The Best Potato Soup You Will Ever Make

The Best Potato Soup You will EVER Make

What sounds good when it’s cold, windy and dark outside?  Well?  Home made soup of course!  So this week I made Potato Soup with Grilled Avocado and Tomato Sandwiches for dinner. 

This potato soup is awesome and creamy and just plain good. For extra creamy-ness, here’s a secret…use cream cheese!  It makes this soup so creamy and good that you can’t imagine the soup without it!

There’s only one trick to it…you have to make sure it gets hot enough to entirely disperse into the soup, otherwise you will have tiny pieces of cream cheese all over the soup and it looks well…weird.

Hope you enjoy! 

Everything You'll Need

Ingredients for Soup:

• 5 Russett potatoes
• 1 – 32 ounce container of chicken stock
• 1 – 12oz block of cream cheese
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp of pepper (black or white pepper works good in this recipie)
• Any toppings you would like (I used bacon, cheddar, and scallions)

Directions for Soup:

1. Peel and chop the potatoes to your desired size (the hubby likes tiny pieces of potato when we have soup so I chopped quite a bit)
2. Put the potatoes in a large soup pot and fill with chicken broth (add water if you need to cover the potatoes a bit more – I had to add about a cup more of water to the chicken broth
3. When potatoes are done slowly mash some of the potatoes to help the soup thicken
4.  Add a full block of cream cheese (I used the 1/3 less fat cream cheese and it still turned out good) milk, garlic, and pepper
5. Bring to a boil again. **Here’s the hard part, the cream cheese will need time to get to the right temperature and really thicken the soup, bringing the soup to a slow boil for a bit will help this.  Make sure to watch the pot as if it boils over it can make a little mess. **
6. After about 20 minutes the soup should be all creamy and ready to enjoy!



I used a small pot but the recipe doubles well
for more people


7. Using a soup spoon, fill your bowls to desired portion and top with whatever potato toppings you like! *(Our favorites are bacon, cheddar, scallions, and avocado!)

Ingredients for Spur of the Moment Grilled Cheeses!

• Bread (whatever you have on hand) 
• Cheese (whatever you have on hand, blending cheeses is always yummy!)
• Fillings (we had tomatoes, and avocados)







Last minute addition to dinner

• Butter for bread

Directions for Spur of the Moment Grilled Cheeses!

1. Very lightly butter each side of bread for the sandwiches
2. Add filling 
3. Put on heated griddle/non stick pan and heat about 5 minutes per side (seriously, I had a picture for this, but apparently with the million times I was trying to place the photo, I deleted it...so use your imagination :) )
4. When they are at the desired melting consistency, they’re done!

The Finished Product!

These Beets are Made for....Cake? : Amazing Chocolate Beet Cake

OK, I have a confession to make.  Even us dietitian’s can have a dislike for some fruits and vegetables.  For me, the vegetable is Beets. I will eat Kale, or Kiwi, or itty bitty pearl onions, but put beets on my plate, and I’ll push them around like the most riveting game of croquet you’ve ever witnessed.  

That is until I ran into this recipe by Lynne Curry on the ZESTER DAILY website.

Beets are supposed to be VERY good for us.  There have been studies on athletes that have shown improved performance in runners after supplementing with beets.¹ It seems that the athletes who participated in this particular study even felt they were exerting less energy during the last part of a 5K run.¹ So, why not try them…at least they are in cake for this recipe. 

Why not try it?...

I have to say, even though the picture on the site and the words of wisdom by the author were reassuring, I remained skeptical until the actual first bite of chocolaty gooey goodness happened.

Trust me when I say this…it was amazing!  So, here you go.  My first recipe of the new year! 

Enjoy!

Obtained the recipe from:

http://zesterdaily.com/cooking/beets-dessert-cake-will-wow-crowd/

Original Recipe author: Lynne Curry

Started with whole beets, they really do smell like dirt

Beet Puree (just in case you haven't ever cooked with beets like I hadn't):

Took about half hour and was super easy.   

