Slow Cooker Corn & Potato Soup with Sautéed Shrimp

I’ve built up an assortment of cooking magazines from over the years, but I’m not very good and taking them off the shelf and using them. Most of the time I end up picking our meals from Pinterest.

I have a collection of Rachael Ray Every Day, Bon Appétit, Southern Living and Cooking Light. We wanted something easy for dinner this week, so I found a slow cooker soup recipe from the August 2016 issue. This soup was even better as leftovers when we added some shredded chicken to it!

Slow Cooker Corn & Potato Soup with Sautéed Shrimp (adapted from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:

•        7 ears yellow corn, shucked
•        4 cups unsalted chicken stock
•        1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
•        1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
•        6 small red potatoes, cut into 3/4-in. pieces
•        1 cup half-and-half
•        1/4 cup unsalted butter, divided
•        1 teaspoon black pepper
•        Sprinkle of Old Bay seasoning
•        1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
•        3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, divided
•        Optional: cooked chicken, shredded (great way to use leftover rotisserie)

Directions:

1. Cut kernels from corn cobs to measure about 4 cups. Using the dull side of a knife blade, scrape liquid from corn cobs directly into a 6-quart slow cooker.

2. Add cobs and 3 cups kernels. Stir in chicken stock, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and potatoes. Cover and cook on LOW for 7 hours and 30 minutes.

3. Discard cobs. Stir half-and-half and 2 tablespoons butter into corn mixture. Transfer corn mixture to a blender (depending on your blender size, you may have to do half at a time). Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in lid (to avoid splatters). Process until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Stir in pepper.

4. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat; cook 2 minutes or until foamy. Add shrimp, remaining 1 cup corn kernels, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt to pan; sprinkle with Old Bay seasoning.  Cook 4 minutes or until shrimp turn pink and are done, stirring occasionally.

5. Stir in 1 1/2 tablespoons chives. Divide soup among 10 shallow bowls; top evenly with shrimp mixture, and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons chives.

Tomato, Apricot & Ricotta Flatbread

Here’s another recipe from my latest Cooking Light magazine (two in a week!) I thought peaches were in season but for some reason Publix didn’t have any, so I substituted apricots instead. 

You could grill your flatbread, but since it was pouring rain the other night when we made this, we just baked ours in the oven.  It was ready in less than 15 minutes.

Tomato, Apricot & Ricotta Flatbread: (adapted from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup ricotta cheese
• 2 T finely chopped green onions, divided
• 1 T finely chopped fresh oregano
• 2 T extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• ½ t black pepper
• 1 package naan breads (like Stone Fire)
• 1 medium tomato, sliced (we also had a baby tomato from our garden we threw in since it was ripe)
• 1 apricot, pitted and sliced
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
• 2 T fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1/8 t sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Drizzle 1T olive oil over the naan and cook in the oven for about 5 minutes.  

2. Combine the ricotta with the other 1T olive oil, 1T green onions, oregano, and pepper. 

3. Remove naan from the oven and spread ricotta mixture evenly over.  Top with tomato and peach slices, then sprinkle with parmesan cheese. 

4.  Put back in oven for 5-10 more minutes or until the flatbread gets to your desired crispness. 

5. Sprinkle with remaining 1T green onions, bail, and salt.  Enjoy!  

Chicken with Balsamic-Fig Sauce, Spicy Broccolini, and Garlic Ranch Potatoes

 

One of my favorite cookbooks is The Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook by Cooking Light.  Each page has recommendations for an entrée with suggested side dishes, and all the recipes have photos!  I am very visual, so I’m way more likely to cook a dish if I know what the finished product looks like. 

 

This meal was pretty simple to put together but was delicious!  I wish I doubled the chicken to have more leftovers - the sweet & tart sauce would be great on any type of meat.  The broccolini was easy (the hardest part was waiting for the water to boil).  And this might be my new favorite way to bake potatoes - they turned out slightly caramelized and very flavorful. 

