Bacon Potato Soup

Now that the weather has dropped back down to the expected temps for this time of year I was in the mood for soup and potato is what caught my eye. This recipe was easy to throw together and tasted delicious, plus it was dairy free. Just look at my girl eating this up, she went for two bowls she liked it so much.

Gluten Free/Dairy Free Bacon Potato Soup

Adapted from AllRecipes

1 package of bacon

1/2 chopped onion

1 C chopped carrots

2 celery stalks

4 garlic cloves, chopped

4 C GF chicken broth

4 C potatoes, cubed

1/8 t cayenne pepper

1/2 C DF cheese, I used Daiya

Salt to taste

In a dutch oven or saucepan cook the bacon until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic to the bacon grease and saute until the onion is soft.

Add the chicken broth, potatoes, and pepper. Bring to a boil and scrape up the bits of brown from the bottom of the pan. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

Add the cheese and heat until melted but not to boiling. Chop the bacon and add to the soup then season with additional salt if needed.

We served some beer bread along side and it was the perfect meal for a cold day.

1-2-3 Gluten Free Biscuits Review & Thick Chicken Soup

I don’t shop too often in Smith’s but when I was there searching for GF butterscotch chips I saw this box.



It’s a brand I’ve read about online but I sure didn’t think anyone in this area carried it, was I wrong! Two 1-2-3 Gluten Free boxes were staring at me and even though the price was a bit steep I had to pick them up. My excuse is that I need to review things for this blog, it’s working well so far. I wanted to do a chicken and dumplings type dinner but with biscuits instead of dumplings, luckily it turned out and the recipe is below. I was a bit put off initially by the ingredients they require for the biscuits, heavy whipping cream and half & half. For starter’s I rarely have whipping cream in the fridge and I never have half & half. Luckily I had some whipping cream leftover from the girls night and I substituted 1 T of melted butter with 1 C milk for the half & half (thank you Better Homes & Gardens), it worked out nicely. I liked that the box has recipes for more than just the biscuits. Inside they have recipes for cinnamon buns, veggie pizza, sausage balls, chicken pot pie, wrapped gouda appetizers, pigs-in-a-blanket, and chicken & dumplings. That’s a nice little bonus and now I want to try a few of those recipes too. I must say these biscuits are delicious, they’re a little flaky and not drying at all. I really enjoyed popping them in the microwave for 30 seconds and then spreading with jelly, it was a great breakfast. Hubby isn’t a big biscuit fan but he said they were the best he’s had, gluten filled and gluten free. If you’ve been struggling to find a good biscuit give these a try. One more note, the box states it makes 15 biscuits on the front and 16 biscuits on the back but I only got 10 out of it. I'm sure I just make mine a bit bigger than most and I did have to bake them 5 minutes longer than the box suggested.

Thick Chicken Soup
Adapted from Hey That Tastes Good

2 C leftover chicken, tore into bite sized pieces
Salt & pepper
2 T Olive Oil
1 medium onion, diced
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 ribs celery, chopped
6 garlic cloves, diced
½ C white wine
1 t Thyme
4 C GF chicken broth
¼ C GF flour (I used Gluten Free Mama’s Almond Blend)
GF Biscuits

Pour the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the vegetables. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently until they start to caramelize. Add the wine, thyme, chicken, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer for 50 minutes. Before serving salt and pepper to taste and add the GF flour to thicken the soup to your desired consistency.

Serve the thick soup over a cut biscuit and enjoy!

Sausage & Cheese Chowder

Since Fall has hit and I’m trying to use what we have in our freezers I wanted to make something soupy. My family isn’t the biggest of fans when it comes to soup but I like it and figured I’d try my hand at a new recipe. Ginger Lemon Girl has a delicious looking Cheeseburger Chowder recipe and I did some tweaking to make it more appealing to my family, picky eaters! I also was in the mood to try some new bread recipes and for some reason they just didn’t rise though I’m sure my yeast is still good. I did put them in the bread machine and they weren’t written for that so I think I’m going to play around to see if I can get them to work out in the bread machine. The first recipe was honey sandwich bread and it was delicious just really stumpy. My boy ate a lot of it and the loaf was gone in less than 24 hours so if I can perfect the recipe I will share.

Sausage & Cheese Chowder
Adapted from Ginger Lemon Girl

1 package GF sausage slice into coins (I used Aidell’s from Costco)
½ medium onion
¾ C diced carrots (I forgot this)
¾ C chopped celery
1 t basil
1 t parsley
3 T butter*
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4 C GF chicken broth
4 C red potatoes, cubed

2 C frozen corn
2 T cornstarch
2 C shredded cheddar cheese*
2 C milk*
Crumbled bacon

In a large pot melt 1 T of butter over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, garlic and sausage. Cook until the sausage if browned. Stir in the parsley, basil, chicken broth, carrots, corn, and potatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes and carrots are tender, about 10-15 minutes. Melt the remaining 2 T of butter and add to the milk. Whisk in the cornstarch and then gradually pour into the chowder stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to simmer. Stir in the cheese and allow to heat through. Sprinkle the bowls of chowder with the crumbled bacon and serve with GF bread, mmm. This makes about 8 servings.

Waking up to 6 inches of snow this morning really makes this dish even more enticing, too bad we finished our leftovers last night.

*This is deliciously made dairy free. Sub the butter with Earth Balance, the cheese with Daiya, and the milk with rice or your favorite DF milk substitute. I was so impressed with how delicious this was dairy free.