Microwave homemade potato chips

A couple of weeks ago we were having some people over for dinner and at the last minute I decided I needed something to go with our meatball subs. Hubby suggested homemade potato chips and I came across a fabulous recipe on allrecipes.com. You use your microwave and these turned out so yummy!

Microwave homemade potato chips
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 potato, sliced paper thin (peel optional) I used my mandoline from Pampered Chef
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
Directions
1.Pour the vegetable oil into a plastic bag. Add the potato slices, and shake to coat.
2.Coat a large dinner plate lightly with oil or cooking spray. Arrange potato slices in a single layer on the dish.
3.Cook in the microwave for 3 to 5 minutes, or until lightly browned (if not browned, they will not become crisp). Times will vary depending on the power of your microwave. Remove chips from plate, and toss with salt (or other seasonings). Let cool. Repeat process with the remaining potato slices. You will not need to keep oiling the plate.

My first round took about 7 minutes and after the plate got hot (CAUTION: mine got extremely hot!) it didn't take as long. They were delicious with homemade french onion dip!

Homemade French Onion Dip
Ingredients:
1 packet onion soup mix
1 cup mayonaise
1 cup sour cream

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients until well blended. Refrigerate 1hr before serving.


I served mine with veggies:

Cheesy Potato Soup

OK, I know it's been AGES since I last posted. I promise I have cooked for my family. Once I got sick with the flu I was down and I just have been getting things back to normal. (Yes it took a month!) When mom is out for 5 days things go downhill fast! I have tons of recipes and pictures to post.

Cheesy Potato Soup

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups chopped onions

1 1/2 cups chopped celery

4 cups water

8 potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 Cup cheddar cheese

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 1/3 cups milk

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Saute the onions and celery in the butter for 5 to 10 minutes, or until tender.
2. Stir in the water and potatoes, bring to a boil and then simmer until the potatoes are tender. Add the cheese and stir until melted.
3. In a separate small bowl, combine the flour and the milk and stir well until the flour is mostly dissolved. Pour this into the soup slowly, stirring constantly, until soup has thickened, about 5 minutes.
4.  Slowly add the cheese and mix until melted. You can also use a potato masher to mash some of the potatoes to thicken it as well. 

Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers with Mashed Potatoes

I try and use my crock pot on Sundays. It makes it easier when going to church to have something yummy to eat for lunch after! I usually put it in Saturday night. Stuffed Peppers I get ready the night before and put them in first thing in the morning.

Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients:
6 green bell peppers
salt and pepper to taste
1.5 pounds of ground beef
1 small chopped onion
1 can (14.5 oz) whole peeled tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup uncooked rice
1/2 cup water
1 cup of shredded cheese of your choice
2 (10.75 oz) cans of condensed tomato soup

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds. Cook peppers in boiling wate for 5 minutes; drain. Sprikle salt insde each pepper, and set aside.

2. In a large skillet, saute beef and onions until beef is browned. Drain off excess fat, , and season with salt and pepper. Sir in the tmatoes, rice, 1/2 cup water and Worcestershire sauce. Cover, andsimmer for 20 min. Remove from heat. Mix in cheese.
3. Place a little bit of cheese in the bottom of each pepper. Stuff each pepper with meat mixture. Place peppers in crock pot. Pour tomato sauce over peppers. Cook on high for 4-5hrs or on low for 8-9hrs. Place more cheese on top last 20min of cook time.

I have used many different cheeses depending on what I have on hand. I've used cheddar, mozzeralla, farmers, provolone and they've all tasted great!


Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients:
5-6 large potatoes
milk
butter
salt

Directions:
1. Peel potates and cut into approximately 1 inch pieces. Put into pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil until potatoes are tender 15-20 min. Drain potatoes.

2. Place approximately 1 cup of milk in microwave safe dish with 2Tbs butter. Microwave on high for 20 seconds. Slowly add 1/4 cup at a time to potatoes and mix with mixer. (make sure all the butter goes in). Add salt to taste. Keep mixing until potatoes are at desired consistency.

OK I always just eyeball milk and butter for my potatoes. I mix in a bit at a time (although I add all the butter) until my potatoes are where I want them. Also, heating the milk and butter helps keep the potatoes warm! You can put sauce from the peppers on the potatoes or add butter to them. Whatever you wish!

Burgers with potato salad

Last night I decided to take it easy on myself! We just had burgers. You can dress burgers up quite a bit but I was tired so we had plain cheese burgers! I did make homemade potato salad with the potatoes left over from my mom's garden.


Old Fashioned Potato Salad
Ingredients:
5-6 potatoes
3 hard boiled eggs (optional)
1 cup chopped celery (optional)
1/2 cup chopped onion (optional)
1/2 cup sweet pickle relish
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp celery salt
1 Tbs prepared mustard
pepper to taste
1/4 cup mayonaise (I use light)


Directions:
1. Chop potatoes into bite size pieces. Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and cool.


2. In a large bowl combine the mayo, mustard, celery salt, garlic salt, and pickle relish. After mixing add the celery, onions and eggs. Add potatoes and mix well. Chill and then serve!


 I peeled my potatoes, but you certainly don' t have to. Also, when my mother in law or step dad come to visit I take out the celery and onions because they don't like them. And you can really add and additions you would like. I've added bacon, corn, shredded carrots and things like that before.



And altogether with carrots my mom and I canned last year from her garden.

Busy Day Pork Chops with Never Fail Scalloped Potatoes

Well,  had a busy day yesterday. Much busier than I anticipated! So I needed something that didn't take too long to prepare.

Busy Day Pork Chops
Ingredients:
1/4 cup fat free milk
1/4 cup grated pamesan (or the stuff in the plastic shaker works!)
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs (I made 2pcs of toast and then crumbled it up)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
4 boneless loin chops (although you can really use any cut)
cooking spray

Directions:
1. Preheat over to 375. Place milk in a shallow bowl. In another sallow bowl, combine the cheese, bread crumbs, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Dip pork chops in milk, then coat with crumb mixture.

2. Place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spra: sprits chips with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40min  or until meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.

Now I only had 3 chops but this recipe is for 4 and can be doubled as well. Also I can always find good deals on chops. Our local store often has family packs on sale and I divide and freeze as necessary and they've even run a buy one get one free sale at times.



My mom brought me some potatoes from her garden and I wanted to use them so I decided to make Never-Fail Scalloped Potatoes.

Never-Fail Scalloped Potatoes
Ingredients:
2 Tbs butter
3Tbs all-purpose four
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper (or to taste on salt and pepper)
1-1/2 cups fat-free milk
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
1-3/4 pounds potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced, (about 5 medium) and you can leave the peel on if you like
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small nonstick sillet, melt butter. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper until smooth; gradually add the milk. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes oruntil thickened. Removefrom the heat; stir in cheese until blended.

2. Place half of the potatoes in a 1-1/2-qt. baking dish coated with cooking spray; layer with half of the onion and cheese sauce. Repeat layers.

3. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Uncover; bake 10-15 minutes loger or until bubbly and potatoes are tender.

TIP: to shorten bake time boil potaoes for 2-3 min then place in dish to bake. While I sliced the potatoes I had the water on so it would be boiling and I could simply put the potatoes in right away.



I quickly prepared the chops (mine were frozen and I microwaved them on high for 4 minutes to slightly dethaw) and put them in the oven. I then started the potatoes. They baked together for about 20 minutes then I removed the chops and finished out the potatoes. My chops kept hot.

Here is the final product with green beans from the garden to finish it off.