Baked Potato and Leek Soup

  This is one of my favorite soup recipes. I love the flavor of baked potatoes, so why not put it into a soup? I had no clue what to make one cold, windy evening for dinner, so I looked in the fridge and this recipe evolved. I had made the Cooking Light Baked Potato Soup version many times, and knew the recipe by heart. It was fun to tweak an old favorite a little with the ingredients I had on hand.  I hope you and your family enjoy this soup as much as we have! Bon Appetit!

*I adapted this recipe from Cooking Light . You can check out the original recipe from their recipe.

Soup Recipe

Serves: 6 Prep: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 1 1/2 hour

1 large leek or 2 small leeks, washed and rinsed, chopped (Check out this post on how to clean leeks) 
5 medium red potatoes or about 1 1/2 lbs of potatoes
1/3 cup flour

3 cups milk (I used fat-free)

1/2 cup extra-sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup plain yogurt (I used low-fat)
3 bacon slices (I used turkey)
Green onion (optional)

 1 Preheat oven to 400*F. Pierce potatoes with fork and bake in oven for about 1 hour, or cut them quarters and bake them for about 1/2 hour. If you are super duper short on time, just cut the potatoes into cubes, throw them into boiling water and let boil until they are soft.

 2. Peel them and mash with a fork. 

 3. Get out a dutch oven or soup pot. Spray it with cooking spray and add your chopped leeks. Cook over medium until they are soft, about 6 minutes. 

4. Dump the sauteed leeks into a large bowl, wipe out dutch oven. Add your flour to dutch oven and cook over medium heat for about 1 minute. 

5. Gradually add the milk. I started with 1/2 cup at a time, and blend with a metal whisk. Constantly stir until you have added all the milk, and let the sauce simmer while stirring for about 8 minutes until it is thick and bubbly. 

6. Add leeks, mashed potatoes, cheese, yogurt and salt and pepper. Over medium heat, cook for about 5 more minutes until the soup has warmed up to desired temperature. 

7. This next step is optional. I added half of the soup to a blender, and blended till smooth so it wouldn't be as chunky. It depends how you like your soup. You can leave it alone and serve as is, or blend all of it, or do half and half. It's up to you! Garnish soup bowls with bacon and green onion. You can even add a little dollop of yogurt on to each soup bowl. Serve hot!


------------------------- 

Plan and Prep Ahead 

Here are some helpful techniques to make life a little easier once dinner time hits. These tips will especially help those that work full-time and don't have a lot of time to prepare dinner. 

~Bake potatoes ahead of time.
~Rinse and chop leeks ahead of time. 
~Grate cheese ahead of time and leave in fridge. 
~Make the whole soup ahead of time and then reheat when ready for dinner.


------------------------- 

Who likes to CHANGE IT UP? 

 ~Use shallots or onions instead of leeks.
~Replace sour cream with yogurt.
~Try Monterrey jack cheese instead of cheddar.
~Instead of red potatoes use baking potatoes or yellow ones.

-------------------------

How to: Clean Leeks

Leeks can be tricky things to wash if you don't do it correctly, because the dirt gets everywhere! Here's a simple technique that you can use whenever you have a recipe that asks for leeks.

 1. First you are going to chop off the roots and throw them away.

2. Next you are going to cut off the rough dark green leaves of the leek. Most recipe don't use that part, but you can save it to make vegetable or chicken stocks. 

3.Now with a sharp knife, you will cut a slit down the middle of the leek. At this step you can either rinse them off really well in a colander and make sure you get all the dirt out, or go to Steps 4 and 5. 

 4. Cut the leek into quarters. 

 5. Add them to a bowl full of water and rinse them repeatedly until there is no more dirt left. 

Snack: Whole-wheat bran muffins

    I have made these muffins at least 5 times in the last 3 weeks including for our daughter's preschool, and I am happy to say 90% of the twenty kids that tried them loved them! One of the little girls begged her Mom to get the recipe from me that night. She couldn't stop raving about how good they were, and she is a picky eater! I was a proud mama that day.  

