11.09.2011

Creamy Potato Soup


I feel like a real chef because I made this soup up. Well, sort of. I looked at a few different potato soup recipes and then came up with this. And guess what! It's really good! 

CREAMY POTATO SOUP

Ingredients:
8 strips of bacon
2 cups chopped onion
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
1 cup chicken broth
3-4 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 1/2 cups milk or cream
1 cup corn
shredded cheddar cheese (1/2-3/4 cup)
salt (1/2 tsp) & pepper (to taste)
hot sauce (to taste)

Directions: 
Cut strips of bacon into bite sized pieces and cook for a couple of minutes (don’t make them crispy) then add chopped onion. Cook together until onion is soft and translucent. Add minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add butter and flour. Stir together then pour in chicken broth. Stir continuously until things have thickened slightly. Add milk/cream and potatoes and bring to SIMMER (don’t boil!). Simmer for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Add corn and shredded cheese. Stir until cheese is melted and corn is warm. Add salt, pepper and hot sauce. Enjoy. 

Serves 6-8

11.08.2011

Grilled Sandwiches

While browsing through Pinterest I keep seeing these delicious looking veggie grilled sandwiches. These are nice because you can change the ingredients all the time depending on what you have on hand. The ones I just made had pesto, avocado, tomato, and pepperjack cheese on whole wheat bread. Delicious. I can't wait to try things like sprouts, spinach, and different cheeses - I might even throw on a slab of ham if I feel like it.

I need to put more effort into taking better pictures of my food, but...meh.



Note: I normally don't like my bread so grilled/burnt/black. I'm still learning to pay attention to the time I leave it on the stove.

11.04.2011

Sopapilla Cheesecake Pie

So after I returned home last night quite late from a meeting and put on my cozy robe, I decided to check my email right before bed. Cierra's Spanish teacher had sent out an email to all of the parents saying she hoped our student informed us of the "Celebration of Cultures" party the following morning, and would we please remember to send something from the culture our students are studying to share with the class. Seriously? It was 11:00 and the following morning I had an entire day of meetings starting quite early. I immediately Xed out of my email and went to allrecipes.com to find the simplest mexican recipe I could find. I looked at the very first recipe that had a lot of stars next to the title (even though I really didn't care if it tasted good or not), printed it out, got dressed, ran to the store and went to straight to bed when I got home. I made this recipe before Cierra left for school at 7:30 a.m. and then... oh.. my.. yum! This dessert was divine and so easy!
Bad for you? Of course it is. Why else would I label it divine?

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp. Mexican vanilla
2 (8 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup honey

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Beat the cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar and the vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth.
3. Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape each package so that you have TWO 9x13 rectangles. Press one of the rectangles into the bottom of the baking dish. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough. Stir together 3/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Dot the mixture over the top of the cheesecake.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 30 min. Remove from oven and drizzle with honey. Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.



11.02.2011

Gourmet Ham & Cheese Sliders



Another Pinterest recipe. This website is making me domestic. I used light/low fat/low sodium/whatever ingredients and they were delicious, but you can use the fatty stuff if you want, I guess.

Ham and Cheese Sliders

24 good white dinner rolls (I used Rhodes Rolls)
24 pieces good honey ham
24 small slices Swiss cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup miracle whip

Poppy seed sauce
1 Tablespoon poppyseeds
1 1/2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 Tablespoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise and miracle whip. Spread onto both sides of the center of each roll. Place a slice of ham and a slice of Swiss inside of each roll. Close rolls and place them into a large baking dish or heavy cookie sheet. Place very close together.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the poppy seed sauce ingredients. Pour evenly over all of the sandwiches. Let sit 10 minutes or until butter sets slightly. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Uncover and cook for 2 additional minutes. Serve warm.

** sandwiches can be assembled a day ahead and kept in the fridge ready to bake.

These are how mine turned out.