Crock Pot Potato Soup Perfection

My daughter and I have tweaked this old recipe until it has reached perfection.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

2 - 8 oz pkg cream cheese, sliced for easier melting
1 can chicken broth
1 can cream of celery soup
2 cans cheddar cheese soup
1 soup can of whole milk
1 large back of southern style hash browns (the little squares - not the shredded ones)

Toppings:

grated cheddar cheese
minced chives
real bacon bits

Place crock pot liner in crock pot, and put all soup ingredients in order, starting with the cream cheese on bottom.  Cook on high for one hour, stir well to blend in cream cheese, then cook on low for 6-7 hours.  You may want to add more milk at the end if it's too thick for your taste, or you may add a bit of milk when warming leftovers.  Serve with above toppings.  Feeds 4-6. 

Breakfast Skillet

I can't remember where I found this recipe, but breakfast has not been the same since.  Everyone who has tried this absolutely loves it.

This recipe will feed 3 people.

8 slices of bacon
4 large potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
1 small onion, diced
8 eggs, whisked well
2 cups grated cheddar

Cook bacon until crisp in large non stick skillet.  Remove and set aside to cool - crumble when cool.

While bacon is cooking, peel and slice potatoes and dice onion.  Once you remove bacon from skillet, leave on medium heat and add potatoes and onion to the bacon grease.  Cover, and stir occasionally until potatoes start to brown.

While potatoes are cooking, prepare eggs. 

Crumble bacon evenly over potatoes and onions, pour eggs evenly over the top of everything.  Allow to cook until eggs are done - if you have to stir it to prevent burning, stir it, just spread it out evenly in pan again.

Turn burner off, cover with cheese, replace lid, and allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Great with pancakes, biscuits or french toast!  And only one messy skillet!

Simple Cherry Cheesecake Dip

This is amazing, and so very easy! 1 8 oz package cream cheese, allow to soten to room temp 1 large container of Cool Whip 2 7 oz containers of marshmallow cream 2 cans of cherry pie filling 2 boxes honey flavored graham crackers Blend first 3 ingredients together with mixer until thoroughly blended. Transfer to a 13 x 9 pyrex or glass dish. Top and cover completely with cherry pie filling. Chill completely. Break graham crackers into pieces for dipping. This is great, and very light so you do not fill up snacking on it! My family loves it!

Paula Deen's Amazing Chocolate Chili

I have been looking for a new chili recipe for quite some time, but I was a bit skeptical about the chocolate part. I have total faith in Paula, and I loved the hot ans spicy aspect of the recipe, so I gave it a try, tweaking it slightly. I wasn't disappointed, but be warned that this is a very hot chili, and not for the faint of heart! 2 lbs ground chuck 1 large onion, diced 2 cloves of garlic, minced 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced Put these ingredients in a large Dutch oven and cook until ground chuck is browned and crumbled. Drain any remaining grease - there should not be much. Add the following: 2 TBS unsweetened cocoa 2 TBS and 1 tsp chili powder 2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper 1 tsp oregano 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper 2 cans black beans 1 large can of your favorite ready made baked beans - I chose maple flavored 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes 2 14.5 oz cans tomato sauce 1 14.5 oz can beef broth Bring to boil and reduce heat. Simmer for one hour. I added a very small amount of thin spaghetti for the last 30 minutes. Serve with the following garnishes: Grated sharp cheddar Chopped scallions Sour cream Enjoy!

Long time away...So much has happened. Meet Cooper David Clark - the light of my life, born August 5th,2011. He has stolen my heart. Cooper is the happiest, most delightful child I have ever had the opportunity to know. He's so smart, just like his Mom. You will be hearing alot about him from now on out!

In search of a perfect chicken salad...

Chicken salad is one of my favorite summer treats, but they all taste so different, and many do not appeal to me at all.

I found this recipe in the July issue of Southern Living magazine, and it is absolutely amazing! (I've altered it a bit to suit my taste - it's excellent!)

3 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded
1 cup green seedless grapes, quartered
1 diced red delicious apple
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup diced celery
3/4 cup mayonnaisse
1/2 cup honey mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Passions...

Well, it's taken me longer than I imagined to get settled in here, and get back on track. Work and life tends to get in the way at times, and it's easy to lose sight of the things that ground and center you - the things that make you truly happy.

We've been through so many changes over the past few months! All of them are welcome, and each and every one of them have made our lives better, but it doesn't always seem that way at the time that you are going through the transitional period. I find I've left some things behind, or pushed them onto the back burner, and it's time to bring them back to the front.

I am a simple person. I do not need alot to make me happy. My family is the most important thing in the world to me, followed by my cat, and my hobbies. When life gets hectic, the hobbies always seem to get pushed aside, and they are such a huge part of who I am that it really affects me in a negative way.

So, I've decided to transform this blog to include all of my passions in life.

Cooking is right up there with tarot for me, and there isn't much that makes me any happier than spending time in the kitchen, preparing a meal for those that I love. I thought it would be nice to share a recipe here now and then.

We are also preparing to resume fish keeping, something we both have missed terribly. We are searching for decent stock at this point, and plan to start back breeding and selling African cichlids. This area is sorely lacking in aquatic pets, and it's something we both truly enjoy doing.

And, of course, there will always be my tarot cards...I recently acquired two new decks - Shadowscapes by Stephanie Pui Mun Law, and Heart of Faerie Oracle by Brian and Wendy Froud. Both are amazing, but I've barely found time to work with them.

So, right now, it's about focus and passion, grounding and centering, and getting back to basics!