I peeled and diced the beets, then boiled them until tender.   

Once they were tender I threw them into the food processor and flipped a switch.  I used about four beets for this recipe (which made just under the called for 2 ½ cups of beet pure). You could also probably use cooked canned beets and puree if it's easier.

Peeled and diced the beets for boiling

Beets boiling on the stove

 

Chocolate Beet Cake!

Made about: 10 servings

Cooked about 20-25 minutes

 Mix everything together according to the directions, its so pretty!

NOTE: (if you have three layers this would be perfect, I found myself with only two one-layer pans so I had to add about 15 minutes onto the cook time to make sure they were done in the middle)

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups pureed cooked beets

6 eggs, beaten

¾ cups good quality cocoa powder

After the cakes are done in the oven, cool them on wire racks

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ½ cups vegetable oil

3 ¾ cups granulated sugar

3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons salt

Directions:

1.     Preheat the oven to 350 F
2.     Oil three 8-inch round cake pans and line them with parchment paper
3.     In a small mixing bowl, beat the beets and eggs. Combine the cocoa powder, vanilla and oil in a large measuring cup.
4.     In a large mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt until combined. Add the cocoa powder mixture to the flour and stir with a rubber spatula until well combined. Add the beet mixture and stir just until combined.
5.     Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake until the sides of the cake pull away from the pan and a wooden skewer slid into the cake’s center comes out clean 20-25 minutes. 
6.     Cool the cakes for 10 minutes and tip them out of the pans onto wire racks to cool completely.

Yes I made some cupcakes also! They were super delish!

Frosted Finished Product!

I have a confession to make, I got so carried away with the amazing smells of chocolate and butter and forgot to take pictures of the frosting being made.

Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Took about 10 minutes to make

 The beets make the moisture of the cake amazing!

Ingredients:

6oz bittersweet chocolate

3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

12oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla

3 cups sifted confectioners sugar

Directions:

1.     Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of summering water. Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.
2.     In a stand mixer, use the whisk attachment to beat the butter and cream cheese until perfectly smooth. Add the vanilla and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3.     Add the confectioners sugar and blend on medium speed until it is fully incorporated. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and blend on medium-high speed until it is very smooth and light.
4.     Spread one-third of the frosting on top of each of the cooled cake layers and stack them to create three tiers. Leave the sides un-frosted (I frosted the entire two layer cake...sides and all...I couldn't resist)

When all else fails....eat cake.

Reference:

1.     Murphy M, Eliot K, Heuertz R, Weiss E. Whole beetroot consumption acutely improves running performance. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics; 2012: 112(4): 548 – 552

And...We're Back!

It has been a while.  So lets catch up!  

Over the last two years I have been going to school, taking care of the fur-babies, and having a adventure filed life with the hubby!  I found that with the amount of school work as well as trying to keep up with training and life in general, it was too much to keep the writing going.  

Thankfully, that time is over.  School is done, and the adventures are beginning again (not to say that school wasn't an adventure in itself, but I think you know what I mean). So while this will be a short post, I'll post some pics of what we've been up to over the past couple years. 

And of course...I am already working on the next post!  Here's some pics of a couple things that we've been up to!  Have fun!

We added a cute little kitty in 2014.  May I present Ralf!  He got trapped in the engine of my car and after taking out the bottom panel and somehow getting him out...we just had to keep him...I mean, look at that face!

Oscar remains the King of the household.  While this round of dress up did not result in stitches or bitting, he has made it clear that it will not happen again.

As always, Sam keeps on running.  She had a wonderful time in 2013 in the snow, running back up in New York at her home away from home.  She has so much fun playing with her brothers Oscar and Ralph!

In 2013 I participated in the Iredell County Sweet 16 Racing Series over the summer.  The series consisted of 16 weeks of Tuesday Night 5K's that started in May and went through the end of August.  It was the first time I had won anything, but I think the real win (even though they gave me a medal and a trophy) was the people I met along the way and the fact that Statesville now has a tough running community!

