Garlic and Thyme Fingerling Potatoes

Good Potatoes!

Ingredients:
2 pounds fingerling potatoes
8 sprigs of fresh thyme
6 thinly sliced garlic cloves
1/2 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup water
Directions:

1)Wash and cut potatoes in half length wise. Place in a medium sized bowl.

2)Do not remove the thyme leaves from the stems. With the back of your chopping knife whack the sprigs of time. This is also called bruising, this will help release the flavor of the thyme. Add to the potatoes.

3) Add the 1/2 cup olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Mix until the potatoes are well coated.

4)Let the potatoes sit for 20 minutes.

5)Heat a deep skillet then add the potatoes. Saute for 5 minutes and then add the water. Turn heat on high and cover your pan.

6)Cook for 10 minutes, check potatoes to ensure done-ness. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon. Remove all of the thyme twigs and enjoy hot or at room temp.

Parsley Noodles

I really like this noodle dish because it is so easy! My mom would make this to accompany sausage and kraut. The cream and butter of the noodles helped cut the salt and sour of the sausage and kraut. This has got to be hands down one of my favorite childhood dishes! It makes me smile just thinking about it :)

Ingredients:
4 cups dry Wide Egg Noodles(2 ounces of dry noodles = 1 cup cooked, so this will make 4 servings)

1 stick Salted/Unsalted Butter room temp

1/2 cup Sour Cream

1 tablespoon Fresh or Dried Parsley

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

1) Bring a pot of water to boil.

2) Add noodles and cook until done.

3) Once the noodles are cooked and drained add the butter, parsley, salt, and pepper.

4) Mix until the butter is completely melted and the add the sour cream. Mix well and serve.

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

A couple of my siblings were raving about this "potato salad" they had had. They even claimed that it rivaled our mother's, which if you have had my mother's potato salad you would know that that is virtually impossible! So I tried the infamous tater salad and they were right it was good BUT mom's is still so much better. So I've been thinking about this sinister salad and have decided to give it a go. I think that I could possibly get this salad up to snuff with mom's, with a little tweaking here and there :) I will have a recipe to follow if all goes well!

Ok, so I made the potato salad and I must say that I wasn't very happy with it. I had a mom moment and forgot what I was doing and then added the wrong type of onion (I wanted to add chives, instead I put yellow onion and green onion). The other thing that I did and should have left alone was the amount of bacon. I started with a little under a 1/2 pound of bacon and then I got greedy and put the whole pound in. This made the salad TO SALTY..... The next thing that went wrong was that I ran out of sour cream for the dressing so there wasn't enough dressing to help cut through the salt. The final kicker was that I under cooked the potatoes and there is nothing worse than crunchy potatoes in a potato salad......
So attempt number one was a flop, but I will get this right and then you all can give it a go for yourselves!

Cajun Tilapia Sandwiches

At a restaurant I worked in, one of my favorite things to make (and eat) were Cajun Tilapia sandwiches. I am pretty sure those sandwiches were the root of my gaining 60lbs while I was pregnant with my first born. A wonderfully blackened filet of fish, on a toasted garlic buttered sub roll, smeared in cajun spiced mayo, layered with sliced tomatoes and crisp romain lettuce. Yes I am definitely sure this was the cause of my weight gain..... it was so worth it!

Ingredients: For 4 sandwiches

* 4 large filets of fresh or frozen tilapia
* Turano sub rolls
* 1 stick of butter
* 5 cloves of crushed garlic
* 1 head of romain lettuce
* 1 large tomato
* Cajun seasoning for fish
* 1 tablespoon of cajun seasoning for mayo
* 1 cup of mayonnaise


Garlic Butter Directions:

In a small pot place on stick of butter and the 5 crushed garlic cloves on a low heat. Let the butter melt and the garlic will release all of its flavor into the butter. Do not boil the butter and you don't want it to simmer either, you are basically just keeping it warm/slightly hot.(I know that sounds stupid but that's all I can say about it)

Once the butter and garlic have been happy in the pot for about 5-10 minutes, you can go ahead and butter the insides of your sub roles. Turn your oven broiler on or use a toaster oven and toast your bread until golden brown.


Cajun Mayo:
Mix the 1 cup of mayo with the 1 tablespoon of cajun seasoning.

Fish Directions:
1) Season both sides of the fish well with the cajun seasoning.

2) In a hot skillet place about 2 tablespoons of butter and when it is good and hot place the fish in the pan.

3) The fish should take about 7 minutes to cook, 3 1/2 minutes on both sides.

