Dear Tiffany,
I used to have another recipe for scalloped potatoes that I always used, and it was bookmarked on my old laptop...which is no longer working. Since I couldn't find the other one, I decided to come up with a (sort of) new one! This is partway adapted from this recipe, but I changed some things around- had some ingredients I wanted to use.
This recipe is easy to double.
The Basics:
Prep time: About 20 minutes, then in the crockpot all day.
Good for leftovers: yes!
cost: About $5-$10
servings: 10
The ingredients:
4-5 cups potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 -1/2 tsp black pepper
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
1/2 cup buttermilk (or even a little more if you need to finish off the container).
Grease your crockpot with butter, oil, or nonstick spray. This recipe will work in a 4 quart slow cooker, or doubled in a 5-6 quart cooker.
Place about 1/2 the potatoes in the bottom of the slow cooker. Cover them with half the onion slices, half the flour, half the salt and pepper, half the basil. Cut half the butter into chunks and scatter them over the top, and then spoon about a fourth of the mushroom soup over the top. Add the rest of the potatoes, and repeat with the rest of the onion, salt and pepper, flour, basil, and butter. Spoon the rest of the mushroom soup over the top, and then pour the buttermilk all over. Cover and cook for 4-5 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low. About 30 minutes before serving, you can sprinkle some cheese of your choice over the top if you so desire.
Serve and enjoy- but careful! It will be hot!
I forgot to take pictures again...but maybe there will be a good one from dinner last night. If so, I'll add it here later.
-Joy
Showing posts with label potatoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label potatoes. Show all posts
Friday, August 5, 2011
Friday, December 10, 2010
#10: Fall-on-a-Spoon Sweet Potato Soup (slow-cooker)
Dear Tiff,
I haven't posted for awhile, because I was eating through my leftovers to make more fridge space before I cooked anything that would create more leftovers. This is what happens when you live alone (less people to eat the food) and have a tiny fridge.
Anyways. I love sweet potatoes. Growing up, we pretty much only had them in the candied style, during the holidays. But I just adore them, and I've been trying them out in different less-desserty ways because I think they're just amazing, and pretty good for you too, and thus should not be relegated to the holidays. At some point I'll have to put up my sweet potato chili recipe that you've been asking for for awhile now, but today I made a delicious sweet potato soup.
This was inspired by/adapted from a great post by Kristen Swensson Sturt (and she, of course, adapted it from another blogger). I like adaptable food. I like Kristen too, and I recommend you read her post because it was a very entertaining and informative read, and I'm likely to follow her for further inspiration. She made me smile :). It was actually Kristen who gave me the phrase "Fall on a Spoon" with which I decided to name this recipe. Credit where credit is due; that phrase perfectly describes this soup. Ahhh. Yum.
The Basics:
Prep time: About 10 minutes, then in the slow cooker all day
Good for leftovers: yes! You can even freeze some for a rainy day when you don't feel like cooking.
servings: At least 8 meal-sized servings. If you are using it as a side-dish, serve smaller portions to stretch it further
cost: less than $5
Ingredients:
2 medium or large sweet potatoes (yams will work fine as well), peeled and cut into small chunks
1 smallish onion or 1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 cup baby carrots or 2-3 small-medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1-2 tablespoons curry powder
a shake of red pepper flakes (optional for some extra zip)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
4 cups (1 quart) chicken broth
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon maple syrup
brown sugar to taste
The Process:
Peel/chop your carrots, sweet potatoes, and onions. (Celery would be good too but I didn't have any). Add all ingredients except for milk, brown sugar, and maple syrup to the slow cooker. If you made your own chicken broth and its still frozen, that's fine! Just thaw it in the microwave a couple minutes while you're chopping so that you can cut the bag off, and dump the whole frozen chunk in your slow cooker. I store my chicken broth in quart size bags so I didn't even have to measure.
Cook on low all day. If you're around, you can stir it every once in awhile, but it won't be the end of the world. I put mine in around 9am this morning, came back after work around 6:30pm and it was great! What have I said before about soups? They are usually safe to just keep on cooking; in fact, they will often taste better the longer they cook!
