Crock Pot Potato Soup

I found this recipe on pinterest.com  the other day and had to make it!  Actually...I lied.  Nick found it on pinterest and requested that I make it.  :)  I am so glad I did though because it was so yummy!  While it was cooking I smelled so much garlic and kept thinking "this can't be good."  I was amazed though, it wasn't overly garlicy to taste!  It was...well...perfect!  I also thawed some bacon out of the freezer (okay, another lie...I actually put it in the microwave to dethaw it because I forgot to de-freeze it...) and cooked it up at the end to top the soup.  PERFECT!  (To cook microwave fast, and mess free put about 6-7 paper towels on a microwave safe plate.  Put your bacon strips on it.  Now cover them up with another 1-2 paper towel sheets.  Put in the microwave for 8-12 minutes.  They will cook a little once the microwave stops too.  SUPER crunchy, best used to top soups and such.  Not the best way to cook if you are wanting to eat it plain).

Ingredients:
5 lbs Russet potatoes (washed, with skins on)
3/4 of an onion, diced into tiny pieces
4 large garlic cloves, diced really really small
6 Cups chicken broth (1 of the big containers)
2 teaspoons salt
Pepper to taste

Directions:
*Dice up your potatoes into small bites (about 1/2 inch pieces).  (Look at the very bottom of this blog post to see how many potatoes and the size's I used for a good estimate...I think I used a little less than 5 pounds because they wouldn't all fit into my crockpot!)

*Spray down your crockpot with baking spray.

*Put all of the potato pieces into the crockpot.

*Add your garlic pieces and onion pieces into the crockpot.

*This is  the big chicken broth I used in the next step:

*Pour your chicken broth over the potato mixture.  No need to mix since the onions will float once they start to cook.  But if you are like me you will have to stir it regardless, sigh*

*Sprinkle the salt over the mixture.

*Cover your crockpot and turn cook on HIGH for 6 hours, or low for 10 hours.  I did the 6 hour one...

*After the 6 or 10 hours, remove half of the potato/onions from the crockpot and put it into a blender with 2 packages of cream cheese.  I had to do 1 package of cream cheese with 1/4 the potatoes, then a second batch in the blender with the second block of cream cheese.

*Pour it back into the crockpot and mix well.

NOTE:  Originally I scooped out a bunch of the liquid because I thought "this is going to be a sloppy, overly liquidy soup.  If you want to you can do  this too...BUT, I eventually poured every single drop of the liquid back in and it was the perfect consistency!  hah!

*Mix it up well, stir in pepper to taste, and serve with your favorite toppings!

Here is the sized potatoes I used.  BUT please note that I didn't have enough room in my crockpot for the top 3 in the lefthand corner...So I used all the others except for those 3.  So I used 6 big, 1 small/medium for the soup.

I adapted my recipe from the one found here: http://www.mamalovesfood.com/2009/06/baked-potato-soup-slow-cooker-style.html
(her's didn't dice up the garlic cloves until the end and I used 2 cups less broth than she did.  Also, I used less salt and only 3/4 of an onion.)

Crockpot BBQ Pineapple Chicken

I have been obsessed with pinterest.com lately.  Recipes galore!  Its not only a recipe website, but I've found tons of them on there.  Anyways, I saw this one and made it the next day.  It was so delicious!  It cost me less than $7.00 to make it also!  I served it for Nick on a roll, as a sandwich.  For myself, I served it on white rice.  Both were awesome!

Ingredients:
4-6 Chicken breasts (I used 5 small ones)
1 LARGE can of crushed pineapple, undrained
1 Container of honey bbq sauce

Directions:
*Spray your crockpot with baking spray.

*Put your pineapples and bbq sauce into the crockpot and mix well.

*Place your chicken breasts into the crockpot and cover with the sauce.

*Cover and cook on low for 6 hours of high for 3 - 3 1/2.

