Broccoli Cheese Soup

From Let Me Plan Dinner! This turned out sooo good. Of course Bill added more cheese when I asked him to dish it out. We ate it with toasty garlic bread. Yum! We thought it would also taste good with cubed ham or even...bacon! But it was surprisingly good on its own.

1 large potato, diced small
1 c cauliflower florets
2 c broccoli florets
3 T butter
1/4 c flour
1 can chicken broth
2 c milk
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t pepper
2 t minced onion
4-8 oz grated cheddar cheese

In a small saucepan, steam potato, cauliflower, and broccoli (with potato on the bottom and broccoli on the top) until tender.

Meanwhile, in a large pot, melt the butter on low heat. Stir in the flour.

Turn the heat up to high and whisk in the chicken broth, milk, salt, pepper, and minced onion. Bring to a rolling boil for a minute, stirring constantly, or until mixture begins to thicken enough to coat the back of a spoon. Turn the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender.

Stir in the cooked potato, broccoli, and cauliflower. Remove from heat and stir in 4 oz cheese until melted.

Serve with fresh cracked pepper and additional grated cheese.

Shepherd's Pie

The last time I attempted Shepherd's Pie, it was a dismal failure lost in a sea of Campbells cream of mushroom soup. Bland. Colorless. Awful.

So I found a recipe on Allrecipes.com that didn't use cream of anything at all.

Problem: I didn't print it out. I just wrote down the ingredients to pick up at the grocery store. Then when I came home, I couldn't remember which recipe I'd been looking at. (If you look at the original, you'll see it's "Shepherds Pie VI.") So, I kinda did it from memory. I did alright, but I was skimpy with the beef broth and it came out a tad too dry for my husband's taste. But I liked it. I love that there's a whole layer of bright orange carrots!

Also, I used potato flakes instead of real potatoes! We bought a big ol' box of them at Costco and...I use them when I can, because I'm not huge fan of potatoes. Unless they're sweet potatoes. Or french fries.

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1 lb carrots, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 pound lean ground beef

1 cup frozen peas

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon ketchup

3/4 cup beef broth

1 packet Idaho potato flakes

1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add carrots and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, mash and set aside.

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add onion and cook until clear. Add ground beef and cook until well browned. Pour off excess fat, then stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add ketchup, beef broth and frozen peas. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Spread the ground beef in an even layer on the bottom of a 2 quart casserole dish. Next, spread a layer of mashed carrots. Top with the mashed potato mixture and sprinkle with shredded cheese.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Apple Dumplings

A recipe that I've carried around for years, given to me by my pre-mission roommate, Jenn, at BYU. It will always remind me of her because the syrup turns a fabulous shade of PINK.

Pie Crust:
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup Crisco
1/4 cup water

Mix flour and salt. Mix 1/4 cup of mixture with the 1/4 cup water. Cut Crisco into the rest of the flour mixture, then mix in the water mixture.

Roll out dough and cut into 6 squares.

Filling:
4 sm. apples, peeled and chunked
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
butter
Red Hots

Place filling in each square with a dollop of butter and one or two Red Hots. Fold up corners, and seal into "dumplings." Place in 9x13 baking dish, sealed-side down.

Syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup Red Hots
1/4 cup butter

In saucepan, combine sugar, water, spices and Red Hots. Boil 5 min. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Pour syrup over dumplings in the baking dish.

Bake at 375 for 45 min.

Chicken Piccata

This is another find from Allrecipes.com. It tastes just like the Chicken Piccata that you order in your local strip-mall Italian restaurant. Maybe even better. Especially since I added the capers. Yum!

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4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 egg
1 (small) lemon, halved and ready to juice
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder
1/2 cup boiling water
2 tbsp capers

In a small bowl, beat the egg together with about 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice. Set aside.

In a shallow bowl or dish mix together the flour, garlic powder and paprika.

Dip the chicken in the egg/lemon mixture, then in the seasoned flour. In a large skillet, melt butter/margarine and brown the coated chicken pieces.

