Two-Potato Curried Home Fries

I have always wanted to make yummy, restaurant-style, home fries, but could never get them just right.  Alex and I always go back and forth about what the trouble is with my home fries...too much oil?  too little oil? High heat versus low heat? Skin on?  Skin off? But you know what the key is to perfect textured home fries?  BOILING them!!!!  Because I am lazy, I have always microwaved my potatoes and never considered that might be the problem.  Don't get me wrong, microwaving will totally help you out in a pinch and I'm sure you'll find me microwaving them again the future, but the way to go is boiling them until they are soft.

Check out this KILLER curried home fries recipe I found in the October edition of the Food Network Magazine.  It has the PERFECT combination of curry seasoning that makes a GREAT side dish for dinner or AWESOME home fries to serve with breakfast!

Two Potato Home Fries:
2 Yukon Gold Potatoes
2 Sweet Potatoes
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon grated garlic
1 teaspoon curry powder
salt
pepper
cilantro, chopped - I added a sprinkle of coriander because I didn't have cilantro.

Boil potatoes in a pot of salted water and cook until tender, 5-8 minutes.  Drain and pat dry.  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  add the potatoes and cook turning until browned, about  8 minutes.  Stir in ginger, garlic, curry powder, salt and pepper.  Cook for an additional minute.  sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

Going Away...Party!

Sheesh. I have been neglecting my blog in a big way! Not because I haven't been posting stuff...but because I have been cooking and taking pictures and NOT posting them. Shame on me! That is what having a kid and moving out of state will do to a girl.

As I mentioned in my last post Alex and I are...well, at this point...have moved to Colorado. For our last weekend in our house in Utah, we threw a going away party so we could hang out with all our friends one last time. For the occasion I made my favorite, easy, pasta salad. I made up this recipe several summers back when I was trying to think of a side dish to bring to a BBQ. This pasta salad has been a hit ever since.

Sarah's Kick Ass Pasta Salad: note - this is the doubled recipe

2 boxes colorful pasta

2 cans chicken - I prefer to use Costco's Kirkland brand

2 cans artichoke hearts

1 can olives, chopped

2 red peppers, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
2 packages Italian dressing seasoning

1/3 cup mayo

1/4 cup olive oil

Cook pasta according to directions on box and set aside. Combine chicken, artichoke hearts, olives, peppers and onion together in a bowl. In a separate smaller bowl, combine Italian dressing, mayo and olive oil. Add mayo mix to other ingredients. Toss until all ingredients are covered with the dressing mixture.

This recipe is doubled and makes a TON! The salad was a huge hit at our going away party. It is perfect for a large gathering and is just as good as a main course.

Salmon and Couscous...who knew?

When I was growing up my dad got on a couscous kick and it totally creeped me out. It looked so grainy. No part of it appealed to me. As I got older and saw it more in cafes and restaurants I always remembered my dad eating it by the pan load. UG!

A month or two ago Alex brought some couscous home and told me we had to try it. I was pretty reluctant, but agreed. Surprise, surprise it was pretty dang good. Tonight we were wrangling for ideas of what to make. I wanted to BBQ and Alex wanted couscous. So we compromised. I got online and searched Salmon and Couscous and picked the first recipe that came up...it so happened to be a Food Network recipe by Bobby Deen of all people. Yes, his mother is Paula Deen, who is hell bent on giving everyone heart disease. Who would have thought he would be capable or allowed to create such a healthy recipe.

Salmon and Couscous:
Olive oil
4 (4-ounce) pieces salmon
Lime

The recipe calls to bake the salmon at 350F putting the lime juice and olive oil on top, but we grilled it and drizzled the lime juice over the top after it was done cooking.

Couscous:
2 1/4 cups water or chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons butter
10 ounces couscous
1 cup diced tomatoes - we used canned tomatoes rather than fresh
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup green onions

Combine water or chicken stock, salt and butter in a saucepan, over medium heat and bring to a boil. Stir in couscous. Add diced tomatoes, crumbled feta, and green onions. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Uncover, fluff with a fork, and serve hot or cold.

We also added pitted kalamata olives to the couscous and it was FABULOUS!

Alex wasn't so keen on the idea of the feta so I left it out until I was plating up my meal....so one picture is with feta and the other is without. :)

This is a GREAT light recipe. The additional ingredients in the couscous add some serious flavor to this dish. I usually like my salmon with a little tarter sauce....and even went as far to make some up...but didn't use it with this dish because the couscous was so AWESOME! Take the leap...try it out!

