Corn & Potato Chowder

This has recently become a household favorite. The original recipe is found here, but we made a few modifications to suit our family's taste and resources. The biggest ones being we use russet potatoes instead of red potatoes, the full pound of bacon to avoid having leftover bacon go bad in our fridge, and no onion, because we felt it overpowered the chowder.

It is indeed a family pleaser. Our potato-loving toddler loves it. My meat and potatoes husband loves it. And I find several opportunities to dip a spoon into the cooking pot and make sure it tastes right; After all you can't be too careful, the taste might change on you if you don't sample it frequently! It takes a little time to prepare, so it's always nice to have a second set of hands around to wrangle the kids while you are cooking.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. butter/margarine
1/4 c. flour
1 c. water
2 1/4 c. milk
2 tsp. chicken bouillon
3 medium-sized potatoes
1 can of corn, drained
1 pack of bacon
Chili powder
Pepper

Directions:

1. Cut up and cook bacon until crispy. Set on a paper towel to drain the grease.

2. Peel and dice potatoes. The smaller the potato is cut the faster it'll cook. You'll want these pretty small, otherwise they'll take forever to cook.

3. In a cooking pot, melt butter. Have flour and water on hand. Once melted, whisk the flour in to make a roux (butter and flour should be completely mixed together). Add water and whisk to dissolve the roux completely.

4. Add milk and bouillon.

5. Add potatoes and simmer over medium heat. Stir frequently as the chowder heats up (the hotter it is the more you need to stir) to avoid burning the bottom of the chowder (don't worry, it doesn't make the chowder taste burnt if you get a little burnt at the bottom). This step can take awhile (40+ minutes) Using the red potatoes, instead of the russet potatoes, may cut down on how long this will take. Or you may choose to heat it on high to cut down on cooking time, but you up your chances of getting slightly-burnt chowder stuck at the bottom of the pan to clean out later (again, this doesn't affect the taste, that I've noticed).

6. Add corn and bacon.

7. Add chili powder and pepper to taste. You can also add some cheddar cheese, salt, or hot sauce to suit your family's taste.

8. Serve and enjoy!

Oven-Broiled Tilapia and Homemade Sweet Potato and French Fries

This is a quick and easy sub for fish and chips and both the regular and sweet potato fries were amazing with the spices. Hannah liked it with ketchup on both the fish and fries. This meal is also super filling and delicious! This may be one of my new favorite meal.

Lemon Garlic Tilapia

Ingredients

4 tilapia fillets
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Rinse tilapia fillets under cool water, and pat dry with paper towels.
3. Place fillets in baking dish. Pour lemon juice over fillets, then drizzle butter on top. Sprinkle with garlic, parsley, and pepper.
4. Bake in preheated oven until the fish is white and flakes when pulled apart with a fork, about 30 minutes.

Oven Baked Sweet Potato/Homestyle Fries


1 sweet potato and 4 regular potatoes
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t coriander
1 t kosher salt
1 t parsley
fresh ground pepper (about 10 turns of a pepper mill)

Directions

Slice your sweet potatoes into french fry shape and size. Regular potatoes can be cut larger, like steak fries, but not sweet potatoes which will sometimes result in a big soggy mess, so stay small to get the best results.

Put sliced potatoes in a bowl and drizzle olive oil over them, then sprinkle flavoring over and toss them to coat completely. Using Broiler, cook approx. 10 min on one side, then flip and cook another 10 min. Check to make sure they are fully cooked on both sides.


Reading this is making me hungry. I think I'm going to go finish off the leftover fries...

Slow Cooker Potato Soup with a Zip

I have made this soup a couple of times. It's great when I want potato soup but don't want to spend an hour peeling, cutting, and cooking the potatoes before I can eve start making the soup. While my mom's potato soup is yummy, this is I can throw together in the morning while Lynne's eating dinner.

Two cans of cheese soup can be used if you can't find the Fiesta cheese; it just won't have the kick that it would otherwise. It only half fills my slow cooker, though, so there's a ring at the level of the soup from the burnt on cheesy goodness, so make sure you spray your cooker. Or use one of those throw away liners.

I prefer it with rolls, but I prefer all soups (and most other meals) with rolls or bread. Lynne likes it; Jeff likes it; Melanie likes it; I LOVE it; and Greg & Zach can take it or leave it. But then Greg & Zach change their minds on what they like daily, so...

Recipe from here

Ingredients

• 5 medium potatoes, peeled, and cubed
• 2 cups cooked cubed ham
• 1 cup fresh broccoli florets, cut very fine
• 1 (10 ounce) can cheddar cheese soup
• 1 (10 ounce) can Fiesta nacho cheese soup
• 1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
• 2 1/2 (10 ounce) cans milk, use soup cans
• paprika
  

Directions

1. Spray slow cooker with vegetable spray, than add potatoes, broccoli, and ham.

2. In a large saucepan, combine soups, and milk.

3. Heat just enough to mix until smooth.

4. add to slow cooker , stir well.

5. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours.

6. When serving add a dash of paprika , if desired.

Online Collection of Recipes

I have a stack of cookbooks taking up precious space in my cupboard right now. But guess how often I pull them out and find a new recipe. Yeah, not often. In fact, most of my recipes are on the computer since I haven't printed off Jeff's family cookbook or my cookbook with recipes from my family. Plus, I have about a billion recipes that I have found online that I want to try out.

So, here is where I am going to list the ones that we have tried and liked. And hopefully, I'll get some help from others in the family. Ready? Let's get to cooking.