Autumn Chowder

Nothing says autumn to me like a delicious bowl of soup. This chowder is savory and delicious! Perfect for a cozy fall evening!

Autumn Chowder
adapted from Taste of Home online

1/4 cup chopped onion
1 large russet potato, peeled and cubed
1 large carrot, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
2/3 cup water
1/2 chicken buillon cube
3/4 tsp rosemary herb seasoning mix*
1 cup milk
2/3 cup frozen corn
1/8 tsp pepper
2-1/2 tsp flour (optional)
2 T cold water (only if using flour)
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Saute onion with a small amount of cooking oil in a large saucepan, until tender. Add potato, carrot, water, chicken buillon and rosemary. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in the milk, corn, and pepper. Cook, covered, on medium for 5 minutes. If thicker soup is desired, mix flour and water until smooth, add to soup. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese until melted.
Yield: 2 servings

Nutrition facts: 473 calories, 30 g fat, 16 g saturated fat, 77 mg cholesterol, 810 mg sodium, 35 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 19 g protein.

My Review

• Preparation: 4
• This soup took about 40 minutes start to finish, very simple to make.
• Taste: 5
• I will definitely make this soup again! It was thick and savory. My husband loved the corn, he said it added a sweet pop to the soup!
• Cost: 5
• This is a budget-friendly recipe. Simple and inexpensive ingredients definitely will not disappoint your taste buds!
• Clean-up: 5
• This was an easy clean-up meal. All cooked in one pan and only a cutting board besides that!
• Changes
• I altered the soup from the original recipe. I did not have bacon but I read on the reviews that it didn't really add much to the soup. I also added more veggies and seasoning.
• *The rosemary herb seasoning mix is from Pampered Chef. I absolutely love it! I use it all the time in soups, broth, chicken, roasted vegetables, really anything! I honestly don't think I could live without it, and I'm not even being paid to say that! Click here to see it on their website.
• I baked some french bread a few weeks ago and had frozen a loaf. I set the bread out in the morning and it was thawed and ready by lunchtime. I stuck it in the oven at 350 for about 7 minutes, it tasted fresh and it was a great compliment to the soup!
• Summary
• This is truly a delicious chowder! It is super easy to make and it smells so good! I will definitely be making it again; give it a try yourselfand let me know what you think!

Scalloped Potatoes

I'm bound to love anything with the word potato. Thus the reason I had to try these and subsequently loved them!

Scalloped Potatoes

from Taste of Home Cookbook

3 T butter, divided

1 T flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1-1/2 cups milk

4 cups potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 small green pepper, finely chopped

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

3/4 cup shredded cheese

In a small saucepan, melt 2 T butter; stir in flour, salt and pepper. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 2 mintues or until thickened.

In a greased 9x9 inch baking dish, arrange half the potatoes, onion and green pepper in layers; cover with half of the sauce. Repeat layers. Cover and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Melt remaining butter; combine with bread crumbs and sprinkle over potatoes. Bake, uncovered, 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Yield: 6 servings

Nutrition facts (1/2 cup): 250 calories, 28g fat,  8g saturated fat, 36mg cholesterol, 97 mg sodium, 27g carbohydrate, 3g fiber, 8g protein.

My Review

• Preparation: 2
• Preparing the dish is easy enough, it's the lengthy baking that gave this a 2 rating. It took about 1 hour and 45 minutes from start to finish, but there's lots of down time while it's baking.
• Taste: 4
• I will make this dish again. It had great flavor, and as I said before, I love anything potato!
• Cost: 5
• This is less than $1.50 per serving. It's an estimate but I think it's pretty accurate. Potatoes are dirt cheap and the only other ingredient I had to buy was the green pepper.
• Clean-up: 4
• This was a molehill of dishes (see review scale tab if you are confused and think I'm strange); cutting board, chopper, sauce pan, baking dish and a few utensils.
• Changes
• I would use less onion next time, there was a little much for me but it was still good.
• I made a loaf of bread last month and froze half of it. I thawed that out and let it dry to use as bread crumbs. The store bought ones are so small, I like them a little chunkier. I would probably use more bread crumbs too.
• I use Pampered Chef stoneware, so I don't have to grease the baking dish. The recipe called for a 1-1/2 quart dish, I don't have that so I used my 9x9 inch stone.
• Summary
• Great recipe! The creamy homemade sauce goes nicely with the potatoes, onion, and green pepper. My husband's favorite part was the cheesy, crunchy topping. Good as a main or side dish. Definitely a keeper!

Sunshine Halibut

Sunshine Halibut
from Taste of Home Cookbook

1/3 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
2 T fresh parsley, minced
1/2 tsp grated orange peel
4 (4-6 oz) halibut steaks
1/4 cup orange juice
1 T lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp lemon-pepper seasoning

Saute onion and garlic until tender; remove from heat. Stir in parsley and orange peel. Place halibut in a 11x7x2 baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with onion mixture. Combine orange and lemon juices; pour over fish. Sprinkly with salt and lemon-pepper. Cover and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.
Yield: 4 servings

Nutrition facts (4.5 oz size): 202 calories, 4 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 54 mg cholesterol, 270 mg sodium, 4 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 36 g protein.
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My Review