Puree your mixture in the blender - usually doing 1-2 cups at a time works best. You could also use an immersion blender if you have one (I don't. But I did finally rectify my blender situation so I do have a blender now). Pour it back into the slow cooker; stir in the milk and syrup and let it cook on high for a few more minutes. (This last step isn't necessary, but your milk was likely cold, and you want your soup to be hot, so if you taste it and its lukewarm you should probably let it heat up for a few more minutes.) Test taste and add brown sugar to get it to your preferred level of sweetness. Serve hot with maple syrup drizzled over bowl. (I didn't do this to mine so you won't see it in the picture).
This was delicious, and filling enough to stand alone as a meal, but you could also serve it as a side dish. It has a very nice fall-winter-holiday feel that goes great with all this rain we've been getting.
Notes/Variations:
Not enough sweet potatoes? Today I used one smallish regular potato as well, and it worked out ok but I had to add more brown sugar to get the flavor balance right since regular potatoes...well they aren't sweet. Shocking, huh?
No blender? (Or don't feel like getting it out?) No problem. You can also serve it as a chunky type soup, and it will still taste great. On the chunky version I would nix the milk. Kristen's version had no milk, but did include brown rice. I didn't have brown rice on hand but this sounds really yummy too, I'll have to try it out next time.
Vegetarian version: just substitute veggie broth for the chicken broth.
Don't have all day? You can also do this on the stove; it should take about 40-60 minutes with only light babysitting (I've hopped in the shower while cooking my sweet potatoes and they were fine, but don't leave the house lest you burn it down!). But you know me: why would I want to babysit my food when I have a crock-pot to do that for me?
-Joy
I haven't posted for awhile, because I was eating through my leftovers to make more fridge space before I cooked anything that would create more leftovers. This is what happens when you live alone (less people to eat the food) and have a tiny fridge.
Anyways. I love sweet potatoes. Growing up, we pretty much only had them in the candied style, during the holidays. But I just adore them, and I've been trying them out in different less-desserty ways because I think they're just amazing, and pretty good for you too, and thus should not be relegated to the holidays. At some point I'll have to put up my sweet potato chili recipe that you've been asking for for awhile now, but today I made a delicious sweet potato soup.
 |
| Fall-on-a-Spoon Sweet Potato Soup |
The Basics:
Prep time: About 10 minutes, then in the slow cooker all day
Good for leftovers: yes! You can even freeze some for a rainy day when you don't feel like cooking.
servings: At least 8 meal-sized servings. If you are using it as a side-dish, serve smaller portions to stretch it further
cost: less than $5
Ingredients:
2 medium or large sweet potatoes (yams will work fine as well), peeled and cut into small chunks
1 smallish onion or 1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 cup baby carrots or 2-3 small-medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1-2 tablespoons curry powder
a shake of red pepper flakes (optional for some extra zip)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
4 cups (1 quart) chicken broth
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon maple syrup
brown sugar to taste
The Process:
Peel/chop your carrots, sweet potatoes, and onions. (Celery would be good too but I didn't have any). Add all ingredients except for milk, brown sugar, and maple syrup to the slow cooker. If you made your own chicken broth and its still frozen, that's fine! Just thaw it in the microwave a couple minutes while you're chopping so that you can cut the bag off, and dump the whole frozen chunk in your slow cooker. I store my chicken broth in quart size bags so I didn't even have to measure.
Cook on low all day. If you're around, you can stir it every once in awhile, but it won't be the end of the world. I put mine in around 9am this morning, came back after work around 6:30pm and it was great! What have I said before about soups? They are usually safe to just keep on cooking; in fact, they will often taste better the longer they cook!
Puree your mixture in the blender - usually doing 1-2 cups at a time works best. You could also use an immersion blender if you have one (I don't. But I did finally rectify my blender situation so I do have a blender now). Pour it back into the slow cooker; stir in the milk and syrup and let it cook on high for a few more minutes. (This last step isn't necessary, but your milk was likely cold, and you want your soup to be hot, so if you taste it and its lukewarm you should probably let it heat up for a few more minutes.) Test taste and add brown sugar to get it to your preferred level of sweetness. Serve hot with maple syrup drizzled over bowl. (I didn't do this to mine so you won't see it in the picture).
This was delicious, and filling enough to stand alone as a meal, but you could also serve it as a side dish. It has a very nice fall-winter-holiday feel that goes great with all this rain we've been getting.
Notes/Variations:
Not enough sweet potatoes? Today I used one smallish regular potato as well, and it worked out ok but I had to add more brown sugar to get the flavor balance right since regular potatoes...well they aren't sweet. Shocking, huh?
