Skillet Rosemary Chicken

I've been lazy about uploading pictures to my computer from my camera, and I finally decided today is the day while Boy #2 is engrossed in watching Cars 2 (or "Cars Soup" as he calls it for some reason). We had this one night last week, and it was amazing. I can't believe that didn't motivate me to get these pics uploaded earlier!

This was another Pinterest recipe, but I'd forgotten about it until my BFF made it recently. I thought it looked delicious, yet familiar, when she posted it on her blog. sure enough, I had it pinned as well. I already had chicken thighs on hand from making gumbo a couple weeks ago. I've wanted a cast iron skillet for awhile and finally put one on my Christmas list this year. My awesome little brother came through and got one for me. It was kind of funny because he also got me a cover for the handle, and they were each wrapped separately. I opened the handle cover first and was really confused, then it all made sense once I opened the skillet. I'd been looking for a way to break it in and decided this was the recipe!

Skillet Rosemary Chicken
Source: Minimally Invasive website via Jen's blog and Pinterest.com

3/4 pound small red-skinned potatoes, halved, or quartered if large
Kosher salt
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus 1 1/2 tablespoons leaves
2 cloves garlic, smashed
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Juice of 2 lemons (squeezed halves reserved)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4-6 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (6 to 8 ounces each)
10 ounces cremini mushrooms, halved

Preheat the oven to 450. Cover the potatoes with cold water in a saucepan and salt the water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until tender, about 8 minutes; drain and set aside.

Pile the rosemary leaves, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt and the red pepper flakes on a cutting board, then mince and mash into a paste using a large knife. Transfer the paste to a bowl. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon and the olive oil. Add the chicken and turn to coat.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, skin-side down, cover and cook until the skin browns, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken from pan; add the mushrooms and potatoes to the skillet, place chicken over mushrooms and potatoes and drizzle with any marinade remaining in the bowl and the juice of the remaining lemon.

Add the rosemary sprigs and the squeezed lemon halves to the skillet; transfer to the oven and roast, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is crisp, 20 to 25 minutes.

*****

I was a little nervous using my cast iron skillet for the first time, but I didn't need to have been. I loved how easy it was to go from the stove top into the oven. Granted I have other pans that can do that, too, but there was just something timeless about using cast iron for this. The chicken browned beautifully, and then the potatoes and mushrooms turned out amazing with the marinade and chicken fat dripping on them. YUM. The husband and I really loved this. Boy #1 freaked out about the chicken being on the bone, but once we took care of that for him he ate all of his dinner. Well, not the potatoes or mushrooms because he doesn't like either of those, but I happily ate them for him. This is definitely something I'll make again! Easy, relatively fast, and super tasty!!

Martha Stewart's Potatoes That Taste Better Than The Chicken

I'm not afraid to admit that I love Martha Stewart, felon background and all. She makes some great dishes and comes up with some really crafty stuff. I don't strive to be her or anything, but I do like her website and magazine. My friend Heather recommended this roasted chicken recipe, and since she was also the one to introduce me to polenta lasagna, I completely trust her when it comes to recipes. My friend Jenn made a similar chicken when I had dinner at her house one time, and it was fantastic. Plus I love a good roasted chicken. I think there are few things that are more homey than a roasted chicken. And I can generally get two meals and stock from one chicken. Since I only buy them when they're on sale, they're super economical too. We don't eat potatoes very often because they have such little nutritional value, so I consider it a real treat when we have them.

Martha's Potatoes That Taste Better Than The Chicken
Source: MarthaStewart.com


6 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons grapeseed oil
2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 whole (2 1/2-to-3-pound) chicken, wings removed
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 chicken liver
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 head garlic, halved crosswise
Fleur de sel, for serving
Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Butter a medium roasting pan with 3 tablespoons butter and 3 tablespoons oil. Place potatoes in a single layer in roasting pan. Season chicken inside and out with salt and pepper. Place liver, rosemary, thyme, and garlic inside cavity of chicken; using kitchen twine, tie legs together to enclose. Rub chicken with remaining 3 tablespoons each of butter and oil. Place chicken on top of potatoes on one of its sides.

Transfer roasting pan to oven and roast for 20 minutes. Turn chicken onto its other side and continue roasting 20 minutes more. Turn chicken, breast side up, and add 2 tablespoons water to pan; continue roasting until juices run clear and the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 10 to 20 minutes more.

Carve chicken in roasting pan allowing the juices to combine with the potatoes. Serve from the roasting pan, spooning pan juices over potatoes. Sprinkle with fleur de sel.

*****

I wasn't sure how difficult it would be to find grapeseed oil since I did my grocery shopping that week at Walmart, but surprisingly (well, surprisingly to me anyway) Walmart had it and the price was really reasonable, too.

Like I said above, I love a good roasted chicken, and this was a good one. But, just like the recipe title claims, the potatoes were indeed better than the chicken. Roasted potatoes that have been cooking in chicken drippings--yum. I followed the advice of some of the comments on the recipe on Martha's website and let them roast for a bit longer after removing the chicken to let them crisp up a little. Delish! I've actually made this chicken a few times since then, only without the potatoes since we don't generally have them on hand. The butter and oil combo makes the skin nice and crispy and tasty. I didn't used to be a chicken skin fan, but man alive do I love it now. Especially when it's super crispy and salty--yum! This has become my go-to roasted chicken recipe.

Sorry for the crappy pictures I have to get my Speedlite issues figured out so I can get decent pictures again. Sigh. This was a particularly bad camera night.

Barefoot Bloggers: East Hampton Clam Chowder

I love clam chowder. LOVE IT. I'm sure part of it stems from growing up in Seattle which is home to some of the world's best clam chowder. Or at least I think it's some of the best. I'm sure there are a few cities in the Northeast that claim to have the best, and I'm sure there are some there that are quite good, but I'm biased. I'm okay with that.