• Preparation: 5
• Just a little chopping and a quick saute, put it all together and bake; easy!
• Taste: 3.5
• This was hard for me to determine. I loved the fish, I had never had halibut before. It is very mild and lean and I really liked it. The citrus flavor was present but light, just enough to make itself known. The onion mixture was good but something about it kind of made me want to scrape it off, which I did tonight when I had the leftovers. The flavor was good, I think it might just have something to do with the fact that we were both burping (eww, gross I know, sorry for the details. Don't worry, little burps, not nasty belches) the taste all evening.
• Cost: 1
• The only ingredients I had to buy were the orange juice, an orange, halibut and lemon-pepper. Halibut is a more expensive fish, the kind we got was about $11. With 3 servings (we only had 3 steaks, but I didn't really modify the recipe except reduce the onion) it comes out to about $5.00 per serving, not too great at all.
• Clean-up: 4
• I like to judge my dishes by the big items, the ones that don't fit nicely into my little dish rack. So I had 4; two cutting boards, a skillet, and a stone. Not too bad.
• Changes
• I have a garlic press (love it), so I always press my garlic instead of mince it. It saves me from stinky hands and it's way easier.
• I used dried parsley because I already had that. When substituting dried herbs for fresh, simply divide by three. This recipe called for 2 tablespoons (which is 6 teaspoons) so I used 2 teaspoons dried parsley. Another easy way is to just change tablespoons to teaspoons; 2 tablespoons fresh parsley equals 2 teaspoons dried parsley.
• I don't have an 11x7x2 inch dish, I didn't even know they existed. The point is to just use a dish with an edge so your liquid doesn't spill. So I used my 9x9 pampered chef stone.
• Summary
• This recipe was good, I just experienced some unpleasant aftermath for some reason. The onion mixture with the citrus flavor produces a surprisingly pleasant taste, and you can't go wrong with a good piece of fish. It is a very health-friendly dinner too. Enjoy!

Saturday Morning Cinnamon Rolls

I love to make breakfast on Saturday mornings. Today I decided to make a recipe that I had clipped out of the newspaper a couple years ago but had lost track of and never made. The recipe below is the original, but I made some changes, so pay attention when reading the review!
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Sarah's Cinnamon Rolls

Dough:

3/4 c butter

2 tsp salt

3/4 c sugar

1 c mashed potatoes

1 c hot potato water

1 c hot water

2 packages yeast
1/2 c warm water
2 eggs
7-8 c flour
1/2 c butter, softened
1 c sugar
1 1/2 T cinnamon

Frosting:
3 c powdered sugar
6 T butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
6 T milk

Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl and stir until butter melts. In a separate bowl, combine yeast with warm water and allow time to activate. Add yeast to potato water mixture and stir. Add flour, one cup at a time, until a soft dough forms.

1 cup flour



3 cups flour



5 cups flour

   

8 cups flour

  

Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, about 7 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease all sides. Cover and let rise until double, about 1 hour.



Place dough in bowl

Let rise until double

Then punch it!

Roll dough into a long rectangle. Spread softened butter over top and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough the long way and cut into about 24 equal pieces.



Yes, it was huge!



Roll it up and cut

Place rolls into two 9x13 pans. Cover and let rise until double, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 until golden, about 25-30 minutes. Let rolls cool for 10 minutes. Combine frosting ingredients and spread over rolls.






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My Review

• Preparation: 2.5
• Let me make a disclaimer here, I enjoyed all the prep work! But, for the sake of a standard, this recipe takes a lot of time and work. I got a workout stirring the dough!
• Taste: 4.75
• These were delicious! So warm, gooey, and sweet! I couldn't give it a five though. I think they could have had more cinnamon flavor, and I think there's a better recipe out there. I have 3 more cinnamon roll recipes I need to try, so be on the lookout!
• Cost: 5
• This is hard to estimate, but considering I had everything on hand except the potatoes and butter, I think it was pretty cheap.
• Clean-up: 3
• Lots of dishes I must say. But I washed them while the rolls were rising in the pans, so it wasn't too bad.
• My changes
• Eggs! Did you notice that the recipe doesn't say when to add the eggs?? And I didn't realize I neglected to use the eggs until I was writing this post. They probably would have been added before the yeast was, but I can't be sure. Either way, they turned out great!
• I have a jar of yeast that I keep in the fridge, it is much cheaper that way and it lasts for 6 months. One package equals 2 1/4 tsp of yeast.
• I would definitely recommend dividing the dough in half before rolling it out, it went off the edge of my counter!
• Instead of 1 sup sugar, I used 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar for the filling. I love brown sugar and I thought it would make the taste richer.
• I didn't have two 9x13 pans, so I used one 9x9. The ends of the roll produced smaller cinnamon rolls, so they all fit. I ended up with 24 cinnamon rolls.
• After the rolls come out of the oven, the middles will be sticking up. You can leave them that way or just poke them back down like I did (see above pictures).
• I added an extra tablespoon of milk (to make 7) to the frosting, I thought it needed to be a little thinner.
• It's a big batch! So I stuck a dozen of them in the freezer to enjoy later!
• Summary
• Delicious cinnamon rolls! Be prepared for a time investment. The first stage took me an hour, then I went back to bed while the dough was rising lol. Then the next part took me about an hour too. Of course, it was the first time I had made them and snapping pictures takes extra time. Add in 90 minutes of rising and 25 minutes of baking and they took a while. But I loved it! So throw on your apron and give it a try!