Buffalo Chicken Soup

You have probably noticed by now that I love buffalo chicken anything. Buffalo chicken wings. Buffalo chicken dip. And now *drumroll* buffalo chicken soup! Yep, all that buffalo-y goodness in a soup. I have been waiting to make this soup. And when I saw that milk was only $2.49 for a gallon, I jumped at the chance! This was super easy and it is good! Perfect for cold weather! It is a little odd though - the sour cream didn't melt down. I think that next time (and yes, there WILL be a next time), I will whisk together the sour cream and cream of chicken soup before adding everything else. Just to ensure that there are no weird sour cream curds floating around. Still good though :)

Ingredients:
6 c. milk
3 cans cream of chicken soup
3 c. cooked, shredded chicken
1 c. (8 oz) sour cream
1/4 c. - 1/2 c. hot pepper sauce

Directions:
Combine everything in the crockpot.

Cook on low for 4-5 hours.

Yield: 8 servings (2 quarts)

Source: Taste of Home's "Quick Cooking Annual Recipes" 2002 edition

Baked Potato Soup

I hope everyone hates this soup. By the time I got to dicing potato number 3, I wanted to quit. I wanted to throw away the other potatoes. I hope I never have to cut up potatoes again. So, logically, if everyone hates it, I won't EVER have to make it again and therefor, never have to dice up potatoes again.

Quite honestly, it isn't that bad. It's a little bland, but I think you could dress it up with cheese, bacon, sour cream, etc. and it would be great. When I was looking for this recipe, I was purposely looking for something that it didn't have a lot of extra stuff. My sister is pregnant and she keeps saying that baked potato soup sounds good. And I know that, like me, she is picky about her baked potato soup. We don't like big chunks of potato, we don't like onions in it. I know you are totally wishing you had kids just like us.

Ingredients:
6 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large onion (I used onion powder)
5 c. chicken stock
1 15 oz. can evaporated milk (I only had a 12 oz. can)
1/4 c. butter (I love butter, so I used a little extra)
salt & pepper

Directions:
Place potatoes, onions (or onion powder) and chicken stock in crockpot.

Cook on low for 9 hours (or high for 5 or so).

Mash potatoes with a potato masher (which I don't have, so I used my immersion blender).

Add milk, butter and salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Serve.

Yield: a freaking lot of soup. 6 potatoes worth.

Source: www.dinnersforayear.blogspot.com

How To Host a Superbowl Party On 24 Hours Notice

So, if you read my last post, you know that I had to host a Superbowl party on 24 hours notice. Now, let me preface this by saying - I am NOT spontaneous. I am a planner. I love to plan and organize actually. Spontaneity doesn't do anything for me. So, I was a little panicky. After we had a plan, I calmed down, but it was still kinda stressful. BUT, all in all, everything turned out great. The food was good and the boys were happy. So, here's the menu:

- Party Meatballs
- Ranch Bread Bowl with Veggies
- Pizza Squares
- Buffalo Chicken Dip in a Bread Bowl
- Veggie Tray (No picture)
- Chips and Salsa (No picture)
- Buffalo Chicken Wings
- Oreo Pie (courtesy of some unknown friend of my sisters! No picture - sorry!)
- Gooey Butter Bars

And, here are the recipes:

First, we have party meatballs. My mom actually made these for a Christmas Eve party and had frozen the leftovers. Being the mooch that I am, I just took them out of her freezer and reheated them in the crockpot. So, no recipe. But basically you put meatballs, spaghetti sauce and grape jelly in a crockpot and just go!
Next, we have a bread bowl with ranch dressing and vegetables. This is one of the easiest party dishes you can ever make. It looks like it took more time than it did, and the serving bowl is edible. I used a sourdough bread bowl, filled it with ranch, and put it on a plate with veggies and the bread from the bowl!

I also made pizza squares. You can find the recipe here. This picture is SO much better!

