Tonight's dinner: a success!

I tried out a new recipe in the slow-cooker today and as the title of this post says, it was a success! The recipe is called "Smashed Potato Soup" from the book Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes by Better Homes and Gardens.


The recipe goes like this:
Ingredients:
3 1/2 lbs of potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1/2 cup of chopped yellow or red sweet pepper (I used red)
1 1/2 teaspoons bottled roasted garlic
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup whipping cream, half-and-half, or light cream (I used half-and-half)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
Dairy sour cream
Shredded cheddar cheese


Steps:
1) Add potatoes, sweet pepper, garlic, and black pepper to slow-cooker. Pour broth over all.
2) Cover and cook on low-heat for 8-10 hours or high-heat for 4-5 hours (we did high-heat because it was almost noon by the time I got in in the slow-cooker)
3) Mash potatoes slightly with a potato masher or a fork. (I used one of the mashers from my electronic mixer, without the machine part). 
4) Stir in half-and-half (or alternative), 1 cup of cheese, and green onions. 
5) Serve! Optional: top with sour cream and additional cheese. (I didn't add other toppings). 



Result: a delish! I had never made this before and thought it tasted great! Even my visiting in-laws commented that it tasted pretty good. 

A few things:

• I got all my vegetables for this recipe at my local farmer's market--the potatoes, red pepper, and green onion.
• I learned what green onion was: I had never really used it or knew of exactly what it looked like until I went to the farmer's market and saw it. It doesn't look like one of those balls, but instead looks like celery sticks almost. I even used the web to find a video on how to cut it. 
• I used the web to find a video on cutting the red pepper because I hadn't had to cut one before. It was interesting to see the small yellow pepper seeds inside--the same peppers that you use to put on top of pizzas. 
• This recipe was pretty easy to make after I gathered everything together and had it prepped. Thankful for the exersaucer to keep RaeRae busy when I needed to cut vegetables and such.

I think with each meal I try, my confidence in the kitchen and with meal-planning grows. This recipe will be marked down as a potential repeat.  


I forgot to take a picture, so I googled and found a pic that resembles what my recipe turned out to be. The source is from another blog called The Sparitarian here.