A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

The Best Ever Scalloped Potatoes Recipe

Scallopped Potatoes has always been one of our favorite dishes but as a cook it can be frustrating to make sure that the slices of potato are thin enough and get cooked long enough to make sure they're cooked through to nice and soft.  This recipe addresses so many problems with mediocre scallopped potato recipes.  The potatoes are cubed and pre-boiled on the stove top so the texture is that comforting soft, cheesy, richness that everyone loves.  Plus, by adding herbs to the mix instead of just cream and cheese, the flavor pops in a very 3-D way.  I've never served these potatoes that guests didn't ask for the recipe and tell me how much they love this dish. It is the best scallopped potato recipe I've ever made.

Copycat Benihana Chicken Fried Rice

 Just like a kid, I love having dinner at Japanese steakhouses like Benihana but sometimes I want the rice and/or veggies without the 1 1/2 hour program and all that food in the different courses.  When I have the desire but not the patience, I make my own at home.  Chicken Fried Rice is a great one-pot meal in the style of Jambalaya or other stove-top one-potters.

Easier and faster than it looks, just think about how quickly those Japanese chefs whip up the fried rice before moving on to the steak/chicken/shrimp entree.  And the leftovers are great for lunch the next day or my work lunchbox.

 

Upside Down Potato, Thyme, & Onion Tart

 One of the best, most useful, things my wonderful cook of a mother taught me as I was growing up was how to think in substitutions. I know that sounds like an odd statement but I have learned in my adulthood that not every home cook has been given the benefit of those skills.  I know many wonderful cooks who, if they want to make a recipe and don't have certain ingredients they go to the store for those specific ingredients without any thought of "Hmmm...what do I have that would work, put my pantry or fridge supples in use, and be more economical than purchasing new items?" 

It doesn't always work but in many cases, it does.  For example, in many chicken, rice, and vegetable casseroles that call for, for example, fresh asparagus, if that's not in season, then 99% of the time, either broccoli or fresh green beans will not only work, but be delicious too.  In the example of this recipe, the red potatoes would make an excellent tart but what I had on hand were Yukon yellows, and they too were delicious.  For cheeses, this recipe calls for gruyere, feta, and mozzarella, so we need something with a bit of a tangy, something creamy, and some binding.  I had asiago (tangy), feta, and provolone (binding) available, and again, they were delicious in this recipe. I wish I had had fresh thyme available, but having only dried at the time, it's a simple matter of using half what the recipe calls for since dried herbs tend to be more intensely flavored (unless they're a million years old).

The next time I make it I may have the red potatoes in the house to use and maybe the fresh thyme too...or perhaps I'll try a little tarragon or rosemary, which would also be fabulous.  I love the combination of grilled onions, potatoes, and herbs:  the dinner trifecta!

Chicken Chow Mein: Better For You Than Mom's--Sorry Mom!

Chicken Chow Mein (my Mom's) was my childhood favorite.  We each got to request our dinner and cake for our birthday and Chicken Chow Mein was always my menu. 

Now....there's a funny family story about our cake choices as kids.  My "cake" was always my Nannie's banana bread. My brother Kenneth's choice was always Angel Food Cake with NO frosting, dad's choice was pie, and at the moment it escapes me what my other siblings' (Suzanne and Carl) choices were. I'll have get them to comment to remind me.

Nothing funny, right?  Here's the punchline. Our Mom was a cake decorator.  After making cakes for every kid in town (and us getting all the mistakes and leftovers all the time), and even telling us she'd make us any kind/design we wanted no matter how involved, we were so burned out on cake we all denied our Mom the pleasure of making our birthday cakes. Were we brats, or what?  Yes!  (Laughing) What Mom on the planet has to put up with kids who cry "Please, Mom, please! Don't make us eat cake for our birthdays! Please!"  Brats. We were cake-spoiled brats!

