Cauliflower Soup

Original Recipe found Via The Pioneer Woman... and I followed her instructions pretty much to the letter... But I guess I'll retype it all anyways >_>

What you'll need to make this Scrumptious bunch oh soupy bliss:

1 stick of butter (divided in half)
1/2 an onion finely diced
1 carrot finely diced
1 celery stalk (or two celery 'hearts') finely diced
1-2 heads of cauliflower chopped roughly(I used two because I'm greedy and I know I'd want lots of little white bites of heaven in my bowl ;) )
2 tbsp fresh (or dried) chopped parsley
2 quarts chicken broth or stock (I used 1 quarts stock and one quarts water because I oopsed when I was at the market >_>)
2 cups milk (whatever percentage you desire)
6 tbsp Flour
1 cup half and half
2-4 tsp salt
1 cup of sour cream

If you don't know how to slice and dice... i can't help you really, But thanks to my lovely assistant and wonderful friend Ashley, my chopping went three times faster than normal!

For the onion: I use the planks sticks and cubes approach usually, not today but it still worked out. if you cut the onion parallel to the cutting surface (or into planks) and then perpendicular (i.e. sticks) and then you just chop straight down (into cubes) you have a finely diced onion! VOI LA!

For the celery: cut each stalk in half and then just dice it into smaller pieces

For carrots: I find cutting the carot in half and each half into half etc until their fairly thin and then chopping is the easiest way for me :)

for the Cauliflower: wash the florets and lop off that stem, and then just whack at it until it's a good size for your tastes. (But be careful, I had little cauliflower escapeess all over my floor by the time I finished and had to sweep... I'm a messy knife user lol)

In a Large Stock pot or Dutch Oven:

Take half that stick of butter and toss it in the pot... Or slide, or place or what have you... and let it melt down. add your onions into the pot (don't toss these i'm sure it'd lead to a mess) and let them cook until they start to turn brown. Add the carrots and celery and allow to cook a few more minutes, roughly 3-5. Finally add in the cauliflower and parsley, stir to coat, cover and cook for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes pour in your stock (and water if you went my route) bring to a boil and then reduce heat allowing to simmer covered.

IN a MEDIUM sauce pan:

Melt the other half stick of butter. Whisk milk and flour together and then continously whisking slowly add into the saucepan with the melted butter. let simmer a few moments and then take off the heat, adding the half and half in.

Add the cream mixture into the soup, stir, cover and let simmer for 15 - 20 minutes. Add any salt or pepper to taste.

Now to enjoy the soup, place a nice dollop of sour cream in your bowl and ladle one or two spoons of soup into the bowl, stir to mix before adding in however much else soup you feel like enjoying.

EAT AND BE HAPPY!

yum (pictures when i find batteries... again. if there's any left.

Chicken al la "What the heck am i making?"

So i learned a lesson today. Never ever talk to another foodie friend after deciding what you will make for dinner. It will lead to you deciding that instead of taking it easy and making some rice and ramen concoction, you will end up pulling out 1 1/2 - 2 lbs of chicken, 3 lbs of potatoes, multiple soups, corn, rice and spices out the wazzoo and thinking. What can i make out of all this?

On the plus side, it might just lead to the most wonderful recipe you've made to date!

So what I ultimately ended up using was:

three skinless chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can sweet niblets
3 lbs red potatoes, peeled and cut into even pieces
one box of instant chicken flavored rice
Bread crumbs (eyeball it people)
salt
pepper
lemon pepper
cayenne

So... Remember how last time I said to make sure your dishes were all washed? well I was a good chef today, all my pots and pans were clean. Plates were not. So if your plates aren't clean, make sure you start the washer before the food!

I peeled and cut my potatoes into halves and then fourths and then washed them.

Placing the three chicken breasts in the pan i surrounded them with the potatoes and then with the can of sweet niblets. I then cursed Hannah Montana for making me think of her everytime I hear sweet niblets...

I sprinkled them with salt, lemon pepper and a drizzle of olive oil before covering the entire thing with a layer of cream of chicken soup. on top of that I added the bread crumbs and then popped it into the oven for 50 minutes at 375 degrees, center rack.

I completely ignored the instructions on the rice box (I do not enjoy rice that is browned before 'cooking' and so I pour 2 1/2 cups of water into a pan, added the rice and rice seasoning, then added a bit of cayenne pepper and lemon pepper to boot, stirred it to mix, and brought the entire pot to a boil. Once there i dropped it to a simmer, covered it and let it cook for 15 minutes.

If you cook like I do, and your chicken is done before you even START the rice, just cover it loosely with foil ;) it'll be like it's tanning.

Serve on a dish and eat!



P.S. if you washed your dishes right before serving, and the washer is still 'heat drying' please be careful not to burn yourself on your beloved servingware!

Cheeseburger Casserole in Paradise...

So I know I know I"ve been meaning to get this up for a bit. Sorry, but it makes this all that much better yes?

My mother bought me one of those "Five ingredient recipe" books a while ago, and I finally pulled it out for ideas. What did my eyes see revealed to them but a "Cheeseburger and fry casserole." I knew I had to try it, but not in it's book incarnation because they use mushrooms and I hate those blech.

So here we have our victims:

We have two lbs of lean ground beef, one 10 and 3/4 oz can of cheddar cheese soup, one 10 and 3/4 can of cream-o-tater soup, a bag (32 oz) of frozen fries, a lb of low sodium bacon. Garlic powder, Onion powder, and Olive oil.

Now please please please be a SMART person and make absolute sure that your BIG skillet is clean and ready for use. If you don't, you'll be like I was, scrambling to find an easy way to cook 3 pounds of meat without splitting it into a hundred tinier portions.

As it were, please please please do not cook two lbs of ground beef and 1 lb of bacon all at one in a medium sized skillet. It works... but it is just a frustrating ;)

Any who cook your bacon until it's nice and crispy. I usually cut mine into pieces first for things like this, but it you prefer cooking them first and then breaking them apart by all means go ahead. Remember cooking is a fun thing to do, so make yourself happy.

When the bacon is cooked to your liking, drain off the fat and brown your beef. Once again drain the meat (you can leave a little bit in there for flavor if you're naughty like I am)

So far it's easy yeah? Don't worry it's staying that way.

Find a fairly large baking dish (The books recommends a 13 in x 9 in 2 in baking pan) Now if you don't have a 13x9x2 inc dish, or if (like me) none of your dishes have size markings, you can always split this into smaller portions and just make "more" individual-ish casseroles. As it were, I made two.

Pour in your Beef and Bacon. Then pour on your Two Cans-o-Soup and mix it all together so they can make sweet sweet food harmony. Now I also added some onion powder into that whole mix (Burgers have onions yeah?!) and it came out great...

Next take your (still frozen) French Fries and arrange them on top of your casserole. Or just dump them on top and then spread them around into a semi neat presentation like yours truly.

I drizzled mine with olive oil and some garlic powder for flavor and to help give them that "out of the fryer look"

Pop your casserole into your oven (Heated at 350 degrees) for 55-65 minutes or until the fries are brown and crispy like they should ALWAYS be. none of those limp bending over from gravity fries in my house...


Take your lovely easy half store bought but still home made with love dinner out and serve!


YUM!