Recipe of the Week: Loaded Baked Potato Soup

This is another one of those recipes I found online and tweaked to suit my own needs.  Rich and creamy, this soup is a wonderful winter comfort food.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

4 cups frozen hashbrowns
2/3 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups milk
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 green onions, chopped
12 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup sour cream
 ~ Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk. Add hashbrowns.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture is thick and bubbly and hashbrowns are cooked, 5 or 6 minutes.  Add salt, pepper, green onions, bacon, and cheese. Cook until cheese is melted and soup is heated through. Stir in sour cream. Serve.

Enjoy!
Korrina

Beef Stew

It's time again for my recipe of the week.  Beef stew has always been a staple in our house.  I started making this not long after Rock and I were married and it has evolved a little (but not much) in the years since.  All of us love it on a cold winter day with some warm rolls and butter.

It's completely different from what my mom always called beef stew.  Her's used ground beef (that's all we could afford), was not thick at all and included corn and green beans (which I can't stand mixed into anything).  I couldn't figure out why mom's beef stew wasn't anything like the canned stuff.

Anyway, if you've never heard of "Kitchen Bouquet,"  you be glad I told you about it.  :)  Not long after my mom and dad were married (and dad complained all the time that mom's cooking was nothing like his mom's), my mom asked her mother-in-law what the secret was to getting here gravy so nice and dark brown.  She thought grandma would come up with some complicated method or something and was very surprised when grandma reached into the cupboard and pulled out a little bottle labeled "Kitchen Bouquet."  That was grandma's secret- a couple of tablespoons from that little bottle in her gravy.  The rest is history.  Mom's been using it ever since and it's now one of my favorite seasonings.  You can usually find it near the bouillon in the grocery store.

So, enough rambling- here's the recipe:

Korrina's Beef Stew

1 pound stew meat, browned                    2 beef bouillon cubes
4 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks      4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 onion, chopped                                  1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons worchestershire sauce         2 tablespoons Kitchen Bouquet
1 teaspoon curry powder                         2 packages brown gravy mix

salt and pepper to taste

Brown the stew meat in a little oil in a big saucepan.  Peel your carrots, potatoes and onion.  Slice the carrots and mushrooms, chop the onion, and cut the potatoes into chunks.  Put everything in the saucepan and add enough water to make everything just barely start to lift off the bottom of the pan (you know, when the potatoes just start to float).  The mushrooms will shrink and you will have more gravy in there than it looks right now- you can always add more water later.  Turn the heat on and get it all boiling.  When it starts to boil, turn the heat down to low and cover the pot.  Simmer your stew for about 2 hours.  This will get everything nice and tender and blend all of those flavors together.  When it's done you can thicken it a little more by mixing a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch or flour with a half cup or so of cold water.  Turn the heat up and add the mixture to your stew, stirring constantly.  Keep stirring and cooking until it is the thickness you want.  Serve with hot buttered rolls for dipping.

(Sorry, no photo this week...)

Enjoy,

Korrina

Slow-Cooked Ham and Bean Soup

This is my mother-in-law's recipe that I tweaked a little and made my own.  My kids complain when I make it and then eat seconds and thirds so I guess it tastes better than it sounds. :)  I usually use the leftovers from a baked ham (including the bone), but sometimes I just buy a small bone-in ham just for the soup.  Try to get the bean mix with a little packet of ham flavoring in it.  If you can't find one, any ham flavoring will work.  It does take most of a day to make, so plan ahead.

Slow-Cooked Ham and Bean Soup

2 lbs bone-in ham                     
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 lb 15 bean mix
1 onion
1 stalk celery
1 carrot
seasoning packet from bean mix
1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon marjoram

salt and pepper to taste

Put the ham in a big pot and add enough water to just cover the ham.  Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for an hour or so.  Let it cool a little and then strain the broth from the solid stuff, saving the broth in a bowl.  Place the broth in the fridge to let the fat raise to the top and congeal (so you can skim it off later).  While that's in the fridge, pick all of the meat out of the fat and bones that you boiled before and put it back in the pot.  Rinse the beans and place them in the pot as well.  Finely chop the celery and onion, grate the carrot, and add them to the pot.  When the fat on the broth has congealed enough to scoop it off, do so and add the broth to the other ingredients.  Add the sugar and seasonings.  Pour enough water over the top to cover everything in the pot by an inch or so.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 3-4 hours or until beans are tender.  Check the soup every so often to see if it needs more water (the beans will soak it up) and to stir everything.  Adjust seasoning to taste and serve.

This is great with hot homemade buttered rolls!

Enjoy!
Korrina

Chicken Noodle Soup

This is my mom's noodle recipe and my own soup recipe.  She's been making these for as long as I can remember.  When I was little and there wasn't much money, she used to brag about how she could make a whole chicken last an entire week.  This is one of the recipes she did that with.  I know it doesn't look like much but when my kids saw on the menu that I was making this last week, they all started jumping up and down and cheering.  I think I could safely say that this is the most popular dish in our house.  It's that good.  In fact, I usually triple it so there's enough.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

1 cup flour
1 egg
2 quarts water
1 cup chicken, diced
2 carrots, chopped
2 packages chicken gravy mix
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 tablespoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 chicken boullion cube
1 pinch salt and pepper
2 cups mashed potatoes (optional)
Boil celery, carrots, onion, chicken, and boullion in the water until vegetables are tender. Meanwhile, mix flour, egg, and enough water to make a soft (but not sticky) dough. Roll out thin on a floured surface and cut into noodles. Add noodles and gravy mix to soup and cook 10-15 minutes or till noodles are tender and broth has thickened a little. Serve over mashed potatoes if desired.  (We never ate it with the potatoes in my family but hubby's family did, so we always just make it an option.)

You can substitute turkey for the chicken if you are trying to use up holiday leftovers.

Enjoy!
Korrina