Tony Roma's Baked Potato Soup

My Mom sent me this recipe a few years ago. I love this soup because it uses things that I almost always have on hand! This is Top Secret Recipes version of Tony Roma's Baked Potato Soup, by Todd Wilbur. I have not tried Tony Roma's soup, but this is SO good!!

Tony Roma's Bake Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 medium potatoes (about 2 cups chopped)
• 3 T butter
• 1 cup diced white onion
• 2 T flour
• 4 c chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups instant mashed potatoes
• 1 t salt
• 3/4 t pepper
• 1/2 t basil
• 1/8 t thyme
• 1 cup half and half (I always use 1% milk)

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake the potatoes for 1 hour or until done. When potatoes have cooked, remove them from the oven to cool.

As potatoes cool prepare soup by melting butter in a large saucepan, and saute onion until light brown. Add the flour to the onions and stir to make a roux.

Add the stock, water, cornstarch, mashed potatoes, and spices to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out contents with a large spoon. Discard skin. Chop baked potato with a large knife to make chunks that are about 1/2-inch in size.

Add chopped baked potato and half-and-half to the saucepan, bring soup back to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for another 15 minutes or until it is thick.

Spoon about 1 1/2 cups of soup into a bowl and top with about a tablespoon of shredded cheddar cheese, a half tablespoon of crumbled bacon and a teaspoon or so of chopped green onion.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

I LOVE these cookies!! I got this recipe from a high school friend MANY years ago. I forgot to take a picture of the cookies before I packaged them up to deliver to friends. OOPS!! I did have one cookie left out. Sorry these aren't the best pictures:( I was afraid I'd run out of filling, because I was short on cream cheese and made 3/4 of the recipe, but I had plenty. Since I thought I'd run out I rolled part of the cookies in powdered sugar before baking so they would at least look pretty even without the filling. Since I had enough filling, I just filled those too. YUM!! So Good!!

Homemade Oreo Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 devil's food cake mixes
• 2 cubes/sticks butter
• 4 eggs

Directions: Mix ingredients together. Roll into small balls(about 1 T). Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. When cookies are cool spread filling on one cookie and sandwich with another.

Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cube of butter
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 t vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions: Beat ingredients together until smooth and creamy.

Cinnamon Dots

During college football season, our family used to LOVE to order Domino's pizza and dots and sit down to watch the BYU Cougars. Unfortunately, we don't live near a Domino's anymore and they don't sale the dots anymore. BUT...anytime I have extra yeast dough, we make our own. I use bread dough, pizza dough, roll dough, etc. These are super simple and simply yummy!! Sometimes, I put the frosting in bowls to dip the 'dots' into but in this picture I have just poured the butter cream frosting on them while in the pan.

Cinnamon Dots

Ingredients:

• yeast dough
• butter
• cinnamon sugar
• butter cream frosting or cream cheese frosting

Directions: Form yeast dough into small balls. Dip in melted butter and then in cinnamon sugar. Place in a greased baking dish. Bake at 375 for approx. 20 minutes. You can frost while the dots are in the pan or take them out and dip them in frosting as you eat them.

Creamy Turkey Soup and Italian Bread Bowls

I saw this recipe for the Italian bread bowls here at Real Mom Kitchen. She got them from here at My Kitchen Cafe. I knew when I saw these I would have to try them. I love soup in bread bowls. I had some turkey in the fridge that needed to be used up and I made this creamy soup that was SO yummy!! Dinner was a Big hit last night:) My husband went on and on about the bread bowls, they really are that good!! He could hardly believe that I made them. I made six, but I think next time I will make 8, they were really big! This soup is a GREAT way to use up your leftover Thanksgiving turkey when everyone gets tired of sandwiches:)

Italian Bread Bowls

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 7 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions: In a large bowl (or bowl of an electric mixer), dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

Add salt, oil and 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with an electric mixer at medium speed after each addition until a soft but not sticky dough is formed (you may not need to use all 7 cups).

When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes (or let knead in an electric mixer). Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Punch dough down, and divide into 6-8 equal portions. Shape each portion into a round ball. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal (or use silpat liners or parchment paper). Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, beat together egg white and 1 tablespoon water; lightly brush the loaves with half of this egg wash. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Brush with remaining egg mixture, and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.