Spicy Corn Bread

I have been craving corn bread for some time and decided tonight was the night. Continuing with the Mexican theme Alex and I started this week, I shook up the corn bread with some cheese, onions and jalapeno. WHOOHOOO!!!!!!

This was the side dish to my ultimate, FANTASTIC, Mexican, main course. But the main course is a SECRET...until tomorrow. It is killing me not to tell you what our main course was tonight...but, I have to hold you in suspense! Your mouth should be watering now...In the meantime, you're going to have to settle with my spicy corn bread. :)

The best part about this corn bread is it is easy as all get out to make even better! I followed the directions on the side of the Quaker Corn Meal box:

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Quaker Corn Meal

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

1 cup skim milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 egg whites or 1 egg beaten

I and added 3/4 cup of cheddar cheese, half a jalapeno...which I later realized was a MONSTER sized serrano - HOLY SPICINESS!!!!- and three green onions chopped. Mix it all up and follow the directions on the side of the cornmeal box. Heat oven to 400 F. Grease 8 or 9 inch pan. Combine dry ingredients. Stir in milk, oil and egg, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown and wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Serve warm. 9 Servings.Now, note that the recipe on the side of the Quaker Corn Meal box says '9 Servings'. Now look at what Alex did before I could stop him. When I asked him why he cut it into such small pieces he said he likes them small because they taste yummier that way. I beg to differ...I think they taste better when they are HUGE Texas sized pieces...but I guess I will have to continue to crave a big bite into a BIG piece of corn bread.

This was how he served them up on our plates. :)

Not sure what to think...

I bought a 'Sweet Dumpling' squash at the grocery store this week out of excitement for fall coming on and in the spirit of trying something new. The sticker on the squash said the flesh was orangy and sweet. I was EXCITED to get my choppers on this veggie. I scored a recipe from my friend Ben for a mustard crusted pork tenderloin and thought the two would make a great combination. I can't confidently say that they were a great combination.

First off, I think pork tenderloin hates me. Six years ago I offered to cater a work Christmas party and I cooked an herb stuffed pork tenderloin. Well, I TRIED to cook a pork tenderloin. The instructions I had for the pork tenderloin didn't have a long enough cook time and I ended up MICROWAVING the tenderloin because everyone was freaking out about it being pink inside...How embarrassing. Hmmm....funny that I should be plagued with the same issue this evening. So I started off under cooking and then over cooked it. There is nothing worse than a nice pork roast that has been over cooked. It doesn't matter how yummy the 'crust' is.

Here is the recipe as my friend Ben gave it to me:

Mustard Crusted Pork Tenderloin:

3 tablespoons of grainy mustard (I used the kind with the actual mustard seeds)

4 teaspoons minced garlic

3 tablespoons Jack Daniels or other bourbon or sourmash whisky.

2 tablespoons dried thyme

2 teaspoons cracked black pepper

1/2-1 teaspoon kosher salt.

Mix the wet stuff and the dry stuff separately. Coat the tenderloins with the wet stuff, then the dry stuff. Cook for about 30 min at 375. This is where I usually screw up the roasts. Since the tenderloin is shaped funny the long pointy end cooks first, so that time may vary depending on the thickness of the roast. - Ben...this is where I screw it up too!

I didn't follow a recipe for the 'Sweet Dumpling' squash...I just cut it in half, salt and peppered with a little olive oil and cooked it for 30 minutes at 375 F. Hello, FLAVORLESS! How is that possible when you use salt and pepper? Who came up with this false name? This wasn't sweet. It wasn't miserable, but it wasn't hot damn yummy! It was so bland.

Thank you Holiday Inn!

I go to New York on occasion for work and I always stay at the Hampton Inn by the JFK airport. The neighborhood is so shady, the hotel has menus for local restaurant that will deliver dinner, unfortunately most of those restaurants aren't too good. Fortunately the Holiday Inn next door has a pretty decent bar/restaurant that is the motivation for this recipe. The bar serves a caprese sandwich that is served on flat bread and cooked like a pannini.

I had a hankering for this sandwich tonight and decided to use a tortillas instead of flat bread. What a GREAT idea! But how can you go wrong when you are dealing with cheese?

Caprese Quesadilla:
Grated mozzarella
Finely chopped basil
Chopped tomato

Bruschetta:
Chopped tomato
2 tablespoons diced red tomato
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

The bruschetta was my 'salsa' if you will...and it ROCKED!!! I was going to drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the quesadilla, but thought it would be better with a bruschetta. What a fun idea! This was so yummy! Now I don't have to head off to New York for a yummy caprese.

Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes and Salmon

My buddy Meg over at Megan's Munchies wanted to try out three pumpkin mashed potatoes recipes and I decided to try out what was behind web site number two. I was directed to Wise Food Ways for a pretty ambiguous recipe for Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes. I get nervous with ambiguous recipes because I always end of adding too much of something and ruin it...fortunately, tonight was not one of those nights. SUCCESS! These babies ROCKED!!! Thanks to my trusty pressure cooker, I fixed this up in 15 minutes!

I'm going to share with you how I made these potatoes and then you can hit the Wise Food Ways for the more ambiguous recipe. :)

Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes:
2 medium potatoes, peeled, washed and cut into big chunks
1 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into big chunks
1 15 oz can pureed pumpkin
1/2 stick of margarine, just kidding...I added a whole stick of margarine.

1 small box of cream

1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

plenty of salt and pepper

Procedure:
Cook potatoes in pressure cooker for 11 minutes according to pressure cooker directions. While potatoes are cooking, heat up margarine, cream and pumpkin over medium heat until margarine is melted and pumpkin is warmed through.Mash the vegetables with a potato masher, fork, or whisk and add butter and dairy and spices until you like the consistency and flavor.

I was worried I had destroyed the recipe because the consistency was a little 'wet'...but HOLY CRAP! It was like smooth pumpkin pie...almost. The sweet potatoes are a requirement for the consistency and taste on these potatoes. DAMN! I LOVE these potatoes!

The meat to this meal was smoked Salmon. My dad gave me a stove top smoker when Alex and I got married and it has quickly become a favorite kitchen tool. It is so silly easy to use!

The smoker is a metal box with a lid that slides on and off. In the smoker is a drip tray with a metal rack to put your meat on. I wrap my drip tray in tin foil so it is easy to clean and spray the rack with pam to keep the meat from sticking. On the very bottom of the smoker, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of alder wood chips (which conveniently came with the smoker). Put the drip tray on top of the wood chips, then the metal rack and place the salmon on the rack. Slide the lid over the top until 1 inch of space is open. Put smoker on stove top over medium heat. Once you see little wisps of smoke, slide the lid completely closed and cook for 22 minutes. The internal heat stays at 375 F while cooking...just in case you were curious.

The flavor of salmon smoked in a stove top smoker is AMAZING! It is such a subtle taste...it is so elegant. Very little smoke escapes into your house, so no worries on setting the smoke detector off. Just open a kitchen window a crack and you are good to go!

Stuffed Zucchini

I am a ROCKSTAR!!! I am not good at 'making up' recipes. I'm not always good at following recipes when it comes down to it. :) But today, I created a KILLER recipe for stuffed zucchini. I am fortunate enough to have a co-worker that has zucchini in her garden and is willing to bring them to me so I can cook yummy things.

I was up in the air on what to use the zucchini for and opted for dinner instead of zucchini bread. Alex made some stuffed zucchini a while back that was pretty yummy. There are a LOT of versions of stuffed zucchini out there and I wanted a little from each of them so I had no other choice....I had to make my own. Here it is.

Stuffed Zucchini:

2 links spicy Italian sausage, removed from their casings

2 medium zucchini, cut in half evenly

1 small onion

2 teaspoons garlic

1 large jalapeno, roughly chopped

1 1/2 cups wild rice, cooked

3/4 cup mozzarella

2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cook up the sausage links in a frying pan on medium heat until crumbling. Push sausage over to the far side of the pan (you can totally take the sausage out of the pan...I just didn't want to have to clean an additional bowl), add a teaspoon of olive oil to the opposite side of the pan and saute up the onions and garlic until translucent. Add jalapeno with or without the seeds to the onions (I had originally wanted red peppers, but I forgot to grab some at the store and had to go with what I had). Mix in onion mixture with cooked sausage. Add wild rice, mixing well and take off the burner to cool.

Scoop out the seeds from the zucchini so there is a little ravine in the zucchini to stuff the yummy goodness in. Sprinkle with a little olive oil and Salt and Pepper. Place in 350 F oven for 7 minutes.

Add mozzarella, parsley and oregano to the rice mixture. Stuff zucchini with sausage, rice mixture to over flowing. Cook for 30 minutes.