No blender? (Or don't feel like getting it out?) No problem. You can also serve it as a chunky type soup, and it will still taste great. On the chunky version I would nix the milk. Kristen's version had no milk, but did include brown rice. I didn't have brown rice on hand but this sounds really yummy too, I'll have to try it out next time.
Vegetarian version: just substitute veggie broth for the chicken broth.
Don't have all day? You can also do this on the stove; it should take about 40-60 minutes with only light babysitting (I've hopped in the shower while cooking my sweet potatoes and they were fine, but don't leave the house lest you burn it down!). But you know me: why would I want to babysit my food when I have a crock-pot to do that for me?
-Joy
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
#8: One-Dish Wonder Roast Chicken and Baked Potatoes
Dear Tiffany,
Today you have a long day at work, and so does Sam. How would it feel to come home to a feast? Now, how would it feel to come home to a feast...without either a) slaving in the kitchen for hours, b)paying for takeout, or c) blowing your budget on an in-home chef?
This one-dish meal is inspired by a few different recipes that Stephanie O'Dhea shares on her blog, and there are variations galore to keep it from ever getting old. Chicken is pretty cheap, and even though you're paying for the weight of the bones and such, its still a really good deal to buy a whole chicken verses the boneless skinless breasts. Check out this great post on The Simple Dollar to see what you're really paying for.
To serve, remove the chicken to a platter and cut off the meat you want. The chicken was literally falling apart, so if you care if it looks pretty (have company coming over?) you might want to place a cheesecloth underneath the chicken before cooking so you can just lift the cheesecloth out rather than taking it out in pieces as I did. Just leave the drippings in the pot, so you can use them to make your stock later. Remove your potatoes (I suggest using tongs or a big fork so you don't burn yourself! Cut open your potatoes and top them with whatever suits your fancy: today I have butter, grated cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, green onions, etc.
This chicken was literally falling off the bone- Joey tried to eat a drumstick in drumstick form and it fell to pieces. I cooked 8 potatoes; we only had 5 people show up but they managed to make all the leftover potatoes (and most of the chicken!) disappear. I do have a picture, but its on Amy's camera so it may be awhile before I can post it.
I used the chicken bones, skin, and giblets to make chicken broth, which I'll freeze so I can use it in recipes to come. See how here.
Today you have a long day at work, and so does Sam. How would it feel to come home to a feast? Now, how would it feel to come home to a feast...without either a) slaving in the kitchen for hours, b)paying for takeout, or c) blowing your budget on an in-home chef?
This one-dish meal is inspired by a few different recipes that Stephanie O'Dhea shares on her blog, and there are variations galore to keep it from ever getting old. Chicken is pretty cheap, and even though you're paying for the weight of the bones and such, its still a really good deal to buy a whole chicken verses the boneless skinless breasts. Check out this great post on The Simple Dollar to see what you're really paying for.
The basics:
Prep time: About 10 minutes, then in the slow cooker all day
Good for leftovers: yes! See below for how to use them.
servings: about 8 depending on the size of your chicken
cost: about $8 total.
Ingredients:
whole chicken (about 4-5lb), thawed
Italian seasoning
1 onion, quartered
4 cloves garlic or about 2-3 tablespoons minced garlic
several medium potatoes
The Process:
 |
| there's no wrong way to eat a baked potato |
Wash and dry your potatoes, and wrap them in aluminum foil. Place them along the bottom of your slow cooker (I used a 6 quart; if you are using one smaller than 5 quarts you may have trouble fitting your potatoes in).
 |
| This bird is ready to cook! |
Remove the giblets from the cavity of your chicken. I saved mine in a ziplock in the fridge so I can stretch your dollar a little more and make an easy chicken stock later to use in other recipes. If you're not fond of eating chicken skin, you can remove it at this point too and save it for your stock. Shake Italian seasoning all over your chicken and rub it in. Place your garlic and quartered onion in the cavity, and place in the crock on top of your potatoes, breast-side down. Propping it up on the potatoes keeps the chicken from stewing in its own juices- that method tastes good too, but won't have as much of a "roast" effect. It will also be lower in fat because the fats have a place to drip down to. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 5.
The upside to doing the potatoes this way is that they don't get cooked with the chicken, so my vegetarian friend won't have a problem eating the potatoes at small group tonight. For other ways to do potatoes, check out my potato post.
