I felt like a gourmet chef

I got the itch to try a new recipe last week.  When I was planning my menu for the week, I knew I wanted to do something with the pork loin that was in the freezer from a recent sale so I started searching some of my favorite food bloggers.  I always love to try the Foodie Bride's recipes so I tried there first.  She normally doesn't steer me wrong.  I love her Enchiladas, French Dip Sandwiches, Hawaiian Chicken Sandwiches, to name a few. 

 Pork Tenderloin with Peach-de-Gallo came up in her list of pork dishes.  The peach pico de gallo sounded like something we'd like and I knew I was going to buy some peaches anyway.  The pork was delicious and we liked the concept of the peach pico de gallo but both agreed we'd like it more as a salsa.  Next time I'll puree some of the peaches/peppers and leave some chunky.

I'd planned on making potato salad as the side because I'm more of a potato-a-holic than ever these days.  My normal potato salad is very simple... potatoes, diced boiled eggs, enough mayo to hold the potatoes together, a squirt of yellow mustard and a couple of spoonfuls of pickle juice, and maybe some salt and pepper, garlic pepper, etc.  But I wanted to try something different and started looking for recipes.  Then I remembered how much I'd been craving the potato salad at Jasper's so I thought I'd Google to see if anyone had a replica recipe.  I was not expecting to find the recipe on Kent Rathbun's website. Jasper is HIS restaurant so this is THE recipe.  Talk about exited.  I had to try it and it was really good.  It wasn't AS good as when I've gotten it at Jasper's but I don't think anything is as good as when someone else is preparing it for you... and when served with a plate of amazing ribs and a nice glass of wine.  But, it was yummy. 

Jasper's Potato Salad. The only change I'd make is that I don't think all that butter is required, probably half would have been enough. And, it probably would have been best to put the cheese, sour cream and butter in the bowl, then start adding the warm, cubed potatoes on top to get it all melted before mixing. I left the cheese butter and sour cream to the end and I had to put it back in the oven to get it all melted.

The whole meal felt fancy compared to what we'd been eating.  With Ryan's "diet" where I've tried to cook a little less fatty and the pregnancy and my lack of appetite, our meals have been pretty much in a rut.  This was a nice change of pace.

Potato Soup

I love, love, love, love, LOVE potato soup. I think this dates back to when I was little and my Nana (great grandmother) would make soups and such by the gallons and "put it up" in the freezer. We used to always have these little plastic containers (the really cheap kind you get at the dollar store) stacked in our deep freezer with potato soup.

We also had containers and containers of peaches and strawberries. We ate the peaches and strawberries frozen. She "seasoned" them with a little (or a lot) of sugar before she "put them up" and that sugar sunk to the bottom before they were frozen. That was the best part, when you got to the bottom of the frozen tub of peaches or strawberries and there was the really sweet, icy mush. Mmmm.

Nana's other specialty was pecans. She and Papaw would drive to the pecan farms and buy bags of pecans. Then she would come home and shell and clean them and put them in bags. We always had bags of pecans in the fridge. I don't think we ever bought them at the grocery store. For some time after Nana died, Mom was still pulling out pecans to make her delicious pecan pies and brown sugar cookies. (Both of these recipes are on my to-make list... too bad Ryan doesn't like pecans.)

Okay, so I digressed a bit. Back to the potato soup. I have been wanting to make some myself and came across this recipe from Southern Living. It was on the ad for their yearly cookbook. I gave it a try last night.

6 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 large onion, chopped (1 1/2cups) (I use "sweet onions")
3 (14-ounce) cans of chicken broth with roasted garlic (I used organic free range chicken broth and just added some garlic powder)
1/4 cup butter
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons pepper
1 cup half & half (or whipping cream)
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
1 (8-ounce) container sour cream (optional -- I did not use this)
4 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled (I felt lazy so I didn't do this either)
shredded cheddar cheese

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a 5-quart slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on high 4 hours (or low 8 hours) or until potato is tender.
3. Mash mixture until potatoes are coarsely chopped and soup in slightly thickened; stir in cream, cheese and chives. Top with sour cream, if desired and sprinkle with bacon and cheddar cheese before serving.

I used red potatoes as that is what I had at the house. None were "large" so I just guessed on how many would equal 6-large. When the soup was done, I felt it was too runny. So, I just boiled a few more potatoes and then mashed them up with a potato masher and added them at the end. Of course, I also added more cheese because everything is better with some extra cheese!

I have only "tasted" the results but my co-workers, Erica and Marsh gave it the thumbs up. It made so much I brought some to share at work. I think Nana would be proud!

It's lunch time now so I might go heat some up myself.