Tasty Tuesday

Here we go with another edition of Tasty Tuesday. I skipped last week, mostly because going to Gattiland for a pizza & salad buffet with my family sounded like more fun than cooking. You forgive me right?? I mean, you would do the same right? :o)

I didn't do anything super fancy this week, (same as always), but I did try some new potatoes. I found this on Allrecipes and thought it sounded interesting. However, by the time it got down to it, I made so many changes to it, that it didn't really even seem like the same recipe. But it was delicious anyway, so here goes:

DUTCH POTATOES



Ingredients: 3 cups peeled & cubed potatoes, 2 cups peeled & diced carrots, 1/2 cup of sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, and chives.

Step 1: The recipe said to boil the potatoes and carrots together. But here's why I didn't do that...I think the idea of mashing potatoes and carrots together sounds kinda of gross. So I decided to boil my potatoes separately, and I sauteed the carrots in olive oil and garlic. Like so:

I boiled the potatoes for about 15 minutes and let the carrots sautee on low heat for a little longer than that while I mashed the potatoes. I didn't do very well taking pictures of this process. What you need to know about me is that I get a little frazzled in the kitchen. I get several things going at once and I start to stress about making sure it all comes together at the right time. I'm not good at that. So, picture taking was the last thing on my mind. I can hear you laughing right now, thinking - "What exactly does she have going on??" Because yes, this meal is incredibly simple. It's just me. :o) Anyway, moving on...

Step 2: Mash the potatoes by hand (because I like them lumpy for this recipe) and then mix in the sour cream (we used fat free, cuz it tastes the same). Add the carrots, once they are at the right texture for you. I like them with a little bit of firmness to them, but Hubster likes them softer. It's all about you. Then grate some cheese over the top and add the chives. So. Dang. Easy. - and by the way - delicious.

I threw some chicken on the George Foreman grill too, (we love the foreman grill and the charred flavor it provides :o) and we had that with our new delicious Dutch Potato recipe.

The carrots inside the potatoes, was really amazing. It added this little sweet taste to it and I really loved it. I'm pretty sure this is how we'll make most of our mashed potatoes from now on. And we were thinking... maybe corn would be good in there too? What do you think?

Tasty Tuesday!

Alright, here we go with another Tasty Tuesday... you ready? Okay wait, let me give a little explanation for what you are about to see... I did not plan ahead for this week. I meant to, but I had a birthday dinner to go to on Monday. So on Sunday afternoon, I realized that in order to post for my Tasty Tuesday, I would have to make a dinner that night. So I raided my cupboards. And cookbooks. And this is what I found. It's not pretty, but it actually was pretty delicious.

LEMON GARLIC CHICKEN  

A recipe found in a slow cooker cookbook

So I planned to make this recipe with some Au Gratin potatoes... and then realized I was out of milk. So, we switched it to rice, which is not pictured here, obviously.

Ingredients: Oregano, Salt, Pepper, Lemon Juice, Garlic, Butter, Chicken Bouillon Cubes, 2 Chicken Breasts. This makes 4 servings because we cut the breasts in half... it really all depends on what size servings you want.

Step 1: Mix all your spices together and rub them into the chicken breasts. Brown chicken in skillet on high heat, and then put chicken into the slow cooker.

You don't need to cook the chicken all the way through since it will finish in the slow cooker. (I mention that, not because I think you're stupid, but because these are the sort of logical, common sense things that I dont know automatically. The Hubster actually had to tell me that.)

Step 2: Pour 2 1/2 cups of water, 3 tbsp of lemon juice, garlic and bouillon cubes into the skillet and bring to a boil, lifting the brown pieces from the chicken browning for flavor. Once it boils, pour into slow cooker over the chicken.

Alright, now listen - I know how gross this looks. I was seriously almost in tears at this point, because dinner is looking mighty nasty. And I didn't understand why on earth anyone would go through all this trouble and put chicken breasts into a slow cooker, when you can get the same result in a skillet in 20 minutes?? Plus, isn't it going to dry out? What you see in the picture above is after I added about half a can of chicken broth. **Disclaimer - that was NOT part of the recipe. That came  from The Hubster and his expertise. So I listened to him and added it... And I'm glad I did! I kept thinking, "Gross, it's going to be soggy." (I know, I literally have no cooking skills.)

Anyway - stay with me. This recipe has a happy ending. :o)

Step 3: Cook on High about 2-2 1/2 hours, or on Low for 4-5 hours.

