Category: MISC

Creamy Cheddar Potato Soup

 Join me at My Sweet and Savory and at Bizzy B. Bakes.  I would love to have you Cook with Chaya.

I am one of those gals who is cuddling by the non-existent fire place because outside, there are great mounds of snow, some weeks old and ice on the sidewalks.  One can slide from place to place.  Getting out of my car, the other night, I was greeted with a mountain blocking my way.  I wonder how many people threw their snow in that spot.

The truth is, there is no place left to throw snow for many of us.  We have piled up around the driveway, along the sidewalk, against the house.  You name it….there is snow.

These are days to stay home and make a warming pot of soup and what better than a creamy cheddar potato soup?

Cheddar Potato Soup adapted from Taste of Home Annual 2003
Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup chopped onion
  • 1/3 cup chopped celery
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 4 cups diced peeled potatoes
  • 3 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • Dash paprika

Method:

  • In a large saucepan, saute onion, red pepper and celery in butter until tender. 
  • Add potatoes and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
  • Puree in small batches in a blender until smooth; return to the pan. Stir in the cheese, milk, pepper and paprika. Cook and stir over low heat until the cheese is melted.  I should have used my immersion blender but I forgot.  It would have been much easier than shlepping out the blender and then wash out the jar.


CHOCOLATE PUDDING CAKE… SAVE ROOM FOR DESSERT

I’m always on the lookout for over-the-top dessert recipes that are not only sinfully delicious, but also relatively simple in their preparation.  My friend Melinda brought this recipe to me about a month ago, after she had made it for her family.  It’s from the Australian Taste.com site; the original recipe can be found at the link.  I’ve tweaked my version, using butter rather than reduced-fat margarine, as well as the addition of vanilla extract.  I did use skim milk, as that’s all I had in the fridge.  The outcome?  Absolutely over-the-top chocolatey goodness!  Seriously folks, this is one delicious cake, complete with its own chocolate sauce!  The additional of vanilla ice cream made it sublime, and if you’re aiming to impress anyone, them make this cake, add the ice cream, and then, finish it with a dollop of whipped cream.  Whatever you were hoping to gain, it will be given to you on a platter!  It’s that good, and even better?  It’s absurdly quick and easy.  Make it.  Tonight. 

Chocolate Pudding Cake
1 cup self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, divided
1/2 cup cocoa powder, divided
1/2 cup milk (skim, 2%, whatever you have)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups boiling water.

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Butter or spray a 6-cup (1.5 L) baking dish, set aside.
  • In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa, vanilla, melted butter, and milk.  Beat until mixture is smooth, then pour into prepared baking dish.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining brown sugar and cocoa; sprinkle mixture onto batter.
  • Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, then carefully pour over batter.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes; serve immediately with ice cream and/or whipped cream.

Recipe adapted from Taste.com.au

Cheeseburger Soup

CHEESEBURGER SOUP adapted from Recipes from Dawn’s Daily Life
1/2 pound ground beef
3/4 cup of chopped onion
3/4 cup of shredded carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
1 teaspoon dried basil
4 tablespoons butter, divided
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups diced, peeled potatoes (1-3/4lbs)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups (8oz) processed cheese (Velveeta)
1-1/2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup sour cream

Directions:  In a 3-quart saucepan, brown beef; drain and set aside. In the same saucepan, saute onions, carrots, celery, basil and parsley in 1 tablespoon butter until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add broth, potatoes and beef; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
Meanwhile in a small skillet, melt remaining butter. Add flour, cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly. Add to soup; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add cheese, milk, salt and pepper; cook and stir until cheese melts. Remove from heat; blend in sour cream.

Modifications:
-I used 93/7 lean ground beef
-I used whole wheat flour
-I used light sour cream

Brown the ground beef.  Once browned, pull it out of the pan and set it aside.
Peel and dice the potatoes, dice the celery, shred the carrots, and dice an onion.
Throw the veggies in the same pan that the beef cooked in along with 1 Tbsp of butter.  Cook until tender (about 8-10 minutes).
Add the chicken broth and potatoes.  Put the ground beef back into the pot.  Cook on high until boiling, cover, and reduce.  Cook until potatoes are soft.

While the potatoes are cooking, melt the rest of the butter in a separte pan.  Add the flour.

Add the flour into the soup pot and stir well.
Add the milk.
Add the Velveeta and stir until melted.
Once the cheese melts, pull the soup off of the stove and add the sour cream.  Stir until the sour cream is mixed well.
Here’s what you’ll end up with:
I’m not sure it tastes like a cheeseburger but it does taste fantastic! 

THE GREAT APERS, PUN INTENDED!

This was in the African rain forest section of the zoo, and these guys were soooooooooooo cute.  There was an African beat music playing and they kept putting on their “capes” and would then dance around keeping beat with the music!

GOOD READING & COMMON SENSE LOGIC

I was sitting at my computer trying to come up with a positive piece for Saturday after a particularly trying Friday filled with more uncertainties than certainties regarding my situation when my friend sent the following email.  It was such a timely piece of information I decided sharing it with you was way more important to anything I had to say, so please read it and consider all that you do in your life to make it a long and healthy life. 

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY (‘TRY’, BEING THE KEY WORD) TO ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY .. 

Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins : 

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size. 


2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person’s lifetime. 

3. When the person’s immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors. 

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, but also to environmental, food and lifestyle factors. 

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet to eat more adequately and healthy, 4-5 times/day and by including supplements will strengthen the immune system. 


6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, etc. 

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs. 

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction. 

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications. 


10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply. 

*CANCER CELLS FEED ON:
a. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses, but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color a better alternative is Bragg’s aminos or sea salt. 

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer cells are being starved. 

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little other meat,  like chicken. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer. 


d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).. 

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative  and has cancer fighting properties. Water is best to drink, purified if possible or at least filtered. This helps to remove known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it. 


12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic buildup. 

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body’s killer cells to destroy the cancer cells. 

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals,EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy cancer cells..Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body’s normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells. 


15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life. 

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells. 

1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.. 

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well. Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don’t freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital , was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn’t bad but you don’t know what is in the paper. It’s just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

Simple Saturday: Sweet and Spicy Chicken

Hello my foodie friends and welcome to Simple Saturday!

When I read Jenn’s post yesterday here at Our Krazy Kitchen featuring Sweet and Sticky Grilled Chicken it reminded me of an appetizer I made way back in 2009 that my kids just loved – Sweet and Spicy Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites.

I found myself suddenly craving a sweet and spicy chicken dish!

I had some chicken cutlets in the fridge ready to go for last night but had no idea what I was going to make. I don’t have access to a grill at the moment and didn’t want to make appetizer portions for the chicken bites – and didn’t have enough bacon to wrap all the chicken bites anyway. I decided to wing it and come up with something similar. It’s more of a simple process than a recipe.
.
I washed and salted the cutlets, dredged them in a combo of brown sugar and a Cajun seasoning blend – lots of Cajun seasonings! I placed the cutlets in a baking dish, topped with crumbled  bacon (I used the precooked packaged kind), baked for 25 minutes at 350 and served with steamed broccoli and rolls.
It was a nice dinner, I love all the flavors of this chicken dish together, but to be honest there are a couple things I would change about this next time – I would cook the chicken on a rack instead of in a baking dish and instead of just coating the chicken in the brown sugar and Cajun seasoning I would top it with a heaping helping for more flavor – and  I know this would be even better on the grill!

Join me over at Seaside Simplicity for more quick and easy recipes.

Have a wonderful weekend!