I buy a lot of these ingredients in bulk like the dates and flour, so if you have a local supermarket in your area that sells stuff in bulk, you will probably save some money. These muffins pack in 3.4g of fiber per muffin, and are irresistibly flavorful and yummy. They are great for a snack or breakfast, and freeze really well if you don't want them taking up any room in your fridge. Just plastic wrap them individually, place them in a large freezer zip lock bag, and let it defrost in your fridge overnight or just pop it in the microwave for a minute. 

Check out the Change it Up section at the bottom for ideas on how to alternate the ingredients to create your muffin to your liking.

*I adapted this recipe came from Cooking Light . You can check out the original recipe from their website.

Muffin Recipe

Serves: 12 Prep: 25  minutes Cooking Time:  18-20 minutes

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup oat bran, or wheat bran or wheat germ
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/3 cup pitted dates, chopped
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup low-fat buttermilk (see alternative in Change It Up)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, well beaten
1/2 cup boiling water
Cooking Spray

1 Preheat oven to 375*F. In a large bowl mix flour through walnuts. In a smaller bowl combine buttermilk through egg. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix well. Add the boiling water, and combine well. Let sit for 15 minutes.
2. Spray your muffin tins with cooking spray. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, add muffin batter to the muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes in muffin tins, and then let cool all the way on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
------------------------- 

Plan and Prep Ahead 

Here are some helpful techniques to make life a little easier once dinner time hits. These tips will especially help those that work full-time and don't have a lot of time to prepare dinner. 

~Chop up dates and walnuts ahead of time. 
~Mix together flour through walnuts in a bowl and set aside.


------------------------- 

Who likes to CHANGE IT UP? 

 ~If you don't have buttermilk, add 1 TB of white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of milk to make sour milk. 
~Use dried cherries, raisins or currants instead of dried cranberries. 
~Chop up 1 apple and add to the mixture. 
~Instead of 1 cup of flour, just use 1/2 cup of flour and use 1/2 cup oat bran, wheat bran or ground flax seeds or a mixture of them. 
~Regular old fashioned oats may be replaced for quick oats. 
~Chop up some peans, almonds or pistachios instead of walnuts. 
~Zest 1 orange or lemon into the batter to change up the flavor. 

-------------------------

No Time Bread

   As a mom, one of the things I don't have very much of is TIME. So, when I saw this recipe on another food blog, with the title "No Time Bread" , it peeked my interest. I love making homemade bread, but I don't always have time to wait all day for it to rise, so I gave this recipe a go. It's the perfect accompaniment to your dinner when you would like a loaf of homemade, warm bread. It's really a no fuss recipe, that only takes about an hour and a half total from start to finish and doesn't require any kneading and the rising time is minimal. 

There area  couple things that would be good to have on hand. The recipe says to cook it in a dutch oven, which I happen to have. If you don't have one, use a round, deep casserole dish instead or  check out this link for Dutch Oven alternatives.

If you have never made homemade bread before, let this be your first! It's a simple recipe that doesn't require a ton of ingredients.

*this recipe came from another blog called thekitchn . You can check out the original recipe from their website.

Bread Recipe

Serves: 12 Prep: 25  minutes Cooking Time:  25-30 minutes

4 1/2 tsp active-dry yeast (2 packets)
1 TB sugar
1 1/2 cups water

3 1/2 cups bread flour (either unbleached white or whole wheat work)

