Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Nothing screams "cozy comfort food" more than a great chicken pot pie.  I have a great recipe for chicken pot pie that is a family favorite.  For me the flaky buttery top crust is what it is all about.  Of course I do have one family member (Jacob) that does not like the crust...top or bottom and will scrape out all of the creamy filling and just eat that.  I know!  Really?....who's kid is he?  I don't complain too much though....because I usually snitch his top crust.

So when I came across this recipe for a soup version over at www.shugarysweets.com I was thrilled....and actually thought...why hadn't I thought of this?  I did make a couple of changes to ingredients...but other than that I stayed pretty true to the recipe.  I wish I would have doubled the recipe though....both boys were looking for seconds....and there were none.  I guess that is a good sign.  Bottom line....it was delish!  Creamy and flavorful without using a "cream of anything" soup.  I chose to use 2 cups of 2% milk rather than 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of heavy cream and it turned out great.

Instead of making strips out of the pie crust I took a biscuit cutter and made little discs.....we just tucked them in like you would crackers.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

 

2 cup chicken, cooked and diced

3 Tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 yellow onion, diced

3 celery stalks, diced

1/2 cup carrots, diced

1/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup chicken broth 

2 cups milk 

pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper  

1/2 package pie crust (I used Pillsbury), thawed

 

1.  In a large pot, melt butter over medium high heat. Add onions, celery and carrots and cook to soften about 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle with flour and cook an additional minute, stirring constantly. Slowly add broth, milk, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Use a whisk to combine, then add in cooked chicken. Heat over medium heat until warm, about 10-15 minutes.

2.  To make crust strips, unroll thawed pie crust (for one crust). Cut into strips and lay on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake in a 450 degree oven for 6-8 minutes, until browned. Remove from oven.

 

3.  To assemble, Ladle soup into bowls and top with warm crisp pie strips. 

 

 

 

 

Happy Wednesday!  Enjoy!

 



Glitter Cup

We are huge football fans.....and we love our Seahawks!  In fact...we have always loved our Hawks....even when they were not so good and now that they are playing well it makes the games even better. 

Set up the big screen...gather friends and put on all of our 12th man gear....we are set.  I had to have a special cup for the games....whether it be water, diet coke or a Green Wave cocktail....I needed it.  I had a bunch of cups left over from last fall.  Sparkly cups with big ribbons were perfect for the gift giving season last year.

These are super easy to make.  The cups came from the dollar store....the Mod Podge and craft sealer can be found at a variety of locations....I picked mine up at Wal-Mart when I got the ribbon.  Try and find ribbon that has wire....it makes it much easier to make those great big full bows.

I raided my boys room for anything I could attach in the center of the bow to represent the Seahawks....I came across this great little helmet and beads that I cut and hooked in with wire.

These really are super fun to make and the possibilities are endless.  There are so many colors of glitter available now....I am sure that you could find a color that would work for your scheme.

1.  Remove the lid from the cup and set a side.

2.  Brush Mod Podge over the entire cup.  Try not to get it up near the area where the lid screws on.

3.  Sprinkle glitter very liberally all over the cup.   Don't worry there is no wrong way to do this.  Be sure to cover your work surface because glitter will be everywhere.  Also this way you can recollect the glitter  to use again.

4.  Allow to dry....at least 30 minutes.

5.  When dry, apply another coat of Mod Podge and sprinkle more glitter on the cup.  This will give the cup a great all over coating of sparkle.  When this coat is dry, apply a thin coat of clear multi-purpose sealer.

6.  I used a thin piece of ribbon (without wire) to wrap around the cup with a small Velcro dot to hold it in place.  It works great so the ribbon can be removed when washing the cup.

7.  Make the bow...attach the bling or extras with a thin piece of wire.  And then hot glue the bow to the thin piece of ribbon.  When glue is dry.....wrap the ribbon around the cup...press the Velcro pieces together and it is ready to use.

There is no worry with the glitter color bleeding when it gets wet.  I have used expensive glitter and also glitter from the dollar store.  Just remember you have to hand wash the cup.

Happy Sunday!  Go Seahawks!

Chicken Tortilla Stack

First full week of school is in the books....and we made it.  High School has been a success for Matt and Jakey has gotten back into the "school groove" without too much difficulty. 

We have had a week of beautiful sunshine and record breaking temps.....I know that the rain is coming soon...but I so enjoyed these last few day.  Wednesday was the warmest....hitting nearly 90 degrees.  We enjoyed happy hour in the garden with neighbors and before I knew it Jacob was asking what was for dinner!  Lucky for me I did have a plan....and lucky for me it came together quick and was very yummy.