Dissolve the bouillon in the boiling water, then add the remaining lemon juice.

Pour liquid into skillet. Sprinkle with capers. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes, turning chicken pieces after 10 minutes, until chicken is tender.

4 servings.

Taco Soup by any other name..

I first got this recipe my freshman year at BYU from Virginia Whiting..or rather, her mother. It became a staple in my life. Especially after screwing with it a few times.

The original recipe:
Taco Soup
1 lb ground beef
2 cans stewed tomatoes
2 cans corn
2 cans dark kidney beans
1/3 cup salsa
1 tbsp chili powder

Brown ground beef in large pot. Drain excess oil. Without draining, add canned tomatoes, corn and beans. Bring to a low boil. Add salsa and chili powder. Simmer. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and/or Frito corn chips.

But after a few batches made with spaghetti sauce for salsa, black beans for kidney beans, and other substitutions through the years...I made one very bold substitution: a dash of cinnamon and crushed red pepper for chili powder. It's become my signature recipe. I still add spices without much of a formula other than what smells good--so, I'll just tell you how I made it tonight. But it hardly seems appropriate to call it "Taco Soup." And I've even entered it into church chili cook-offs which forced me to rename it,

Black Bean Chili
1 lb ground beef
salt, pepper
garlic pepper
crushed red pepper
2 cans stewed tomatoes, Italian style
2 cans corn
2 cans black beans
oregano
cumin
paprika
cinnamon

Brown the ground beef in large pot, and season with salt and garlic pepper. Drain excess grease. Without draining anything, add tomatoes. Season with crushed red pepper. Drain one can of corn, but not the other as you add the corn. Season with black pepper. Add black beans. Bring to a low boil. Simmer and add a big dash of oregano, a medium dash of paprika, a small dash of cumin and cinnamon. Top with cheddar cheese and/or tortilla strips.

Pork Chops with Acorn Squash & Tomatoes

I loved this idea of combining acorn squash with cherry tomatoes. It came from RealSimple.com. How appropriate for this time of year: summery tomatoes and autumn-y squash! Also, turned out to be really easy.

The recipe originally suggested chicken breasts, but when I went to Kroger, the pork chops were cheaper.

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1 small acorn squash (about 11⁄2 pounds)—halved, seeded, and sliced 1⁄4 inch thick
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
4 cloves garlic, sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper
4 pork chops

Heat oven to 425° F. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the squash, tomatoes, and garlic with 2 tablespoons of the oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast until the squash is tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Pat the meat dry with paper towels before seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook until golden brown and cooked through, 6 to 7 minutes per side. Serve with the squash and tomatoes and sprinkle with the oregano.

Beef Stroganoff

Bill's favorite dish that his mom makes is Beef Stroganoff. She serves it over mashed potatoes--which I'd never heard of before. But maybe that's because we usually just had the Hamburger Helper kind in my family. I've never made it from scratch before but last night was the night! I decided I would tackle the Stroganoff...and of course it was a mish-mash of two different recipes that I found at Allrecipes.com: Beef Stroganoff II and Beef Stroganoff III.

This is what I ended up with:

7 small red potatoes

1 lb beef chuck steak, sliced into 1/4" thick, 1 1/2" wide strips--approximately.
salt & pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tbsp flour
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 can condensed beef broth
1/2 pkg mushrooms, sliced
1/3 c sour cream


Boil potatoes in salted water.

Season beef strips with salt & pepper. Brown in large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove from skillet to plate.

Add onions to skillet and cook until transparent.

Add flour, mushroom soup and beef broth. Bring to a boil. Return beef strips to skillet and simmer on reduced heat for 15 minutes.

Add mushrooms to skillet.
When potatoes are tender, drain them. Arrange on plates.

Add sour cream to skillet a few minutes before serving, and stir well to heat it through.

Smash the potatoes with a fork and top with beef mixture.