Creamy Turkey Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 T Canola Oil
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 T butter
• 3 T flour
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups cooked turkey, chopped or shredded
• 2 baked potatoes, shredded
• 1 t salt
• 1 t fresh ground black pepper
• 1 t oregano
• 1/4 t ground thyme
• 2 oz. cream cheese
• Parmesan cheese

Directions: Saute onions, carrots, celery and garlic in canola oil for approx. 10 minutes or until the onions begin to brown. Add butter, when butter is melted, add flour to make a roux. Stir in chicken broth, milk, turkey, potatoes, and spices. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook for approx. 20 minutes until vegetables are soft. Add cream cheese and cook until cheese has melted. Serve with a generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Grape Salad

Grapes went on sale again! I had bought everything to make this salad last time grapes were on sale, but the kids got into the grapes and they were gone before I got the chance. This is something that my husband's family has every year for Thanksgiving. It is SO yummy!! When I started to make this I realized that my family had eaten the slivered almonds that I had bought to make this the first time. Oh well, I made it anyway without them. With four young boys, I decided the battle at the grocery store was not going to be worth going back for the almonds!!

Grape Salad

Ingredients:

• 2-3 pounds Grapes
• 8 oz. softened cream cheese
• 1 jar marshmallow cream
• 1 cup cool whip
• 1 small package of slivered almonds

Directions: Beat together the cream cheese, marshmallow cream and cool whip until creamy. Stir in grapes and almonds. The amount of grapes you use will depend on the grape to cream mixture you want. I like lots of cream mixture per grape:)

Apple Burritos

My neighbor gave me this super yummy recipe (Thanks Tara!). I made one little change when I made them, instead of putting them back in the microwave after I had rolled them up, I fried them in a little butter. YUM!

This is the serving I gave my husband.

Below is my serving, that's right, TWO. They were SO delicious!!

Apple Burritos

Ingredients:

• 3 large Granny Smith apples (peeled, cored, sliced)
• 2 T sugar
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 t margarine
• 1/2 t orange zest
• 6 (6in.) tortillas
• caramel sauce

Directions: Place apples, sugar, cinnamon and margarine in a microwave safe bowl and cook on high for 3-4 minutes until apples are crisp-tender.

Add orange zest to mixture; mix gently. Spread about 1/3 cup of apple mixture down the center of each tortilla; roll up tightly. Place them seam down in a 9x9 inch microwave safe baking dish and cook on high for another 3-4 minutes or until heated through.

To serve place a burrito on a plate, drizzle with caramel sauce, and finish with a scoop of ice cream and a little cinnamon.

**Instead of putting mine back in the microwave after rolling, I melted a couple of tablespoons of butter in a frying pan and placed the burrito in the butter and rolled it with some tongs until it was browned all the way around and warm in the center.

Shredded Beef Taquitos

I made these with my leftovers from the crock pot roast, any shredded beef will work. These were SO simple and SO yummy!!

Shredded Beef Taquitos

Ingredients:

• Shredded beef
• Corn tortillas
• Canola oil
• Cheese

Directions: Fry corn tortillas in a little canola oil for a few seconds on each side. Let drain on paper towel until all tortillas are done. Place shredded cheese in the corn tortilla, place shredded beef on top and roll up. I place the rolled tortillas in a small amount of oil and turn them as the bottoms brown. Place finished taquitos on a paper towel to drain. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

I'm BACK...w/ Roast and Carrots

We had an 'issue' with our laptop and it has been gone for awhile getting fixed. I am SO happy to have it back!! I thought I'd share with you my FAVORITE way to cook roast and carrots!! My kids don't like cooked carrots and I never have either, but we all love these. The recipe for the roast is SO yummy!! It is great for French dip sandwiches or use the liquid to make gravy.

Crock pot Roast

Ingredients:

• 5 lb. boneless rump roast (pretty much any cut of meat will work)
• 1 T garlic powder
• 1/2 t seasoned salt
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• 1/2 t oregano
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
• 2 cups beef broth

Directions: Put everything together in the crock pot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-6 hours.

To make gravy: Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan. Mix in 2 tablespoons flour. Whisk in 2 cups of the liquid from the roast. Cook until it thickens to desired consistency.

This is also great for French dip sandwiches. Shred your meat, place in on bread of your choice and dip in the juice. We like to butter crusty rolls, sprinkle on some parmesan cheese and place under the broiler for a couple of minutes(until the cheese melts) before we put our meat on them and then dip. YUM!!

Sweet Carrots

Ingredients:

• 1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 T butter
• 1 T sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Place everything together in a small saucepan. Bring to boil and cook until carrots are tender.