Spicy Tuscan Soup...

Okay, I love Olive Garden.  Reasonably priced Italian with portions big enough to save for another meal when you get home and breadsticks to die for.  (If you can do bread right, you pretty much have my vote anyway...lol).  Anyway, when I was scrolling through Pinterest, I saw this soup that looks suspiciously like Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana, that I adore (unlimited soup, salad & breadsticks anyone??).  So, I decided I must make it.  The original recipe can be found at Tasty Kitchen if you wanted to check it out.  It was pretty easy to make, and should reheat pretty well, since there wasn't much cream in it.  The recipe is as follows:

Spicy Tuscan Soup
6 servings - 522 calories each

Ingredients
1 lb. breakfast sausage
1 med. red onion, chopped
2 slices bacon, diced (I just used bacon bits...yep...lazy)
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 russett potatoes, cut in half lenghwise and then in 1/4" slices
4 c. water
3 cubes chicken bouillon
1/4 bunch kale, roughly chopped (I wound up getting a box of baby kale, because I couldn't find the regular anywhere)
1/2 c. heavy cream
Seasonings, to taste

Directions
Brown sausage in pot over medium high until done.  Drain and set aside.  Add onion, bacon, and garlic to pot and cook until onions are tender.  Add water, potatoes and bouillon cubes.  Simmer 15-20 minutes, until potatoes are nearly done.  Add kale, cream, and the sausage you set aside earlier.  Simmer another 5-10 minutes until potatoes are done and everything is heated through.  And that's it...easy peasy, right?  Looks like Olive Garden!  I'll let you know the final result with the recipe update in a week or two :)

Chunky Potato Crab Chowder...

I've had a thing for chowder lately.  I had a couple bowls of it in New England when we were there for vacation, and it was so delicious.  I thought this one sounded interesting and decided to give it a show.  You can find the original on myrecipes.  Here goes:

Chunky Potato Crab Chowder
6 servings - 265 calories each

Ingredients
2 T. butter
1 c. chopped onion
1 cloved garlic, minced
3 1/2 c. cubed red potatoes
3 T. flour
2 1/2 c. milk
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 - 14.5 oz. can corn
1 - 14 oz. can chicken broth
8 oz. lump crab meat, shell pieces removed
Salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to taste

Directions
Saute onion and garlic in butter for 4 minutes.  Add potatoes and saute for 1 minute.  Add flour and saute for another minute.  Stir in milk, seasonings, corn, and broth.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently.  Reduce temperature, cover, and continue to simmer another 20 minutes until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally.  Add crab and cook another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Recipe Recap
Eh...this was alright.  I think I liked the concept better than the end result.  And it doesn't help much that I had delicious chowder in Maine just a week before this...that's what I really wanted, afterall.  The taste was fine, the texture was a little off, it was just okay.  I probably won't be making it again, at any rate.  Better luck next month, I suppose!

Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes...

I have no idea what the "crash" part of this recipe is supposed to imply.  It was on the original recipe at dlyn, so I'm sticking with it.  I wound up adjusting the spices a little bit, based on what I had.  I'm not sure I'd make these again...they were kind of a pain in my butt.  I tried one, and they tasted good, but they didn't crisp up like they were supposed to either, which was sort of irritating.  They were also next to impossible to smash as recommended...my bowl just kept sliding around everywhere and not getting enough traction to smash.  It's not imperative that they BE smashed or anything, but it was still annoying.  I don't know.  We'll see how I like them over the course of the month to see if they have staying power or not.  Either way, here's the recipe:

Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes
8 servings - 75 calories each

(Yes, I forgot to put the potatoes in the ingredient picture...whoops!)

Ingredients
2-3 sweet potatoes
1 1/2 T. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. sweet smoked paprika
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Olive oil

Blend together spice mix first and set aside.  Peel potatoes and cut into rounds about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.  Place on baking sheet in a single layer.  Roast at 375 degrees until just tender enough to smash (you'll have to check...it depends on how thick you cut them).  Smash potatoes (if desired and possible).  Brush potatoes with a small amount of olive oil and top with half of seasoning mixture.  Flip and repeat process with other half of spice mixture.  Return to oven for 15 minutes.  Flip and return for an additional 10-15 minutes until caramelizing and starting to crisp (theoretically). 

