Maker Monday: Quarantine Cooking Pressure Cooker Loaded Potato Soup

 

Ingredients

8 medium Yukon Rose potatoes (red skins with yellow inside) peeled and chopped into medium sized pieices
8 cups of chicken broth
1/2 medium onion diced
2 to 3 carrots peeled and chopped
1 can Campbell's cheese soup
3 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon dry ranch dressing powder
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
Seasonings to taste (salt, black peppper, cayenne, paprika)

Reserved for Later Use

Approximately 4 medium Yukon Rose potatoes rough chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup Heavy Cream
Toppings: sour cream, green onions or chives, shredded cheese, bacon crumbles



Directions

Add everything but the cream, reserve potatoes, and toppings to the pressure cooker. Pressure cook on high for one hour. Natural release pressure for 10 minutes and then quick release. Puree with emulsion blender. Add a cup of heavy cream and stir.

Chop enough potatoes into breakfast potato sized pieces to top each person's soup with about a 1/4 cup of potatoes. Season lightly with salt and olive oil. Air fry at 400 degrees for 13 minutes tossing half way through. You can also pan fry or cook these potatoes in the conventional oven. Your choice. Time may vary per your cooking method. You want the outside of the potatoes golden and crisp.

Top bowl of soup with crispy potatoes, green onions, shredded cheese, and bacon crumbles.

Maker Monday: Fast, Healthy, and Flavorful Breakfast Ideas - Nordic Stone Age Snack Bars

 

I really like the convenience of being able to grab a granola or protein bar, stash it in my purse, and go to work or to the park or wherever I am headed. Some are acceptable meal replacements, and some are very enjoyable snacks. Almost all of them have more sugar than I can for or are so dry and flavorless I might as well be eating cardboard. And so very many of them are peanut butter flavored. I like peanut butter a lot, but I do not care for peanut butter flavorings at all.

I have occasionally made my own granola, but I had never attempted to make my own snack bars. I saw a video cross my feed on Facebook describing a homemade bread loaf made from seeds and nuts. I watched the video (posted below) and thought it looked like a great idea for a lower sugar, flavorful alternative snack.




I did decide pretty quickly that I thought I would prefer this in a more easily portable bar or square format. So, instead of putting the whole mix in a loaf pan, I split it into two 8x8 stoneware dishes.

For my snack bars I included:

• 1/2 cup raw slivered almonds 
• 1 cup raw chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup brown flax seeds
• 1/2 cup golden flax seeds
• 1 cup toasted sunflower seeds
• 1 Tbsp. clover honey
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut

• 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 olive oil
• 5 eggs
• 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt

Mix all of these ingredients in a bowl and then half between two 8x8 lightly greased baking dishes. I cooked my bars at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. They turned out crisp along the edges and chewy in the middle. I cut one pan into small granola bar size, and I cut the other pan into small squares like I would brownies.

They are chewy and crunchy at the same time, very flavorful, and filling. Next time I might try adding a touch of cinnamon or ginger to the mix just to punch the flavor a bit. I think oats would also be a nice addition. The original recipe did not call for the dried fruits or honey, but I wanted a hint of sweetness without adding too  much. The dried fruits also add some varied texture to the bars as well. I packaged them up into snack bags and popped them in the breadbox so that they will be easy to snag in the mornings on our way to work.

Maker Monday: Ode to the 1950s - Cheesy Surprise Hash Brown Casserole

 

Cheesy Surprise Hash Brown Casserole

Half a Bag of Ore-Ida Hash Browns, thawed (approximately 15 oz)

1 can cream of chicken soup (cream of mushroom works good too)

1 can cheese soup

1 can SPAM luncheon meat (the Bacon flavored one works the best)

1 small onion diced

½ cup sour cream

½ cup frozen peas

1 cup shredded cheese of your choice

2 cups crushed sour cream and onion chips

Spices to taste (salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, Cheyenne pepper)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter or spray a 9x11 casserole dish and set aside.

In a mixing bowl combine thawed hash browns, cream of chicken soup, cheese soup, sour cream, shredded cheese, and frozen peas together folding gently until fully combined. Add spices now as well keeping in mind you may not want to add much salt at all because of the SPAM and canned ingredients sodium content. If you stir, it has a tendency to break up the hash browns too much, and then they become mushy.

Open and cut up the loaf of SPAM into small cubes. Dice the onion. Very lightly coat your skillet with olive oil (or if you prefer a bit more spicy chili oil works great.) Fry the onions and SPAM on medium heat, flipping two to three times until meat is crispy and onions are just starting to caramelize.

Drain excess grease and then mix in the SPAM and onions with the rest of your ingredients. Move mixture into your prepared casserole dish and spread out evenly. Cover the top with your crushed potato chips.

Maker Monday: Steffie's "No Ricotta Zesty Lasagna" Recipe

 

1 24 oz container of cottage cheese
1 bag shredded mozzarella cheese
1 bag pizza blend shredded cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1 lb ground beef
1/2 lb hot Italian sausage
1/2 medium sized onion diced
1 jar Newman's Own Sockarooni spaghetti sauce
1 jar Classico Organic Tomato, Herbs, and Spices spaghetti sauce
1 box lasagna noodles
Spices & Herbs (italian blend herbs, red pepper flakes, seasoned salt, Garlic Garlic, cheyenne pepper)




Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat water in large pot until boiling. Added a teaspoon salt along with 12-15 lasagna noodles (12 if you want fewer layers and 15 if you want more). Follow directions on box for cooking, but remember to stop a bit short of done because they will continue to cook in the oven. It is best to drain right away and pour in cold water over the noodles to stop  cooking and keep noodles from sticking together until time to layer ingredients.

Mix onion, beef, and sausage in a skillet and brown. Add full jar of Sockarooni and half of the Classico THS sauce to skillet and let simmer. Add in spices and herbs to taste.

In medium sized mixing bowl, mix half a container (12 oz) cottage cheese with Parmesan cheese and two eggs. Stir until thoroughly blended and set aside.

In a 9x11 oven safe pan, begin layering your ingredients. First layer should be meat sauce to prevent noodles from sticking. The sequence goes as follows: red sauce, noodles (3 or 4 across depending on your preference), cottage cheese mixture, noodles, red sauce and cheese, noodles and so on until your layers near the top. The top layer should be meat sauce topped with a layer of shredded cheese. Sprinkle on additional herbs and spices as desired.

Cook for 30 - 40 minutes until cheese on top is lightly browned.

Some other ideas for ingredients to include would be spicy pepperoni, switching out half of the beef for turkey, and swapping out sauces for whichever sauces you and your family like best.