Ham and Potato Soup Recipe: Delicious and Frugal

This recipe is one of my favorites, and appears on our menu every other week or so.  It is delicious, simple, and frugal.

To start off get out the crockpot.  Next fill it up with potatoes, celery, onion, ham, water, bullion cubes, salt and pepper.  If you have all day, turn it on low.  If you only have a few hours, put it on high.  You should now have something that looks like this.

 

Four to eight hours later your house should smell divine, and the potatoes tender.  About a half hour before you would like to serve the soup, get out a small sauce pan,  butter, flour, and milk.  Melt the butter over low heat, and whisk in the flour.  

Next, slowly add the milk to the sauce pan, stirring constantly.  Allow the sauce to cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it thickens.

Now mix this into the crockpot and cook for 20 minutes.  The soup will be creamy and ready to eat.

I serve this soup in homemade bread bowls.  And top with shredded cheddar, bacon bits, sour cream, and chives.  I'm currently experimenting with different bread bowl recipes, and will post  which are my favorites.  

Espresso After Dinner Drink

 

What more could a coffee lover hope for after a low key dinner of scrambled eggs and toast?

How about a better name for this delicious drink.  Ideas?

Espresso After Dinner Drink

2 oz.  Pinnacle Le Doublé Espresso Vodka

1 oz.  DeKuyper Creme de Cacao

1 oz.  Half and half

McCormick cinnamon and sugar mix

Rim martini glass with the cinnamon and sugar.  Mix vodka, creme de cacao, and half and half over ice.  Pour into rimmed glass omitting ice.

Rosemary Chicken Pizza

Friday night, oh how I look forward to you and all the promise of fun you bring.  Since I started staying home the days can begin to blend together, so to keep our relationship fresh, something must be done to keep you standing out from the other days of the week.

That is what I was thinking of when I came upon the recipe for Rosemary Chicken Pizza.

It all started with rounding up a few of the Usual Suspects:  sun dried tomatoes, rosemary, and mozzarella cheese.

 

And a  homemade pizza crust on a new pizza pan.  

Then it progressed to some mingling of the Usual Suspects with some Lemon Grilled Chicken and fresh parsley and rosemary from the backyard garden.  Unfortunately my photography does no justice to the beautiful colors in this bowl. 

The party really got started when it all was spread over the dough and topped with a mozzarella and swiss blend.  Half also was given the pleasure of red onion slices, the other half was denied this pleasure per the request of a doe eyed little girl.

Twenty minutes later things had heated up to perfection.

Friday night, we have surpassed fresh, I am once again totally enamored of you.

Sweet Potato and Brown Rice Curry

I love curried sweet potatoes.  It is ridiculous, actually,  how much I enjoy eating sweet potatoes prepared this way.  I could eat them every day, and get massive cravings on a regular basis.  However, it recently occurred to me that I may be the only on in my family who feels this way.  So, yesterday when the latest attack came upon me, I decided to not subject my family to my craving, and prepared this amazing dish from items that were already in my fridge.  It was quick, delicious, healthy, and dare I say, vegan. 

Curried Sweet Potatoes and Brown Rice

1 medium sweet potato, skinned and chopped

1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 tsp curry paste (I use Patak's Mild Curry Paste)

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup sweet peas

1/4 cup green lentils, cooked and drained

1/4 cup black beans, cooked and drained

1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice

salt and pepper to taste

In a medium skillet heat olive oil and add the onion.  Let the onions cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently until they begin to soften.  Add the sweet potatoes to the skillet and brown.  Mix in the curry paste and allow to cook for 1 to 2 minutes.  Add water to the skillet, mix, put on a lid,  and allow the potatoes to simmer for about 5 minutes or until soft.  Remove lid, and mix in the remaining ingredients.  Cook over medium heat until all ingredients are warm

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The Ballerina Sweater Take One: Fail.

My daughter, who is three and a half, is taking a dance class and going through a phase where she does not want to wear long sleeves. Since it is winter, and cold in the dance studio, it seemed reasonable to knit a ballet wrap around sweater. I had some beautiful pink Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn just calling my name, so I began to design. Measurements were made from both a well fitted sweater, and my daughter's body. A gauge swatch was made, and all calculations complete. Excited to make something beautiful for a loved one, I began to knit. A month later, all the pieces were complete.




As I began to assemble the sweater I realized something had gone terribly wrong. When put together, it just wasn't right.



I double checked the measurements, the gauge, the calculations, but much to my disappointment, the error could not be found. Bummed and discouraged, the entire work was taken apart, and reduced once again to beautiful balls of yarn.

A good friend of mine gave me a book, Adorable Knits for Tots by Zoë Mellor, that has a pattern for a ballerina wrap, and the process has begun again. Lets hope for a happier ending.

Welcome

Welcome to Stitch and Dish!

Recently I was asked the question: "What do you knit?"

Good question. As I pondered the answer I thought, too bad I don't have a list of my knitting projects. So I began rummaging through the house finding all the items that I have knitted. I found hats, scarves, sweaters, blankets, and began to take snapshots. Before I knew it, one thing led to another, and a blog was born.

Here will be a place to track current knitting projects, and adventures in cooking.