Step 4: Cook whatever side you want to have with your chicken. We decided on rice, but I can't share the recipe because it's super top secret and been in my family for many years. ....Okay FINE! It's Rice-A-Roni. The San Francisco Treat. And you know what? It was freakin' delicious. Maybe even better than the chicken. So like I said - Dinner = Not Fancy (due to lack of planning on my part.)

Let me tell you what though. That chicken was so tender and juicy... I mean it was literally falling apart as we were cutting through it. I thought it was really, really good. The Hubster decided he didn't love the seasoning (he's not an oregano fan), but I really liked it. And the rice, one more time - delicious!

So take from this what you will... maybe today you learned planning ahead gives you more options. Or maybe you learned that Rice-A-Roni makes a delicious treat. Maybe you learned that I know frighteningly little about the kitchen... You know what I learned? I learned that Hubster doesn't care for Oregano. WHO KNEW?? Happy Cooking everybody! Until next Tuesday....

Tasty Tuesday!

Welcome back to another edition of Tasty Tuesday. I'm learning to cook and expand my taste for food. I'm among the pickier eaters out there and my logic is this: If I cooked it and spent time making a dinner, I'll feel obligated to taste it. Hopefully that leads to me liking more food than I do right now. Tonight's recipe is from Allrecipes.com. Here goes nothin'!

GARLIC SALMON FILLETS

Ingredients: 2 Salmon Fillets, Fresh Green Beans (or whatever vegetable you love), 1 Sprig of Fresh Dill, Dill Weed, Garlic and Lemon. You'll also need a baking sheet, foil and cooking spray. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Step 1: Sprinkle the fillets with salt, pepper, dill and garlic - like this:

Step 2: Slice half the lemon, and place slices on top of the filets. Then set a sprig of dill on top for garnish. Don't they just look so pretty?  

Step 3: Place a piece of foil on top and seal tightly on edges, and bake in oven for 25 minutes.

Step 4: The green beans! I cut the ends off, because hubby prefers them that way. And then add salt & garlic in our house, cuz plain green beans are boring. Then steam away!

I really was super nervous about baking salmon fillets. Those of you who know me well, know that I dont like seafood. I believe this decision was made sometime during my childhood without ever even tasting it. That's embarrassing I know, but I am not adventurous... I do NOT like to try new food. But as you know, this is a big part of why I've implemented Tasty Tuesday. The point is - I intended to make this meal and NOT like it. PLUS, I've heard lots of times that people are really picky about how they like their salmon. They only enjoy it if it's done a certain way, so i was super prepared to fail miserably. But this turned out to be the easiest recipe EVER! And look how pretty!

The best part? I LIKED IT!! Do you know what that means? There could be lots of food out there, that my child self decided I didnt like that maybe... just MAYBE I actually will eat! So, until next week - happy cooking! And if you have a recipe I should try, let me know! I can use all the help I can get. :o)

Rice Krispies Easter Basket

WARNING: What you are about to see is RiDIcULoUslY cute! I was way too distracted over the past couple weeks, by our upcoming home purchase to get my act together and do the Easter Bunny Cake Pops I wanted to do from Bakerella. So, I decided to "hop" in on Lindsey's (my sister) project (nice play on words there right?) and feature it here for your enjoyment. I am not sure where she got this idea, I know she mentioned seeing a picture of them somewhere and decided to give it a shot.

Here we go - without any further ado! We started with a little bit of this:  

Ingredients: 6 Cups Rice Krispies, 4 Cups Mini Marshmallows, 3 Tbsp Butter, Shredded Coconut (not pictured), Robin Eggs or Peanut Butter M&M's, Green Food Coloring (not pictured).

I'm sorry we didn't get all the ingredients in the shot... we just were kind of all over the place. :o)

Step 1: Melt the butter in a fairly good sized sauce pan, and when melted - add the 4 cups marshmallows.

Step 2: Stir constantly while marshmallows are melting and when completed, remove from heat.

Step 3: Add Rice Krispies and stir until well mixed.

Meanwhile, off to the side somewhere, you'll want to color the coconut. Depending on how green you want your grass, you can just do this however you see fit. Ours looked like this:

Step 4: Take your well greased cup cake tins, and put a good amount of the Rice Krispie mix in there and shape it like a basket. We kept ours pretty shallow, because the deeper ones didn't look as cute. Again, whatever floats your boat. Here's ours:

Shallow Baskets (above) VS. The Deeper Baskets (below)

Step 5: Place the green coconut in the bottom of your basket for the grass.

