Crock Pot Potato Soup & Bread Bowls

This is one of my favorite crockpot meals! It is so yummy and so easy! It says that it takes 3 hours for the potatoes, but if you let it go longer... which I may have done... it still works! 

Baked Potato Soup
Ingredients:
2 & 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 small onion, diced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
32 oz chicken broth
1 tsp seasoned salt

8 oz low fat cream cheese, let sit outside of the fridge while the potatoes cook

Toppings: bacon, green onions, cheese

Instructions
1. Put the first 5 ingredients in to the crock pot.
2. Cook on high for 3 hours, or until the potatoes are soft. (or you get home!)
3. Using an immersion blender, blend the potato mixture depending on how chunky you want it,  along with the 8 oz of softened cream cheese. If you do not have an immersion blender, remove half of it and blend in a blender or food processor and then return to crockpot.
4. Heat for 30 more minutes and serve with cooked bacon crumbles, green onions and cheddar cheese.

If you want to go all out, make these bread bowls too!!

Ingredients
2½ cups warm water
1 Tbsp. yeast
⅓ cup sugar
⅓ cup oil
1 Tbsp. salt
6-7 cups white all purpose flour

Instructions
1. Combine warm water (not over 105*), yeast and sugar and let sit for 10 minutes or until yeast is bubbly.
2. Add oil, salt, and 1½ cups of flour to the yeast mixture. Mix together
3. Slowly add the rest of the flour 1 cup at a time until 5 cups total. Mix and continue to add the flour ½ cup at a time until the dough begins to clean the sides of the bowl and pulls away toward the middle. Do not add more than 7 cups of flour. Knead for 6 minutes.
4. Divide dough into 6 pieces. Make round balls. Place on large cookie sheet and let rise until doubled in size.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-30 minutes.
6. Rub tops of bread bowls with butter.
Remove centers, and enjoy with soup!! 

Adapted from:
http://www.chef-in-training.com/2011/12/homemade-bread-bowls/
http://thefirstyearblog.com/baked-potato-soup/ 

Six Hour Mixer Bread

WARNING: THIS BREAD TAKES FOREVER BUT IS SOOO GOOD!

When you are stuck at home on a snow day, it is the perfect thing to keep you busy! 

Ingredients:

3 3/4 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of salt
2 teaspoons of dry yeast
2 cups of warm water at around 105*F

Directions:
Mix flour, yeast, and salt in Kitchen Aid Mixer Bowl. 

With paddle attachment, mix on low for 1 minute.

Add warm water, mix until combined, let rest for 10-20 minutes.

Mix on speed 6 for 7 minutes.

Remove dough from paddle attachment, and attach the hook.

With the hook, mix on speed 8 until the bottom of the bowl is clean (about 12 minutes). Mix for an additional minute.

In a large, deep bowl, spray cooking spray. Place dough in the bowl, and cover with plastic and a clean kitchen towel. The dough will be sticky, handle with wet hands.

Sit in a warm place (turn on oven to lowest temp for 5 minutes, and turn off) and let the dough rise for 2-3 hours. Wet the counter and lay 2 sheets of plastic wrap on it. Sprinkle flour on top of the plastic wrap. Pour dough onto it.

Split it into 2 loaves, and shape into ciabatta shape. Cover the loaf with flour.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and set parchment paper on top. Pick up the plastic, and flip it onto the cookie sheet.

Let it rest for 1 hour.


Preheat the oven to 425* and lay a baking sheet full of water on the bottom rack of your oven, to help steam the loaves.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool and enjoy your hard work!

Watch how hard your mixer has to work! :) 

From Tale To Table - Baking Bread

In our new reading series, Wonders, there is a story called From Tale to Table.  It is about baking bread and it is about how you have to follow a plan and read carefully to make a recipe.  It included a recipe for bread. So to break up our usual reading and paper pencil plan, I decided to make bread! The kids loved it and the bread was yummy! 

 I sent out an SOS email in the morning and had a mom take it home and bring it back to us! 

Ingredients

1 cup warm water

¼ cup sugar

2 t. active dry yeast

1 t. salt

3 cups flour

2 T vegetable oil

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine the warm water and 2 t. of sugar. Sprinkle the yeast on top. Let sit for 5 minutes.


2. Stir the solution in the bowl. Then add the salt, oil, and the rest of the sugar.


3. Put flour in another bowl. Slowly pour in the solution and stir until the mixture comes together. Shape the dough with your hands to make it round.


4. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 8 minutes. Then place it in a covered, greased bowl. Put it somewhere warm to rise for 1 hour. The dough should double in size.


5. Take the dough out and punch it down. Shape the dough into a loaf.


6. Place the loaf in a greased bread pan. Then cover the loaf. Wait for about an hour.


7. Remove the cover and bake the dough in the oven at 375*F for 25-30 minutes. Check that the crust is golden brown and the center is fully cooked. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool.

 

Zucchini Bread

This summer, for about 2 weeks, I had a TON of zucchini! I went out of town and they grew this big! One zucchini made 7 1/2 cups of shredded zucchini. I needed something to do with it, so I decided to try bread. I polled my friends on Facebook, and Jessica sent me this one! I had never made it before, and I am not a baker, but I think it turned out ok! 

Zucchini Bread

Serves 2 Loaves

Ingredients: 
2 cps sugar
1 c veg oil
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cps shredded zucchini
1/2 c applesauce
1/3 c orange juice
3 cps flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cinnamon



Preheat over 350
Combine sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla
Add zucchini, orange juice, applesauce
Combine dry ingredients and add to mixture
Pour into 2 greased 9 inch loaf pans
Bake for 55-70 min

Then I had bread and muffins coming out of my ears too! I delivered this to my friend Kris. She took a picture of the final product, I forgot to!