I also made buffalo chicken dip and put that in a bread bowl too. This is one of my most favorite recipes and it is so easy. I could seriously just munch on it ALL day. Sorry the picture is blurry. I don't know what happened.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. cooked chicken

2 c. blue cheese dressing (I don't measure, I just used a whole bottle)

1/2 c. Tabasco sauce (I used hot wing sauce)

1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Dump everything in the crockpot. Stir to combine.

Cook on high 1-2 hours, until cheese is melted.

Source: www.crockpot365.blogspot.com

I also made buffalo chicken wings. I used the same method as my Asian Chicken Wings from last week, but these turned out so much better! All the guys loved them!

Ingredients:

4 lbs. chicken wings

2 bottles buffalo wing sauce

Directions:

Marinate wings in 1 1/2 bottles of sauce, preferably overnight.

Dump on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour-ish at 350, basting with remaining sauce.

When the outsides are crispy, put the hot wings in a bowl or on a serving plate and drizzle with the rest of the sauce.

And now for the icing on the cake - Gooey Butter Bars! These are super rich, but they are so good! I was eating the dough and the mix before I even got them into the oven! Seriously, go make these.

Ingredients:

1 package yellow cake mix

3 eggs

2 sticks butter

1 package cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

1 box powdered sugar

Directions:

Combine cake mix, one egg and melted butter. Pat into a greased 9x13 cake pan.

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla and melted butter. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

Spread over cake batter.

Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes. Do NOT overbake - it is supposed to be gooey inside!!

Source: Paula Deen

So, that's that. We actually ended up with very few leftovers, which is good. So, after all that, I won't be cooking tonight. Maybe just soup and grilled cheese or a chicken salad sandwich. Something easy!!

Pot Roast

Remember that pot roast I said I was cooking yesterday? Well, it wasn't ready for dinner and it still wasn't tender enough for my liking when I went to bed, so I popped the crock pot on "warm" so nothing would burn and then resumed cooking this morning. Ugh. I hate doing that. I don't know why it took so much longer than the recipe said. I think maybe it was because I got a really thick cut of meat. This isn't as good as my mama's (nothing ever is), but any time I ask her for a recipe, she always says "I don't use a recipe" and so I always say "Well, then just write down what you do" and she always says "But I don't do the same thing everytime." ARGH!!!! So, I went out and found a recipe on the internet. Bah. Also, I know my photography sucks. I'm working on it!

Ingredients:
3-4 lb. boneless chuck roast
1 c. water
beef stock (I used two cans)
2-3 tbsp. seasoning (your choice)
1 onion, diced
1 package baby carrots
8-10 small new potatoes, or 2 large russet potatoes, cut up (I am lazy and used canned potatoes)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
garlic salt, to taste

Directions:
Place roast in crock pot and add water.

Layer vegetables and soup around roast.

Sprinkle seasoning on everything - add beef stock to cover. Make sure the roast stays on the bottom.

Season with garlic salt.

Cook on high for 5-7 hours, stirring occasionally.

Source: http://sugarandspice-celeste.blogspot.com/

Crockpot Ribs

Okay, these were good. I didn't use a recipe, really. I have been wanting to try my hand at making ribs for awhile now and since they were on sale, I figured now was the time. These were very good. I am totally impressed with myself. The picture isn't that pretty, but they tasted good. And they were boy approved. I served them with Alexa Salt & Pepper French Fries (so good!).

Ingredients:
1 rack of baby back ribs, split into 3-4 slabs
1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet Habanero BBQ sauce)
2 Jalapeno Peppers
Salt and Pepper
Onion Powder

Directions:
Spray crockpot with cooking spray.

Salt and pepper ribs. I also put some onion powder on them. You could certainly use real onions - I just don't like them.

Throw the ribs in the crockpot. Throw in the peppers. I used two and my ribs had a kick - I would probably use more next time. Or, if you don't like spicy food, just exclude these altogether.

Pour in the entire bottle of barbecue sauce. Then, fill the bottle with water and then shake it up and pour the water in the crockpot.

I cooked on high for about 7 hours. I also shifted the ribs around several times so they cooked evenly.

Seriously. These were good. They were falling off the bone and just perfect!