Crack Potatoes...I sense a pattern here...

Well...between Pinterest and my large (embarrassingly large) collection of cookbooks I should be blogging everyday but for various reasons clearly I am not. So, here's my attempt to make it happen more than every 6 months. I have so many recipes in the wings that I thought it best to start with some of the winners.

[I've never met a potato I didn't like]

So says my Dad and I have to agree! We make crack potatoes for breakfast when we are having people visit for the weekend and we often [always] keep the ingredients on hand. Always. The original recipe can be found here and Pinned here. These hash brown potatoes were introduced to me and my co-workers by a fellow co-worker Lisa. We are still not sure if we hate her or love her for introducing us to the mountain of cheesy-carbs...either way, the first introduction was a huge hit. I immediately re-pinned her pin, stopped at the grocery store on the way home and made them for Saturday morning breakfast.  Enter very happy, sweet husband.

I can't believe I've never snapped a photo of these scrumptious potatoes so this will be a somewhat dry [but cheesy] post. All you need is the recipe and a few suggestions along the way.

Thaw your potatoes completely before starting this recipe.  I have found that because potatoes hold a lot of moisture it took several days for the hash browns to defrost.  I ended up microwaving the potatoes a few times, stirring the potatoes around each time, before I added the butter.  Think about it, if you have even semi-cold potatoes, once you pour the very delicate [and delicious] butter over them the butter will begin to congeal. You don't want this.  

Originally, this recipe calls for corn flakes and almost every time we have made this I have included them. Until one day when I made this as a traveling chef I forgot the corn flakes so a cheese topping it was. Honestly, I didn't miss the corn flakes but I encourage you to make it both ways  and decide for yourself. It does add a nice bit of texture with the buttery, crunchy corn flakes but we didn't like them included if we were planning on having leftovers.  Leftovers for this dish are not always available due to their "crack-ness" but if you happen to have leftovers they do quite nicely warmed in your toaster oven or directly in a non-stick frying pan.

Also, this recipe doubles nicely but prepare separately then mix together in a large lasagna or other deep dish baking dish. Unless you have an industrial size bowl the mess is unbelievable!

{Crack Potatoes}

Ingredients:
1 2lb. bag of hash browns, thawed and at room temperature

 salt + pepper - I never measure this...perhaps a ¼ - ½ teaspoon of each, do what you do!
1 cup butter, melted (1 stick)
1 sm. - med. onion chopped
1 can of cream of potato soup (10 ¾ oz)

1 pint of sour cream (I have used both regular and lite)

2 cups of shredded yellow cheddar cheese + 1-2 cup for the topping

Non-stick cooking spray

Equipment:
Large microwave safe bowl
9x13 casserole dish

Optional:

2 cups of corn flakes
¼  - ½  cup of butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray a 9×13″ baking dish; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine thawed hash browns with the cup of the melted butter, pepper, salt, cheddar cheese and chopped onion, blending well. 

Fold in the soup and sour cream and be sure to mix evenly. Spread potatoes evenly into a prepared 9×13″ baking dish. Top with the 1-2 cups of shredded cheese or:

Optional: Mix 1/4 cup melted butter and corn flakes together and sprinkle over top of casserole. 

Bake at 350 degrees, uncovered, for 45-50 minutes. If you use a glass casserole dish you'll see the mixture bubble and brown nicely along the sides and on the top for all other aluminum pans.  Let sit 10 - 15 minutes, serve hot with a side of bacon and a fried egg or two.

Good luck getting rid of your next house guests. Enjoy! 

The Ultimate Sweet & Sour Chicken, aka "Crack Chicken"

Okay. I apologize in advance for sharing this recipe with you...welcome to your new favorite family meal! I could literally sit down and house the entire dish. No rice needed, just me, my couch and a shovel.  I realize I shouldn't admit these things out loud but once you've made this chicken, you'll understand. 

I discovered this recipe when Shannon brought it to work for her lunch. I was sure she found some Chinese restaurant in our area that I had to know about. This being one of the food categories that I have missed most since moving out of NJ I just had to know where it came from. Where else but  Pinterest?! 

I have tried this recipe a few different ways over the last year and the bottom line is, semi-frying your chicken is the way to go.  We tried just lightly browning the chicken without a coating, eh. Not ideal. It works if you want to avoid the whole frying process. I'm actually considering buying a small deep fryer to speed along the process. I know, I know who am I Paula Deen?  I've made this recipe enough to recognize that it might be time. There is a reason we call it crack chicken.

