Creamy Broccoli Soup with Blue Cheese

I'm a fan of soups no matter the time of year.  I'll make stews and soups all year round, I go against the grain that way, I guess...most people think of them only as a Fall and Winter meal, but I don't see a reason to wait when you have the air conditioning on!

This soup was delicious and it gave me a reason to break out my Cuisinart Hand Blender I've had in my basement since our wedding shower!  What a wonderful tool that is for any level of cook!  I've used it several times since this recipe and am loving it...I never knew what I was missing, but it definitely comes in handy and MUCH easier to clean than a whole blender.

Creamy Broccoli Soup with Blue Cheese

Recipe courtesy of Relish!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ white onion, chopped
• 2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 medium bunch broccoli, cut into florets
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese
• coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions

• Heat oil in a large soup pan over medium heat. 
• Add onion & sauté until limp, 4-5 minutes. 
• Add potatoes & broccoli, cook until potatoes are beginning to color, about 5 minutes.
• Add chicken broth & bring to a boil. 
• Reduce heat to medium-low & cook until potatoes are very tender, 20 minutes. 
• Pour ingredients (in batches) in blender. (Or use hand blender right in the pot)
• Make sure to let steam escape before processing. Remove cap from hole in lid, cover lid firmly with a dish towel & blend. 
• Return soup to pan; add cream and blue cheese & cook, stirring, until soup is heated through & blue cheese is melted. 
• Season to taste with salt & pepper. 
• Serve garnished with extra blue cheese, if desired. 

Paul's Famous Potatoes

I am so blessed and lucky to have a husband like mine, he never expects me to make dinner (though I love it) and he always wants to help me prepare it.  So when he offers, I often will gladly let him!  I cannot make pan-fried potatoes like Paul can...these are his "signature" potatoes, which everyone always loves!

Paul's Famous Potatoes

Ingredients

• 7 large Red Skin potatoes, cut into 1 in. pieces
• 4 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for coating all pieces
• 1 1/2 tbs. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tbs. dried parsley flakes

Directions

• Coat non-stick pan with olive oil and add potatoes, stirring to coat all potatoes evenly with oil (using more oil, if necessary). 
• Place pan on stove over medium high heat and cover with tight fitting lid, cooking until potatoes become soft.
• Add all seasonings, except parsley and stir gently.
  
• Turn heat to high and constantly gently stir potatoes to form the uniform crust.  At this point, you need to give them constant attention to ensure they get the crust and do not burn.  
• When potatoes are uniformly cooked, add parsley and toss, then serve!

Makes 4 servings

Easy & elegant meal

I am a huge Food Network fan...I watch most shows on there with few exceptions and I watched every episode of this season's Next Food Network Star. The winner, Melissa d'Arabian had me hooked when she showed an easy 4-Step Chicken and her individual Potato Gratins! Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to catch her new show yet, but I know I really liked her presentation on the NFNS, where she gave plenty of kitchen tips for the busy person.

Overall, this recipe is a HIT. It was easy, while I couldn't find my muffin tin (it's MIA apparently!), I used ramekins for the Gratin and they turned out wonderfully. They came together so easy and while they baked, I got everything ready for the chicken dish. The chicken was very flavorful, I took the advice on the Foodnetwork.com website and only used 1 lemon instead of 3...it was very lemony with one, I wouldn't use 3. My husband and I absolutely loved the Gratin, it looked elegant and tasted amazing. I will definitely be making this again!!!

Flexible 4-Step Chicken - Rustic Lemon-Onion Chicken
Recipe courtesy of Melissa d'Arabian, The Food Network

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, sliced thin or pounded (I used tenderloins)
  
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (I added this)
  
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 to 2 tablespoons butter

Directions

• Season chicken with dried thyme & salt & pepper. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat & add the oil. Dredge the chicken in flour, add to the hot oil & saute until cooked through. Set chicken aside to rest on plate tented with foil.
• In same saute pan, over low heat, add onions & fresh thyme & cook until aromatic.
• In a measuring cup, measure broth & add the lemon juice. Turn the heat up to high & deglaze the pan with the broth mixture until starting to reduce.
• Remove the pan from the heat & finish the sauce by whisking in butter. Season with salt & pepper, to taste.
• Spoon the sauce over the chicken & serve.