I'm serving mine with my Tuna Bouchons for a total of 359 calories for each serving.  Is it weird that I'm totally annoyed that visually, there's way too much round food in each little serving container?  Yeah, probably.  Oh well :)

Lazy Sunday Casserole...

So this one wasn't quite as lazy as I was hoping, based on the title.  It wasn't particularly labor-intensive or anything, but having an important step in the middle of baking instead of throwing it in and forgetting about it till it's done sort of de-lazy's it for me.  lol :)  I'm crazy, I know.  Anyway, the original for this one is found on Kayotic Kitchen.  I know, I'm racking up the recipes from that site, it seems, but I can't help it...they're all over Pinterest, and they all look delicious!  My only real concern about this is that reheating it might end up with way too much liquid from all the veggies.  I'm sure it'll taste fine either way, but I'm not a fan of it getting all soup-y on me.  We'll see...and I'll let ya know when I do the update later this month.  P.S.  I know I've heard before that fennel smells like licorice when you cut into it, but holy cow...the smell just smacks you in the face!  Don't worry though...it doesn't smells nearly so licorice-like once it starts cooking.  That said, let's get going:

Lazy Sunday Casserole
6 servings - 195 calories

Ingredients
4 sausages (I used Hot Italian Sausages)
1 lb. small red potatoes (quartered)
1/2 lb. carrots (I cheated and used the baby carrots so I didn't have to chop them)
1 bell pepper, chopped (the original called for 1/2, but hey...I didn't have anything to use the rest for)
1 lg. onion, cut into wedges
1 lg. fennel bulb, cut into wedges
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 T. oil
1 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 c. chicken broth
Pepper, to taste
4 T. balsamic vinegar

Directions
Put potatoes, carrots, pepper, onion, and fennel bulb into large casserole dish.  In a separate dish, mix together garlic, oil, Italian seasoning, and chicken broth.  Pour mixture over vegetables.  Cover with tin foil and bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes.  In the meantime, brown the sausages (no need to cook completely...we're just trying to get a nice color on them).  Cut browned sausages into thirds.  After the first 45 minutes in the oven, add sausages and pour balsamic over top of everything.  Put back into the oven for 15 minutes, uncovered.  Remove and toss everything to coat with the liquid at the bottom of the dish, and return to oven for another 15 minutes. 

I'm serving mine with a biscuit (although given the final portion size, you probably wouldn't have to) for a total of 365 calories per serving. 

Twice Baked Potatoes...

Alrighty, I've procrastinated posting these couple of recipes for long enough...it's been a busy week since I cooked, and I just haven't been motivated to get on here and type everything up.  But I had an awesome, productive day yesterday, so we're going to try to keep up the momentum!  So this is my own personal recipe for twice baked potatoes.  Rarely can I say any of these are anything that I put together on my own...I'm a recipe girl for sure...but on a particularly stubborn afternoon a couple of years ago, I decided twice baked potatoes really can't be that hard...and lo and behold, they weren't :)  lol.  Plus, I do the first round of "baking" in the microwave, so that saves time.  The beauty of the baked potato is that you can put whatever you have on hand in it.  If you have bacon or ham or vegetables or whatever hanging around the kitchen, throw it on in!  The recipe below is what I actually put in today, and is for 8 potatoes, since that's how many I was making to go with the meatloaf portions, but obviously, you can adjust it for whatever you actually need :)

Twice Baked Potatoes
8 servings - Approx. 250 Calories Each

Ingredients
- 8 small to medium russet potatoes
- 1 to 1 1/4 c. milk, to desired consistency
- 1/2 c. + 1/2 c. shredded cheddar
- 1/4 c. sour cream
- 2 T. diced green onions or chives
- 2 T. bacon bits
- 2 T. butter
- Seasonings, to taste

Directions
Wash potatoes and pierce with a fork several times.  While still wet, microwave potatoes between paper towels in 2 batches until tender (approximately 8-10 minutes on high).  Cut a thin slice off of the top of each potato and scoop out the inside into a bowl, and set the skins on a baking sheet.  Mix in butter until melted.  Add all other ingredients (reserving the second 1/2 c. of cheese) and mix...add more milk if necessary...you want to make sure it's creamy or when you bake it again, it'll be dry.  Spoon mixture back into the potato skins.  Top with remaining cheese and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted.  And that's it :)  Enjoy!

