I cooked! - Baked Potato Soup

I tried to make potato soup before, and it was disaster! So when my friend Paula recommended this recipe I was leery.

I have a confession...I didn't bake the potatoes, I microwaved them for about 20 mins.

 The skins just fell off of them. I mushed them up in a bowl and started the soup. I put the flour in the dutch oven:

added the milk and whisked it all together:

when that started to thicken (it took about 15 mins) I added the potatoes, salt, pepper, and low fat sharp cheddar cheese:

once that boiled, I took the pot off the stove and added sour cream and chopped green onions:

stirred that up, put it back on the burner (not sure why the instructions had me remove it in the first place) on low heat, and cooked until it almost simmered:

I ladled it into a bowl, topped with more cracked pepper, cheese, and bacon bits (Oscar Meyer from a bag).

I'm shocked! It's really good! A little thicker than I'd like, but that can be fixed with a little more milk. It was relatively easy to make (took me little over an hour total).  This recipe is a keeper! Good Recommendation Paula!

I Cooked! - Beef & Beer Stew

I love beef stew. It's one of my favorite meals. My mother always made it from a recipe on a crusty old index card that got lost in the many moves over the years, so I went in search of a good recipe.

I stumbled upon this recipe and it looked easy. Easy is one of my criteria when I pick a recipe since most of my friends are moms with small children or single ladies, and neither group have the time or desire to spend hours in the kitchen. Since this one didn't require browning the meat first, making a roux, or any effort beyond buying the ingredients and throwing them in the crockpot, I was all for it!

I was leery at first. Could it really be this easy and taste ok?

Yes! As it cooked our place filled with the smells of beer and beef, and had my mouth watering for hours before it was ready to eat.

This is how it all looked 2 hours into cooking. 

It cooked on high in the crockpot for about 6 hours and I was careful not to give into temptation and open it! When it was finished, I wasn't all that excited about the flavor. It lacked a little oomph (for lack of a better description), but next day it was delicious!

The finished product!

Traditionally I make rice to go along with the stew, but it's fabulous on it's own. I like to have something on the side so tortilla chips worked well for me.

Variations:
I love burgundy beef, so next time I think I'll use a good burgundy wine instead of beer. When I do that, I'll let you know how it turns out. If you are adverse to using alcohol, you probably could use beef broth instead.

Review - Holly Hotel (Holly, MI)

The Holly Hotel is a misnomer. It hasn't been a hotel in decades. It is a restaurant with a comedy club in the basement.  DivaMom received a certificate for Holly Hotel in honor of their 31st anniversary. It was $31 off of a meal for two, and considering 1 meal can cost that much it was brilliant marketing especially if you send it to someone that can't allow a coupon to go to waste.

I made reservations for 7:45, I arrived on time and another couple walked in right behind me. The server that was on the phone when I walked in (I assume she was taking a reservation) looked around the room, and addressed the couple that walked in behind me and asked them if they had a reservation. They answered "No" and she said that there were tables being cleared off and she would be able to seat them shortly. Then she walked away. No acknowledgement of my existence, nothing. She returned soon after, and seated them without even so much as looking at my direction. Now I know my parents weren't glass makers and she couldn't see through me, but I have no idea why I was ignored. I stood there for about 10 minutes before another waitress came out (I had seen her and she had seen me as she was racing around taking care of her tables) and even asked if I had been helped. I told her what happened, she apologized profusely, and proceeded to seat me in what can only be described as "the train room."

The train room is a small 4 table room set up much like a dining car of a train. There are paintings and drawings of trains everywhere and there are overhead luggage shelves much like I'd imagine an old style train would have. I love this room. To add to the ambiance the entire hotel is decorated for Christmas, with classic old-fashioned ornaments that remind me of my childhood, lots of evergreen vines, and colored lights. There are even wrapped "presents" on the luggage shelves.

For dinner I ordered the Tournedos of Beef Tenderloin and it came with a salad or soup (I chose the green salad). DivaMom ordered the Chicken Strudel Holly Hotel (shredded breast, broccoli, herbed gournay, filo) and it came with cranberry quinoa. She also ordered the French Onion soup.The Holly Hotel also serves fresh bread and butter with their meals, and last night it was avocado/pepper butter with a cheese focaccia. I hate avocado, but this butter was amazing! It was slightly salty and it complemented the light cheese taste of the bread.

