One Year Blogiversary

Tis true! I started this blog one year ago today.  Some people have a big birthday bash with cake and really awesome giveaways and stuff like that on their blogiversary.  Sorry, none of that is going on around here today.  Nuh-uh.  My blog has been a little neglected lately (thought I'd mentioned it in case anyone failed to notice).  Then I had the idea that it'd be fun or painful to visit some of the things that have changed over the course of a year.  So here they are for you in a list form.  Enjoy!

THEN:  My boys had just had their 7th and 2nd birthdays
NOW:  My boys recently had their 8th and 3rd birthdays

THEN:  I used a little point and shoot camera that was at least 6 yrs old
NOW:  I have a DSLR, which I love but don't use to it's fullest potential. I guess that's pretty obvious from my photos, huh?  :)

THEN:  I blogged at least 5 days a week
NOW:  I'm lucky to publish a blog post once a week

Ok, those were easy.  Here's the overly sarcastic Kristy that we all know and love. Ahem.

THEN:  I was married
NOW:  I'm divorced

THEN: I lived in the house I loved because I bought it with the intentions of raising my family there
NOW: I live in a rent house 60 miles away, and will have to move again when the lease is up

THEN: I had a gloriously large kitchen with miles of counter space, more cabinet space than a girl like me could possibly need, and a pantry that was the envy of many a woman. You can see the pantry here and the kitchen here
NOW: Counter space is a hot commodity, and I can't find jack.  Oh, and no pantry

THEN: No boyfriend
NOW: Still no boyfriend

And, now, instead of a rambling monologue from me, I give you inspirational words from the source of inspiration itself, Pinterest :)

all photos from Pinterest

(Almost) Vegan Potato Soup and The Secret Recipe Club

It's that time once again! The most anticipated day of the month: Reveal Day on The Secret Recipe Club!  Click on over HERE to learn more about the Secret Recipe Club.

My assigned blog this month was We Heart Vegan.  This was easily my most challenging SRC assignment to date, but that isn't to say it wasn't fun and interesting too! This blog is written by Brittany and Julie, and they have such a wide variety of recipes in their collection.  I'm pretty sure I looked at them all :) 

In the spirit of the SRC challenge, I wanted to try to re-create an actual vegan dish.  Because if you aren't willing to at least try something new and different, then where's all the fun?  This is definitely where the challenging part started.  Many of the recipes called for ingredients that either I wasn't sure what they were, or I didn't want to buy if it was something that I wouldn't use again. 

I finally decided on this potato soup recipe.  My love affair with potatoes has been well documented on this blog of mine.  I'm fairly sure I've never found a way of preparing them that I haven't liked yet.  So I was definitely game for trying out this recipe!  And I even took this picture, lest you think that I would cheat :)

The only reason I titled mine (Almost) Vegan is that I did end up using butter that had dairy in it.  And, if you follow my blog regularly, then you know that I don't have a well stocked spice cabinet.  There seems to be a never ending supply of Italian seasoning in there though, so more often than not, I end up throwing it in, in place of something that I don't have. Yep, that happened here.

So now is the part where everyone is curious what I thought about the vegan dish.  This soup was definitely tasty!  The 8 yr old declared it "a keeper".  I gotta tell ya though, Almond milk smells a little funny at first.  I was slightly concerned initially, but it turned out not to be an issue at all once it was cooked.  The 3 yr old even drank some plain Almond milk.  I wasn't quite as brave ;) 

(Almost) Vegan Potato Soup
Recipe from We Heart Vegan

6 cups vegetable broth

2 cups almond or rice milk, unsweetened original

9 small russet potatoes, diced (and peeled if you’d like)

2 dried bay leaves (I didn't have these)

1 tsp. white (for less of a color change) or black fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 Tbsp. shallot, diced

1/2 cup chopped garlic chives

2 Tbsp. Earth Balance butter  (I used Smart Balance, which does contain dairy)

1/2 tsp. thyme (I substituted Italian Seasoning)

1/4 tsp. paprika

Roasted red pepper (garnish) (Negative)

Chopped chives (garnish)

Roux: 1 Tbsp. Earth Balance butter

1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1/2 cup almond or rice milk, unsweetened original

Directions

Bring the broth and milk to a gentle boil and add the diced potatoes and bay leaves.  Let this boil for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender.

In a small skillet heat the Earth Balance butter with the salt, pepper, shallot, chives, paprika and thyme.

Cook this until aromatic and sizzling, about 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add the butter and spice mixture to the potatoes and stir to combine.  Let this simmer over low-medium heat until the flavors are fully combined, about another 10-12 minutes.

Using an emersion blender, blend the soup until smooth (or as smooth as you’d like it).

In a small skillet (it can be the same skillet you already used) over medium heat add the butter and flour and stir until completely combined.  Add in the 1/2 cup milk and, while stirring constantly, cook the roux until thickened.

Add the roux to the soup and stir to combine.  The soup will thicken slightly.  If you want an extra thick potato soup: double the roux recipe.  If the consistency of the potato soup is good without the roux… you don’t need to add it!!  Portion the soup into bowl, garnish with the roasted red peppers, chives and a little more pepper and serve.

