Recipe ~ Nothing Says Autumn Like Football and Some Sauerkraut Chowder!!!

I LOVE fall!  I love football and soup!  Today on this brisk Sunday what says home comfort more than a good bowl of soup, snuggled up on the couch watching your favorite team...in my case, the Pittsburgh Steelers!!!

Sauerkraut Chowder!!  A co worker of mine had some at work that  she had purchased from a fall festival about a week ago.  So I decided to Google that...and find a recipe and try it out for myself!!  YUMMMO!!!


Recipe as follows:

4-5 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 large can of sauerkraut
kielbasa (optional) or I saw recipes that used ham...
1 block of cream cheese, I used reduced fat cream cheese
1 can of evaporated milk
Season of your choice, I used onion, salt and pepper.

Boil potatoes until soft, add other ingredients cook for about half an hour!

EASY PEASIE!!  

I thought of adding corn, maybe next time I try this I will do so.  But seriously there are tons of recipe ideas out there online or just use what you've got!  I'm all about using what ingredients I can find in my cabinet and making it work!!


What a great recipe for a cool autumn day!  OH!!!  And my Steelers won!!   GO STEELERS!!!!  

Happy Sunday!  

White Bean & Tuna Salad

White bean salad with garlic Parmesan pretzel thins.

2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 minced garlic clove
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt & pepper
1 -15 oz can white beans, drained and rinsed
2 - 5 oz cans water packed tuna, drained and flaked
1 large tomato, cored, seeded and chopped
1/2 small red onion, chopped finely
1/4 cup chopped parsley


In a small bowl, mix juice, mustard and garlic.  Add oil whisking constantly.  Season with pepper.

Mix beans, tuna, tomato, onion, parsley in a large bowl.  Add dressing and toss to coat.  Taste and adjust seasoning base upon personal preference.

Serve this over mixed greens if you'd like.  Or this can be an appetizer served on toasted crusted bread. Or even eat as is.

I made this Saturday and ate it as a light dinner.  Was craving something salty and crunchy so I ate it with some pretzel thins. YUM!

Takes about 10 mins to prep. and serves about 4 peeps!  About 350 calories per serving.

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EASY MONDAY NIGHT MEAL ~ Pasta with Bacon and Leeks! ~

Another recipe I found that I've tweaked to save time!   Found this in a Food Network Magazine!  YUM!!

12 ounces of rigatoni or other short pasta
6 Slices of cooked bacon, broken into tiny pieces
1 bunch of leaks the white and green parts only, sliced thinly.  Make sure to rinse well.
Ground Pepper
3/4 cup Heavy Cream
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Chopped parsley

Cook rigatoni in pot of salted water according to pasta directions.  Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water from the pasta.  Drain rest of it.

Meanwhile cook bacon, the original says to cook in skillet and reserve some of the bacon grease to cook the leeks in.  HOWEVER,  to speed up this meal, I cooked bacon in the microwave while cooking the leeks until tender in a skillet in a small amount of olive oil.  I added salt and pepper to the leeks.

Add the cream to the leeks in the skillet and cook until it starts to thicken. About 2 minutes.

Add pasta to the skillet along with the Parmesan, half of the bacon and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Toss to coat adding enough of the reserve water to loosen up.  To serve, top with remaining bacon, more Parmesan and parsley.

This took me about 30 minutes to cook!    Great fast Monday night meal!

~Cheeseburger Soup ~

I have never made cheeseburger soup, but in light of the cold and snowy day we are having here in Western Pennsylvania, it sounds like a good soup to try out!

I looked up several recipes online and found TONS! I was looking for a lighter version, Weight Watchers friendly one....and this is what I found.   I have tweaked it a little here and there because I did not have all of the ingredients called for in the original recipe.  But isn't that what cooking is all about?   A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and voila`!?!

WE SHALL SEE!!!

Again there are many of cheeseburger recipes out there, I made a list of the ingredients that I actually used.

Ingredient list

*Minced garlic
*Chopped onion
*1 cup shredded carrots - I did not shred mine, used baby carrots.
*4 cups of potatoes
*1 pound lean ground beef
*3 tbsp flour ( I keep Gold Medal Wondra quick mixing flour on hand for adding to soups)
*3 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
*1 1/2 cups fat free evaporated milk ~ divided
*8 oz. lowfat cheddar cheese
*1/2tsp paprika
Dash of table salt
Dash of pepper

In a large sauce pan, add vegetables, broth and salt.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender about 15-20 minutes.

Brown ground beef in a skillet, drain off extra fat, if you have really lean ground meat, there really won't be much to drain off.  In my case, my family and I buy a side of beef from a local farmer every year and his ground meat is extremely lean!  I love supporting our local farmers!

Since I don't always use fresh vegetable and garlic, after I've browned and drained the ground beef I usually put it back in the skillet and mix in what dried ingredients I use.

This recipe I used is a stove top version, there are slow cooker versions out there as well.  Totally up to you and what you want to do!

Stir beef and 1 cup of the milk into the saucepan.

In a small bowl combine flour and remaining milk, stir til lump free.  Gradually stir into the soup.  Bring to a simmer, cook until thick and bubbly.  About 2 minutes.  Reduce heat, add cheese and paprika.  Stir until melted.

Serve topped with tortilla chips or whatever topping you want.  May add a spoonful of sour cream.  I am not a sour cream fan, so I usually skip it.

I use to hate to cook, but I've learned that I don't ALWAYS have to follow the recipe, it's about what I have and want to use.  My grandmother made it up as she went along and she was an amazing cook!  So why can't I???  Really cooking is about trying new things.  Adding this and that!  So tweak it anyway you'd like! Add pepper jack cheese instead cheddar.  A lot of the recipes I found used the processed cheese, which I am not fond of so, but that's just my personal choice, so I used cheddar.  Choose your poison, well.... so to speak!