Baked Potato Soup {Crock pot}

Happy Food Friday!

This week I want to share one of my recipes for the crock pot . Delicious baked potato soup! It's one of my favorites because you can throw it all in the crock pot and forget about it for 6-10 hours.

Ingredients
About 4 pounds of russet potatoes, washed but not peeled. Diced.

1 medium/large yellow onion, diced
10 cloves of garlic, minced (if you use jarred, it's 5 teaspoons)
32 ounces (1 box) chicken stock or broth

20 ozs (2 cans) of Cheddar Cheese (Campbell's Great for Cooking!)
16 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon seasoned salt

Preparation
Add onion, garlic, seasoning, cheese, chicken broth, and diced potatoes to the crock pot.
Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10 hours.
Remove half the soup and add with the cream cheese to a blender, blend until smooth, then re-incorporate.
Stir well.

Honestly the 4 lbs of potatoes is a guess, I've never measured how much the potatoes weighed. You see, I add all the other ingredients first then add the diced potatoes one potato at a time until the crock pot is full. That usually amounts to a few potatoes short of a 5 lb bag. TIP: Use an apple corer to make the dicing go faster!

I usually garnish the soup with a pinch of shredded cheddar cheese, a scoop of sour cream, and some freshly crumbled bacon. MmmMmm good!

Thanks for reading!

Bacon Ranch Chicken over Pasta

Happy Friday!

We enjoyed this recipe for the first time on Tuesday. It got a standing ovation at dinner! Even Logan (18 months old) cleared his plate!

I saw a variation of this recipe on Pinterest from justapinch.com. You can see their weight watchers version of this recipe here. I didn't have any light or low fat options in stock so I created this full flavor double sauce version {in our home we love sauce}.



My picture of Tuesday night's dinner shows Bacon Ranch Chicken over rigatoni. The weight watcher's version calls for whole wheat penne. You choose whatever pasta sounds best to you! I could see this being good with fettuccine and several other pastas as well.

Ingredients:

5 slices of bacon, crumbled
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 pkg ranch dressing mix ( 1/2 oz)
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

Fry bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Drain all but 1/2 tablespoon of bacon drippings from the pan.
Season the chicken with season salt and pepper. Add the butter to the reserved bacon drippings, then add the chicken to the same skillet. Cook until tender, no longer pink, and juices run clear.
Sprinkle the flour and ranch dressing mix over the chicken, stirring to coat evenly. Stir in the milk, and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened and bubbly. Stir in the cheddar cheese and half of the reserved bacon; cook and stir until the cheese is melted. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.
Serve over pasta with bacon sprinkled over the top. 

I hope you enjoy this one as much as we did!

Thanks for reading :)

Crockpot Honey Apple Pork Loin

Friday! I had missed Friday. Here's your promised food post. Learn more about Food Friday here.

I have some very exciting news to announce! Yesterday was the big day. Finally! I have a new stove. This coming week I look forward to trying the Sloppy Joe Casserole everyone ranted and raved about last Friday.

This week's recipe {Honey Apple Pork Loin} is one of my favorites for the crockpot. It was especially a favorite during our (too long) stove-less period.

Enjoy!


Ingredients:

Pork Loin, 2.5-3 lbs.

Red Delicious Apples, 3 sliced

Honey, approx 4 T

Cinnamon, 2 T

Preparation:

Lay the apple slices (from two of the apples) in the bottom of the crockpot.

Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Cut slits in the pork loin (approx 1/2″-3/4″).

Drizzle some honey into the slits.

Then place apple slices into the slits.

Place the pork loin into the crockpot.

Drizzle the top with the remainder of the honey.

Place the rest of the apples on top.

Then sprinkle the whole thing with cinnamon.

Cook on low for 7 hours.

Let me know how you like and if you make any variations that I should try!

Thanks for reading :)

Sloppy Joe Casserole

This weeks Food Friday recipe is from the kitchen of our reader and friend Jillian. (Learn more about Food Friday here). She was sweet enough to share one of her family's favorites with me. Joe and I (especially Joe) are big sloppy joe fans and we're pretty anxious to give this a shot. Unfortunately we experienced a small set back in the form of spontaneous combustion inside our oven. I promise it was NOT my cooking that caused it! Point being that we can't try Jillian's recipe until we're able to bring home a new baking machine, but that day will be a glorious glorious day.

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 can (15 1/2 ounces) sloppy joe sauce
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups baking mix (Bisquick)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1 Tablespoon sesame seeds

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink. Drain.

2. Stir sloppy joe sauce into beef. Mix well.

3. Transfer mixture to a lightly greased 13 x 9 baking dish. Sprinkle cheese over top.

4. Combine the biscuit mix, eggs and milk in a large bowl until just until blended.

5. Pour biscuit mixture over the cheese in casserole. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

6. Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 8 servings.

You can follow Jillian on Pinterest by clicking here!

We hope you enjoy the recipe, let us know what you think!
Thanks for reading :)

Creamy Italian Chicken

Happy Friday! As promised, here's you're Food Friday recipe. Learn more about Food Friday here.

Next Friday, I swear, there will be a NON-chicken recipe.

This one, though, is a family favorite, a friend favorite, a get together favorite. This one is good. It's also easy. Easy is important to me. This all makes it one of my favorites to cook.


The key is the creamy Italian sauce. After you make the sauce there's a lot of variations and twists for the rest of the recipe. I'm going to give it to you simple, and then at the end I'm going to give you some examples of how to mix it up and make it your own.