Long ago I was a Pampered Chef consultant and one of the recipes that everyone wanted was the Tortilla Stack.  This is my little twist on that.....just as easy and delish!

My boys love to make nachos....everyone gets to create their own little masterpiece....well these are very similar.  I found these cute little tostada shells at Safeway that worked great....each stack used 3 shells filled with yummy chicken and cheese between the layers.  And then topped with all our favorite toppings.

Chicken Tortilla Stack

12 corn tostada shells

2 cups of cooked chicken, diced or shredded

shredded Mexican blend cheese

6 oz sour cream

taco sauce

favorite taco toppings...

tomato

green onions

avocado

shredded lettuce

 

1.  Mix sour cream and taco sauce together....the taco sauce is by taste.

 

2.  Spread some of the sour cream mixture onto a tostada shell.  Place the shell into a baking dish. 

 

3.  Sprinkle chicken and then cheese on top of the shell.   Then repeat the layer with another shell.  Place the 3rd shell on the top.  Gently pressing down.....then sprinkle a final layer of cheese on the top.

 

4.  Repeat to make 3 more stacks.  A 9x13 baking dish will hold 2 stacks....so 2 baking dish will be needed.

 

5.  Cover baking dish loosely with foil.  Bake at 325 degrees for 12-15 min.

 

6  Remove foil and bake another 6-8 minutes.

 

7.  Remove from oven.  After plating slice each stack into 4 slices....a pizza cutter works great for this.

 

8.  Add your favorite toppings and enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Happy Friday My Friends!





Spiced Cider

It isn't often that I mid week post Happy Hour recipes but I really wanted to make an exception today. I had intended on posting this over the weekend but a family emergency kept me everywhere except at home with my computer.  But all is well now and I am actually thinking a nice cocktail is just what I need after the last few days.

I wish I could remember when I first had this drink....or who made it for me.  What I do remember is how much I love it.  It has to be my absolute favorite fall drink.  Actually Fall in a Glass is how I often refer to it.  I am sure that you could make this a warm cocktail as well.  By just heating the apple cider and then adding the spirits....I am sure it would be delish.  I however am not a big fan of warm cocktails....they just make me cozy and sleepy....which I suppose is not a bad thing. 

When making this you could use apple juice....but it isn't the same.  Find your favorite fresh apple cider and use that.  We have a local farm that makes fresh pressed apple cider....and apple fritters...but we will leave that for another day.  I typically will use Sailor Jerry's spiced rum...but as you can see Captain Morgan will work just as well.  The key really is the apple cider.

Spiced Cider

2 oz spiced rum

1 oz cinnamon schnapps

fresh apple cider

 

1.  Fill a glass with ice.

 

2.  Add rum and schnapps

 

3.  Fill glass with cider and stir.

 

Happy Tuesday!  Enjoy a mid week Happy Hour.

Crock Pot Pizza Soup with Cheesy Garlic Toast.

 Wow! What a stormy past couple of days. Rain...Rain and more Rain! Not to mention all of the thunderstorms....holy cats it was a crazy weather day yesterday. It certainly hasn't been cold...in fact very muggy....temps in the mid to upper 70's.....just wet and sticky. But I just couldn't help myself...I had to make a soup for dinner. It seemed like the perfect day for it.

 I came across this recipe over at www.sweettwistoffate.blogspot.com a few weeks ago and thought it would be perfect for a cozy fall evening.  I remembered it yesterday morning and I had everything I needed plus I thought it would go great with the kickoff to the football season.

The soup was delicious....very versatile...you could add just about any of your favorite pizza toppings.  I made ours pretty basic....because remember I do have to feed the "picky one".  But he loved it!  I made just a few minor changes to the original recipe.....so I was able to use what I had.

For me the best part was the little slices of cheesy garlic toast.....if you lay them across the top of the soup they will soak up some of the broth and become part of the soup.....so yummy.

Trying to do my part in making this a bit more "healthful" I did use turkey pepperoni.  Really I don't know that it is any better for you....but we can try...right.

