A while back, I tested out Paula Deen’s recipe for potato soup. Yeah, not great. Since then, I’ve been testing several different recipes and found one that I really enjoy. And yes, I’ve tweaked it a bit. 🙂
I make this in our crockpot and it dishes up more than enough servings for a family. You can also make this up and then freeze portions in quart freezer bags. I did this recently, when I made a huge pot in our bigger crockpot. It’s about winter here now, so having readily available, homemade soup is a good thing!
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Potato Soup
Instructions
With your reserved bacon drippings in large fry pan, saute the onions until translucent.
Add flour, stirring to prevent lumps.
Add chicken stock a cup at a time, stirring constantly to prevent lumps and it will thicken as you add them all.
Once all the stock is in, reduce heat to simmer. You can add the potatoes at this time OR use crock pot, put potatoes in crock pot with the thickened stock.
Add all the seasonings and bacon. Let simmer for about 10 minutes - do not let it boil.
I cook a lot of tilapia. It’s the one fish I really enjoy that doesn’t taste ‘fishy’. I found this particular recipe on Pinterest, tried it, and modified it because a) I don’t like frying food*, b) the sauce did not thicken well, and c) I have a better recipe to coat the fish. 🙂
So below is my modified recipe. The fish will taste just as good with or without the sauce, by the way.
*Fried food is good, don’t get me wrong. But it isn’t generally healthy for you and why deal with all the oil splatter to clean up later? As stated elsewhere, I’m lazy.
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Parmesan Crusted Tilapia w/Tomato Basil Cream Sauce
Instructions
Sauce: heat oil in small skillet on medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
Add cherry tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes or so.
Reduce heat to low and add cream and fresh basil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Thicken by mixing cornstarch with a bit of water to make a slurry. Add this to the sauce and stir thoroughly.
Fish: Preheat oven to 375. Spray baking pan with Pam or equivalent.
In shallow dish, combine melted butter, garlic powder, and lemon juice. In another shallow dish, combine panko and parmesan.
Dip each filet in butter mixutre and then roll well in panko mixutre. Place filets in a single layer onto baking pan.
Press any remaining panko mixture onto the tops of the filets.
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I like pears well enough on their own, but when they are warm like these are, they are even better! For those who don’t like cinnamon (who are you people?!?), you can omit it and just have caramel. Or substitute the cinnamon with something else to flavor. Chili powder, if you like spicy, cardamon, star anise, or just add teaspoon or so of salt for salted caramel!
I made this the other night for the Man and the Girl. She helped with the pears while I did everything else. 🙂 You can use any type of pear you like, I just happened to use Bosc pears.
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Poached Pears w/Caramel Cinnamon Sauce
Instructions
Peel and core pears, leaving stems in tact. Or, peel and cut in half, then core. Your choice.
In a large pan, combine water, sugar, and lemon juice. Bring to boil
Add pears to the boiling syrup. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 10 minutes.
Use this time to make caramel sauce! Put sugar in sauce pan. Use a spatula or wooden spoon, stir sugar over medium high heat until a golden color.
Put butter into sugar and keep stirring!
When butter has completely melted, take off heat and add cream a little bit at a time, still stirring.
Toss in cinnamon, incorporating it complelety. Set sauce aside to cool a bit.
Turn pears and let simmer for another 10 minutes, until they are tender.
Remove pears and pour caramel sauce over and serve!
Recipe Notes
The caramel sauce will thicken as it cools. It shouldn't cool too much in 10 minutes, but enough to be able to pour over the pears. If it has thickened too much, warm it up a bit.
I love zucchini, which is saying a lot since I don’t like many veggies. Something that my taste buds have changed their mind about over the years. This is why I recommend trying things you may not have like the taste of previously. I do it about every 7-10 years.
Anyway, I like finding new ways to cook it. This is one that looked interesting and it involved cheese, so why not? Adding cheese to most things makes it tastier. However, I can tell you that this particular recipe needs tweaking. I added more cheese, because cheese, but if you prefer less, cut down the amount of cheddar by half.
