Turkey Dill Chowder

Did you have lots of turkey left over from Thanksgiving? I cooked my own turkey on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and had tons leftovers!  I decided to use some of it to make a chowder.  This chowder is thick and hearty. It's somewhat similar to my Chicken and Rice soup, but the dill adds a little tanginess to it.

Turkey Dill Chowder
The Double Dipped Life

2 Tb butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 Tb dill
1/2 teas garlic (or 1 clove fresh garlic)
1/3 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup diced cooked turkey
1/2 cup diced celery
1 cup red potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup corn (I use frozen)

Additional add-in possibilites:
carrots
wild rice

Melt the butter in a large soup pot. Add in the onion, dill and garlic and cook until the onions are soft.  Whisk in the flour, and cook another 2-3 minutes.  Slowly pour in the milk, whisking constantly. Add the broth and bring to a boil.  Boil for 5 minutes or until soup is thickened.

Add in the remaining ingredients, and simmer until the potatoes are cooked.

Enjoy!

Potato Cheese Sticks and Mashed Potatoes

 

It's time for another Secret Recipe! The Secret Recipe Club is a group of bloggers that secretly browse another member's blog and cook one of their recipes.  We can change the recipe if we want, but we can't tell the recipe owner that we're cooking their recipe until the day of the reveal.

This month I was assigned "Enriching Your Kid".  Shirley is a clinical physiologist, and focuses on making food that is both healthy for kids, and that they will actually eat! What a challenge! 

The recipe I picked this month are Mozzarella Cheese Cutlets. I bought mozzarella for this recipe... I swear I did... but it had disappeared when I went to make it! I did have some wonderful Smoked Habernero White Cheddar from Beehive Cheese, so I used that.  I loved the results of using this cheese. It added spice and dimension to the potato sticks. 

I actually ended up only frying a few sticks, as we tasted the "mash" and decided that we liked it that way better. Either way is good, and I'll include both recipes here.

Potato Cheese Sticks

adapted from Enriching Your Kid

1/4 cup Smoked Habernero White Cheddar (or Mozzarella), diced fine, or grated

2 large potatoes

1/2 teas ground pepper

1/2 teas oregano

1 teas cumin

1/4 teas chili powder  (these are not spicy, promise!)

2 Tb chopped fresh coriander or cilantro

salt to taste

breadcrumbs or panko to coat

Oil for frying  OR 

2 Tb butter for mashed potatoes and 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk

Wash the potatoes, and poke the skin with a fork. Microwave at 5 minute intervals until soft.  Let cool until you can handle them; peel; and chop finely.  

Mix in the rest of the ingredients (except for Panko) and mix well.  I used my pastry cutter to mix it all together. 

Scoop a spoonful of the potato mixture and shape into a rectangle or circular pattie. Dip in the Panko to coat.

Heat oil until hot.  Drop potato sticks into oil, flipping once, until browned.  Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Eat hot! 

Mashed Potatoes

Cook the potatoes and add other ingredients as outlined above. (I do not include Panko in the mashed version!)  Add butter and milk, and mix, or beat, potatoes until they are light and fluffy. 

Enjoy!

Here are some other recipes from the fabulous participants of The Secret Recipe Club! 

Parmesan Butternut Squash Gratin

We love butternut squash in our house. Yes, it's hard to cut. Yes, it takes a long time to cook. Yes, it's worth every minute.  We usually make it sweet with cinnamon and brown sugar, but this time I decided to go savory instead. Pillsbury.com has fantastic recipes online, and that is where I found this one. I served it with Apple Cider Braised Pork Shoulder.

We liked the final results, but next time I will add more seasonings (included in this recipe!). This is a great substitution for the sweet squash!

Parmesan-Butternut Squash Gratin

Adapted from Pillsbury.com

1 butternut squash (2 1/2 lb) 

¼ cup butter or margarine 

2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped 

¼ teas salt 

1/8 teas pepper

1/2 teas chili powder (optional)

¼ cup Progresso® panko crispy bread crumbs 

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. Peel, (with a potato peeler), halve lengthwise and seed squash; cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Arrange with slices overlapping slightly in baking dish.
In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Reduce heat to low. Add garlic; cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft and butter is infused with garlic flavor. Do not let butter brown.

Pour the butter/garlic mixture over the squash. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, chilli powder, and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top.

Bake uncovered 30 to 40 minutes or until squash is tender when pierced with fork. Increase oven temperature to 425°F; bake 5 to 10 minutes longer or until lightly browned. Before serving, sprinkle parsley over top.

Enjoy!

Savory Beef Stew

It's getting cold outside, and we've already had a few snow showers. Really, the only thing I love about this time of year is the food. Apples, pumpkin, cider, hot chocolate, and mostly, soups and stews. I crave warmth. Stew provides it!

