What's for dinner?

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I thought I'd share what we're having for dinner this week and some other snack type things we sometimes have when we're a light crowd. 

One of our favorite things to have is a baked potato bar. I wash and dry a bunch of russet potatoes and coat them with olive oil and sea salt, and bake them for about two hours on 350. I made homemade bacon bits and grated some sharp cheddar and diced green onion for me. I like to make a whole bag of these at one time and we'll eat on them all week, or I'll turn into potato soup one night. 

I love it when the skin gets all crispy on the outside. 

Drew asked for tortilla soup this week, so I'm making that tonight. I love this soup! I don't make it often enough, but it's one of our favorites.

Here's a recipe, if you're interested:

2 cloves of garlic, minced (or about three TBSP of minced garlic out of a jar)
1 onion, chopped
3 TBSP of butter
2 TBSP of all purpose flour
3 cans (14 0z) of chicken broth
4 cups of half and half (you can use milk to cut the fat) (But why do that?)
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 cup of fresh salsa
1 can of creamed corn
about 4 cups of chopped chicken, or one rotisserie chicken (which is what I used)
2 tsp of cumin
1 packet of fajita seasoning
3 TBSP of fresh cilantro

And here is what you do:

Start with the butter. Melt it in your soup pot, along with the garlic and onion.  Sauté this until the onion is translucent, then add in the flour.  Stir together and cook for two minutes, so the taste of flour will be gone. 

Add the broth and half and half.  Bring this to a boil (I turned the heat down to medium), then reduce the heat to low.  Add the soup, salsa, corn, chicken, cumin, fajita seasoning, and 2 TBSP of the cilantro.  (I actually used a lot more than that, because I LOVE fresh cilantro.)  Stir, continuing to heat for fifteen more minutes. 

To serve, we top it with a bit of shredded cheese, more fresh cilantro, and tortilla chips. (I always make a huge pot of this, because it's so good as leftovers.)

Wednesday night I'm going to church, so they'll probably eat leftovers if they don't go out to eat. I'm trying a new one pot beef stroganoff recipe I found on TikTok and Friday night I'll either have leftovers or I'll get pizza. Other things I keep on hand that are easy and good are things like pasta with sauces and veggies to throw in, I'm making some quiches again this week, and we love to eat charcuterie type things for dinner complete with smoked sausage, cheese cubes, wheat thins and peppers. 

I love reading the books I'm reading right now, because I am always inspired to cook after reading them. I love books that incorporate food into them. I'm reading another series by Pamela Kelley, the Quinn Valley series.

My family will be gone all weekend, because of a youth event going on at our church and because they help with all the technical things. Noah is going out of town and Graham will probably be at the church as well. 

I always love to be inspired to try new things, so I'd love to hear what you're eating this week! Thanks for reading, friends. Love to all!