Chicken Sausage and Potato Soup

Five days into the Month of the Soup. Two soups served, one old, one new, both winners. Wonder if Hearty Ground Turkey Soup with Vegetables will keep the winning streak?

Modifications Made:
Bacon omitted. What? I know, how unlike me. Chicken feta sausage for the ground turkey. Spinach omitted. Crimini mushrooms replaced instead. One tablespoon garlic and three tablespoons of flour added.

To a large dutch oven, chicken sausage was browned whole. Once cooked, links were set aside. To fat, onions, carrots, and mushrooms were added and quickly soften. Garlic was added along with flour. Flour was allowed to evenly coat veggies and slightly brown before chicken stock was added (yes, from cubes). Cooked bits were scrapped off, sausage was halved, diced, and returned to stock along with one cup frozen zucchini and three cups diced potatoes. A dash of red pepper flakes, one teaspoon of black pepper , and soup simmered on low until veggies tender. Stir frequently and adjust seasonings adding water or broth, if needed.

Scaled for Likability: Good
Cream based soups without milk are never as full in flavor. Sure the flour acts as a thickener but the milk holds the ingredients together. If zucchini needs to be added to fiber into soups, from this point forward, I am going to consider pureeing and adding as stock. Soup zucchini's always result in chewy mush. Gross.

Next time the soup is made, ground chicken will be used instead of sausage for a different meat texture, zucchini will be left out or pureed, and green beans or corn will be added for more color.

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almost tender. Green be

Sour Cream & Chive Scalloped Potatoes

Can't believe the Month of the Potato is over. There are so many more potato recipes saved. Guess I will have to work them into another month. Last week's scalloped potatoes were one of the best new recipes during the month of potatoes. With today being the last day in the Month of Potatoes, I decided to go out with a bang by cooking another batch of scalloped potatoes but this time sour cream and chive. The Best Scalloped Potatoes , or so they said. Modifications Made: Recipe was reduced by half. Mayo was omitted and one entire package of chives were chopped and added to sauce before pouring onto layers. Scaled for Likability: Good Betty Crocker Sour Cream and Chive Box Scalloped Potatoes were the standard for this recipe. These were a family favorite for years but have long since been discounted. Bummer. Trying to replicate this seemed easy enough. Alas, it was not. These had a nice texture but were too oily from the cheese and did not contain enough onion, garlic,

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add potatoes. Cover and reduc

Eating Waffles

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