Ham and Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 large potatoes, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped cooked ham
• 3 1/4 cups water
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp flour
• 2 cups milk
• shredded cheddar cheese for garnish

Directions:

Boil the potatoes until tender. Drain. Add the celery, olive oil and onion to a stock pot. Cook on medium heat until tender. Add the water, chicken bouillon cube, salt and pepper.

In a separate pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add 1/2 cup milk and whisk until smooth. Add the remainder of the milk and continue cooking over medium heat until mixture thickens significantly, about 6 to 7 minutes. Add mixture to pot. 

Add ham, potatoes and chopped carrot to the pot. Continue cooking until heated through. Garnish with shredded cheddar cheese and serve. 

Spinach and Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 medium potatoes, chopped
• 1 large carrot, shredded
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup cooked spinach (frozen is fine)
• 4 tbsp olive oil 
• 6 tbsp flour
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 cups milk
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• immersion blender

Directions:

Place the chopped potatoes in a pot and cook until tender. While potatoes are cooking, add olive oil,onion, celery and garlic to a large stock pot or dutch oven. Cook on medium heat until tender and translucent (about 7 - 10 minutes). 

Add 2 tbsp flour to vegetable mixture. Stir until well mixed. Add the chicken broth and half the shredded carrot. Continue cooking on medium heat, stirring periodically. Your potatoes should be tender by now. Remove them from the heat and drain.

Melt the butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Add 4 tbsp flour and mix until well blended and smooth, about 30 seconds. Add 1/2 cup of the milk and stir until well blended and smooth. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of milk. Cook, stirring constantly  until the roux thickens significantly – about 6 to 7 minutes. Add the roux to the pot with the chicken broth and vegetables. Add the salt and pepper to the pot and blend with the immersion blender on medium speed for about 10 seconds. Vegetables should be in much smaller pieces but not completely disintegrated. 

Add the spinach, potatoes and other half of the shredded carrot to the pot. Cook another five minutes or so on medium and serve. 

Ham and Spinach Pasta Salad

I like pasta, but I don't like mayonnaise. This has proved to be quite the conundrum for many years. I've done my fair share of smiling and making small talk while trying to choke down someone's vile, mayonnaise-drenched macaroni salad. In my opinion, the mild flavor of mayonnaise does not mesh well with the mild flavor of pasta. Traditional pasta salad is little more than flavorless texture. Who wants to eat that? Not me. 

Fortunately, flavorless things lend themselves well to modification. While pasta salad does require some mayonnaise to keep its texture, there's no rule that says you actually have to taste the stuff. No sir. Out with the mayo and in with the Ranch. I never use measurements for pasta salad, so add as much or as little of the ingredients as you want. What I provide here is just a rough estimate. 

Ingredients:

• 3 cups dry macaroni (or any pasta noodle)
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup Ranch salad dressing
• 3 slices ham, chopped
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesean
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 tsp water
• handful of fresh spinach leaves, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped

Directions:

Boil the macaroni to your liking. Drain it and set it aside. Put the peas in a microwave-safe dish with the tsp of water. Cook the peas for about 3 minutes, or until soft. If your peas are wrinkly, you cooked them too long. Toss 'em in the trash and try again. We don't want wrinkly, dry, old-man peas in our pasta salad, capiche? Good thing frozen peas are cheap. 

Mix the mayonnaise and the Ranch into the pasta salad until you get the right consistency of liquid to noodles. This varies for everyone depending on preference. Mix in the ham, spinach, peas, tomato and parmesean cheese. Cover the pasta salad and put it into the refrigerator to chill. If you like it warm, by all means, eat it warm, but I want my pasta salad chilled so that I don't have to think about the fact that I'm eating warm mayonnaise. Ick. 

If you're pressed for time, let it chill for a little while in the freezer. Just don't forget its in there. It won't explode like a Coke will, but ice crystals in your pasta salad is almost as bad as tons of mayo. 

Peanut Butter Pie

I've been working on this peanut butter pie for a while. In total, I think I've made 6 or 7 peanut butter pies this week, just trying to hit perfection. I finally got it. Here is the finished version. If you like peanut butter, you absolutely have to make this pie. 

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. cream cheese (half a block)
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 8 oz. whipped topping 
• chocolate graham cracker crust
• 2 tbsp Magic Shell ice cream coating
• Plastic sandwich bag
• 3 tbsp crushed peanuts

Directions:

Cut the cream cheese into cubes and microwave it for 20 seconds to soften. You can always leave cream cheese out on the counter to soften, but even at room temperature it doesn't hit that perfect consistency of solid, yet creamy that makes mixing easier. Trust me, stick it in the microwave. As long as it isn't melted, it will be fine. 