My Mom's Chow Mein, was great and I asked for it every year. It was also healthy. Except...when I started making it as an adult I realized that for a dish with lots of vegetables there was very little color:  water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, baby corn, and bean sprouts, are all pretty boring looking.  To dress up the aesthetic and the vitamin content, I've included many more colorful vegetables in my version.

Better Than Mom's (Sorry Mom!) Lasagna

 

 

Sorry, Mom, even though you were a fabulous cook, I think in this one instance I beat you at your own game. 

I love lasagna but with only two of us it's something I only get to make when we're having company.  You just can't make a small lasagna!

So for New Year's Eve, that's what I did, although I stepped up a few of the ingredients my Mom used to use, switching out ricotta and cream cheese for the cottage cheese, and using a 50/50 mix of ground beef and country sausage for my Slow Cooker Meat Sauce. 

We were all pretty pleased, patting myself on the back. The result was rich without being overwhelming and not too wet, not to dry, perfect texture. Will be making these changes always from now on.

 

Dexter Dinner: Aunti Miranda's Chicken Vindaloo

Auntie Miranda brought dinner to last week's Dexter Dinner and OMG it was wonderful. The even better part was that it was good for us too!  This is the perfect winter meal:  rich and soothing, deceptively simply looking but with complex flavors from the spices and pureed vegetable base. I'll be making this myself again and again.  Thanks Auntie!

Sweet Potato and Roasted Peep Easter Casserole

 

Where most people roast marshmallows, my niece Jordan and I love to roast Peeps.We love that extra crunch the outside layer of sugar of the Easter peep provides along with the perverse spectacle. So why not combine two of our favorite things:  Roasted Peeps and sweet potato casserole? Mmmm...

Feijoida is Good by itself but Better with a Friend

 

Invited to lunch yesterday by my friend Teril, I was served a Portuguese treat I'd never had or made before:  Feijoida, a thick multi-meat stew that her husband, Stan, had brought back a love for from his LDS mission to Brazil. Americanizing it slightly, Teril's version is very close to what he ate in Brazil. Originally, Feijoida was a stew created by the African slaves brought to Portugal and all of its colonies, including Brazil.  The stew primarily consisted of black, white, or pinto beans (depending on the country and region), simmered in large clay pots along with a mix of cast off meats available to the slaves:  beef tongue and pig ears, tails, and feet. Thankfully, the stew Teril fed me was made from beef chuck roast, smoked sausage, and bacon.  I hope. More modernly, the stew is served over rice and may be accompanied by additional smoked sausages, kale or collard greens, hot sauce, and sometimes deep fried bananas.

Sweet Potato Colcannon: St. Pat's Meets the Deep South

 
 

As much as I LOVE colcannon, mashed potatoes with Kale, or any of its "subsidiaries" mashed potatoes with cabbage or spinach or green onions or all of the above, I find this to be a colorful and tasty change of colcannon pace:  SWEET potatos mixed with cooked spinach and green onions. Good AND good for you!

Kansas City Weekend: Gates Bar-B-Q, The Flying Saucer, & BBQ Pulled Pork on Potato Rounds Appetizer Recipe

Our hotel, the KC Airport Hilton, wasn't our first choice but since the Cards were playing the Royals...hotels were hard to come by that weekend.  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise since the rooms, food, and service were exactly what we were looking for.  The only ironic twist was that the hotel was hosting a Jesters (supposedly similar to the Shriners but we'd never heard of them) convention and they didn't seem to have a sense of humor which is rather odd.  Maybe the Jesters are the cranky Shriners who got kicked out because all the Shriners I know are fun and love to party.

In the hotel Cafe Weatherby, we enjoyed a wonderful appetizer of pulled pork topped red potatoes that I decided to recreate at home with a couple of substitutions:  mainly omitting the cheese and adding cole slaw for texture and creaminess instead of the sour cream they served it with (recipe and step-by-step photos at the end of the post).

The two most fun meals we had over the weekend were lunch at Gates Bar-b-q near the art museum and a late night appetizer fest at The Flying Saucer near the Sprint Center.