What screams summer more than lemonade?  Maybe s’mores and a campfire…?  All good things in my book.  We’ve been doing Bountiful Baskets the last few months and have really enjoyed it.  It’s been interesting and we’ve discovered that we’re not super fond of plantains… but my sister-in-law is from Venezuela and luckily knows how to eat fix them.  She probably only eats one or two every time she makes them up.  The rest of us gobble them down.  Anyway.  We got lemons one time and I was super stoked… until they sat in our fridge for like three weeks.  My plans for them just never got done: lemon-herb chicken, lemon bars and even more lemony goodness.  They started to get a little mushy and it was then I knew the time had come… for some fresh lemonade.  However, we’d also gotten 8 lbs of strawberries one week so we have strawberries in the freezer and I definitely love me some strawberry lemonade.  It was decided.

Is this soup good? Well, let me tell you a few things and then you can decide. So, it’s 80ºF outside and I made soup… Also, it’s 80ºF outside and I made soup FROM SCRATCH. That means I heated my house with the oven and the stove. But you know what? This Creamy Potato Soup was TOTALLY. WORTH. IT.

But that’s not all. My toddler cleaned his bowl. He’s not a terribly picky eater; but, if you have a toddler or have ever tried to feed one, you know that eating everything in their bowl at dinner time is kinda a BIG DEAL. It’s gotta be good stuff for that to happen.

Oh, and, we ate dinner twice.  For real.  Twice.  Not “we had seconds”, but “we ate dinner twice.” I had even put it away in the fridge and we had to reheat it to eat again. I had to cook more bacon, which I truthfully don’t enjoy.

And lastly, it freezes AMAZINGLY! So, you tell me… Do you think this is good soup and worth a try?

CREAMY POTATO SOUP

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Creamy Potato Soup

Prep time:  1 hour 15 mins

Cook time:  1 hour

Total time:  2 hours 15 mins

Serves: 6-8 Servings

A delicious, hearty, creamy soup that will fill you up and warm you up on those chilly winter evenings.

Ingredients

• 6 medium red potatoes
• 4-6 pieces of bacon or ½ cup bacon bits
• 1 yellow onion
• ½ cup Velvetta cheese cubes
• 6 cups of Chicken Broth
• 3 cups of milk
• 1 Tbs garlic powder
• 1 Tbs parsley flakes
• 2 tsp celery salt
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Sour Cream

Instructions

1. Bake your potatoes in the oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour or until they are tender, but not mushy.
2. Dice up your onions and saute them in a large pot with a small amount of butter. Once the onions are sauteed, add your chicken broth and turn the stove to low heat.
3. Cook up your bacon and blot the grease off with paper towels. Break or cut into little pieces (skip this step if you are substituting bacon bits).
4. Peel the potato skins off and mash the potatoes. For a thicker soup, mash the potatoes to the consistency of mashed potatoes. For a chunkier soup, leave large pieces of potato unmashed. Add mashed potatoes to the chicken broth.
5. Turn the stove back up to medium heat. Add in the milk and stir together.
6. When you have a consistent mixture, add in the Velvetta cheese cubes. Melt the cheese cubes and stir until evenly mixed.
7. Dip soup into bowls and top with shredded cheddar cheese, bacon pieces and sour cream.

3.5.3208

Ingredients:
– 1 lb Rotini (spiral) Pasta
– 1-2 Tomatoes
– 1/2 cup Sliced Mushrooms
– Italian Parsley
– 15 oz (1 jar) Alfredo Sauce – We prefer the Clasico brand, but any brand works

Directions:
1.  Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box.
2.  While the pasta is cooking, slice your mushrooms, dice the tomatoes and chop up the parsley.
3.  When pasta is tender, drain and return to the pot.  Turn the stove to medium heat.
4.  Add the Alfredo sauce to the pasta and stir gently.  Add the mushrooms, parsley and tomatoes to the pot.  Cover and simmer approximately 5 minutes, stirring every minute or two.
5. Sprinkle a little garlic, if desired.  Serve.

Serves Approx 4

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked rice (white or brown, your preference)
1 bunch of cilantro
1/2 lime (I actually used 2 small key limes) or 2 tsp of lime juice
2 cups of water

Directions:
Lightly spray your rice cooker with olive or cooking oil.  Pour in your uncooked rice and water.  Cut your 1/2 lime into 2-3 wedges.  Squeeze them into the rice cooker.  Be careful to not let any of the seeds get in there… unless you want to chance eating them.  Cut up cilantro to taste.  I usually use about 1/4 of a bunch for every 1 cup of rice.  We like cilantro though.  Push down the little button and let your rice cook.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 can cut green beans, undrained
1 can whole kernel corn, undrained
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1 avocado, sliced
1/2 lbs ground hamburger, browned
1 can sliced olives
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can kidney beans, rinsed
1 packet taco seasoning

Toppings:
Sour Cream
Tortilla Chips
Shredded Cheese

Directions
1.  Mix all the ingredients in a large pot.  Don’t drain the green beans and the corn, the corn and green bean juice help make up the soup.
2.  Add 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of water to the pot and stir in the taco seasoning (mild or hot, per your tastes).
3.  Turn the stove to medium high and cover the pot.  Let simmer for 10-15 minutes.
4.  Dish into bowls and top with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheese and crushed tortilla chips.  Enjoy!

Serves 4-6