Simple Stuffing

This past Thanksgiving was the first one where the husband and I were playing host. He always takes care of the bird and potatoes, my job was to do the rest. So I made a green bean casserole like you'd find on the back of those french onion cans and homemade stuffing... both were a hit- especially by my little Lovie.

Now when it comes to stuffing... I'm generally a huge fan. YUM. How can you go wrong with baked carbs?Well some people add too much to theirs, IMO, and that's where you can go wrong. Again, JMO. I like a simple, plain stuffing. After all it's a side dish and you don't want it to overshadow the star turkey, right?

I found this recipe and went with it and it was PERFECT. I was a little fearful there would be too much celery but that's why you cook it first. Man, I can't wait to make this stuffing again... and I'll be doing so in just three days. Yahoo!  The only thing I've changed is the name (it's called Bread and Celery Stuffing)!

Simple Stuffing

Ingredients


1 (1 pound) loaf sliced white bread
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 onion, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning salt and pepper to taste
1 cup chicken broth

Directions

Let bread slices air dry for 1 to 2 hours, then cut into cubes.

In a Dutch oven, melt butter or margarine over medium heat. Cook onion and celery until soft. Season with poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Stir in bread cubes until evenly coated. Moisten with chicken broth; mix well.

Chill, and use as a stuffing for turkey, or bake in a buttered casserole dish at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes.

The Pefect Fried Potato!

Maybe I've just been living under a rock since birth but I've recently mastered
the perfect fried potato
... and the trick is in the MICROWAVE.

For 2 servings--
Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 5-8 mins in microwave (unless you're using leftover baked potatoes!!), 10-15 mins in pan


After you pick your taters you wanna fry up, scrub em down (or peel if that's the way you roll), and stab them with a fork. Place on microwave safe plate and nuke for about 5 minutes - give or take depending on the size of tater. Carefully remove tater from microwave and if fork easily goes through the thickest part, you're done with the microwave... otherwise stick it back and nuke for another couple minutes or so.

Let stand for a couple minutes and then slice taters. *Please be careful as taters nuked for a couple minutes retain their heat very well... I highly recommend the use of an Ove Glove or something like it!* Let cool a little and dice or cut up to sizes you want.

Prep your pan- heat pan on med-high, add oil and/or butter.
Add taters and let sit for several minutes.
Add seasonings to your liking.
Toss taters occasionally and when they get the color you like, remove.

I like mine nice and crispy so I leave mine sit for about 5-10 minutes on each side, turning occasionally.

SOOOO YUMMY.  And SOOOOOO much faster than either boiling taters first (something I learned to do from my husband) or just cooking them down from raw.

Crash Hot Potatoes - for hot weather

I love love love Crash Hot Potatoes. I love potatoes, period, but hot damn are those CHP's all kinds of awesome. So because I'm trying (really really hard) to cook more, I wanted to make these again... except it's been near 90 the past couple days and there's no way in hell I'm turning on the oven when it's that hot out. Sorry. Not gonna happen.

Then I remembered seeing an episode of Racheal Ray's 30 minute meals during my maternity leave (oh yeah, I had a baby end of December!!! HOLLA out to the cutest babe in the world!!) where she made a potato dish that ended up looking very much like CHP's except she did it all on the stove TOP in a pan! No oven turning on needed!

But. I can only really go online at work (did I mention I had a baby? yeah my time is hers when I'm not at work) and this computer is ridiculously slow and old so trying to find something on foodnetwork.com is just too much to put up with.

So I just went with this (below) and it turned out... FANTASTIC!! Wahoo!! : )

Hot Weather CHP's

(serves 2 hungry adults)

You'll need:

• 8 each small red potatoes
• extra virgin olive oil
• seasonings of your choice
• microwavable plate
• microwave
• skillet
• stovetop

You'll do:

• scrub/clean 8 small red potatoes
• poke each tater with fork a couple times
• place on microwavable plate and microwave on high for 5 minutes*
• when tender (if fork easily goes through) but not too tender, press taters down (mashed potato thingie works great!)
• heat skillet
• while skillet is heating, drizzle olive oil on top of taters
• season well with salt, pepper, thyme, basil, whatever you want/like!
• add couple turns of olive oil to hot pan
• gently add taters and cook for 5-10 minutes per side
• remove when brown and crispy looking and ENJOY!

Quick, easy, and perfect to make when it's too hot out (and in) to turn on the oven. Even the husband liked them (again)! : )

Zucchini Cakes (and pasta)

Oh the smell of these... both as a batter and after fried! So, so, so good!

I saw this recipe for Zucchini Cakes on the Pioneer Woman's website the other day and just so happened to be at the store and saw some zucs. Yay. I pretty much followed her recipe - one I especially loved to make because I hate measuring and didn't measure anything (made about 8 cakes)...

