Recipe - Italian Potato Salad

I love  a new recipe - especially one that is this easy. I'm not a big mayonnaise fan, so a mayonnaise based potato salad will not be found in our fridge. I heard through the grapevine this Paula Deen recipe for "Italian Potatoes" tastes exactly like Zoe's potato salad, of which I'm a HUGE fan. Memorial Day was the perfect weekend to break it out.

Put 5 lbs of red potatoes in a large pot, just covering with water.

Bring to a boil. Let them boil for 30-40 minutes. I did mine for 30, and they were perfect.

Drain and let cool - cool enough to handle.

While you're waiting for them to cool, whisk together:

3 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1 heaping teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1 scant tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 cup olive oil

1/2 cup tarragon vinegar

Slightly peel the potatoes, leaving some skin on. Cut into bite size cubes.

Top with parsley and green onions. I left out the green onions, because someone in our house doesn't like them. Pour oil mixture over potatoes.

Isn't it pretty? In the way only carbs mixed with olive oil are.

This recipe is a little funny - you leave it out for 4 hours. I covered mine with a towel, for peace of mind. Stir it every hour. Your food safety red flags might go off - but I promise we had no issues.

We had enough to serve for company twice. The second day I chopped up some marinated feta to mix in - it was a great addition. This paired well with chicken both nights - fried and bbq.

Spicy...

 It's cold and rainy here in Birmingham. Fortunately, I had the foresight to take pictures of a hot and spicy tailgate recipe to share.

This recipe is super easy, super fast and super good. It was gone by the time Alabama scored the 3rd or 4th touchdown.

Jalapeno Cheese Squares

1 lb. mild ground pork sausage

1 12 oz. jar jalapeno slices, drained and patted dry

8 oz. Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

6 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 c. milk

1 t. garlic powder

¼ t. pepper

   Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until sausage crumbles and is no longer pink.  Drain.

  Spread jalapeno slices in a lightly greased 13x 9-inch baking dish.  Top with sausage; sprinkle with cheese. 

  Whisk together eggs and next 3 ingredients.  Pour over cheese.

  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until set.  Let stand 10 minutes.  Cut into bite-size squares. Serve warm.

Note:  To make this recipe ahead, bake as directed; let cool, cover, and chill up to one day.  Reheat at 350 degrees for 15 minutes; let stand briefly and then cut into squares just before serving.

 

I was too hungry to remember to take a picture of the finished product, but trust me, it was good. You can rinse the jalapenos if you don't want them to be quite as hot, and use hot sausage instead. Express yourself.

Wordless Wednesday

I know I'm a year late to the game on joining Pinterest, but I found this little trick to keep water from boiling over. Kind of cool.

Woman Vs. Food

Sometime in the past month, I got a bee in my bonnet about cooking a whole chicken. I always see them on sale, wonder what the heck to do with them, and then move on. Well, I figured out what the heck to do with them, and the results were pretty tasty.

First, gather your young chicken.

Unwrap and pull out the sack of goodies inside. This step not pictured.

Place the Young, Fine Chicken on cutting board. (Which is what MS called it for two days straight).

Tell yourself it's just your imagination when it looks familiar.

Gather a few favorite seasonings and season the Young, Fine Chicken.

Place in slow cooker (God's gift to working women) on low. No need to add water unless you want to go all Little House and make stock.

Move over, Laura Ingalls.

If you add additional water and cook on low over night, you can have your very own homemade chicken stock. I thought I was being crafty, but in reality, I was not pleased with the results and I never used it. Maybe I need to further research that step.

The chicken, on the other hand was delicious. We had plenty for 2.5 meals. It was great with mashed potatoes and green beans, and then the next night with stir fry. Not too shabby for $5.34 of chicken.

Cheers to learning new things in the kitchen...

What's for Dinner?

One of the skills I'm working on post wedding is menu planning. Specifically, making our menu off of what is on sale that week. Also, not gaining 15 lbs. Piece of cake (cooked with splenda with a coupon), right?

One month in, here's how meals on a budget have been shaking down so far. Sit back and soak up all the knowledge I've gleened in a months time. It's staggering, really. I kid.

1. Familiarize yourself with recipes and ingredients - We all love allrecipes.com, but I've really started utilizing it. As I read more recipes, I've gotten a good idea of what ingredients are good to always have on hand, so I can stock up on them when they are on sale and be on the lookout for coupons. (cream of xxx soups, extra virgin olive oil, chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, garlic, spices, sour cream, etc.)