As much as I love clam chowder, I don't think I've ever tried to make my own. I was pretty excited when I saw that Laura from Family Spice Home had chosen Ina's East Hampton Clam Chowder as the Barefoot Blogger's first recipe for October. Technically if I stick to my diet it's not something I'm supposed to have because of the potatoes, milk, and flour, but it's not like I'm going to eat the whole pot of it.

East Hampton Clam Chowder
From Barefoot Contessa Family Style, 2002, All Rights Reserved

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, divided
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
2 cups medium-diced celery (4 stalks)
2 cups medium-diced carrots (6 carrots)
4 cups peeled medium-diced boiling potatoes (8 potatoes)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 quart (4 cups) clam juice
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
3 cups chopped fresh chowder clams (1 1/2 pounds shucked clams)

Melt 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) of the butter in a large heavy-bottomed stockpot. Add the onions and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or until translucent. Add the celery, carrots, potatoes, thyme, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 more minutes. Add the clam juice, bring to a boil, and simmer, uncovered, until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.

In a small pot, melt the remaining 8 tablespoons of butter and whisk in the flour. Cook over very low heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk in a cup of the hot broth and then pour this mixture back into the cooked vegetables. Simmer for a few minutes until the broth is thickened.

Add the milk and clams and heat gently for a few minutes to cook the clams. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve hot.

*****

Since it's still in the 90-degree range here for the daily high temperature I decided to cut the recipe in half. Who wants to be eating a steaming bowl of chowder when it's still hot outside? Plus I didn't think the boys would really eat it, and I can't eat a ton of it so I can keep getting skinny. I mention this so you can avoid a potentially very big mistake that I made. Make sure you cut all the ingredients in half. Like...don't put in the full amount of flour when you're only supposed to do half of what is listed. Of course I realized this after I had the roux going and couldn't figure out why it wasn't melting down more once I added in the broth. D'oh! I ended up pulling out some of it, adding more butter, and I used canned clams so I put the juice from their cans in with the roux. I think that managed to salvage it.

Having never bought canned clams before (although I should do it more because my uncle makes an awesome clam dip, and I bet since I'm his favorite niece he'd give me the recipe), I didn't realize how absolutely tiny chopped clams would be. Yikes. They were minced as fine as garlic. I'd much prefer chunks of clams in my chowder, but that's my own mistake.

The recipe itself is really tasty. Not as good as some of the chowder restaurants in Seattle, but given that this was my first attempt at making it on my own, I was pretty pleased. The husband sampled it as well and rated it highly. It was relatively easy to put together, too. I gave myself an hour for it, and that's about how long it took, but I was also working on something else in the kitchen, so I wasn't completely focused on the chowder.

This is definitely better than any canned chowder I've tasted, and really it's better than most chowders I get here in Phoenix. If I get them, which is rare since the quality is generally subpar. When I get a hankering for chowder and flying to Seattle for chowder from Totem House or Ivar's is out of the question, this will definitely be my go-to recipe.

Clam juice. Interestingly enough, my mom was asking recently where to buy clam juice. Mom, it's with the canned meats. Safeway and Fresh & Easy both carried it, but it was about half the price at F&E!




Mmmmm...bowl of chowder. Normally I like it with extra pepper and oyster crackers mixed in, but this time I just had it plain.

Barefoot Contessa's Hashed Browns

It occurred to me that we hadn't had Biscuits and Vegetarian Sausage Gravy for quite awhile, and I had just bought a box of Morningstar Farms sausage patties at Costco, so I slated it for dinner one night last week. I wanted some potatoes to go with it, so I grabbed a Barefoot Contessa cookbook figuring at least one of her books had to have a hash brown recipe in it. Lo and behold, there was one, in the Family Style cookbook. Super easy with basic ingredients--excellent!!

Barefoot Contessa's Hashed Browns
Copyright, 2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, All rights reserved.

5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds boiling potatoes, peeled and 1/2-inch diced
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons minced scallions (white and green parts)

Melt the butter in a large (10 to 12-inch) saute pan. Add the potatoes, onions, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally with a flat spatula, until the potatoes are evenly browned and cooked through. (Allow the potatoes to cook for 5 minutes before turning.) Turn off the heat and add the parsley and scallions. Serve hot.

*****

I only chopped up one onion because I don't like chopping onions, and I thought that one would be enough. I checked the recipe at least five times to make sure it really said five tablespoons of butter because it seemed like a lot.

These were good potatoes, but I think the five tablespoons was a bit too much for my liking. Maybe since I used one less onion I should have scaled it back a bit? I don't know. They were definitely tasty--I LOVE hash browns--but they didn't really ever brown a whole lot because of all the butter. Or at least that's what I'm attributing it to. Definitely easy, definitely good, and definitely something I'll make again--only with less butter next time.

PW's Mashed Potatoes

Oh man, what a crazy week it's been. The husband's been laid up in bed since Tuesday, so I've been a single parent for basically five days now. Kudos to those of you that do it all the time--you should all be nominated for sainthood! Everything has fallen to the wayside, including finishing my posts for Thanksgiving #2 that we had last weekend. This week has been so long it blows my mind that was just a week ago. Man. Of course I still have leftovers sitting in my fridge from it, so let's hope it really was just a week ago. ;)

The husband's family doesn't have mashed potatoes at their Thanksgiving dinner, and it's one of the things I miss having the most. So of course they were pretty high priority for Thanksgiving #2. I heart mashed potatoes very, very much. Normally I just boil up the potatoes, mash, add butter and milk and call it good, but I'd seen that The Pioneer Woman had a mashed potato recipe that could be made a couple days before and reheated in the oven, so I thought I'd give that a try. Plus PW has never led me astray.