Loaded Baked Potato Casserole

Potatoes! Yeah, I'm a fan.  This recipe has to be somewhere near the top of my all time favorite potato dishes.  You have no idea how much of this I can eat.  It's embarrassing really.  And the leftovers?  They're pretty good too!  Only this time there weren't actually any leftovers.

I made this side dish for a Thanksgiving potluck with the ladies from my Sunday school class.  It was such a great night.  Trust me, there was no shortage of good food that evening either.  The food sign up sheet was full of a lot of really traditional Thanksgiving dishes so I hesitated slightly at making this casserole.  I wondered if people would prefer traditional mashed potatoes over these heavenly ones.  But that's just crazy talk, right?  Everybody likes cheese and bacon. Don't they? 

Yes, as a matter of fact, it turns out they do :)  I received a few compliments and recipe requests, but, perhaps most telling, was that there were no leftovers to bring home!  If you've never tried these, you simply must!  I suggest serving them up as the main dish at Thanksgiving with a side dish of turkey.  But that's just me.

Loaded Baked Potato Casserole

Recipe source: A local publication, which I don't really want to name because the title is geographically specific.  And I'm weird like that ;)

8 medium baking potatoes, baked (about 4 lbs)

2 cups (8oz) shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 (16 oz) container sour cream (I used light sour cream)

1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened (I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbls chopped fresh chives

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

4 green onions, chopped (I left these off & only used chives)

1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Directions

Peel potatoes and coarsely mash pulp with a potato masher.  (I actually used my stand mixer) Stir in 1 cup cheddar cheese and next 8 ingredients.  Spoon into a lightly greased 13x9 inch baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until thoroughly heated.  Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese, bacon, green onions and chives.

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

If you're much of a Pinterest addict ::raising my hand:: you've probably seen this chicken recipe.  Admittedly, mine doesn't look so much like the original.  But I've stopped allowing that to bother me.  Because, seriously, I'd be bothered all.the.time otherwise ;)

This recipe is easy enough, and definitely tasty enough, that you should give it a try.  I'm certainly a fan of shredding my own cheese.  I'm sure one could make the argument that it's cheaper, but I just think it tastes so much better.  But, having said that, while I was preparing this chicken I thought the pre-shredded cheese might actually work better.  I was having a difficult time getting any of the cheese to stick to the chicken in the breading process. 

I made this for dinner one evening when it was just me and the 3 yr old at home and we both loved it.  He's a pretty easy sale on chicken anyway, but he seriously ate this up big time.  And of course we all know that I'm my own biggest fan, so I give it two thumbs up :) 

Crispy Cheddar Chicken
Recipe from Jamie Cooks It Up as seen on Pinterest

Chicken:

4 large chicken breasts

2 sleeves Ritz crackers

1/4 t salt

1/8 t pepper

1/2 C milk

3 C cheddar cheese, grated

1 t dried parsley (I didn't have this)

Sauce:

1   14 ounce can cream of chicken soup

2 T sour cream

2 T butter

 

Directions

Cut chicken breasts into 3 large chunks

In a small food processor grind up the Ritz crackers

Pour the milk, cheese, and cracker crumbs into 3 seperate small pans. Toss the salt and pepper into the cracker crumbs and stir the mixture around to combine.

Dip each piece of chicken into the milk, then the cheese and finally the cracker crumbs. 

Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and lay the chicken inside.

Sprinkle the dried parsley over the chicken

Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are golden and crispy.

In a medium sized sauce pan, combine the cream of chicken soup. sour cream and butter with a whisk. Stir over medium high heat until the sauce is hot. Serve over the chicken.

Chocolate Dipped Potato Chip Cookies

If you're anything like me, then you've got an ever-growing list of recipes in your "to make" pile.  And, truth be told, Pinterest is only adding to this problem.  Am I right, or am I right? 

These cookies had been hanging around on my list for awhile and I knew it was time to give them a try when I serendipitiously discovered the crumb-y remains of a bag of Lays potato chips in the cabinet.  Isn't it funny how I can completely lack motivation to cook real food, but somehow muster up the energy to bake?  However, I've never heard a single complaint about that in my house :)

Now, until I stumbled across this recipe, I had never heard of a potato chip cookie before.  It's definitely not an ingredient you'd suspect was in there unless you knew it was there.  They're really just more of a buttery cookie.  You'll be thinking 'no joke!!' when you see the ingredient list.  They aren't lacking in butter for sure!  But these aren't a terribly sweet cookie.  I melted up some chocolate chips I had on hand and started dipping the cookies until I ran out of chocolate.  The chocolate dipped ones were certainly highly preferred around here.

Chocolate Dipped Potato Chip Cookies
Recipe Source: Shugary Sweets

½ lb butter

½ lb margarine

1 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3½ cup flour

1 cup crushed potato chips

powdered sugar (somehow I forgot to sprinkle mine with powdered sugar)

8 oz semi-sweet chocolate morsels, melted

Directions

Mix butter and sugar until well combined. Add vanilla, flour and chips. Drop by teaspoons on a cookie sheet. To make more uniform, and look smooth, roll into a ball and press top with thumb before baking. I usually do the first two batches like this, then give up cause I want to be done and turn my oven off!!  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 13-15 minutes, until golden brown on bottom and white on top. When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Dip in melted chocolate and refrigerate to set.