EASY! Large Crowd Roasted Potato, Cheddar and Broccoli Soup

Need a warm comfort food? Here is another potato soup, with roasted potatoes. So easy and GOOD!

I'm using a 20 quart roaster. Yes. Big pots and cookers are prized around here. Roasters are only about $40.00 - we even roast our turkey in it to save oven space. Love my roaster!

You will have reduce the size of the recipe for your crowd, or just invite the church over.
I started this early in the day, 11 a.m. It will be perfect in time for dinner at 6:30 p.m.

What you need:
15-20 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
3-4 large onions, sliced
2 Tbsp. salt
1/4 cup minced garlic
3-4 Tbsp. onion powder
1 Tbsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. of Italian seasoning (oregano, thyme, sage mix)
1/2 c. olive oil
3 quarts of chicken broth
10 cups of broccoli
1 15 oz. evaporated milk
2 cups half-n-half
*You can add more evaporated milk if you want. I only had one can, but would have added three to this.
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Add to roaster:
Yukon Gold Potatoes - peeled and cubed - The kind of potato is important. These are my favorite, they taste like butter when roasted!
large onions
Tbsp. salt
minced garlic
onion powder
pepper
Italian seasoning
olive oil
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 Set the roaster at 450 or the highest setting. Stir continually, roasting the potatoes to perfection. They will bubble and crisp up. I roasted mine for about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The first hour on high, turn down to 350 for the last 45 minutes.  YUM!

Next:

Add 3 quarts of chicken broth. When I have homemade, I use it. If not, I like Swansons Natural Chicken Broth. Now it will simmer, until almost supper time. If you have a cold, you have an excuse to eat some now. But steaming for a few more hours until the final ingredients are added is better!

Finally:
Add the broccoli, evaporated milk, half-n-half and cheese.  Simmer until the broccoli is as tender as you want. We simmered maybe 20 minutes.

OH BOY!

That's it. It's not going to last for me to get a better picture when it's daylight! Enjoy! This is simple, and can cook most of the day while you tend to other things. 

Theresa

Crispy Potatoes

This recipe has to be a blog recipe, we make these all the time, and they are so good! These potatoes are twenty times better and tastier than pre-made french fries from the store, or the those little boxes of Shake-n-Bake that I remember Mom buying once in some long time past.

It's the flour that make them crunchy, and you can use either whole wheat flour or unbleached white flour, but whole wheat flour is best. You can use white flour, but wheat is healthier, and the coarseness of the whole grain makes the "crunchiness" far superior to the white flour in my opinion.  

Crispy Potatoes

You can cut the potatoes into cubes or french fry-style. I've done the quantity of ingredients per pound of potatoes, just multiply accordingly.

potatoes {Russet, Red or Yukon Gold potatoes are perfect!}, cubed or cut french fry-style

Place potatoes in a large bowl. For every 2 lb. of potatoes:

~ 1/3 cup flour {whole wheat or unbleached white flour}, you can add a little more if you'd like, but remember that the more flour you add, the more oil you will need because the flour absorbs the oil

~ 1 tsp. sea salt {you can add more to taste}

~ 1 tsp. ground black pepper

~ 1 1/2 tsp. dried granulated onion

~ spices, herbs any seasoning you would like, and as much as you'd like

{I love to add chili powder along with an Italian seasoning blend!}

Mix the flour and spices with the potatoes until completely coated. Now add {remember, per every 2 lb. of potatoes} 1/4 cup olive, grapeseed or vegetable oil

Depending on how much flour you added, you may need to add a little more oil. The potatoes just need to be wet but not dripping with oil. 

Place on a non-stick baking sheet or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake a 425 degrees until crisp, about 45 minutes - stirring every 15-20 minutes. Season with extra salt and pepper if necessary half way through baking. Enjoy! 