Individual Potato Gratins
Recipe courtesy of Melissa d'Arabian, The Food Network

Ingredients

• Vegetable spray
• 2 large russet potatoes, roughly peeled and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese
• 2 green onions, finely chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Spray 8 muffin tins with vegetable spray.
  
• Layer potato slices, cheese & onions into each muffin cup.
  
• Season with salt & pepper and top each gratin with 1 or 2 tablespoons of heavy cream.
  
• Cover with foil & bake for 30 to 40 minutes, removing the foil halfway through cooking time.
  
• Invert gratins onto plate & serve.

Turkey Burgers & Oven Fries

Though I've been under the weather lately, I was tired of "resting" and decided to make this for Paul when he got home from working with my dad today. It was by no means strenuous work, so it didn't take much energy on my part.

I know that turkey burgers do tend to be dry since they are so lean. After thinking about this problem, I decided to use mushrooms & feta in the burgers to combat them drying out from the grilling process. They turned out VERY flavorful & moist, I think I have found my new secret weapon when it comes to turkey burgers!

Turkey Burgers (Oven Fries recipe to follow)
Recipe courtesy of me

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese
• 4 large button mushroom caps, diced fairly small
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 3/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
• 1 shallot, finely minced
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper

Directions

• Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, mixing well with your fingers, like you would for a meatloaf.
• Shape into 4 patties, stacking on wax or parchment paper, cover with plastic wrap and put in fridge for an hour to set.
• Heat a grill or grill pan (which I used) sprayed with non-stick spray to medium-high heat.
• Add burgers and let set for 8-10 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the burgers.
• When cooked through, serve with your choice of toppings on a toasted bun.

Oven Fries
Recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds baking potatoes - I used 3 medium potatoes for 2 people
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil, and coat well with vegetable cooking spray. Scrub potatoes well and cut into 1/2 inch thick fries.
• In a large mixing bowl, toss potatoes with oil, sugar, salt and red pepper. Spread on baking sheet in one layer.
• Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until potatoes are tender and browned. Serve immediately.

Friday Fish & Chips

I saw the recipe for Alton Brown's Chips and Fish on Bridget's beautiful blog, The Way the Cookie Crumbles....I thought it looked FABULOUS.....and a little lightbulb went off right over my head like "*BING* You have an electric deep fryer in a box downstairs!!!" So, we broke it in using this recipe.

I used cod fillets and cut them into smaller chunks, made the french fries and got to work on the fish. It got stuck to the basket. I had to pry it out, but it looked promising. I know what to do next time to prevent that, but I guess I learned some valuable frying lessons this time around.

The taste was delicious...it was very time consuming though and not something I would make all the time, but I'm glad to say that I did make homemade fish & chips. Now, to work on airing out the condo from smelling like a greasy spoon!!!!

You can find the recipe that I used here...I followed it pretty much exactly, however I used Cod and omitted the Old Bay Seasoning, only because I didn't have any!

I also made my own Tartar Sauce...for this:

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups of Mayo (I used Hellman's Light)
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tbs. finely minced onion
• 3 tbs. jarred pickle relish
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. dried dill

Directions

• Mix all together, chill in fridge until you are ready to use.

A delicious meal to wrap up my "weekend"...

I also have Mondays off from work, so Mondays feel like my Sundays...I made a few easy things and they pulled together wonderfully to make a "fancy-looking" meal that was super simple to make! Total time to make this was an hour, but a half hour to really make the chicken and 15 minutes to make the biscuits. The hour was really baking the potatoes, which was no work on my part!

Chicken in a Cream Mustard Sauce
Recipe can be found here on my blog.

Garlic Fan Potatoes
Recipe inspired by Cooks.com
Ingredients

• 4 Idaho Potatoes, washed and dried
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced thin.
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• Parsley

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Place potato on a shallow large serving spoon.
• Slice potatoes 3/4 way through in thin slices, the spoon helps you not cut all the way through.
• Place 1 thin slice of garlic in each slot in the potato.
• Place in baking dish.
• Baste the potato with the melted butter.
• Season with salt, pepper and parsley.
• Place in oven and bake for 1 hour.

