Half A Dozen Diners

Roasted Garlic and Mushroom Risotto

2010-05-02T17:54:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to try risotto ever since I started watching Hell's Kitchen, listening to Gordon Ramsey call out the orders for it, watching the contestants cook it, it made my stomach rumble! For the last two seasons practically every Tuesday morning I would tell myself, today is the day you make risotto and sit down to a big bowl of it while you watch. But it didn't happen. To tell you the truth, I was scared. I was scared I would mess it up after watching these professional chefs botching batch after batch. Scared that if I screwed up bad enough Chef Ramsey might turn up at my house and tell me what a donut I was. Scared that it would take forever and that half way through I would get bored and decide it was time to learn to knit instead of cook. I was a total chicken. This leads us all to today, the big day.

Yesterday I picked up a cookbook for a dollar at a garage sale called something to the effect of Grandma's Italian Cooking. Today, with my youngest son perched in my lap I read through this book, paging through multiple risotto recipes. I decided, "Self you can totally rock risotto!" then I looked at my baby Aidan and said "What do you think kid, can mom handle making risotto?" He looked at me, smiled, then promptly farted on my lap. I took this as a grand sign, a neon flashing billboard "Get in the kitchen and just do it chicken!" So I did. It wasn't hard at all (seriously contestants, Chef Ramsey must be real scary!) it did take a good 40 minutes of stirring but that was nothing. The time flew by as my four sons took turns running into the kitchen and telling me about the mummies and baby mummies that were living in our hallway that they were either capturing, eating or running from depending on the child. When you are stuck at the stove stirring something for 40 minutes I highly recommend you rent my children. So for all of you fellow chickens out there, try this and try not to be daunted by the time it takes, it may even go faster for you since it's widely known I'm one of the slowest cooks in the world. If you can stir and use a ladle you can make a delicious and impressive risotto.

Roasted Garlic and Mushroom Risotto

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

5 large cloves of garlic (removed from head but don't peel)

1c. Arborio Rice (or another short grain rice)

5c Chicken Broth or water (I did 4c chicken broth 1c water), hot*

1c Onion, minced

1/4 c Parmesan Cheese (I left this out)

1/2-1 c Mushrooms

1/2 White wine (optional)

1. You want to start out by quickly roasting your garlic cloves in the oven. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, lightly coat cloves in olive oil, lay on a cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes or until soft. When they cool peel them and reserve garlic to add in later.

2. Pour your olive oil in your large pan or pot (I used an enormous skillet), heat over medium heat. When oil is heated add in your minced onion and cook until translucent.

3. Add in your rice at this point along with a cup of your broth/water. Stir until all the liquid is absorbed. Continue to add in your warm/hot liquid a cup at a time until you reach your desired consistency. I ended up probably using 4 cups total to get the creamy texture I wanted. About half way through the liquid I added in the roasted garlic to mine but I suggest waiting until the last 5 minutes like with the mushrooms or you lose the flavor.

5. During the last 5 minutes add in your garlic and mushrooms. When it's all done stir in your cheese and serve immediately.

Since underneath the garlic and mushrooms is a very basic risotto you can absolutely substitute either of these things for different veggies or if you want you can cook meat in another skillet and add that at the end too. Risotto is so versatile and if you keep stirring you can't mess it up. So get in your kitchen and make some risotto, you deserve it!

*You can substitute vegetable stock instead of chicken if you are a vegetarian!

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Roasted Garlic Cloves

2010-04-21T09:16:00.001-07:00

This is just a super easy recipe that is multi-purpose. You could serve it in yours rustic country dinner or your elegant supper party. We all know how important green vegetables are for our health, but some people just don't like the taste. This gives your brussel sprout a depth of flavor you don't get from cooking it other ways. Yum yum!

You need:

1 lb of brussel sprouts

1 head of garlic

olive oil

salt and pepper

To start you just want to peel off the wilted outer leaves of your sprouts and give them a good rinse. You also want to take this time to break up and peel the cloves in your garlic head.

You then want to cut your sprouts in half. The reason I do is to get that yummy browning on them like you see in the picture. Spread your sprouts and cloves on a baking sheet. Drizzle with your olive oil and mix together to make sure each has a little coating (not much!) and then sprinkle with salt and pepper, (opt: Garlic Powder.)

Pop them in the oven for about 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees and you will have a side dish that's great for any occasion and tastes wonderful!

Buffalo Fried Potatoes (That Aren't Fried!)

2010-04-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

I tried these first at my parents house a few weeks ago, and I have to tell you they are unbelieveable! For all of you out there that have a love of all things buffalo this is the thing for you. Actually, even if you aren't a big fan these are for you. The way these are cooked give them that crispy deliciousness of something fried without actually being fried. These are the perfect compliment to anything from a plate of chicken wings to steaks on the grill, you just can't go wrong. Give these tators a try!

Buffalo Fried Potatoes

3 potatoes, peeled and cubed.

2T Oil (veggie or peanut)

4 T Frank's Red Hot hot sauce

4 T dry ranch dressing mix.

1. After peeling and cutting your potatoes, RINSE THEM! This is an important step if you want the tators to crisp up.

2. Mix together your ranch mix and hot sauce, then pour over your potatoes and coat well.

3. Drizzle your oil over your potatoes.

Now you want to make sure you line your baking sheet with tin foil and then spray the tinfoil with a cooking oil spray. If you don't by the time it comes to doing the dishes you will find yourself either offering your neighbors good money to scrub your crazy burnt on mess or just throwing the whole thing away.

4. Put into a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes (I cook mine longer but I like them crispy and crunchy, you will just have to peek in and decide when they are perfect for you.)

The original recipe is from the site Recipe Zaar

Title Change

2010-02-02T10:57:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed my fine friends, we here at Cooking Up A Storm (i.e. me sitting on the couch wanting a cup of coffee)have gone through a title change. It's been a real rough thing, in the last 5 minutes it's probably confused thousands! The technician that did the actual changing labored over the er...cyber code gamma chip thing, tinkering and making the words change like magic. She's exhausted, this hard working technician, she needs a raise, and a cup of coffee.

Really though the title was actually quite common and I wanted something that didn't pop up another blog when googled. Hopefully it won't be mistaken for a blog about Diners as in the buildings that feed those of us that are hungry and that have unruly rolling pins and stubborn stoves that need a night off. It's actually diners...like "Oh Hello Mr. Rockafeller, why yes I will take some tea in the sitting room before we excuse ourselves to the DINING room to DINE on some yummy caviar like the DINERS we are." You ah probably didn't need me to explain did you? Hmmm well hopefully it was as good for you anyway as it was for me.

