Potato Soup - Ninja Style

Schools and local government facilities were closed today in anticipation of ice, sleet, and/or snow.  We had none.  By nightfall, the temperature had dropped below freezing but no frozen precipitation.  The current temperature is 28 degrees and  it's ll:40 p.m. EST.  Snow and ice fell in the northern part of the county.  Since we were expecting cold, I cooked a cold weather meal for hubby and me ... Potato Soup in my Ninja Foodi.

1/2 stick butter

1 large onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

Russet potatoes, peeled and cubed (I used 10 medium)

2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

3 Tbsp parsley

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

4 Tbsp corn starch

4 Tbsp water

1 can kernel corn, drained

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 block (4 oz) cream cheese

32 oz carton chicken broth

2 cups half-and-half

Melt butter in pot.  Sauté onion and celery in melted butter until soft and translucent (about 6-8 minutes).  Add seasonings and stir until combined. Stir  in the 32-oz carton chicken broth.

Add the potatoes to the crisping pan and insert into the Ninja Foodi.  Place the pressure lid on the pot and cook on High for 5 minutes.  Natural release pressure.

Remove crisping pan with the potatoes from the cooker.  Stir together the corn starch and the water.  Change the setting to Sauté and stir in the corn starch mixture and bring to a simmer.  Add cheeses and stir in until cheeses are melted. Stir in the corn

Add potatoes and stir until thoroughly combined.

Stir in the half-and-half and simmer until heated throughout.

Serve.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy - Ninja Foodi Style

Loving the versatility of this Ninja Foodi.  I made Saturday Morning Breakfast in it today and it was delicious.  Hubby LOVED it.  The best thing about it was cooking everything in one pot ... including the biscuits.

The Ninja Foodi Cookbook includes a recipe for this but I didn’t go strictly by it.  It called for a tablespoon of *salt and two teaspoons of *black pepper.  Since I used hot sausage, I sprinkled just a bit of black pepper and added a dash of salt.

The sausage already has salt in it and the cheese that is stuffed into the biscuits also has salt (cheese usually tastes a bit salty to me).  I felt the only need for the salt was to season the all-purpose flour and the milk that is added to the sausage to make the gravy.

Ninja Foodi Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Pkg (12 oz) uncooked ground breakfast sausage, crumbled
1 teaspoon kosher salt (*see note above)
2 teaspoons black pepper (*see note above)
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tube (16.3 ounces) refrigerated biscuit dough

Directions:

Select SEAR/SAUTE and set to HIGH.  Select START/STOP to begin.  Allow to preheat for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, add the sausage, *salt, and *pepper to the pot.  Cook for 5 minutes, or until sausage browns, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon as it cooks.

Add the butter and melt completely.  Then add flour and stir to combine.  Cook for 2 minutes, then whisk in milk.  Bring to a simmer, then cook for 5 minutes, or until thickened.

While gravy is cooking, gently separate biscuits and fill each with cheddar cheese, sandwich style.

Coat the reversible rack with cooking spray, making sure rack is in the lower position.  Place stuffed biscuits on rack.  Once gravy has thickened, lower rack with biscuits into pot.

Close crisping lid.  Select BAKE/ROAST, set temperature to 325F, set time to 15 minutes. Select START/STOP to begin.

When cooking is complete, remove rack and biscuits.  Transfer biscuits to a serving platter or a plate and top with gravy.  Serve immediately.

I prepped by biscuits before I started the cooking process of the sausage so that they would be ready to place in the pan after the gravy had thickened.  Also, I used slices of sharp cheddar cheese rather than the shredded cheddar cheese.  I cut each square of cheese into 4 squares and inserted one square into each biscuits.

Christmas Gift From My Husband

I really wanted a Ninja Foodi for Christmas and, guess what, hubby bought one for me.  I already had a Power Cooker but it doesn’t have the same cababilities as the Ninja Foodi.  

My first venture using my Ninja was to bake three sweet potatoes in it (16 minutes pressure cooker time).  I ate one and topped it with butter ... it was delish!!! I used the other two to bake a Sweet Potato Pie.

After church on Sunday, hubby and I went by the grocery store and purchased a few groceries which included a bag of frozen French fries.  I cooked a few in the Ninja Foodi using the Air Crisp feature at 360 degrees.  The fries were Delish ... done in 20 minutes (which included 5 minutes to preheat the cooker. 

Next meal ... Chicken Pot Pie in the Ninja Foodi. 

Chocolate Mug Cake

I wanted something sweet but didn’t want to spend the next couple of hours in the kitchen cooking.  My sister Sarah gave hubby and me a couple of microwave safe bowls and I used them to bake my cake in the microwave.  Here is my recipe:

Butter the microwave safe containers

In a large bowl, whisk together until thoroughly combined:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt.
2 tablespoons cocoa

Blend in until combined:
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

Pour half of batter into each bowl and bake (one at a time) in microwave oven approximately 2 minutes & 50 seconds or until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean.

Remove from microwave and enjoy.

Note:  Pour Chocolate Syrup over, if desired.