PW's Creamy Mashed Potatoes

5 pounds Russet Or Yukon Gold Potatoes
3/4 cups Butter
1 package (8 Oz.) Cream Cheese, Softened*
½ cups (to 3/4 Cups) Half-and-Half
½ teaspoons (to 1 Teaspoon) Lawry's Seasoned Salt
½ teaspoons (to 1 Teaspoon) Black Pepper

Peel and cut the potatoes into pieces that are generally the same size. Bring a large pot of water to a simmer and add the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 to 35 minutes. When they’re cooked through, the fork should easily slide into the potatoes with no resistance, and the potatoes should almost, but not totally, fall apart.

Drain the potatoes in a large colander. When the potatoes have finished draining, place them back into the dry pot and put the pot on the stove. Mash the potatoes over low heat, allowing all the steam to escape, before adding in all the other ingredients.

Turn off the stove and add 1 ½ sticks of butter, an 8-ounce package of cream cheese and about ½ cup of half-and-half. Mash, mash, mash! Next, add about ½ teaspoon of Lawry’s Seasoning Salt and ½ a teaspoon of black pepper.

Stir well and place in a medium-sized baking dish. Throw a few pats of butter over the top of the potatoes and place them in a 350-degree oven and heat until butter is melted and potatoes are warmed through.

Note: When making this dish a day or two in advance, take it out of the fridge about 2 to 3 hours before serving time. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 20 to 30 minutes or until warmed through.

*****

If you want to check out her post on them--with step by step pictures--check it out by following this link.

These were super yummy, although I did have some spillage issues when they were in the oven in that some of the potatoes somehow spewed out over the side onto the bottom of my oven. Thankfully it was towards the end of baking so they didn't burn and ruin everything else that was in there at that time, which was, like, all our side dishes. It was so nice to be able to have made these the day before and be done with them. Honestly these were much more decadent than I would normally make mashed potatoes, but isn't Thanksgiving supposed to be decadent?! I mean, really, if you're going to indulge, you should really go all out right?! These would work out really nicely to take somewhere, too, I think. I'd make these again for a special occasion, but I think for normal mashed potato eating I'll stick with my usual way to save on the calories and fat. Plus it made A LOT!

By the way, they were good cold too. You know, from the one bite I took out of the container when they were cold. It's not like I finished off more than a serving that was left while they were still cold. I wouldn't do that. Nope. Not me...

Barefoot Contessa's Cheddar Corn Chowder

I forgot last week when planning out my menu that it was a Barefoot Bloggers recipe week! Oops! So I decided I'd make it this week to have for lunches. It's still not soup weather here in AZ (really it's only soup weather for maybe a week or two out of the whole year), but it's cooler so I figured it would work. Plus I love a good soup! This recipe is from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, but it's also available on the Food Network website. Jill from My Next Life chose this recipe for us to try.

Cheddar Corn Chowder
Copyright, 1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, All rights reserved

8 ounces bacon, chopped
1/4 cup good olive oil
6 cups chopped yellow onions (4 large onions)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
12 cups chicken stock
6 cups medium-diced white boiling potatoes, unpeeled (2 pounds)
10 cups corn kernels, fresh (10 ears) or frozen (3 pounds)
2 cups half-and-half
8 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, grated

In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, cook the bacon and olive oil until the bacon is crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onions and butter to the fat, and cook for 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent.

Stir in the flour, salt, pepper, and turmeric and cook for 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and potatoes, bring to a boil, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. If using fresh corn, cut the kernels off the cob and blanch them for 3 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain. (If using frozen corn you can skip this step.) Add the corn to the soup, then add the half-and-half and cheddar. Cook for 5 more minutes, until the cheese is melted. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve hot with a garnish of bacon.

*****

I read the ingredient list and thought, "Wow, that makes A LOT of soup!" Then I realized it said 10-12 servings. I'm really the only person in my house that eats soup, so that was going to be way too much. I decided to cut it in half. I also figured there were a few things I could do to make it slightly healthier. I figured since the bacon would render a lot of fat, and the recipe called for butter I could easily cut down on the olive oil. I used maybe two teaspoons, but it was probably closer to just one. I also used fat free half and half. I wasn't about to skimp on the cheese because I heart cheese. :)

*****

I sat down to have a nice bowl of this soup for my lunch once both kids were down for their naps. I was a bit leery of it because the picture in the cookbook didn't really look like a chowder to me, it looked more broth-y. Mine ended up looking like chowder, but I definitely had my reservations while it was cooking until it had that creamy chowder look to it. I'd read another Barefoot Bloggers review of this recipe, and she thought it was under-seasoned as it's written in the recipe and had added in Old Bay. I was ready to add some in if it needed it, but I really liked the flavor of it without adding anything additional. I had one bite that had the perfect amount of cheese flavor, a bacon piece, potato, and corn in it...it was fantastic!! The other bites were good but that one especially was great.

This was pretty easy to put together, and really tasty. I used frozen corn for mine and thought it was fine. Plus it's much easier to pour some frozen corn into the soup pot than having to cut the kernels off cobs.

I will definitely make this again at some point! Oh, and I put the recipe into the Recipe Calculator on the Weight Watchers website, and it came out to seven Points per serving, which I thought was pretty decent, considering chowders can be pretty decadent soups.

Basil Pork Chops

Sorry for another hiatus! This summer has been absolutely crazy, and really it's not letting up anytime soon (even though summer is almost done). My mom did a staycation this past week at a resort in Scottsdale, so we spent some time up there with her. My friend Jen B. went with us last Wednesday and we hung out at the pool and had lunch. I didn't make dinner because I was still full from the yummy bacon burger I had for lunch--a total indulgence for me! Thursday the boy spent the night with my mom, so the husband, baby, and I went out to dinner at Los Dos Molinos, a Mexican restaurant near us that I'd wanted to try for a long time. Then Friday the husband, baby, and I headed up to the resort for the weekend. It was a great time, although it got off to a really rocky start. We witnessed a horrific car accident. Not a fun way to start our fun weekend--especially since I initially thought the husband had been hit by the car that ran a red light. Oh man...sucky, let me tell you! Anyway, we came home yesterday, but after a big breakfast we weren't really hungry for dinner. So now today it's back to it, but only for a few days. I think next year I'm making no travel plans!!