Put the softened cream cheese cubes and the powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl. Mix the two ingredients together with a hand mixer until they are fully combined and look like cake batter. Add the peanut butter and milk. Mix until both are filling incorporated. Add the cream and do the same. At this point you should have a thick, creamy, peanut buttery ball of yum in your bowl. 

Unplug the mixer. Take the beater out of the mixer and put it in your mouth (yes, this is a requirement). Enjoy the pie batter while folding the whipped cream into the batter. You can use a spoon, but I find that a frosting spatula works much better for this part. 

Scrape the mixture into the chocolate pie crust. A chocolate graham cracker crust works perfectly for this, but if you can find an Oreo pie crust it would probably be just as delicious. I would have made my own Oreo crust for this pie, but Oreos do not survive longer than an afternoon in this house, so any attempts at that would be futile. 

Now, force yourself to put down the beater (hard, isn't it?) because you'll need both hands for this part. Smooth out the pie filling with the frosting spatula. Pour the Magic Shell into the plastic sandwich bag. Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag and make swirly designs all over the pie. Sprinkle it with the crushed peanuts. Let the pie sit, uncovered (covering it will destroy your pretty topping and its hard as heck to remove  saran wrap that has frozen solid to the top of a pie) for a couple hours until the filling sets. You can then dig in. 

If there's any pie left when you're finished, you can cover it with saran wrap before putting it back in the freezer. The pie will have frozen enough by this point that the saran wrap won't stick to it. I keep mine in the freezer but you can move the pie to the fridge after it sets for a softer filling. 

Pumpkin Frosting

Ingredients: 

1/2 can pumpkin 

1 stick butter

1/2 tsp salt

4 cups powdered sugar

3 tsp vanilla 

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

Put the ingredients in a large bowl and mix with an electric mixer until smooth. If the icing comes out too thick (it really shouldn't, but in the event it does) add a tbsp of milk and mix again. Continue adding a tbsp of milk and mixing until the frosting is the consistency you want.

Starbucks Frappuccino Recipe

If you're anything like me, you love Starbucks' frappucinos but have trouble justifying the price tag. A few weeks ago, I started researching how to make frappucinos at home. I keep seeing the same frappucino recipe floating around the internet. While that recipe certainly tastes close to a Starbucks frappuccino, close doesn't cut it.

After a lot of research and experimentation, I have created what I believe to be the closest approximation to a caramel frappuccino from Starbucks as possible without just breaking down and buying one. If you want to make that caramel frappuccino at home for free, here's what you'll need.









Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup double-brewed coffee or espresso – icy cold
• 2/3 cup Bailey's caramel liquid coffee creamer
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp fruit pectin 
• 1 cup crushed ice
• 2 tbsp sugar
• Canned whipped cream

Directions:

You can't skimp on the coffee. If you don't have an espresso machine, brewing a pot of coffee and then running the coffee back through the machine using the same coffee grounds gives you the extra-strong coffee you need to make a frappuccino at home. Put the coffee in a plastic container (cools down faster than a coffee pot) and put the plastic container in the freezer until the coffee is very cold. If you skimp on any of the coffee preparations (using hot coffee, using weak coffee, etc.) your frappuccino will not taste right or will have a runny consistency.

Also, flavored coffees are a no no for this dish since they affect the taste. The flavored coffee may be tasty, but it won't be a frappuccino.

Ok, add the crushed ice, the coffee, the caramel creamer, the milk and the fruit pectin to the blender. Blend on "ice crush" for 10-15 seconds or until the coffee has that wonderful slushy consistency. Add the sugar. Blend the drink for an additional 5-10 seconds. Pour it into a glass and top with whipped cream out of a spray can, since that is the type Starbucks uses.

I cheated and topped mine off with Butterfinger ice cream mix-ins because I didn't have any caramel syrup handy. If you happen to have some, drizzle it over the whipped cream for a truly authentic Starbucks frappuccino.

Parmesan Herb Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 12-15 new potatoes
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
•  2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp basil 
• 1 tsp oregano 
• 2 tsp California-style garlic powder (with parsley)
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

Wash the potatoes and cut them into quarters. Melt the butter in a small container. Add the lemon juice and stir until the butter and lemon juice are well blended. 

Add the cheese, thyme, basil, oregano and garlic powder to a plastic ziploc bag. I prefer to ues gallon bags for this but I was out so I had to use a small bag. Larger bags work better since you can fit more potato slices into a large bag. Shake the bag to make sure the cheese and spices are well blended. 

Start dipping potato quarters into the butter/lemon juice mixture. Put the wet potatoes into the bag. Shake the bag to coat the potato quarters with the cheese and herbs. 

Place your already coated potato wedges into a microwave-safe casserole dish. Once all of your potatoes are coated, sprinkle any remaining cheese mixture into the dish. Microwave the potatoes, uncovered, for 15 minutes and serve.