Chicken with Balsamic-Fig Sauce (adapted from The Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook)

Ingredients:

·        4 skinless, bonelss chicken breast halves

·        1½ T fresh thyme, divided

·        ½ t salt

·        ¼ t pepper

·        1 T olive oil

·        1 T butter

·        ½  white onion, chopped

·        ½ cup chicken broth

·        ¼ cup balsamic vinegar (I used Cinnamon Pear Balsamic)

·        2 t soy sauce

·        ½ cup finely chopped dried figs

 

Directions:

1.  If they aren’t already halved, cut your chicken to half the thickness (I didn’t do this until it had cooked a few minutes, but it would have been easier to start off with thinner chicken breasts to ensure it cooks all the way through).

2. Sprinkle both sides of chicken evenly with 1½ t thyme, ¼ tsp salt and pepper.  Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken, and cook 6 minutes on each side or until done.  Remove from the pan and keep warm. 

 

 

3. Reduce heat to medium and add butter to the pan.  Add the onion and sauté for 3 minutes.  Add broth, vinegar, soy sauce, and figs.  Simmer until sauce is reduced to 1 cup (about 3 minutes).  Add 1 T thyme and ¼ t salt. 

 

 

4. Cut chicken into slices on a diagonal and serve the sauce over the chicken. 

 

Spicy Broccolini (adapted from The Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook)

Ingredients:

·        1 pound broccolini

·        1 T olive oil

·        2 thinly sliced garlic cloves

·        ¼ t crushed red pepper

 

Directions:

1.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Cook the broccolini in boiling water for 2 minutes. 

2. Drain and plunge into ice water to stop the cooking process. 

 

3. Heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute.  Add broccolini and red pepper.  Cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. 

 

 

Garlic Ranch Potatoes (adapted from Damn Delicious)

Ingredients:

·        3 pounds small potatoes, cleaned and quartered

·        2 T olive oil

·        4 cloves garlic, minced

·        1 (1 ounce) package Ranch Seasoning and Salad Dressing Mix

·        Salt and pepper, to taste

·        2  butter (this was in the photo, but I actually skipped the extra butter…)

·        2 T chopped parsley leaves for garnish (optional)

 

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with nonstick spray.   

3. Gently toss potatoes with olive oil, garlic, ranch seasoning, salt and pepper. 

 

4. Place potatoes in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and bake 30 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp.  If adding more butter, toss them in melted butter and garnish with parsley.  

Welcome to my Blog!

This is my first blog post!  I’m very excited to start this website to share my love of food with the world. 

I grew up in a family that loves to entertain, so there was always good food around.  My mom and grandma are both amazing cooks, so I am attempting to follow in their footsteps.  I love to try new recipes (which I will share on here) but I also plan to post some of my go-to favorites so you readers can enjoy them as well! 

While I do enjoy cooking and baking for myself, there are so many fantastic places to eat around town that sometimes it’s nice to just relax and have someone else do the cooking.  I’ll post recommendations and reviews of restaurants whenever I find food worth sharing. 

My Pinterest and Facebook are filled with food posts, so I thought having a blog would help me compile it all in one place.  Until I fill my blog, feel free to follow me on Pinterest for recipe ideas. Since I am an interior designer by profession, I also have lots of pins about design, architecture, and creative projects.

Here is a recipe to start off with: 

Lemon Blueberry Muffins (from Cooking Light)

 Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
• 1 cup blueberries
• Cooking spray
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

 Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 400°. 

2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.

3. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk, egg, and lemon rind; stir well with a whisk. Add to flour mixture; stir just until moist.  

4. Gently fold in blueberries.

5. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until the muffins spring back when lightly touched. Remove muffins from pans immediately and place on a wire rack to cool.

6. Combine lemon juice and powdered sugar in a small bowl. Drizzle glaze evenly over cooled muffins.   

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for this blog, feel free to contact me anytime! 

❤ Amanda