Sandwich Assembling:
Give both side of the toasted roles a good smear of the cajun mayo. Line with lettuce and sliced tomato and Of Course don't forget the fish. Serve it hot and enjoy!

For those who don't like fish you can use boneless skinless chicken breasts instead. Also for the calorie counters you can most definitely use olive oil in place of the butter for both the bread and the fish!

Beef and Veggie Skewers

My sister and her family were over for dinner one night and she had the idea of making beef skewers. So she got all the things for this dish and asked me to find a marinade for said dish. I threw a few ideas at her until we came to one we liked. Unfortunately, I didn't have all the things needed so, I improvised!



* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1/2 cup soy sauce
* 1/4 cup water
* 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
* 2 tablespoons dry mustard
* 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
* 1/2 cup wine vinegar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley
* 2 garlic cloves, crushed
* 1/3 cup lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon of brown sugar

* 3 lbs top round beef, cut into large cubes (or sirloin steaks, cubed)
* 1 green bell pepper (seeded and cut into large squares)
* 1 red bell pepper (seeded and cut into large squares)
* 1 yellow bell pepper (seeded and cut into large squares)
* Pearl onions, peeled
* Whole button mushrooms (cleaned and stems trimmed)
* Wooden skewers

Directions:
1) Soak wooden skewers in water first thing up until you are almost ready for grilling!

2) Mix all of the marinade ingredients and set aside.

3) Once meat and vegetables are cleaned, trimmed, and cut, add to the marinade. Let this sit for at least an hour, the longer it sits the more it will absorb the flavors from the marinade.

4) Assemble skewers according to your preference, I think its best to start and finish with a cube of meat. I think that it helps things from falling off the skewer.

5) Place on a hot grill and cook until the meat is medium rare to medium.

Spaghetti with Meat Balls

Who doesn't like spaghetti and meatballs? This is one dish that I know my kids will always eat and like any good mom, I take advantage of this by sneaking extra veggies into the sauce!

Meatball Ingredients:

3 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Secret Sauce Ingredients:

16 ounce jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
2 cups of fresh or frozen carrots

Directions:

1)Pre-heat oven to 350 and line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil.

2)In a large mixing bowl combine all the ingredients for the meatballs. Mix until everything is just combined, trying not to over mix that will cause the meat to get tough.

3)Form 2 ounce balls and place on the baking sheets. The baking process takes about 20 minutes. Half way through baking turn the meat balls so that all sides brown equally.

4)When meatballs are finished add to your sauce and serve. These are also really good for meatball sub-sandwiches!

Sauce Directions:

1)Steam carrots until fork tender. Don't throw out the water in the pan just yet.

2)In a blender or food processor put all of the carrots and puree.

3)If the mixture is to thick add some of the water that was used to steam the carrots. That will help to get a really nice carrot puree.

4)Add carrot puree to your favorite spaghetti/marinara sauce! The carrots will make your sauce slightly sweeter but no one really notices at my house.

BBQ Pork Spare Ribs

One of my favorite things in the world to eat are barbequed ribs. I haven't been to successful in getting down a recipe that I really like though. I've made them in the oven, I've made them on the grill, I've boiled them and then finished them in the oven, but alas I still haven't found that "slap your momma" good recipe. One thing that I am coming to the realization of is that, the secret truly is in a killer dry rub and a killer sauce! The recipe that I used this time around came out pretty good but I think with a little more experimenting it could be great!

Ingredients:
1 slab spare ribs
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon of chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika (smoked if you got it)
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried minced onion (this will be in the spice section of the grocery store)
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups of your favorite barbeque sauce for basting

Directions:
Preheat your grill and make sure that your charcoal is very low in the in the grill. Or if you are using a gas grill you will want a medium low heat.

1)Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and throw your slab on the pan. I read that taking the membrane off of the bone side of the ribs helps in getting a more tender piece of meat. I tried this and I think it does help, it does take a little bit of time but the end result is good.

2)Mix all of your dry ingredients together in a bowl and then pack it on to your slab. If you have time, let you meat sit with this rub on it for at least an hour in the refrigerator. If you have A Lot of time let it sit overnight or 48 hours in the refrigerator.

3)When the grill is ready place meat on the grill. Cook the meat for about 10-15 mins. then turn it and grill the other side for the same time. Continue this for the next 2-3 hours.

4)When your meat is nearly done grab a basting brush and your bbq sauce. Baste each side of the meat and watch it on the grill so it doesn't burn. Try to get at least 2 coats per side.

5)Once the meat is completely done, place it on a large baking sheet and let it rest for 10 mins. before cutting it. After it has rested cut and serve.