Someday I will actually have an original layout for this blog, but not quite yet. I just wanted to explain to you that you aren't crazy that your links might have changed, and that soon I will actually transfer the entire blog to a new link so my web address matches up.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

2010-02-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

So a few of the last entries have basically just been sharing recipes straight up. Well no more! I had originally started this blog simply for that, to share a recipe with friends or even just recipes I had found or made that I wanted to get down with the adjustments that might not be on my recipe cards or for easier access than pull out one of my many cookbooks. Cookbooks...now that is one topic that will be coming up soon, my addiction, one of my true loves. It's sick, you will see, you can't understand unless you are my husband that watches the shelves on our bookshelf slowly warp awkwardly with the weight of these beautiful books of culinary knowledge. But no, even now they are luring my mind away while I should be moving on to a new point.

I've been wanting to make this recipe for a long time. I've said more times than I can count, "Family of mine I'm off to the kitchen to slave away on a few loaves of cinnamon swirl bread that will make your taste buds dance!" Ok...maybe it was different words, but the point was still the same. Then I would frolic (trudge) into the kitchen to work wonders with my hands (look at the canisters of flour and think about the book I'm reading) with dreams of giving my menfolk a delicious treat (dream of a maid to clean the bathtub I know is waiting and fold the three loads of clothes sitting in the living room.) But as I mentioned before the bread did not get made, I have no idea why, it's not like my mind was somewhere else... oh, wait.

For some reason this bread seemed like a lot of work, a daunting task. For a lot of you that haven't made a lot of any homemade bread it can really seem like a task that requires hands on teaching and a lot of time. In all actuality I probably spent 20 minutes doing any work on this project, and it was well worth it. Now if you haven't visited the site Chickens in the Road, do so now. I've made my fair share of white bread and until I found this site my bread was always lacking that delicious flavor one expects when munching away on a slice of bread fresh from the oven. All of her bread recipes spawn from her recipe for Grandmother bread which she transforms with her [magical] powers into a variety of recipes. Cinnamon Swirl Bread is just one of them. I've yet to make something from her site that anyone in our little family has not eaten with the gusto of a starving pregnant elephant, yes she is just that good.

So I went to work with my new bread bowl I got on clearance in November. This is a very important thing to me this bowl. I waited and waited for it to go on sale because it is just the perfect bowl for bread, don't ask my why because it's unexplainable, it just had that "make bread in me" glow. Ok so yeah, I got my special holy bread bowl and got to it, mixing together my water, sugar, salt and yeast. Let it get all nice and bubbly then start adding in the flour and stirring. Then like Suzanne says when it gets too hard to stir you knead in more flour until it's juuuuuust right. Let it rise until doubled, knead again then roll out onto a floured surface into a rectangle about 12inches x 8 inches or honestly whatever you can get it to roll into. I rolled, beat, whined, begged, and bribed my bread into an oval. Yeah my rolling pin and I are not on good terms and I've decided it has nothing to do with my rolling skills and absolutely everything to do with my unruly rolling pin. Actually as I'm typing I can feel it's anger and indignation as being spoken about like this with no chance to tell it's own side of the story, but I assure you it's side would be wholly inaccurate since I would never pass off the blame of my shortcomings on an inanimate object that I give feelings and responsibilities to. Not me, nope, never. Stop looking at me like that.

Ok so since you all have a nice and helpful rolling pin you get your rectangle all rolled out. This is where you brush on your melted butter and sprinkle your cinnamon and sugar mixture. Then roll your rectangle up and seal your seams at the bottom and ends and slip into a greased loaf pan. Don't worry that I'm not giving you the ingredient list, it's coming I promise, and you can also check out the recipe here and at the other links to the recipe throughout the post. I want to stress that I'm not claiming to have made up this recipe just have baked it. Ok that's cleared up, so now you let your bread rise again until nice and big and well...bread sized. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until it's done, it depends on your oven. If you have an oven like my old oven you really might never know when it's done and you might have to camp out on your kitchen floor and watch...not that anyone would ever do that, like to make sure their cookies came out right. That would be the actions of like...a crazy lady or something, maybe a crazy lady with a bajillion cookbooks, and I know none of us know anyone like that or anything.

Anyway... Once your bread comes out try and let it cool down before you cut into this delicious treat, it will look something like this (hopefully better since my sealing wasn't awesome, hey cut me some slack I had two babies hanging off me at the time) and taste mostly like heaven. Enjoy yourselves, don't be scared of bread and get in your kitchen and make me a sandwich! I mean make yourselves some bread.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

by Chickens in the Road

Ingredients

1 1/2 C Warm Water

1 teaspoon Yeast

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/4 C Sugar

(Mix all the fist ingredients together, let sit 5 minutes, then add flour)

3 1/2 C Flour

(For the inside)

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/4 C Sugar

2 teaspoons Cinnamon

This is the recipe for a single loaf, I doubled it to make two at a time since they were inhaled so fast. All the instructions are up there if you read through my tales or through any of the Cinnamon Swirl Bread links :)

Bake bread and enjoy life!

Mom's Creamy Wild Rice Soup

2009-10-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

This soup is delicious. Filled with wild rice, mushrooms, bacon and creamy goodness. It's very rich but with a bowl of this soup, and a slice of warm bread from the oven, a cold fall night is absolutely perfect!

Mom's Creamy Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

2c cooked wild rice(1/2c uncooked)

12 oz bacon or chicken

1 pkg sliced mushrooms

1/2c butter

1c Flour

8 C chicken Broth(not in photo whoops)

1 pint cream or half and half

Salt and Pepper to taste

Prepare wild rice as directed. Saute mushrooms in butter about 3 minutes. In a large saucepan fry your bacon. Sprinkle in flour then stir until mixed, don't let it burn. Slowly add your chicken broth and blend well. Add rice, salt and pepper, and mushrooms, and stir in well. Heat until everything is warm, then stir in cream, heat gently do not boil once cream is in.

**Mom says, this can be made in advance up until the cream stage, then re-heated and finished with the cream. This soup also freezes VERY well so don't worry about making too much to eat. Freeze into individual portions and thaw and heat whenever you crave this bad boy!

Olive Garden's Pasta E Fagioli

2009-10-19T15:31:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe I got out of my awesome copycat cookbook, Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2, which is a great cookbook for anyone that loves to eat out but also loves to cook. You can make this stuff for a fraction of the cost, not to mention you don't have to drive or find a babysitter! Now I haven't had this at the restaurant and hubby hasn't had it in awhile so I can't say how close it was but I can tell you it was delicious!

Olive Garden's Pasta E Fagioli

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 small onion(1c)

1 julienned carrot(1c.)

3 stalks celery, chopped (1c)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2- 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (btw I realized afterwards I forgot to add these, whoops)

1- 15 oz can kidney beans (with liquid)

1- 15oz can great northern beans(with liquid)

1/2 pound ditali pasta

1- 15oz can tomato sauce

1- 12oz can V8

1T. White Vinegar

1 1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp dried thyme

Brown ground beef in a large saucepan over medium heat. Drain off most of te fat. Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic, saute for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except pasta. Simmer 1 hour. 50 minutes in, boil your pasta to al dente, add pasta to soup, simmer 5-10 more minutes and serve.