Variations: This is the basic-basic of seasonings, but there are a lot of ways you can do a roast chicken! Barbecue sauce and lemon pepper are just two that I can think of off the top of my head; as I come up with more I'll be sure to post them here.
This chicken was literally falling off the bone- Joey tried to eat a drumstick in drumstick form and it fell to pieces. I cooked 8 potatoes; we only had 5 people show up but they managed to make all the leftover potatoes (and most of the chicken!) disappear. I do have a picture, but its on Amy's camera so it may be awhile before I can post it.
I used the chicken bones, skin, and giblets to make chicken broth, which I'll freeze so I can use it in recipes to come. See how here.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
#7: There's no wrong way to eat a Baked Potato
Dear Tiff,
For tonight's small group I did the One-Dish Wonder Chicken with Baked Potatoes which will be posted separately, but I wanted to share with you some more about baked potatoes. There are so many variations on these cheap, easy classics. The great thing about potatoes is that, like other root veggies, they don't go bad for a long time, so its ok to buy in bulk even with just two people in the house. They're also super cheap.
Baked Potatoes can be done in the oven, the campfire, the barbecue, the slow-cooker, even under the hood of your car (great way to nix the drive-thru on your next longer drive!) I usually do mine in the slow cooker or the oven- more "conventional" methods!
I learned basic baked potatoes in the crock-pot from Stephanie O'Dhea's amazing crockpot blog. They are SO EASY. Just wash (and dry) your potatoes, prick a few times with a fork if you remember, wrap them in foil, and cook them in the crock, on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5-6.
Just a few Variations on a Theme: for the crock-pot or the oven
As I try out more ideas I'll add them to this list :)
1) Slice your potatoes in half before wrapping them, and place an onion slice in between the 2 halves. Then put it back together, wrap in foil, and cook as usual. You could also do this with garlic, cheese, butter, etc
2) Instead of wrapping in foil, rub your potatoes over with olive oil and salt (especially kosher salt or sea salt)
3)soak them overnight in saltwater and then place directly in the crockpot (or a pan if you're using your oven) without foil or drying
4) If you're doing chicken or meat in the crockpot, you can either cut your potatoes in chunks or just drop them straight in with the meat.
Great potato toppings: butter, sour cream, cheese (cheddar, Parmesan, swiss and ricotta are all great, and others I'm sure); bacon or ham, green onions, salt, pepper...the sky is the limit! Please comment below this post if you have any favorites!
Here are 5 ways to use leftover baked potatoes; I haven't tried these but as I do I'll let you know how they go!
For tonight's small group I did the One-Dish Wonder Chicken with Baked Potatoes which will be posted separately, but I wanted to share with you some more about baked potatoes. There are so many variations on these cheap, easy classics. The great thing about potatoes is that, like other root veggies, they don't go bad for a long time, so its ok to buy in bulk even with just two people in the house. They're also super cheap.
Baked Potatoes can be done in the oven, the campfire, the barbecue, the slow-cooker, even under the hood of your car (great way to nix the drive-thru on your next longer drive!) I usually do mine in the slow cooker or the oven- more "conventional" methods!
I learned basic baked potatoes in the crock-pot from Stephanie O'Dhea's amazing crockpot blog. They are SO EASY. Just wash (and dry) your potatoes, prick a few times with a fork if you remember, wrap them in foil, and cook them in the crock, on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5-6.
Just a few Variations on a Theme: for the crock-pot or the oven
As I try out more ideas I'll add them to this list :)
1) Slice your potatoes in half before wrapping them, and place an onion slice in between the 2 halves. Then put it back together, wrap in foil, and cook as usual. You could also do this with garlic, cheese, butter, etc
2) Instead of wrapping in foil, rub your potatoes over with olive oil and salt (especially kosher salt or sea salt)
3)soak them overnight in saltwater and then place directly in the crockpot (or a pan if you're using your oven) without foil or drying
4) If you're doing chicken or meat in the crockpot, you can either cut your potatoes in chunks or just drop them straight in with the meat.
Great potato toppings: butter, sour cream, cheese (cheddar, Parmesan, swiss and ricotta are all great, and others I'm sure); bacon or ham, green onions, salt, pepper...the sky is the limit! Please comment below this post if you have any favorites!
Here are 5 ways to use leftover baked potatoes; I haven't tried these but as I do I'll let you know how they go!
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