Chris had a solid year racing the #55 in both 2013 and 2014.  In 2013, the car debuted and raced some of the races up in Oswego, but in 2014, with the help of the commitment program, the Osetek Technology team #55 made all races and even placed in the top 10 several times!  We're looking forward to the upcoming 2015 year!

All through 2013 and 2014 I continued to get my homework done and keep going.  Ralph often came and sat with me over 2014 while I did my homework.  Maybe he earned a degree also!  Really though, it was tough.  Full time work and full time school was really taxing, but thankfully being surrounded by some awesome people helped me through it.

Chris and I continued as we always will, to make our home ours.  With our three animals, a race car, running, school, helping with robotics teams, working, taking up the carpet and putting down hardwood floors, getting both a new car and truck as well as keeping the faith that no matter what if we don't give up or give in, we will reach our goals, we had fun and worked hard.

Oh yeah...And I FINISHED SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I now have a Masters of Science in Nutrition and Wellness.
Nothing else needs to be said here :)

As always, I'll keep the adventures coming, and will be posting again soon!  I hope you have enjoyed the pictures of things that we have been up to over the past couple years.  I'll write again soon!
Erin

Monday Madness

Another Busy Monday.
It's funny how I remember when I was younger, how the weeks seemed to drag on and on.

Now things are so jam packed that before I know it Monday night's over and I'm packing my bag for Tuesday. 

Today I started my third class in my Masters degree program.  "Obesity Theory and Practice".  I just read through all the readings and power point for the week and looked at the course expectations.  It looks like it will be intense (as if I somehow thought getting a masters degree would be easy?!).

So far the articles are interesting.  They go over data from surveys collected over several years about obesity and weight, height, socioeconomic status, and many other lifestyle factors.  The course looks like it will be full and go quick.  Just like today did. And just like the last four months have. 

Before I know it, it will be time to look at Halloween costumes and then the holidays will be here.

So, goals.  How did I do today?  I overslept so I didn't get any reading in this morning.  I went to work and then came home read for school then made dinner.  I used a new recipe for "Chicken Chili Verde".  It was pretty good. 

And, I actually used a new food I'd never cooked with before.  Tomatillo Tomatoes. 

What is that?  Well, it's a green tomato that comes wrapped in it's own leaves.  You have to peel the tomatoes leaves back and discard them to cook.  They tasted really good in the sauce.  Of course they were green, but they didn't seem to have noticeable seeds red tomatoes have.  I heated them up in a big soup pot whole without cutting them.  There was some oil on the pot to give some flavor.  Then after a couple minutes into the blender they went.

The blender? Yes!  It made a wonderful sauce.  Sorry I didn't take any pictures but I was on the phone with my awesome sister in law and couldn't snap any before the dish was back in the pot. I was so proud of myself as I didn't even spill any!

I got to relax a bit after cooking and my hubby and I watched the news for about half hour.  Then it was back to the grind.  I read another article and began the power point for my course.

Now, the night is about over and I'm getting my things together to do it over again tomorrow.  I am hoping to get up in the morning and run.  I think it will give me a nice pick me up before work. 

Have a good night!

Running and Haid Dye

So yesterday (Saturday) I decided I needed a pick me up (after Friday's test disaster (see prev. post)) and registered for the "Healthy Kids Day 5K" at the Lowe's YMCA in Mooresville. It had been a while since I did a speed workout and thought why not use a 5K to do it?

I got up and drove into Mooresville around 7:30 for the 9am race as I wanted to run a couple miles before the race.  I hadn't had anything to eat at home so stopped at a gas station to get a water, coffee and protein bar.  Well, that didn't go as planned.

I love adventures and food is one of those things that can be fun to change up sometimes. I saw a sign that said Free Pastry with purchase of Monster Energy beverage. Why not?  I hadn't ever had one of those before and thought "hey I get a free doughnut".  So I got a glazed doughnut and a toffee flavored monster beverage and headed on my way (don't worry I didn't forget the water).