Garlic Cheese Biscuits
Recipe Inspired by About.com Recipe Here
Ingredients

• 2 cups Bisquick baking mix
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 tsp. garlic powder, divided in half
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 tbs. parsley flakes

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Mix Bisquick, cheese, milk and 1 tsp. of garlic powder.
• In a separate small dish, mix butter, 1 tsp. garlic powder & parsley flakes.
• Spoon batter into non-stick sprayed muffin tin.
• Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Do-Ahead Mashed Potatoes & 2nd No-Knead Bread

We hosted my mother-in-law's birthday party today and I have spent the past 2 days preparing everything for it so that today would go smoothly and I could enjoy the day as well! This is a recipe that my mom had made previously, so I knew that it would be perfect for a make-ahead dish!!

Do-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
Recipe courtesy of Cooks.com

I didn't deviate from the recipe listed above, so check it out there!!

I also made another loaf of the No-Knead Bread...it turned out so great....I am in love with this bread. Everyone loved it...this time, it turned out more in an oval shaped loaf. I love the variations that each of these loaves have had so far!! Find my original post here.

Easy weeknight meal

This is my typical throw-together meal for when we are running low on groceries in the house...it's always comforting, tastes great (no matter what ingredients you have on hand) and it's quick. After the week I've had at work (it's Michigan and with this economy, need I say more?!?), I'm trying to stretch every dollar, so by utilizing what we had on hand, this really saves us extra trips to the grocery store!

Mini-meatloaves, Sour/Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes & Corn

Meatloaves
Recipe courtesy of ME! :)

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1/4 yellow onion, chopped fine
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup 3 cheese grated blend Asiago, Romano & Parmesan)
• 1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp. parsley flakes
• 1 tbs. Worcestershire sauce

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix everything together and shape into 4 mini-loaves.
• Feel free to sub any ingredients you have on hand...shallots, green onions or just onion powder all work well...any cheese would be delicious as well as any combination of spices you like! If you want them more like traditional meatloaves, feel free to add tomato paste/sauce on top or even BBQ sauce...
  
• Put on baking sheet, pop in oven and cook for 30-35 minutes.

Sour/Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

• 4 small potatoes, peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 6 cups water in large pot
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2 tbs. fresh grated Parmesan cheese
  
• 2 tbs. butter
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

• Add potatoes to water and turn the burner on to high heat to boil.
• Boil for 20-25 minutes until tender.
• Meanwhile, mix the sour cream & cream cheese together. Set aside.
• After potatoes are boiled, drain thoroughly and return back to hot pan.
• Add butter to pan to melt.
• Add remaining ingredients to potatoes including the Sour/Cream Cheese mix and mash like crazy!
• Enjoy!

Corn

Open can, pour into pan, heat through. :) OK, that's not a recipe, but it's a quick veggie after a long day...

Why I love the Pioneer Woman

*Ignore the pool of butter in the lower right side...it's all an illusion*

Delicious, fattening, creamy, and unapologetic (well, ok, she often DOES apologize for her recipes, but it falls on deaf ears over here) recipes that turn out wonderfully. I saw her blog update on this little beaut that is called Creamy Herbed Potatoes. I'm going to say right here and now that I either want to be adopted by Ree, the Pioneer Woman or be her best friend...whatever she'd prefer. :)

Anyway, this recipe was really easy...of course, I had a mandolin slicer (but mine has a hand guard so I didn't slice half a hand off!) which made quick work of the slicing. If I had to do the potato cutting by hand, I would probably still be chopping....yawn.

PW’s Creamy Herbed Potatoes
courtesy of my new best friend, THE Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

4 to 5 russet potatoes
1 stick (1/4 pound) butter
1 medium onion, finely diced
8 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup heavy cream - I used 1 cup of Half & Half
1 cup whole milk (half & half works, too) - I used 3/4 c. of 2% milk
1 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley
1 teaspoon finely chopped chives - I used garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped sage

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice potatoes very thinly.
Add butter to a large skillet over medium low heat, When melted, add diced onion. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add cream cheese to the pan and stir to melt.
Pour in cream and milk, stirring to combine.
Season with plenty of salt and pepper, then add chopped herbs.
Place potatoes in a buttered baking dish. Pour contents of skillet over the top.
Top with Parmesan cheese and bake for 45 minutes, or until bubbly. Allow potatoes to sit 15 minutes before serving.

