Lazy Day Gluten Free Crock Pot Baked Potato Soup

What's that you say? You have been bitten by the lazy bug and you need a dish that feeds a crowd for the pot luck? TODAY!?!?!?!?!?!   Well believe me when I say this, "I've been there".  In fact just last weekend I woke up Sunday morning needing a pot luck dish to take with me by 9:30 am.   It takes very little effort to throw this soup together and I never come home with any leftovers.  EVER.  The best part? Nobody ever realizes that is was my lazy version of the soup either.  It tastes every bit as good as the kind you slave over the stove to make.

I want to point out that it is a tad bit on the garlicky side.  I think garlic makes everything better. I also want you to notice that I am not using thickener.  I had intended to but the soup turned out so nice and thick as it was that I did not need any. Probably because I don't add the cream.  You don't need it! ;-)

2 quarts chicken broth
2 (30 oz) bags Ore-Ida frozen cubed hash browns
1/2 cup Onion, finely diced (frozen)
2 cloves Garlic, finely diced (heaping from jarred)
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 black pepper
1/4 ground cayenne pepper
1 stick of Butter (yikes I know)
1 8-ounce package of Cream Cheese, room temp.
1 cup Extra Sharp Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Topping:
Extra Cheese
Sour Cream
Real Bacon Bits

• Add all ingredients (except cheeses) into crock pot very early in the morning.
• Cook on low for 8, high for 4 or until potatoes are cooked through/soft and broth starts to look creamy.
• Using your emulsifier stick blender puree potato soup until entirely creamy.  Leave out 2 cups of soup if you want the soup slightly chunky.
• Add cream cheese and cheddar cheese and stir until dissolved and fully incorporated.  Or cheat and use the blender for this part too! ;-)
• Serve topped with extra sharp cheddar,  Bacon pieces and sour cream.

Note:

Some Jarred Bacon Bits contain gluten, proceed with caution.  I usually steal out a slice of bacon or two whenever I make it for breakfast to chop and store for just such a recipe.

Other great Baked Potato Soup recipes on the Web:
Our favorite blog, a year of crock potting's Potato Soup
Another Easy Baked Potato Soup (not GF, but could be)

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Harvest Jalapeno Poppers

Harvest Recipes

It took me a while to realize what to do with all those Jalapeno's we were getting from our garden.  All I can say is WOW man! We had only a large handful at best last year.  This year we have massive amounts of peppers. I have no idea what the difference is.  Was it our especially HOT summer?  I was chopping them and putting them in the freezer for whenever I make mexican food (and suffering 2nd degree pepper burns on my hands for all the next day).  That is when it hit me, Poppers.  Poppers is on the post-it note stuck to my computer as a work on recipe.  It has been staring at me the entire summer, yelling as I ignored it.  Lisa, why have you forgotten me?  Why have you not made me as you promised?  I have no excuses except too busy having summer fun! :-D

I'm not going to lie to you here.  I HATED putting these poppers together.  It is an extremely time consuming task.  They are so tiny, this recipe makes so many of them and for the most part I had to double and triple dip them to get the coating to stick to the pepper.  You will literally stand there performing the same task for over an hour.  I never was any good at mundane tasks.  But the final results are well worth it and I WILL do it again.  I have a freezer full of poppers now plus extra filling for the next harvest.  Maybe I will even recruit help with the process to make it more fun.

Here is my version of this long time recipe, enjoy!

2 8-ounce packages of Cream Cheese, room temperature
8 ounce pack (2 cups) Extra Sharp Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 Tablespoon Bacon, chopped (about 2 slices)
1 teaspoon Onion Powder (McCormick Spices)
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/4 teaspoon Red Pepper
12 Jalapeno Peppers, sliced horizontally from stem to tail (seeds removed)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 Tablespoons Milk
1 cup Flour (I used Brown Rice)
1 cup Bread Crumbs (I used Kinnikinnick Panko Style)
Frying Oil

• Mix cream cheese, shredded cheese, bacon bits and red pepper until throughly combined.
• Spoon mixture into jalapeno peppers.
• Place egg and milk mixture in one bowl, place flour in another and finally bread crumbs in a third bowl.
• Dip stuffed peppers into the egg, the flour, the egg again, and finally the bread crumbs.
• Repeat egg and bread crumbs a second time, making sure the entire popper is coated.