I had originally slated a new recipe for tonight from the Meal Planning 101 blog that I like so much, but after looking at the recipe again today I decided I didn't want to have to go get ingredients for it. I thought I had more of what it called for, but when I realized I'd need about five things for it I figured it wasn't worth it. Plus I couldn't have made it to the store anyway as the boy napped until 4:15 and the baby is still sleeping! I remembered this recipe that I had made awhile ago and really liked. The mushrooms in it stuck out and is how I remembered it. My mom gave me some mushrooms she wasn't going to use, and they really need to be used up today, so I thought this was perfect for tonight.

Basil Pork Chops

I think on the side we're going to have something similar to a potato recipe I made awhile back from Cook's Illustrated:

Skillet Roasted Potatoes with Chili and Cumin

The chili and cumin is a variation on the original recipe, I'm just going to skillet roast them with the olive oil and salt. When we were at Trader Joe's lately the boy picked up a bag of red, white, and blue potatoes (which is funny since he doesn't like potatoes), so I'm going to use those for it. Not sure on a veggie yet, maybe carrots or green beans because I know I have both of those in the pantry.

Skillet Roasted Potatoes with Chili and Cumin

These are the potatoes I'm making to go with the Tex Mex Burgers we're having tonight, another Cook's Illustrated recipe. I'm so glad I sent in my subscription form for that magazine--I can't wait until I start getting it on a regular basis!! It occurred to me that we have a side burner on our grill, so I wonder if I could do the potatoes outside, too, so I don't have to heat up the house by using the stove. I'm not sure if I can use my normal cookware out there though? I don't know...I'll have to do some investigating.

Cook's Illustrated Skillet Roasted Potatoes with Chili and Cumin

1.5 pounds small or medium Red Bliss potatoes, scrubbed and unpeeled
2 Tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne

If using small potatoes, halve each potato. If using medium potatoes, quarter each potato to create 3/4 to 1 inch chunks. Rinse cut potatoes in cold water and drain well; spread on clean kitchen towel and thoroughly pat dry.

Stir together salt, chili powder, paprika, cumin, and cayenne in small bowl. Set aside.

Heat oil in heavy-bottomed 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add potatoes cut side down in single layer; cook, without stirring, until golden brown (oil should sizzle but not smoke), 5-7 minutes. Using tongs, turn potatoes skin side down if using halved small potatoes or second cut side down if using quartered medium potatoes; cook, without stirring, until deep golden brown, 5-6 minutes longer. Stir potatoes, then redistribute in a single layer. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until potatoes are tender, 6-9 minutes.

When potatoes are tender, sprinkle with spice mixture and toss or stir gently to combine. Cook seasoned potatoes over medium-low heat until spices are fragrant, about 30 seconds.

*****

These were some tasty potatoes. The texture of them was perfect--just crispy enough on the outside and perfectly tender on the inside. I think I'd cut back on the cayenne next time and maybe bump up the cumin a bit. The husband thought these smelled like BO, but they sure tasted yummy!

(There's a picture of them on the Tex-Mex Burger post below)

Pot Roast

The husband's best friend is here visiting from Mississippi for the weekend. I haven't seen him in years, so I didn't want to be stuck in the kitchen working on dinner, so I put a pot roast in the crock pot. I always love pot roast, and it's so easy I figured it was a good way to go. I bought some yummy looking rolls and am going to make a big salad to go with it.

The boys and I (along with my mom) are heading to Boise tomorrow for the weekend for my best friend's baby shower. (Hi, Brooke!! One more sleep!!) I'm in charge of the food for her baby shower, so I may at some point post all the recipes we're doing for that. Anyway, yet another reason I wanted something easy tonight since I need to pack and get us all ready to go. It's really amazing how much crap you have to take with you with two kids--even for just a weekend!

Here's the link to my pot roast recipe:

Claire's Pot Roast

Have you ever looked at the ingredients for cream of mushroom soup? I think I'm pretty done using it, after I use the can in my pantry. I'm reading a really interesting book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan. I highly suggest reading it if you have any interest at all in healthy eating. Anyway, it makes me want to do away with all processed foods of any sort. Really I've been able to cut down on them quite a bit to the point where I rarely buy them, but I'm trying to be completely done with them. Sorry for the mini rant...I'll step down off my soap box now and get back to hanging out with the husband and his friend.

Potatoes on the Grill

This was the potato recipe I found when I went looking on RecipeZaar.com. I had made some kind of grilled potatoes last summer I remember, but I must not have put it in the blog because I couldn't find it. But, this one was REALLY good, so I'm glad I found it.

Potatoes on the Grill
Recipe #28587

6 medium potatoes
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
paprika (optional)

Peel and thinly slice potatoes, place on a double layer of foil. Spread potatoes to make one layer. Add onion to potatoes. Add cheese, salt and pepper. Garnish with a little paprika if desired. Fold foil over and on ends to completely cover potatoes. Cook on grill until done when tested with a fork.

*****

I cut it in half since the boy doesn't like potatoes (weird, I know), and it was the perfect amount for us. These were GREAT!!! I will definitely be making these again. Super easy and tasty. I had them on the grill for probably 20-25 minutes. I put them on a few minutes before the chicken and then took them off at the same time. Oh, and I sprayed the foil with nonstick spray before putting everything down. Some of the cheese still stuck to the foil, but not that much. I may play around with spices next time and add some others to it. I wanted to see how it turned out on its own this time, and it was good, but I think I'll still play around with it a little.

