Tag Archives: potatoes

Getting Into a Routine

Yesterday was the end of the third week of the first term of my clinical doctorate program. The work is about what I expected, but I am spending more time than I expected doing homework. It has been a long time since I wrote a paper! I got my first one back yesterday and did well, so I guess it must be like riding a bike.

Bratwurst and Beer Soup

We spent our entire Christmas break in Wisconsin. Being home was so much fun! When we got cabbage in our first box after we got back, I found this recipe from Allrecipes.com for a bratwurst soup. The recipe looked good, but it was missing an important Wisconsin bratwurst ingredient-beer! I have remedied that in my version. This was excellent reheated. Enjoy!

Bratwurst and Beer Soup
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6-8
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pound bratwurst
  • 2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 12 ounce bottle beer
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ a large head of cabbage, chopped
  • 3 cups milk, divided
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 4 ounces Swiss cheese, diced
Instructions
  1. Remove the casing from the bratwurst. Brown in a Dutch oven, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Drain.
  2. To the Dutch oven, add the potatoes, onion, beer, and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
  3. Add cabbage. Return to a boil and the simmer for another 20 minutes.
  4. Add 2½ cups milk. Heat slowly until the soup is almost at a boil.
  5. In a small bowl, combine remaining ½ cup milk and the flour. Stir until smooth. Add to soup, stirring well to remove all lumps.
  6. When the soup has thickened, add the cheese and stir until it is melted.

 

New Mexico Style Black Bean Soup

Soup in the crock pot on a windy night. Can’t beat that! I can’t believe it is already the third week of Advent. The last few weeks have just flown by. I don’t usually use the crock pot on weekends, but it definitely helps on these busy days during the holiday season (AKA, finals week).

New Mexico Style Black Bean Soup

The inspiration for this recipe came from Allrecipes.com. I used a number of items from our last 2 boxes to create this nicely spiced soup.

New Mexico Style Black Bean Soup
Recipe type: Soup, Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4-6
 
Ingredients
  • ½ pound dried black beans
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • ½ large onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 bunch Swiss chard, leaves separated from stems and both chopped
  • ½ cup chopped roasted green chile
  • 2 medium carrots, chopped
  • ¾ pound small red skinned potatoes, quartered
  • 6 cups chicken broth
Instructions
  1. Soak black beans overnight, rinse.
  2. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and the chopped chard stems. Saute until onion is translucent and vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.
  3. Place beans, sauteed vegetables, carrots, green chile, potatoes, and chicken broth in crock pot. Cook on low for 6-7 hours.
  4. Add chopped chard leaves to crock and turn the heat to high. Cook an additional hour, until chard leaves are soft.

 

Soup!

There is nothing quite like coming home to a crock pot full of soup in the fall. I almost didn’t get to share this recipe. When I got my computer back after its second trip to the “hospital,” the tech hadn’t reinstalled by browser bookmarks. I don’t think it is fair to post a recipe without giving credit to my inspiration, and the site was stored only in my bookmarks. Thank goodness he still had the file, because this soup is REALLY good. Thank you to About.com for posting their Sausage and Potato Soup with Kale.

talian Potato and Kale Soup

I used a little different spicing, left out the bacon, and made it in the crock pot.  I hope I remember my exact recipe, I made this weeks ago and didn’t write down amounts.

Italian Potato and Kale Soup
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4-6
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pound ground Italian turkey sausage
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 cup chopped carrots
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1½ pounds thin skinned potatoes, cubed
  • 3 sprigs rosemary, chopped
  • 1 bunch kale leaves, coarsely chopped
  • ¼ cup heavy cream
Instructions
  1. Brown Italian turkey sausage. Remove from skillet.
  2. In the same skillet, heat the oil. Saute onion and carrots until they begin to soften. Add garlic and continue to brown about 2 more minutes.
  3. In crock pot, combine browned sausage, sauteed onion mixture, potatoes, rosemary, and kale. Cook on low for 8 hours.
  4. About 30 minutes before serving, add cream.

 

 

Warm Stew for a Cool Night

Part two of monsoon season started on Tuesday night. I was so happy that I had put a stew in the crock pot! I was looking for something to make with the butternut squash, and thought the spices in this recipe from eat, live, run sounded really good. The seasonings are very similar to those in a chili recipe I make a lot.

Butternut Squash Stew

I put cloves in, to make it taste more like the chili. I couldn’t taste the cloves, so I might use more next time.

Butternut Squash Stew
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup flour
  • 1½ pound beef stew meat
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed, and chopped
  • ½ pound baby portobello mushrooms, quartered
  • 4 small, thin skinned potatoes, diced
  • 3 large carrots, cut in bite sized pieces
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 2 dashes of cayenne pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon paprika
  • 1 quart beef broth
Instructions
  1. Place flour and beef in a medium bowl, toss to coat the meat with flour.
  2. Heat oil in large skillet. Add onion and saute 5 minutes. Add the beef and garlic, continue to saute until the beef has browned.
  3. Place beef mixture in bottom of the crock pot. Add bay leaf, squash, mushrooms, potatoes, and carrots. Sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce, cloves, pepper, cayenne pepper, and paprika. Pour broth over all.
  4. Cook in crock pot at low for 9 hours, until cooked through.

 

Spicy Polish Kielbasa and Cabbage

I requested cabbage in our box this week, not quite sure what I was going to do with it. Could have made cole slaw (it is hot enough!), but wanted to do a hot main dish instead. Must be my German heritage coming out, though my mother rarely made cabbage. (My Dad would not have eaten it!) I found this recipe from Hubpages.com for a Polish dish. I found several other recipes as well, including one with a little crushed red pepper in it. I used the method from the Hubpages recipe, but a combination of ingredients from several dishes for this recipe. Note that this method takes a LONG time to cook at a very low temperature.

Spicy Kielbasa and Cabbage

Just an FYI-I am cutting back on the frequency of my postings. I will be starting a statistics class in a couple of weeks, hopefully with more classes to follow. Trying to turn this into a positive for my blog-if I publish less, I’m hoping the recipes will be more interesting.

Spicy Polish Kielbasa and Cabbage
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6-8
 
Ingredients
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 medium head green cabbage, quartered, cored, and thinly sliced
  • 2 apples, finely chopped
  • ½ pound thin skinned potatoes, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 pound kielbasa, thinly sliced (I used turkey kielbasa)
  • ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
  1. Melt butter in a large soup kettle. Saute onions until translucent, about 10 minutes.
  2. Add half of the cabbage and all of the apples, potatoes, and garlic. Toss to combine. Turn heat to lowest setting, cover, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring several times.
  3. Add the rest of the cabbage, toss to combine. Cover and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
  4. Add kielbasa and crushed red pepper. Cover and cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cabbage should be soft.