Slow Cooker Potato Soup!

Sorry for the long-time-no-post...  I had time during vacation, and now I'm back to real life!

The other day I found a recipe on Pinterest for potato soup.  I LOVE potatoes, as does my husband, so we had it for dinner last week!
I was really proud of myself - this is the first slow cooker recipe I've done since school started.  I did all of the prep the night before, so all I had to do was toss everything in before I left for work (which only took all of 5 minutes!).

The recipe is from The Tidy Nest. I did modify it a bit.
(The recipe without the awesome pictures is found at the end...)

Ingredients:

6 cups cubed, peeled potatoes
3 cans chicken broth
2 cups onion, chopped (approx. 1 and a half onions)
1 cup celery, chopped  (approx. 4 stalks)
1 cup carrots, thinly sliced (approx. 3 large carrots)
1/4 cup butter
2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
3 t. dried parsley

• Slice up the celery and carrots.  Don't slice them too thinly, they will lose their flavor!  Chop up your onion.

 

•  Cube those potatoes! I used about 20 tiny yellow potatoes.  That's all I bought, and it happened to be EXACTLY the right amount, phew! 
• These potatoes held their shape and consistency VERY well and have a creamy texture.  I think Russet potatoes would break down a bit more, leaving you with a less broth-y soup (which is what I was thought would happen with these... Oh well, next time!).
• I stored the cubed potatoes in water overnight.

• My additions to the recipe to cook the entire time in the slow cooker:

5 large cloves of garlic

I sliced up a package of Hillshire Farm Sausage
 

TIME TO COOK!

Throw all of your ingredients in the slow cooker, including the 3 cans of chicken broth.  Don't add the milk yet!

• I cooked it on low heat for about 10 hours.  I'm sure it didn't need that long, but I was at work all day :) 

• About half an hour before serving, add the can of condensed milk.  I also added a bunch of fresh kale at this time.  It was a great fresh addition!

• Serve (with a fresh baguette perhaps?) and enjoy!

**What I would do differently next time:

• Next time I would like to try russet potatoes.  I think I would like the broken down potato. The yellow potatoes are good if you want your leftovers to still be solid.
• I would also not use that particular sausage.  It lost all of its flavor sitting in the slow cooker all day.  I would prefer to get sausage in casing that I can uncase and cook up (ground beef style) and add at the half hour with the milk and kale.

Overall, (especially by my hubby's standards) this soup was a success, and I will try it again!

Thanks for reading :D

<3, kimchisgirl

P.S.  Thanks again, The Tidy Nest, for a delicious, fairly simple meal!

*Recipe without the awesome pictures:

Ingredients:

6 cups cubed, peeled potatoes
3 cans chicken broth
2 cups onion, chopped (approx. 1 and a half onions)
1 cup celery, chopped  (approx. 4 stalks)
1 cup carrots, thinly sliced (approx. 3 large carrots)
1/4 cup butter
2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
3 t. dried parsley

• Slice up the celery and carrots.  Don't slice them too thinly, they will lose their flavor! Chop up your onion.
•  Cube those potatoes! I used about 20 tiny yellow potatoes.  That's all I bought, and it happened to be EXACTLY the right amount, phew! 
• These potatoes held their shape and consistency VERY well and have a creamy texture.  I think Russet potatoes would break down a bit more, leaving you with a less broth-y soup (which is what I was thought would happen with these... Oh well, next time!).
• I stored the cubed potatoes in water overnight.
• My additions to the recipe to cook the entire time in the slow cooker:
• 5 large cloves of garlic
• A package of Hillshire Farm sausage
• Time to cook!  Add the first 8 ingredients to the slow cooker (plus garlic and sausage if you please).
• Cook on low until veggies are tender (I cooked about 10 hours).
• About half an hour before serving, add the can of condensed milk.  I also added a bunch of fresh kale at this time.  It was a great fresh addition!

Christmas time is here!

Can you believe it's Christmas Eve eve?!  How did this happen?  It seems like just last week I was getting married (just over 6 months ago now!) and yesterday was Thanksgiving!  Time is passing at an incredibly scary rate.

This is our first Christmas together, and I'm very excited.  Unfortunately, my hubby caught the cold I had last weekend, so hopefully that won't put too much of a damper on our holiday fun.

We spent Thanksgiving with my hubby's side of the family, so Christmas will be with my side. Tomorrow we will go to my parents' house for lunch and presents (probably laundry too :) ), then to Nana's house for dinner and presents.  ... I forgot that I am currently supposed to be grating cheese for my garlicky-cheesy mashed potatoes for tomorrow's dinner...
Christmas day we will go to church and then to my brother Jim's house for more holiday goodness!

We didn't really start any traditions this year.  It's been a busy month keeping up with both of our jobs, we just didn't have time to really invest in new traditions.

Here is our Christmas tree!

It's so much more cheerful looking with presents underneath :)

This is our "First Christmas" ornament by the awesome Heather Kent!  She paints amazing ornaments, necklaces, brooches, and now tie clips.

Time for me to go grate cheese and call the apartment maintenance... again.  Second day in a row they are late to come paint my bathroom.

Merry CHRISTmas!