• 2 zucchinis, cleaned and ends cut off
• Parmesan and Romano cheese blend, about 1/2 cup
• Italian bread crumbs, about 1/2 cup
• 2 eggs
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• EVOO

1. Grate zucs and then wring out in clean kitchen towel and return zuc shreds to large bowl.
2. Add minced garlic.
3. Add cheese blend, covering mixture.
4. Add breadcrumbs, covering mixture.
5. Add 1 egg and blend together and if it's not battery enough, add another egg and mix.
6. In cold pan coat with EVOO and heat on medium heat.
7. Add spoonful of zuc batter and press down with spoon.
8. Wait at least two to three minutes and press down again for another minute.
9. Carefully turn one cake and if it's brown to your liking (I'm a texture person and like crispy, therefore brown - more so than above picture), carefully turn the rest.
10. Wait at least another couple minutes and press down and wait another minute. (If you're OK with a more cake-like texture, don't press down - the original recipe says nothing about pressing down more than just the beginning.)
11. Remove cakes to plate lined with paper towels and sprinkle with salt (yes, there's plenty of salt in all the cheese but you just fried something and you really need to add a little sprinkle after taking it out of the oil).

I served these alongside some regular ole pasta and sauce from a ::shudder:: jar.

According to my husband, "Not bad" and I can definitely make again.

Damn Good Mashed Potatoes

It really doesn't get much more basic and simple than this!


Mmm, mmm, these are just damn good!

For 6-8 servings

• 3/4 bag of potatoes (I used red and left the peels on)
• salt
• pepper
• butter - about 1/2 stick
  
• milk - about 1/2 a cup
• sour cream - about 1/2 a cup

1. Clean and cut potatoes into chunks and throw in large pot.
2. Fill pot with water about two inches above potatoes and boil until fork very easily can poke through potatoes.
3. Warm up milk and butter so that it's hot enough to melt the butter.
4. Drain potatoes and bring back to pot.
5. Add salt and pepper and press down on potatoes with unplugged hand mixer beaters (or masher).
6. Add warm milk/butter.
7. Mix on low - maybe 20 seconds.
8. Add sour cream.
9. Mix on low.
10. Taste.
11. Add salt and pepper or more milk and/or butter if need be.

So, so good.

I made these tonight and will stick in the oven tomorrow when the green been casserole is baking. Before I put it in the oven, I'll throw a couple dots of butter on top and hopefully these will turn out even better than they did tonight.

Cuz tonight... tonight, they were Damn Good mashed potatoes!

4/13/09 update: Even reheated - by way of the oven with the taters covered with aluminum foil after adding a couple dabs of butter - these were SPOT ON.

Cheez-it Chicken and Popcorn Cauliflower

It's lunchtime and I'm about to run out and do some grocery shopping for dinner tonight and a couple meals over the weekend. So far I've made two "meals" this week (if you count tuna sandwiches and homemade fries a meal) and, in addition to the one I'm planning on making tonight, I thought of another one to add: Cheez-it Chicken and Popcorn Cauliflower!

I had to attend a webinar a bit ago so I went and got a bag of Cheez-its from the vending machine and thought, Hmmm this could taste good if used instead of breadcrumbs when baking chicken! So what the hell?! I'm gonna give it a whirl over over the weekend!

I'll report back with results after we try it out.

Oma's Base for (carrot) slaw

I was thinking to make a carrot slaw on Sunday so I emailed my mom to see if she could give me my grandmother's recipe since that's the only Carrot-slaw I've ever had and enjoy. I've searched for other recipes but they all call for raisins, too. And while I enjoy a raisin every so often, it's one of those foods I just do NOT like with anything else -- not in cookies, not in carrot salad, not in cake, etc. So if I was going to make the slaw, it was going to be my Oma's recipe, dammit.

She sent me back this:

The base of any of our (my) salad dressings: 2 Tablespoon vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, salt, pepper. Mix it up until sugar is dissolved. Add 1/2 small container sour cream. Mix until well blended. Shred a package of carrots, add the dressing and enjoy! You can use this for carrots, cucumbers (then you add dill), cole slaw.

I don't know why, but her reply made me smile and think, 'isn't she cute?'.

Anyway I thought I'd throw it in here so that it's easily accessible.

4/13/09 update: This can be made the night before and the next day it's great.

Popcorn Cauliflower

I guess I'll start this out with one of my very own recipes!

In another life, I lost about 75 pounds sticking to a low carb diet. It was glorious, really. The pounds melted away, I was cooking and eating great foods, and I was feeling absolutely amazing! But then life happened and I started to sneak in more and more (bad) carbs and now I'm even heavier than I was when I first started low carbing. Regardless, this is still one of my favorite SIMPLE recipes for a great, healthy side dish.

Popcorn Cauliflower (maybe someday I'll add a picture)

• hot oven (475-500)
• large bowl
• baking sheet
• cooking spray
• head cauliflower chopped into florets (I usually just defrost a bag of frozen cauliflower florets and squeeze out the water)
• olive oil
• your favorite spices: salt, pepper, oregano, Italian seasonings, cayenne pepper and/or chili powder (if you want a little kick), garlic powder... whatever you like and have on hand
• Parmesan cheese
  

In cold oven, make sure rack is a couple inches from top. Turn oven to HOT - like 475 to 500.

Empty cauliflower into large bowl and sprinkle on whatever spices/seasonings you like. Don't be shy with your favorites, either. Drizzle some olive oil and toss. Spray baking sheet (I cover with foil for easy cleanup) with cooking spray (like Pam) and pour cauliflower onto sheet and spread.

Put in hot oven for about 15, 20 minutes. You can toss occasionally if it makes you feel better. When the edges start to brown, take it out. Top with Parmesan cheese and ENJOY!

This same process/recipe can be used to make potatoes, too. YUM!