What's Cooking Calla? Loaded Potato Cheese Soup and Garlic Knots!

So I had made promises to get this recipe up asap and of course since I pulled the leftovers out of the freezer today for dinner I figured good a time as any to make due on the promise. The first time I tried to make a loaded potato soup it came out very bland and a bit rough around the edges. This one had both my husband and I very thrilled, it is super filling, and he was just over the moon about the garlic knots!

Let's start with showing you the finished product this is my personal bowl of soup with toppings and the plate of garlic knots! I made 10 and we ate 9 lol. 

Ingredients (Some are not shown but will be noted..I added them in as choices after I started throwing stuff in to the crock pot.)

1 30oz bag of julienne style hash browns- Ore Ida was my pick

1 (2 cup bag) of Triple Cheddar Cheese- Kraft

1 large container of chicken broth (I think it's 30oz)

1 can condensed cream of chicken

1 can of water from the cream of chicken can

1/2 an onion

1/4 tsp black pepper

Regular cream cheese (must not be low fat it will not melt right!)

Sour Cream

Bacon Bits

(I also added in another type of cheese for toppings and cheddar french fried onion)

Step one: Layer in the crock pot the hash browns  bag of cheese, chicken broth, can of creamed chicken, fill that can up and and one refill of it as water, chop up the onion and put half of it in the soup mix, about 1/2 tsp pepper, close lid and set on low. 

I usually stir if about every 2 hours, no real need in most cases but if I am home I do it. 

Should cook on low for 6-7hrs

Step two: ONE HOUR before you plan to eat it put the cream cheese in a separate container, ladle over 2-3 spoonfuls of soup to the cream cheese and whip it up (this helps melt it so it does not end up in chunks in the soup)- Pour it back into the crock pot and stir. 

15-20 minutes before serving dinner get ready to make your garlic knots!

Ingredients:

1 (5ct biscuit can from Grands) you can do more if you want!

Olive Oil

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Basil

2 tsp Garlic (I used minced from a jar to have extra power!)

3 tbsp Grated Parmesan cheese- I used powdered as I did not have fresh

Step three: Put all the dry ingredients in to the bowl first and then pour and stir in olive oil until it forms a paste. 

Step four: I took 1 (5ct container) of Grands home style biscuits and separated the layers to make 10. 

On a cutting board lightly powder it with flour. 

Roll each piece into a long strip and tie it in a knot as shown in photo. 

Step five: Depending on the package of biscuits you got, preheat the oven to the temp it states on the package. Once preheated place the naked biscuits in to the oven for about 8-10 minutes where they are not finished baking but a bit firmer. 

Step six: Pull them out and using a marinating brush coat each one with the sauce you made. 

If you choose to you can also add on some cheese on top! 

Step seven: Slide them back in to the oven and bake until golden on all sides and sauce looked dried on top. 

At this point your soup should look like this in the crock pot

Once your biscuits are done they should look like this

I topped my soup with some cheese (regular cheddar not shown in photos), bacon bits, sour cream, and the French's french fried cheddar onions (not shown in photos)

The soup freezes very well for leftovers! The biscuits if you do not finish them off you can store them in the fridge for up to 2 days and microwave for about 20-30 seconds to be warm enough to dip in your soup!

I would say it makes about 6-8 heaping servings of soup as I had 2 bowls and the hubby had 1 and I used two medium containers and one small one to store the leftovers. I honestly would say the most time consuming parts of this were rolling out the biscuits (a whopping five minutes) and slicing the onion (a time stealing full minute) haha

So I did accomplish two new recipes for the month! (Actually three when I post the next one lol) This is perfect for a chilly night to cuddle up and watch a movie!

XOXO

Progression starts with a list of goals

So I am clearly starting the journey for my list of 70 things to accomplish this year. 

I have 3 of 70 complete and 4 others started. 

Complete are number #1 Start blog, #16 Start Christmas shopping before November, and #17 Redo the pantry cabinet area. 

I configured my pantry in a way that makes it easy for me to use. The smaller one has a breakfast shelf, lunch snack and lunch items for the husband so he does not eat them when he is off work, a baking shelf, and a condiment shelf (All organized by expiration date) The very bottom is canned dog food and poweraide for the hubby. 

The larger pantry that I open multiple times a day is stocked by expiration as well but depending on how I organized it, I pull from the side or the bottom (top shelf lol). I put all side dishes like potatoes, rice, and pastas on top shelf. Then we have bagged sides, main pasta sauce, huge tub of sugar, and all cooking tools I use regularly. Next would be the canned items, broth, and rice (mostly used for home made dog food). We then have snack foods and a few more cooking essentials. Lower than that has snack foods that have not been opened, all our Lipton tea for homemade sweet tea, crackers, and lunch ramen for hubby when he is being lazy. Below that are any non perishable dinner kits and all my pastas. The final area which is the bottom has serving trays, wine stash, and we always keep a jug of water in case our county has a boil water ordinance for the dogs to have clean water before we can get to the store for more. 

It took me about an hour and twenty minutes to complete this task. I already feel more organized moving around the kitchen preparing dinner tonight. I wish I had more pantry space but of course until we move into a bigger house, this will have to do! 

The projects I already started working on but have yet to complete are #47 (Catch up on The Lying Game--I watched 2.5 episodes from last season last night on Netflix). #51 already selling on eBay again but a long way to go before I hit that goal, #57 and #58 the personal and joint spending. Yesterday I spent a few hours in my Quicken software lining up things the way I wanted so I can track every dollar as I go through the year. On top of that I did open up my savings tracker software sheet that lets me track how much I save compared to spending with clipped coupons or advertised savings. This is a great tool for me. At the end of the year I can see how much I spent on household/groceries compared to what I saved. I am a 100% visual creature of habit. Show me things on paper or black and white and I will clearly find the best way to make it better. 

Not much else to write today as I spent the day at home working on little projects. Plan to try to knock out some more of the simple things this week. I still do need to come back and write two business reviews about customer service. Maybe I can catch a break tomorrow. OH YES! I nearly forgot. My friend Sasha is egging me on to go Gluten Free to help my stomach issues out. I find I am having severe pain nearly as soon as I finish a meal with a carbohydrate base (pasta, pizzas, rice dishes, etc) so she suggested some quinoa and farina. They are on my shopping list for the week and I already started pinning some ideas of recipes on my Pinterest Board. under dinner or side dishes, I can't recall at the moment. 

Hope everyone else had a super relaxed yet productive day!

XOXO

Calla