Cheesy Ham and Potato Chowder

I've eaten many different soup recipes in my lifetime and this recipe is one of the best I've ever tasted. I'm not even crazy about ham, but the ingredients in this soup make the most delicious, satisfying comfort food! I don't even remember where I got the original recipe, but I have changed it up a bit to make it even better. There are other chowder recipes out there that are quick to fix with adding canned soups and they are pretty good, but making this recipe from scratch makes your time worthwhile and your family will love it.

Cheesy Ham and Potato Chowder

1/2 lb. bacon (or 10-12 strips)                       pepper to taste
1 large onion, chopped                                 1 cup diced carrots
3 Tablespoons flour                                      1 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups cubed potatoes                          
1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn, drained or 1 can cream style corn
3 cups milk (Vitamin D, heavy cream or evaporated milk)
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
3 cups (12 oz) shredded cheese (cheddar, Colby or American. (I used half Velveeta and half Colby this time)
2 cups cubed fully cooked ham

In large soup pan, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels. In the bacon drippings, saute onion and carrots until tender. Stir in flour until blended. Gradually add water. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, corn, bouillon and pepper. Reduce heat, simmer, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes or til potatoes are tender.Add milk, cheese and ham; heat til cheese is melted. Stir in crumbled bacon. YIELD: 10 servings
Note: I hadn't made this soup in years but tonight I didn't have whole kernel corn so I used the cream style corn. I also didn't have enough regular milk so that's why I used evaporated and the heavy whipping cream. The original recipe said to add the milk with the water and cook the potatoes, but I didn't want my soup to curdle from boiling it, so that's why I added the milk later. I didn't have enough water in the pot to boil the potatoes so I added about 4 more cups water and 4 more teaspoons of the bouillon. I also added more ham, potatoes and cheese! This soup is SO good!

Unstuffed Pork Chops

 

Unstuffed Pork Chops
This picture is from the time I used the
large chops on the bone

We had mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables with this. 

Ingredients

• 6 pork chops 
• 1 box (6 oz) cornbread stuffing mix
• 1 cup water
• Salt and pepper to taste
•  Chopped dried onion, dehydrated
• 2 Tablespoons butter 
• 1 can (10.75 ounces) cream of mushroom soup
• ½ cup milk + enough water to finish filling up the empty soup can. Note: put the ½ cup milk in the empty soup can first then finish filling it up with water. 

This is the stuffing on top of the chops without
the mushroom soup mixture

Put butter in frying pan and let it melt on medium high heat. Add salt and pepper to pork chops and place in the hot frying pan for about 4 minutes on each side. They don't need to cook all the way because they will finish cooking in the oven. 

Preheat oven to 350º (375º in my oven)

While pork chops are browning, put dry stuffing in a bowl with 1 cup water and stir to soften. After pork chops are browned, place them in a 9" x 13" baking pan. (I got 8 smaller pork chops in my pan). Put some of the dehydrated onion on top of each pork chop, then place stuffing mix evenly  on top of each chop. Now mix mushroom soup with water and milk, stirring with a whisk to combine. Pour mushroom soup mixture evenly over pork chops and stuffing. 

Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Take foil off and continue to bake for 5-10 more minutes or til soup is thickened. Let it sit 5 minutes before serving.

Note: if you can find the thicker pork chops, you can split them in half and stuff them with the stuffing.This is an easy meal and I hope you enjoy it! 

Pork and Saurkraut

Pork and Saurkraut in the Crock Pot 
or in the Oven

Being a southern girl who grew up in the south, I had never heard of Pork with Saurkraut. When we moved to Ohio i quickly found out it was a tradition to serve this dish on New Year's Day. I just couldn't imagine saurkraut with pork, or any meat for that matter. But it soon became one of my favorite meals! There are a few different ways to prepare it, but  it is actually a German dish.

Since my mother in law cooked it in the oven for several hours, that's the way I have always fixed it. But this time I decided to cook it in my crock pot. It turned out better than any other time I have fixed it, so I'm sticking with this recipe. I looked at several different recipes on Pinterest, but decided to come up with my own combination of ingredients. You could easily use this recipe and cook it in the oven (covered) for 3 hours at 300º or 4-6 hours on about 250 degrees. But I'm calling this my:

Pork and Saurkraut in the Crock Pot 

Ingredients
1 pork roast or 2 pkgs pork spare ribs
1 large can or jar saurkraut, undrained
1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 -1 cup apple juice
2-3 teaspoons brown sugar
Bacon grease (I keep mine in the freezer when I cook bacon)
Salt and pepper
Oil for sauteing pork

Directions
Salt and pepper pork on all sides and place in frying pan with hot oil. Saute pork on medium high heat, til all sides are brown. Place in crock pot that has been set to "low". Place sliced onions on top, then pour entire jar (including liquid) of saurkraut on top, spreading around. Do NOT drain or rinse kraut. (Note: It will not be as good if you rinse and drain it. Believe me, I know, because I've fixed it both ways. Salt and pepper the saurkraut. Pour the apple juice all over this and then sprinkle brown sugar over the top. Now put about 4-5 teaspoons bacon grease on top of everything. Cook on low in your slow cooker for 6 hours. This is delicious and SO tender! Not to mention the aroma that will fill your home!
I like to serve it with mashed potatoes and either collard greens or green beans. The saurkraut (thats not so sour anymore) and liquid it creates is scrumptious over the mashed potatoes. I hope you enjoy this dish.

Southern Collard Greens

Italian Sausage Hero Sandwiches - Festival Style

Yum! Doesn't this look good?

