Thick And Creamy Potato Bacon Soup

My dear friend Jerry, the driving force behind one of the (IMO) greatest foodie blogs on the 'net, Cooking, By The Seat Of My Pants aka CBSOP, made mention last week that the most popluar recipe on his site was his Thick And Creamy Potato Bacon Soup recipe. Really no wonder, with the crisp fall weather much of the country has been experiencing.

The surprising chill includes the beautiful city of Memphis, and Jerry's recipe sounded too good to pass up! In my typical 'right now' style, I dropped everything, and headed off to the grocery for the few ingredients I didn't already have. Within hours, the soup was becoming a reality!

Of course, my typical style is also never to be able to force myself to prepare a recipe without my own tweaks, so my foodie brain went to work. As a credit to Jerry's wonderful skills in the kitchen, I must admit that (for me) there were very few tweaks.

For the base recipe I used, go to Jerry's Thick And Creamy Potato Bacon Soup. I'm absolutely sure this recipe is totally delicious just as it is written, I just have this 'can't leave things alone' thing going on in the kitchen...

Here are the things I did differently:

*I halved the recipe, which for me, yielded just over 2 qts (1 for the freezer, yay!)
*I used my slow cooker, just to see if it would work, and because I love the melding of flavors that 'low and slow' produces. My times were: 2 hrs on high, 2 hrs on low, and approx 1 more hr on low, the last hour being after the pureeing and addition of the cream and cheese. Remember, slow cookers behave differently -if you choose this method, you may have to adjust your times accordingly.
*I cooked and crumbled my bacon beforehand, and added it at the beginning of cooking.
*I basically pureed the entire batch of soup, leaving a very few, very small 'lumps' of potato, only because I love my potato soup to be really creamy and smooth.
**Due to the pureeing of all of the soup, I added an additional cup of chicken broth when adding the cream, to thin it just a bit.
*I added 1 cup of extra sharp Cheddar (shredded, to ease melting) at the time I added the cream. This was right before the last hour on low, so it would melt nicely.

My result was the most decadent Potato Soup I've ever tasted - it even surpassed my recipe, that has been getting raves for years! :-)

As Jerry notes, this is pretty much a dieter-and-health-guru nightmare, but as I always say, all things in moderation... It's definitely worth the extra workouts I've done to make up for this guilty pleasure!

I hope you'll give Thick And Creamy Potato Bacon Soup a try, as Jerry does it, or with my tweaks, or with tweaks of your own!

Sausage-Stuffed Squash

Hearty enough for a main course, this is one of our favorite recipes for squash.

Ingredients:

2 medium acorn squash, about 1 and 1/2 lbs (I occasionally substitute butternut squash)
2 Italian sausage links, casing removed
1 medium onion (or more to taste), chopped
2/3 cup chopped green pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 and 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan or cheddar cheese (your choice)

Directions:
Cut each squash in half lengthwise, scoop out and discard seeds, forming a 'cup' in each of the four halves. Place squash cut side down, in a microwave-safe baking dish. Cover and microwave on high for 10-12 minutes or until tender.
While squash is cooking, crumble sausage into a large skillet and add the onion, green peppers, and garlic. Cook over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink - drain. Stir in tomato, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
Turn squash over, cut side up. Stuff with sausage mixture and sprinkle with Parmesan or cheddar. Cover and microwave on high for 2-3 minutes or untill heated through.

Serves 4

Mexican chorizo Pizzas

These little pizzas make a great easy meal, or terrific appetizers!
This recipe serves 3 as a meal (everyone gets their own pizza), or 6 as an appetizer.

Red and Green Salsa (recipe below)
8 oz Chorizo sausage
1 cup (4 oz) shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup (4 oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese (you may alternatively use 8 oz of 'mexican blend', which is a combination of Cheddar and Monterey Jack)
3 (10 inch) flour tortillas

Prepare Red and Green Salsa.

Remove and discard casing from chorizo. Heat a medium skillet over high heat until hot. Reduce heat to medium, and crumble chorizo into skillet. Brown 6 - 8 minutes, stirring to separate. Remove with slotted spoon, and drain on paper towels.

Preheat oven to 450F. Mix cheese in bowl.

Place tortillas on baking sheet (use more than one if necessary). Divide chorizo evenly between tortillas, leaving 1/2 inch from edge of tortilla uncovered. Sprinkle cheeses over top.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes until edges are crisp and golden brown, and cheese is melted.

Transfer to serving plates, and cut each tortilla into 6 wedges. Sprinkle with Red and Green Salsa.

Red and Green Salsa

1 small red bell pepper
1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
3 green onions, sliced thin
2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
2 Tbl fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt

Cut bell pepper lengthwise in half, remove seeds and veins. Cut halves lengthwise into thin strips, cut strips in half. Mix all ingredients in bowl. Let stand, covered, at room temperature for 1-2 hours before serving, to blend flavors.

Green Olive Cheese Bites

I've doing a lot of work with appetizers lately, and I'd like to share some of our most popular ones with you.

Green Olive Cheese Bites

2 cups sharp, or extra sharp Cheddar cheese
4 Tbl butter, softened
1 cup flour
1 tsp paprika
dash of cayenne pepper (optional, but really adds to the flavor!)
1 (8.5 oz) jar of pimento-stuffed green olives
1 egg
1 Tbl cream
1/4 cup sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine cheese and butter in food processor, blend well. Add flour, paprika, and cayenne, and process until smooth.
Drain olives well. Wrap about 1 tsp of the dough around each olive, pinching edges to seal. Form into balls, and place on foil lined baking sheet.
In a small bowl, beat egg and cream well, and brush over the top of the bites. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
**If you'd like to make these appetizers ahead of time, cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap, place in freezer until bites are frozen, then place them in a freezer bag in freezer for up to several hours. Thaw in refrigerator before baking.
To bake and serve immediately, place baking sheet in prepared oven, and bake for about 15 minutues, to until just golden brown. May be served hot, warm, or at room temp.
Makes about 48 bites

I'll be posting more appetizer recipes soon!