<3 kimchisgirl

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

At my bridal shower this past summer, my dear friend/coworker/bridesmaid collected guests' favorite recipes and put them together in a binder for me. One of my students' moms gave me the recipe for "Killer Bea's Cookies".  I looked this up online to see if there was a source which I should site and it looks like it comes from here*. The recipe I have varies just slightly (no nuts).
These cookies are AMAZING! I'm a big fan of soft chocolate cookies, and these fit the bill. Another thing I love about homemade cookies - you can taste that hint of salt!
I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Killer Bea's Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/4 c. sifted flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking power
1 c. butter (soft)
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. water
1 egg
3 c. chocolate chips (I use just a 12 oz. bag of semi-sweet, and it is plenty for me)

**For a list of instructions minus the awesome pictures, scroll to the bottom.

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

• Blend the butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and water.
• Note: You are probably smarter and a better cook/chef than I am, but my suggestion to you is: Don't use a wire whisk for this!  Everything just clumped in the middle of the whisk. A fork is a much better choice.
• Also, make sure the butter is VERY soft (but not liquid/melty).  Mine was soft, but not soft enough.  It took way more effort than it should have to blend these four ingredients.

• After blended together, add the egg.  Blend until creamy.

• Add dry ingredients. Mix well.
• I add half, blend, then add the other half.

• Add chocolate chips.

• I use a teaspoon to plop them on the baking sheet.  They can be placed pretty close together as these do not spread/flatten; they just plump up slightly.
• If using a teaspoon for size, this recipe makes approximately 60 small (Famous Amos in diameter size) cookies, depending on how much batter you eat along the way :)

• Bake 8-10 minutes.

• Enjoy!

**Instructions minus awesome pictures:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
• Blend the butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and water.
• Note: You are probably smarter and a better cook/chef than I am, but my suggestion to you is: Don't use a wire whisk for this!  Everything just clumped in the middle of the whisk. A fork is a much better choice.
• Also, make sure the butter is VERY soft (but not liquid/melty).  Mine was soft, but not soft enough.  It took way more effort than it should have to blend these four ingredients.
• After blended together, add the egg.  Blend until creamy.
• Add dry ingredients. Mix well.
• I add half, blend, then add the other half.
• Add chocolate chips.
• I use a teaspoon to plop them on the baking sheet.  They can be placed pretty close together as these do not spread/flatten; they just plump up slightly.
• If using a teaspoon for size, this recipe makes approximately 60 small (Famous Amos in diameter size) cookies, depending on how much batter you eat along the way :)
• Bake 8-10 minutes.
• Enjoy!

*NOTES : Full name of book is: I Never Forget a Meal: An Indulgent Reminiscence by Michael Tucker, copyright 1995 by Michael Tucker. Published by Little, Brown & Co., Inc.

Wow. Just wow.

My niece is AMAZING!

She is so artistic, it's mind blowing.  I can't believe she made these Tom's so awesome.  I have a lot of talented family members, but she is currently topping the list ;)

In other news...  I am currently waiting for the drywallers to come and patch up the hole I made in our bathroom ceiling.
What's that you say?  No, I'm not freakishly strong.  No, I was not angry at my husband.
You see, we have VERY poor ventilation in our bathroom, and I was cleaning off some mildew (quite a lot, actually.).  As I'm standing on a stepladder in my bathtub, trying to even reach the ceiling with my bleach-water sponge, my fingers went right through the ceiling! It did not take any effort at all.

So, here I wait.  Thankfully I am just about fully recouped from my cold - it kind of kicked my butt! I woke up feeling better on Monday, but after a day of hardcore cleaning (with lots of bleach and mildew), I was out for the count on Tuesday.
To the kitchen I go!  I am off to bake some chocolate chip cookies for Mike's coworkers and Christmas.
Happy 4 days and counting!

<3 kimchisgirl

Grocery Shopping

That's not a very catchy blog title... But it's what it's about!

I've only REALLY been grocery shopping for the last six months.  Yes, I had grocery shopped before that, but it was mostly getting my Lean Cuisines and yogurts for lunches or shopping off of my mom's list.

Now that I'm married, it's my job!  It was easy doing the shopping over summer - I could go during the day when it was virtually empty and shop to my heart's content.  It was also a lot more expensive that way!  I love shopping - even grocery shopping - and left to wander the aisles for an hour... Well, that leads to a lot of spending!

I have tried being a coupon cutter, but I am not very good at it.  It always seems there are never any coupons for the food/products we actually eat.  I can maybe use one coupon a shopping trip, if that.

Instead of coupons, we try to shop the circulars.  At least we get some things at better prices.

But the REAL way we save money on groceries is by shopping at "ethnic" markets.   Jons International Marketplace is WONDERFUL!!!!

• We get most of our produce here, and it is almost always a ridiculously good price.  My current favorite is kale, and it is only 69 cents a bunch (and a great source of Vit. A and Vit. C)!  
• Herbs are also fresh and readily available for a MUCH better price than a lot of "regular" stores (i.e. Vons...).  
• They also have an amazing deli.  We were recently encouraged by the nice deli lady to try a new slice of something each time we come in (even if we don't buy), just to see what we like. We tried a few types of mortadella, a Havarti dill cheese (so yummy and creamy!), and Mike tried an interesting meat that I won't gross you out with.
• Last week we bought boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.39 a pound.  Not bad at all!

We also shop at two Korean markets, H Mart and Arirang.

• They also have great produce prices.  If you like Asian pears and don't mind them being pretty looking, they are often a good price. 
• Ground beef is one reason we drive a little further for these markets.  It averages around $1.50 a pound!  Wowee!

Mike and I LOVE to eat, so we try and only get sale items, just to save a buck or two.

Thanks for listening to my grocery store rant :)  I hope to post some recipes soon!

<3, kimchisgirl

So, umm, yeah...

Well, here I am, joining the blog fad.  It was bound to happen at some point! Part of me hopes that by doing this, I will be well trained and in a routine to do this when the hubs and I have a kidlet.  I have also had some people ask me for recipes for the food pics I post on facebook.  What better way than to have a blog.

WAY more to come in future posts.

<3 kimchisgirl