Brooke's Breakfast Casserole

My bestest friend Brooke sent me this recipe for a breakfast casserole over the weekend. The timing was pretty impressive because I had to take food for my MOPS meeting this morning. I was going to do a different casserole, but she said she and her husband LOVED this one, so I figured I'd give it a try. And I had everything on hand for it except hashbrowns--and you know I LOVE when that happens! She found it on a blog she visits to find coupon deals in Boise, but since she sent it to me, I'm dubbing it Brooke's Breakfast Casserole.

Brooke's Breakfast Casserole
1 package Grands biscuits
4-5 cups frozen hashbrowns, thawed
1 package bacon (1 lb?), cooked and chopped
1 bag shredded cheddar cheese
8 eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Spread 6 biscuits in the bottom of a 9x13 pan to cover the bottom. Sprinkle hashbrowns over the biscuits. Season with salt and pepper (I used Lawry's Seasoned Salt). Place pan in oven for 10 minutes. Remove pan and top hashbrowns with chopped bacon. Spread cheese over bacon. Beat eggs and pour over top. Bake uncovered for an additional 30 minutes or until eggs are set in the center.

*****

This was really yummy! I had planned to take a picture of it once it came out of the oven, but we had to be getting out the door, so that didn't happen. There was none left to bring home, so I'll just have to make it again sometime so I can get a picture of it. :) It was really tasty, although I think I used too many hashbrowns. I didn't measure them out, just threw some handfuls into the pan. I might increase the number of eggs, too. I had to use mozzarella cheese because I was out of cheddar (okay, I had a block of it but didn't want to have to shred it), but I don't think it made a big difference. Oh, and I cut up the bacon using my kitchen shears before I cooked it. I prefer to do that over cooking it and then cutting it. Bacon is so doggone tasty. It was a good thing I didn't give myself a lot of time between when the bacon was done and I needed to put it in the casserole because I could have easily eaten all of it.

Italian Seasoned Fries

These are the fries we had with the Italian Beef sandwiches last night. They were from one of my Southern Living cookbooks. They sounded pretty easy, and I had everything on hand for them. Double bonus!

Italian Seasoned Fries
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 Tbsp vegetable oil or melted butter/margarine
1 28-ounce package frozen steak fries
3/4 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt

Combine eggs and oil in a large heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag. Add frozen fries; seal bag and toss. Combine breadcrumbs and cheese; add to fries; toss well. Place coated fries in a single layer on a lightly greased large baking sheet or jelly roll pan; sprinkle with salt. Bake, uncovered, at 450 for 22 minutes or until browned and crisp. Yield: 8 servings.

*****

Again, I forgot to take a picture of them. Oops. These were okay. My fries weren't all that coated, so I think I'd either double the amount for the seasonings or cut the amount of fries in half. Probably the latter because the whole bag of fries made a lot. I'm actually not sure why I went ahead and cooked the whole bag--I don't normally cook the whole bag when we have fries as a side dish. Overall they weren't great, but they weren't bad.

Feta Roast Potatoes

This is the potato dish I've decided on to go with our Falafel Pitas tonight. I'm copying it in from RecipeZaar.com but will post what I'm doing differently after the recipe.

Feta Roast Potatoes
Recipe #72411
1 1/2 kg potatoes, washed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon thyme (or regular thyme if you can't get lemon)
220 g greek feta

Preheat your oven to 200°C. Grease a large baking dish. Cut potatoes into 1 cm thick slices. Arrange them in the baking dish. Drizzle potatoes with oil and add the thyme. Toss the potatoes to coat in oil and herb. Roast potatoes for 45 to 50 minutes or until tender. Increase temperature to 220°C. Crumble feta over potatoes and toss through. Return dish to oven for 10 minutes until feta softens.

*****

So, RecipeZaar has a cool feature that you can change the quantity of the recipe and along with that, change it to either US or Metric measurements. I changed it to four servings and US measurements (and looked up celsius to fahrenheit conversion on Google) and basically got this (although I rounded some of the ingredient measurements):

1 pound potatoes, washed
2 teaspoons olive oil
5 teaspoons fresh lemon thyme (or regular thyme if you can't get lemon)
4 ounces greek feta

Preheat your oven to 400°. Grease a large baking dish. Cut potatoes into 1 cm thick slices. Arrange them in the baking dish. Drizzle potatoes with oil and add the thyme. Toss the potatoes to coat in oil and herb. Roast potatoes for 45 to 50 minutes or until tender. Increase temperature to 425°. Crumble feta over potatoes and toss through. Return dish to oven for 10 minutes until feta softens.

*****

I'm using red potatoes because when I went grocery shopping last time the only russet potatoes they had were in 10 pound bags, and there was no way I'd use that many potatoes before they went bad. I'm kind of hoping these end up tasting like the Greek fries at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant because those are so, so, so yummy. I don't have fresh thyme, so I'm just going to use dried thyme and may sprinkle some lemon juice over the potatoes. One of the reviews said they had done that.

*****

Mmmmmmm. These were yummy! I added in some dried oregano as well and really liked it. I think next time I'd skip the thyme and use some fresh oregano instead. I love having easy, new potato dishes. The feta on top was really good, too.

Pot Roast

Originally I had planned on having this Wednesday, but I kept forgetting to take the roast out of the freezer. Turns out it didn't matter as I forgot to take it out for Thursday, too. But I figured if I put it in the crockpot early enough it wouldn't matter.

