Baked Potato Soup

This soup is really good, enjoy!

Ingredients

3 T. butter
1 c. finely chopped onion
2 T. flour
1 (14 1/2 oz.) can chicken broth
4 medium baked potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. white pepper
1/4 t. black pepper
1 t. dried basil
dash of tabasco sauce
1/2 t. garlic salt
1 c. half and half

Garnish With

grated cheddar cheese
sour cream
crumbled bacon
chopped green onions

Directions

Melt butter in 2 quart saucepan on medium heat.  Add onion and saute for 2 minutes.  Sprinkle flour over the onions and cook about 5 minutes, stirring often.  Gradually add chicken broth.  Add potatoes, salt, white and black pepper, basil, tabasco and garlic salt.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Stir in half and half; heat through.  Serve with garnishes.  Serves 4, but doubles easily.

Notes

When I added the flour to the onions, I had to stir basically constantly. Adding the flour seemed to make it stick to the bottom and start to brown, so before the suggested five minutes were up, I poured in the chicken broth so it wouldn't burn to the bottom of the pan. Instead of topping with crumbled bacon, I put it into the soup. We topped with grated cheese and green onion.

Powdered Sugar Icing

Every time I need to make icing, I have to look up a recipe. Even though this is super simple, I can never remember the amounts! So here it is.

Ingredients

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Blend all ingredients together using a mixer.

Notes

I generally use this for cookies, pumpkin spice or sugar cookies. I'm sure it could be used for other things though. This is thinner than what a frosting would be.

It's very sweet!

Lentil Soup

I didn't think I liked lentil soup, but I love this recipe!  It's healthy too!

Williams-Sonoma Lentil Soup (recipe from Liz Galvin)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced (I use more. 2-3 carrots)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 cup canned diced plum (Roma) tomatoes with juice (I get petite diced tomatoes)
1 1/2 cups dried brown or pink lentils, picked over, rinsed, and drained
6 cups chicken, beef, or vegetable stock (I've only ever used chicken)
1 lemon, sliced (I omit this- it gave the soup a funny aftertaste when I tried using the lemon)
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh spinach (I usually omit this too!)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan over medium heat, warm the oil.  Add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and bay leaf.  Saute until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the curry powder and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the tomatoes and their juice, lentils, stock, and lemon slices (or not).  Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.  Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover partially, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.  Discard the lemon slices and bay leaf.

Just before serving, stir in the spinach, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the spinach is wilted but still bright green.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.


Notes:  I didn't know what it meant to "pick over" lentils.  All it means it pick through the lentils and take out any bad looking ones, or any stones/rocks.  They can get mixed in with the lentils if they're about the same size.  I actually found one once.  Crazytown, USA!

Orecchiette with Roasted Broccoli and Walnuts

This recipe is very straightforward and is ready in less than a half hour! It's from Real Simple and can be found here.

Ingredients:

12 ounces orecchiette or some other short pasta (3 cups)
1 bunch broccoli (1 ½ pounds), cut into small florets
½ cup walnuts
¼ cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
kosher salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup grated Parmesan (1 ounce)

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve ¾ cup of the cooking water, drain the pasta, and return it to the pot.

Meanwhile, on a rimmed baking sheet, toss the broccoli, walnuts, oil, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once, until the broccoli is tender, 18 to 20 minutes.

Toss the pasta with the broccoli mixture, butter, and ½ cup of the reserved pasta water. (Add more water if the pasta seems dry.)

Sprinkle with the Parmesan before serving.

A few notes: I mistakenly put the butter in the oven with the broccoli mixture the first time I made this (didn’t read the directions quite right) and it still turned out great. Also, I did not use the reserved “cooking water” from the pasta and it was perfect, not too dry.

Tasty and simple!

Chicken Noodle Soup with Dill

I have found my own way to make this (slight difference in amounts and fresh versus dried only because I can never find the fresh). You can find the original recipe here, but this is how I make it.

Chicken Noodle Soup with Dill

6 cups chicken broth
3 medium carrots, diced
1-2 large stalks celery, diced
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 ounces whole-wheat egg noodles
2 cups shredded cooked skinless chicken breast
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
1 tablespoon lemon juice, or to taste

Bring broth to a boil in a large pot. Add carrots, celery, ginger and garlic; cook, uncovered, over medium heat until vegetables are just tender, about 20 minutes.

Add noodles and chicken; simmer until the noodles are just tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in dill and lemon juice.

My Cooking Tips

For the chicken broth, I use bouillon cubes. The kind I get, it is two cups water to one bouillon cube, so three cubes and six cups water for this recipe. The cubes dissolve as the water temperature goes up. Once boiling, then start adding the other ingredients.

I like to make sure I have plenty of carrots - yum!

When "measuring" the chicken, I just kind of eyeball it. As long as it's close. We generally cook two chicken breasts (they're from Costco so they're a good size) and this seems to be enough. I also eye the noodles. I look at how many ounces the bag of noodles is and put in what I think is 4 oz. But if it looks like it needs more or less, I adjust. Really, this is my theory with all the ingredients, but the above amounts are what I have found to work.

This chicken noodle soup tastes great!