Slightly Spicy Potato Soup!

There's a foot of snow on the ground here (or at least there was before it warmed up a bit today), and when you're walking home from class in weather that's so cold it hurts to breathe, something thick and warm and yummy sounds like the best thing ever! So this week I decided to make potato soup in the crock pot, and since it turned out so yummy, I thought I should share!

The recipe was taken and modified from THIS one here, but I'll type it out here with my modifications.

• 3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled [I forgot this and it was still really good without]
• 4 red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks [I used 4 biggish ones and 2 smaller ones]
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups milk
• 1 cup sour cream [I just used one big dollop, probably about half a cup]
• 1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons seasoned salt [One teaspoon is PLENTY! This soup is very salty]
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes [DO NOT use a full tablespoon. I used one teaspoon and it was still VERY spicy]
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• chives for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat a large slow cooker by turning it to the High setting and covering with the lid.
2. Place the cut-up potatoes in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave on High for about 8 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked and steaming hot.
3. While the potatoes are cooking, place the butter in the preheated slow cooker, and cook and stir the onions and garlic for about 5 minutes, until the onions turn golden [I DID ALL THIS in a separate pan, then moved the onions over to the crock pot and continued]. Stir in 1/2 cup of milk, and whisk in the flour until smooth. Gradually whisk in the remaining 3 cups of milk, and let the mixture come to a simmer in the slow cooker [For me it took waaay too long to start simmering so I just added everything in once it got warm and it still turned out fine]. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the soup begins to thicken.
4. Stir in the hot cooked potatoes, crumbled bacon, sour cream, Cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, seasoned salt, parsley, red pepper flakes, celery salt, and dried basil. Stir to mix the soup well, reduce the slow cooker setting to Low, cover, and cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with chives and serve.[I cooked for only an hour and a half on high, and it was delicious! I don't think it really needs to cook 3 whole hours]

Toward the end, the soup still wasn't as thick as I wanted so I whisked in a teeny bit more flour and it thickened up perfectly! I also put in more parsley than the recipe called for, and it definitely didn't hurt :)

Nothing like some potato soup to finish off a cold day!

Happy 2012!!

I'm back in Ellensburg after being home for nearly a month! Winter break was pretty fantastic - mostly because the amount of skiing I did was an insane amount for pre-season. I usually never ski before Christmas, but I took my boyfriend up to Snoqualmie and got him hooked on the ski bug, so after that we went skiing quite a bit. I wish I had pictures of it, but I always seem to forget to bring my camera to the mountain!

Powderpigs starts up this weekend. Since I have no classes on Fridays, I'm going to teach Friday nights and Saturday lessons!

I usually don't have New Year's Resolutions, but this year I've decided that I'm going to constantly remind myself to do my best. I always find that with school papers and projects, I hand them in thinking "this would have been so much better if I had started it a week ago", or "I could've done better on this and I will next time". But I rarely hold myself to that. Somehow I manage to squeak by every time, but I know I can always do better. So to remind myself of this, I'm going to make some sort of collage on my wall. I have a nice big blank space that would be perfect!

Happy New Year everybody! Here's to a fantastic year :) (since it might be the last year on Earth)

Snow!

The snow appeared very quickly here this Winter! Last Thursday the roommates and I went to the midnight premiere of the newest Twilight movie, and we had to wait in line for a bit outside in the cold. When the movie was over we came outside to find that it had been snowing while we were inside! The snow hasn't left since then. Saturday morning, I woke up to find this outside my bedroom window:

 

It was snowing so hard out! 

On Saturday we had a Thanksgiving potluck like we did last year with our friends. By the early afternoon when I went to pick up potatoes at the store, even more snow had accumulated and it was still snowing!

 

Anyway, I'm getting really excited for Thanksgiving Break! I'm heading over the Pass early Tuesday afternoon (weather permitting) and then Wednesday we're flying down to visit the Californians for Thanksgiving! I can't wait to have a much needed break from schoolwork.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Classes for Winter 2012

Signed up for classes this morning, and here's what I got:

English 371 - Literature and History. No idea what the class is about other than, well, literature and history, but it's with the same professor who teaches my Shakespeare class so it's bound to be good!

English 419 - British Lit Studies (or something like that). The class is going to focus on Jane Austen novels in particular!

And Psychology 314 - The Human Learner. This is the only class for the education part of my major that I could get into. All the other classes were full by the time I actually got to sign up.

I'm excited for this schedule because my first class from Monday to Thursdays is at eleven (no waking up super early!) and the best part is that I don't have classes on Fridays! Granted, English 419 is a 2-hour long class, but I think it'll be worth it to have that extra free day each week to catch up on homework and such. I know I've been wishing I had that this quarter since I feel like I'm always playing catch up.

I'm making Japanese curry for dinner tonight and this weekend I'm going to try to bake something new: Maple pecan cinnamon rolls! If they turn out well, I'll post the recipe with some pictures!

The Wasteland Blog

Not much has been happening on the blog here, but everything else has been busy busy busy!

Today I had my first midterms of midterm season. Grammar has been pretty easy stuff, although it's turning me into a grammar nazi. I never used to correct people when they talked because I knew things sounded wrong but I didn't know why. Now that I know the technicalities of why someone's speech is wrong I've turned into an insufferable know-it-all.

Shakespeare class is a lot of fun, but boy it's difficult. This is the first class I've had where I actually feel like I'm in a college-level class. The professor expects more of us than any other professor I've ever had, and her grading system is super tough. Hopefully I'll still have a B in the class after she grades the midterm! I'm always scared to get grades from her.

Although Linguistics is the most boring class I've ever had, I have to say it's the one I'm doing the best in. We just got our latest test back today and I got a 94.7 on it!

That's the latest on my classes... I'm not sure what I'm taking next quarter yet, but there will most likely be some education classes thrown into the mix now! I'm really excited to take some classes other than English because although I love English, it would be nice to have a little variety like I did last year!

Oh, and have I mentioned how excited I am that there's snow in the mountains? Anyone who is friends with me on Facebook probably knows! It's pretty much all I can think about!

October!

So, this month has been just as busy as anticipated. Dad and Deborah came and visited on the 7th, then last weekend I went home to carve pumpkins!

I made taffy apple cupcakes for the little party. They were pretty yummmyy :)

Tomorrow Grandpa is coming to visit! I'm trying to think of something yummy to bake... Maybe more pumpkin bread!

Here Comes October!

I can't believe it's almost October and that I've been living here for a month already! October is definitely my favorite month, and I'm going to make pumpkin-flavored things this weekend to celebrate. I think today I'm going to make pumpkin spice cupcakes and tomorrow or Sunday I'm going to make some pumpkin bread. I bought a BIG can of pumpkin, so I have to use it all up somehow!

October is going to be a busy busy month. I have all my weekends filled up with plans already. Next weekend, Dad and Deborah are coming to visit, the weekend after that I'm going home, the weekend after that Grandpa is visiting, and the weekend after that my friend Erin from high school is visiting and it's also Halloween!

Now, back to the homework pile!