Cleaning the Kitchen...

So, it's one of those times where we're attempting to put off grocery shopping until it's absolutely necessary...you know, this whole crappy economy, etc... Plus, every time we go to the grocery store, we walk out at least $150 lighter, so I had to scavenge for a satisfying dinner. I found we have 3 packages of Ground Round, Potatoes, and the ingredients to make dinner rolls (see previous post.) Scavenging more gave me the ingredients to make this very easy and extremely tasty meal...a real "meat and potatoes" meal that was full of flavor.

These "recipes" are perfect for your own spin...add more or less or different ingredients!

Meatballs (aka Round Make-shift Meatloafs)

Ingredients
1 pound Ground Round
1 shallot - finely chopped
3 tbs. Herbed Spinach seasoning from Tastefully Simple
1 egg
3 tbs. Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (I would have used more, but this is all we had)
1 cup of Italian-style Breadcrumbs
Salt & Pepper

Directions
Mix all ingredients by hand in a large bowl. Form into whatever shape you desire, this made about 8 very large meatballs that I served like Meatloaf, without the ketchup or tomato component. Place onto a non-stick sprayed baking sheet and put in the oven for about 25-30 minutes.

With these, I also made delicious Mashed Potatoes.

Ingredients
5 large potatoes, peeled, cubed and boiled until soft
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives
Splash of Milk
2 tbs. butter
Salt & Pepper

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whip (I used my new best friend, aka KA Stand Mixer) and whip until combined and smooth.

Hot Crash Potatoes

From Pioneer Woman Cooks - everyone is making these and had me drooling with each post I read about them! I have tried various methods of obtaining crunchy potatoes in the past, but these were extremely crunchy on the outside with a soft inside, the perfect texture to compliment the chicken I made for dinner! Paul loved them and I know he'll be requesting these again and again! Thanks Pioneer Woman for the inspiration and sharing the delicious recipe!

• New Potatoes (or other small, round potato) (I actually cut thick rounds of Idaho potatoes and it worked well!)
• Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt
• Black Pepper
• Whatever herb(s) you like (I used basil, rosemary, parsley and chives from my "garden")

Begin by bringing a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make, and cook them until they’re fork-tender. Drain.Next, generously drizzle olive oil on a sheet pan.Place the potatoes on the sheet pan and grab a potato masher, gently press down on each potato, then turn the masher 90 degrees and mash gently the other way forming almost a cookie-like shape.Next, brush the tops rather generously with olive oil.Next, season the potatoes with lots of salt, pepper and any herbs you wish.Now throw them onto the top rack of a very hot (450-degree) oven, and cook them for 20-25 minutes…(My oven required about 30 minutes - probably because the potatoes were Idaho and a little thicker)

Cheesy Potatoes

I made these, with the help of my mom in the pictures below, for a family gathering we had this weekend...you can't beat good food, family and lots of fun!



Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. of Simply Potatoes fresh hashbrowns
• 1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 cup Sour Cream
• 1/2 cup of Milk
• 1 small onion - chopped fine
• 1 16 oz. package of shredded Cheddar Cheese
• Salt & Pepper to taste

You also need Non-stick cooking spray to coat a 9x13 glass pan and tinfoil. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.



Mix together the can of soup, onion, cheese, sour cream, milk, salt & pepper. The consistency should be thick enough to stick together, yet thin enough to add the potatoes and spread into a 9x13 glass pan... Add the potatoes and spread out into the pan (coated with non-stick spray).






Place pan in the oven and bake covered for approximately 35-40 min. , then take the tinfoil off and continue baking until set through and golden brown on top. The time can vary, I think these took about an hour...so keep an eye on them.

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but they were gone!!! Everyone really liked these and it is my sister's recipe...I will be making them again very soon.

Also, it would be very easy to double this recipe to make more...the recipe listed made a 9x13 pan filled half way...if you doubled the ingredients, you could use the same sized pan, just filled to the top...and then just keep a good eye on them to bake through.