Baked Potato Soup

This is indeed the best baked potato soup I've ever had. It's a great comfort food and paired with a salad and some crusty bread it's a fantastic and filling supper!

Baked Potato Soup

• 6 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1-inch cubes
• 4 cans of cream of potato soup
• milk
• 8 oz shredded mozzarella
• 8 oz shredded cheddar
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• salt and pepper
• sour cream, butter, bacon, chives

Boil potatoes in a large pot until tender (about 20 minutes). While potatoes are cooking, make the bacon. When the potatoes are tender, drain, add back to pot, and using a potato masher mash potatoes slightly- you don't want them to be mush- just broken up a bit. Pour in soup and 4 cans of milk (I sometimes do 3 cans of milk and 1 can of half and half) and stir until combined. Add shredded cheeses, garlic, and salt and pepper and stir until melted and combined. You're done! Serve hot with bacon, sour cream, chives, and extra shredded cheddar. I usually reserve a little bacon for a topping and then add the rest to the pot.

What's For Supper?

With the temps starting to cool (and when I say "cool" I mean they've been in the low 80's) soup has been on my mind. We love us some soup in our house- it's such a comfort food. Right after I had Mr. Elias last February, my bestie, Kate, came over one day and watched him so I could take the ever coveted nap (it was glorious!) While she was at my house, she made a batch of yummy creamy chicken and wild rice soup from tastykitchen.com. The other day I was pleased to see that I had all the ingredients in my pantry to make some- that never happens- SO- I pulled out the 'ol cast iron pot and started cookin'! Here's the link to the recipe- make it this week and serve it with some warm crusty bread and a salad- you won't be sorry!

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Best.Pancakes.EVER!!

Seriously people, these pancakes RULE (do people even use that word anymore??) and they're not even hard to make. Sure- about a year ago, I thought I had lost my pancake mojo but it's back and better then ever- zippity-do-dah! I seriously make these pancakes at least once a week. I usually couple it with some fruit and scrambled eggs- which I also rock at making...who knew there was a correct way to make scrambled eggs go from ho-hum to OH-YUM!! (yeah- I just wrote that...) Anyhoo- here's the pancake recipe:

Deliciously Dangerous Pancakes

dry ingredients:
2 C all-purpose flour
2 T sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

wet ingredients:
1 large egg
3 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 C buttermilk *

Set your oven to warm (usually 200 degrees) and turn on your griddle (or butter a frying pan). Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a seperate bowl whisk together the wet ingredients. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet mixture into the well. Using a spatula, gently mix the ingredients together until they are just incorporated- a few lumps should remain- be careful to not over-mix (that's what I think I was doing when I thought I lost my pancake mojo...it makes them come out all dense and flat.) Using either a 1/4 cup measuring cup or a 3T cookie scooper, scoop the batter onto the hot skillet/pan and cook until large bubbles start to appear. Flip and cook for about 2 minutes more. Transfer to an oven safe plate and put finished pancakes in the warmed oven until you're ready to eat them. We love blueberry pancakes here so after I put the batter on the skillet, I add 6-8 blueberries per pancake. They are so delish! Another new favorite is to add some colored sprinkles after I scoop the batter onto the skillet. They are a fun birthday treat! These pancakes really are good and I usually have enough left over to have breakfast for the girls for the next morning. I just pop those bad boys into the microwave for 20 seconds and they're good to go! Do yourself (and your family) a favor and whip up some of these lovelies this weekend!

Uhhhhh...Fail?

Ok- so while I didn't make the granola bars OR the cheese crackers this weekend, I did buy the ingredients for them! Instead, my sweet hubs and I made apple chips and bagel chips so that should count for something...right? Below are the links for those recipes. Olivia loved that bagel chips but wasn't crazy about the apple chips. I think I left them in a little too long and I also think my cinnamon to sugar ratio was off- we'll try those again soon. We had a family fun day Saturday and drove about a hour and half to the mountains to pick apples. I'll post about that later- let me just tell you that it was an adventure and a HALF!

apple chips from fixmeasnack.com



















bagel chips from fixmeasnack.com

Weekend Endeavor

My new goal is to make a new recipe that I find online every weekend for lunches that week. Using my Pinterest recipes board, I decided to either make one of the following:

Pumpkin Cranberry Chocolate Chip Granola Bars from sweetpeaskitchen.com


















Cheese Crackers from www.fixmeasnack.com

Hey- if I'm feeling spunky I may make both! After all- it is a long weekend! Happy Labor Day, y'all!