Potato and Green Bean Salad

Happy Wednesday! 

The kittens and school are taking up all my time, so it has taken me a bit to get this post together. It is pretty photo-lite because honestly, I didn't think you needed lots of photos of how to boil potatoes and chop up green beans. 

This recipe is again from the most recent Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication on newsstands now. No, I am not getting anything from BHG by plugging this, I just think they put out some really great recipes!

This potato salad is an Italian style potato salad. It is not heavy at all, and has no mayonnaise. BHG calculated the recipe at six servings with 186 calories per serving, which is not too shabby when talking potato salad.

One reason I was drawn to this potato salad is that I had all the ingredients on hand, and most of it was fresh from my own garden. I was excited to try it out using all that delicious fresh garden produce! I used my own potatoes, green beans, garlic, tomatoes and basil! Nice.

Also, I was glad to have another recipe to use anchovy paste with. I have another dressing I make with anchovy paste (it is not gross, trust me!) but I'm glad to have more ways to use it up. Plus this basic dressing could be used on many different salads, or even as a marinade. 

Although my picture is not near as pretty as the fully styled magazine photo, the salad itself was delicious! Very fresh and different from a typical picnic style potato salad. I would definitely make this again! 

The dressing consists of grated lemon peel, lemon juice, the olive oil, capers, garlic, anchovy paste and pepper. Shake it up or mix it and you have your dressing. The salad itself is potatoes, boiled, hard boiled eggs, green beans cooked, and tomatoes, olives and fresh basil! Mix it all together, let it set for a bit, and enjoy!

The recipe made enough for Chris and I to have dinner, plus about three servings of leftovers later in the week. It kept well in the fridge and didn't get mushy.

Do you like potato salad? Are you a mayo based potato salad fan, or some other style?

Baked Fennel with Parmesan

Last year I bought a Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication about this time of year. It was all about vegetables. As I thumbed through it I came across several recipes I wanted to try. The first one I made was a veggie pasta. It was delicious! It was easy and customizable to any number of combinations. That recipe inspired many other pasta and veggie dishes since. Another recipe from that magazine was Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash, which is delicious and I have made several times.

I was at the store the other day and saw the most recent edition of the Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest magazine with a delicious looking pasta and meatballs on the front cover. I bought it. Impulse buying at its best! But SO totally worth it!

I have already made TWO recipes from this magazine, and like the recipes from last years magazine they are complete winners!! I highly suggest you run down to your local bookstore, or where ever you buy magazines and pick up the current Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest magazine before it is gone! And no, I am not getting any thing from BHG, this is completely my opinion.

So, the first recipe I made is Baked Fennel with Parmesan. Like the last recipe I made (Fried Green Tomatoes), you kinda have to already like fennel to make this recipe. But, even if you don't, you should try it because it is delicious!!! Words we used to describe it were: pasta like, meaty, savory, amazing, etc.

I served this with a grilled NY steak, lightly seasoned with salt and cracked black pepper, topped with grilled mushrooms and alongside a tomato, cucumber, feta salad. The entire dinner came together as an amazingly delicious meal.

For the Baked Fennel with Parmesan you will need 3-4 medium fennel bulbs, a small-medium onion. garlic, butter, half n half,nutmeg, Parmesan-reggiano cheese, salt, pepper and if you are so inclined, Italian parsley and toasted walnuts. I am not a fan at ALL of walnuts, so I skipped that. Preheat your oven to 425* and put a pretty good size pot of water on to boil. Also, pull out a casserole or other shallow dish and grease it. The recipe calls for butter, but I just used a quick spray of Pam.

 First, gather all your ingredients together.

It is hard to find Parmesan-reggiano down here so I used a blend of Parmesan and Romano cheeses.

Start with chopping up the fennel into thinish wedges. Whack the bulb end off of the stem. The stems are not normally used, but you can use the fronds (the thin wispy bits) on the stalks like you would any other fresh herb to season the final dish.

To core the fennel make a diagonal cut just to the outside of the root, and then another on the other side.

Then slice into wedges.

Slice a medium (the recipe calls for sweet, I just used regular yellow) onion into wedges and add both fennel and wedges to a pot of boiling water. Boil for five minutes or so until the fennel is soft. Drain well.

