Heather's Bytes

We’re finally heading into fall in the desert southwest with temperatures that look to be staying under 90 degrees for the rest of the year. This means it’s time to whip out the soup recipes!

One of my favorites is baked potato soup. It gets extra brownie points because I can put it all in the crockpot in the early afternoon and have everything ready by dinner time.

The original recipe that I found didn’t specify that you’re supposed to mash up the potatoes, and while I do like chunks of potato in the finished soup, I don’t like the whole thing to be nothing but. It’s easy enough to do by using a regular potato masher right in the crockpot after the potatoes have cooked for several hours, and preferably right before you add in the dairy ingredients.

If you’re vegetarian, you can easily omit the bacon and use vegetable broth instead of chicken.

Baked Potato Soup

6 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 onion, finely chopped
4 (10.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
2 chicken bouillon cubes
5 large potatoes, diced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups half-and-half cream
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

Cook bacon in a skillet until evenly brown. Remove from skillet and place on paper towels to drain. When fully cooled, cover and refrigerate the bacon. Drain all but a tablespoon or so of the bacon grease from the skillet and place chopped onions in to cook until soft.

Transfer onions to a slow cooker, and stir in chicken broth, bouillon cubes, potatoes, salt, and pepper. Cover, and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours, stirring occasionally.

Using a potato masher, mash the cooked potatoes in the slow cooker until desired consistency is reached (you can also use an immersion blender, or transfer some of the potatoes and broth to a blender for a smoother texture, and put back into the crockpot when done).

In a bowl, whisk together the flour and half-and-half. Stir into the soup along with the evaporated milk. Add cooked bacon. Cover, and cook another 30 minutes before serving. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and chopped chives.

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I grew up on the beef stroganoff that many others did: ground beef and a can of cream of mushroom soup with sour cream over egg noodles. It doesn’t sound terribly appetizing but it’s not bad for what it is! (Read: a quick dinner!)

When I’ve made it for my own family I’ve substituted the cream of mushroom soup with cream of mushroom soup with roasted garlic, chopped onions, maybe some sliced fresh mushrooms and a little extra sour cream. Over time even that got boring so I stopped making it.

I recently found a new spin on that childhood classic, and I’m never looking back! Though I’m not a huge fan of using condensed soups in many recipes, there are a few where they work well, and this is one of them. And to make things even better, it’s made in the crockpot. Mike took the leftovers for lunch today and he said it actually tasted better and stayed creamy.

The original recipe can be found here, but the version I used with my own tweaks is below:

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

1-2 lbs cube steak, cut into one-inch pieces
2 cans condensed golden mushroom soup (no substitutes!)
1 cup chopped onion
1 Tb Worcestershire sauce
1 14 oz can beef broth
salt and pepper to taste

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream

In the crockpot, combine the meat, soup, onion, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and beef broth. Cook on low for 5-6 hours (or on high for 3). Stir in cream cheese and sour cream about half an hour before serving, stirring every ten minutes or so.

Serve over cooked egg noodles or rice.

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Several weeks ago while getting a dinner in the crockpot, I decided some rolls would go well with it. Since I’d just finished making dinner I didn’t want to have to start all over again with bread, so I went online to see what I could find using my bread machine’s dough setting. Read More

I had never heard of M&M’s mini baking bits until just a few years ago when we went out of state to visit family. My niece bought a bag so our kids could make cookies, and I remember wondering why a bag of regular M&M’s wouldn’t work just as well.

Once we opened the bag I realized why. The M&M’s baking bits are about half the size of the regular-sized milk chocolate M&M’s. The smaller size means there are more of them, and it makes it easier to stir them into dough without having them break apart, thus losing the fun of using M&M’s in the first place! Read More