Bacon Potato Soup

It's been a while since I have been on here and that can all be blamed on laziness and motherhood. Not sure which one is more to blame at this point!

My mother-in-law makes a great Bacon Potato soup and I just wanted to share this recipe with those who love soup! It is an easy make. It takes about 30 minutes from start to finish and the left overs are fabulous.

Part 1:

3 tablespoons of butter (preferably salted)
1/2 cup celery  (or leeks will work too)
2 tablespoons of diced onion (I just more like 1/2 cup because I like the flavor)
1/2 lb bacon cut into small pieces

Add all ingredients to a stock pot. Cook on high until bacon is yellow/tender.

Part 2:

2 1/2 teaspoons of salt (2 3/4 if you use unsalted butter)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup flour (I make gluten free all the time and I use about 2 1/2 tablespoons of gluten free flour)

Add salt and pepper to the bacon/butter/onion/celery combo and mix thoroughly. Add flour and mix well.

Part 3:

1 cup chopped celery
5-6 potatoes (this is about three large russets)
4 cups of water

Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot and mix. Cover the pot and cook on high for 5-7 minutes.  Reduce heat to medium/low and cook until tender (about 15 minutes).

Part 4:

1 can evaporated milk

Add milk, stir thoroughly and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

And voila! Done! Caesar salad goes well with the soup and so does warm bread.

Hollajenos!

Tonight's meals was so freaking awesome and definitely the easiest one so far.

Jalapeno Roast was what we ate this evening and it is going on the "keeper" list. So easy and amazing!

I used chuck roast from costco. It is as simple as the recipe states. Salt and pepper your roast. Add five quartered jalapenos (seeds removed) and cook on low for 8-9 hours.

I was worried it might be too spicy, but no problem there. The meat had a slight jalapeno flavor and really no hotness.

We used corn tortillas, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and olives to create some fabulous tacos. There was enough extra that lunch plus another meal is covered.

This would be a great dish to make for a party. It is different, but not to far out of the normal taco comfort zone



!

Garlic Breath

The next meal on the crock pot adventure was Garlic Lemon Crock Pot Chicken.

The instructions are incredibly simple and chicken was fantastic. I cooked it for 3 hours longer than the instructions said, but that was only because I couldn't get home soon enough. It was still very very good. I can only imagine how good it would've been if I had stopped cooking it earlier.

I prepped the garlic and onions the night before just to make sure I was ready. Threw everything in and turned that baby on.

The greatest thing about all the meals that I have cooked so far is there is always left overs which turn into lunch for the next day and dinner for the next night. In fact last week I only had to make three meals, because by day four I had so many left overs there was no need for anymore. Love it!

It was so tender the chicken just fell off the bone leaving the grease and bones.

Carnitas

Day 3...Mexican Style

It was carnitas this evening. The pork cooked all day and it was awesome.
The recipe can be found at Life as a Plate.

The recipe was super easy. I think it took 10 minutes to get everything all together last night.

I threw the meat and other ingredients in the crock pot at around 6 am and we ate around 7 pm. We used the meat and made tacos. There is a cool little grocery store by Lindo Lake and it sells fresh tortillas, and salsa. I also bought some cotija cheese and crema. The tacos were amazing.

The only thing I would warn you about is that there is a lot of meat left over. This isn't a bad thing but I just didn't realize there would be so much extra meat. This would make a great recipe for a party.

Garlic Beef Stew and Cauliflower Mash

Day 1 was a success so on to Day 2...

For the meal, I used the site Everyday Paleo.

I got all the ingredients ready the night before and put them in a bowl so all I had to do was throw them in the Crock Pot and get started.

This meal called for a lot more veggies than yesterday's and it was well worth it.

The house smelled fabulous when I got home from work.

The cauliflower mash was very good and so easy. I boiled the cauliflower because I don't have a steamer that can fit two large heads of cauliflower. I boiled it until it was soft and then threw it in the Vitamix (I would recommend a food processor if you have one) with less turmeric then the recipe asked for. I had to add a little milk because it was too dry for the Vitamix to blend. Salt and pepper came last and we were ready to eat.

The cauliflower mash was much better than I was expecting. The texture was good and it tasted great.

All in all, the stew was very good and I am definitely going to use the recipe again.

Food organization: Day 1 Smokey Roast

I feel like I have been failing at my life recently. My house doesn't seem to ever be clean. Teaching has taken a back seat. It is exciting to take a shower without feeling rushed at the moment. Dinner has become a horrible event of disappointed expectation. I am so stressed out about what to have for dinner every night. I think about it during work and worry that just like everything else I am not able to keep up. Well, today I took hold of my life a little bit. I found a blog on pinterest that listed 30 paleo recipes that can be cooked in a Crock Pot. I am not completely sure about the paleo thing, but I am definitely willing to go in that direction. This little experience can provide me with new ideas for meals and the structure to start cooking again.

So today I purchased a Crock Pot (super cute one!) and I started on my new food path.

Today I made Smokey Roast with Sweet Potato Rounds and Green Beans.

The roast was super easy and tasted excellent. I cooked it for 5 1/2 hours and it was so tender. The rub was very good.

The recipe can be found at Everyday Paleo.

The sweet potato rounds are my own thing. I used two large yams. Washed and cut into thin slices. Throw them in a bowl, add olive oil pepper, kosher salt, and paprika. Mix and coat all the slices. Lay out the slices on a rack so that there is little to no overlap. Cook for 20 minutes at 425 F.

The green beans were steamed.

There was enough food to make sure that lunch tomorrow is very much taken care of.

Tomorrow: Beef, garlic, and cauliflower...oh my!