I ate half the doughnut and drank half the monster drink along with the water.  I got to the Y and they were setting up for registration still so I had time to run a bit.  It was so nice out.  The weather was perfect.  Cool, cloudy and at times misty.  After about 40 minutes or so it was time to go over to the registration area and pay, get my bib, and wait to get started. I really could feel the caffeine from the Monster beverage and the sugar from the doughnut kicking in.

I pinned on my bib and they gave some announcements.  All the runners lined up at the start.  I got in the middle of the pack as I didn't want to be behind the strollers.  There was one little girl and her mother who had their little dog up on the start line.  All I could think when the announcer said "Go" was "please don't let the dog get run over". 

I moved over to the right to make sure I didn't get in the dogs way and passed them in a couple seconds. The first mile is a good descent.  Then a big up hill for the next mile and a half.  The last half mile is on a dirt track around the Y. 

I finished 3rd female overall and first in my age category.  I crossed the finish line in 22 minutes and 14 seconds.  It was fun.  Hard work, but fun. I don't know if I'll try the doughnut and Monster beverage again tho as towards the end of the day I felt like I was having heart palpitations and definitely think it was something in the mix of the beverage.

After the 5K (plus 4 miles before) I drove home and showered.  I had laundry and a couple other things to do before my husband and I got some Chinese take out and headed home to watch "Zero Dark 30".  Of course, we both fell asleep watching it (not because it was a bad movie, but because we are so darned busy that every time we sit on the couch we fall right asleep!).

Today (Sunday) I finally got my hair dyed again.  It has been looking drab for weeks.  WEEKS I tell you!  Over the past weeks my husband actually started calling me "frosted doughnut" because of the icky gray/brown/mousy color the top was and how it "frosted" the box color I had on it from like six months ago.

I'm happy to say that after three hours at the hair salon and with work from a great stylist, the color has been fixed.  Now we have a dark chocolate that makes me want some candy!

Glad that's over

It has been a month. A busy one.  I think I last wrote when I had signed up for the Boogie 50 ultramarathon. That was before my Bio-statistics course got going full swing. 
Over the past few weeks I was unable to complete many of my distance runs and am toying with the idea of dropping the 50 mile ultra.  The race does have a marathon option but I'm not quite sure I'd be ready for that either (although I have like 5 weeks and definitely could fit in a 15, 18 and 20 miler if I started now).
Where does that bring me?  To who the heck knows where. That's where. 

It's been a rough couple of weeks.  I am finally done with my bio-statistics course but feel slightly mentally damaged from it.

Something I've also been mind-wrestling with over the past few weeks is how to get my homework, professional work, my book (gasp yes I am about done with it) and my running all in.  Some times it seems impossible.

Hopefully I will get the hang of everything. My plan (of course we all know what happens when I plan things out right?) is to get up in the morning and do my reading for my school work daily.  Monday, Wednesday and Friday are going to be school work priority nights.  Tuesday and Thursdays are going to be Book Work nights.  Saturday and Sunday are hopefully going to contain a mixture of school work, working out and writing.  Whew. Got it? I don't.

Something came up this week a few days ago that really took me out mentally and I wanted to bring it up here.

As I mentioned before, my bio-statistics course is finally coming to an end. We had our last exam.  It was a surprise (there was absolutely no indication of it in the syllabus) cumulative final exam that contained many questions not within our reading assignments.

I began the quiz (as it was called) thinking it was similar to every other quiz we had been given over the course only to see a much longer and heavier worded list of questions on my computer screen.  Most of the questions were worded differently than any homework assignment we had been given and two of the questions (that I still don't understand) repeated themselves.  Also, each question was worth two points.  So if you missed one, you missed two.

After almost four hours of racking my brain and insulting myself for being "stupid, dumb, and terrible" I finished the exam.  I failed.  I just stared at it.  The lowest grade I had thus far received in the course was a 98% and there before my eyes was a big fat 47%!  I was so confused. Why hadn't I understood it?  How could I be so stupid that I didn't understand it? What was wrong with me?
 