Step 6: Add the ADORABLE robin eggs, or M&M's.

I mean... does it get any better than that?? Lindsey - NICE WORK!! 

I mean these are just PERFECTION! I know what you're thinking... how can these possibly get any cuter? Well, I'll tell you: RIBBON!!!

SERIOUSLY!! It's almost too much to handle. Amazing work Lindsey, thanks for letting me be a part of it.

Side Note: Lindsey had originally planned to try and use Twizzlers, but they didn't work out as well as we had hoped...hence the switch to ribbon. It was last minute, but in my opinion - a great call. The ribbon looks as cute as Twizzlers ever could!

I hope everybody has a wonderful Easter and enjoys this special time with their families. I love big Sunday dinners, it just doesn't get any better... Except when Lindsey has adorable Rice Krispie Easter Baskets to put around as place settings!!! Have a good one! XOXOXO

OH - and one more thing... our dog wants to wish you a Happy Easter also - I mean, does this face not seriously melt your heart??

Tasty Tuesday!

Welcome to my first official Tasty Tuesday! I'm pretty excited about my new endeavor. I have wanted to get better at cooking for so long, it's time I just took the bull by the horns. I hope that somewhere along the way, you get some fun recipes out of it too and by all means... feel free to participate and share some recipes!!

Okay, now on to the good stuff. I found this recipe in a Better Homes & Gardens book and decided to give it a whirl. It seemed pretty easy (which is a good starting place for me) so we got the ingredients needed and I took off running... I tried to take pictures all along the way, but I was so focused on cooking, that I didn't quite remember all the time. In any case - here's a little photo story of my dinner.

Chicken & Prosciutto Pasta

You will need the following ingredients:

• 12 oz Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts (cut into 1/2 inch thick bite-size strips)
• 2 Cups of dried Penne Pasta
• 4 oz Sliced Prosciutto or Ham (coarsely chopped)
• 1/2 Yellow Sweet Pepper (cut into bite-size strips)
• 1 - 15 oz Jar of Marinara Sauce
• 1 - 10 oz Jar of Alfredo Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
• 2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
• Parmesan Cheese to sprinkle on top
• Casserole Dish

When you've got it all together, it should look a little something like this:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

1. I started by preparing the penne pasta according to the package and then set that aside.
2. Then I cooked the chicken breasts with olive oil and garlic in a skillet, and after it had gotten started for a few minutes, I added the prosciutto and peppers.
3. Once the chicken is done, with no pink left, I drained off the grease and then added the pasta to the chicken and prosciutto mix. Like this -

4.  I sprayed the casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray and pour half the mixture for bottom layer.

5.  Pour 2 cups of the marinara sauce on top, followed by all of the alfredo sauce on top of that.

6.  Then I poured the rest of the chicken and pasta mixture in as the next layer.

7.  Pour the rest of the marinara sauce on top and then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

I should have had more pictures of the layering, but I was too distracted. I'll get better! But here's what it looked like before it went into the oven:

8.  Baked for 25-30 minutes and VOILA! My first Tasty Tuesday.

It was pretty good! I learned that pasta cooks even after you pull it off, so you really should take it off the fire a little bit before it's done so it doesn't get soggy. Also, I learned that I kinda like yellow sweet peppers. I'd like to thank Better Homes & Gardens for that super dee duper easy recipe. :o) What should I learn to cook next week? What have YOU cooked this week?

Tasty Tuesday #1

In my household, it's generally acknowledged that I should stay out of the kitchen and let TSS (my hubby) handle all the cooking. I was oh-so-very blessed to marry someone with a super talent for knowing exactly how to match flavors together. Pretty much everything he makes is unbelievably delicious. And the most enviable part? He doesn't even follow recipes! Honestly, I dont think I've ever seen him read one.

Anyway, the point is this - I am 30 now. Yes, I know... it's shocking. But it's time I played my role as "wife" and actually learned how to use these utensils that fill my kitchen cabinets.

So it is to that end, that I announce, "Tasty Tuesday." From now on, every week I will scour cookbooks, websites, food networks and other, more awesome blogs for "tasty" recipes that I'd like to try. Once a week, I will cook something and share with you my results. Join me on this adventure won't you?

But, for today - I will celebrate my birthday at my FAVORITE place: Firebowl Cafe. What will YOU cook this week? I'd love some ideas!