RECIPE: Loaded Potato Soup

Here's another favorite at our house. We actually had it tonight. YUM!

Photo By Real Mom Kitchen

LOADED POTATO SOUP

2 large baking potatoes 1/3 cup butter 1/3 cup flour 3 cups milk 1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper 2 green onions, chopped 6 slices bacon 1-1/2 cups cheddar cheese 1/2 cup sour cream

Peel and chop potatoes into small pieces. Boil in water until tender. Set aside. Cook bacon, drain and crumble. Set aside. In a dutch oven, melt butter and whisk in flour. When combined, pour in milk. Stir over high heat until a roux is formed. Reduce to low-medium heat. Add salt, pepper, onions, bacon, cheese and half of the potato chunks. Mash the remaining potatoes and add to the mixture. Let simmer for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Garnish with extra onions, bacon, cheese, and sour cream if desired. Serves 4. Can be doubled.

SUPER Easy Way to Peel Potatoes

A friend of mine recently emailed me this video, which shows a super easy technique to peel a potato without having to use one of those pesky potato peelers. I was skeptical at first even after watching the video. Today, I'm making a recipe which required me to peel and boil 8 potatoes. I figured if I were going to have to boil them anyway, I might as well try this new technique.

I'm pleased to report that it worked great! It was just as easy as it shows and because they potatoes were cooled first, I didn't get a steam burn on my hands. Yay!!!

Check it out for yourself. I'll admit that I think the video is a little cheesy but the technique she demonstrates is awesome!

RECIPE: Southwest Egg Rolls

NOTE: Use the "Print Friendly" button at the bottom of this post. It will allow you to print just the recipe and save your ink.

This is probably one of my favorites and I'm making it tonight. The original recipe came from Taste of Home Magazine. The dipping sauce is nothing short of awesome and I usually serve this with a side of rice. I've been making this recipe for 2 years but we just recently discovered that my hubby is the best egg roll wrapper ever! Mine always look horrible (still taste delicious) but his get rolled up perfectly. Therefore, he is now the "official" egg roll wrapper at our house.

You've heard me talk before about meal planning. Here's how I saved $ on the ingredients for this recipe. I picked up canned corn and beans last week at Publix with the Italian Days Sale. I also picked up some Sargento shredded cheese on the cheap with my prints from Coupons.com. Chicken & avocados were on sale at Kroger. A lime & cilantro is pretty cheap and I have never been able to find the egg roll wrappers on sale so I picked those up yesterday. All the remaining ingredients came from items already on hand in my pantry or fridge. :)

SOUTHWEST EGG ROLLS

Egg rolls:

• 2-1/2 cups chicken
• 1-1/2 cups Mexican blend shredded cheese
• 2/3 cup whole kernel corn, drained
• 2/3 cup black beans, drained
• 5 green onions, chopped
• 1 t. ground cumin
• 1/4 t. cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 t. grated lime peel
• 1 pkg. egg roll wrappers
• vegetable oil

Dip Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 cup ranch salad dressing
• 1 T. fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 T. lime juice

Cook chicken and then shred or chunk into small pieces. In a large bowl, combine chicken, cheese, corn, beans, onions, cumin, pepper, 1/4 cup cilantro and lime peel. Place 1/4 cup of this mixture into the center of a wrapper and roll up. Use pastry brush dipped in water to seal. Prepare all egg rolls. Then, heat oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees. Fry 2-3 egg rolls at a time for 2 minutes on each side. When golden brown, remove and allow to drain on a paper towel. To prepare dip, peel and mash the avocado. Mix with ranch, 1 Tablespoon of cilantro and lime juice. Delicious!

RECIPE: Easiest Peanut Butter Cookies EVER!

I don't remember where I came across this recipe forever ago but these really are the easiest cookies.

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Yep, that's it. One portion each of 3 simple ingredients. I bet you have these in your house right now!

Simply mix them together and roll out into one inch balls. Press down with a fork (criss-cross pattern). Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes.

Easy, easy, easy!

This recipe works with both creamy and chunky peanut butter. Optionally, you can add 1/3 cup of chocolate chips. (I do!)

Buffalo Chicken Soup

Buffalo Chicken Soup

1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cup butter
3 celery ribs, finely chopped
1/4 cup flour
2 cans chicken broth
1 cup milk
2 cups cooked chicken
4 oz. Velveeta cheese
1/4 -1/2 cup hot sauce
Blue Cheese Dressing

Sautee onions and celery in butter. Wisk in flour. Slowly add broth and milk. Now add chicken, cheese and hot sauce. Simmer until warmed through, stirring occasionally. Ladle into bowls and add a dollop of blue cheese dressing on top. May be served with crackers or tortilla chips.

**Aunt Shell shared this recipe with me last year and it is really easy and REALLY yummy! I've even been known to skip the sauteing and just sticking all the ingredients into a crockpot and forgetting about it. It works out great either way.

