I think the weatherman hates me. It is supposed to ice/snow. I'm not a big fan of snow, and I am even less of a fan of ice. Especially when there are so many people who have to travel to see loved ones this week for the holidays. However the stinkin' weatherman did not let me have a vote on the weather this week.
I'll show him........I'll cope with his cruddy weather by making soup, in my shiny new crock pot!! HA! Take that weatherdude!!
I worked VERY hard for this new crock pot. My Mom's side of the family had our annual Christmas gathering this weekend. We always bring a gift for a gift exchange. We have played the Dirty Santa game the last several years. It is pretty fun.
The first gift I picked was this shiny crock pot and I was excited about that. However it was soon ripped from my grasp and replaced by a cooking scale, which was ripped from my grasp. The third gift I opened was a nice cookbook and some very nice knives. My own little brother stold that from me!!! (I'm pretty sure he is now on Santa's naughty list for that move). After loosing the knives, I decided to seek revenge and go take my crock pot back. So I stole the crock pot back. Which resulted in a long drawn out battle between about 5 of our family members. The hot items that went round and round were a set of nice scissors, lottery tickets, MY crock pot, a light that you wore on your head and something else that I can't even remember right now. I think I had the crock pot stolen from my hands about 20 times. It was a fun game and I actually ended up with the shiny crock pot in the end! We were all laughing so hard trying to track down the gift we wanted.
I decided to put the new cooking beast to good use today on this cold-gross-rainy-soon-to-be ice/snow day. That's what we were talking about before I got off on my tangent about the wild dirty santa game. I made some loaded potato soup, which is like an amazing loaded potato in a bowl! I even added some ham to the recipe tonight (I didn't put it in the recipe below though).
 |
| My beautiful shiny new beast of a crock pot. |
Loaded Potato Soup
4 pounds new potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 small onion, chopped
2 (14 oz) cans chicken broth
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 pint half-and-half
Toppings: shredded Cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon, green onion slices
Layer sliced potatoes in a lightly greased 6-quart slow cooker; top with chopped onion.
Stir together chicken broth, salt, & pepper; pour over potatoes and onion. (Broth will not completely cover potatoes and onion.) Cover and cook on HIGH 3 to 5 hours or until potatoes are tender. Mash mixture with a potato masher; stir in half-and-half. Cover and cook on HIGH 20 more minutes or until mixture is thoroughly heated. Ladle into bowls, and serve with desired toppings
Place potatoes and onions in the crock pot. Pour the broth over them and put on the lid. If you want to make it even easier you can use hashbrowns!
Don't forget your favorite toppings. Mine happen to be some cheese and bacon Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm!
What is half & half this silly Aussie doesn't know what it is. Please help
ReplyDeleteHalf and Half is a dairy product consisting of half light cream and half milk.It is known as half cream (UK)
ReplyDeleteHalf and Half is a dairy product. It is one part milk and one part cream. It is sold in the same container as "Half and Half". I hope you can find something similar in OZ.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy!!
-Jessica
Can this soup be frozen? I love to make big batches of things in advance. Thanks
ReplyDeleteMeghan,
ReplyDeleteI honestly can't say how well it freezes, it always gets eaten and doesn't make it to the freezer!! I'm thinking though that because of the half and half that is added at the end that it wouldn't be a great candidate for the freezer. But, like I said, I haven't actually tried freezing any. Let me know if you try it, I would be interested to see how it does.
-Jessica
I love sour cream! Can I incorporate it in the soup while cooking, or should I wait to keep it as a topping?
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer, I would almost be afraid that it would curtle so I would maybe try adding it when adding in the half and half or just save it as a topping. Enjoy!
ReplyDelete-Jessica
Potato Soup is very popular soup at my home...even my kid request for it every weekend during winter time! :) I haven't done in crock pot version though. What I do is I boil the potato until tender. Drain the water and leave 1/4 of water in it. I fill the pot up where the potatoes end with milk. Add a stick of butter. At last, I add the "noodles" (1 egg, a tip of baking powder, salt, pepper, and flour) to that. But I think if I do the crock pot version, it would be excellent. Just have to figure out the noodle part...add right away or later.
ReplyDeleteI SEE NO REASON THIS CAN'T BE FROZEN OR USED WITH SOUR CREAM! It's certainly worth the try!!
ReplyDeleteLynn
I would try and freeze one cup first not to lose the whole pot of it just incase.
ReplyDeleteCould I cook this on low, do you think?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it would work on low as well, it would just take more time of course.
ReplyDeleteI want to try this but I cant have half and half..any substitution ideas?
ReplyDeleteI did a google search for "dairy free substitutions for half and half" and found some suggestions: Vance's dairy free (you would have to check and see if that product is gluten free), a gf silken tofu, it also says there are soy and coconut based half and half subs. So you might look into some of those ideas. Good luck!
Deleteis milk ok, to use instead of half and half?
ReplyDeleteThe half and half will give it a more creamy texture because of the extra fat in the cream.
DeleteHow much does this make? I was thinking of halving the recipe for just two people.
ReplyDeleteIt makes quite a bit so you my want to cut it in half if you don't like leftovers.....otherwise it reheats very well
Delete