2. Doubling the recipe - If the recipe isn't large enough for leftovers and can easily be doubled, its a must. We did this for the baked potato soup, and were able to eat off of it for 3 meals. Makes the effort much more worthwhile and gives me a night off so I'm not so burnt out on cooking (I know its only been a month, thanks).



3. Branch Out - Speaking of allrecipes.com, I signed up for their daily recipe e-mail. Usually stuff like this drives me nuts and is a waste of space in my inbox, but so far these recipes have been really good and simple. If nothing else, they have helped me with point one. One day, hopefully not too far from now, I can just make dinner from what's on hand and what I've learned about cooking (not just a hat rack, my friend.)



4. Frozen Food is your Friend (on Fridays) - I'm not a big fan of frozen dinners during the week. I feel better having real meals, not to mention frozen food isn't great for you. But on the weekend, they are my friend. As much as I love to eat out, we try to be intentional with our 'entertainment' budget, so usually at least one night of the weekend we'll eat in. Great time to splurge on that pizza or Wanchai Ferry. Which, if you have not tried, I highly recommend. It feels more festive, and I figure I wouldnt have eaten great had we gone out. Justification is a strong suit of mine.

5. Not breaking the scale - This one is tough. It's that time of year when its cold outside, dark after work and you just want to sit on the couch with a bowl of mashed potatoes and fried everything. I do what I can here. We try to make healthier substitions when possible, but a big part is keeping breakfast and lunch healthy so some nights we can have more leeway at dinner. The treadmill is also a key player in point five.

So far, I've enjoyed trying new things and cooking for our little family. Matt is a great help in the kitchen, which is so wonderful! Don't you worry, Namath eats pretty good too. We can all sleep easy now. Especially since this food has odor reduction.

I love a good recipe, so please feel free to share!

Happy Thursday kids! It's Grey's and Private night...which means time to break out the adult beverages and OPI. I'm not letting this tradition die.

What's Cookin'?

Like most newlyweds, I've now turned my attention to the kitchen. Time to start using all those fabulous wedding gifts and cook delicious dinners every night. Right? Someone once told me, "Don't start something you can't finish". Read: why my sister-in-law still makes my brothers lunch every day.

All that being said, one of the things I admire about my mother in law is her ability to cook, even the simplest things, so well. She loves cooking for her family, and practice makes perfect. So I've set off trying my hand at some new dishes.

First stop: Pumpkin muffins.

I love all things pumpkin. Cakes. Coffee. Coffee creamer. I found a recipe from Gourmet magazine (do not be alarmed by the title - it was really easy) and got to work.

I think this cinnamon sugar mixture was the icing on the cake - literally.

RECIPE FOR PUMPKIN MUFFINS

From Gourmet November 2006

Makes 1 dozen

Start to finish: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS:

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 can pumpkin

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 tsp pumpkin-pie spice (a combo of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and allspice)

1.25 cups plus 1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Equipment: 12 foil or paper muffin liners; a muffin pan with 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups

DIRECTIONS:

Put oven rack in middle positiona and preheat oven to 350F. Put liners in muffin cups.
Whisk together flour and baking powder in a small bowl.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin-pie spice, 1.25 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in another bowl.

Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about 3/4 full), then spinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake until puffed and golden brown and a wodden pick or skewer inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

They were pretty dang good, if I do say so myself. Next time, I think I'll add in some chocolate chips. Watch out! In unrelated news, Mercedes training starts asap.

I think the delicious fall themed breakfast got Matt in the spirit, so he made this concotion for game time Saturday night.

Rum Apple Cider.
Combine apple cider with spiced rum. Mix.

Fall is in tough competition with Summer for my favorite season.

Stirring up the menu

My brain is mush today. I'm not even sure I spelled stirring correctly, but I'm moving forward with this post regardless.





When we aren't eating family size pizzas or yogurt doused in brownies and cookie dough, we mostly try to eat healthy. Here's a little recipe that meets all my requirements and is a nice variation from steamed vegetables and baked chicken.

1. It's easy
2. It's fairly tasty
3. It has no more than 5 ingredients and doesnt require I braise anything. (Does anyone know what that means?)



I got this recipe from the Body for Life cookbook, and have modified it so that it fits the requirements above. Namely number 3.



I forgot to take pictures of the first couple steps, so use your imagination.





