Panera's Cream Cheese Potato Soup

This is seriously an awesome knockoff of the real thing.  I originally got the recipe from Food.com.  The first time I made it, I happened to go to Panera that very weekend and have their soup.  The only difference was that mine had a little more spicy kick to it due to a few more crushed red pepper flakes.  Other then that, this one is like the real thing.

Panera's Cream Cheese Potato Soup


Ingredients:

• 4 cups of low fat/low sodium chicken broth
• 4 cups of peeled and cubed red potatoes
• 1/4 cup of minced red onion
• 1/2 tsp of seasoning salt
• 1/4 tsp white or black pepper
• 1/4 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 (8oz) package of Neufchatel cheese or light cream cheese

Directions:

1. Combine broth, potatoes, onion and spices.  Boil on medium-high heat until potatoes are tender. 
2. Smash a few potatoes to release their starch for thickening.
3. Reduce to low heat and slow add cubed cheese.  Stir until melted. 
4. Serve it up while it's hot with any toppings you wish!

Enjoy!

~Chef Val

Soup Mix in a Jar

I wanted to make some of my Christmas gifts this year and thought how neat it would be to give soup mix in a jar as gifts to those family and friends of mine that cook.  They turned out really beautiful and were a huge hit.  I even gave one to my boss!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup beef bouillon granules
1/4 cup dried minced onion
1/2 cup dried split peas
1/2 cup uncooked twisted macaroni
1/4 cup barley
1/2 cup dry lentils
1/3 cup long-grain white rice
1 cup uncooked tri-color spiral pasta

Directions:
1. Use a canning funnel or any funnel that has about a 2-inch neck.  This will make it easier to fill the jar with the ingredients.  (I didn't have a funnel and it was still pretty easy to fill the jars and get the layers I was looking for.)  Be sure to use a wide-mouth, 1-quart canning jar.

2. Layer ingredients in the order given: bouillon, onion flakes, split peas, small shape pasta, barley, lentils, rice, and enough tri-color spiral pasta to fill jar.

3. Attach tag with cooking instructions: In large kettle, brown 1 pound ground beef or stew beef cut into bite-size pieces in a little olive oil.  Remove tricolor pasta from top of jar and reserve.  Add the rest of the jar contents to the kettle with 12 cups water.  Let come to a boil and simmer 45 minutes.  Add tricolor pasta and simmer 15 minutes more.  Serve with your favorite bread or rolls and a tossed salad.

One thing you may want to add to the recipe is to soak the peas first for a few hours.  One of my friends made the recipe and her peas were hard, but another made the recipe with no problems.  Enjoy!

Yankee Doodle

Homemade Wonton Soup

This weather is perfect soup making weather. My favorite soup to make lately is Wonton Soup....it's better than anything you'll get at any Chinese food delivery, or at least I think so.  This soup is going to take a couple of hours to make but there are plenty of left-overs, probably making enough for 7-8 people or freezes up nicely for future meals. Since I know some people may have some problem getting some of the ingredients, I provided alternatives.

Wonton Soup 

Ingredients:

3 bunches green onions/scallions

4-inch piece of ginger root

8 cloves of garlic

1 medium yellow onion

1/2 tbl Shao Xing (Chinese) Cooking Wine or dry sherry cooking wine

2 tbl Chicken Base + 6 qts water OR 48 oz Chicken Broth + 4 qts water

2 lbs ground pork

1/2 lb boneless pork chop

1 bunch of chives or 1 cup if sliced napa cabbage

1 lb of box choy or napa cabbage (optional)

One egg

1 teasp Sesame oil

1 tbl oyster sauce

1/2 teas of  cracked black pepper

large pinch of kosher salt

One package of wonton wrapper

I do all my chopping first, & placing them into small bowls, you will need to:

- mince 4 cloves garlic (wonton filling), leaving 4 peeled whole cloves (broth)

- rather than peeling ginger I cut off sides of ginger using them for the broth, leaving a skinless rectangular piece of ginger from the center of the root, I mince this piece of ginger making ~approximately 1/4 cup minced ginger for the filling

- Cut one bunch of green onion into 3-inch sections, with the other two bunches, cut off ends from green onion (saving them for broth), thinly slice green onion forming ~approximately 1 cup of little green rings

- Peel skin off of yellow onion, slice in half

Cut up pork chops into thin strips, approximately 1/8" wide, 2" long, leaving fat trimming to side momentarily.

Place the fat trimming in your stockpan on medium heat, cook fat down slightly this will add a little flavor to pan and create a little grease, then add pork strips, toss slightly for about 2-3 minutes (pork should not be cooked completely), remove pork strips, put aside.

Begin broth by adding chicken broth & water (well I use chicken base, since it's easier to have on hand than gallons of chicken broth) in the stockpot you used to cook the pork strips with washing the pot (those tasty pork bits cook to the bottom of the pan will make for a delicious soup.

 The broth should taste like a diluted (weak) chicken broth. Add in the whole garlic cloves, yellow onion, inger scraps & the green onion. Bring broth to boil. Add in Chinese cooking wine. Now lower broth to a simmer for about 1-1.5 hrs, stirring occasionally. Season with black pepper & salt to taste.

While broth is cooking, prepare Wonton filling by combining ground pork (which can be purchased by asking the butcher at a grocery store to grind a piece of pork shoulder), egg, Sesame oil, osyter sauce, black pepper, salt, and chives or napa cabbage (or both).

I like to use my hands to mix the filling even though a spoon would probably be sufficient.

Now prepare your workstation for folding your dumplings:

You will need a large plate to for finished dumplings, a cup of warm water, and a working surface like a cutting board.

Now take a wonton wrapper (can be purchase at most grocery stores in the produce section) and place about half a tablespoon of filling in the center of the wrapper.

Wonton Step 1

Use warm water to moisten all four sides of the wrapper, fold wrapper in half forming a triangle, be sure to remove any air within the wrapper & filling.

Wonton Step 2

Source

Moisten the two long corner of the triangle with the warm warm, now pull the two corners together, pressing them to seal them. (it helps to push the center slightly to get the two corners together)

Wonton Step 3

Source

Before long, you'll have several dumpling ready to cook!

Once you have started to make two or three dozen dumplings, you can start cooking them. To cook them, in a large sauce, bring ~about 4 cups of water to a boil, place about 6-8 dumpling for 8 minutes, (during this time I continue to fold more dumplings, remove all the broth vegetables from the broth & put pork slices into the broth), when the dumplings are finished they will float, place them into broth, continue to cook & fold all the dumplings until you run out of either Wonton wrapper or filling.

About 5 minutes before serving the soup, I like to add in additional vegetables (boy choy or napa cabbage) using heat to slightly wilt them. 

Serve 5-6 dumplings with each bowl & garnish with the sliced green onions.

~Homemade Goddess

Crock Pot Chicken Pot Pie Soup

On those cold and blustery winter days, sometimes a nice pot pie sounds good but it is just too time consuming.  But I have good news, I have found this recipe and it is soooo good.  It will warm you to the core on a cold day.  Tastes just like a nice, hot pot pie and could have less calories since there isn't any crust.

You will need:

4 cups cubed cooked chicken breast meat
2 bags frozen mixed vegetables
2 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of potato soup
2 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
4 cups skim milk

Combine all ingredients except the milk.  Place in the crock pot and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hrs.  During the last hour add the milk.

Serve with crumbled crackers on top.

Enjoy it!

Until next time,
Crockpot Momma