This is a really easy soup to make and well worth the effort, especially when it's chilly out!

No Knead Beer Bread

2009-10-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

I love baking bread. I love the feeling of accomplishment of slicing and eating homemade bread. Occasionally I love kneading bread. But there are days were you do not want to knead and you sure as heck don't want to wait for your bread to rise. This is when this yummy beer bread comes in.

No Knead Beer Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups Self Rise Flour

3Tblsp Sugar

1 12 ounce can or bottle of beer, at room temp

1/2 stick melted butter

It's as easy as this...

In a bowl put in your flour and sugar. Add in your beer and stir, until mixed with a wooden spoon.

Grease and flour your loaf pan, then pour in your batter.

Melt your butter and pour it all over the top of the mixture...yes, melted butter, yes you can drool. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for an hour or until top is brown. Slice and enjoy. So easy, so good.

Easy and Delicious Garlic Bread

2009-10-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

Now I'm sure a lot of people make their garlic bread the same way, but because of the plethora of friends that I have that just buy the stuff that's frozen and you stick in the oven I want to offer you this easy alternative that tastes 100 times better.

Easy and Delicious Garlic Bread

Ingredients:

1 Loaf of French Bread

2 sticks of butter, softened

Garlic Salt

Garlic Powder

It really can't get easier than this. Take your french bread that you can either bake at home or pick up in the bakery section of your grocery store. Cut it into 1-1 1/5 inch slices.

Put your soft butter in a bowl and with a fork mix in garlic salt and garlic powder, how much you put in depends on how you want it to taste, normally I test it along the way spreading it on one piece of the bread and munching.

Butter one side of the bread and reassemble. Wrap it in tin foil, and bake it in the oven, if you already have something in the oven stick it in there at whatever temp it's already at, it really doesn't matter. If you dont set the oven at 375 degrees and cook about 15-25 minutes.Remove from the tinfoil and enjoy your soft, warm garlic bread that goes great with anything, this particular loaf went along with my chili in the post previous to this one and you can see a slice laying on the chili in the photo.

Big Daddy C's Butt Fire Chili

2009-10-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

This isn't really what we called it growing up, we just called it chili, but I gotta spice things up a bit. This is the chili recipe that my parents used growing up and it's as delicious as it is simple! So on these chilly early days of winter, break out a big pot of chili and a loaf of warm garlic bread and life doesn't get much sweeter!Big Daddy C's Butt Fire Chili

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 large can whole or diced tomatoes

2 15 oz cans of beans (chili beans work great but you can sub any you want, if you use other beans don't add the liquid in the can)

1 package of celery

1 large onion (yellow or red)

5-6T Chili Powder (or more depends on if you want to toot smoke or fire jk lol)

4T minced garlic

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Brown your ground beef in a big sauce pot with olive oil and the garlic. Dice up your onino and celery, and them and the rest of the ingredient into your pot and simmer for an hour ( you can do it longer if you want, the longer the better.) Serve plain or topped with cheese, sour cream, fresh onions, anything you want.

**If you want to make this a crockpot meal, just brown your hamburger on the stove then mix everything together in the crockpot, set it to low and cook for a few hours, great to make in the morning and eat in the evening!

Garbage Cookies

2009-10-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

These cookies are actually a recipe by Suzanne over at the AWESOME blog Chickens In The Road. These are sinful and utterly delcious. I've tried a few recipes over at CITR and none of them have ever failed. I made these as one of the desserts at Orin and Aidan's birthday party a couple weekends ago. Something has gone wrong with my brain lately and I don't actually have a picture of the finished project. This also happened with the Japanese Onion Soup I made yesterday. Maybe I'm just too busy to hunt for a camera with cookie dough on my fingers and 30 people set to arrive in an hour, for whatever reason, sorry, I will make them again soon to get a good photo and I will edit this post.

Garbage Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups honey roasted peanuts

1 1/2 cups chopped peanut butter cups (about 30 mini)

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and peanut butter. Add brown sugar, sugar, baking soda, and salt; beat. Mix in eggs, milk, and vanilla, beating again. Stir in flour with a spoon. Add chocolate chips, honey roasted peanuts, and chopped peanut butter cups. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350-degrees for about 10 minutes (depending on size of cookies).

If you are lucky mommy will give you the spoon for licking since you stood there the whole time providing moral support, and if you are a really sweet boy you will run around the house offering all your brothers a lick...or they might find you!

Again these cookies are delicious, and if you ever want an amazine read head over to Chickens in the Road for recipes, farm stories and general hilarity!

Yummy to the Tummy Fresh Salsa

2009-10-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

Every since I was a little girl my parents used to make fresh salsa. It's delicious and well fresh! This was something always made for card parties and football sundays and was appreciated by all. When I was about 12 I got to start making it too. The recipe has changed slightly with the addition of veggies and herbs (well one of each in this post.) So without further commentary here is the recipe, a simple solution to avoiding canned/jarred salsa!

Yummy to the Tummy Fresh Salsa

Ingredients:

8 medium tomatoes

1 med/large red onion

1 bunch cilantro

1 T. Jalepenos

1/4C garlic (remember I'm the garlic queen you may want less...if you are crazy)

1 green pepper

Juice of 2-3 lemons

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Stick your tomatoes (I quarter them first) in your food processor and process them until they are as smooth or chunky as you like. Repeat with your onions, garlic, clianto, jalepeno and green pepper.

2. Mix together in a large bowl, add your lemon juice to taste, and your salt and pepper and garlic. Stir to combine and you are done it's easy as that and so refreshing!

Applebee's CopyCat Spinach and Artichoke Dip

2009-09-26T11:58:00.001-07:00

This is a recipe that I didn't make up, I got it online, I have no idea where but it's the same all over the place. I really love this dip at Applebee's but it's expensive and when you have 4 little boys it's not easy to just pop in and munch some, so I went on the hunt to find it to be able to make it myself! I think personally I would add more artichoke hearts next time cause I just love them but here goes!

Applebee's CopyCat Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

1 box (10oz) Frozen Spinanch, Thawed

1 Can (14 oz) Artichoke hearts (Not marinated!)

1C Shredded mix of parmesian and romano cheeses

1/2 C Mozzerella cheese

4 oz Cream cheese softened

1 teaspoon minced garlic (I did 1T I'm a garlic addict)

10 oz prepared Alfredo Sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dice up the artichoke hearts.

2. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Then take a baking dish (8in x 8in) and spread the mixture into the dish.

