friday fun finds: copycat dinner

It’s back to snowing here in Denver… which is not great news for my sunshine-loving, ready-for-spring heart.  However, it IS the perfect weather for warm, creamy soup recipes.  With this in mind, last night for dinner, we made a knock-off version of Panera Bread’s potato soup recipe paired with a copycat recipe for Red Lobster’s cheddar biscuits.  I have to say, the whole thing turned out just splendidly.  Splendidly enough, in fact, for me to pass on the info to y’all so you can have a Panera-and-Red-Lobster copycat dinner as well.

Copycat Panera Bread Potato Soup
4 c chicken broth
4 c peeled and cubed potatoes
1/4 c minced onion
1/2 t seasoning salt
1/4 t white pepper
1/4 t ground red pepper
1 package cream cheese (8 oz, we used light), cut into chunks
Combine broth, potatoes, onion, and spices.Boil on medium heat until potatoes are tender.Smash a few of the potatoes to release their starch for thickening.Reduce to low heat.Add cream cheese.Heat, stirring frequently, until cheese melts.
***Two notes
1- We added a couple cups of broccoli as well because Burke loves it.  I’d recommend it.
2- Before we added the cream cheese, I pureed some broth, about a fourth of the potatoes and the cream cheese in the food processor (something we thought to try after we made this soup last time and the cream cheese melted a little unevenly).  Very creamy.  Again, I’d recommend it. 🙂


Copycat Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits
2 c bisquick (I used the healthy kind)
2/3 c milk
1/2 c cheddar cheese
1/2 c butter, melted (umm, I think we used about 2 tablespoons of butter… I think they’d be tastier with more, but I couldn’t bring myself to melt a whole stick of butter to use on our dinner biscuits)
1/4 t garlic powder

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Mix bisquick, milk and cheese until a soft dough forms. Drop by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 6-8 minutes or until golden brown.Mix butter or margarine and garlic powder. Brush mixture over warm biscuits before removing from cookie sheet.

What about you?  Did you make anything fabulous for dinner this week that we should all try too? What have you been making this week?  We’d love for you to share YOUR Friday Fun Find- something you made, a product the rest of us need, a recipe, a tutorial you put together (or one you saw and loved)- whatever you’re loving this week!

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