Claire's Crockpot Pot Roast
2-3 lb. chuck roast (I think that's the cut I was using)
3-4 potatoes, peeled and in chunks
4-5 carrots, peeled and in chunks
1 envelope onion soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Place peeled and chunked potatoes and carrots in the bottom of crockpot. Place roast on top. Sprinkle onion soup over roast and vegetables. Pour can of soup over roast and vegetables. Cook on low 7-8 hours.

*****

I heart pot roast. I heart it a lot, which is funny because I don't think I really liked eating it as a kid. Maybe part of it is that I appreciate the ease at which this comes together. I put a frozen, two-pound roast in the crockpot around 8:30 yesteday morning I think it was, and we ate dinner at 6:00. It was perfectly done. I love to just pour spoonfuls of the sauce/gravy over my whole plate. My only disappointment is that there wasn't enough meat leftover to make shepherd's pie. We'll be having this again in the near future because I came across two roasts in the freezer from August. This was one of them, and I want to get the other one used up quickly too. Actually I may try to do something else with it--branch out a little, expand my roast horizons and all that.

Funeral Potatoes

I've had a nice break from cooking dinner. I guess it was only one night, but somehow it seems longer. I had Bunco last night, so I got a pizza at Walmart for the husband and boy to eat since I prefer to overeat at Bunco and not having dinner before that helps me overindulge. ;) I had planned on making shrimp dip, but I couldn't find the cream of shrimp soup for it. I had already bought the potato chips for it, so I quickly tried to come up with another idea while at Walmart that would use the potato chips. Nothing came to me, so I called Jen B. because I'm completely dependent on her and can't make a decision on my own to save my life. She said save the potato chips and use them for Funeral Potatoes or Potato Chip Chicken (which I call White Trash Chicken). So, I did. I ended up getting spinach dip to take instead.

Now, I've been eating these potatoes for as long as I can remember because my grandma has always made them, only she calls it Hashbrown Casserole. Jen B. makes this and calls it Potluck Potatoes. She was talking to our friend Laura about the recipe, and it turns out Laura calls them Funeral Potatoes. While kind of morbid, I think it's funny, so that's what I'm dubbing them now.

We're having french dips as our main course which I don't think really warrants typing out a recipe since I just use deli roast beef, french rolls, and a packet of au just. I'm pretty excited for french dips, we haven't had them in a looooooooooooong time because I can never find roast beef on sale for a decent price. Sprouts, however, came through for me last week. I've been closely monitoring the roast beef every day to make sure it's still good. I think the sell by date on it was yesterday, so I'm pretty comfortable using it tonight. Funeral Potatoes is kind of a weird side dish I realize, but they sound good, and I don't really have occassion to make them later in the week with any of the dinners I've planned. Yeah, yeah, I could wait until next week and plan a dinner around them, but I'd rather just have them tonight. Which reminds me I need to get going on them since they have to bake for an hour.

Funeral Potatoes
2 lb. bag of diced, frozen, country-style potatoes
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 can of Cream of Chicken soup
1/2 yellow onion, diced finely
1 Tablespoon of dried, minced onion
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 stick of melted butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Cooking Spray

For topping:
1/2 cup of crushed corn flakes
1/2 cup of crushed plain, potato chips
4 Tablespoons of melted butter

Directions:
1) Coat 9 x 13 glass casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside.
2) In a large bowl, combine diced potatoes, sour cream, 1/2 cup of shredded cheese, soup, yellow onion, dried minced onions, garlic powder, paprika, melted butter, and salt and pepper to taste.
3) Once thoroughly combined, spread in an even layer in the casserole dish. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheese on top.
4) For topping: In a separate bowl, combine crushed potato chips, crushed corn flakes, and melted butter. Sprinkle mixture evenly over top of potatoes and cheese.
5)Bake at 350 degrees, for 1 hour (uncovered).

Herb Crusted Pork Roast

I totally thought I had posted this earlier when I posted last night's recipe, but then I realized I hadn't because I wasn't 100% sure what I was going to make tonight. I was so confident I had posted it, when I was getting out the recipe for the potatoes I made to go with it I thought, "Oh shoot I forgot to post the potato recipe with the pork roast recipe." Pregnancy brain, I tell ya.

This has been on our menu for I think three weeks now and kept getting pushed back for whatever reason. I don't know why, it's super easy to make and really tasty. Of course my lack of cooking recently probably accounts for most of the reasons why I've been pushing it back. I bought the potatoes last week for the potato recipe I wanted to make with it, and I wanted to get them used up, so tonight was the night.

Herb Crusted Pork Loin

1 (4-pound) boneless pork loin, with fat left on
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme or 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon dried basil or 2 teaspoons fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon dried rosemary or 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.

Place the pork loin on a rack in a roasting pan. Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. With your fingers, massage the mixture onto the pork loin, covering all of the meat and fat.

Roast the pork for 30 minutes, fat side up, then reduce the heat to 425 degrees F and roast for an additional hour. Test for doneness using an instant-read thermometer. When the internal temperature reaches 155 degrees F, remove the roast from the oven. Allow it to sit for about 20 minutes before carving. It will continue to cook while it rests.

*****

I buy three or four pound pork loin roasts when they're on sale and cut them up into one pound increments, so the roast I used was roughly one pound. Honestly for the three of us, it was the perfect size. The leftovers of this recipe don't taste nearly as good as when it's fresh out of the oven, so I try to use a smaller roast and avoid having leftovers. The only pieces left tonight were two skinny end pieces. Woo hoo! Since I use a much smaller roast than what's called for, I reduce the cooking times by half, so I do 15 minutes at 475 and then 30 minutes or so at 425. When I put my meat thermometer in it, it registered 170 after the 30 minutes, so that was perfect. I forgot to scale back the ingredients for the herb crust, but I think it was a good amount, gave the roast lots of flavor.