Panini's and Sweet Potato Fries

Funny story. While Alex's grandmother was in town, we decided to make panini's. Sounds harmless right? We bought some cibbatta bread to make the panini's. After 'grilling' the sandwiches up, we cut them into two. The moment I went to cut them in half I heard a loud crunch! Instantly my heart went into my throat. I was worried the sandwiches would be too hard for Alex's grandmother and her friend. Being the gracious, wonderful people they are, they ate them up! I just got a new panini cookbook (Panini by Melanie Barnard) and I already love it! I like to mix up my sandwiches when we make panini's and this cookbook helps us do just that. I found a recipe for Rustic Turkey with Brie and Apples. I know, apples on a sandwich? YUM! Not only do they add a fun sweet flavor, they also give an additional level of crunchy texture. The Brie is awesome!

Rustic Turkey with Brie and Apples:
2 tablespoons Walnut Oil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
Whole-wheat country style bread - or your favorite bread for panini
Brie cheese thinly sliced (I just spread the brie over the bread)
Smoked turkey
Granny smith apples cut into thin pieces
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
freshly ground pepper

The recipe in the book goes into detail of how to make a well manicured sandwich...I just throw it all together and cook it up. Giada de Laurentis turned Alex and I on to drizzling a little bit of oil on the INSIDE of the sandwich instead of the outside. It makes it FANTASTIC! I spread the brie on each side of the bread, placed the turkey and apple slices on the sandwich with the thyme and pepper. We cooked the sandwiches for 5-7 minutes until the cheese was a soft and warm.
The sandwiches looked so wonderful and tasty, I didn't get the chance to take a picture of the final presentation...we just devoured them!To go with our ultra fabulous panini's we made sweet potato fries that I scored from sarahscucinabella.com. This recipe was pure simple and PERFECTION! I'm not sure why anyone would ever eat regular potatoes after eating these babies! They were soft and flavorful. Skip the french fries and go for sweet potato fries. If you know how much I LOVE french fries, you would understand this comment speaks volumes!
Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries:
Serves 4-6
1 - 1 1/2 lb sweet potatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (preferably the easy release kind).

Peal the sweet potatoes. Cut into strips that are about 1/2 inch wide on each side.

Place the sweet potatoes into a sealable plastic bag. Add oil, salt, paprika and cinnamon. Seal the bag and shake well to thoroughly coat the fries.

Spread the potatoes out onto the baking sheet in a single layer.

Cook for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes. Transfer immediately to a paper towel lined plate and serve warm.

Three Pepper Soup - KNOCK OUT!!!

My aunt made this soup for Alex and I a couple of weeks ago and it ROCKED!!!! My father's mother was Belgian and her side of the family still lives in Belgium. My aunt visited the family not long ago and came home with this recipe. Lucky me and now lucky you!

Three Pepper Soup:

2 medium onions, chopped and sauteed in butter until just transparent.

6 Peppers (red, yellow, orange) - my aunt and I both suggest the Costco six pack.

2 - 3 teaspoons beef or chicken bullion

Enough water to cover the peppers

Boursin cheese with garlic

Chop large and add to onions and continue to saute a minute or two. Add enough water to cover the peppers and onion along with bullion. Bring to a boil and cook gently until vegetables are soft. Then put through the blender so it is smooth. While still hot, add one package of Boursin cheese with garlic. This is a creamy white cheese, so it melts. Stir it in until completely melted and blended. Salt and pepper to taste.

This soup is so simple and so flavorful! The texture is really cool because you have the smoothness, but some chunks from the pepper. If I had kids, I would get them to eat veggies by sneaking them into their soups! What they don't see will only make them healthier!

I am short on pictures for this post because I making the ravioli for last night at the same time. This was the first course of our dinner party last night. I was worried that this soup would be the only edible part of our dinner party. :)

Butternut Squash Rissotto

Alex and I couldn't stop at spaghetti squash and had to try out this butternut squash risotto recipe. I really dig butternut squash. It reminds me a lot of yams in color and taste. It is a great autumn food.

We went a little over the top with the butternut squash in this recipe. Obviously you start out with a whole butternut squash. We didn't want to waste the left overs above and beyond the 2 cups this recipe calls for, so we used all of it. I'm not going to say that was a good call or a bad call. It was decent. In all honesty, I would use the two cups the recipe calls for...and I would use the correct amount of risotto. Alex and I had a little less than a cup of risotto left so we had to make due.