[Offering someone food and secretly 

hoping they'll say no]

It's that kind of chicken. 

I have found that it's much easier to ignore the amount of cornstarch you need to use (see below) and just stick the chicken in a bowl and add cornstarch until the chicken is fully coated. I don't know about you, but I can't stand wasting eggs and flour/dry ingredients when I do this kind of a recipe.

For the next process, I prefer to use my fingers to move the chicken from the egg mixture to the oil as I feel it moves the process along quite nicely. If you're afraid of searing, hot oil, please don't.  Once you have finished the laborious task of lightly frying your chicken, it's time to pour the liquid gold sauce over your chicken then bake.  I realize having to return to the chicken every 15 minutes to turn might seem like the worst part...its not. Go do some laundry or start clean-up from the first part of this recipe. 

{Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken}

Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breasts
salt + pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2-3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Sweet & Sour Sauce:
1 ½ cup sugar
½ cup ketchup
1 cup distilled white vinegar
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp garlic salt

Equipment:
Large stainless steel frying pan or fryer
Tongs to flip chicken in oil
1 large bowl for coating chicken

1 bowl for your eggs + fork

Extras:

Broccoli, lightly steamed and added at the end

Rice - we like to mix white and whole grain rice to balance out what the SH likes and what I think is a good choice to make...although it's a little like ordering a Big Mac and a Diet Coke. Anyway!

Directions:
Read the entire recipe before starting - I will never stop saying that! Start by preheating your oven to 325^oF.  Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk & set aside.  

Rinse your chicken breasts in water, dry completely and cut into cubes and season with salt and pepper.

Heat your ¼ - ½  cup oil in a large skillet.

Toss all the chicken in a large bowl with the cornstarch, coat thoroughly.

Dip the chicken in the eggs and place enough chicken evenly spread out in your skillet. Cook the chicken until lightly browned on each side but not cooked through.  Place the chicken on a paper towel to soak up extra oil and then in a 9x13 prepared baking dish. Repeat process until all the chicken has been coated and fried.

Once the chicken has lined the pan, pour the sweet & sour sauce evenly over the chicken. Bake for [1] hour and during the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes. [Be careful when opening your oven, the vinegar is evaporating and can burn your eyes, open the oven door, give it a few seconds then pull out the dish and stir]
Turn your chicken by simply using a slotted or large spoon and turning the chicken over in batches and redistributing the sauce. No need to be super technical about this process, it’s just to coat the chicken in the sauce. After the hour is over, remove, let cool slightly. Enjoy over rice, with broccoli or with toothpicks as an appetizer.

Original recipe:  http://life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2010/09/baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken-with-fried.html?m=1

Gimme S'more Cupcakes!

This was a fun recipe to try, we love s'mores and cupcakes around here. I have been working on the perfect chocolate cake recipe and this batch still needs some work but it was good enough as a base for this latest creation!

I had several ideas on how to construct a S'more cupcake but finally decided to include the graham cracker in "sprinkle" form.  A little melted butter, sugar and finely ground almond made for a nice addition.  I can't give you a recipe because I didn't measure at all! You want the graham cracker mixture to be damp but not wet with butter, enough to hold all the ingredients together.

The marshmallow frosting was tricky! It's so sticky.  This recipe is similar to what I tried.  I couldn't imagine using that much butter in a frosting recipe.  In all honesty, I usually cut the butter amount in half for every recipe I first started trying.
The important thing with frosting is to start with a butter and/or cream cheese base and add confectioners sugar [CS] slowly.  Half way through adding the [CS] pile in the flavor, whether it be marshmallow fluff, lemon or cocoa powder.  Finish with the remaining CS and add a teaspoon of milk at a time until the frosting meets piping consistency.

[now is a good time to taste test]

The real tricky part was the thought of piping such a sticky substance. No worry, simply spray some pam or cooking spray (please don't use olive oil) in the piping bag and you'll be just fine!  

I almost enjoy the presentation as much as the cupcake itself...almost, but here it is anyway:

Happy baking! Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Lasagna, two ways!

Okay, yum! I've already made this about three times and for the most recent adventure I used sweet potatoes instead of squash and super yum!! 