The soup arrived first, and DivaMom was in heaven. She loves their french onion soup because the cheese is on the bottom, the soup in the middle and the soup crock is topped with pastry dough and baked. This arrangement helps her avoid the cheese, while still enjoying the soup and bread. (she's a little crazy if you ask me, the best part of french onion soup is the cheese!). My salad arrived next. It was salad greens filling and surrounding a small shell made of filo dough, with dried cranberries and a blackberry vinaigrette. The salad was delicious, but could have used blue cheese crumbles to offset the sweetness of the vinaigrette. The filo dough shell was a little cumbersome to eat, I finally just picked it up with my fingers and bit into it. It was light and crispy, just the way filo should be!

The entrees arrived and I was not disappointed! I had 2 medallions of beef tenderloin with "glace de veau" (aka, gravy), some roasted mixed root veggies (carrots, parsnips, potato, and mushrooms), and mashed potatoes. The chef send out a third piece of meat with the explanation that when he plated the food it didn't look like enough meat. I ordered my meal well done, and I was happy to see my request was met. The meat was tender, but not pink, not an easy task but he/she (IDK the gender of the chef) achieved it! The gravy was tasty, which is amazing to me since I HATE gravy, and the mashed potatoes were perfection! I didn't care for the roasted veggies, but they were well seasoned and what I ate of them tasted ok. I'm not a fan of parsnips or mushrooms.

DivaMom and I passed on dessert. For once there wasn't anything on the dessert tray that struck our fancy, but we have had their personal apple tart, and it is amazing with a little vanilla ice cream.

Despite the little hiccup in the beginning the experience was enjoyable, the server that we had was great, and the environment is beautiful. Holly Hotel is a nice place to go for a nice slow meal. Don't go there if you are in a hurry or looking to kill time before another event (unless the event is the comedy show in the basement).

I Cooked - Potato Cheddar Cheese Soup

I love potato cheddar soup. I recently discovered this at a restaurant (surprise, surprise), so when I stumbled across this recipe I was excited to try it. It was a DISASTER!

Everything was going fine, until I boiled the potatoes. The recipe says to boil them for 15 minutes, and to use baking potatoes because "we want some of the potato to break down into smaller pieces and thicken the soup, baking potatoes are the perfect choice." Yeah, the potato broke down alright! It broke all the way down into mashed potatoes and absorbed every ounce of water in the recipe! Heck, there weren't even any potato lumps like homemade mashed potatoes are suppose to have! And why 4.5 cups of water? no milk, no cream, nothing to give it a smooth creamy texture like potato soup is suppose to have.  The only word to describe this mess is GLOP! To make matters worse, this glop has no flavor! I tried throwing all of the bacon bits in the glop to try and give it some pizazz, and nada! It still tastes like flavorless glop with bacon bits. I think the glop actually made the bacon flavorless!


So right now I have a big bowl of potato glop in my fridge. I am going to try to doctor it up, but I don't know how well that's going to go. I'll keep you posted.

Review - Chili's (Nationwide)

Friday I went to a late yoga class with a girl friend, and after I was STARVING (since I hadn't eaten since the disastrous McRib lunch that afternoon and it was now almost 10pm). Since it was late and so many places close their kitchens at 10, we decided to go to Chili's.

I like Chili's for the most part. My only real complaint is the service. I usually end up with the worst servers at Chili's, but this time it wasn't so bad. She did ask to take our order, then wandered off to take care of another table, but that was really the worst thing she did.

As usual I ordered the Chicken Crispers! YUM! I love these things! Maybe it's a blessing that Chili's usually has terrible servers. They act as a deterrent to keep me from eating these things all the time and weighing 500 lbs! I have no idea what they put in the batter that makes them light and fluffy while maintaining crisp chewiness (maybe it's faerie dust, because it's something supernaturally good) but if I ever figure it out, I'm in trouble! I have tried on many occasions to duplicate this batter, but it always ends in disaster. The crispers came with corn and fries, and I always substitute barbecue sauce for the honey mustard. The corn and the fries were good too, but the chicken is the star! My friend ordered her favorite Chicken Tortilla soup, and some chips and queso. She loves the Chicken Tortilla Soup, so there was little talking from her side of the table when that arrived. We shared the queso, and it was ok. Just ok.

I also ordered a coffee with Kahlua and Bailey's. Most places either put too much alcohol (is there such a thing? lol) or too little. Chili's got it right, and they don't even serve coffee drinks on a regular basis. We had to ask for water specifically, which annoyed me. We are having hot food and hot coffee, if I burn my mouth on the extremely hot chicken, what am I suppose to do? Stick my tongue on the window? Grrr!

Overall the food was great, the service was mediocre, and the prices were reasonable. Chili's has such a diverse menu, there's something for everyone, even the pickiest eaters!