My side dish with this were Barefoot Contessa's Parmesan Smashed Potatoes from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, although the recipe is also on the Food Network website. I don't remember what the original occasion was that I wanted to make these for, maybe my anniversary at the end of October? No idea. But since I heart all things Ina, I kept moving them on the menu with the pork roast (or the elusive whole chicken I kept meaning to make last week but never actually got around to taking out of the freezer). I didn't use quite the whole three pounds of potatoes that it called for, so I scaled back all the other ingredients, too. These were AWESOME. There was just enough parmesan to give the potatoes a little oomph and zing of flavor without overpowering them. I was worried they were going to be really gummy when I was adding in the half and half, butter, and sour cream, but they weren't at all. The recipe calls for you to mix them up in the bowl of a stand mixer, but that was going to just be one more pan I'd have to wash, and frankly I had enough pans to wash tonight without adding one more to the pile. So I mashed them up in the pot I cooked the potatoes in and added everything to that.

Overall this was a really yummy down-home, good for cooler fall weather type dinner.

Jen B's Top Secret Cheesy Potatoes

I think it's clear by now that we have a love for cheese at our house. It runs pretty deep. One of the first times I cooked for the husband I was making something with cheese in it and asked him if I should add more. He retorted that, "There's no such thing as too much cheese." Obviously our relationship was meant to be. If nothing else, we'll always have cheese.

So, a few months ago Jen B. and I along with our friend Laura went on a crazy road trip to San Diego. Why crazy you ask? Because it was us and our three two-year-old boys and Laura's baby girl who was only two or three months old. All of us in a one bedroom condo. For four days I think it was. We were all pretty ready to come home by the end of the trip. We had a good time, but we were ready for the boys to have some daddy time.

Anyway, we each took a turn making dinner while we were there, and these potatoes were part of Jen's dinner. They were AWESOME. I was so excited when she posted them on her blog. Not that she wouldn't have given me the recipe if I asked (well, I assume she would have but who knows...), but this way I don't have to remember where it is, I can just find it on her blog. God Bless cooking blogs, huh. ;)

Jen's Top Secret Cheesy Potatoes
2 cans of Campbell’s cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
5-7 medium Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced into thin disks
1 cup Shredded cheese (Colby, Mild Cheddar, or Monterrey jack), divided
1 Tablespoon Paprika
1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste (don’t be shy)
Cooking spray

Preheat over to 400 degrees.

Coat glass 9x13 casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside.

Peel and slice potatoes into thin disks and place in mixing bowl. Season the potato disks with ½ cup of shredded cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Mix to combine so each piece of potato is coated with spice/cheese mixture.

Combine seasoned potato mixture with both cans of undiluted Cheddar Cheese soup. Mix until potato mixture is well coated with spices and soup.

Dump cheesy potato mixture into greased casserole dish, spread in an even layer. Sprinkle top with remaining ½ cup of shredded cheese.

Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes has elapsed, remove foil and bake and additional 20-30 minutes uncovered (top should be golden brown in spots, cheese should be melty, and potatoes should be fork tender). Total cook time should be approx. 1 hour, but can be a little longer depending on if the potatoes are done.

Let sit for approx. 5-10 minutes until potatoes are set and they are cool enough to serve.

*****

Mmmmm...don't they sound so good? Are you jealous? Don't you wish you were here with us for dinner tonight? Mmmm...I can't wait. They were ridiculously easy to put together, too, which I love. I of course added more cheese, but only becauase the bag of cheddar I had on hand didn't have quite a full cup, so I put that in with the potatoes and then topped the potatoes with a Colby Jack blend. Mmmmm. Lots of cheese!!

*****

The potatoes were yummy, but they weren't as good as when Jen made them. She and I discussed it today, and I maybe should have put in more seasonings or more cheese. I don't measure out spices, so I just eyeballed what I thought was right for the garlic and onion powder. I also maybe should have left them in a few minutes longer, just so the cheese on top could brown up a bit. The potatoes were cooked enough, the cheese on top could have just been a little more brown. This was a really easy way to do potatoes, so I'll definitely make it again but just add more seasoning and/or more cheese next time.

Shepherd's Pie

Finally...we have food in our house again!! I was waiting for the husband's pay day to get here to go grocery shopping (I'm sure you other SAHMs know how that goes...), so finally we can eat decently again. Last night the husband ended up bringing home two frozen pizzas because I'd had a horrible, horrible day dealing with an unruly toddler and didn't dare take him out in public to go buy cheddar cheese to make Shepherd's Pie last night. Did that sentence make any sense? I'm not sure. He said I could run out and get some once he got home, but I thought I might not ever return if I did that. Seriously...that was the day I'd had.

On a somewhat random side note, I was pretty pleased with my grocery shopping today. I spent $65 and saved $63--and that included buying two whole chickens and two packages of chicken drumsticks. My friend Jen A. has a great blog on saving money at the grocery store with coupons, niftythriftythriving.blogspot.com. She gets amazing savings grocery shopping and doing the whole CVS Extra Care Bucks deal. I'm in awe of how much she saves.

Back to my dinner...kind of. I'll be posting the recipe later because I'm kind of making it up as I go. I'm loosely basing this on a Paula Deen recipe for Shepherd's Pie I saw on her show one time. Loosely in the sense that I'm using leftover pot roast for the meat, and I think the similarities end there. Other than that I'm doing it pretty much how I normally do my Shepherd's Pie...meat, gravy, and vegetables mixed together, topped with mashed potatoes and then some cheese on top. Normally I do everything on the stove top and then put it together in some kind of casserole and stick that under the broiler to melt the cheese. There's still some gravy/sauce left from the pot roast, so I'll see how much of that there is and if necessary make some brown gravy to supplement if I need to.

*****

Okay, at long last, here's the recipe I ended up using for Shepherd's Pie.

