Loaded Baked Potato Soup

This is not a 30 minute recipe, but requires some planning. This recipe can be made with cold baked potatoes, but warm ones are easier to use. This recipe can be made in 30 minutes if you bake the potatoes and fry the bacon the night before. If you baked the potatoes the night before go ahead and mash them.

•  1 lb. bacon, diced
•  1 onion, diced
•  5 large Russet potatoes baked and mashed (about 8 cups)
•  1 can chicken stock
• ¼ cup flour
• 2 cups heavy cream (half and half or plain milk works fine)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 3/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided

Sauté the diced bacon until crisp in a large nonstick sauté pan, remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and drain. Reserve ¼ cup of the bacon grease.

Sauté the diced onion until brown, then add the flour and cook until brown.

Pour in the can of chicken stock, cream and sour cream and stir until thick.

Add the potatoes and heat until warm all the way through.

Serve with toppings of bacon, cheese and chopped green onions.

Chicken Breast with White Wine Sauce

Ingredients:

2 full boneless chicken breasts (approximately 1 ½ pounds)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

½ cup White Wine

Stand the chicken breast on their side and cut in half. Place the breasts on a platter and salt and pepper both sides.

Pour olive oil into a large sauté pan and turn the heat to medium high.

Place the breasts in the pan and sauté for about four minutes on each side.

Remove the breasts to a clean platter when you have cooked both sides and pour the wine into the sauté pan turning the heat on high. You will want to scrape all of the brown bits up.

When the alcohol has evaporated place the breasts back in the pan and cover with a lid, let the breasts heat back up.

Serve the breasts with a spoonful of the sauce.

Ginger Bread Cookies

Reiko loves these cookies that I thought were from my sister Janie, but actually from my mother.

Ginger Bread Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 Tbsp white vinegar

1 egg

5 cups flour

1 ½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 Tbsp powdered ginger

1 cup molasses

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

Cream the shortening and the sugar. Add all the wet ingredients and mix well. Add all of the dry ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate. Roll until thin, cut and decorate. Bake at 375 degrees for 5 minutes.

Thirty Minute Pasta Sauce

This sauce is an answer to when I started cooking for my family: I would brown a pound of ground meat and pour in a jar of prepared sauce and call it good.

This sauce can be tailored to your individual likes: mild, sweet or spicy sausage. I do find that working with bulk sausage is easier in a pinch as opposed to links that have to be forced out of their skins.

I prefer “Muir Glen No Salt Added” diced tomatoes because they are organic and are the closest thing to tomatoes only. The tomato paste gives this sauce that “dining out” taste.

This recipe can also be adapted to using fresh tomatoes, which is one of my favorite ways of enjoying this recipe.

Serve over spaghetti cooked al dente with a green salad.

Thirty Minute Pasta Sauce

Serves 8 (think leftovers and lunches)

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 medium onion coarsely chopped

1 pound Italian sausage

1 glass white wine

2 cans diced tomatoes

1 can tomato paste (8 ounce)

Directions:

1. Pour olive oil in a sauce pan and turn heat to medium. Add the onion and sauté for a few minutes until it becomes translucent.
2. Add the sausage and break apart with a cooking spoon or a potato masher.
3. When the meat mixture has turned pink, add the wine and turn the heat to high, continue stirring until you hear the “sizzle” change.
4. Add the diced tomatoes and the tomato paste and turn the heat to medium low and continue to simmer until the pasta is cooked.

The morning cup

Ok, so the first tip has nothing to do with supper, but how to start saving money.

I am amazed by the number of people who arrive at work with cups of coffee from McDonalds, Starbucks, etc. What do you pay for a cup of coffee?  Two, three dollars? Let’s say that you spend $20 a week on coffee on the way to work; multiply that by two if you have a partner.

Now stay with me on this.

I used to not like homemade coffee either; I can stomach Folger’s, but absolutely hate Maxwell House.

You want to have a better cup of coffee at home? Buy better coffee and make it stronger.

I use “Sam’s Choice Fair Trade French Roast” and use a tablespoon of coffee for every six ounce cup. I spend about six dollars for coffee that makes enough coffee for about twelve “ventis” from Starbucks.

Buy your coffee from Starbucks or if you can from someone who roasts their coffee on sight like Dunn Brothers.

I use about a third of a cup of coffee and six coffee cups of water and my machine only takes a few minutes to brew. It even has a timer. No lines and I have just saved you about $30 per week. In a few weeks, you could afford to purchase a nice coffee maker and even use spring water.

Can’t drink all of the coffee in the morning? I love iced coffee in the evening and it is really easy to make; pour the cooled coffee over ice.

Why I am doing this blog

I have wanted to create a blog for quite some time; the only question would be what the subject would be? I am passionate about reading, cooking and eating. The goal of this blog is to help families do two things: enjoy home-cooked meals in 30 minutes or less and save money.

There will be recipes from other people (they will all be properly credited), techniques that I have learned and ways to cut time out of preparing a family meal.

I will be operating from the premise that too many people eat out too often. The reasons are quite frequently that think that they don’t have enough time to prepare a meal given their busy schedule. In my experience, I find that you end up taking more time to eat, spending more money and getting inferior quality meals.

There will be no condensed soup recipes or prepackaged meals here. I like to see what is going into my family’s meals.