Baked Potato Soup

I made this recipe a few years ago and was suddenly craving it the other day. It's sooooooo yummy on a chilly night! Pure comfort food.

Recipe from Cooking Light

Ingredients:

• 4 baking potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds
• 
  2/3 cup all-purpose flour (about 3 ounces)

• 6 cups 2% reduced-fat milk

• 1 cup (4 ounces) reduced-fat shredded extrasharp cheddar cheese, divided


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


• 1 cup reduced-fat sour cream


• 6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled


• Cracked black pepper
  

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400°.

Pierce potatoes with a fork; bake at 400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes; coarsely mash.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Place flour in a large Dutch oven; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes). Add mashed potatoes, 3/4 cup cheese, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat.

Stir in sour cream. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated (do not boil). Ladle 1 1/2 cups soup into each of 8 bowls. Sprinkle each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons cheese, and about 1 tablespoon bacon. Garnish with cracked pepper, if desired.

Food Shopping on the Cheap - Take 3

Once again, this was difficult since I was buying a lot of holiday items....but I still had a decent amount of coupons and made out ok. Better than no savings at all :-)

Hopefully come January, I can resume spending a lot less.

Food Shopping on the Cheap - Take 2

I didn't have high hopes for this week since I had to buy a lot of Turkey Day items and purchased a lot more than usual...but I still managed to do awesome, and I even spent enough to go back for a free turkey :-)

Food Shopping on the Cheap - Take 1

This is my first post that isn't a recipe my friends...But I thought I'd share that I have started to take control of my food shopping and become a coupon clipper and a sales stalker. I was getting tired of spending $150 - $200 at the dang food store all the time, and still feeling like I had nothing to make. I thought it would be interesting, not only for others to check out my savings, but also for myself to see how I do each week.

Thanks to the help of many many many websites and the asbury park press inserts, I have started to match sales with coupons and only stock up on items that are only on sale. It took way more time that I had hoped, between clipping the Sunday paper's coupons, searching and cutting coupons online, and looking thru Ad's. Not to mention the time it takes in the actual food store looking at my list and coupons and matching up the correct sale items.

It wasn't easy, and it took up a lot of my time...but this week I only spent $65 on 41 items.

Here's to Week One.

Thyme-Garlic Chicken

Recipe from BHG

The flavor was delicious! But next time I'll try doubling the liquids. Chicken was a little bit dry.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
4 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 teaspoons dried thyme, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Directions:
1. Clean chicken. Sprinkle chicken with garlic, thyme, salt. Place chicken in a 4-quart slow cooker. Pour orange juice and vinegar over chicken.

2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6 to 7 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 to 3-1/2 hours. Remove chicken from slow cooker; cover and keep warm. Discard cooking juices.

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

Recipe from here

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup vegetable or canola oil
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; whisk to blend. In a the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth and light in color, about 1 minute. Blend in the oil, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract until well combined. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Gently fold in the butterscotch chips with a spatula.

Drop mounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them a few inches apart. Bake, rotating the sheets halfway through baking, until the tops feel set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 14-16 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheets 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Roast Chicken with Balsamic Bell Peppers

Recipe from Cooking Light

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Cooking spray
2 cups thinly sliced red bell pepper
1 cup thinly sliced yellow bell pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots (about 1 large)
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Combine 1/2 teaspoon salt, fennel seeds, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, garlic powder, and oregano. Brush chicken with 1 1/2 teaspoons oil; sprinkle spice rub over chicken. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan. Add chicken; cook 3 minutes or until browned. Turn chicken over; cook 1 minute. Arrange chicken in an 11 x 7–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes or until done.

3. Heat remaining olive oil over medium-high heat. Add bell peppers, shallots, and rosemary; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Stir in vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Serve bell pepper mixture over chicken.

Chicken Stuffed with Spinach, Feta, and Pine Nuts

Recipe from Cooking Light

5 ounces fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Heat a large nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add spinach to pan; cook 1 minute or until spinach wilts, tossing constantly. Place spinach in a colander; press until barely moist. Wipe pan clean.

3. Combine spinach, cheese, nuts, thyme, juice, and garlic. Cut a horizontal slit through the thickest portion of each chicken breast half to form a pocket. Stuff 3 tablespoons filling into each pocket. Seal with wooden picks. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.

4. Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 3 minutes on each side or until brown. Add broth, and cover pan. Place pan in oven. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until done.

Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili

Recipe from This Blog

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped (I omitted)
• 1 16-oz can black beans
• 1 16-oz can kidney beans
• 1 8-oz can tomato sauce
• 10 oz package frozen corn kernels
• 2 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes w/chilies
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp chili powder
  
• 24 oz. (3) boneless skinless chicken breasts
• chili peppers, chopped (optional)
  
• chopped fresh cilantro
• shredded cheese
• sour cream
• 1 avocado

Combine beans, onion, chili peppers, corn, tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder and taco seasoning in a slow cooker. Place chicken on top and cover. Cook on high for 6 hours. Half hour before serving, shred chicken in crockpot with fork.

I served over brown rice and topped with shredded cheese, sour cream, fresh cilantro, & avocado.

Chili Bacon Burgers

These are ssoooooo deeeelicious!!!

Recipe from Rachael Ray

Ingredients:
8 thick slices center-cut bacon
2 tablespoons EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 pounds ground sirloin
1 small onion, half grated and half finely chopped, divided (i omitted)
1 to 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons (2 palmfuls) chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
Salt and ground black pepper
8 thin slices pepper jack or cheddar cheese
4 Kaiser rolls, split
1/2 cup chili sauce or chipotle salsa

Preparation:
Cook bacon. Let cool while you prepare the burgers.
Place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons. {Or use the Grill, which is what I did}. While the pan heats up, combine the ground sirloin with the grated onion, garlic, jalapeño and spices. Season with salt and pepper, and mix everything together with your hands.
Score the meat into four with the side of your hand and shape each portion into four large patties, dropping them into the hot pan as you shape them. Cook to desired doneness, about 6 minutes per side for medium. In the last 2 minutes of cooking, lay 2 pieces of cheese over each burger and tent the pan loosely with foil to melt the cheese.
Toast the rolls under the broiler {Or on the grill}. Serve the burgers on the toasted buns topped with chili sauce or salsa, some chopped onion, 2 strips of bacon.
Enjoy!!