This recipe originated from a bridal shower I attended earlier in the year and once I tried it I HAD to make it! My parents came to visit soon after and it was a perfect lunch - and they are honest guinea pigs.  The backbone of the recipe is from Giada (host of Everyday Italian on the Food Network).  Her Butternut Squash Lasagna is delicious and combine a host of some of my favorite flavors.
An advantage to trying this recipe is that I've never cooked with squash before, it's not a huge hit in our house and I've never had a reason to go through the process of peeling, seeding & chopping - it's quite the chore!

Once you have diced the squash (or sweet potatoes) follow the directions in the recipe and consider using cracked black pepper and sea salt for the flavor.  It really goes a long way.  Once you have sautéed the veggies and mashed them all up the recipe calls for a crumbled cookie...a cookie that I couldn't find in the grocery store.  A good substitute: Stella Doro cookies with an almond flavor, it does the trick!  I forgot this step when I made it the last time and honestly, with sweet potatoes, you don't need it.

While the sweet potatoes and/or squash is sautéing consider starting your basil-cream sauce. So yum!  I bought a basil plant for this as it was past season for my basil plants outside.  If you're local to the Seacoast area I recommend using Olivia's Garden Basil, it has a great peppery flavor and will last a decent amount of time in your kitchen - away from moisture.
It's important to follow proportions when making a sauce that involves butter, flour and milk!  BTW, if you find yourself nearly out of milk, you can easily substitute your coffee's half & half to make up the difference, it actually makes a thicker sauce.

When blending the basil into your sauce, if you have a hand-held blender I highly suggest it (this one is similar to the one we have).  This way you can avoid having to dirty up another appliance and it's more efficient.
Be sure to use fresh mozzarella with this recipe, it really makes a difference in flavor and the moisture helps with the no-boil lasagna noodles (I love these!).  When you remove the foil for the last 15 minute bake, add some freshly shredded (not grated) parmesan cheese, it makes a nice crust and presentation on the top of the lasagna.  This would be a great meal for after Thanksgiving when you're sick of turkey but still in the mood for some fall flavors!
Last but not least, Enjoy! 

Hey hey hey!

Hello everyone! I haven't forgotten about you!  For a while there we were eating sandwiches & breakfast for dinner because of our busy schedules [aka: I was too tired & it was too hot to experiment in the kitchen].
It eventually cooled down for about a week and here's what I'll be blogging for you soon. From the savory category:

Fresh bruschetta with warm, crusty Italian Bread

Giada's Butternut Squash Lasagna

Homemade white pizza dough with basil, tomato & fresh mozzarella 

Pork burgers with caramelized onions and a barbecue marmelade

The sweet category:

Raspberry Triple Cream Cupcakes

Lemon, Raspberry & Chocolate-Orange mini-cupcakes

Another shot at the Snicker's Cupcakes
Chocolate Cake, Homemade Caramel filling & Peanut ButterCream Frosting

Garlic Lime Chicken Kabobs

Limes are in abundance at our house this summer.  We buy them by the bag and they've shown up in Blueberry Lime Muffincakes, marinades, a cocktail or two...ya know, the usual.  I just love the flavor, I even prefer a slice of lime or two with my ginger ale.  This marinade was so easy and made for a delicious, lower calorie meal.  We opted to stay away from hot dogs and hamburgers this past Memorial Day/4th of July/any grilling adventure and made our own marinade with garlic, lime and various spices.

Ingredients:
2-3 Lime juice, a couple
Fresh Cilantro, chopped
Garlic Powder - I use powder when I make a marinade because it's more likely to equally distribute amongst the chicken, peppers than crushed garlic.
S/P
Crushed Red Pepper
1/4 cu of vegetable or olive oil
1.5 lbs of chicken

[3] Bell Peppers

[1] Lg. Onion

Directions:
1. Soak skewers in water for about 25-30 minutes
2. Mix first [5] ingredients then whisk in oil 
3. Chop peppers and onions into large pieces; use kitchen shears to cut chicken breasts/tenders into medium size pieces.
4. Submerge vegetables and chicken in marinade, toss and let sit in fridge anywhere from 30 minutes to overnight.

5. Skewer chicken & peppers in any way you like.  Leave room at the top and bottom of the skewer to handle while on the grill and eating.

