Cheesy Potato Soup

I'm not gonna lie, I use my blog for a recipe book for all the recipes I've made and we liked it! Throughout this pregnancy I haven't had energy but tonight I did so I made this with some homemade bread machine sweet bread! Yum!

Ingredients -
8-10 medium Red Potatoes
Water to cover potatoes
1 Green Pepper
1 large Onion
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 package Bacon, cut into 1" pieces
1 cup Milk
1/3 package Velveeta, cut into 1" cubes
1 teaspoon Celery Seed
Salt and Pepper, to taste


Preparation:
Quarter and cut potatoes into small pieces. You can peel them or scrub and leave skin on. You may leave the skin on for red or new potatoes, and peel if using others.
Place potatoes in large pot and cover with water; add salt. Boil, covered until tender.

While potatoes are boiling, place bacon, onion, garlic, and green pepper in another large pot and sauté until bacon is cooked, green peppers are tender, and onions are clear.

Drain bacon fat, except for about 1 tablespoon. Add celery seed, salt, and ground pepper and sauté for 1 more minute.

Add sautéd ingredients to undrained boiled potatoes. Turn heat to medium.

Add Velveeta and stir soup until cheese melts. Add milk, and stirring constantly, heat until soup is hot.

Be careful not to burn it.

My take on Baja Chicken Soup--Take 2

So I got the new Real Simple just for the month of menus. There are some great recipes in there so this is my take on it! I am not a big soup person, but this was awesome. You get nice heat from the ro-tel, perfect!

1 32 oz carton of low sodium chicken broth
1 can black beans (not rinsed)
1 can ro-tel
1 package of chicken breast (refrigerated section) (I was gonna use a rotisserie chicken but they didn't have any it calls for 2 cups)
1 can corn
8 oz sour cream (buy a bigger thing of it because you'll want more for your bowl)

Throw it all in a stock pot and let it go. I started it on med but turned it down once it was simmering nicely. Whisk in sour cream. Serve with crackers or corn muffins!

My take on Baja Chicken Soup

At our local bar & grill they have the best Baja Chicken Soup so I thought I would try and re-create it at home. This is how I did it!

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut in bite size pieces
1 tbl olive oil
1 can cheddar cheese soup
3 cups chicken broth
1 can ro-tel
2 cans black beans drained and rinsed
1 can corn
1 packed taco seasoning

Place olive oil in stock pan, heat over medium heat, throw in chicken. Cook until it's white on outside. (It will cook more so make sure and don't cook all the way through). Place can of soup and chicken broth in pot and bring to boil. Then place rotel, beans and corn in pot. Season to your taste with seasoning packet (I only used 1/2 for us). Simmer until heated through and ready to eat.

Cheese & Bean Tortellini Soup

Another great one from my Gooseberry Patch Speedy Suppers cookbook. I will definitely make this one again!

2 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic minced
1 T fresh Thyme chopped
1/4 t red pepper flakes
6 C chicken broth
8 oz pkg refrigerated cheese tortellini
15 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 c parmesan cheese

Heat oil in large soup pot over medium-high heat; add garlice, thyme and red pepper flakes. Cook until garlic is fragrant. Add chicken broth; increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Stir in tortellini; reduce heat to medium and simmer for 4 minutes. Add beans. Simmer until tortellini is tender, about one minute. Ladle soup into bowls; sprinkle with cheese.

Originally recipe calls for onion and spinach but hubby won't eat either.

Cheddar-Potato-Steak soup

I always love meals my husband goes back and gets seconds of, always makes me know he likes it! This was one of those meals. I have admited on here I am not a soup fan, however even I liked this one! The original was from Gooseberry Patch once again, but I made some alterations.

1 30 oz bag of frozen hashbrowns
2 cans chicken broth
1 cup water
***we didn't use but it calls for celery and onion at this point****

Mix above ingredients together and place on low for 6-8 hours.

8 oz bag shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup milk
3 Tbl flour

Mix flour into milk. Then add cheese and milk mixture to crockpot and stir. Place on high for 20 mins, until cheese is melted.

I then added another 3/4 can of chicken broth because it was to thick for my liking. I added about 1 1/2 lbs of cooked steak cut into bite size pieces & I added one small bag of frozen corn (which was quite tasty in it). And put it on low until it was time to eat dinner.

Top with bacon bits and chopped green onions.

Halloween soups!

This is a picture of me and my dad and the awesome pumpkin beer I had. I'm so not a beer drinker, but I actually drank a whole bottle of this stuff.

This used to be my favorite soup, well before I tried the pumpkin. It has kind of become tradition for my mom to make this around Halloween. This recipe came from a Campbell's soup recipe book.

Tuna-Tortellini Soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/8 tsp garlic powder
2 cups frozen cheese filled tortellini
1 cup frozen whole sweet kernel corn
1 1/2 cups milk
1 small can tuna

In saucepan combine soup, broth, basil and garlic. Cover, over high heat, bring to boil. Add tortellini and corn. Reduce heat to low. Cover cook 10 min. Add milk and tuna, heat through, stirring occasionally.



I am so happy my mom made this because it is so good. I will definitely make it again. My mom found the recipe, but once again it's from Gooseberry Patch

Creamy pumpkin bisque

2 Tbl butter 1 Tbl green onion
Melt butter in a 2 qt saucepan over med heat, add onion and saute until tender.

Stir in: 16 oz can pumpkin
1 cup water
2 Tbl brown sugar packed
1/2 t salt
1/8 t white pepper
1/8 t cinamon
2 cubes chicken boullion

Heat until mixture beings to boil; cook for 5 min. Add 2 cups 1/2 & 1/2, heat through stirring constantly. Ladle into bowls and garnish with thinly sliced lemon & fresh minced parsley.

Fiesta Soup & Chicken Ranch Quesadilla's

I am not a huge soup fan, but when I found this in once again a Gooseberry Patch recipe book, I thought I should make it! Kevin is a huge mexican food fan and I knew he would like this-I was not wrong. I had been meaning to make Joelens beer bread for a while now, I thought this would be the perfect meal to make it for. The bread did not fail me, it was wonderful!

2 cans chicken broth
10 oz canned chicken (drained)
1 can rotel (drained)
1 can corn (drained)
1 can black beans (drained & rinsed)

I also added a small box of Velvetta.

Open all cans and pour into a medium stockpot. Simmer over medium heat until heated through. Serve with tortilla chips and shredded cheddar cheese.

I served with Joelens beer bread with cheddar cheese and minced garlic.
http://joelens.blogspot.com/2007/09/bodacious-breads-babes.html

I made this on a Sunday night for dinner and for lunch that day I made:

Chicken Ranch Quesadilla's using my handy quesadilla maker that I love!
Tablespoon or so of Ranch dip
Handful of cheddar cheese
5 oz of chicken (drained-this made 2 quesadillas)
couple tablespoons bacon bits (I used the refigerator ones)

Spread ranch dip on one tortilla, then sprinkle on cheese, chicken and bacon bits. I put in my quesadilla maker for a couple of minutes, until it was golden on the outside and then cut using a pizza cutter. These were very good!