Ham, Sauerkraut, and Apple Rolls...

And last but not least, the last recipe from Kayotic Kitchen for this month.  These rolls are served on cheesy potatoes...how could you go wrong, right?  Honestly, I've never had sauerkraut before (yeah, I know...sheltered, right?).  I felt like the concept of the sweet of the apples vs. the sour of the sauerkraut vs. the saltiness of the ham was a good one though, so off we go on a new food adventure for me.  lol :)  Obviosly with the hope that it works out, or I'm going to have a lot of this to power through before the end of the month.  Such is life, eh?  You never know till you try!  Here we go:

Ham, Sauerkraut, and Apple Rolls (on cheesy potatoes)
8 servings, 501 calories each

Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb. potatoes, quartered
- 1 lb. sauerkraut
- 2 sweet apples, finely chopped
- 8 ham slices (again, I used the thin sliced Budding meat, so I actually used 4 slices for each roll instead of one of the thicker cut slices, for a total of 32 slices)
- 2 c. grated cheese (I used Boar's Head Chipotle Gouda...yum!)
- 1 1/2 c. milk
- 4 T. flour
- 2 oz. butter
- Nutmeg
- Seasonings, to taste

Directions

Pre-boil the potatoes (I did this in a casserole dish in the microwave...filled dish with water and microwaved 15 minutes on high).  Drain and place in the bottom of a baking dish.  In a skillet, heat apples on medium high until they start getting tender, then add sauerkraut and seasonings.  Turn heat down to low and simmer for about five minutes.  Assemble rolls by putting a generous amount of sauerkraut mixture into the center of the ham and rolling it up.  Repeat for all 8 rolls (I actually had enough saukerkraut mixture left over for a  ninth roll, so I made an extra), and set aside  Clean out your skillet (or grab a new one if you're feeling like doing extra dishes).  Heat butter over low heat. Sprinkle in flour, and stir constantly over low heat for about 2 minutes.  Slowly add milk, continuing to stir constantly.  Turn up heat and bring to a boil (still...keeping an eye on it and stirring frequently) till sauce thickens.  Turn down heat, stir in cheese, and continue to stir until melted.  Spoon half of the sauce over potatoes.  Place rolls on top of the potatoes in the baking dish.  Spoon the other half of the sauce over rolls.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. 

So, as I mentioned earlier, I got an extra roll out of this recipe, and it was, afterall, dinnertime when I finished making this dish, so I had the extra and a few potatoes, and it was quite tasty.  I officially like sauerkraut...at least when it's with apples and potatoes chipotle gouda bechamel sauce.  lol :)  How could you not, really?  Anyway, that concludes cooking for this month (unless my Pain au Chocolat actually turns out properly tomorrow, in which case I'll post pictures and a link for the recipe for that.  I was going to type it all up, but holy cow baking has a lot of directions, eh?).

Don't be afraid to leave a question or comment!  :)  I'd love to hear if anyone else tries any of these and how they turn out for you!  Enjoy!  Oh, and I have to give a shout-out to my biggest fans...this is a pic of my puppies, Lucy and Millie, who sit right in the doorway to the kitchen all day when I'm cooking...they're little goofballs :)  Night!

Creamy Chicken Casserole...

This is another recipe from Kayotic Kitchen that looked delicious.  I could've picked all recipes from her website this month, but I thought that would be a little narrow of me, plus all the ones I liked had potatoes...and as much as I like potatoes, having them for every meal for an entire month is still not the best idea in the world.  Anyway, I like how she talks about swapping things in and out to make the same dish with a bunch of different variations so it can more easily transition for seasons, who's coming to dinner, what your kids are willing to eat (if you have kids, which I don't), etc.  I used the recipe as it was, but I'll be keeping in mind alternatives for future use.  Also, I didn't realize she was using a large can of cream of mushroom soup instead of a small one, so I had to recalculate calories with the addition of another small can, so it's now 362 calories per serving (as opposed to the 330 in the menu plan).  That said here's the recipe as I made it today!

