what's for dinner wednesday :: Potato soup

I know it's a day late, but let's pretend it's Wednesday!

This potato soup recipe is an staple around here in winter - and we've needed lots of warm bowls of soup to keep the chill off this year!!

It starts with the trifecta of veggies - onion, celery and carrots (I left the carrots in bigger pieces last time I made it).  This is really the only way to start any soup!

And it has bacon in it - so you know it's good. 

If you have a gluten-free diet, you can use cornstarch instead of flour to thicken it.  I did this last time and it worked well.  I always stir up my cornstarch in cold liquid before I add it to the soup so it doesn't clump.  I just mixed it with some of the milk before I added it!

My kids ask for this soup weekly.

Megan's Potato Soup
chop:
1 onion
2-3 carrots
2-3 celery stalks
sautee in butter/olive oil combo

Add 6 cups water + 4 tsp/cubes chicken bouillon

Chop up 4 big-6 small potatoes and add to pot.
Cook until potatoes are soft.

In a separate pan:
Cook 6 slices of bacon.
Save grease and make a roux adding 2 Tbsp flour, cooking until golden brown.
Add to soup.

Pour in 1 can evaporated milk.
Simmer 10 more minutes.

Alternately use 1 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with evaporated milk and heat with bacon fat.  Then pour into soup pot - simmer 10 more minutes.

what's for dinner wednesday :: chili blanco

Hello everyone!

I know I missed a week - but you know what? That's okay!  We celebrated Brotherlouwho's birthday Friday and I was kind of caught up getting ready for that.  And I think we had ANOTHER snow day so my week got thrown off for sure!

Back in December I decided that this would be THE WINTER OF SOUP.  I know it's sounds ominous and exciting all at once!  And I've been trying to make soup at least once a week and not just all of our old standards.  So when my dear friend Megan (who gave me our favorite potato soup recipe EVER) handed this one over and said you need to make this, I had to oblige.

I'm not a connoisseur of the white chicken chili - but I've had it a few times.  I really liked this recipe because it was fairly simple and everyone ate it - oh, and it was delicious!  It also filled my huge 6 quart casserole so I know we can have it for dinner again or I can freeze some for later.

She told me that she makes the sweet & sour garnish mostly for the adults. I had to skip it this time because I didn't have everything I needed.  But I'm excited to try it next time! It's like a sweet and sour salsa to mix in. And feel free to add avocados - it's fun to be reckless like that!

Chili Blanco

4 cans drained small white navy beans

2 onions chopped

48 oz chicken broth

4 cups cooked chicken

2 cans drained corn

7 oz can chopped green chilies

6-8 cloves garlic minced

3 TBS chopped fresh oregano (1T dried)

4 tsp ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp cayenne

1 cup sour cream

3 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Juice of 1 lime (3 T bottled lime juice)

Saute onions in olive oil.  When they are browned put in a stock pot and add chicken broth.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat.  Add chicken, corn, green chiles, garlic, oregano, cumin and cayenne.  Simmer for 1 hour.  Remove from heat. Stir in sour cream and cheese until melted.  Top with Sweet and Sour Garnish.

Sweet and Sour Garnish

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp celery seeds

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Blend and the add chopped tomatoes and cilantro.

Enjoy! Let me know if you try it!  What's your favorite winter soup?  I need more ideas.

 

what's for dinner wednesday :: penne and sausage skillet supper

I have a love affair with the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.  And with Cook's Illustrated - the magazine put out by the same folks.  I kid you not, every recipe I've made from them is delicious and fairly easy.  They have a whole section on skillet meals - which I love!  They come together quickly, only require one pan and everyone loves them!

I've only made this one a few times and I need to remember to work it into our regular rotation.  A lot of the ingredients are things I usually have on hand, or are easily kept in the pantry or freezer.  

I hope you try it!

Penne and Sausage Skillet Supper

                                           ~ATK Family Cookbook
servings:Serve 4-6
prep time: 10 minutes
cook time: 25 minutes
total time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion , chopped fine
table salt
3 cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press
1 pound hot or sweet Italian turkey sausage
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes , rinsed and chopped fine
1/2 pound penne pasta (2 1/2 cups)
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup milk
1 ounce grated Parmesan cheese (1/2 cup)
6 ounces baby spinach
ground black pepper

Directions

1. Heat the oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, sausage, and tomatoes and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 4 minutes.

2. Sprinkle the penne evenly over the sausage. Pour the broth and milk over the pasta. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, about 10 minutes.

3. Stir in the spinach a handful at a time, and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Stir in the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

what's for dinner wednesday :: lemon filled cupcakes

It's not a secret that I love to cook. I think it stems mostly from the fact that I like to eat good food! I also like the fact that it's somewhat of a creative process so even if I'm not getting any sewing/crafting/decorating in, I can always be creative in the kitchen! 

I also like the idea of themed posts - so by no means am I turning into a food-blogger but I am going to start posting food posts on Wednesdays! A bunch of us on instagram have been tagging our dinner prep posts #itswhatsfordinner and it's a fun and inspiring hashtag to follow when looking for dinner ideas! I won't always share dinner recipes on what's for dinner wednesdays - but any kind of recipe! I just like the alliteration effect - hahaha! So first up will be these delicious cupcakes that I made the other day! 

I had leftover lemon curd from the wedding cake I made for my sister-in-law's wedding and needed some birthday treats for a girl in my class at church. You can find my lemon curd recipe in this post - it's delicious and good on so many things! (think crepes, crumpets, english muffins, toast, a spoon - and there's an idea for little tartes in that post too.) 

So here's how I filled them! I cut out a little cone shaped hole in the middle of each cupcake and set the middles aside (lining them up so I could match them back up with their corresponding cup). I also cut the pointy part off so there was just a thin, flat top for covering the filling. 

I then used my little cookie scoop (think mini ice cream scoop) and dropped a dollop of lemon curd in the hole - not quite reaching the top. 

Next, I put the tops back on trying to line them back up so they sat flush and not leaking out any filling.

  

And of course frosting on top! I started in the middle of the cake to kind of secure the edges of the top. They were delicious and I neglected to take any photos of them being eaten. Think hostess filled cupcakes 1,000,000 times better!

You can use any kind of cake mix and frosting. However, I do recommend a white or vanilla cake to pair with lemon filling - lemon cake mixes overshadow the awesomeness of the filling!

Here's what I used:
Duncan Hines white cake (substitue milk for water - makes for a bit denser moister cake)
Canned cream cheese frosting (I know! the horror! I could have made my own but I didn't have time)
1 recipe Lemon Curd

I hope you make these - or at least try the lemon curd - it's so easy and delicious!!

What are you cooking or baking today?