Recipes Ideas for Meal Planning

{Available at Amazon.com}

I've already told you why I love meal planning but I wanted to give you some additional tips that helped me especially when it comes to recipes.

Make a list of all the recipes you know how to cook. This was extremely helpful to me in the beginning. I made a list and cooked through all of those recipes one-by-one. Then, I started over. This also saved us from recipe burn out.

Use AllRecipes.com Ingredient Tool. This site is awesome. You can enter a list of ingredients you want and the ones you DON'T want. It will present you with a list of recipes which meet your criteria. This can be quite helpful for locating recipes that match up to the ingredients that are on sale this week.

Make it your own. I don't always follow a recipe to a T. Sometimes I make substitutions with ingredients I already have on hand or I leave out ingredients that my family is known to dislike. Often times, I find that I like my version better.

Keep a recipe box. Honestly, I just have a thing for recipe cards and cute little boxes. I also use my recipe cards to write down "my version" of recipes that I have seen in a cookbook or online.

Get a magazine subscription. Two of my favorites are Kraft Food & Family and Simple and Delicious. The Kraft cookbook that you get with the magazine is amazing. I started earmarking pages and realized I had done that with every single page! F&F also has coupons. Simple & Delicious has so many quick recipes and the middle of the magazine comes with convenient recipe cards.

Do a recipe book exchange. I know that I get worn out on my recipe books but I hate spending the money to buy new ones. Check with a friend and see if they would be interested in swapping recipe books for a while.

Make your own recipe book. I'm so excited that my MOPS group is doing a new recipe book this year. We are using Morris Press Cookbooks. It's so easy for everyone to enter their recipes online and the books are reasonably priced. This is also an awesome fundraiser opportunity that you could do with your organization.

I hope these ideas help you find some new and delicious recipes to try with your family. Remember, I will be posting some of my own favorite recipes in the near future.

Homemade Brown Sugar

I'm gonna fess up here so don't laugh. I had always assumed that "brown" sugar was a different type of sugar altogether from plain, white sugar. I guess I just figured that it came from a different kind of plant or something. Well, it doesn't.

Brown sugar is simply white sugar with molasses mixed in.

Dear Aunt Shell clued me in on this little secret and even taught me how to make my own. I always hated buying a box of brown sugar at the store because I would use a teensy bit for a recipe and then it would get hard by the time I needed to use it again. When you make your own, you can make as little or as much as you want. It's so easy. Here's how you do it.

Homemade Brown Sugar: Mix 1 cup white sugar with 2 Tablespoons of molasses with a fork. Store in an air-tight container.

It will take a few minutes to get it properly blended. Eventually, you might even get brave enough to experiment. You can make it less or more "brown" according to your taste. Seriously, it's so easy. I don't think I will ever go back to buying brown sugar again. Let's take a look at the cost factor.

A 2 cup box of Domino's brown sugar is $1.19. Grandma's molasses (12 oz.) is $2.15 after this $1.00 off printable coupon, which is enough to make 12 cups brown sugar. I have been able to get a 4 lb. bag of plain sugar for $1.00.

Final Totals:
12 cups of Domino's Brown Sugar = $7.14
12 cups of Homemade Brown Sugar = $5.15

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: The smell of molasses is an acquired scent. :) However, when mixed with the sugar it will taste exactly like your store bought brown sugar. Yummy!

Coconut Oil - My New Favorite Product

I'll spare you the long research story of how I learned about Coconut Oil but it is one of my new favorite products. It can be found in my kitchen and my medicine cabinet. Why? Well, Coconut Oil is loaded with lauric acid, which has antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral AND antioxidant properties.

Are you impressed yet? It has been shown to

• help with weight loss, metabolism and digestion
• help with heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes
• increase bone strength
• relieve kidney problems
• be used for hair care, skin care (acne), dental care and aging
• boost the immune system
• treat HIV and cancers!!

Seriously, the benefit list goes on and on. This stuff is amazing! You can incorporate coconut oil in several ways. The easiest method is to simply replace your current cooking oil. You can also take it by the spoonful or apply it topically. I've done all of the above and it has done wonders for my skin. Seriously, wonders! I was at a breaking point with adult acne but my skin is now clear. YAY!!!

It's important to select a high-quality coconut oil that has not been over processed. Nutiva is my favorite brand. Any coconut oil can be a bit pricey but, you know me, I like a bargain. I purchase mine on Amazon using gift certificates that I earn from Swagbucks.

Right now at Amazon you can get a Nutiva 15 oz two pack for only $13.74. This item also qualifies for FREE Super Saver shipping with a $25 purchase. You could buy 2 and end up with 60 ounces for only $27.48, which is an awesome price!

Whether you use coconut oil for health or cooking purposes, I think you will really like it. Incidentally, can anyone tell me something else that is high in lauric acid?

*waiting for Hannah to comment in 3, 2, 1.....* =]

Sources: Organic Facts, Coconut Research Center