You will need:

• Chicken breast


• broccoli slaw (found in the produce section next to the bagged salad)


• stir fry vegetable mix


• napa cabbage


• whole wheat spaghetti noddles


• red pepper


• soy sauce


• sesame oil - this is KEY. I will never cook chinese without this again. It adds a great flavor to this recipe. I did not forget to photograph this, lest you not be able to find it on your trip to the grocery. We use Imperial Dragon brand. Rowwrrr.

I'm aware I have broken the five ingredient rule. Lucky for everyone, you can use all that greenery or not.

Cut your chicken into bite size pieces and marinate in some black pepper and soy sauce. Brown in the skillet. I start using my sesame oil here and drizzle a little on the chicken.

Start boiling water to cook your noodles. You will need to cook your noodles while you are preparing the vegetables.

When it's done, put the chicken on a plate and set it in the microwave to keep it warm.

Rinse your pan out, add some more sesame oil, and put in your vegetable stir fry, nappa cabbage and broccoli slaw. You can season with anything. I prefer the red pepper, maybe some garlic and more sesame oil. (This recipe might not be as healthy as I pretend.) I forgot the napa cabbage at the store and forgot the broccoli slaw that was in the fridge, so this is just the stir fry vegetables.

Once the noodles are done and the vegetables cooked, add your chicken back in and stir it back together. If you guessed add more seseme oil, you are correct. You don't have to add that much, but I love the flavor it gives, so I'm pretty generous.

Lastly, add your noodles, and let it all stir together. Add in any extra seasoning you feel like. I like a little kick, so I sprinkle in a little more red pepper.

This is one of Matt's favorite dinners, and it makes enough for leftovers. Win, win.

Have a great weekend!

Hot Child in the City

Ok, so I'm not a child, but I am in the city, and I. Am. Melting. I felt like I had to preface the pictures below as to why I look like I just stepped out of a sauna. Probably, because I just stepped out of a sauna. I feel like I say this every year, but is it hotter than last? Here's how we attempted to beat the heat this weekend.

Friday night we grilled out with the Smiths. Either myself or the camera was too hot to funciton, so you'll have to check out her post if you want actual pictures. This seems to be the best I did.

Well, I did manage to snap a shot of these guys. Namath avoided heat stroke by dunking his entire head in the water bowl.

Not sure why his angelic face looks so devlish. Might have something to do with the moves he was unleashing on the Smith's dog.

I was in charge of dessert, so I referred to another Searson classic, Cookie Slop. It's cool and comforting and delicious.

Here's the play by play:

• Get two bags of cookies. You can do two bags of chocolate chunk, or a bag of chocolate chunk and m&m, pb cup, whatever tickles your fancy.


• Dip each cookie in a bowl of milk, and line the bottom of a 9x13 dish


• Cover with a layer of whip cream


• Make another layer of the milk dipped cookies


• Add another layer of whip cream.

For the visual learners, it should look a little something like this.

This recipe tastes better if you eat some cookies along the way.

After a little pool time Saturday, we headed to a wedding. I grew up going to the same church with Jessica, so we go back a little ways. Turns out, she also grew up living behind Matt. Small, small world. She also sold Matt my engagement ring and it was so fun having her a part of that process! At the risk of sounding old, I feel like I watched Jessica grow up, so watching her walk down the aisle with her sweet dad made me tear up. She was a beautiful bride!

Their wedding slide show was on the big screen at the ballpark. Pretty cool!

That was about all the outdoor fun I could handle for the weekend. Spent most of Sunday indoors, but I did manage to wash Namath's pride and joy, his dog bed. It almost deserves a post of his own. Here he is displaying his pride. Maybe we'll see joy another day.

Confession

I broke my date with Tony last night. No judgment please. As penance, I did get up this morning and run. I tried to run fast to appease my conscience burn more calories. Thanks to finally making it to the grocery, I have been eating pretty lean this week. Does that count for anything?

We've found it hard to break the tradition from Tuesday night dinners since LOST ended. Dinner is pretty anti-climatic without the show, but we make do. Last night we made one of my favorite semi-healthy Tuesday dinners, turkey spaghetti. And by we, I mean Matt. He has nailed down adding flavor to virtually calorie and taste free ground turkey.

The ingredients usually start out looking something like this, depending on the mood.

Notice the whole wheat pasta, and extra lean meat. No comments on the high amount of sodium, please. We are trying people.

This guy is always on a diet, so he understands. I think he looks fantastic. The vet often disagrees. So green beans and portion control it is.

If you've got any great, easy, healthy and easy recipes, send them my way.