3. Bake 25-30 minutes or until cheese is bubbling. Remove from oven cool very slightly, and serve!

K's Hearty Potato and Leek Soup

2009-09-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

I've been craving a thick and creamy potato soup all summer. Since I'm Minnesotan and therefore melt when it hits 75 degrees I've been hibernating in my basement with icepacks shoved in my arm pits praying for snow. Obviously when you have icepacks in your armpits the last thing you want is a thick, hot soup. It cooled down for a little bit last week, at least long enough for me to test out a new recipe by K that I found at the blog Pinch My Salt. I was super excited to find a simple recipe, because sometimes with things like these simple is really just best.

K's Hearty Potato and Leek Soup

Ingredients:

3T Butter

3 leeks, thinly slices (wash well!)

1 large onion, chopped

6-8 russet potatoes (I used Yukon Gold for the delicious butter flavor)

3 1/2 C Chicken or Veggie Broth, enough to cover the top of potatoes

1C Heavy Cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Slice up your onions, leeks and potatoes first, I always like to get my chopping out of the way first.

2. Melt butter in a large soup pot (I used a big dutch oven, I was making a bigger batch than this) over medium high heat. Then add in your onions and leeks cook these down until limp and slightly brown.

3. Add in your sliced potatoes, cover them with the chicken broth, put your pot's cover on and continue cooking over medium heat until potatoes are tender. Using a masher, mash your potatoes up until they are the consistancy you want. I enjoyed some small chunks in mine as opposed to completely smooth. As you mash the potatoes the soup will thicken. Turn down your heat and cook a little while longer.

4. Add in your heavy cream, stirring well to combine all the ingredients. Cook an additional 15 minutes then serve. You can add diced scallions, bacon bits, cheese anything that strikes your fancy!

Toasted Baugette

2009-09-26T11:09:00.001-07:00

This is a delicious little snack or dipping tool that my parents showed me how to cook (thanks for teaching me delicious nummies mom and dad!) It's very simple and delicious treat that is somewhat healthy, at least better than a deep fried chip!

Toasted Baugette

Ingredients:

1 french baguette

Olive Oil

Garlic Salt

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Slice up your baugette into thin slices.

2. Lay them on a cookie sheet, drizzle both sides and sprinkle garlic salt on both sides.3. Put them in the oven (your timing completely depends on your bread and your oven. I always use a take an bake loaf so it's more chewy and can be baked longer) I bake them 5 minutes on one side, remove, flip, then 3 minutes on the other side. You will learn your own timing just watch them closely so they do not burn. Remove from the sheet and they are ready to eat when cooled some. (Note: depending on your amount of slices you may need to fill the cookie sheet additional times.)

Benihana CopyCat Zucchini and Onion Saute

2009-09-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

Yup again we have another Benihana CopyCat recipe. These are one after another since I had a Benihana dinner night here last week. Nothing better than cooking at home and turning out something tasty for a few dollars that would have cost so much more going out. This is another side that they made everyone at the table for dinner, when I first went there, I wouldn't touch it gross onions and zucchini! But I grew and so did my tastebuds now I so look forward to this part of the meal. It's incredibly easy, and incredibly delicious. Go ahead try it yourself!

Benihana CopyCat Zucchini and Onion Saute

Ingredients:

1 large yellow onion, peeled, sliced and slices quartered

1-2 Zucchini cut into bite sized pieces

Soy Sauce to taste

Sesame Seeds

Salt and pepper to taste

Dab of butter

1. Start off by cutting up your veggies into bite sized pieces as indicated

2. Add a small amount of oil to your saute pan just enough to coat the bottom you aren't frying. Turn the heat to high and toss in your veggies.

3. Drizzle with soy sauce and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until veggies are softened, and there is some nice brown carmelization going on. Turn off the heat and add in a dab of butter, stir until melted, serve with a delicious meal!

Benihana CopyCat Homemade Fried Rice

2009-09-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

Benihana is one of Hubby and I's favorite restaurants. We started going there right after we got together and it holds wonderful memories and wonderful food. If you've never had the chance to get out to Benihana or another Hibachi Steak House I definately suggest it! With that plug put it I will show you my version of the delicious fried rice they serve. It's not the same, it's delicious, but never can it rival the true fried rice they serve.

Benihana CopyCat Fried Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked white rice, cold (this can be made ahead of time in a rice cooker, can be warm if you didn't make it ahead of time)

4 Tablespoons Butter

1/2 C finely diced carrots

2/3 C diced onion or scallions

1/4 C Soy Sauce (more if you want)

2-3 T pre-minced Garlic

2T sesame seeds

2 Eggs

1. First you want to cook your white rice. I cook mine in a rice cooker ahead of time so that it cuts down the time of cooking dinner since this is a time consuming side dish if there is no prep work done ahead of time. With the rice done and ready for later, dice finely your carrots and onions. 2. Add some oil in the bottom of a frying pan and cook the carrots and onions until they are softened. Remove them from the pan.3. In the same pan as the veggies were in scramble up two eggs (more if you want), these will also be added to the rice.4. In a large skillet or even a wok add in a small amount of oil and heat to medium, then add your cooked rice, your veggies, eggs, soy sauce, and sesame seeds. Mix well. Melt your butter and garlic together in the microwave (this doesn't not need to be completely liquid just soft enough to mix the garlic in well.5. Add in the garlic butter, stir well, salt and pepper to taste and serve! Super yummy, and very filling!

The Great Wedding Cake Adventure!

2009-09-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

So recently my younger sister and I threw my parents a surprise party for their 25th wedding anniversary. It was a ton of fun both planning and partying! I was lucky enough to get to make a small wedding cake for the party, it was my first time attempting something like this, and the first time working with fondant.

I decided I wanted to make a 4 layered, two tiered cake. I started out using just a regular devil's food cake mix. I baked two 8" layers and two 6" layers, as directed on the package and on the 6" pan's instructions(which were quite off for this cake.) After they baked, I removed them to a wire cooling rack (I really need more of these!)

The instructions on my fondant said to let the cake cool for 24 hours before assembling, so I did. Overnight I wrapped them in tin foil. In the morning I unwrapped them and set them back on the racks to dry a little. I mixed up some buttercream frosting and started trimming the layers to make them flat. Then stacked them(first do the 8" then cover in fondant then the 6" and cover after frosting), added the frosting in between the layers to hold them, then with a frosting spatula frosted around the outside of the cake to hold on the fondant, this is very important. Then I taped some wax paper to my kitchen table to have a spot to roll out the fondant.