 

Add the cooked fennel and onion to the casserole dish and then pour half n half over the top, sprinkle with nutmeg, and then the cheese. Dot with butter and then bake for about 15 minutes, or until everything is heated through and the cheese is melty.

That's it! Fairly quick and OH SO DELISH!

 As I said, I paired this with a delicious grilled NY steak, which Chris and I split.

 

I had cooked some bacon earlier in the day and the pan was still on the stove with the leftover bacon drippings in it. I knew I wanted to saute some mushrooms to go with the steak. Epiphany! Add the mushrooms to some of the bacon drippings. Oh em gee. SO tasty!

 



Along with that I decided the plate would need a bit more color, and that I have a ton of tomatoes and cucumbers just sitting around waiting to be used. I chopped some cukes and tomatoes threw them in a bowl and added a bit of salt, pepper and feta. Stir it up. Voila! A delicious and colorful, salty, cold, crunchy and creamy side dish.

 The finished plate looked something like this....

The entire dinner got rave reviews from both of us, but the Baked Fennel with Parmesan is definitely a keeper! Thanks Better Homes and Gardens for the delicious recipe! I can't wait to make it again.

Oh, it is equally delicious warmed up the next day. Yay leftovers!

Do you like or loathe fennel? I love it! I have another great recipe for a Steak, Fennel & Arugula Sandwich that is amazing! What is your favorite fennel recipe??

Fried Green Tomatoes

Chris and I planted a variety of tomatoes this year. We planted German Green, Mortgage Lifter, Black Krim, Big Rainbow, Roma, Grape, Cherry, and one other variety I can't remember the name of.

I love tomatoes and having my own fresh tomatoes to make salsa with, eat on a sandwich, and add to other foods, plus what I smoke and freeze, makes me a happy happy girl.

One thing Chris and I had never tried was Fried Green Tomatoes. We have talked about it every year we have planted tomatoes, but had never, for one reason or another, actually made it. This year, we decided, was the year.

I went to my favorite recipe site, My Recipes, and searched for fried green tomatoes. I came across several recipes but the one that caught my eye was Fried Green Tomatoes with Bread and Butter Pickle Remoulade.

I wanted to use this one because of all of the bread and butter pickles and sweet relish I had canned from our own cucumbers.

You can click the link above to see the actual recipes.

We started by slicing three large German Green tomatoes in fairly thick slices. Then each side was sprinkled with salt and pepper.

 

Meanwhile, I had a cast iron skillet with about an inch of vegetable oil heating on the stove. It needs to heat to about 350*, but be careful because if it gets too hot it will start to smoke and burn. This is not good. Also, preheat the oven to 200* and place a rack or pan in there to put your cooked tomatoes on. You will be cooking in batches unless you have the worlds largest iron skillet and you will want to keep the tomatoes warm. I took some foil and put it underneath a wire cooling rack and stuck it in the oven. I didn't want to drip oil in my oven but I didn't want the tomatoes to sit in their own oil and get soggy either. 

 

 

The  next step is to get the coating ready. This recipe calls for 2 cups flour, 1 cup corn meal, 1 1/2 cups buttermilk and a tablespoon of creole seasoning. I saw that some recipes use an egg instead of buttermilk, and panko instead of cornmeal.

 



One cup of flour and the cup of cornmeal are mixed in a shallow dish (pick a rather good sized dish) along with the creole seasoning. In another shallow bowl place the buttermilk, and in a third shallow dish place the remaining cup of flour.

Not a great picture, but you get the idea. The largest dish contains the flour/cornmeal mixture. The next step is the messy step, where you dredge the tomatoes first in the flour, then the buttermilk, and then the flour/cornmeal mixture to coat them.

This is messy and you will get gooey, sticky, gross fingers. It is helpful to have a kitchen partner at this point because one person can do the dredging while the other person keeps their fingers clean and does the cooking.

Dredge the tomatoes and then add 3-4 (depending on the size of the tomatoes and the size of your skillet) to the heated oil. You don't want to over crowd them. Your oil should be hot and should  start to sizzle and fry as soon as you add the tomatoes.

Cook the tomatoes for 2-3 minutes per side. You need to monitor the heat of the oil. Every time you add tomatoes the heat will drop. We have a laser tool that Chris has that gives us a digital instant read that we used to monitor the temperature.

