Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Potato Soup

I've challenged myself to cook one new recipe a week for dinner through the end of April. Last week was the chicken corn chowder and tonight I made a potato cheese soup. Yes, I like soups... a lot. The potato cheese soup was good, not too over-filling and seemed 'easy' to eat. Two thumbs up.


Potato Cheese Soup
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 TB olive oil
2 15oz cans chicken broth
5 small red potatoes diced with skins on
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/4-1/2 cup chopped carrot
2 cups milk
1/4 cup flour
2 cups cheddar cheese
1tsp parsley
1/2 tsp basil

In a medium stock pot add 2 cans of chicken broth. Saute onion in small skillet on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add to chicken broth. Add potatoes, carrots and celery. Bring to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are tender. Meanwhile add the milk and flour in a blender and blend well. Pour into soup mixture that is boiling. Stir until thickened. Turn heat off. Add cheese, parsley and basil. Stir until cheese is all melted and mixed in.

*I added some garlic powder, salt and pepper for additional flavoring.

Sunday Afternoon

I'm about a week behind... These pictures are from February 28th. After church, I had brought Piper down to my bedroom and laid her on the bed while I changed my clothes. Pretty soon, Chloe and Cooper had joined us... they just adore Piper and love her so much!

One child is a bigger spaz than the rest-- you guess who!

Three super-cute kiddos!

Sisters!

And then Justin got home... and well, Dads are just so much fun!

Web-Cam Fun

We have a nifty web-cam that we've used a few times to chat with Justin's parents, but thats about it. Tonight, I came home from getting my hair fixed (the stylist didn't do a good job with the foil I got last week) and Justin showed me some fun stuff it does. So, here is my bored mug on a Friday night:

Chicken Corn Chowder

After Piper was born, my friend (also my neighbor and visiting teacher) brought us homemade chicken corn chowder for dinner one night. It was delicious and even though I had never made soup before, I was inspired to ask her for the recipe! I finally got around to making it today and it was easy and DELICIOUS! I dare you to try it!

Here is the recipe, as she sent it to me:


Chicken Corn Chowder

*Plan Ahead: This recipe calls for cooked chicken.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, finely chopped, seeds and membrane removed (this is important for flavor - but doesn't add heat because the seeds and membranes are removed and it is cooked with the other veggies)
1/4 cup thinly sliced or cooked chopped ham
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 (14-oz.) cans chicken broth
3 tablespoons flour
3 ears of fresh corn kernels or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
2 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
4 oz. softened cream cheese
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Place olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute celery, bell pepper, onion and jalapeno until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and ham; cook for another 3 minutes. Whisk the broth with the flour in a liquid measuring cup or bowl and then stir into the soup. Stir in the corn and chicken. Bring to a low boil and reduce heat. Whisk together the cream cheese and milk in a large bowl until smooth (I had a difficult time getting my cream cheese to completely whisk into the milk so my soup had some minor small lumps but next time, I'll soften the cream cheese until almost melted in the microwave). Whisk the cream cheese/milk mixture into the soup along with the salt, pepper and cheddar cheese. Simmer on low until ready to serve.

*I microwaved the cream cheese as recommended and it blended with the milk nicely.