

But this week I decided to finally try some of the smoothie ideas I've been pinning. So now I've got: 

Raspberry Lime Smoothie

inspired by THIS

• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp vanilla whey powder
• 1 heaping spoonful cottage cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cubes ice

Without the ice it is really thick, and foamy all the way thru. It IS tart so this won't be a daily thing. Maybe when I need a boost of vitamin c or maybe when I need an actual wake up call, haha...

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
inspired by THIS

• 1/2 cup pumpkin
• 3 ice cubes
• 1/4 cup oats
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla whey powder
• ground cinnamon, nutmeg & cloves to taste
• 1 slice ginger root 
• 1 cup milk 

I can't eat bananas, so I hoped the coconut oil would lend some sweetening, on top of its nutritional value. And I don't own pumpkin pie spice, so I had to toss in my own. This is the most complicated smoothie I've made, only because I have to pull allll these things out in the morning, but it feels healthy to me, with that big shot of pumpkin,  

Apple Pie Smoothie
inspired by THIS

• handful almonds (I think I counted there were 9 in the blender)
• 1 red apple (I buy fuji or gala)
• 1/3 cup cottage cheese
• 1/.4 cup oats
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup milk
• 2-3 ice cubes

Despite the milk, apple and cheese all coming from the fridge, this one could definitely use some ice cubes. In fact, I dumped it back in the blender and added two! Like the other poster says, this would lend itself well to adding spinach, ginger and coconut oil, but I wanted to try it {mostly} the way it was written.

And there's some new ideas for you too!
Oh wait, I also read THIS article the other day...I was happy to note that the only thing I use is the honey in the pumpkin smoothie above, and occasionally I'll still put the chocolate Instant Breakfast in the Berry Smoothie above. So according to that article anyway, haha, my smoothies ARE good for me! Yeay! 

Alfredo Sauce - Whatever we happen to have in the fridge version

Thankfully this worked and tasted pretty good.

1 stick of butter
1 cup of half & half
2 tbsp minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp sour cream
3 tbsp ricotta cheese
3 tbsp grated Parmesan
2 to 3 handfuls of mozzarella

Put butter and cream into a cold pan and turn to medium heat. Add the garlic and allow the mixture to heat up until the butter is completely melted. Mix in the sour cream, ricotta and grated Parmesan. Allow everything to heat though and completely combine. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the mozzarella one handful at a time. Be sure that mozzarella is completely incorporated completely before adding the next handful. It may not be necessary to add all three handfuls to reach an adequate thickness for the sauce.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

We served it with fettucini, browned chicken sausage and roasted broccoli! It was all delicious!
I forgot to take a picture of dinner, but this is the leftovers put together for a lunch!

Sunday Dinner!

Tonight, we tried two new recipes, and this is what my dinner looked like:

That would be Apple Cider Glazed Pork Chops. Click the title for the link, but I am going to also copy the recipe here because we liked it enough to keep it.
First, thaw the pork chops. We have boneless chops, which works much better for us. Get the glaze started before you bother doing anything else at all...
Glaze: 
1 1/2 cups apple cider
1/4 cup maple syrup
Tbsp Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
Combine in small sauce pan and let it simmer down to a glaze consistency...mine took around 20 minutes to reach that point...
In the meantime, rub your chops down with the spice rub:
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Mix together with a fork, then add 1 Tbsp olive oil to make the rub a paste. Completely rub each chop with that paste, then set on grill. I used a grill pan on the stove, since it's February, haha. Cover in glaze and allow to cook 10 or so minutes, then flip and cover with more glaze, and allow to cook another 10 or so minutes. Flip it a third time and add more glaze. Cook until the chops reach 145* internal temp. Then remove them from the grill and allow them to rest about 5 minutes before eating.
These are flavorful and! not dry! Yeay!

Then, I don't know what the name is for the potatoes, but it's been going around on facebook for a lonnng time, and I found it on Pinterest HERE.
I sliced them, and let me tell you, that is not a fun sport!!! Do you have one of those friends you can vent at, no matter what crosses your mind or how you happen to feel? Oh yeah, my friend got a screaming text when I was in the middle of cutting these potatoes!!! In a perfect world, I would have had a half inch dip in the middle of a cutting board to set the potato in, and just sliced to that. This is not a perfect world, this is the real world, so I just tried hard to remember not to cut thru...and I didn't do terribly well. OH WELL! hahaha.... I drizzled them with olive oil, sprinkled them with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. And 20 minutes was not quite long enough...30 would have been better.