BE CAREFUL when you flip the tomatoes!!! This is HOT boiling oil and it will BURN you if you splatter. Use a fork and a spatula to help ease the tomatoes over without splashing. Once the tomatoes are cooked on both sides use a slotted spatula or spoon to remove them carefully from the oil. I tilted the spatula a bit to let the oil drain off. Place the cooked tomatoes in the preheated oven while you go on to the next batch. I flipped the tomatoes over so that the oil on the top would drain off. I wasn't looking for oil-sogged fried tomatoes.

Keep cooking the tomatoes in batches until they are all done.

To make the remoulade, which I know sounds a bit interesting flavor-wise, gather your ingredients and mix them all together. Pretty simple.

The recipe calls for one cup mayo, 1/4 cup creole mustard, lemon zest, lemon juice, fresh parsley, fresh chive, hot sauce, salt, pepper and of course, chopped bread and butter pickles. I used a tablespoon of my homemade sweet relish, which is nearly the same as bread and butter pickles, but already chopped. Mix it all together and you have a tasty sauce!

Now that all the tomatoes are cooked and the sauce is ready it is time to eat!

I served them alongside the last of my homemade garden coleslaw.

So how was it?

Very good, if you like tomatoes. :-)  I thought the deep fried texture and taste reminded me of a BLT sandwich. Chris thought it reminded him of a good tomato soup with crunchy crackers; he went back for seconds.

The tomatoes were excellent both with and without the remoulade. The remoulade was slightly sweet and added a very nice creamy component to the crunchy-fried tomatoes. I would take the time to make it again. I have left overs and can see using it as a dip or as a sandwich spread.

One thing I would do differently is to use a finer grind of cornmeal. I think mine is a medium grind and it made the breading a bit...crunchy. A finer grind would have contributed the good flavor but been less intrusive in the mouth feel of the breading.

Overall, this is a very tasty recipe and one I will make again, but probably not regularly. It is a bit time intensive, more so than what I would typically want to spend on a busy weeknight, and it is fried, which is not the healthiest of options. It is delicious, and Chris and I both agree that it will be on our menu in the future as a treat meal.

Do you like or loathe tomatoes? Have you ever had fried green tomatoes? What is your favorite way to eat tomatoes? I don't have a favorite. I love them in everything!

Chicken Enchiladas Revamped

I thought with Cinco de Mayo being tomorrow I would re-post my famous Chicken Enchilada recipe! Remember, make this your own! Use whatever you have on hand. Want red sauce instead of tomatillo? Use red sauce. It is all good! Simple and delicious. If you grill a bunch of chicken tonight you will have pre-cooked chicken already to go for your enchiladas tomorrow! And don't forget the margaritas!

When people ask me what I make that is really good (besides everything!) I reply: Chicken Enchiladas.

My chicken enchilada recipe has been loved and devoured by many over the years. I started making chicken enchiladas about....16 or 17 years ago. I remember buying a Campbell's Food cookbook at a grocery store and finding a recipe for chicken enchiladas in it.

While I have never followed the recipe exactly, I did use it as a jumping off point. And while that recipe was my jumping off point, I have modified and adjusted the ingredients in the "stuffing" depending on my whim, fancy, mood or what was on hand.

The first time I made the orignial recipe I invited a couple neighbors over, and we all devoured them. It has been much the same experience *any* time I have made enchiladas for anyone. Eveyone loves them.

My original recipe was a flour tortilla with a red enchilada sauce (storebought) stuffed with, at a minimum, shredded chicken and cheese. Seriously simple. And delicious.

My latest incarnation, however, takes it to a little higher level.

First of all I found these babies, which I LOVE!



Do you see what it says? A delicious BLEND of corn and flour! They really are the best of both worlds.

Next take some pre-cooked chicken and shred or chop it. You can use white or dark meat or a mixture of both. You can use storebought rotissere chicken, roast your own chicken, poach the chicken, cook it in a crockpot, whatever, I don't care, just get yourself some cooked chicken. This recipe is great to have in your arsenal if you regularly roast or cook a chicken and only have part of it for the meal. The leftover meat is perfect to use up in enchiladas the next night!

My own roast chicken cut into 8 pieces.

Approximately 2 cups of chopped/shredded chicken.