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Be on the lookout for our Blog Hops starting next week! Many blessings, Jessica 

Crockpot Meals: Chicken and Dumplings

I wasn't sure how often I was going to use my crockpot when I got it, but now I'm so glad I got that for Christmas! I love using it. Even though there is only two of us to cook for right now, I love being able to start dinner early, and add things in here and there over the afternoon.

I'm currently looking for more good crockpot recipes, if anyone has recipes they would like to share, please do! I made chicken and dumplings on Saturday, thought I'd share the recipe...

Chicken and Dumplings

It's been a little strange planning meals and making up recipes for only two people. It took a while for me to start seeing things in little portions and sizes. I've cooked for years with several pounds of meat for a big family, not one chicken breast in the pot for two of us! I'm sure I'll laugh one day thinking back on when dinner was one piece of chicken...

This recipe makes about 6-8 servings. I always plan about 1 lb. of chicken per meal for us, and this made plenty. Double or triple this recipe according to the size of your family. A doubled recipe would still fit in the crockpot, but if tripled I would use a big stock pot, over low heat.  

Turn on the crockpot to high, and add 1/4 cup butter and 1- 1 1/2 lb. of chicken chicken breast. Heat just until the butter is melted and the pot is hot. Add:

     1 tsp. dried thyme

     1-1 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper (I love extra pepper!)

     1/2 tsp. crushed rosemary

     1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning

     1 tbsp. mined garlic

     2 1/2 tsp. sea salt

     3 cups water

Cover and cook on high in crockpot (medium heat for stovetop) for 2 hours. Then add: 

     1 large onion, chopped

     2 cups carrots, thickly sliced

     1 1/2 cups celery, thickly sliced

     1/4 cup chopped celery leaves

     3 cups of water, or chicken broth (I added 1 tbsp. of chicken bouillon and 3 cups of water)

     1/3 cup white wine or sherry (optional)     

Cook for another 2 hours on high, until vegetables are tender. 

Remove the chicken breast and shred it into large pieces. Add the chicken back into the crockpot. Taste the broth and add any extra salt or spices needed. Ready to make the dumplings!

The Dumplings

In a bowl add: 

     1 1/4 cups soft wheat flour 

     1 cup unbleached white flour (I love the King Arthur brand of unbleached flour!)

     1 tbsp. baking powder

     1 tsp. sea salt

     2 tbsp. fresh or dried chopped parsley

     

Whisk together, and make a well in the center of the mixture. In the center add: 

     1/3 cup melted butter

     1/2 cup half & half

     1/4 cup water or milk 

     1 large egg

Mix with a fork just until combined. I started this in the crockpot, but moved it to a stock pot on the stove to cook the dumplings. I had figured that the dumplings would take about 1 hour minimum to cook in the crockpot, and we wanted to eat sooner. I'll start this a little bit earlier next time! Dumplings only take about 20 minutes in a pot on the stove. 

For crockpot: add the dumpling batter by 1/4 cup scoops into the pot, one scoop next to the other, not on top of each other. Cover and cook for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into a center dumpling comes out clean. 

For stovetop: bring chicken soup to a low boil over medium-high heat, then add the dumpling batter by 1/4 cup scoops, just like the crockpot instructions. Lower heat to medium-low, just high enough to keep the mixture bubbling. Cover and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a center dumpling comes out clean. 

Dinner is ready... Enjoy the recipe! Jessica

White Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken enchiladas has been a staple dinner with my family for the past 12 years, and Josh likes it just as much now that I'm making it for him. I remember when we we first started making chicken enchiladas... those were the cream of chicken soup days. We've upgraded to homemade white sauces since then!

I had a hard time writing out measured ingredients for this recipe! I've made it so many times for my family, which was a very large batch, but Josh and I only eat a small fraction of that right now. This is what I came up with - this is a smaller recipe that makes about 4-6 servings, but if you're a large family, triple it. This is so good served with brown rice and cole slaw! 

Chicken Enchiladas

You'll need one 12 oz. can of green enchililada sauce, one 2 oz. can of diced green chilis, and 4 cups chicken broth. We use a pressure cooker to cook our dry beans, but one 15 oz. can of pinto beans will be enough for this recipe.   