This beef stew started from a need to use leftover beef. The flavors on the roasted beef were perfect in the stew. In the recipe below, I've added the seasonings to regular stew beef instead of making an entire roast like I did. Stew Beef can be found in grocery stores in the meat department. It's pre-cut chunks, ready to go!  The stew can be slow cooked in a heavy stock pot in the oven, or in your crockpot.

Savory Beef Stew
The Double Dipped Life

For the meat:
1 1/2 lb beef stew meat
2 teas sea salt
1 Tb olive oil
1 teas ground pepper
1 1/2 teas oregano
2 teas dried basil
1/2 teas crushed red pepper
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tb Olive Oil

Season the stew meat with sea salt, cover, and place in refrigerator for a few hours, or overnight.

Remove meat from the refrigerator, and use paper towels to dry the excess moisture from the meat. In a large bowl, mix the meat and all the above seasonings.

In a large stockpot, heat 1 Tb olive oil. Add the meat, and sear on all sides, until nicely browned, but not cooked through.

Add in the soup ingredients:

2 cups beef broth
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 can (14.5 oz) chopped tomatoes, undrained
8 oz baby carrots, chopped into bite-sized pieces
12 small red potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 bay leaf
2 Tb Worcestershire sauce
4 Tb hot sauce 
water pr stock as needed if stew is too thick

Mix all the ingredients together.  Place in a 300 degree oven for 5 hours, keep on the stove top for 2 hours, or throw everything into a crockpot and cook low for 6 hours, or high for 4 hours.

Serve with warm, crusty bread and Enjoy!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Soup

 

EDITED on 10/20/11

Great news! I entered this soup into LDSLiving.com soup contest and won 3rd place! It has been featured in their newsletter, and will be appearing in the print edition in January!

ALSO... tune in to Channel 2 news on Monday, November 7th at NOON to see me make this soup live!

Thanks to all of my readers for their great support! 

********

I don't know what it is, but the mixture of chicken, ham, and melting cheese just does a happy dance for my taste buds. Chicken Cordon Bleu is an old masterpiece. Lately, I've been seeing it in cookbooks and online in soup form. None of the recipes caught my imagination though, even though I started craving this wonderful combo.  Some recipes called for pre-made soups, some for way too many ingredients or time. Now, I don't have a problem using pre-made soups or products, but I'm not a fan of cream soup from a can. So, I decided to start with a soup base that I love, and go from there. I was more than pleased on how it turned out. This is a wonderful, thick, creamy soup, perfect for cold nights. 

One note on this recipe: some of the quantities of ingredients can be changed. The ham, chicken, and cheese can be customized. Also, you can add more or less liquid to get your perfect consistency. I microwaved my potatoes for a faster meal. You are welcome to bake them as well.  Also, do yourself a favor and do NOT use pre-shredded cheese in this.  Not only does it not melt as well, take a look at the ingredients and see how much "other" ingredients they add to keep the cheese from clumping.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Soup

The Double Dipped Life

Serves approx. 4. Makes approx. 3 quarts of soup. This recipe can be doubled easily.

2 Tb butter

2-3 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 chopped onion

1/4 cup flour

2 1/2 cups milk (I used skim and it was fine!)

14 oz chicken broth 

Salt and pepper to taste 

4 medium baking potatoes, baked

1 cup shredded swiss cheese

1 cup shredded chicken, cooked (I think a rotisserie would be fabulous)

1 cup diced cooked ham

Wash and dry your potatoes.  Pierce the skin with a fork, and microwave for 5 minutes. Rotate them, and cook for another 5 minutes, or until done. 

In the meantime: In a large stock pot, melt the butter. Add the garlic and onion, and let cook until browned, stirring frequently. Do not let the garlic burn, or it will get bitter! 

Add the flour to the pan and whisk together. Let the mixture cook for 1 minute.  Slowly add milk a little at a time while whisking constantly. The only lumps you want are the onions. Add the chicken broth, and whisk well.  Bring soup to a simmer, and heat until thickened, about 5 minutes. 

While your soup is thickening, cut the potatoes in half length-wise and either scoop the flesh out, or peel the skin off. Cut or mash into small pieces.  Get your chicken and ham ready, and shred your cheese. 

Turn the heat to medium-low, and add the potatoes. Sprinkle the soup with salt and pepper. Remember that potatoes absorb salt, so you might want to add a little more than you think you need. Taste as you go! 

Add the Swiss cheese, chicken, and ham.  Warm through and serve hot! 

To eat leftovers, you might have to add some more milk or chicken broth to reheat.

Enjoy!