Archive for category easy soup
Chicken and Potato Soup
Posted by Thomas in Potato soup, Soup, cheap recipes, chicken, college recipes, dorm recipe, easy soup on May 31, 2010
Note: I wrote this post a few months back while I was still in the dorm. I never posted it because I didn’t take any pictures when I made it, but I figure I may as well post it anyway.
Well, like I mentioned in my last update post, I’ve been cutting back on my spending which means I haven’t been buying a whole lot of groceries. I pretty much eat in the school’s cafeteria during the week and I only cook on weekends.
When I first started doing this a few weeks ago, I actually had some cans of food in my dorm that I hadn’t used, so I figured I might as well make something out of what I had before I went grocery shopping. That’s pretty much how I came up with this recipe.
Ingredients:
- One can of Tyson Premium White Chicken Breast ( $2.60)
- One can of diced potatoes ($0.60)
- One can of Cream of Chicken Soup ($0.90)
- 1 tsp of pepper
- 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp of hot sauce
- 1 tbsp of garlic powder
- 1 tbsp of garlic powder
- 1 tsp of Tony Chachores
Optional Ingredients / Substitutions
- Any type of “Cream of ___” soup could be used.
- Season it however you wish.
When I cook this, I usually eat the entire batch, but you could probably split it up into two servings. You may even be able to stretch it to 3 servings if you cook some kind of side dish.
Step 1: Start out by opening the can of chicken and empty out the water inside. Next, empty the can into your microwavable container. Usually the chicken comes in pretty hefty chunks and I try to either quarter them, or at the very least split each chunk in half.
Note: The first time I made this, I actually just shredded the chicken, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the consistency of the soup, but feel free to try it if you’d like.
Step 2: Open up the can of potatoes and drain out as much of the water inside as possible. Now just pour the potatoes into your container along with the chicken.
Step 3: Open up the Cream of Chicken soup can and dump that into the container. Now, fill the can up with water and empty that into the container as well.
Step 4: Throw all of the seasonings into the container and stir it all up.
Step 5: Put your bowl/container into the microwave and let it cook for 5 minutes. I would advise covering the container with a paper towel as soup can sometimes make a mess in the microwave.
Step 6: Enjoy!
I hope you all enjoy, this is probably my favorite recipe as of late. It’s super easy to prepare and cooks very quickly.
Next time I make it I’ll make sure to take pictures and upload them.
Potato, Ham, and Spinach Soup
Posted by Thomas in Ham, Potato soup, Soup, college recipes, dorm recipes, easy recipes, easy soup, healthy recipes, potatoes, quick recipes, spinach on April 6, 2009
If you ask any of my friends whether or not I have an adventurous personality, they would most likely say no, but that ended as of this weekend. This is the second time in as many days that I’m trying out a brand new recipe. This one is even crazier than the Jambalaya recipe from yesterday. At least with that I had previous experience making Jambalaya, I had just never made it in a microwave before. But I can honestly say I’ve never made any kind of potato soup, much less heard of one with these specific ingredients. This was definitely a risk, and while it might not be for everyone, it actually turned out pretty stinking awesome!
I think if I make this again I would probably use diced potatoes instead of sliced potatoes. The sliced potatoes were kind of thick and didn’t break down very well. I’m thinking diced potatoes would have broken down a little better. Maybe I didn’t cook it long enough? Not sure. I really can’t complain too much though, I originally planned to use the potatoes and spinach as a side dish, but I started rethinking it before I made it. It turned out fine as it is though, please feel free to play with the recipe and let us know how it goes.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of Fat Free Milk [$0.60]
- Cream of Chicken Soup (11oz can) [$0.82]
- Whole Leaf Spinach (13.5oz can) [$0.54]
- Sliced Potatoes (15oz can) [$0.58]
- Three large slices of Deli Ham [$1.00]
- 2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Salt
- Large tupperware dish (8-14 cup/ 2x 6-8 cup)
Optional/Substitute Ingredients
- 2 cups of any kind of milk
- Cream of Mushroom
- Diced potatoes instead of sliced
- You can cut your own potatoes as well if you’d like
- Any kind of turkey or ham would probably go well with this, doesn’t have to be deli slices
IngredientsThis recipe will make around 4 servings depending how much you eat. Total cost comes out to about $0.71 per serving and you really can’t beat that. This is about 1/4th of the price of similar soups (I’m looking at you Chunky soup!)
Step 1: Get out a plate and shred the ham with a fork and a knife. I basically did this by folding the ham a bunch of times and then sticking it in the middle with the fork. Take your knife and stick it between each set of prongs on the fork and cut it horizontally. Now cut vertically on either side of the fork. Your ham should be in pretty small sized chunks now, which is what we’re shooting for. Throw the sliced ham into your tupperware dish
Chopped up hamStep 2: Open and drain both the spinach and potatoes. Throw both into your tupperware dish. When I made it a little while ago, I stopped here, but I’m thinking it would have been a good idea to try and chop the potatoes into smaller pieces. If you got the diced potatoes, don’t worry about it though.
Potato, spinach, and ham in the dishStep 3: Open your cream of chicken soup and pour it in the dish.
Step 4: Add your two cups of milk to the dish.
Step 5: Now add all of your seasonings and stir to spread out everything evenly.
Step 6: Put the dish in the microwave for 10 minutes. Take it out and stir every 2 or 3 minutes.
Step 7: Take out and let the dish cool down for about 5-10 minutes. Now pour into a bowl and enjoy!
This picture doesn’t do it justiceLike I said earlier, I think this dish is pretty flexible. You can try cooking it longer if you want, maybe that will result in the potatoes being more mushy, making the soup thicker. I think it turned out fine as it is though, but it’s all up to you in the end. Since this one turned out pretty well I think in the future I’ll experiment with potato soups using other ingredients like cheese, bacon, chives, sour cream, crab, crawfish, ground beef, etc (not all at once of course). I’m thinking I’ve really got something with this one.