Fall Weather Soup!

I love the Fall season! The weather, the traditions, and basically all that goes with it! I also love breaking out my favorite soup recipes! Here is a new one that I think EVERYONE should make! My sister and mom both sent me the recipe and I just had to try it! Thank goodness I did! It is the Pampered Chef's Loaded Baked Potato Chowder. I don't have all of the equipment that they use, so I had to do it my way! Here is what I did:







Ingredients



3 baking potatoes, large (about 2 1/2 pounds)
About 4 cups milk, divided
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter
2-3 green onions, (with tops)
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, coarsely ground
bacon, chopped and cooked




I started off by cutting my potatoes up into medium-size cubes. I put them in a large pot and added some milk and water, just enough to cover by an inch or so. Bring to a boil and cook the potatoes til fork tender. I then drained the potatotes. I added 4 cups of whole milk, cream cheese, butter, salt, and pepper into the big pot. I stirred that on medium heat until the cream cheese was mixed in well. I then added back the potatoes and took a masher and mashed the potatoes a little bit to make it thick, but still lumpy. I added the bacon and green onions. I lowered the heat and let it simmer for a while, about 15 minutes or so. I did have to add a littl bit more milk to my soup because it got a little to thick for my taste. That's ok! Make it the consistency you like. When you serve, top with cheddar cheese and some more bacon! The original recipe also calls for broccoli and sour cream as toppings, use this if you like it!



I love recipes that I can make my own! If you don't like a certain ingredient, leave it out! You can also add however much bacon, green onions, or cheese as you like!

Tonight I am going to be making Chicken Tamale Casserole. I found this recipe and have tried it once. Let me tell you... the whole pan was gone! So good!

Tell me that doesn't look scrumptious!?

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
1 cup (4 ounces) preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese, divided
1/3 cup fat-free milk
1/4 cup egg substitute
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Martha White)
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
Cooking spray
1 (10-ounce) can red enchilada sauce (such as Old El Paso)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Combine 1/4 cup cheese and next 7 ingredients (through chiles) in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
3. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until set. Pierce entire surface liberally with a fork; pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken; sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream.

***Note*** I changed my bake times to about 20 minutes each time. I felt that mine wasn't completely set up or all the way done. So maybe look at it after 15 and make your own judgement.

Enjoy!!

Jalapeno Popper Dip

YES! I said Jalapeno Popper Dip! I am so excited about this recipe! I love and Robert LOVES when I make jalapeno poppers. Well now there is a dip!

It is from the Rachael Ray Show, and here is the recipe.

Ingredients
8 jalapeños, halved and seeded
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
2 8-ounce blocks cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 cup crushed tortilla chips
Assorted dippers - veggis, chips, pretzels, whatever you like-- I WANT MORE CHIPS! :)

Yields: 6-8 servings as a snack
Preparation
Preheat a broiler or grill to medium-high.
Toss the jalapeño halves with the EVOO and roast under the broiler or char on the grill until softened and blackened, about 3 minutes per side.
Turn the oven to 400ºF. Let the peppers cool enough to handle them, then chop them up.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, sour cream, half of the cheddar and all of the chopped roasted peppers. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and top with the remaining shredded cheese and crushed chips. Bake the dip until golden brown and bubbly, 15-18 minutes.
Serve with assorted dippers alongside.

I usually use a Monterrey jack cheese when making mine, so I might stick with that or try the mexican blend cheese. Anyway, I am trying this SOON! Won't be so bad if I do low fat ingredients, right? ;)

Breakfast Faves

So, 2 of my favorite things for breakfast are these turkey sausage thingys I make and my breakfast smoothie.

Turkey Sausage Wrap

I buy a package of turkey sausage and it usually contains like 5 big links.

Take 1 sausage link and take it out of its casing (I squeeze)
Add it to a hot pan- Let it cook for about 30 seconds then flip. Let it cook some more, then I start breaking it into pieces. Let it cook til all the way done.

Then I take 2 small white corn tortillas or 1 larger tortilla and melt some cheddar cheese on it in the microwave, fill it with the turkey sausage, add some salsa and sour cream. You can definitely add eggs, but currently eggs make me sick. So I omit them. This actually came from my egg white omelet recipe. I just replaced the egg whites with a tortilla. It is really good and only maybe 300 calories for the whole breakfast with lots of protein! Definitely fills you up!

My other breakfast staple is my smoothie.

This is kind of a great recipe to utilize what you do have.

I usually keep frozen strawberries, peaches, blueberries, and cherries on hand.

This morning I used:

1 Activia Light yogurt-vanilla (or any yogurt of your preference)
about 1/2 cup of skim milk
1/2 cup each of strawberries and peaches
1/2 of a banana
2 splenda packets

Blend on high til mixed. Then I slowly add in 4-5 big ice cubes to get it to the smoothie consistency I like. So good!

I will try and go back and add pictures to the posts later (once I find my camera).

My new recipe blog!

So, I have been thinking of doing a recipe blog for a while, but really just never got around to it. But tonight I finally decided to after finding some great recipes. Usually I just put all of the recipes I find on the internet into my Favorites on my computer-- but this is a great way of sharing them with you!

Disclaimer-- Not all recipes are my own creations as I do pull them off of websites! Please don't sue me :)

Ok... what will be my first???

Are we in the mood for savory or sweets?

Well here is one of each!

One of my new favorites is this meatball recipe that I saw on Big Mama's blog.

1 pound ground beef
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce or homemade if you’re into that sort of thing
1 package of french bread sandwich rolls
Sliced mozzarella cheese
butter

In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef with the next 7 ingredients. Roll into meatballs approximately 3 inches or so in diameter and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees and then turn them and cook another five minutes.

Pour sauce into large pot on the stove. Add meatballs. Let simmer for about 30 minutes to 1 hour for extra flavor.

Place the sandwich rolls open and face up on a cookie sheet. Spread each one with plenty of butter. Broil them in the oven until they are slightly (SLIGHTLY) brown and then pull them out and cover them with as many mozzarella cheese slices as you feel are appropriate. (No one will judge you for superfluous mozzarella cheese) Place them back in the oven and broil them until the cheese is melted.

Slice the meatballs in half and place on the sandwich. You’ll use about 2 meatballs per sandwich. Pour a little bit of the sauce over the meatballs, close up your sandwich and eat until you’re slightly sick.

I didn't make the sandwhiches, instead just doing spaghetti. But they were awesome! I am definitely planning on making the subs next time tho.

And now... for the sweets! :)

My ALL-TIME favorite cookie.

I love this cookie. It is almost a cross between a cookie, cake, and brownie. Not kidding. And these are actually a replica recipe from the ones that the Levain Bakery did on the show Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

Here's the recipe:

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups AP flour
3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 to 1/2 tsp baking soda
12 ounces (2 cups) good quality semisweet chocolate chips (I used half semisweet and half milk chocolate)

Cream the butter and sugars together with a mixer. Add the eggs one at a time.

Mix the dry ingredients together. Slowly add them in to the sugar/butter/egg mixture. Then fold in the chocolate chips.

These cookies are made to be big, but I don't do them as big as the original recipe. 4 ozs is enough for me.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 18 minutes. The cookies should be a light golden brown. I usually take them out of the oven and let them set for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Super, super good! I usually cannot wait until they cool to eat one!

I will be back later on (probably tomorrow) with another recipe. :)