In a saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter. Add one medium chopped onion and saute` until tender, about 5 minutes. Add:
     1 tsp. ground black pepper
     1/2 tsp. chili powder
     1/2 tsp. dried thyme
     1/3 cup wheat or unbleached white flour

Whisk until smooth; cook and stir over medium heat for two minutes. Slowly pour in 2 cups of chicken broth and whisk until combined. Whisk in the remaining 2 cups of chicken broth and 1/2 cup half & half. Bring to a low boil, and cook until thick. Remove from heat.

Add 3 cups cooked diced chicken breast, 1 cup cooked pinto beans, and 2 oz. can of diced green chilis. Add salt to taste. In a 2 qt. casserole dish, pour one half of the can of green enchilada sauce in the bottom of the dish. Fill 4 large flour tortilla wraps with the chicken filling, and place in the casserole dish. Pour any remaining filling on top of the wraps.

Sprinkle two cups of cheddar cheese, and 1 bunch chopped green onions over the top. Drizzle with the remaining 1/2 can of green enchilada sauce. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until slightly browned and bubbling.
 

Have a blessed weekend! Jessica

Homemade Ranch Dressing

If there is one thing our family eats a lot of, it's salad. We eat salad up to four times a week with dinner, not counting what Mom and I consume for lunches. That adds up to a lot of salad dressing consumed as well! There are only a few different dressings we like, ranch is on top. We usually buy the bulk size mix at the store, but that's proving a little pricey with how much we use of it.

The other night we were completely out of mix, so I opened the cabinet and made my own. The result was so yummy (the kids were licking their plates), I don't think we are going to be buying the mix again.

The recipe I originally concocted in my head included fresh parsley and chives. The refrigerator was not stocking those ingredients at the moment, but I've added them to this recipe anyways. If you don't have either of those two ingredients either, don't worry, the dressing was delicious without them!

Ranch Dressing

In a large glass measuring cup add:

1 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. dill weed
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. black pepper
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. apple cider vineger
3/4 cup milk

Happy Monday! ~Jessica

Stuffed Bread

This is just about the best thing you can do with bread, stuff it! This recipe makes 3-4 large loaves. Cut the recipe in half for a smaller quantity.

In the Bosch mixer with the dough hook combine:

5 1/2 cups warm water

4 Tbsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. sea salt

3 1/2 cups freshly ground wheat flour

2 1/2 Tbsp. SAF yeast

Begin mixing and start adding white flour one cup at a time until the dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl. This can take up to 5-6 cups of flour. The dough should be soft and tacky but not gooey. Knead for 5 minutes and allow it to rest for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you have a baking stone, stick it in the oven and heat it up!

Divide the dough into 3-4 portions (4 portions will make smaller loaves, 3 will make bigger). On a floured counter, roll the dough out into a rectangle. Make sure the dough is still about an inch thick. Place filling on one half of the rectangle.

I sauteed half of a small onion, thinly sliced, in one tablespoon of olive oil with basil. The rest of the filling was pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, olives and a little thyme.

Fold over and seal the edges. Fold over again, pat and stretch back into a rectangle. Again, cover one half of the dough with filling.

Fold over and seal the edges. Begin to work the dough into loaf form. You can tuck in a little more filling here and there as you go so there aren't big unfilled portions of bread!). Pinch and tuck close the open ends and shape into a loaf.

Place loaf on a couche or floured pan in a warm place and let rise until doubled in size.

Place on baking stone (or lightly greased baking pan) and bake for 30-35 minutes. Bread should be a golden brown. Filling may leak out a bit, but that's alright, that's the best part!

There are so many other filling besides the ones we used! Some other good fillings are~ roasted vegetables, prosciutto, ham, fresh herbs, shredded beef, seasoned chopped chicken, deli meats and practically any kind of cheese!

Enjoy!