I immediately emailed the teacher to see if this was indeed our exam, then posted to our course student chat room to see if any one else had taken the quiz.  But no one got back to me (of course I hadn't considered the possibility that everyone else thought it would be just like the other quiz's and hadn't even attempted it yet because I was too busy berating myself for failing).

Until that night someone did get back to me.  Then again Saturday and Sunday.  Replies came in one by one as students opened the quiz and were met with whatever that thing called a "quiz" was.

Now, looking back I think, how could I have based the way I felt about myself on a stupid test.  Just because I failed a test does not mean I am a bad person, it means nothing about me other than at that moment in time, I did not pass what a teacher said I should. That's it. 

So I'm choosing to learn from this experience.  I will always ask my instructor about a final exam. I will not jump off the handle when I fail an exam out of the blue like that because odds are I'm not alone. Most importantly, I will not define my self worth by what a test says I can do.

You signed up for WHAT?

You know what its like when something is stuck in your head. A thought that simply floats around like the Good Year blimp over and over again.  Well, thats whats going on in my head.

Let me take you back a bit first...

About three years ago I ran some Ultramarathons. 

What is that you ask?  

An Ultramarathon is any distance longer than the marathon (the 26.2 mile marathon...which is the only distance for the marathon...so no, when you train for a 10K its NOT a marathon).  The most popular ultra marathon distances are 50 kilometers, 100 kilometers, 50 mile, 100 mile and numerous 6, 12 and 24 hour races.

Back to the story.  I was training for a 24 hour race and I lined up some trial races leading up to my main event (The Hinson lake 24 hour Ultra).  One of those races was the "Boogie" 50 mile Ultramarathon.  It was perfect, several months before my main race so I could do a real run through and see how it was going to work. It also left me with enough time to recover afterwards.  The race was in June.  I felt really excited for the Boogie race.  

Unfortunately I made several mistakes leading up to this race that my race experience was anything but ideal.  About four weeks before the Boogie race, I ran a 12 hour ultra for "practice".  Well, during that race, the weather was right and all the stars seamed to align.  I felt great.  I was focused.  I pushed myself beyond the 30 miles I was going to complete and went on to reach 66 miles. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't do a thing different if I were to do it all over again, but I should have changed my expectations of my next race to adjust for recovery.  I didn't.

Fast forward 4 weeks.  The Boogie race is held not only in June, but in the afternoon.  The race starts in the evening before Sun-down so runners face heat, humidity, sometimes thunder showers, impending darkness...and snakes.

The day was nice.  It was a little crazy getting there as I had no clue where I was going and drove there alone.  I got lost, expended too much energy yelling profanity at the GPS on my phone, and finally made it in one piece about half hour before the race was to start. 

Did I mention I hadn't eaten very much that day?  Well, now I did.

 

So the race started.  It was nice with very attentive race directors and runners all very cheery.  Unfortunately I was still in a dark cloud from my not so fun drive.  I couldn't focus.  Then before mile five, hip pain set in (think old running injury aka torn groin that is better but hasn't ever been the same).  

That's kind of early for pain to set in when you still have 45 miles of running left on a hot day.  I tried to push past it. Still, my normal positivity was no where to be found.  To make a long story short, I've never been in a race with that poor of an attitude.  

I decided to drop out.  It was a terribly long walk back to my car, with many of the runners I had passed in the beginning passing me.  The worst part not only was telling the race director I was dropping out after only 10 miles, but was having to get into my car and pack up my aid station then drive part of the course to leave the race.  I drove past many who I had just stood next to at the starting line.  

Now, three years later, I know I made the right decision that night.  Cut my losses.  Less recovery time, less chance of injury.  But I won't ever forget it.  I'm not usually one to throw in the towel.  That race always is in the back of my mind. 

This week I decided I'm ready to take my revenge on the race course, to complete it with a smile on my face and become an Ultra runner once again.  

So, this past week (after deciding some other important stuff that I might write on later) I filled out the application and sent it in.  It's done.  No backing out now.  I am SO Excited!