And, a classic favorite around here...the roasted broccoli....which I haven't written out on this blog either!
It's better with fresh broccoli, but today I used frozen. Make sure it's dry (as possible...). Cover a cookie sheet in foil. Lay broccoli out in a single layer all over cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper (and garlic cloves if you have them). Bake 20-25 mins at 425*. Then when it's done, drizzle with lemon juice, and sprinkle on lemon zest and Parmesan. YUM. But...my kids don't love the lemon, so sometimes we leave it off.

Pesto Pasta!

In November I found how to make my Zupas grilled cheeses...and bought a thing of pesto from Sam's Club....which means I still have a ton of it... I don't know how long it is good for, but I have been looking for recipes that use pesto that I am not also allergic to, and finally found one that my husband also thought sounded good enough to try. I made THIS last night and it was a winner! The only complaint was the child who doesn't like tomatoes didn't want them. :)

This time I followed the exact (easy) instructions, but I'm copying them here in case the link is ever not working.

Ingredients:
2.5 cups or 8 oz uncooked rotini pasta
1 tbsp olive oil
1 round chicken sausage (photo below...)
1 1/4 cups frozen peas
3/4 cup basil pesto
1 cup Italian cheese blend (I used the mozzarella and parmesan that I had)
1 tomato, chopped (I only chopped half a roma tomato and it was plenty to top the skillet with)

Cook the pasta according to the directions. Set aside. Heat oil in skillet. Add sliced sausage and brown. Then add cooked pasta, frozen peas and pesto. Stir, and warm thru, about 5-7 minutes. Top with cheese and tomato, and cover on the hot burner for 2-3 minutes.
Serve!

*My husband thought zucchini would be much better than peas, so we'll have to try that in the summer. He also thought maybe not using the olive oil, but the sausage stuck to my pan like crazy, and I think it needed the oil. Then the pesto worked to help de-glaze the pan. So I'd stick with the recommended measurements...

This is the sausage the picture made me think of, and this was also the only chicken sausage I could find at my store, so that's what we did. It was very tasty, but we also really like sausage in our house.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I was starting to just pin the online recipes we're using... You can find the recipes I'm interested in trying HERE and the recipes we have tried and enjoyed are HERE. And yes, certainly, some are also found on this blog. *grin
But making tonight's dinner we didn't follow the instructions, and I want to record how we made it. Because I hate washing dishes by hand and at this point in our lives I feel like I can only "make" my kids wash hand dishes once a week, and I was not going to dirty a bunch of dishes for one pot of soup! You can find the original recipe and instructions HERE. We stuck to the ingredients, just put them in the pot in different orders.

I started by putting 1/4 cup butter in the pot and letting it start to melt. Then I dumped three cups of half-thawed chopped broccoli in, and the salt and pepper, and let it heat thru, stirring not quite constantly but more than occasionally...
Then, I poured in the turkey stock we made after Thanksgiving and froze, with a heaping tablespoon of dehydrated onion (but only because I was pulling out stuff for dinner when I discovered we were out of onions). I brought that to a boil and let it all simmer on medium high heat to soften the broccoli and re-hydrate the onions.
I added the 1/3 cup flour and whisked it in completely. Then I slowly poured in the 2 cups of milk, not heated, and continued whisking...We added maybe a teaspoon of granulated garlic, and about a teaspoon of onion salt too.
When it was fully heated thru again I slowly added the shredded swiss, and then the shredded cheddar, continually whisking, and making sure each handful of cheese was fully incorporated before adding more.
And then we served it with slices of French bread and a glass of milk!

It turned out great- even the child who said "it has too much broccoli flavor" ate it right up! Yeay for cold, rainy days, and hot, creamy soup!

9/21/17 ETA
Today is supposed to be the first really cold evening this autumn, and it is a jam-packed evening at my house. We're going to have a late dinner of this broccoli soup, done in the crock pot.

