recipe: crock pot potato soup

Who doesn't love a good soup? It's warm and delicious. This recipe will be perfect for a cold evening but I gave it a trial run in August. It turned out soooo good, much better than I anticipated!

Ingredients:
-3 cans of chicken broth (I used the fat free)
-1 can of cream of chicken soup (also used fat free)
-1 bag of frozen hash browns
-1/4 tsp. of ground black pepper
-1 8 oz. package of cream cheese (don't get fat free here, you need the regular kind to get the right consistency)
-bacon (I used turkey bacon)

Instructions:
-In your crock pot, combine the chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, hashbrowns, and pepper. Cook on low for 8 hours. When you get home (or an hour before serving) mix in the cream cheese and turn your crock pot back on low for another hour. After adding cream cheese throughly cook bacon and cut it up into small pieces. Add the bacon to the crock pot mixture and stir. An hour after cream cheese is added it's ready to eat. Add a little shredded cheese to the top and you have a soup that you'll want seconds of! Enjoy!

soup on the cheap

On Sunday, I was talking with a friend from church about easy dinners. She suggested one to me that she'd heard of from other friend. I'm not really sure if it has a technical name but it's cheap and it's delicious. I added a little chili powder to the original recipe and it turned out great!

Ingredients:
-1 can of diced tomatoes (preferably the ones seasoned with basil & oregano)
-1 can of black beans
-1 can of corn (drained)
-Chili powder (seasoned to personal taste)

Optional:
-Sour cream
-Shredded cheese
-Tortilla chips

Combine the tomatoes, black beans, and drained corn in a pot. Add chili powder if desired. Simmer over low heat for at least 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, and tortilla chips.

Next time, I plan to add in chicken and rice for a hearty variation. Enjoy!

Here is the finished product... I had taken a bite already and then remembered I wanted to take a picture of it. It's so good that I just couldn't wait: