Potato Cheese Soup

So-I’m just now getting around to writing about my weekend. Friday wasn’t very eventful. Jace worked on painting and fixing up the flatbed trailer he and his brother had bought. While he worked on that I went to the grocery store and then we watched a movie in bed with popcorn. Pretty exciting I know. Saturday wasn’t a whole lot better. We got up early to go help lay sod at my mother-in-law’s house. It went pretty quick surprisingly with everyone there. Then we went home and Jace, Jake and I finished the trailer. (I should’ve taken a picture because it did turn out pretty good). I cleaned the house and Jace worked on the garage. Then his brother and his friend showed up to play with RC cars. I was in the middle of making a dinner for my visiting teaching partner in the ward that just had a cute little baby girl. When I got to a breaking point though I took some time to run over to the new shopping area in Farmington with my sister-in-law Bonnie (she didn’t want to play RC cars with the boys). I found some cute candles and stuff for the house. I also needed a rolling pin and found one at Home Goods (my new favorite store). I ended up making Potato Cheese Soup, Halloween Rice Krispie Pumpkins and Ghosts. I saw the pumpkins on Kensley Rowland’s Facebook then found the Ghosts online. I think the pumpkins were cuter though. I also made the yummy strawberry salad my mother-in-law Janalyn made a few Sunday dinner’s ago (unfortunately Smiths didn’t have any strawberries when I went, apparently they are all really bad right now-but I replaced it with raspberries and blueberries and it still turned out good). I will post the recipes all below. After we dropped off dinner we just cleaned the garage and washed my car. We were both so tired that we just fell asleep that night. It was a pretty uneventful weekend but it was still fun to just have time off and get so much done. Tomorrow were going to Glenwood Springs, Colorado to visit some cousins and spend time with family. I’m excited to have a small break and see all the cousins. I will be sure to come back and blog about it J

Potato Cheese Soup

Karen Lewis

 Serve fresh cheese, green onion and bacon bits to add to the soup

Ingredients:

12 chicken bouillon cubes

2 large carrots, grated-food processor heaven!

3 qt. water (12 cups)

1 heaping Tbsp. parsley flakes

6-8 medium size potatoes cubed (tip-add more potatoes and cut BIG)

1 heaping Tbsp. minced onion

Directions:

Put all ingredients in pot, boil till potatoes are done. Add 1 qt. half-and-half. Bring to boil. Meanwhile in another pan melt 2 cubes butters. Add 1 cup flour. Mix with wooden spoon till smooth (make rue*) add to boiling soup mixture. Simmer 5 minutes serve warm with cheddar cheese, bacon bits and green onion.

*Mix some soup with the rue to make it runnier so it is easier to blend into soup. (Rue: corn starch and warm water)

Its also best to do more potatoes and less water to start with then add more so its not to runny to start with.

Strawberry Salad

Janalyn Olson

Dressing-I blended it in my magic bullet I got as a wedding gift. 

Dressing Ingredients:

 1 T. poppy seeds( + 2 teaspoons poppy seeds)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 T minced red onion

(I added 5-6 berries) 

* add all ingredients into your blender and blend

Salad Ingredients:

 Spinach 

 Strawberries (sliced)-I used raspberries and blueberries

 Feta Cheese 

 Sugared slivered almonds (instructions follow)

 The perfect dressing

Almonds

Toast 3/4 c sliced almonds in fry pan until light brown add sugar mixture and stir until coated.  Pour on wax paper.

2 cup sugar-This was way too much I thought, would use much less.

1/8 tsp of nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Pumpkin rice krispie (just add orange food coloring, a tootsie roll stem and green frosting)!

 

The ghosts just have coconut on the bottom and M&Ms. The pumpkins were easier and cuter I think.

Breadsticks were super easy. Take Rhodes rolls loaves, thaw, roll out and cut into strips. Put butter, seasame seeds and parmesean cheese then bake according to package.