          (Freeze at this point)

• Heat oil in skillet until 350 degrees.  
• Fry Peppers for 3 to 5 minutes or until golden brown.
• Remove and allow to drain on paper towels.

Note:

Some Jarred Varieties of Bacon Bits are NOT gluten free.  I usually save a slice or two from a Sunday breakfast and chop it up and put in the fridge for just such a recipe.

If you like your Poppers mild, remove all the seeds and membrane.  If you want the heat kicked up, leave the membrane and some seeds

You may have to go with the egg and bread crumbs a second time.  I was finding that the crumbs did not stick well and needed a second dip.  It really de


Other great Jalapeno recipes on the web:

The Whole Gang's Gluten Free Jalapeno Poppers
Epicurious has a recipe and they are leaving their jalapeno's whole.
and finally one of Allrecipes most popular versions


I will be sharing this post with:


What's on your Plate @ Good Cheap Eats
Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays @ SS&GF
Tasty Tuesday @ BB@B
Gluten Free Wednesday's @ GFHomemaker
Thursday's Real Food Weekly @ TWG
Foodie Friday by Designs by Gollum

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Gluten Free Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Dip

Gluten free or not, this dish is AWESOME!  Please don't let the orange color of this dip change your mind.  It tastes just like buffalo wings.  I actually never even tried it before this attempt.  I had a friend post that she was making some to bring to a BBQ and I figured hey why not bring this to my church shindig?  Now it ranks right up there with Velveeta dip.  I like to enjoy this with Celery to get that veggie in and plus, celery is what we like to have with buffalo wings.  I also served it with Fritos scoops and Tostitos corn chips scoops.  I used Ranch dressing but I bet Blue Cheese dressing would be an awesome change.  Wishbone Blue Cheese Dressing is Gluten Free.

2 (10 ounce) cans of Chicken
2 (8 ounce) packs of Cream Cheese
3/4 cup Franks RedHot Wings Sauce
1 cup Wishbone Ranch or Blue Cheese Dressing
1 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 bunch Celery

• Drain canned chicken and place in sauce pan.
• Add RedHot Sauce and cook on medium-low heat while mashing chicken with the back of a fork.
• Add cream cheese and still until throughly blended and completely melted.
• Add ranch dressing and mix until completely blended.
• Add the cheese and place into a small crock pot.  
• Place on low to melt cheese and then warm to keep as long as you need it.

Note:
Why do I cook it first?  Doesn't that defeat the purpose of a crock pot? Well I was not sure that placing it all directly into a crock pot would adequately melt the cream cheese.  Plus I wanted a chance to fully shred the chicken.  Go ahead and place it all directly in the crock pot.  Just make sure you keep stirring it occasionally and cook it for a few hours (probably 4).  Oh and canned chicken, gross I know.  But when you are in a hurry and don't have any in the freezer go ahead and give it a try.  I promise it will not taste like tuna.

This dip of course is not MY original creation.  To make it gluten free, you have to use the named product bands.  Always double check because sometimes the ingredients change.  Here are some other great versions of this dip:

1. Frank's RedHot Recipe of Buffalo Chicken Dip
2. Crock Pot Lady's version of this dip made Gluten Free
3. Food.com's recipe submitted by BW

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Salsa Fresco

Salsa Fresco

3 Tablespoons finely diced onion
1 pound ROMA tomatoes diced small
1 finely diced green or jalapeno chili
2 Tablespoons FRESH chopped cilantro
3/4 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice

Combine all ingredients and chill. Stores in fridge up to 5 days.


I'll be posting this recipe to:

• Ultimate Recipe Swap
• Food on Friday

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