After I rolled the fondant out to about 1/4 inch in thickness, I laid it over the 8in layers first. I smoothed it out as best as I could over the bottom tier, I ended up with a wrinkle in the back though. I trimmed the excess off the bottom of the fondant so that it was smooth. Then I took the excess fondant and rolled out my piece for the 6" tier. Repeated laying it, smoothing and trimming it. Now don't worry if the bottoms don't come out perfect because now you get your piping bag and fill it with the frosting you want. I used strawberry only because I could not find the cream cheese frosting I had set aside that I had planned to color a dark red with quality food coloring by Wilton that I had gotten for this occasion. The pink color worked out ok though. I used a star tip to go around the edges creating a border around each bottom and around the top tier's edge, making individual stars. You can also use this tip to make shells if you prefer. After edging the cake with frosting, I put on my writing tip and wrote...

(sorry about the very bad lighting)

The end result was this. It was decent for my first try but I very much look forward to continuing experiments with fondant, I plan to make a fondant covered cake for Orin and Aidan's joint party.

Happy 25th Anniversary to my parents! I love you both, thank you for all the wonderful years!

Homemade Chex Mix

2009-09-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

Here is my tasty take on homemade chex mix!

Homemade Chex Mix

Ingredients:

1 box Rice Chex

1 box Corn Chex

1 box Wheat Chex

1 small bag of pretzels

1 container of dry roasted and salted peanuts

5 T. Season salt

2 T Garlic or Onion Powder

8T. Worchesire Sauce

3 Sticks butter

(This is not a healthy snack, but it's tasty!)

1. Start by putting half of all the chex, pretzels, and peanuts into 1 of 2 turkey pans. If you have a big enough one feel free to put it all together, it may increase cook time. 2. Take half the season salt, half the garlic/onion powder, half the worcheshire sauce and half the butter and put it in a microwave safe dish and melt the butter with everything in there. 3. Mix very well and it will end up looking like a buttery soup like this.. 4. Pour the mixture over one turkery pan full of chex mix and stir very well coating all the pieces. Repeat that for the other pan with the remaining sauce ingredients. 5. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Put both your pans in there, cook for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes. Take out and enjoy!

Mushroom, Shallot and Garlic Filled Ravioli

2009-09-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

So for the longest time I've been craving a mushroom stuffed ravioli. No where near our little farming town serves then and out grocery stores don't sell them. That's when I decided, I'll just make them myself! I wanted to fill them with my favorite flavors that I thought would really mingle well. Since I don't have a pasta roller and my last attempt at rolling out pasta ended in too thick pasta (it tasted good but it has to be thin for ravioli), I decided to use won ton wrappers. It cuts the work you are doing and still tastes wonderful! So here is the recipe, I hope you enjoy!

Mushroom, Shallot and Garlic Filled Ravioli

Ingredients:

1/2 pkg. Mushrooms (You can use what you want, I used button they were on sale)

6 big shallots (it all depends on how many mushrooms you used)

8 Cloves of garlic

1 pkg won ton wrappers

1 tablespoon butter

olive oil

1 egg

1. Start out by peeling your shallots, garlic and washing up your mushrooms. I bought pre-sliced, pre-washed mushrooms because they were on sale so things went a little quicker. 2. Finely chop your shallots and garlic. Heat up a pan at medium heat, add enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Add your shallots and garlic and saute until translucent. 3. Roughly chop your mushrooms, you don't want them too small, because they will shrink in the cooking process but you want them small enough that they will be easy to scoop as a filling. 4. Add the mushrooms to the frying pan and stir together with the shallots and garlic until they cook through. Then add your tablespoon of butter. You may also want to salt and pepper your mixture to taste at this point depending on the sauce you plan to use. 5. When the filling is all cooked, spoon a bit of filling onto one square of your won ton wrappers. Make sure that it's not so much that you can't add the top wrapper. Take your egg and beat it in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to lightly brush the egg on the won ton wrapper around the filling. Add your top wrapper and rub the edges to allow the egg wash to seal the pieces. Then press the end of your fork all around the edge to seal it more. Repeat until all the filling has been used.

6. Boil a pot of water, add a pinch of salt. Drop the raviolis a few in at a time let them cook until see through and floating at the top, remove carefully and set aside. When all the ravioli are cooked it's time to add your sauce (I made a mushroom and garlic cream sauce), serve and enjoy!

Sauteed Filet Mignon, Roasted Potatoes and Pearl Onions, Roasted Asparagus and Scallions

2009-08-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

So Friday night after planning to make this meals for days I FINALLY got to make this. I love this meal so much, especially the roasted veggies, you can't do better than roasted veggies!

Sauteed Filet Mignon

First off you will want to take paper towels and dry your steak off. I learned this from a sweet little nugget on youtube, it really helped get a good sear on the steak. Then you want to salt and pepper the steak, rub in and then rub all over with a thin coat of olive oil. Add olive oil to your frying pan enough to cover the base of it but not too much you aren't deep frying, set your stove to medium heat. My steak was about and 1 1/2 thick and I prefer to cook steaks to a medium/medium-well, so I cooked the steak about 6 minutes per side. You can adjust this to the doneness that you like by using your meat thermometer to check the internal temperature. It's also delicious to put a little garlic butter on top and let it melt.

Roasted Potatoes and Pearl Onions

For this you will need a bag of new red potatoes and a bag of those cute little pearl onions. You also need olive oil and salt and pepper.First cut up all your potatoes into nice bite sized pieces, then peel all your onions or as many as you want. Lay them all out on a baking sheet and then drizzle with olive oil until coated and sprinkle with your salt and pepper. Put them into 425 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Roasted Asparagus and Scallions

For this I used a single bunch of asparagus and 3 bunches of scallions. Trim off the woody ends of your asparagus, trim the tops of the scallions and the root ends. Wash them and drain thoroughly. Lay them out on another baking sheet, drizzle them with olive oil and move them around to coat them all, sprinkle with your salt and pepper (for all of this the best to use is fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt) Put them in the same oven with the potatoes at 425 for the last 10-15 minutes the potatoes are in there. You will want to watch them because they go from done to crispy pretty quick. When they are all done cut your fresh lime in half and squeeze the lime juice over the veggies and then sprinkle a little more salt on top. The acidity in the lime juice will cut through the oil. They are just delicious, I got this recipe from my mom and dad!

Octo-Dogs and Future plans.

2009-08-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

This is a hot dog that thinks it's an octopus. It's not infact one and I don't have the heart to tell him. This is a favorite of the two older boys (Orin and Aidan are too young.) This is simple to make, just cut the ends of your hot dog into four long legs (I know it should be 8 but that just looks weird.) Then make him a happy little face and cook him up. In the microwave or boiling it.

This is just a fun little kid food to share with you all that your kids migt like, it makes a quick meal being tossed together a little more special.

