Potato Salad

I found this recipe at Seasaltwithfood and thought my husband would like it.

He doesn't normally eat potato salad, but there are enough of the things he does like in this, that I thought I'd take a chance.

And happily, he loves it!

Ingredients:

• Yukon Gold Potatoes
• 1 small Red Onion, chopped
• 3 ribs Celery, chopped
• 3 Tbsp chopped fresh Chives
• 6 Tbsp Sour Cream
• 1 Lemon, juiced
• 5 Tbsp Prepared Horseradish
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• Sea Salt to taste
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper to taste

Method

"Boil the potatoes until just tender. Drain and cut the potatoes into quarters or halved if smaller.

In a separate dish, combine red onion, celery, chives, sour cream, lemon juice, and horseradish and mix well. Add olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Combine the potatoes with the dressing and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for about 1 to 2 hours before serving."

or devour immediately like we did. either way, really, but I'm sure it will be even better in tomorrows lunch.

Wow!

I haven't posted in a long time.

It's been busy in my house & I haven't had a lot of computer time in the past few weeks. And on the rare occasions I can get to the computer, I've spent catching up with an old friend I haven't talked to since 7th grade!

facebook is an amazing thing.

So, in the past two weeks I've still tried new recipes, but I did the quick and dirty versions of them to save time and a little money. Eventually, I'm sure I'll do them the slow and clean way, but since I'm pretty happy with the results I got, I think I'll stick to my way for now.

The first thing I tried was Dragon's Rice Pudding.

Now let me say, my mothers rice pudding is a wonderful thing. This is total comfort food for me & it's what I want to eat on the occasions I need my mama.

However

my mothers rice pudding recipe is...difficult. It requires kitchen equipment I don't own
(ie: corning wear and/or a casserole dish. since i'm vegetarian i don't own such things) and although I do love rice pudding, it's really not worth going out & buying these items I'll never use for anything other than rice pudding.

So, I had been searching around for a rice pudding recipe I could do on the stove top. And Voila! Dragon had one posted that's perfect! (have i mentioned how much i love Dragons blog? No? Well, I do! Great recipes there!)

Unfortunately, the craving for it was high, and resources were low. So I made do with what I had.

And this is what I did:

Cranberry and Lemon Rice Pudding by Dragon

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water
2 cups soy milk
3 strips of lemon rind
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup short-grain rice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 large egg, beaten

Directions:

1. In a saucepan combine water, milk, lemon, cinnamon and salt. Cover and bring it to a boil, over medium heat.

2. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the rice. Cook the rice, uncovered for about 25-30 minutes or until the rice is almost tender. Stir often.

3. Add the sugar and cranberries. Cook for another 5 to 10 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat.

4. Stir in the egg quickly until well combined. Return the pan to the heat until the rice is slightly thickened. Stir constantly. Remove the lemon rind. Cool the rice to your desired temperature.

Spoon into bowls and sprinkle with ground cinnamon and/or lemon zest.

Let me just say that this is sinfully good. No, really! It's seriously that good! I brought some to work to share with my friend there & those were her exact words!

The pudding is on the left in the picture up there. That's my little wanna-be bento box. I spend way to much free time oogling bento sites. some day i'll go there. some day...

on the right hand side of the picture is the other new recipe I tried.
Again, this is the quick and dirty version of the origianal which you can find at Buff Chickpea

YaYa's Potatoes

1/2 a bag of red potatoes
2 onions, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup vegetable broth

1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Sea salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place the cut up potatoes in a greased baking dish Set aside while you make the lemon dressing.

In a medium bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, broth, oregano, garlic, and a little salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the potatoes, and give everything a good toss.

Sprinkle with additional kosher salt and cracked black pepper and put into your preheated oven.

Bake for 30 minutes, give the potatoes a toss, then bake for an additional 45-50 minutes, tossing every 20 minutes or so.

Personally, I really liked these. Never, thought they were ok. He didn't hate them, and he ate them, but he said he likes the crash potatoes better. But I made them again anyway for me, because they're fast, yummy, filling and re-heat really well!

Smashed Potatoes

This is one of my husbands favorite things to eat ever. ever. ever. ever. Like my daughter, he has 'texture issues'. He eats foods based on texture first, taste second. I think he's tactile defensive. So a lot of the cooking I do for my fam is done with texture in mind.

And this little recipe has it all for him. Four stars for texture & four for taste as well.

I ran across this at The Pioneer Woman and thought 'ah-ha! yes! Never will love this!' and I was right! It's ingenious, really. Back in the day, when Never still ate meat, I made chicken thighs dang near exactly like this & he loved those. So when I saw the same thing done, but vegetarian style I was psyched.

I'm awfully fond of these too, so I usually make it every weekend. And I cannot tell you how amazingly wonderful they are. You're just going to have to experience them for your self.

Ingredients:

Red Potatoes
A lot of olive oil
Garlic Powder
Fresh Rosemary
Kosher Salt. (regular salt will NOT do)
Cracked Black Pepper

And as an added bonus, they're really easy.

1. Boil red potatoes until the are soft. Drain them.

2. While they are boiling, you'll want to prepare the pan. In a large baking dish/cookie sheet / caserolle dish / whathaveyou / whatever you use line with aluminum foil. With a pastry brush, coat the foil with a healthy layer of olive oil. This is so that when you put the potatoes down on them, they won't stick to the pan after they've been cooked. After they're done cooking place them on the prepared pan.

3. Using a masher or slotted spoon of preference, slightly squash down the tops of the potatoes so they split like above. It usually takes two smashing per potato to get them just right. Then let them cool. While they are cooling, chop up enough fresh rosemary to cover the amount of potatoes you cooked.

4. After the potatoes have cooled, use the pastry brush and liberally coat each potato with olive oil. Then sprinkle with garlic powder, then the kosher salt, the pepper and rosemary to taste.

Personally, I love all of these things so I lay it on thick.

5. Bake in the oven at 450 until golden and crispy. Usually about 20-40 mins depending upon your oven & the size of the potatoes.

And Voila
For non-vegetarians, I suppose this would be a side dish, but for my household, it's the main course and they usually don't last long enough to get cold.

Enjoy!