And just in case the link stops working, the ingredients are listed here:

• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, preferably sharp or extra sharp
• 1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese
• 2 1/2 to 3 cups chopped, lightly steamed or blanched broccoli

Peanut Butter Oatmeal

So today I tried a breakfast from a healthy living challenge you can view HERE.

Breakfast: Peanut butter oatmeal ~400 cal
1/2 c dry oats
2/3 cup milk 
1 big spoonful peanut butter
1 tsp cocoa powder
few drops of honey
Mix milk and oats, microwave on 50% power for 1 - 3 minutes. Then mix in pb, cocoa and honey. (It's not a flavor explosion, but it's smooth, creamy, low sugar, high fiber and good protein... don't expect it to taste like a cinnamon roll wink emoticon
*Regular peanut butter and dairy milk are higher protein, but it's fine modify to almond/soy/etc for your personal preferences. 

Turns out, she's right, it is rather bland, but it isn't bad at all. And I can eat exactly half of it. Hmm...But I like the change up from my daily smoothies, so I'm keeping the recipe!

Smelling Good!

I used to burn candles alllllll the time. I now have a candle warmer but I don't use it very often...
I went thru a phase where I used Febreeze on the couches, carpets and curtains daily, but I don't know if we even have any Febreeze.
Since just before Christmas I've been simmering a smelly-good pot of stuff that I dump and start new almost daily. My family is tired of it, but the kick of vitamin c in the air gets me going in the morning and keeps me motivated. I think that's pretty important with the gray days we have around here most of the winter...!

I put in the peel of a clementine (Cutie, little orange...its not a tangerine, it really is called a Clementine)
the core of any apples or pears I slice up for the kids, and any peel that I might cut off
4 craisins
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
and the peel of a ginger root

I turn the burner up to medium high heat to get it boiling, then I keep it a very low temp the rest of the day, adding water as it boils off!

I absolutely love it!

Lasagna Soup!

Apparently this is the third year this needs moved out of the draft folder and published!! I made it this week, and discovered this was a partial post, so the photos are new, and here we go!
~~~~~
Its been rainy the last several days and I think it is finally cool enough to have soup for dinner! We'll start off the soup season with this one! I don't understand how it didn't get put on the blog last year...but whatever, haha....

This is a recipe a friend shared with me. It's not a hard soup, but it takes a little bit of time....Maybe an hour to make?

Lasagna Soup:

Ingredients: 

Soup: 

2 tsp olive oil

1 1/2 pounds Italian sausage

3 cups chopped onion

4 minced garlic cloves

2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 28oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes

2 bay leaves

6 cups chicken stock

8 oz mafalda or fusilli pasta

1/2 cup finely chopped basil leaves 

salt

freshly ground pepper

for the cheesy yum:

8 oz ricotta

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/4 tsp salt

freshly ground pepper

2 cup shredded mozzarella

Sooo I have finally learned that you don't have to follow cooking recipes exactly to the letter. Baking yes, I think so, but not cooking. And so, I took a lot of liberties in this recipe, hee hee....I didn't measure anything except the tomatoes and the pasta, haha! 

I drizzled in the olive oil, and put in a 1 pound tube of sausage to brown. While it was browning, I chopped up two onions and added them. Then I took a big spoonful of minced garlic and put that in, along with the oregano and red pepper flakes. After it was all mixed in together, I added the tomato paste. Then you're supposed to stir it well, and cook until the past turns a rusty brown color, which takes a couple minutes.

Then you pour in the diced tomatoes, bay leaves and chicken stock. Stir it and then allow it to boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Add the pasta (I use either rotini or Radiatore) and cook til the pasta is al dente. *Don't over cook it because mushy pasta is not good eats! 

Now mix up the "cheesy yum" haha! 

I scoop out some ricotta, then sprinkle on some parmesan, a dash of salt and some pepper. Then I mix it together in kind of a paste. Put a scoop of that mix in the bottom of each bowl. Top it with shredded mozzarella, just like this: 

Then! add the basil (I don't use fresh basil), a bit of salt and some freshly ground black pepper to the soup, stir it all up, and ladle it over the cheeeeese! YUM!