Now I want to say I've been going through my millions of cookbooks and just now was reading one called "Quick Short Chicken." This is a whole book devoted to chicken. I found SO many recipes in there I plan to make very soon and will be sharing with you. For a glimpse into the future here are a few that will be coming soon:

*Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

*Chicken and Mushroom Soup

*Sesame Chicken Kebabs

*Asian Barbecued Chicken

*Baked Chicken and Leek Risotto

*Chicken with Garlic and Herb Butter

Now if just the names of those aren't getting your mouth watering just wait! I am so excited to get some chicken cooking, I haven't made chicken in awhile, and it's my favorite meat, num num. So hopefully soon as long as the pain abades quicky from the level it's at now I should have some tasty meals to share! If you could just see the pictures you would be drooling. This cookbook was one of my best deals too I got it new probably 3 years ago for only $3. I love the discount rack!

Sarah's French Toast

2009-08-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

Sarah's French Toast

Ingredients:

1 1/2 loaves of Texas Toast

6 Eggs

1/3 C Brown Sugar

1tsp Salt

1 1/2-2c Milk (depends on what you like)

2 1/2 T. Vanilla

Cinnamon

In a large mixing bowl, combine your eggs, milk, vanilla, brown sugar,and salt. Whisk together until nicely blended. Add in cinnamon to taste, mix it in (you will need to do this more than once since it will float at the top and as you dip your bread the cinnamon will go with it)

Slice by slice dip your bread on both sides, coating it completely. Put on a hot griddle at 325-350 degrees depending on your griddle. Cook on each side until browned and done. Set aside and work on the rest, I keep my slices warm in the microwave as I cook.

While you prepare your many pieces of french toast you might want to mix up a batch of cheesy scrambled eggs to go with them.

When you are all finished served smothered in butter and warm syrup and enjoy! This recipe can definately be modified to make a smaller batch, not everyone is feeding an army. As it was we had 12 pieces left over which the boys had for dinner at their request. The leftovers of this are really good heated up so don't be afraid to make more than you can eat in one sitting.

Three Cheese Noodle Bake

2009-08-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

Three Cheese Noodle Bake

Ingredients:

2T Butter

2T All purpose flour

1/2 t. salt

1/8t. pepper

2c milk

1c. Shredded Mozzerella (or fontina) cheese

1c Shredded Chedder (or swiss or gruyere) cheese

1/2c grated parmesan cheese

6c uncooked egg noodles (12 oz)*

3T dried bread crumbs**

1T Butter

1. Melt 2T butter in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour, salt and pepper, until blended. Cook, stirring constantly until smooth and bubbly, remove from heat.

2. Gradually stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in cheese, keep warm over low heat.

3. Heat oven to 350 degrees

4. Meanwhile, cook and drain noodles.

5. Alternate layers of noodles and cheese mix, ending with noodles, in an ungreased 2 quart casserole dish.

6. Heat breadcrumbs and 1T butter over medium heat, stirring frequently, until crumbs are toasted. Sprinkle over noodles.

7. Bake uncovered about 20 minutes or until bubbly.***

*This didn't seem to be enough noodles, I made 16 oz of noodles and could only make 1 layer. Also the egg noodles got all mushy, I would make this with an elbow macaroni noodle.

**3T is not enough to make a thin coating over the top of the dish.

***I baked this uncovered like said and the noodles at the top got hard and crunchy, next time I will either cover it with tin foil or will mix the noodles and cheese all together then bake instead of layering.

All those adjustments aside, the dish was a pretty big hit despite it's downfalls, with the alterations that I plan to make next time it will end up MUCH better! Enjoy and I would seriously consider making the changes I suggested. This recipe is from the Betty Crocker Cookbook.

Roasted Chickpeas With Garlic Salt

2009-07-31T09:30:00.000-07:00

So while going through various cooking blogs the other day I came across this yummy recipe! For roasted chickpeas with garlic salt as a nice healthy snack food, This type of thing is right up my ally so I wanted to try it out.

Roasted Chickpeas with Garlic Salt
Ingredients:

2c Cooked Chickpeas

2T Olive Oil

2-3T garlic salt to taste

Pepper to taste

First you need to preheat your oven to 300. Then lay your chickpeas out in a single layer on your baking sheet. Drizzle the olive oil over the top of them, then sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper.

Stick them in the oven on 300 for an hour, then set your oven to broil for 10 minutes**

Take them out and test them, the original author says if they aren't crispy then just pop them back in for awhile longer.

**Now I went ahead and made these and even though I cooked them for quite some time they still ended up with a chewy center. This very well could have been because I used my chickpeas from a can to start. I looked all over for dried chickpeas, things normally end up better when you make them from scratch. Next time I'm going to hunt high and low for dried beans and see if it works out better. They were still a decent snack, but not what I wanted. If you visit the author's blog The Cast-Iron Darling and see her recipe and picture you will see why I wasn't super pleased. I want hers! They look so yummy!

Ham and Egg Bake

2009-07-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

Ok so a little bit ago I was laying on the couch watching the children play on the floor with their trucks and at the same time reading through one of my many many cookbooks. I was looking for good ideas for a big filling breakfast that wouldn't require a ton of dishes. I was lucky when I happened across this recipe. Not only did it not take much for dishes but better than I could have thought it was something I could prepare up to 24 hours in advance and refridgerate until I was ready. I copied the recipe down onto a recipe card and tucked it into my recipe box, ready to test it out!

(This photo was taken the first time I pulled it out, I had to put it back in and bake it longer, still looks yummy though)

Ham and Egg Bake

Ingredients:

6c. Frozen (not thawed) hashbrown potatoes

2c. Finely Diced cooked, smoked ham

2c. (8oz) Shredded swiss cheese (I used cheddar)

1 jar (7 oz) roasted red bell pepers (I didn't use these)

1 jar (4.5 oz) sliced mushrooms (I didn't use these)

6 large eggs

1/3c Milk

1c. small curd cottage cheese

1/4 tsp black pepper.

Before I list the directions I want to point out that I used a 15inx9in pan and I couldn't fit all 6 cups of hashbrowns in there and it was a pan 2 inches larger than suggested. I just layered it evenly and it worked out just fine. I left out the peppers and mushrooms because I was making this for my husband and sons and Hubby wouldn't enjoy peppers or mushrooms.

1. Heat Oven to 350, grease baking dish (13x9x2) with shortening

2. Sprinkle 3 cups potatoes evenly in the baking dish, layer with ham, cheese, peppers and mushrooms. Sprinkle remaining potatoes on top.

3. Beat eggs, milk, cottage cheese and pepper together. Pour egg mixture evenly over the top of the potatoes.

4. Bake uncovered 45-50 minutes or until light golden brown and set in center.*

-Can be prepared 24 hours in advance, cover and refridgerate, increase bake time to 55-60** minutes.

* Cook time may vary depending on your oven.

** I ended up having to cook mine for an hour and a half to get it cooked through, I'm not sure if this is because my oven is like a bratty teenager that doesn't listen or if the recipe just had it wrong. Either way you can cut into it and check and if it needs more time stick it back in and it cooks fine even after being harassed.

