Baked Potato Soup

Typically on Sunday mornings, while Russell is watching the college football recaps on ESPN (as if he didn’t watch all the games the day before), I will sit down and plan our menu for the next week. I find this really helpful and keeps me from worrying about what we are going to have for dinner each night during the week. I love adding homemade soups to our menu when the weather gets cooler! This baked potato soup is one of our favorites, and it took me several attempts to find a recipe that we really love. Other potato soups I tried were either too thick or too soupy; but like baby bear says--this soup was just right! :)

I baked the potatoes the night before and fried the bacon the morning we were to have this soup in order to cut down on the amount of time I was in the kitchen at dinnertime. As a result, the soup came together in less than 30 minutes. 

Baked Potato Soup

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Ingredients:

• 4-5 medium to large baking potatoes
• 2/3 cup flour
• 6 cups 2% milk
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions (I omitted)

Toppings:

• Bacon, cooked and crumbled 
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Green onions, chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet or large pan with aluminum foil. Pierce potatoes with a knife or fork. Place potatoes on pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until potatoes are tender. After potatoes have cooled, peel and place them in a medium sized bowl. Coarsely mash potatoes and set aside.

In a large soup pot, add the flour. Over medium heat, slowly whisk in milk until smooth. While whisking often, cook over medium heat until thick, about 8 minutes. Add potatoes, cheese, salt, and pepper. Stir until cheese is melted. 

Stir in sour cream and green onions and cook on low until soup is heated through (do not boil). Serve topped with bacon, cheese, and green onions.

Source: Originally adapted from Cooking Light, as seen on Two Peas and Their Pod

Cheesy Mexican Corn Dip

Now that football season is in full swing, I plan on making several appetizers throughout the day on Saturdays. For the first Saturday of the season I made a cheesy mexican corn dip as well as a crab dip. 

This cheesy Mexican corn dip is perfect for snacking on during football games. I halved the recipe below thinking that Russell and I certainly didn’t need a full recipe, I was wrong. We loved this dip and I really wish I had made more. No worries though, the next time I make it, I will definitely be making the full recipe. The sweet corn with the spicy peppers creates a wonderful flavor combination!

This recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of chipotle peppers in adobe sauce. The only can of chipotle peppers in adobe sauce that I found was huge, so I froze each pepper individually on a cookie sheet and then packaged them in a Ziploc bag to save for later. I cut out as many seeds from the peppers as possible, but the dip was still somewhat spicy. Admittedly, I do not like too much heat and I would recommend only using one pepper (without seeds) for the full recipe.

Cheesy Mexican Corn Dip

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Ingredients:

• 2 cups shredded mild cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 2 Tablespoons chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chilies
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
• 1 small tomato, seeded and diced
• 2 Tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 1 green green onion, chopped (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease an 8-inch baking dish. 

In a medium bowl, combine cheeses, chipotle peppers, green chilies, mayonnaise, garlic powder, and corn. 

Spread into 8-inch baking dish and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until cheese is golden and bubbly.

Top with diced tomato, cilantro, and green onion, if using. Serve warm with tortilla chips. 

Source: Originally adapted from: Gina Marie’s Kitchen, as seen on: Kitchen Simplicity

Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts with Maple-Cinnamon Glaze

Fall is here! Well, at least that’s what I’ve been telling myself! I took advantage of all the fresh produce that goes along with the summertime, but now I am ready to begin enjoying some fall flavors--one of which is pumpkin. These pumpkin doughnuts are the first thing of the season that I used pumpkin in, but I can guarantee they won’t be the last. These baked doughnuts are so simple to make. I reduced the original recipe to only make 6 doughnuts which is reflected below. The glaze on these doughnuts is wonderful. I decided to drizzle the icing, keeping in mind that Russell does not like too much. I also didn’t have any maple extract on hand so I used maple syrup. The maple flavor was present but I think I will use maple extract next time. 

Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts with Maple-Cinnamon Glaze

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Ingredients:

Doughnuts:

• 2/3 cup cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons light brown sugar, packed*
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons white sugar*
• 1 Tablespoon butter, melted
• 1/3 cup pure canned pumpkin puree
• 2 teaspoons milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoons maple extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons milk 

*Half of a tablespoon is 1 1/2 teaspoons.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a 6-well doughnut pan with non-stick pan. 

In a small bowl, combine cake flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon, brown sugar and white sugar.

In a medium sized bowl, melt butter. Stir in pumpkin puree. Add milk, egg, and vanilla extract, stir until combined. 

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Evenly distribute the batter in the doughnut pan. Bake 6-7 minutes. Let cool 1-2 minutes in the pan and then remove to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

For the glaze: In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, maple extract, ground cinnamon, and milk. Stir until combined. If you would like your glaze to be thinner, add a little more milk until you reach the desired consistency.

Drizzle glaze over doughnuts.

Adapted from: Taste and Tell

Russell’s Birthday Cake: Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Icing

This past weekend was a big weekend for us. Russell was off on Friday for Labor day (he had Monday off too), his birthday was this past weekend, and college football started!  When I asked Russell what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday he said dirt cake. I love dirt cake as much as the next person, but since we were having friends over to celebrate I thought it might be good to have an actual cake as well. Russell loves chocolate cake so I decided to make a small (6”) cake incase someone didn’t want dirt cake for dessert. Russell had a great birthday and Alabama’s weekend opener against Michigan went great, we won 41-14!

I made my new favorite chocolate cake that is so simple. I multiplied the original recipe by 1.5 so I would have enough for a 3-tier 6” cake. You will find below the different amounts that you will need to make different cake sizes. I didn’t get any pictures after the cake was cut, but it was great. I had just enough icing for a 3-tier, 6-inch cake so if you are making a larger cake you will probably need to double the icing recipe below. 

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Icing

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For the cake: I have made this cake recipe before and it can be found here: Chocolate Cake

If you are looking to make...

• 1 dozen cupcakes: use the original recipe (bake for 18-20 minutes)
• 1- 6” inch 2-tier cake: use original recipe (bake for 25-30 minutes)
• 1- 6” inch 3-tier cake: multiply original recipe by 1.5 (bake for 25-30 minutes)
• 1- 8” inch 2 tier cake: multiply recipe by two (bake for 35-40 minutes) 

Hershey’s Chocolate Icing:

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter (8 Tablespoons), melted
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

In a medium sized bowl, beat melted butter and cocoa powder until smooth. Alternately add the powdered sugar and milk. Beat until smooth. Stir in vanilla extract. Makes around 2 cups. 

Source: Cake--Simply Recipes, Icing-- Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Icing