Creamy Chicken Casserole
8 Servings, 362 calories each

Ingredients
- 2 oz. bacon
- 1 lb. potatoes, sliced
- 1 lb. chicken breast tenderloins (usually 8-10 strips)
- 8 slices ham (I bought the thin cut Budding ham, so I wound up using 4 slices for each roll instead of 1 of the regular thicker cut ham, for a total of 32 thin slices)
- 8 slices cheese (I used colby jack, but you can use whatever you want)
- 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
- 4 T. sour cream
- 1/2 c. shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar, but use what you like!)
- Seasonings, to taste

*Note:  I used microwave bacon because I didn't read the directions thoroughly before I made my grocery list...and yes, I'm aware that's one of those lessons you're supposed to learn in grade school, but sometimes I forget...either way, it worked out fine, so use whatever you want :)  Also, there's only one can of soup in the picture, but I DID use two. 

Directions
Pre-boil the potatoes (I went ahead and did that in the microwave in a casserole dish...12 minutes on high).  Lay the bacon out on the bottom of a baking pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Assemble the rolls:  Lay out your piece(s) of ham, top with a slice of cheese and a chicken strip, then roll up and put on top of the bacon in the pan.  Repeat for the other 7 strips.  In a separate bowl, mix together cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, and seasonings.  Spoon 2/3 of mixture over rolls.  Top with pre-boiled potatoes.  Top potatoes with remaining soup mixture.  Top the whole thing off with the shredded cheese.  Bake at 400 degrees (uncovered) for approximately 45 minutes.

I've gotta say, I hate handling raw chicken.  Normally I just dump it directly from the package into the hot pan without ever touching it, so actually touching it kinda bothered me.  I don't anticipate this to be an issue for most people...I'm just a little cuckoo, I guess.  Other than that hurdle to overcome, this recipe was totally easy to make.  Plus it looks/smells super tasty.  I'm adding a crescent roll to each serving for a total of 462 calories per serving.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Ham and Potatoes...

Ah yes...another recipe that's not really a recipe.  We used to have this all the time when I was growing up.  One time, many years ago, I made it for a roommate of mine.  When I told her what I was making, she said, "ham and potatoes isn't a recipe...it's just two ingredients???"  To which I say...there's more than two ingredients...and even if there wasn't, what's your point?  A few things to note:  1)  I normally buy the frozen potatoes o'brien from Ore-Ida because it already has peppers and onions in it (and yes, I'm that lazy sometimes), but I just got a bag of hashbrowns this time instead.  2)  It didn't occur to me that swapping to a whole bag of potatoes and adding the onion and pepper to that would impact the number of portions (I was placing my grocery order at 2am...I may not have been quite all there), so it's actually 6 servings instead of the 4 called out in the menu plan.  3) I have some spatial planning issues, so I ALSO didn't realize when I dumped it in the hot frying pan that the pan wasn't nearly large enough for all that, so I then had to pull half out and do it in batches because I don't have a big enough frying pan...my advice: make certain you have a big enough pan to begin with, because it's a major pain in the butt to be pulling half-cooked food out and moving it from place to place to get it finished.  And without further ado:

Ham and Potatoes
6 servings, 356 calories each

Ingredients

- 1 bag hashbrowns
- 1 pkg. ham steak
- 1 onion
- 1 green pepper
- 1/2 c. shredded cheddar
- Olive oil
- Seasonings, to taste

Directions

Dice onion and pepper and add to potatoes.  Coat bottom of pan with olive oil, and put potato mixture into pan over med/med-high heat until tender.  Stir in seasonings.  Cube ham and add to potato mixture.  Continue to heat until desired level of browning is reached (mine steamed a little bit thanks to my spatial meltdown, so it didn't turn out quite as brown as I'd like, but it still tastes delicious, and I got some good color on the ham).  Sprinkle with shredded cheddar and enjoy :)

Originally I was going to add a crescent roll, but the portion was pretty good already, so I decided against it.  So each serving will be approximately 356 calories.

Parmesan Hashbrown Cups...

