Split Pea Soup

For Tuesday, we're making our favorite low-budget meal: split pea soup. This time I'll be substituting a pound of ham for the smoked sausage as it works well with any meat I've tried. Be sure to reduce the cups of water if you prefer a thicker pea soup. I personally prefer 6-7 cups of water for this recipe. You can omit the potatoes, if chopping them sounds like too much work. I might try adding mashed potato flakes this time instead. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Potato soup in a bread bowl

Saturday's dinner is a craving of my husband's. He hasn't been to a Panera or Atlanta Bread Company for awhile, since the one in our town closed. We always used to get their potato soup in a bread bowl, so I'm going to try my hand at making my own version.

Potato Soup
Bear Creek Creamy Potato soup mix
6 c. Milk OR (6 c. water + 1 c. sour cream)
2 c. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Make soup per mix directions. Add cheese and sour cream and stir long enough for cheese to melt, then serve in the bread bowls.

Bread Bowl
round loaves from a bakery OR
frozen bread dough OR
if all else fails, from scratch bread bowls

I am cheating and buying the soup mix, just in case I have to make the bread bowls from scratch. I don't want to spend the entire weekend peeling potatoes AND baking bread from scratch. Lazy, I know. :P

Well, Publix did not have any fresh sourdough in the bakery when I went shopping and their frozen bread dough was full of trans fats (the soup mix already has plenty!), so I tried out the from scratch recipe. While not as yummy as sourdough, it certainly did the job. I added 1 T. sugar to the yeast proofing, and skipped the first eggwash, and only used water for the second washing, so that way little V. could enjoy the fresh bread. She gobbled up the bread, but the soup had too much onion/garlic for her taste (although just fine for an adult), so she only ate about 1/4 cup. E. was very excited about the bread bowls, but also abandoned her soup partway through, so I guess I have to say the soup mix is not kid-friendly. My husband and I both went back for seconds though (since the bread bowl doesn't hold much soup).

Corn and Potato Chowder

Tonight's recipe is courtesy of Amanda at A Few Shortcuts. She posted a ham corn and potato chowder, and I had all the ingredients on hand except for the ham. Enjoy!

I accidently threw in a can of creamed corn, as that's what E. handed to me, and I didn't check until it was already in the pot. :O

I mashed up the potatoes in about 2/3 c. of the chowder, and V. ate it all. She probably would have demanded more, but a little piece of her leftover birthday chocolate cake (egg-free) was offered so I could escape upstairs and finally take my shower for the day-yes, post-dinner. It's amazing what you learn to live with when you become a parent.

Anyway, picky E. ate a serving without too much of a fuss so she could also get her hands on a bit of the cake.

My husband didn't complain or make any suggestions for improvement, so that's about 3 stars for him.

I thought it was surprisingly creamy and not a bad version of potato soup, considering how easy it was. I left my pot gurgling for almost 2 hours and the potatoes were still quite firm, so I might try throwing this in the crockpot next time or using mashed potato flakes instead of diced potatoes, as I prefer a smoother texture.