6.  Grill skewers 3-4 minutes per side - grilling time depends on how large you cut your chicken.  With chicken, you want to make sure the juices run clear and is no longer pink in the center.

7.  Squeeze fresh lime juice over the skewers when they come off the girl and either eat them on a long roll, over salad or by themselves, it's all good!

8.  Enjoy!

Vegetable Ravioli "Lasagna"

Another Yum!  We're on a Rachel Ray kick this past week and here's another good one.  Vegetable Ravioli "Lasagna" - super yummy and a plus that it has asparagus, a good spring/summer veggie.  This is from Rachel Ray, 30-Minute Meals 2 in the Family-Style Suppers.  I don't always find that the portion sizes always match the recipe and this is another case, it says 4-6 servings...more like 8.

Recipe Notes:
*This recipe is also in Rachel Rays, 2,4,6,8 Great Meals for Couples or Crowds - one difference, no asparagus.

• 4-6 cloves of garlic finely chopped crushed
• 2 cans [15 oz each] quartered artichokes in water, drained well & finely chopped, really break up the pieces and chop them throughly.
• 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 large package [24 - 28 oz] fresh well, yes fresh would be lovely too, but you can certainly use frozen ravioli if it's more convenient for you...with your favorite filling.  
• 1 lb thins asparagus spears, trimmed of rough ends, cut on an angle into 2 inch very small pieces.  It's inconvenient to have large pieces of asparagus amongst the other medium sized pieces in the "lasagna."
• 4  or 2 cups shredded sharp provolone cheese - sharp provolone is a great flavor, look for it!
• See note below regarding final cooking instructions

Here's the first layer of ravioli, I like the circular pieces, despite my usual preference for square.  Notice the large pile of provolone in the corner...yum!  

Here's the second layer of spinach, artichokes and asparagus.  You can see I followed the recipe this time and kept the asparagus 2"...this is why I have the above note, smaller pieces would be best here.  The sauce didn't thicken as much as I'm used to when using a flour & butter base, but it's perfect the way it is since you're finishing the casserole in the oven.

Here's the final layer with the sauce covering the entire dish, ready and waiting for the cheese!  I used a larger casserole dish but I recommend using a deeper, oval dish, I'll do the same the next time I make this.

Ready for the oven! The recipe calls to broil the dish, but it's better to: Brown in broiler Bake @ 350deg. about 15 minutes, until cheese is golden and "lasagna" is heated through.  

This lasted for days!  It was so yummy too.  It looks the best on the first day but tastes the better the second day - as it works with most casseroles.  What's great about that is you can prepare the day ahead, cool completely, store in an airtight container until ready to serve.  About an hour before serving, let stand at room temperature so you don't place a cold dish in a hot oven and warm in the oven until heated through - about a 250 - 300 deg. oven until gently bubbling. Enjoy!

Lobstah!

Just a quick little note about lobster...it's summer, we've got soft shells and sweet, juicy meat!  A nice piece of corn on the cob, hefty bowl of lemon-butter and a large napkin.  I'm all set!

 Here's a quick dessert - or breakfast treat - depending on your mood.  Simply puff pastry filled with nutella [or any jelly/jam you desire] rolled and baked until golden brown and puffy!  Sprinkle with sugar right out of the oven and you've got a lovely, little treat.

Shrimp & Lemon Pasta

Yum!  I might be over-doing it with lemon recipes in this house, but so far no complaints.  We were in the mood for some lite pasta and I had just bought some shrimp, just happened to have some lemons hanging around and everything else is always in my cabinets.  This recipe is fast, flavorful and really simple.  

Ingredients:
12-14 medium size shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails on
1-2 cups of all purpose flour
Garlic Salt - you can also use powdered garlic & sea salt
2 Tbsp. of Olive Oil
1 Tbsp. of Butter - unsalted
.5 lb. of Angel Hair pasta - really you can use whatever you prefer but the angel hair really has a nice texture with the shrimp
1/4 cup of white wine
Juice of 1-2 lemons - depends on how much lemon you want!
2 Tbsp. of Butter
Chopped fresh Parsley, to taste
Grated Parmesan Cheese


Prep:
Juice lemons
Chop parsley
Measure out ingredients and place on counter/workspace


