Baked Potato Soup

Hi, my name is Allison and I'm a soup addict (Chorus: Hi Allison).

Basically, as soon as the weather dips below 45 degrees I crave soup.  Noodle soups, broth soups, cream soups, veggie soups, chicken or seafood soups, etc.  

In a fit of soup craving (and in all honesty, a studying procrastination), I whipped this soup up the other night.  It was so good I had to share!

Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

4 Yukon Gold potatoes (medium diced)

3 strips of bacon (cut into lardons)

1/2-1 cup broth (any kind, I had beef broth on hand)

1.5-2 cups milk (I used skim because that's all I had)

1-2 tablespoons flour

3 teaspoons granulated onion powder

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

salt

pepper

Directions:

1. Over medium heat, saute the bacon until browned.  Remove bacon from pan while leaving the fat.

2. Add the potatoes and stir to ensure an even coating in fat.

3. Add broth to create steam and prevent browning of potatoes.  Cover potatoes and let cook for 5-10 minutes.

4.  Add flour, milk, onion powder, salt, and pepper.  Cook until the soup has thickened and the potatoes are falling apart. 

5.  Use a fork or potato masher to break potatoes up into small, soup-sized pieces.  

6.  Add cheese to taste.

ENJOY.  

A thick, creamy, smoky soup.  SO SO good!

My desk

Ok, my desk.  I'm literally in love with it.  But it wasn't always this way.

Our story begins with a young, new college graduate looking for furniture to furnish her new apartment.  She had some time before moving in and would occasionally peruse Goodwill and other furniture outlets.  She was only looking for essentials- a couch, kitchen table and chair, and nightstands- to add to her collection of a bed frame and mattress.  She didn't need much, and as such, felt indifferent about needing a desk with the assumption that most studying would happen on her (imaginary) couch or the library on campus.

Fast forward to Goodwill one lovely July morning.  Our heroine has found a lovely set of kitchen chairs to go with her newly acquired kitchen table.  Her shopping buddy and Mom notices a lowly wooden desk with junk- and a sale (yes, sale...who knew Goodwill did sales?) tag-on it.  The desk, once priced at $23 was now just $12.  

Our heroine's eye lit up.  She found a way to get it home (by sitting in the trunk of her car and holding the desk by two of it's legs--see picture!).  

Immediately she went to work sanding it, priming it, sanding it, painting it, sanding it, painting it, and sealing it twice.  This was no small feat in the mid-day July heat that is oh so common in North Carolina summers.

After much blood, SWEAT, and tears, it was complete.  It now resides in a place of honor and is the desk that desk dreams are made of.

Moral of the story: shop at Goodwill and keep your eyes open.  You never know what you'll find.

And they all lived happily ever after.

The End.

WHEW- it's a crazy exam week for me.  The last round of exams before finals=lots of pressure to do well.  So far, 1 exam down and 1 more to go.

Sorry in advance for being MIA.

Pumpkin Muffins

Hey!

Now that fall has officially come to NC, my boyfriend and I make pumpkin muffins almost every week.  This no-recipe recipe hails back from my youth when my mom made these for us quite often.  My mom isn't exactly a baker so that should tell you how easy these muffins are to make (and fairly healthy to boot).  

These are endlessly adaptable and you can add a bunch of mix ins or none at all.  

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 box spice cake mix (any brand)

1 can pureed pumpkin (NOT pie filling)

Any mix-ins you like (we usually do dark chocolate chips and walnuts, but you could do dried cranberries and pepitas, or any nuts, any seeds, any dried fruit you like).

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Mix the cake mix into the pumpkin puree.  Do NOT add any of oil or eggs the box mix calls for.  Seriously.  Don't.  There will come a time inevitably while you are mixing where you'll think it's too dry.  It's not.  Keep mixing and have faith.  When you see very little to no powder left, add your mix-ins.  

The only tricky thing about this recipe is making sure you get the powder mixed in without over mixing the batter.  It can be a bit of a balancing act.  Just make sure most of the powder is mixed in and the muffins will be delicious.

When the oven is preheated, fill your muffin tin (this usually makes 12 for me, no more and no less).  Since the batter will be thick, you'll have to do your best to make the muffins look nice.  Since they don't rise too much, the raw ones will look really similar to the final product (just keep that in mind while you're portioning/scooping).

Bake for 20 minutes (or so) until they look done.  

Enjoy!