~*Coming soon*~

Roasted Chickpeas with olive oil and garlic salt

White Bean Dip

Chex Mix

Carmel Puffcorn

Homemade Baked Beans

*I'm going to do some trial runs for these so I can bring them to a party my sister in law is hosting! I'm hoping they are as delicious as they sound (I know the chex mix and carmel puffcorn is good I've made it before), and that the other people will enjoy it! And of course I will share the recipes and adventures with you, as well as directing you to where I got the recipes when they aren't my own!

My Recent Absence

2009-07-14T13:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't been updating recently because we've had quite a bit going on over here. I didn't forget or abandon this blog nor my other, infact during my off time I've found a few recipes that I'm trying for the first time to see if they are good or not and if they are they will be posted here to share. I'm also cooking up some of the traditional favorites of our family that I haven't blogged about yet. More recipes and food is coming. I'm not even going to pretend it will be daily, because who knows. I've struck a deal with my husband, I will cook everything, if he does the dishes. We've been having easy stuff he can make for the last week because he's avoiding them if that tells you anything. Although this morning he made it through most, there is hope! I know he misses my cooking that fills his tummy. That said, recipes soon, and I've not forgotten you.

Hubby's Favorite Pot Roast

2009-06-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

Ok here is the pot roast recipe that I meant to post earlier but forgot my camera while I was preparing it. Actually it's not the same because normally I use "Beefy Onion Soup Mix" by Lipton as the main seasoning in my roast but I ran out, and since I didn't want to drive 20 miles to big town this morning I drove to the gas station in town and they had Onion Mix and so I decided to try that with a few extras, the result was good enough that Hubby has requested it made that way from now on! So here it is.

Ingredients:

3.5 lb Beef Roast

1 Box Onion Mix

2 and 1/2 T. Beef Granules

Water to come up to the top of your roast

Sprinkle of Garlic Salt

Put your roast in your crock pot first, then take both packets of onion mix and sprinkle it all over the top of the roast covering it.

Like this.

Take your 2 and a half tablespoons of beef granules and put that down along the edges trying to get it in around instead of on top of the meat, so when you add water it will flavor the water and soak into the meat.
Sprinkle the top with garlic salt, how much you use depends on how much you like garlic.

Fill with water up to the top of the roast, cook on low 6-8 hours. I don't have a picture of it finished because it was eaten too fast. Next time I make it I will lock the men folk downstairs and snap a picture and then edit this post. Enjoy :D

Cheesy Scrambled Eggs Fried Egg Whites and Corned Beef Hash

2009-06-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

You might think this is a breakfast post, but it's what I made for dinner tonight. This is one of the mens favorite breakfasts because they think the eggs are so fluffy and creamy.Ingredients For Cheesy Scrambled eggs:

10 full eggs

7 yolks (I do the yolks only because I need the whites you don't need to)

1 and 1/2 cups of milk (the thicker the creamier)

Generous 1/2 cup of shredded cheese (I use chedder)

1 teaspoon salt.

Ingredients for Fried Egg Whites:

7 egg whites

Salt and Pepper to taste

The corned beef hash is in a can, you will need to open it.

I start this all by first seperating the yolk and white of the egg. I've been lucky enough to get this amazing egg seperater from my Grandma, and I believe before that it was her mothers, it's one of my favorite, and most used thing in my kitchen. Put your yolks into your big bowl and the whites into their own dish
Crack the remaining 10 eggs into the big bowl with the yolks, add your milk and salt, beat really well until nice and smooth, then stir in your cheese and it will look like this.
Add 2 Tablespoons of butter(this depends on how much you make and the size of your pan), melt it and spread it all over your pan to keep the eggs from sticking
Pour your eggs into the pan which will have been set on medium heat, the key is to keep the eggs moving then you will not end up with brown spots and your eggs will fluff up nicely. Then just use your spatula to break it into nice bite size pieces and they are ready to serve.
Then just use your spatula to break it into nice bite size pieces and they are ready to serve.

With the fried egg whites you will also want to use butter to coat the bottom of your pan so they don't sitck.
Then simply pour in your egg whites and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. I love pepper as you can see. Let it cook on the one side until it's as done as you want (I like mine very much "over hard") then like a pancake flip over and cook on the other side until it's done how you want.
The end result will look something like this. Yum!
If you are like me and love hot sauce you might go ahead and spread that all over the top, then cut up and enjoy.
The corned beef hash is the really difficult part. You need to open the cans. Then dump the contents into a pan on medium heat, cook up until nice and warm, I like to get mine a little crunchy.

And there you have it, tonights dinner, and really the egg recipe is like no other, it's fool proof and people will definately compliment you on them. (If you are using all full eggs you will you a little bit less milk, you can experiment, if there is "too much" milk you just cook it out a little longer and will rest assured that you will not be serving dry nasty eggs) Enjoy!

Hamburger Rice Hotdish (Casserole)

2009-06-23T18:35:00.000-07:00

This is a great way to stretch a dollar. I can feed a herd of hungry boys with this dish for just a few dollars. This is one of Hubby's favorite dishes which makes it more enjoyable to cook.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can chicken and rice soup

1 cup white rice

1 cup water

You start out preheating you oven to 350 degrees. Then pull out a 9x13 (or so) cake pan(I think this is what it's called, but it's weird that sometimes they have other names for things that essentially do the same thing), I personally always use glass not mental but I don't think it matters. Then gather your soup, water and rice.
Then you brown you hamburger up, adding a little garlic salt and pepper to it for flavor. Make sure when it's all browned that you kinda smush it up into small crumbles so it spreads more evenly throughout the hotdish.

When the hamburger is browned pour it all into the baking dish, add in your cans of soup, cup of rice, and cup of water. Then you are done...

Just kidding, you need to stir it up properly to make it nice and evenly spread...

Then pop it into the oven for 45 minutes. After that pull it out and it will look like...

This. Stir it all up and it's ready to serve when it's not boiling hot.

Normally while I give it a few minutes to cool I get the veggie side ready. Tonight it was two cans of corn, with some butter melted in.

All and all dinner tonight was Hamburger Rice Hotdish, Buttery Corn, and Rolls with butter.

Yes we are the Buttertons.

Sorry Blush

2009-06-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

I know I know...I said I would blog every meal, but I forgot my camera when I was making pot roast and mashed potatoes and rolls last night. So that's why we had but no pictures. We make pot roast plenty and it's a good way to make it, so I will actually blog this next time I make it with pictures.

I just want to say sorry for not posting like I was supposed to... and you know what I dont even have a dinner plan tonight!

"You're kidding...you haven't planned out meal? I think I'm gonna cry"

"I vote we have chocolate Easter bunnies for dinner."

"I think we should eat Orin, brb I'm gonna catch him"

"YOU ARE MEAN AND I'M TELLING!!!"