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Zuchini Au Gratin
Instructions
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Slice zucchini - about 1/4 inch
Blanch zucchini - see notes below.
Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent.
Add milk, paprika, garlic powder, nutmeg, allspice, salt, and 1 cup of cheddar cheese.
Stir until cheese is melted. Remove from heat and add egg.
Pat dry the zucchini one more time. Lay zucchini out in dish.
Pour cheese mixture over zucchini.
Sprinkle remaining cheddar cheese and fontina over the top.
Crumble up crackers and sprinkle on top.
Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Take foil off and broil for 5 minutes to brown top.
Recipe Notes
To blanch: Set up an ice bath in a bowl big enough for your colander to fit into. Boil enough water that will cover all your zucchini. Once water is boiling, toss in zucchini for one minute. Drain into colander and plunge into an ice bath to stop them from cooking more. Lay out zucchini on paper towels and pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and set aside.
Another Pinterest find that sounded good and thought I’d give it a try at a meeting that the Man and I were having at our house. It was a huge hit and almost nothing left at the end of the night. I doubled this recipe in our 6 quart crockpot.
I’ll be making this quite a number of times throughout our winter!
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Hot Chocolate
Instructions
Put everything into your crockpot or slow cooker. Put it on high to start to help melt the chocolate chips.
Check back every 20 minutes or so to stir up the melting chocolate. Turn down to low or 'warm' when all the chocolate has melted.
Recipe Notes
Additional options: have mini marshmallows, candy canes, cinnamon sticks, or even a bit of chili powder for flavoring if desired.
I love cinnamon rolls and the lovely smell that fills the house when they are baking. At one point, I saw a video on Facebook somewhere for this recipe and then saw a Pinterest pin on it.
Giving this a try, I can tell you that I altered the recipe a bit. Pretty much end up doing that with a lot of stuff, but I digress. This turned out better than I expected but I predict that I’ll add more maple syrup next time.
Before baking:
Read to eat!
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Cinnamon Roll Bake
Great brunch dish!
Instructions
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Cut up cinnamon rolls into quarters. When fresh out of the refrigerator, they are easy to cut. Spread them out in pan.
Whisk together the eggs, milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl.
Pour mixture over roll pieces. Be sure to coat them all well.
Pour maple syrup over rolls.
Bake for 30-35 minutes. Oven temps vary.
Put icing that came with rolls into a microwave safe, easily pourable bowl. Microwave for roughly 30 seconds.
Pour icing over bake when it comes out of the oven.
Ambrosia is the food of the Gods. Seriously, look it up. Now, ambrosia “salad” has been around since the late 1800’s and any “true” ambrosia recipe includes orange (of some variety) and coconut. After that, add whatever the hell you want. I was first introduced to this decadent salad by my late grandmother, Astrid. As a kid, of course I looked forward to summer time and being free of school and homework. But more importantly, it meant fresh corn on the cob from the farm across the street and my grandmother’s Ambrosia salad that she would bring to the house when we had a bbq.
I literally would have been happy to just eat the corn and the ambrosia. Pretty sure you can’t live off of it, but I would have tried! It was one of the most delicious things I ate as a child and brings back all the happy memories I have of summers and my wonderful grandmother.
I don’t have her exact recipe (I don’t think the woman used any) but I do remember exactly what ingredients she used. Going off of that and making it taste as close to hers as I can, this is my personal recipe.
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Ambrosia
Great for summer time bbqs!
Instructions
Whip up your fresh whipped cream or take your softened Cool Whip and go directly to step two!
Add in the sour cream and whisk together.
Using a spatula, stir in all the fruit, mini marshmallows, and coconut.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. I prefer to let it sit overnight. Technically, you can eat it right away, but it is better chilled.
Recipe Notes
There really are so many varieties to this. One common substitution is using plain yogurt instead of the sour cream. A lot of people also like to add some kind of nut - best suggestion is almonds or pecans, preferably toasted first.