This is where you make it your own. Garlic and onions are a good place to start, peppers, jalapenos, diced green chili's...whatever you want to have mixed with your chicken and cheese on the inside of the enchilada. Sliced black olives are good, whatever, be creative!

This is garlic, jalepeno, new mexico chile, red bell pepper, and the white parts of green onions.

Because I have them, and I am revamping the recipe, I chopped up a handful of fresh tomatillos.

Now, take all the stuff in the first picture and put it in a heated skillet with a bit of olive oil to saute until starting to soften. Then add the tomatillos and continue to saute until they, too start to soften. Throw in a little seasoning if you want, like ground cumin, chipotle pepper sauce, garlic powder, salt...whatever you like, to taste. You could also use "taco seasoning" if you have it, but don't use too much..maybe a couple teaspoons. Once everything is starting to soften nicely add your pre-cooked and chopped/shredded chicken to the pan.

Cook just to heat everything through, you want your chicken hot. This will only take a couple of minutes. If you haven't already, or are using unseasoned chicken (like poached) you may want to add some seasonings here. (I seasoned twice...I like seasonings!)

Next set up a little assembly line with your stuffing mixture, the tortillas, whatever shredded cheese you are using and your 13 x 9 baking dish. Now start stuffing!

Put a couple tablespoons of mixture onto one side of the tortilla, add a sprinkle of cheese. 

Roll them up, tucking the edge closest to you under the stuffing a bit to hold it all together. Place it in the casserole dish (spray the dish with a little no-stick spray first).

THEN (this is where it all gets craaazay) top with homemade tomatillo sauce. (Okay you can used canned tomatillo's in a pinch, but fresh will be way better!). I'll give you the recipe below.

Then sprinkle with cheese.This is mozzarella because it is what we had in the fridge. Normally I would use a chedder or a "mexican" shred blend. But whatever, use whatever you have or like as long as it will melt and get nice and gooey (<-- technical term).

Doesn't that look good!?!  Oh gosh. SO good.

Next, stick it in a 350 degree oven for 10-20 minutes, until it is all hot and bubbly and the cheese is ooeygooey melty. The time will depend on how full you stuff your enchiladas, how much and what kind of cheese you used, etc.

THEN you get to eat it!

ENJOY!!!

Chicken Enchiladas with Tomatillo Salsa

For the enchiladas:

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2-3 medium jalapenos (more or less to taste), chopped

1 medium new mexico chile, choppped

4 green onions, white parts only (reserve tops for garnish), sliced into rounds

1/2 - 1 cup chopped white or yellow onion

1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped/shredded

1 cup tomatillo salsa (recipe below)

1 - 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, divided

1 medium tomato, diced, for garnish, optional

sour cream for topping, optional

1 10 pack of tortillas (I used a corn/flour blend, and they are the medium size ones, 8" I think)

For the Tomatillo Salsa

1 cup diced or halved fresh tomatillos

1/2 cup white or yellow onions, diced

jalapeno and/or serrano chile's to taste (use 1 or 2 of each for milder-removing seeds and membranes, leave seeds and membranes in, and add more for spicier)

2 garlic cloves

Combine everything in a saucepan over medium heat and let it cook down. This will take 10-20 minutes. Transfer to a food processor and rough chop (don't puree). Voila! Your tomatillo sauce is now ready for use!

Follow the above instructions to cook your enchilada stuffing, stuff and roll your enchiladas, top with tomatillo sauce and cheese, bake at 350 for 10-20 minutes. Top with your favorite garnishes...green onion, tomatoes, sour cream, or maybe olives or cilantro or radishes...whatever suits your taste buds!

As you can see, Chris topped his with a variety of toppings!

This is a VERY simple, and QUICK meal to make, especially if you have the chicken pre-cooked. You can, of course, mix it up in so many ways to add flavor or heat. If you are low on time, just throw the chicken and cheese in the tortillas and top with the sauce. It will lose some of the complexity of the peppers and onions, but it will still be REALLY good.

It is so good, in fact, that Chris and I can quite literally eat the entire pan by ourselves in one sitting. We are gluttonous pigs...but they are that good!

Try them and let me know what you think!

Banana Peanut Butter Bread

I love banana bread.
I love peanut butter.
I love putting bananas and peanut butter together to make banana peanut butter bread.
SO moist and delicious.

I made this loaf in my breadmaker, but you can also do it in a traditional loaf pan in the oven.