Chocolate Covered Banana Pieces

This recipe is for my friend Alanna!  She "pinned" a picture of the yummiest looking banana pieces that were covered in chocolate onto Pinterest.com.   I saw it and decided I needed to make them.  Unfortunately when I clicked on the link it brought me to a Canadian meat market distributor.  So, I made this up.  It was amazing.  I will without a doubt make these again!  (Please excuse the pictures...I took this one before they chilled and before the chocolate hardened up.  Good thing because we ate them so fast I didn't have time to take a picture!)

Ingredients:
2 Bananas
1 Cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
6-8 Popscicle sticks
Sprinkles or nuts for decorating if you want

Directions:
*Cut your banana into round slices about 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch thick.  Too thin and the popscicle stick will  break the banana slices.

*In a microwave safe bowl, add your chocolate chips.

*Microwave the chips for 20 seconds.  Stir, then microwave another 15 seconds.

*Be careful, chocolate burns easy, so make sure to stir it OFTEN.  Stir every 15 seconds or so.  Burning chocolate chips is a terrible smell!

*Continue to microwave and stir until the chips are melted.

*Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil.

*Put the popsicle sticks through 2 of the banana pieces.  My pieces still broke a bit, so go slow.  As long as you can pretend to put the banana pieces back together you will be fine.  The chocolate will make them stick back together perfectly.

*Take a spoon and cover your bananas everywhere in melted chocolate.  Any area of banana that is now covered will turn brown because of the air so be careful to cover fronts, backs, sides, and all edges in chocolate.

*Put your chocolate covered banana's onto the baking sheet.  Sprinkle with any toppings you would like (if you want any at all).

*Let air dry for best results.  Air drying will result in the hardest chocolate later. You can put it in the fridge, but as soon as you take it out it will re-melt a bit and go to a mushy chocolate.

Chicken Fried Steak

Another recipe by Nick!  So yummy.  I was impressed with how easily it came together too!

Ingredients:
2-3 Sirloin steaks (the cheap kind)
1 Cup flour
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 Tbsp pepper
2 eggs
Vegetable oil for frying

Directions:
*Take your steaks and dredge it in flour.  Completely coat them.

*Put your steaks onto a hard surface and pound the crap out of them with a mallet.

*Put the steak back into the flour to recoat.

*Remove them from the flour mixture.

*In a bowl whisk your two eggs.

*In the flour, pour the rest of the ingredients (pepper, paprika, garlic powder).

*Put your steaks into the egg and coat both sides.

*Remove from egg and coat in the new flour mixture.

*Heat one inch of oil in your skillet on medium heat.  DO NOT GO OVER MEDIUM OR IT COULD START A FIRE  :)

*After 4-5 minutes, put one piece of steak into the oil.  Let fry for 4-5 minutes per side.

*Remove from oil and place on a couple pieces of paper towels (to absorb extra oil) and place on a cookie sheet in your oven.  Set temperature to 225*F.

*Cook the other steak/s.

*Serve with peppered country gravy if you have it!  (Just buy one of those packets at your grocery store.  So much easier than making it home made!

Brushetta Topped Chicken

Holy amazing.  Yes, that is all I have to say.  Oh, and Mom, this is the recipe you said you wanted to try.  Okay, now I'm done.

Ingredients:
2-4 Chicken breasts
1/4 Cup balsamic vinegar or balsamic vinaigrette
1/4 Cup olive oil
Mozzarella cheese slices (2 per chicken)

Brushetta Toppings:
3-4 Roma tomatoes
8 Fresh basil leaves (I got mine at sprouts)
4-5 dash's garlic powder
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar or vinaigrette
Black olives, diced, OPTIONAL

Directions:
*Dice your tomatoes up into small bite sized pieces.  Throw all the inner junk out (seeds and slimy parts).

*Roll all of your basil into a roll, then cut it into small pieces.  Works amazing... (picture is before I picked the leaves off the stalk and before I diced them up...oops)

*Add your garlic powder, salt, and balsamic.  Put it in a bowl and throw it in your fridge.  We like ours cold so I make this hours ahead of time.  You can make it a minute or two before serving though.

*Cook your chicken breasts on the grill outside, indoor grill, or on the stovetop.  Just cook them however you want...