Ahhhh...more cupcake-shaped food...told you I had some tunnel-vision going on.  Ah well.  The original recipe is at The Yummy Life, and looked too tasty to pass up.  (It is, by the way...I had extras, so I tried one while I was waiting for the next round of cupcake-shaped food to bake).  Not much explanation needed for this one...I'm Irish...it has potatoes...'nuff said.  I had a bunch of extras, so I packed them up in ziploc bags, and I might just eat them as a hashbrown for breakfast too :)

Parmesan Hashbrown Cups
12 Servings, 101 Calories Each

Ingredients:

1 (20 oz) bag Simply Potatoes shredded hash browns
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 c. grated parmesan
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper (I think I probably used more than that...I love pepper)
2 T. olive oil

Directions:

Mix everything together.  Spoon mixture evenly into 12 muffin cups (I didn't grease them and they came out fine, but I was using a non-stick pan, so you might want to do that) and press gently with the back of a spoon.  Bake 60-75 minutes at 350 degrees.  Let rest for 5-10 minutes before carefully removing from tin. 

I'm serving them with my tuna cups for a total of 385 calories each serving. 

Potato & Corn Chowder...

For a little while in college, I worked at a restaurant.  The chef there periodically made this corn chowder with bacon, and it was amazing...he literally only did it like 1 day every couple of months, and everybody went crazy for it when it actually popped up on the menu, myself included.  But that was a long time ago, and I had since kind of forgotten about corn chowder...until Pinterest arrived :)  So I found this Potato & Corn Chowder recipe on Mama Loves Food and I was competely obsessed with it all winter.  I decided to make it one more time before it starts getting much warmer outside, since it's a happy, cozy little recipe.  Potatoes, corn, bacon...what's not to like?  The original recipe called for celery...I don't really do celery unless it has peanut butter and raisins on it (I know...I'm a child sometimes), so I skipped that.  I also skipped the seasoning salt in the original and added my own seasonings.  Just personal preference :)

Potato & Corn Chowder
8 Servings, 325 Calories Each

Ingredients:

1 box pre-cooked microwave bacon, crispy and crumbled
6-7 sm/med Russet potatoes (don't bother peeling them), diced into 1/4"-ish cubes
8 cups frozen corn
1 med/lg sweet yellow onion, diced fine
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
4 c. chicken stock
2 c. half & half
Seasonings (your choice)

Directions:





















Put everything EXCEPT the half & half into the crockpot, set on low, and let it cook for about 10 hours (the original  recipe says you can do it on high for 6 hours if you don't have that kinda time).  Blend with an immersion blender (or pour it in a regular blender) to the texture you like (I leave mine pretty chunky).  Add the half & half and cook, uncovered, for another 15-20 minutes. 

 

I'm having mine with a crescent roll (packaged separately in a ziploc bag, obviously) for a total of 425 calories :)

Potatoes ala Boulangere...

Well, I needed something to go with my meatloaf...and I AM awfully Irish, so I'll take potatoes whenever I can get them.  I originally found this recipe at Kayotic Kitchen, here.  I changed a couple of things, mostly because I take shortcuts cooking whenever possible.  If there's a way to do it faster or easier, I'm there :)  So here goes:

Potatoes ala Boulangere
8 Servings, 117 Calories each

Ingredients:

- 4-5 Russet Potatoes
- 2 Onions
- 1/3 c. Vegetable Broth
- 1/3 c. Milk
- 2 T. Margarine
- Salt
- Pepper
- Garlic Flakes


Directions:

Thinly slice potatoes and onions.  (In the original recipe, it called for the potatoes to be peeled, and then the peeled slices to be rinsed and dried, but I don't have time for all that, and I don't mind the peels on the potatoes).  Grease a 13x9 casserole dish.  Put down a layer of potatoes, then season with salt, pepper, and garlic flake.  Repeat with slices of onions.  Repeat both layers.  In a separate bowl, heat the vegetable broth in the microwave for about 45 seconds.  Add milk and mix.  Pour milk/broth mixture over pototes/onions.  Cut margarine into small pieces and place on top of potatoes/onions.

Cover with foil and bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  Remove foil and bake for an additional 40 minutes. 

As I said in my last post, I'm putting these with meatloaf, for a total of 367 calories per serving.  Enjoy!