"This is crazy, I'm outta here."

Uh...I better figure out something and attempt to remember my camera, just wanted to apologize for the lack of posting and hope this little funny makes up for it a little!

Sarah's Tasty Tater Skins

2009-06-13T08:10:00.001-07:00

To make these delicious potato skins you first want to start out with...

Can you guess?

Potatoes? You're right! In my opinion using a golden potato or butter potato is the best choice, but you can use russets if that's what you have around. I wouldn't suggest using red potatoes, they get really soft and have a different flavor to them. So get your potatoes, wash and dry them, then...

poke them with a fork all over. You need to do this so the steam from the inside of the potato can be released, or you will have exploding potatoes. After you throughly poke your potato all over you will want to get out the next things you need, I set mine up in a neat little station...because I'm a nerd like that.

You will need a dish with oil in it (I use canola as a healthy subsitute for veggie but veggie works too. I wouldn't suggest olive oil because it has a low smoking point), a little dish of Kosher salt (or sea salt, just a lager grain salt), and of course your potatoes.

Next you take your potato and roll it around coating it completely in the oil. Hold it out and let it drip off some of the excess into the oil dish, then rotate it in your finger while you sprinke the outside evenly with your salt. Repeat until all your potatoes are done, remember each potato will make two skins, so use as many potatoes as you think you will need.

Next you should make a little catching guard like this out of tin foil for the lower rack of your oven. This is important because the oil will drip down, and you will get a big smoking mess if you don't keep the oil off your heating element.

Put your potatoes directly on the rack of an oven that has been preheated to 400 degrees. Depending on the size of your potatoes you will want to bake them about 45-60 minutes. The skin of the potato will get nice and golden brown, starting to crisp nicely, this is the purpose of the oil, the skins will stay moist and get crispy.

You will pull them out and they will look delicious like this. Try and refrain from just changing your mind and having baked potatoes. The next steps are worth it!

Set up your next station. You will need a knife to cut the potatoes the long way, a spoon to scoop out the majority (NOT ALL!) of the potato's meat, chedder cheese, butter for on top and your baking sheet. I line mine with tin foil because, well, I dont like doing the dishes. So cut all your potatoes then comes the fun part!

Scoop out the inside, leave a bit of potato around the edges and at the bottom, this will make them more filling! That said, these skins are VERY filling and you will want to make sure your main dish is not very big so you can eat more of these!

When all the potatoes are scooped out (btw you can save the potato and use it to make a cheesy potato bread, sheapards pie, or even with some finess turn them into mashed potatoes for another meal)

Next take your cheese and fill up the skins, don't skimp on the cheese fill them up nice and full, rememberingthe cheese will melt and get lower in the potato.

When they are all filled like this (yum), you need to grab your butter.

I've found the easiest way to work with dobbing the butter on top and equally on the skins is to slice the butter into tabs of about half a tablespoon, then cut each tab into fours like this.

Put a couple dabs on each potato, so that as you cook the skins the butter will melt evenly, creating a buttery cheesey filling. Don't be scared to add other things, like bacon, diced ham, chicken, slices scallions, anything you want. I just made these plain so that you have the base to work with. Let your imgination carry you. When you are done loading your skins, put the baking sheet in the oven, at 425 degrees, for between 10-15 minutes (or until the cheese is melted.)

Pull them out and they will look like this. I saw that! Stop licking your moniter!

You will probably want something fresh as another side so you don't feel too guilty, we also had chopped veggies, with ranch dip. Then as our personal main course we went with hot dogs. So add all this food to your plate...

...and you have one yummy dinner! Enjoy!

Dinner- June 11th 2009

2009-06-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those days that you need to cook with the help of boxes. I've never made burritoes before, or black beans and rice from scratch and with a fever and the flu today wasn't the day to start! But here we go, with more pictures and less directions since, well...they're on the box!

So I got these two beautiful avacodoes at the grocery store and decided guacamole would go great with tonight's dinner. The easiest way to use these is to take a knife and go around the avacado the long way, twist and pull apart, then take your knife and kinda slam(watch your fingers, not too hard now!)into the nut, twist the knife and the nut will pop right out on your knife. You can discard that, grab a spoon and just scoop out the yummy insides.

Once you have the insides in your bowl add your little pack of seasonings, and mash up nicely with a fork, put it in a covered bowl or tupperware and pop in it the fridge for 30 minutes for the flavors to blend (it's also delicious to add lime juice and chopped cilantro)

Then you have this.

Yum, do I have to finish cooking? Chips and dip sounds good to me!

But since there are 5 boys that want to eat I do have to finish the meal, so next you make the black beans and rice, since they take 25 minutes.

Twenty-five minutes later you have this num num. But while those have been cooking you should have started the meat, rice and beans for the burritoes...

Oh good you did. That's meat all right, one pound of ground beef. Once that is all browned you add the rice and beans in and cook that for about 12 minutes and you have...

This, yummy and ready to load into your burritoes. While the last bit is cooking you make sure to get all the fixing to te table...

Here is the burrito meat filling, black beans and rice, guacamole, flour totillas, lettuce, cheese, and chopped cilantro with a litte fresh lime juice and kosher salt all mixed up, delicious on your burritoes!

*Other entries will be more exciting since there are actual recipes to share when it's not out of a box. But this is blogging all the meals I can even if it's take out! Enjoy!*

Half A Dozen Diners

Roasted Garlic and Mushroom Risotto

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Roasted Garlic Cloves

Buffalo Fried Potatoes (That Aren't Fried!)

Title Change

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Mom's Creamy Wild Rice Soup

Olive Garden's Pasta E Fagioli

No Knead Beer Bread

Easy and Delicious Garlic Bread

Big Daddy C's Butt Fire Chili

Garbage Cookies

Yummy to the Tummy Fresh Salsa

Applebee's CopyCat Spinach and Artichoke Dip

K's Hearty Potato and Leek Soup

Toasted Baugette

Benihana CopyCat Zucchini and Onion Saute

Benihana CopyCat Homemade Fried Rice

The Great Wedding Cake Adventure!

Homemade Chex Mix

Mushroom, Shallot and Garlic Filled Ravioli

Sauteed Filet Mignon, Roasted Potatoes and Pearl Onions, Roasted Asparagus and Scallions

Octo-Dogs and Future plans.

Sarah's French Toast

Three Cheese Noodle Bake

Roasted Chickpeas With Garlic Salt

Ham and Egg Bake

My Recent Absence

Hubby's Favorite Pot Roast

Cheesy Scrambled Eggs Fried Egg Whites and Corned Beef Hash

Hamburger Rice Hotdish (Casserole)

Sorry *Blush*

Sarah's Tasty Tater Skins

Dinner- June 11th 2009

Sorry Blush