3 ripe mashed bananas
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons milk (I used coconut milk in the carton, not the can)
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Optional ingedients: chocolate chips (or other flavors like butterscotch), nuts, dried cranberries, etc.

Mash bananas in a bowl. Add peanut butter and mash into bananas. Add mixture to breadmaker loaf pan. Add eggs, butter and milk.

In a separate bowl combine dry ingedients (flour through salt) and mix. Add to bread maker loaf pan. If you are adding any optional ingredients add them now as well.

For my breadmaker (2 lb loaf size) there is a quick bread cycle, and the directions suggest using the dark crust option (I think it turned out a bit too "crusty" on the bottom for my preference, so next time I'll probably use the medium cycle). The cycle on my machine is for 1 hour and 50 minutes. After pressing start the mixing cycle will begin. After about five minutes use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides and corners to make sure all the flour gets mixed in.


After the 1 hour and 50 minute cycle timer goes off, remove the bread from the machine and place onto a heat proof cooling rack. Do NOT leave bread in bread maker on "keep warm" cycle. After about five minutes remove the loaf from the loaf pan.

Let bread cool a bit and then dig in! If you want, you can top it with butter, peanut butter, or even nutella! So decadent. Or, just eat it plain-jane off the loaf.

For oven cooking, mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients. Add the wet to the dry, mix well. Add to a loaf pan and cook in a pre-heated 350 degree oven. Depending on the size of your pan you will bake it for 50-75 minutes. Start checking it about about 50. It should be golden brown on top and spring back slightly when you press on it, and a tester inserted near the middle should come out clean.

Presents!

It is 5:01pm on the west coast, which I think officially means two things: One I can start the post by saying "Good Evening!" and two, I can have a glass of wine or something. YAY!

Good Evening!

My day started out with breakfast. My pictures suck, as usual, but I'll show you anyway. I need to hire a professional photographer to live at my house and take pictures at will.

I made an egg breakfast thing. It was pretty tasty and very quick to put together thanks to all the prep work I did earlier in the week.

I had pre-chopped onions, red and yellow peppers, and had bought sliced mushrooms. I sauteed those in a little butter until they were nice and soft. (After eating it I would have added the eggs sooner and let all the cooking finish together, the onions got a bit more carmelized than I would have liked). Then I beat some eggs together and poured those over the top of the veggie mixture. I let that cook without touching it (I swirled the eggs around in the pan when I first dumped it all in there to cover the veggies) for a few minutes until the edges looked like they were just starting to set. I then took the whole pan and stuck it in a 350F oven for another few minutes until the top set up. I sprinkled a tiny bit of cheese on the top and let that melt.

It definitely needed more salt than what I added during cooking, but we topped it with chopped tomatoes, avocado and some homemade tomatillo salsa and called it breakfast! We also shared a delicious ruby red grapefruit. It is citrus season so NOW is the time to buy oranges and grapefruits with the best and sweetest flavor.

We went to Lowes after breakfast and picked up some supplies.

When lunch time rolled around I decided to try out a gift my grandma gave me for Christmas. It is called a TopChips chip maker. 

It is pretty cool! There are three silicone trays.



You slice up a potato (or other vegetable) thinly using the provided baby mandolin.

Put them on the trays (after patting them dry with a paper towel) and stick them in the microwave for a few minutes. The instructions say 3 minutes, but they must have used a higher powered microwave than mine, because it took probably 6 minutes or so (30 second increments) for the potato slices to crisp up like chips!

I seasoned them with a bit of vinegar and salt. YUM! Quick, homemade, no oil/deepfried potato chips! Thanks Gram!

Chris spent the rest of the afternoon working on a little project for the kitty, while I puttered around in the house doing this and that.









NEW TOY FOR THE KITTY!

She loves it, but I didn't have my camera handy so I missed the opportunity to catch her climbing up the entire thing and loving it! She is such a good girl.

I am doing great on my goals this week. I have exercised 6 of the 7 days of the month. I have avoided bread products. I have eaten fruits or veggies with every meal. I have had appropriate snacks. I have logged my food and exercise. Woohoo! Today was a hard day for me to get my exercise in. The weather was blah and it made me feel blah, but I did some yoga this afternoon. Good enough for today.

Have a great Saturday evening everyone!