1 1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp balsamic vinegar

1. In a bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer, put the yeast, sugar, and water and let sit for a couple of minutes. (I don't have a stand mixer, so I just use a regular mixing bowl and a hand mixer that has dough hook attachments).
2. Heat oven to 450*F. Put Dutch oven (or alternative) in to warm as the oven heats. 
3. Add 3 cups of flour, salt and vinegar to your yeast mixture and mix well with a spoon. Add last 1/2 cup of flour and beat for 7 minutes with your dough hooks. If you don't have a stand mixer or a hand mixer with dough hooks, you can knead by hand vigorously for about 5 minutes. The dough will become very elastic. 
4. Spray a microwave-safe bowl with cooking spray and transfer bread dough to it, rolling it in the oil. Cover bowl with a very wet towel. Then cover the whole thing with a dry towel. Put in microwave for 25 seconds. Let rest in microwave for 5 minutes. Put on high for another 25 seconds, take out of microwave and let rest for 15 minutes. 
5. Take Dutch oven out of oven, spray with cooking spray. Shape dough into a ball, and plop into preheated Dutch oven. Quickly slash top with a knife. Cover and bake for about 25-30 minutes. Remove cover and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown or internal temperature has reached 210. Remove from oven, take out of dutch oven and let cool on rack.

------------------------- 

Plan and Prep Ahead 

Here are some helpful techniques to make life a little easier once dinner time hits. These tips will especially help those that work full-time and don't have a lot of time to prepare dinner. 

~Nothing really to prep.


------------------------- 

Who likes to CHANGE IT UP? 

 ~Try adding some sunflower seeds to dough to make it a seed bread.

-------------------------

Skillet Gnocchi with Chard and White Beans

  One of my favorite memories from childhood is eating warm gnocchi in Italy with browned butter and cheese. Doesn't that just make your mouth water? I have yet to make them homemade, so that might be the next adventurous thing I do.  This recipe is a super family friendly meal. I had dinner on the table in about 15 minutes and it was a one pan meal, so less clean up. So easy and our family loved it! I mean, come on! Who wouldn't love miniature potato dumplings with melted cheese? If you are wondering what gnocchi is, get a little Italian history lesson towards the bottom of this post. Happy Eating!

*this recipe came from Eating Well . You can check out the original recipe from the Eating Well website.

Gnocchi Recipe

Serves: 6 Prep: 10  minutes Cooking Time:  15 minutes

1 TB plus 1 tsp olive oil, divided
1 16oz package gnocchi, usually in the Italian section of most supermarkets

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup water

6 cups chopped swiss chard or spinach

1 15oz can diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning

1 15oz can white beans, rinsed (see Change it Up)
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, finely grated


1. Heat 1 TB oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add gnocchi and cook, stirring often until they are starting to brown, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Add the remaining 1 tsp oil and onion to pan and cook, stirring over medium heat, for 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and water. Cover and cook for 4-6 minutes. Add chard or spinach and cook stirring for 1-2 minutes until they start to wilt. Stir in tomatoes and beans and pepper, and bring to a simmer. Stir in gnocchi and sprinkle with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Serve hot.

Per Serving

Calories 325 ; Total Fat 7 g; (Sat Fat 2 g, Mono Fat 3 g) ; Protein 14 g; Carb 55 g; Fiber 6 g; Cholesterol 8 mg; Sodium 360 mg

------------------------- 

Plan and Prep Ahead 

Here are some helpful techniques to make life a little easier once dinner time hits. These tips will especially help those that work full-time and don't have a lot of time to prepare dinner. 

~Chop up swiss chard or spinach and leave in fridge until time to use. 
~Cut up onion and garlic and keep in fridge until ready to use.


------------------------- 

Who likes to CHANGE IT UP? 

 ~Instead of gnocchi, try this recipe with whole wheat noodles or brown rice.

~Try Kale or Collard Greens instead of chard or spinach.
~Use Monterrey Jack instead of Mozzarella.
~Chop up some shallots instead of onions.

-------------------------

What is Gnocchi? 

 

Gnocchi are soft dumplings that are usually made from potato. They can also be made from semolina, wheat flour, or bread crumbs as well. Gnocchi is usually used as an alternative to pasta and can be served with tomato sauce, pesto or melted butter with cheese. According to Wikipedia, "the word gnocchi probably derives from the Italian word nocchio, meaning a knot in wood."