Did you ever eat an Italian Sausage Sandwich with Peppers and Onions at a festival? My mouth waters just thinking about it. In fact that's one of the main things that motivates me to go to an outdoor festival! They are so good! I found a recipe in a Country Living magazine in the early 80's , but I add mushrooms to mine too. I thought I'd share this with you and I know you will thank me. See recipe below.

I like my sausage cooked well and charred!

Ingredients

2 Hot Italian Sausages and 2 Sweet Italian Sausages (I used only sweet! They aren't really sweet, but are not as spicy as the hot). You can find the Kroger brand (see picture above) in the meat section near the pork.
2 Tablespoons butter
2 large sweet peppers - 1 green and 1 red (sometimes I use all green)
1 large onion (I use sweet)
1 or 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (you could use canned)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Note: If doubling the recipe, you may not want to double the spices. I did that and thought there were too many spices.
4 Hoagie buns
Continued below

Pepper, onion and mushroom mixture

Take the casing off the sausages. You can leave them on, but I think they are better without that. They won't fall apart.
Fry the Sausages on medium high heat in the butter till brown on all 4 sides. This may take 20 or more minutes. Turn up heat if you need to, depending on how much char you want on them. Place the Sausages on a pan in a preheated oven that's been set on warm. If you think they aren't quite done put the oven on 200.

In remaining butter in the pan, saute the peppers, onions and mushrooms for just a few minutes. You do not want to get them too done. They're better when they're still a little crisp. Add the chopped garlic and spices. Stir and cook another minute or two.
Serve immediately in hoagie bun. I think they're better if the bun is warmed in the microwave for 10 seconds or even better if the buns are slightly toasted in the oven.
I hope you enjoy this!

Romanian Meatball Soup - Ciorba de Perisoare

Romanian Meatball Soup

This is a simple but delicious soup. As some of you know, my daughter, Jamie, married Virgil Vaduva, a Romanian who she met while he was attending college in Ohio. Her older brother, Brian, had been writing Virgil's younger sister, Anca, who was still in Romania. Well, they fell in love and Brian took a trip to meet her in person. They eventually got married and of course are living here in Ohio too. A few years later their parents and 2 younger sisters were able to get their visas so the whole family is here now. This was a real dream come true for the family, as it took many years for this to happen. The 2 couples have 6 kids between them and they are the most wonderful, sweet, grandchildren!

This soup recipe is one of their family favorites.

Cut the Veggies into about ¼" Pieces

Ingredients

Serves- 4-5  I usually double this so we'll have leftovers.

1 lb ground pork (you can mix this with ground beef or ground chicken if you like, but I use all pork - not sausage)

You can use All ground Pork, All Ground Beef or All Ground Chicken,
or a Mixture of these!

1 egg

1 Tb oil for sautéing vegetables

1/2 cup carrots (chopped in very small pieces)

1/2 cup red or green sweet peppers (chopped in small pieces about 1/4")

1/2 cup onions (chopped in small pieces)

1/2 cup chopped celery (this was not in Anca's recipe, so I haven't used it, but celery is an ingredient in several Romanian soup recipes I found on Pinterest)

7 - 10 cans (15 oz) chicken broth or 12-15 cups water with chicken bullion added (or you may not need that much broth - I like a lot)

1 6oz can tomato sauce

1/2 - 2/3 cup dry rice
Salt and pepper to taste

Parsley (fresh or dried)

I Love it with ALL Ground Pork (make sure it's NOT Ground Pork Sausage - they look the
same in the package)

Chop veggies and place in large pot with hot oil that has been heated. Saute for about 5 minutes in oil. While veggies are cooking, mix ground meat with 1 egg and salt and pepper to taste. Roll into small meatballs, about ¾" in diameter. Set aside.
Note: or if you'd like you can roll the meat into meatballs as you are adding them to the broth. I believe this is what my daughter in law does.

Update (Feb 2021)

I was at Anca and Brian's house recently while Anca was making this soup. I noticed she was spooning up a little meat (1½ tsp) at a time and dropping it in the boiling liquid. I said "Oh, I thought you roll the meat into balls before dropping them in the broth", and she said "Oh no, I just drop it by spoonfuls into the pot, because it's much quicker that way." Now I know I will make this soup more often, because I hate rolling anything into balls, because it takes so long to do that.This is the exact same reason I don't make Buckeyes (an Ohio candy) any more than once a year. The recipe make a lot and it takes forever!

Add chicken broth (or water and bullion) to vegetables and bring to a boil. Add the tomato sauce. Then add the rice and the meatballs.

Let this all heat through and it's done! Don't cook it too long like I did or your rice will get mushy, but you still need to keep checking to see if the rice is done yet.
Add fresh or dried parsley at the end if you'd like.
Note: I usually double this recipe.
I did not have to add any additional salt and pepper because of the chicken broth, but you may need to do that, depending on how salty you like it. My Romanian friend,

Buy Vegeta on AMAZON here

Maria Vaduva, who's daughter and son married my son and daughter, gave me some kind of Romanian seasoning, called Vegeta, and I'm sorry but I don't know what there is her in the states to compare it to. I haven't always used this seasoning in the soup, so you don't have to have it.  I made it again today and didn't miss it at all, so don't worry about getting it.

Enjoy the soup! I'd love to hear what you think of this recipe!

Here's another version of this Romsnian soup I found on Pinterest.
http://www.cookingglory.com/recipes/meal-ideas/soups-stews/meatball-sour-soup/

Romanian Meatball Soup
Such a Yummy Quick Meal! (Kids love it!)