Butternut Squash Risotto:
2 cups cubed butternut squash
2 tablespoons butter (I rarely use butter. I use olive oil because it is healthier and I think it tastes a million times better.)
1/2 onion, minced
1 cup Arborio rice
1/3 cup dry white wine
5 cups hot chicken stock
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Place squash cubes into a steamer basket in a saucepan. (If you don't have a steamer basket...GO BUY ONE! They are heavenly and make you want to steam your veggies 24-7).

Add water, cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Allow to steam until the squash is tender (10 to 15 minutes), then drain, and mash in a bowl with a fork.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook and stir for 2 minutes until the onion begins to soften, then stir in the rice.

Continue cooking and stirring until the rice is glossy from the butter, and the onion begins to brown on the edges, about 5 minutes more. Pour in the white wine; cook, stirring constantly, until it has evaporated.

Stir in the mashed squash and 1/3 of the hot chicken stock; reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir until the chicken stock has been absorbed by the rice, 5 to 7 minutes. Add half of the remaining chicken stock, and continue stirring until it has been absorbed. Finally, pour in the remaining stock, and continue stirring until the risotto is creamy.

Finish by stirring in the Parmesan cheese, and seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.

This dish LOOKS elegant! And it is 354 calories per serving! How do I know it is only 354 calories per serving? Because allrecipes.com tells you stuff like that when you snag one of their recipes! I LOVE that site!

SQUASH!

It is that time of year for squash...and I'm not talking sports. As the weather gets cooler, my cravings for squash, particularly pumpkin goes through the roof! Since pumpkin hasn't quite made it to my grocery store, I have opted for what they do have. Spaghetti squash.

I got the idea for spaghetti squash from my friend Jen who had a recent spaghetti squash success! It sounded so yummy I had to have my own spaghetti squash success. I came across a lot of recipes that called for using the squash like it WAS spaghetti and for some reason that just didn't appeal to me. My sister made some yummy spaghetti squash with butter and brown sugar and that was the route I chose to take my success.

I split the spaghetti squash down the center and scraped out the seeds. I have to admit, I have never made spaghetti squash myself and when I cut into it, I expected to see the strand part of the spaghetti squash and actually had to check the sticker on the squash to make sure I had bought the right kind.I saw one recipe that called for keeping the squash flesh side up and it took an hour to cook. Another recipe said to put it flesh side down and cook for 30 minutes...I chose face down. I am impatient.

When the squash came out it was knife tender. I scraped the insides out and the spaghetti strands came forth! I added 2 tablespoons of butter and a 2 tablespoons brown sugar. It could have used additional brown sugar, but I wanted to stay on the healthy side so I kept it short on sugar.

Deer Valley Picnic

The Utah Symphony did a tribute to the Beattles at Deer Valley this weekend and I was in charge of the food. Going to outdoor concerts can be a challenging food opportunity because you need to have food that will keep for the long drive, easily portable and yet still pure cusine yummy!

I chose to make pine nut and lemon orzo with salmon and sides of fresh peaches and strawberries, cheese and crackers and sparkling strawberry lemonade. I did it total Ina Garten style using individual meal containers, wine glasses and good silverware with linen napkins to make my guests feel special and it WORKED!

Pine Nut and Lemon Orzo:
From Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2008
4 cups uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta, about 1 1/2 pounds) - I just used 1-one pound box
2 tablespoons grated lemon rind
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
3/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley - which I completely forgot to put into my recipe.
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting slat and fat. Drain. Combine rind, juice, salt and pepper in a large bowl. slowly add oil to juice mixture, sitrring constantly with a whisk. add pasta to juice mixture, toss to coast. Cool to room temperature. Stir in parsley and pine nuts.

I cooked three pieces of salmon with olive oil and a little bit of dried dill at 400 F for 10 minutes, let it cool and broke it into bite sized pieces and added it to the orzo.

The difficult part of this cusine picnic was the sparking strawberry lemonade. I wanted to have a fun special drink, but making this drink in the picnic arena was a little challenging. Especially because it rained on us most of the night.

I squeezed the juice of six lemons into a food processor with 6-7 frozen strawberries (they don't have to be frozen, I just had a bag of frozen strawberries) and a couple of packets of equal. Blend until smooth, put through a strainer to get all the strawberry seeds out....I of course forgot to do this, but you can learn from my mistake. I put this mixture into a twist on tupperware container so it would travel well. In a wine glass, combine 4 tablespoons of strawberry lemon mixture and add sparkling water.

We had a fantastic time despite the rain and tha fact that I forgot the battery to my camera when we got to Park City. This picture was taken with my cell phone!