Loaded Bake Potato Soup

Good Morning. I know many have asked for the recipe for the Loaded Bake Potato Soup I made the other night which was delish. Tina from Mommy's Kitchen has a awesome blog which has many amazing recipes. I just made her Hot Corn Dip which was a huge hit at a party I went to yesterday. I will post that later. Here is the Soup recipe along with her Cheesy Bread. Here is the link to Mommy's Kitchen stop by and visit. http://www.mommyskitchen.net/. Thanks Tina for letting me share your recipe :o)


Loaded Baked Potato Soup

4 - baking potatoes
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup all purpose flour
4 - cups milk
2 - cups chicken broth
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
12 - slices bacon, cooked & crumbled
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 - cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 - 8oz container sour cream

Bake potatoes in the oven or microwave. Scoop out the inside of the potato and set aside. Cook bacon in the oven while the potatoes bake at 350 degrees until crispy. Crumble and set aside. Melt butter in a large pot over medium low heat. Stir in flour to make a roux. Cook about one minute stirring constantly. Gradually pour in the chicken broth and milk while stirring. Turn the heat to medium and cook the soup until it starts to thicken. Add the potatoes, salt, pepper, bacon and cheese. Stir well and continue to heat for about 15 minutes allowing the flavors to blend. Mix in sour cream until well blended. Serve immediately. Garnish with green onions, additional bacon and shredded cheese.

Cheesy Pull Apart Bread

2 - 7.5 oz cans refrigerated biscuits
8 - oz shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 - tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp oregano (optional)
1/4 - cup melted butter or margarine

Cut each biscuit into fourths. I find that this is a lot easier if you use scissors. Mix the shredded cheese, garlic powder and oregano in a large bowl. Add the biscuit pieces and toss to coat. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and pour in the biscuit mixture. Do not smooth out the lumps the lumpier the better for pulling apart the bread. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes then cover with foil and bake a additional 10 minutes. When done drizzle with melted butter and serve. Optional - melted butter can be added just before placing the foil over the bread and baking the additional 10 minutes.

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a great New Year. We had a very nice NYE at a friends house where we were all safe and sound. I don't know about anyone else but I am wiped out after Christmas and New Years and really working in slow motion to get back to normal. My resolution is to take more time to cook for my family. Since starting my new job in September I really haven't had time to make many home cooked meals which anyone who knows me, knows that is hard for me. I received two cookbooks for Christmas on Korean Cooking. I don't know how many know that I am half Korean and I absolutely love Korean food. I am planning to try a new Korean recipe at leat once a month. I know my kids will be very happy about that. I am going to try really hard to post more recipes here soon. I am also planning to post recipes from friends of mine who are amazing cooks and they make some awesome dishes. Please make comments on any recipes you have tried giving me your likes and dislikes. I really would love feedback :) don't be shy.

Sweet & Salty Chex Mix

Did some more Holiday baking today. One of my favorite snacks is the Sweet & Salty Chex Mix. I saw this on the back of one of the holiday shaped chocolate chips bags many years ago and have made it part of my tradition to make for Christmas and Halloween. I adapted it to my taste adding preztles and my favorites Bugels. Bugels are tough to find sometimes, you have to really look hard in the chip section. Hope you enjoy!

Note: Change up the M&M colors to suite whatever holiday or event you are making it for.

Sweet & Salty Chex Mix

• 9 cups chex mix (your choice of flavors)
• 4 cups of popcorn (I use microwave) 1 bag is more than 4 cups
• 1 1/2 cups of dry-roasted peanuts
• 1 cup pretzle sticks
• 1 cup bugels
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 bag of your favorite colored M& M's

Preheat oven to 250,grease large cookie sheet or 2.

Mix: cereal, popcorn, peanuts, pretzles and bugels in a large bowl.

Combine: brown sugar, butter and corn syrup in a medium heavy duty sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat; stirring constantly. Boil, without stirring for 5 minutes (watching carefully). Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and baking soda. Pour over the cereal mixture and stir to coat evenly.

Bake: for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool completely in pan stirring frequently to break apart.

ADD M&M'S AFTER MIX IS COMPLETELY COOL. If not you will have a gooey mess.

Store in airtight container.

Tis the Season!

Tis the Season to make "Peanut Butter Balls". Super easy to make and so delicious. It's a tradition in our house to make these every year. I will be making these babies on Weds. night.

PEANUT BUTTER BALLS

• 1 lb powdered sugar
• 2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup butter; softened
• 2 cups rice krispy cereal; crushed in a ziplock bag.
• 2 (12 oz) pkgs milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips.

Combine sugar, peanut butter and butter in a bowl. Mix until smooth. Add cereal and gently stir until combined. Roll mixture into individual balls and put on a coo

kie sheet. Refridgereate for 20 minutes. Melt chocolate and dip each ball into chocolate. Keep in a cool area or in refrigerator.

Enjoy!
Kimm

Crockpot Carnitas

This is a wonderful recipe for crockpot carnitas. I make this and have tacos and any leftovers we make green enchiladas with.

I just rub this mixture all over the pork and let sit a few days before I put in crockpot.

Crockpot Carnitas

Serves 6-8

• 1 (4 lb) pork shoulder or pork butt
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
• 3 teaspoons seasoning salt 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2-2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• 2 onions, thinly sliced

Put meat in crockpot and cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4 hours. If you have too much you can use the left overs and put BBQ sauce on it and then make BBQ beef sandwiches.

Homemade Clam Chowder

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. Things have been busy with work and keeping up with the kids. Today was a nice cool and rainy morning and I wanted to make some sort of soup. Just seemed like the perfect day. I decided on making Clam Chowder. Everyone in my house loves Clam Chowder so it was a safe call.

Here is the Simple recipe.

CLAM CHOWDER

Serves: 4-6

2 Cups Water

1 pinch of Salt

4 Cups of peeled chopped potatoes (I cube mine)

1/2 C finely chopped onion

1/4 cup butter

3 T all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp celery seed

2 T dried parsley flakes (I used 1)

1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk

2 (10oz) cans baby clams (I only use 1 can as it was way too many clams for us) It's your preference.

salt and pepper to your taste

1. Cook potato in 2 cups of water with pinch of salt until tender, but DO NOT drain.
2. In a small pan, saute onion in butter until tender, add flour, cayenne, and celery seed; stir well.
3. Drain juice from clams into potatoes and reserve clams for later.
4. Add parsley and milk to potato mixture, and stir well.
5. Heat potato mixture, and add onion/flour mixture, stirring constantly until thickened slightly.
6. Stir in clams, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Cook for 5-10 minutes till heated through.

Enjoy with some nice crusty french bread.

"T's" Pizza Dip

This is a dip that my friend Tina makes all the time and it gets rave reviews ALWAYS. You can do your own variation of it adding different toppings of your choice but I am the kind of gal who likes to keep things simple. Here is my version of the Pizza Dip.

Pizza Dip

• 2 (80z) Cream Cheese; softened
• 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning (McCormick)
• 3 garlic cloves, pressed or crushed
• 1 jar pizza sauce
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 1 cup Mozzerella cheese; shredded
• Pepperoni (they have some cool mini ones in the grocery store) any will do.

Directions:

1. In a bowl mix cream cheese , italian seasoning and Garlic. Spread into a baking dish.
2. Pour pizza sauce over top and spread evenly over cream cheese mixture.
3. Spread chopped onions over sauce evenly.
4. Top with cheese and pepperoni.
5. Now you can add whatever extras you want like: Olives, Bell Peppers etc... its all up to you

Bake at 350 until cooked through. Serve with Tortilla chips.