Saturday in the Kitchen

Well today was one of those perfect afternoons to spend cooking up some yummy
foods for my family. The weather outside was cool and rainy and the house was
quiet. Here is how my afternoon in the kitchen went...



First I decided on my menu:

Potato Chicken Chowder

Garlic Cheese Dinner Rolls

Green Salad with Homemade Ranch Dressing

So I began by peeling my potatoes and chopping them into small pieces. I covered
them with water and set them on the stove to boil. I added a little salt too..



While they were coming to a boil I cut the chicken and an onion and got that
cooking in my cast iron frying pan with a little olive oil and some minced
garlic…

After the potatoes were simmering and the chicken was done cooking I made up a
batch of ranch dressing. We make A LOT of this dressing. It is my family’s
favorite dressing. In fact my daughter Sierra was babysitting one day and had a
salad with some store bought ranch dressing and she came home and said.. mom!
That was just gross.. LOL.. I guess she is now a fan of my homemade dressing!
Plus it does not have any ingredients you can’t pronounce! Nothing like real
food… in any case, I made a double batch so it would last us a few days….





Then I started some wheat grinding….

While it was grinding away I made a salad. I made it with romaine lettuce,
spinach, red cabbage, carrots, and tomatoes. I grated the carrots and sliced the
cabbage with my food processor to make the job easier and quicker…

When that was done I decided it was time to stop and clean up. I like to wash
the dishes and keep the kitchen cleaned up as I go along…

The potatoes were done cooking so I add drained almost all the water from them
and began adding the rest of the ingredients. I started by adding the cooked
chicken and onion…

Then I added the corn (and some pepper)…




Then finally added some milk and cream and stirred it all up…

Well.. now the soup is done, the salad is done and the last thing on my list was
my dinner rolls.. so I mixed up a batch in my Bosch..

Then rolled them into little balls and let them rise and bake..



And now.. dinner is ready!!!



And… after all that I made plenty of food for us to have for dinner tomorrow
night too!



Finally I ended my little kitchen afternoon by finishing up the last of the
dishes and sweeping and washing my kitchen floor :)



Now for the recipe for the potato chicken chowder. I don’t actually have an
exact recipe written down, but, I will tell you how I make it. It is actually a
very versatile recipe and you can adjust to feed your family size.



I start with about 5 pounds of potatoes, one pound of chicken meat (I used
boneless skinless chicken breast for this batch), and one onion.



I peel the potatoes and chop them up. I cup up the chicken and onion. Cover the
potatoes with water and add salt. I added about 3 teaspoons. Then boil the
potatoes until they are tender. Drain most all of the water out.



Cut up the chicken and onion into bite size pieces. Sauté them in a little olive
oil and add a heaping teaspoon of minced garlic.



When the chicken and onions are all cooked, add them to the potatoes. Then add 2
cups of frozen corn. Stir this up. Now add the milk until you get the
consistency you like. I make a little soupy (meaning thin) because potatoes soak
up the liquid and it is thicker the next day. Taste and a little salt if you
think it needs it. Then add pepper. That is it!!



You can find the recipe for the Ranch Dressing here:

http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/garliccheeserolls.htm

And the Garlic Cheese Dinner Rolls here:

http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/ranchdressing.htm