Panera's Cream Cheese Potato Soup

On Mondays Angela and I enjoy meals that David is not willing to try or just doesn't care for. Last night we were trying to come up with something different and Angela suggested trying to find the recipe for Panera's Potato Soup. After searching the internet for less than 5 minutes, I found a super easy and super yummy recipe! I added some crescent rolls and crisp, crumbled bacon bits and God added a rainy evening!

Ingredients:
* 4 cups chicken broth
* 4 cups peeled and cubed potatoes
* 1/4 cup minced onion
* 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
* 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, cut into chunks



Directions:
Combine broth, potatoes, onion, and spices.
Boil on medium heat until potatoes are tender.
Smash a few of the potatoes to release their starch for thickening.
Reduce to low heat.
Add cream cheese.
Heat, stirring frequently, until cheese melts.

New Recipe for Menu Planning

I found this recipe to add to our menu next week.

Strip Steak with rosemary and garlic
3 russet potatoes
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1-inch strip steaks
Kosher salt and black pepper
1/4 cup sour cream

Heat oven to 400. Prick the potatoes all over with fork and bake directly on an oven rack until tender, 45 to 55 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a shallow dish, combine the garlic, rosemary, and oil. Add steaks and turn to coat. Let marinate, turning once for at least 30 minutes (and up to 1 day in refrigerator).

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Remove the steaks from the marinade (reserve the marinade) and season with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Cook to desired doneness, 5 to 7 minutes per side for medium-rare. Let rest at least 5 minutes before slicing.

Wipe out the skillet and return to medium heat. Add the reserved marinade and cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is golden 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon over sliced steak and serve with the potatoes and sour cream.

Cool Find for Cool Days

Fall is definitely in the air in South Florida. We woke up this morning to 44 degree weather. For South Florida that is cold. With cooler weather I'm always looking for foods that will warm the body and I just so happened to receive a recipe for Chicken Noodle Soup today. That was a bonus in and of itself, but it made it especially nice that it's a Crock Pot recipe. Let me tell you, the Fountain's love themselves Crock Pot meals. Well at least the Fountain that does the cooking does.
I decided to share my find with those of you that are looking for an easy meal that will warm you up on cool days.

Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Bonelss Chicken Breasts (3or4)

Chicken Broth (1 can)
Onion (1/2 of large)
Celery (3 or 4 stalks)
Garlic Cloves (2)
Carrots (approx. 2-3 cups)
Noodles (approx. 2/3 package)
Chicken Bouillon (6 cubes)
Water (8 cups, approximately)
Freshly ground pepper
Oregano, Basil, & Thyme (if desired)

Brown chicken breasts in a little olive oil. When the chicken breasts are golden, add chopped onion and garlic and saute until the onion is translucent. Turn off heat and transfer to bowl and let cool. Shred or chop chicken breasts into bite sized pieces. Then add all of the chicken breast, onion and garlic to crock pot. Add sliced carrots, chopped celery, chicken broth, chicken bouillon, water and spices. Let the soup cook all day while you are away or at home doing other things! About 15 minutes before serving, add noodles to soup. Enjoy!

Baking 101

We went out to Jim & Phyllis' this afternoon to enjoy a delicious meal and fellowship with other friends (the Stacy's, the Scheffler's, and the Ramer's). As usual the meal was awesome and laughter filled the room.

After dinner, Angela and Jeri Lynne looked through cookbooks and found a recipe for Peanut Butter Blossoms. Of course that meant a trip to the grocery store before coming home to get the ingredients they needed to bake them. After all their hard work the Peanut Butter Blossoms were ready to eat!

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Prep: 25 minutes
Oven: 350 degrees
Bake: 10 minutes per batch
Makes: about 54 cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
milk chocolate kisses or stars (about 54)

Preheat oven to 350. In large mixing bowl beat shortening and peanut butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll balls in the 1/4 cup sugar. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are light brown. Immediately press a chocolate kiss into each cookie center. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

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Cooking Mania

I have cooking mania right now. . . not sure how long it will last, but for now at least one child is enjoying it. Angela throughly enjoyed her dinner tonight.

Since David had school tonight I offered to save him a plate, but he knew I was trying a new chicken recipe and potato recipe so he asked that I just cook him some chicken strips to go with the baby lima beans. Any idea how to get him to try new things?

Here's the recipe for the chicken parmesan and the roasted onion potatoes. . .

Chicken Parmesan

1 clove garlic, minced
1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup or 1/4 pound), melted
1 cup dried bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
A large pinch of Italian seasoning (herb mix)
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 lbs of skinless, boneless, chicken meat, cut into pieces no larger than 2x2 inches

1 Preheat oven to 450°F.

2 In a bowl, combine the minced garlic with the melted butter. In another bowl mix together the bread crumbs, Parmesan, parsley, salt, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and pepper. Dip chicken pieces into garlic butter, then into crumb mixture to coat.

3 Place coated chicken pieces on to a 9x13 baking dish. Try to leave a little room between each piece. Drizzle with remaining garlic butter and bake uncovered 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear. Note that the chicken will get much more browned on the bottom side than on the top.

Serves 4-6.

Roasted Onion Potatoes

4 medium potatoes, washed and cubed (we used red potatoes...about six-eight)

1 package dry onion soup mix

1/4-1/3 cup (really, I just drizzled) olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare potatoes and place in a jelly roll pan. You can even line the pan with aluminum foil if you want easy clean up. Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes and toss. Pour the onion soup mix over and toss. Place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until tender.

New Recipe

I mentioned in an earlier post that I found a new recipe for green beans and tried it tonight for dinner. It was simple and inexpensive to prepare. Thought I'd post the recipe for others to try.

Bundle of Beans

1 or 2 cans whole green beans (for our family I used 1 can)
1 package bacon or turkey bacon (you don't have to use the whole package)
Catalina dressing (regular or light) or Russian dressing (I substituted with Italian dressing)

Set the oven to broil. Drain the beans. Gather a bundle of beans. Wrap half a sliceof bacon around the bundle. Lay bundle in a 13X9 pan (or smaller pan if you are using 1 can of beans). Do this until you have as many bundles as you want or are out of beans! Pour dressing (as much as you like) over the bundles. Place pan in oven and broil until bacon in done (maybe 10-15 minutes). Remove and enjoy.

Dinner Disaster

Ever find a recipe that looks terrific and then try it to find out nobody likes it? That was our experience tonight. I purchased a magazine a month or so ago "Fix it and Forget it Slow Cooker magic". So this weekend I pulled it out and found some recipes that I wanted to try. We get tired of the same ole menu around here. I found three which worked out with our schedule this week. Among them were: Garlic-Lime Chicken, Magic Meat Loaf and Slow-Cooked Short Ribs.

The ribs turned out good, falling off the bone good. I haven't tried the meat loaf yet, but will do that for Thursday night dinner. The garlic-lime chicken was dinner tonight. . . it was not so good. David actually managed to eat it (surprisingly because he is my picky eater), but Angela and I didn't do so good. I had made the comment that it sounded good and who can mess up a piece of chicken. Well. . . . I did!