Sauce ingredients

Ingredients:
1 lb boneless chicken tenderloins; halved
1 cup frozen broccoli; chopped
1 cup frozen crinkle cut carrots
      (Veggies can be substituted with fresh)
1 26oz can of Cream of Chicken soup
      (That's the big family sized can.)
1 stick of cream cheese (softened)
1 packet of dry Italian Dressing Seasoning.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450
In an oven safe casserole dish mix the softened cream cheese, the cream of chicken soup, and the Italian dressing seasoning together until it's a uniform color.
Stir in the chicken and vegetables
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes at 450 (until chicken juices run clear)
Serve over noodles

Variations! You can also make this in the crock pot: low for 6-8 hours; high for 4-6 hours. You can subtract the vegetable or change them, for example peas instead of broccoli. Maybe you prefer your veggies on the side instead of covered in sauce, that will work too. If we have left over chicken from some other recipe (I tend to cook for 4 instead of 2 1/2) I use the cooked chicken in this recipe and only bake it for 30 minutes. Use any king of noodles you want!

Put your own spin on this one and let me know how it goes :)
Thanks for reading!

Zesty Italian Chicken

Hello Friday, how I love thee! Here's a Food Friday recipe for you to enjoy. What's Food Friday? Find out here.

I sincerely hope you're enjoying your holiday. Out Christmas and New Year festivities are keeping us very busy! After cooking Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner this year I'm ready to go back to some simple, yet delicious, recipes.

Zesty Italian Chicken is one of our family favorites. It packs a lot of flavor, is easy to prepare, and easier to clean up.

Ingredients:
1 lb boneless chicken breasts; trimmed and halved
1 bottle fat free Italian dressing
1 bag of frozen 3 peppers & onion
1 cup of frozen sliced carrots

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350
Pour all ingredients in oven safe casserole dish

Give it a good stir

Bake on 350 for 45 mins or until chicken juices run clear

Serve over rice or noodles.

Using fat free dressing is important for the cooking process, not only because I'm health conscious. If you don't use fat free the oil in the dressing separates and it's a big mess. You can substitute chicken breasts with chicken tenderloins to further cut down prep time. You can also omit any of the vegetables that I listed if you're not a fan.

ENJOY! 

Let me know if you try the recipe, how you liked it, or if you made any alterations :)

Thanks for reading!

Easiest Meatloaf Ever

Our 1st Food Friday recipe. Hope you enjoy it :) What is Food Friday? Find out here.

Ingredients:

1lb ground sirloin
1 can Campbell's Tomato Soup
1 1/2 cups instant oatmeal
1 cup diced onion, green pepper, celery mixed
1/4 cup ketchup *optional*
1 Tbs minced garlic
1 Tbs salt
1 tsp black pepper




General instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degres
Set your 1/4 cup ketchup to the side (or optionally set aside 1/4 cup of the tomato soup).
Mix all the other ingredients together and place in your pan of choice
'Ice' the loaf with your 1/4 cup ketchup (or tomato soup)
Back at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until meat is browned all the way through.

What makes this so easy? I use frozen and pre-diced vegetables, and pre-minced garlic from a jar. I get all my frozen vegetables at Kroger, they have a very wide selection in the Kroger brand- even a diced onion, green pepper, and celery mix that's perfect for meat loaf. They taste nearly as good as fresh, last longer, no dicing, chopping, or slicing necessary, and they are very affordable. Sure, you could argue that fresh vegetables and garlic would provide a better flavor. You can feel free to modify this recipe and make "Slightly Less Easy Meatloaf" using fresh, never frozen, produce if you choose. Secondly, I use a casserole dish instead of a loaf pan. I can mix my ingredients in the pan instead of dirtying a large bowl (Look, I'm efficient. Not lazy.) and the cook time is shortened. So, I guess technically this is meat casserole, not meat loaf...

I served this to my husband most recently this past  Monday. On Tuesday we had Olive Garden. Mid-way through his spaghetti and meat sauce Joe looks at me and says "I liked last night's dinner better", then I proceeded to warn him, "I'm going to blog that you said that..." :)

What is Food Friday?

Oh, boy! These mamas love food! We're about to start a tradition that I know you're going to love. Every Friday we're going to share one of our recipes, we've decided to dub this tradition 'Food Friday'.

What kind of recipes can you expect from Carly?

I like fast and easy meals that dirty the fewest dishes. You can expect me to mostly share recipes that provide square meals in a few simple steps with easy clean up. All of which my Joe honors with his seal of approval. I use my crock pot more often than my oven and have plenty of tricks up my sleeve for putting together entire meals in a flash on a budget. Stay tuned to learn how to make 10 servings of Baked Potato Soup for less than $5. Joe has been demanding a batch weekly this winter.

What you won't get from me are any recipes for baked deserts. Baking is too much of an exact science for me to enjoy it... or be good at it, HA! I'm more of a make it up as you go, add a pinch here and dash there kind of Chef. I use the term Chef lightly :) Baked goods is a talent that Jamie does have, maybe if we're lucky she'll share some of her cake recipes with us!



What kind of recipes can you expect from Jamie?

I'm more of a large meal-style cook. I like to use real butter, homemade vanilla extract, and real potatoes. I like to make large quantities and freeze for later. I dirty a lot of dishes and make hearty meals. I may not be a pro at cheap & fast meals, but you wont be disappointed. I truly enjoy cooking and prefer to make masterpieces when I can.

Cake I made for an exterminator

Pudding filling

I love to bake. Cakes are my specialty. I can't share my exact cake and icing recipe(family secret), but I can share tips, tricks, and decorating ideas. I've made cakes for weddings, baby showers, birthdays, and anniversaries. I've made everything from a cockroach cake to a hamburger cake. My cakes don't just look good. They are delicious. The cake itself is fluffy and soft. The icing is creamy and sweet, but not overpowering. It has it's own flavor.

Cake for my boyfriend's 25th surprise party. He LOVES man vs food