Crockpot Pizza Soup

 

1/2 a medium size onion, diced small

1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes, with Italian seasoning

1 1/2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced

4 cups beef broth

1 lb Italian sausage, browned

1 package of slice pepperoni, quartered

slices of French bread

garlic butter

mozzarella cheese

 

1.  Place the diced onion, tomatoes, mushrooms and beef broth into crock pot. 

 

2.  Turn crock pot to low and cook for 5-6 hours

 

3.  45 minutes to an hour before cooking time has ended add the browned sausage and pepperoni.*

 

4.  Before serving place sliced bread in oven at 450 degrees.  Lightly toast. 

 

5.  Remove from oven and brush with melted garlic butter and top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

 

6.  Return to oven and toast until cheese is melted.

 

7.  Ladle soup into bowls and top with toasted bread.

 

*  I actually added my sausage half way through the cooking time....I wanted some of the sausage flavors to enhance to soup flavor.

 

**  Prior to adding the sausage I took my hand held blender and smoothed out the texture a bit....my boys do not care for chunks of tomato or onion. 

 

 

Happy Friday!



Mounds Brownie Bars

So another school year has begun for us.  It was kind of a big one in different ways for both of the boys.  Matt, my oldest son, headed off to his first year of High School this morning.  We were both pretty nervous about it.  He was afraid he was going to get lost in such a big school....I was worried because he was worried! 

Little Jakey walked into 4th grade today. He told me this morning that he didn't need us to walk him to his class.  He said "Mom....I am in 4th grade now!  I got this!".   I had to smile even though my heart was breaking.  I love watching my children grow and become independent....but as each day passes they need me just a little bit less than they did the day before. 

But the one thing they always look to me for is After School Snacks!  They will tell you though that I am much more creative at the beginning of the school year.....after Spring Break....not so much.  So following tradition today they are having a fantastic snack.

When Halloween rolls around I am so guilty of sneaking the Mounds and Almond Joys.....really what is better than coconut and chocolate.  When I found these over at www.inkatrinaskitchen.com a few months ago I was originally thinking Christmas Cookie Exchange....but I think these are the perfect fit for the first day of school.

Mounds Brownie Bars

1 pkg family size brownie mix

5  cups sweetened flaked coconut

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 container of chocolate frosting

 

1.  Prepare brownies according to package.

 

2.  Mix coconut, condensed milk and powdered sugar in mixer.

 

3.  Spread coconut mixture over cooled brownies.

 

4.  Remove lid and foil from frosting container and microwave for 10 seconds.  Or until frosting is thinned and pourable.

 

5.  Pour frosting over brownies.  Allow frosting to harden and set before cutting.

 

 

To all the teachers out there.....Have a Wonderful Year.

Thanks for all you do!

Apple Snickerdoodle Cobbler

I think I may have already mentioned how much I love Fall!  My boys have 1 week until school starts....the weather is already changing.  The leaves are starting to change....a few damp drizzly mornings....yep Fall is on its way. 

A week ago my friend Heidi gave me a bag of apples that she had gathered off one of her trees.  She has 3 so you can imagine the bounty of apples she has to share.  Anyway, I wanted to find something a little different.  Don't get me wrong who doesn't love a great apple pie, crisp or cobbler....but I was looking for a recipe a little "out of the norm".  When I came across this over at www.bakedbyrachel.com I knew it was what I was looking for.  Simple and quick but different....just what I wanted.

I will admit that I used the easy button today....I didn't make my own cookie dough.  I was shopping at Fred Meyer this morning and found pre-made snickerdoodle cookie dough.  I know right!  I was just going to use sugar cookie dough....but I hit the jackpot.   

So I grabbed my apple peeler gadget and the apples and got to it.  Seriously this couldn't be easier....peeling the apples takes the longest and even that was a piece of cake with the peeler.  It made the house smell incredible!  Apples and cinnamon....really....for me it doesn't get much better.

The cookie topping makes a nice little spot for whip cream to sit.....just the right amount of sweet....the apples are still a bit tart.  Just perfect.

Peel and slice 7 cups of apples.  Add brown sugar and cinnamon.  Toss to mix.

Place the sugar coated apples into a 8x8 baking dish.

Grab your cookie dough....store bought or some that you have made.....have a cinnamon and sugar mixture to roll the cookie balls in. 

Place the cookie pieces on top of the sliced apples.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Scoop some into a bowl...be sure to grab a cookie topper......

 The a dollop of whip cream or a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream....either way you will love it.

Apple Snickerdoodle Cobbler

 

7 cups sliced apples, peeled

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 pkg of sugar cookie dough, or snickerdoodle dough

 

 

1.  Peel and slice apples.

 

2.  Toss apples with brown sugar and cinnamon.

 

3.  Place apples into a 8x8 baking dish.

 

4.  Roll cookie dough in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.  Flatten balls and place on apples slices.

 

5.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 min.  Remove from oven and cool before serving.

 

 

Happy Wednesday!  Enjoy!