1.  Boil salted water and cook your pasta according to package directions
2.  Mix together flour & garlic salt; dredge all of the shrimp in the flour mixture. I advise    that you do this all at once and leave shrimp in the flour mixture, you can easily pick the shrimp out to batch fry - shrimp cooks so quickly you don't want to be distracted.
3.  Heat Olive oil & butter over medium heat in a large skillet.
4.  Cook the shrimp over medium heat, 2-3 minutes per side, until shrimp is no longer translucent and heated through.
5.  Transfer shrimp to a plate
6.  Remove any overly dark pieces from the pan, pour in the white wine, lemon juice and butter to lift drippings.  Heat to a slow boil, reduce heat to simmer until mixture has thickened and reduced.  Remove from heat and toss the shrimp in the sauce.
7.  Drain pasta, toss with olive oil, fresh, chopped parsley. Serve a portion on a plate.
8.  Divide the shrimp among the portions and pour the sauce over each serving. Top with parmesan cheese if desired
9.  Enjoy!

Portobello Mushroom Caesar Salad

We like salad year 'round, but it can get a little monotonous, even when you make your own dressing.  Rachel Ray has a recipe for Sliced Grilled Portobello Mushroom Sorta-Caesar Salad in her 30-Minute Meal cookbook, 2,4,6,8 Great Meals for Couples & Crowds and we really liked it! It is an easy, lite, fresh summer recipe.  You can add some protein if need be, I recommend grilling some chicken and squeezing fresh lemon juice over the fully cooked pieces.  Slice up and serve overtop the salad.

This time, I bought baby bella caps instead of the larger size, I find they cook up a little faster.  I removed the stems and sliced a small section of the mushroom off to allow it to lay nice and flat in the pan.

Follow the recipe for the cook time on the mushrooms and shortly thereafter, sprinkle some grill seasoning on each side of the mushrooms and saute for a few minutes longer.  We used Meat Magic which gave it a nice, savory flavor. 

I had planned to use semonlina rolls for the chunks of bread in the salad but I forgot them! So quick, plan B included some tortillas instead.  

I sliced up some tortillas, melted some butter and tossed them in the pan until golden.  Toss with a little s/p and parmesan cheese and you're good to go!

Toss with the dressed and then add the rest of the ingredients.

So good! RR suggested using anchovy paste and I wouldn't go without it.  You can use canned anchovies and finely chop and stir into the dressing.  You should be able to find the paste in the same aisle as tuna.  Enjoy!

Celebrating Independence Day!

We had a lovely weekend!  The weather has been beautiful, the food was great and Monday was a vacation day!
Saturday we spent the day in Boston for Harborfest, we walked all over the city, enjoyed an amazing lunch in the North End at Damianos and dessert & cappuccino at Cafe Vittoria.  Right before we headed back home we watched a skirmish between the militia and red coats...want me to tell you how it ended ;) Enjoy some photos of the day!

On Monday we tried to have a lovely picnic at our favorite park but lightning sent us home pretty quickly!  Instead we grilled back home and enjoyed some delicious Garlic Lime Chicken Kabobs. Recipe to follow soon! I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Enjoy!

Strawberry Lemonade Muffincakes

Okay! So after I made the Blueberry Lime Muffincakes I wanted more! I gave so many away and the SH and I were eating them each morning for breakfast - someone else was enjoying one or two while I was at rehearsal... - and now they're gone!  How do I get past this?  Search the fridge, find a new recipe and go!  There came about Strawberry Lemonade Muffincakes. I used the same recipe but substituted strawberries for blueberries and lemons for limes. 

There's the recipe! Follow it but slice enough strawberries for a heaping cup.  Try not to sample too many...another good reason to make this recipe [if you need one] you'll have the superfine sugar already, no need for another grocery trip! 

Look at those delicious colors!  I thought blueberries said summer, but lemon & strawberries say Summer with a capital 'S!'  This is what your batter should look like once you've added the strawberries.

Because this is a slightly thicker batter than you might be used to, here's what it should look like.  Use an ice cream scoop to get the batter into paper baking cups and smooth over with the back of a spoon.  For this recipe, it's okay to fill the muffincups nearly full.  

This way, they'll come out looking like this:

Cool them in the pan for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.  Line aluminum foil under the wire rack so you can drizzle the lemon glaze over the top. 

Either place in a cake dome, tupperware or individual bags.  Make sure they are completely cooled!

These made their way to [4] people deserving of a treat break! You could be next! Enjoy!