Loaded Baked Potato Soup

6 large potatoes, cubed

1 stick of butter

1 medium onion

3 garlic cloves

4 cups of heavy cream

4 cups of chicken broth

14 slices of bacon , cooked and crumbled

2 cups of cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions

Saute onions and garlic in butter.  Cook until onions are translucent.

Add cubed potatoes and 7 slices of the cooked bacon.

Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer until potatoes are fork tender. 

Lightly puree soup with an immersion blender or regular blender   Be careful not to burn yourself as liquid will be very hot.

Once blended add cream.

Serve soup with remaining crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

Garnish with green onions (optional)

Add additional liquid if soup is too thick for your liking.

We typically do an Easter brunch at our house.  Here are four of our favorite brunch recipes which are all really yummy!

Cinnamon Breakfast:

Ingredients

1 lb. cream cheese

2 sticks butter (melted)

2lbs. white sandwich bread

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. sugar 2 tsp. cinnamon

2 egg yolks

Directions

Mix cream cheese, sugar andeggs. Trim crust and roll flat. Spread mixture on bread. Dip in melted butter. Rollin cinnamon and sugar. Put on cookie sheet and freeze. Do not thaw beforebaking. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Makes 48.

Raspberry Bread Pudding:

Ingredients

10-12 buttermilk waffles

12 oz sour cream

3 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tbsp. flour

6 oz. or 1/2 bag of whitechocolate chips (12 oz size bag)

12-16 oz bag of frozenraspberries (blueberries or mixed berries work too, so does some fresh berries)

Directions

This can be made in a casserole dish or also in a deep dish piepan and you can slice it like quiche. Thaw waffles and frozen fruit. Cutwaffles into 1 inch pieces. Layer bottom of the dish with half of the waffles,then add a layer of raspberries, and 1/2 of the white chocolate chips, repeatthe layers again.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, flour sugar and vanilla. Addsour cream and stir until creamy. Pour the mixture over the entire dish andbake at 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes. This can be made the night before andbaked for 25 min. Refrigerate and bake in the morning for an additional 20min.right before serving. Sprinkle top with powdered sugar, or can be servedwarm with ice cream, or cool whip as a dessert.

Hash Brown Quiche

Ingredients

3 cups, shredded frozen hash browns, thawedand drained

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted

3 large eggs, beaten

1 cup half-and-half

3/4 cup diced cooked ham

1/2 cup diced green onions

1 cup shredded Cheddar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheatoven to 450 degrees F.

Gentlypress the drained hash browns between paper towels to dry them as best aspossible. In a 9-inch pie plate, toss the hash browns with the melted butterinto the plate. Press them into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust.Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and starting to crisp.

Meanwhile,in a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. When the hash browncrust is ready pour the egg mixture over it and return to the oven.

Lower theoven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for about 30 minutes until thequiche is light golden brown on top and puffed.

Creme Brulee French Toast

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsaltedbutter

• 1 cup packed brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons cornsyrup

• 1 (8 to 9) inch round loaf Challahbread

• 5 large eggs

• 1 1/2 cups half and half

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 teaspoon GrandMarnier

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a small heavy saucepan melt butterwith butter with brown sugar and corn syrup over moderate heat, stirring, until smooth and pourinto a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish. Cut 6 (1-inch) thick slices from centerportion of bread, reserving ends for another use, and trim crusts. Arrangebread slices in one layer in baking dish, squeezing them slightly to fit (NOTE:I usually tear the bread into chunks rather than using slices, so it's more of a bread pudding). In a bowl whisk together eggs, half and half, vanilla, Grand Marnier and salt until combined well and pour evenly over bread.

Chill bread mixture, covered, at least 8 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and bring bread mixture to roomtemperature. Bake uncovered, in middle of oven until puffed and edges are palegolden, 35 to 40 minutes.

About 12 oz boneless chicken, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp canola oil
1 cup crushed pineapple (8 ¼ oz can)
1 cup coconut cream (8 ¾ oz can)
½ tsp. lemon pepper

In a large skillet, saute chicken in oil until cooked and slightly browned. Add crushed pineapple, coconut cream, and lemon pepper. Mix thoroughly and simmer on low heat until sauce has thickened as much as desired.

Makes about 2 servings, each approximately 849 calories, 57 grams protein.

the pina colada chicken was a standard in our house during refeeding. I doubled the batch and added 1 large can of pineapple chunks as well. Also served with rice made with butter in the water. And then some cooked carrots with butter. and a big GOM.  So the meal would add around 1000 or more.

DH was not home but wanted something special for dd and she had recently requested that i make some pillsbury biscuits. So I put together the following meal..... baked haddock (fresh from market but already prepped as lemon/garlic breaded fillets)  Served appetizer of clam chowder, dd thought this was fun since we ussually don't have an appetizer.  We had the grand buttermilk biscuits, and beets with butter on the side. And big GOM. She loved it and ate every bite!!

PROTEIN SMOOTIE

 4 tbspn peanut butter

2 bananas

1 Carnation Instant Breakfast packet

1 cup milk

Make for my daughter often and is very tasty. Great for when you have early morning Doctor's appointments. A meal in a glass.

hahah Jangled- yes indeed our shake is the bombdiggity. Now I just do 1 cup of HWC and the ic cream and a few oreos or something.....can get it as high as 2400......She does it- and it is usually "easier" than her other snacks if you can beleive it.