*Once the chicken is done, put the mozzarella slices on top of the chicken and continue to cook until they melt.

*Remove your chicken and put them on your plates.

*Spoon the brushetta topping on top.

*I added black olives to mine, Nick did not.  It was delicious...and we don't like tomatoes!

Sausage and Spinach Pizza

Holy amazing.  Totally made this recipe up on my own.  Will be making again very soon!

Ingredients:
1 Can pizza dough (I used pillsbury)
1-1 1/2 Cups alfredo sauce
1 Bag frozen spinach, thawed and well drained
1 lb mild italian sausage
2 Cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
*Pre-heat your oven to 400*F.  (Use the temperature your can says to use...mine was 400*F).

*On a baking sheet sprayed with baking spray, unroll your pizza dough.  Stretch it out to the size you want.  If you want to pinch the edges for a crust, do that now also.

*Pour your alfredo sauce onto the dough, not going all the way to the edges though...You need to have the edges without sauce to help pick your slices up with once cooked.

*Spread the sauce out.

*Cook your sausage in a skillet on the stove until cooked.

*Once cooked, add the spinach and cook until heated through.  Be careful to stir constantly because the spinach can easily burn.

*Pour your meat and spinach mixture onto the alfredo sauce.

*Top with shredded cheese.

*Put your pizza into the oven and bake for the amount of time that your pizza container told you to.  Mine was for about 18 minutes.  This is so so so good!

Pumpkin Pie

Here is our favorite pumpkin pie: Libby's with a slight spice change.  There are 2 kinds of pumpkin pie's: those that use molasses in them, and those that don't.  This one doesn't.  Nick mentioned to me a couple years back that he didn't like pumpkin pies with molasses because they taste burnt.  And I totally agree!  There was always some pumpkin pie's that I loved, and some that I could never finish the piece.  He figured it out for me!  (I am willing to try new kinds though if you have recipes for them!)

Ingredients:
3/4 Cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
dash of cinnamon
dash of allspice
2 Large eggs
1 Can pumpkin (small can)
1 12 oz Can evaporated milk
1 frozen, uncooked pie crust (Deep dish)

Directions:
*In a mixer, mix the sugar, salt, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and allspice.

*Add the pumpkin to the spice mixture and mix well.

*While mixing the spices and pumpkin, add the eggs and mix well.

*Now, mix in the evaporated milk slowly while the mixer is going...

*Pre-heat your oven to 425*F.

*Take your frozen pie crust out of the freezer and put it on a baking sheet that has been lined with tinfoil.

*Pour your pumpkin mixture into the pie crust.  YES, it is supposed to be super liquidy.  Weird, I know.

*Very carefully put your pie into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

*After 15 minutes, change the temperature of your oven from 425 down to 350*F.  Leave your pie in  the oven the whole time, even through this change in temperature.

*Bake for 50-55 minutes.  You want the top to brown slightly.

*After cooking, place pie on a cooling rack for 2 hours.  Yes, 2 hours.  After the 2 hours you can have a slice, or put it directly into the fridge, covered.  If you have a piece after the 2 hours it will be a soft pumpkin pie.  If you put it into the fridge and have a piece later, it will be a more solid pie.  YUM!

Spinach and Sausage Pasta

I took a few items out for dinner tonight, only to realize some of the ingredients I needed for the dish I planned on making were not in my pantry.  Sigh.  So, here's a recipe I came up with off the top of my head and boy was it good!  Nick has been asking if I wrote the recipe down yet because he really liked it!  (Sorry about the terrible pictures, I couldn't get the silly flash to work...again.)

Ingredients:
1/2-1 lb of italian sausage (I think we used sweet)
1 Bag of frozen spinach, thawed and fully drained
3/4 Box of ziti noodles
1 Container cooking creme, Italian herb blend
1 Cup alfredo sauce

Directions:
*Boil water for pasta.

*Cook meat in a skillet, drain fat.

*Pour the spinach into the meat once the meat is cooked.

*Add the cooking creme and alfredo sauce.

*Stir the meat mixture until well blended and warm.

*Pour the noodles into the sauce mixture and mix well.