Shepherd's Pie v2.0
1 to 1.5 lbs leftover cooked pot roast
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
1 package brown gravy, prepared
Mashed potatoes (probably 3-4 russet potatoes, cooked and mashed)
1 cup cheddar cheese

Cut leftover pot roast into chunks. Place in skillet to heat up. Once meat is heated, add bag of vegetables to pan. Once vegetables are cooked, stir in prepared gravy mix. When this is all heated through, transfer to an 8x8 baking dish. Spread mashed potatoes on top of meat/veggie/gravy mixture. Top with cheddar cheese. Place under broiler until cheese is melted.

*****

Totally easy, huh. I made the equivalent of two packages of gravy when I made this, but one would have been plenty. I have to say, I like this version a lot better than when I make it with hamburger. They're both good, but this will definitely become my leftover pot roast go-to meal. I used instant potatoes (because I got them on sale for ridiculously cheap and needed to save the real potatoes I had for something else later in the week), and I remembered why I don't like instant potatoes. They just taste funny to me, and they're way too salty. Real mashed potatoes are so easy to make, I don't know why they even sell instant potatoes. This is definitely something I will make again!!

Wanna see what it looked like? I really need better lighting in my kitchen.

Pot Roast

I've been MIA for a few days but with good reason--I've been laid up in bed with a nasty cold. I don't know if it's the same one the husband had last week, but it's no fun. I started feeling sick on Wednesday afternoon, yesterday my saint of a mom came and took the boy for the day and kept him overnight. It was so nice to spend the whole day and most of today just laying in bed. I heart my bed so much.

Anyway, before I started feeling under the weather I had put a pot roast in the crockpot on Wednesday morning, which worked out great since the cold had totally hit me by dinner time. I found a roast in the freezer that needed to be used, and I love a good pot roast.

Claire's Crockpot Pot Roast
2-3 lb. chuck roast (I think that's the cut I was using)
3-4 potatoes, peeled and in chunks
4-5 carrots, peeled and in chunks
1 envelope onion soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Place peeled and chunked potatoes and carrots in the bottom of crockpot. Place roast on top. Sprinkle onion soup over roast and vegetables. Pour can of soup over roast and vegetables. Cook on low 7-8 hours.

*****

My roast was still a little frozen when I put it in the crockpot, and I think I had it in there for 8-9 hours. I have to say I think it was one of the best pot roasts I've made. Not sure if it's because the meat was still a little frozen or what, but it was really tasty. To check doneness, I usually stick a meat thermometer in the roast to make sure it's done and check to make sure the potatoes are cooked all the way too. There are few things grosser than half-cooked potatoes. Okay, there are probably a lot of things grosser, but they're definitely not good.

Pork Chops with Country Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

Don't you love when you come across or remember a cookbook or cooking magazine that you used to turn to all the time but it got lost in the shuffle of all your cookbooks and you haven't seen it in months, if not years? Holy run on sentence there Claire! Anyway, I have this Cooking Light "Simple Suppers" magazine that I used to use all the time and had kind of forgotten about it. It was my first foray (sp?) into Cooking Light. The date on it says "Display until December 31, 2003." Yup, 2003. I think I probably got it in October or November of that year. I flipped through it looking for a pork recipe to make tonight. I forgot how many awesome sounding recipes were in it--some of which I've made and totally forgotten about. I'm so excited to have come across this again!!

But, the dinner I'm making tonight isn't from said magazine. Sorry. It's my blog, I can tangent when I want. I don't know how it popped in my head this afternoon, but I wasn't overly excited about what I had planned for dinner and thought I'd look through that to find something. I didn't find anything that I already had everything for, so I'm sticking with my plan. But, I think next week there will be a few dinners from this magazine gracing our table!!

I went back through my blog entries to find the below recipe, and I haven't made it since January. JANUARY!!! I was shocked it had been that long. It's possible I've made it since then but not likely since I'm usually good about updating my blog, even when I miss a day or two or five. It's a super yummy and easy way to make pork chops. And I heart gravy so anything with some kind of "country gravy" is okay in my book. I accidentally typed grave instead of gravy...I hope that doesn't mean anything.

Man, I'm rambling a lot today. I even had a lot of adult interaction this morning! You'd think I'd be this verbose (Ha! Take that pregnancy brain...a big word!) on a day I'd been cooped up alone with my two year old son, even though he is an excellent conversationalist. Okay, on to the recipe. I'm feeling loopy.

Pork Chops with Country Gravy and Mashed Potatoes
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 1 inch thick)
1 teaspoon butter
1 1/3 cups 1% low-fat milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (20-ounce) package refrigerated mashed potatoes (such as Simply Potatoes)

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt evenly over both sides of pork. Add 1 teaspoon butter to pan, stirring until butter is melted. Add the pork to pan, and cook pork for 3 minutes on each side. Remove pork from pan, and keep warm.

Combine low-fat milk and flour, stirring with a whisk. Add the milk mixture to pan, stirring with a whisk. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, poultry seasoning, and black pepper. Return pork to pan. Cover; reduce heat, and simmer for 7 minutes or until gravy is thick and pork is done.

While pork cooks, prepare potatoes according to package directions. Serve with pork.

*****

So I make real mashed potatoes instead of the refrigerated ones. I'm cheap, what can I say. A bag of potatoes is cheaper--or maybe the same price but it's five pounds of potatoes vs. slightly more than one pound. I don't know, I've never compared the prices, I just assume it's cheaper to make my own. Plus I like mashing potatoes. I heart them more than gravy, so this way I can make as many as I want.

Oh, and I'm usually bad when I make these. I trim all the fat off the pork chops, but then I throw the pieces of fat into the skillet to get all the yummy goodness from it for the gravy. But we don't eat it, so that makes it healthy, right? I think so.

Okay...I've got to wrap this up before I start typing out my life story or ramble on about some other nonsensical point.