We Can Overcome

In December the senior couples were asked to bring funeral potatoes to the mission Christmas dinner.  I bought one too many bags of hash browns.  My fridge/freezer is apartment size so space is a premium, especially in the freezer section.  I decided I would make potato soup for dinner on Sunday.  Since the missionaries will eat almost anything, I wanted to try making a soup based on a soup I used to make at home.  It was a hit!  I had seen recipes for loaded baked potato soup and that sounded good so that is the direction I went.  I'm including my recipe in case you want to feed a herd of hungry missionaries or just your family.

Sister Talaboc, Elders Walker and Cahan, Sisters Steninger, Bush and Panoussi

I didn't want to waste the potato skins.  That is my favorite part of the baked potato so I looked at recipes for baked potato skins and used what I had and adapted.  Potato skins were also a hit.  Recipe included.

Loaded baked potato soup and skins

Crispy Baked Potato Skins

Ingredients:

6 large russet baking potatoes

Olive oil

Montreal Steak Seasoning or garlic salt

Melted butter about ¼ cup

Shredded cheese

Crumbled cooked bacon

Sour cream

Fresh chives finely chopped

Instruction:

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Pierce each potato several times with a fork or sharp knife.  Rub each with olive oil and sprinkle on the seasoning.

Place on a foil lined baking sheet.  Bake about 50 minutes or until done.  Transfer to a wire rack until cool enough to handle.

Slice each potato into quarters lengthwise.  Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh, leaving about 1/8^th inch intact:  Reserve the flesh for another use.

Lay each skin on a foil lined baking pan.  Brush the insides of the potatoes with melted butter and sprinkle with garlic salt.  

Place pan/skins under the broiler for about 2 minutes until the top edges start to brown.  Watch carefully that they don’t burn.  

Remove from broiler and sprinkle with shredded cheese.  Return to broiler until the cheese is melted.

Top with sour cream, chives, and bacon or eat just as is.  Good dipped in ranch dressing too.

Baked Potato Soup

Serves 12-14 hungry missionaries

Ingredients:

6 large baking or russet potatoes, baked

1 32 oz bag frozen hash browns

1 very large onion or 2 medium sized, chopped

5 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1 can (10 oz) cream of chicken soup, undiluted

¼ - ½ cup butter

2 ½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

2 quarts chicken broth

2 cups half and half

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded

6 tablespoons chopped fresh chives or dried chives equivalent

1 8 oz package of cream cheese

Sour Cream

Green onions

Shredded cheese

Bacon bits, crisply fried  (I use about 2 lbs because missionaries don’t often get bacon and they load it on.)

Directions:

Scrub the potatoes.  Dry them and rub with olive oil.  Poke with fork.  Sprinkle with Montreal Steak Seasoning or garlic salt.  Bake at 400 degrees about 45 minute to an hour, depending on the size of the potatoes, or until done.

Let them cool. (I did this the day before.)  Scoop out the meat of the potato leaving about 1/8 inch potato on the skin. Set aside to make crispy baked potato skins.

In a large crockpot, add the hash browns, onion, garlic, cream of chicken soup, butter, salt, pepper and chicken broth.  Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.  Add the scooped out baked potatoes.  Cook until the potatoes are heated through.

Add the creamed cheese.  Mash the mixture with a potato masher or a hand blender until the cream cheese is blended in, the potatoes are coarsely chopped and the soup is slightly thickened.  Stir in the half and half, 2 cups sharp cheese and chives.  Stir until the cheese is melted and blended in.

Serve in bowls topped with sour cream, sliced green onions, additional shredded cheese and the bacon.

It was transfer week here in the mission.  13 missionaries went home and 11 new missionaries arrived.  I went, as usual, to the mission home Tuesday afternoon to help Anthea with laundry and dinner.  Being with the missionaries never gets old.  They bring life and spirit where ever they are whether they are coming or going.

Departing missionaries and President and Sister Reynolds

Sisters Seay, Fields and Provard

Elders Honey, Atoa, Barola and Mitchell

Elders Brown, Switzer and Wixom

Elders Peters, Peña and Rossi

Meeting the new missionaries is so opposite of the departing missionaries.  The departing missionaries have 18 months to 2 years of hard work behind them.  They are sad to leave but ready to start new chapters in their lives.  The "newbies" usually look a little like deer in the headlights.  This group came to New York in the midst of the Nor'easter. It was a rough flight.  They told me that they circled in the air over the city for about 45 minutes waiting for the opportunity to land. They arrived on Monday and I didn't see them until Tuesday morning, but some of them were still a little green in color.  The elders who picked them up at the airport reported that they had to stop the van a few times for sick missionaries.  What an introduction to your mission! 

Thursday I accompanied some missionaries to Manhattan.  It is fun to go into the city.  No matter how many times I go there, I notice interesting things.  In the winter the city puts pine boughs and pine cones in the planters around the trees where there are beautiful flowers in the spring, summer and fall. It looks really nice.   I always am entertained by people watching.  The area I most often go with the missionaries is the upper east side, so people are very well dressed and the streets are mostly clean and well kept.

Saturday I went to Freeport to help with some things.  This was my first time to actually be in Freeport.  I've passed through but never stopped.  I want to go back there again when the weather is warmer and I can walk the Nautical Mile.  Read about Freeport.

Recently I have been helping a few missionaries who are struggling with discouragement, depression, anxiety, and stress or various forms of these problems.  I've read several talks by general authorities.  One of my favorites and most helpful is the talk by Elder Holland. Read "Like a broken vessel."  Everyone should read this talk.  It will give you a lift.




Each of us reacts differently to our trials.  No matter our response to trials, stress, anxiety, depression, and discouragement affects each of us at one time or another in varying degrees.  We all know others in our lives who struggle daily with these ailments if I may call them ailments.  We can help ourselves and others if we understand how and why and know that through the Atonement and with the help of therapists, doctors, medications, and the Lord we can overcome.

I know that the Lord has provided a way for us to be happy in this life as we go through our daily struggles.  The way is not always evident, but if we can strive to make our lives Christ-centered, it will become easier and we will then be more in tune with the Spirit and can be guided more easily.   As we partake of the sacrament, we make a commitment to always remember the Savior. The more we keep Christ in our thoughts, the more He will become the center of our lives and the more He will guide and direct us to reach our full potential. Always remembering the Savior will always bless our lives and will help us to bless the lives of others.


I love you my family and friends.

Lunch date with Sisters Panoussi and Talaboc

Another experiment:  pretzel brownies

The sisters brought me an empanada de pollo

Dinner with Elders Bergeson and Lance (Notice I was eating a healthy meal-
broccoli and salmon. I do eat things other than chocolate and potato skins.)

European chocolate given to me by some elders who know my weakness.
Homemade fudge sent by my niece who also knows my weakness. I am so spoiled!!!