Kendi's Kitchen: Crock Pot Potato Soup

I tried a crock pot potato soup recipe I found on pinterest once before.  It did not go well.  It actually killed my stick blender, well, Kevin's stick blender.  So when my BFF, Kimmy, posted a picture of the soup she had just made on IG, I immediately sent her a message asking for the recipe.  She sent it to me and I set out making it for dinner Sunday night.  It. was. FABULOUS!  Just like the kind you buy in the restaurant.  And it was super easy.  Be warned, it's not healthy.  But its nice comfort food.  Now if I can just make a bread bowl...


Crock Pot Potato Soup (original recipe here)

1 bag frozen hash browns (30oz)
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cans chicken broth (I use the powdered bouillon)
1 diced onion
1 pkg softened cream cheese (8oz)
1/2 tbsp of pepper 

Optional:  green onions, bacon, shredded cheese

In your crock pot, mix cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, onion, pepper and hash browns (use the whole bag!).  Cook on low for 5hrs.  

Here's what I used.  I'm a "no-name brand" girl

It should look like this when you start to cook

After 5hrs, stir in the whole block of cream cheese.  Stir it enough to see it melt pretty well.  Continue cooking on low for another 30 minutes.  Here's a Kendi tip: I only added the equivelent of one can of broth for the 5 hrs by mistake, so I had to quickly add the second.  Since it was bowling hot when I poured it in, I think it helped melt the cream cheese and really make the consistency what you see in the picture.  I will probably keep making it that way.

It should look like this when you are finished cooking.  Nice and creamy!

Now, you can eat it just like this, which is very good.  Or you can get restaurant fancy with green onions, shredded cheese and bacon and make it "loaded baked potato soup".  :-D

Mmmm...fancy...

Cheers!

Stats:
Time: 6 hrs
Cost:  around $7
Servings:  4+
Leftovers:  yes

Crock-Pot Italian Chicken

If you invite my mom to your wedding, and you register for a Crock-Pot, she will buy it for you.  The Crock-Pot is my mom's go-to gift.  She swears by them.  Because of this, the Haus of Kendi has three.  Mom says you need more than one. :)

There has been a Crock-Pot resurgence in the Kendi Haus as of late.  Pinterest has given me a bunch of new recipes to try and something about colder weather just screams "Crock-Pot"!  Here is our latest culinary venture...

Cheers!

Crock-Pot Italian Chicken

 

You can find the complete recipe here.  I found that using the suggested amount of salad dressing was just too overpowering of a taste.  I would suggest going half dressing, half water.  This would probably make it healthier too.  

Stats

Time: prep = 20 min.  cook = 6 hrs

Servings: 4

Cost: about $5

Leftovers:  yes