#107 :: Red Potato Salad with Bacon

This is another recipe that I created myself. I looked at so many potato salad recipes, and none of them had everything I was looking for. So again, I chose the things I wanted and created my own. It turned out like a cross between a southern potato salad and a German potato salad.....and it was very good!

Ingredients

• 6 cups cubed red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled (about 1 1/4 pounds)
• Salt
• 2 ounces bacon (2 or 3 strips)
• 1 cup chopped bell pepper (any color, we used green)
• 1 ear of grilled sweet corn
  
• 1/4 cup minced sweet onion
  
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• Freshly ground pepper

Directions

Put the potatoes in a large pot; add water just to cover and season with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until tender, 10-15 minutes. Drain and cool slightly.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Drain on paper towels and finely chop. Add the bacon back to the pan with the onion and cook until the onion is soft. (You can omit this step if you like crunchy raw onions instead - I don't!)

In a large bowl, combine the potatoes and bell pepper. Toss in the onions and bacon. Cut the grilled corn off the cob and add the kernels to the potatoes.

In a small bowl, whisk the oil, vinegar, mustard, mayonnaise, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Pour over the potato mixture, tossing gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate or serve at room temperature.

Makes 4-6 servings

Recipe from Amy

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!

#102 :: Lemon Dijon Marinade

I noticed that we hadn't really done any marinades since we started this blog, so I decided to try some different varieties of marinades this week. This lemon Dijon marinade was the first, and Jamie loved it! He all but licked the plate clean when he was done! :) We served it with one of our new favorites, roasted broccoli.

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup good olive oil
• 2 chicken breasts, bone-in and skin-on

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, mustard, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. While whisking, slowly add the olive oil until the vinaigrette is emulsified. Set aside.

Place the chicken breasts in a baking dish large enough to hold them in a single layer and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Pour half the marinade over the chicken, reserving the other half to use later. Allow the chicken to marinade for at least two hours in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Roast the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove the chicken from the oven and pour the remaining marinade over the top of the chicken. Cover the dish with aluminium foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Makes 2 servings

Recipe from Barefoot Contessa on Food Network

Star Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Vegetable Quiche

This recipe doesn't count towards our # because I've made it before and it's already on the blog (find the recipe here: Mixed Vegetable Quiche), but I got a little creative with it this time so I had to share my photo! I made an N out of the extra crust, and I piped sour cream on the top. Gourmet breakfast for the hubby today! :)

#69 :: Maple Candied Bacon

These were very tasty....almost like candy! And they smell wonderful while they're cooking....it was really hard not to take them out early and eat them!

Ingredients

• 1 pound thick sliced bacon, good quality
• 1/2 cup maple syrup, Grade B
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Finely groung black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy foil. Place a baking rack over the lined sheet tray and arrange the bacon slices across the rack next to each other, not overlapping.

In a small bowl, whisk the maple syrup and mustard. Generously spoon over the top of the bacon, and bake 12 to 15 minutes. Turn the bacon over and baste with syrup mixture. Bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until the bacon has reached desired crispiness.

Carefully remove the pan from the oven. Sprinkle hot bacon with a scant pinch of finely ground black pepper. Let the bacon rest on the rack for 5 minutes.

Makes 6 servings

Recipe from 5 Ingredient Fix on Food Network

Star Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

#43 :: Chicken Wing Sauces *Super Bowl*

Honey Mustard

• 1/2 bottle of Dijon mustard
• 4 Tbsp. honey
  

Mix the two ingredients in a bowl. Make it to your taste,adding more honey if you like it sweeter.

BBQ Sauce

• 1 bottle BBQ sauce
  
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  
• 1 tsp. Liquid Smoke
  

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Ranch

• 1 bottle of Ranch dressing
  

Pour it in a bowl. Ha! Easy.

Garlic Parmesan

• 1 stick of butter
  
• 2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin olive oil
  
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
  

Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan. Add the butter. Once butter is melted, add the garlic and sautee for 2-3 minutes. Add the Parmesan and stir until all ingredients are combined. Remove from heat, but try and keep it warm. This sauce is best when kept fairly warm, so the butter doesn't solidify.

#32 :: Mixed Vegetable Quiche w/ Cheddar & Parmesan

Yesterday was Jamie's day off, so I got up early to find a good quiche recipe for breakfast/brunch. I have so many veggies in my fridge right now that I need to use up, so I was looking for something to incorporate all the veggies I had. I stumbled upon the BEST quiche recipe EVER. This has to be in the top 5 list of the best things I ever ate. Just the two of us ate the entire quiche, and were sad that we didn't have more! (I topped the quiche with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of parsley, which wasn't in the recipe.)

Ingredients

• 1 (9-inch) refrigerated pie crust (I made my own - see below for the recipe)
  
• 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 cup cooked stir-fried vegetables (we used a green bell pepper, a yellow squash and half of a medium red onion - all diced)
  
• 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 3/4 cup grated Cheddar
• 1/4 cup low fat milk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Press pie crust into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch, removable-bottom tart pan (or 9-inch pie pan). Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine spinach, stir-fried vegetables and place on top of uncooked crust. In another bowl combine ricotta, cheddar, milk, eggs, Dijon, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Mix well. Spoon cheese mixture on top of vegetable mixture in prepared pie crust and top with Parmesan.

Bake 20 minutes, until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean and crust is golden brown.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Recipe from Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller on Food Network.

Star Rating: 5+ out of 5 stars

Pie Crust:

• 1 cup butter (2 sticks), cubed and chilled
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 to 10 tablespoons ice water

Put the butter, flour, and salt in the food processor, and pulse lightly just until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing briefly after each spoonful of water. Keep adding water until the dough just begins to gather into larger clumps. Transfer equal amounts of the dough into 2 resealable plastic bags and pat each into a disk. Let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Remove 1 of the disks from the bag to a flour coated surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 10-inch round. Gently fit the rolled dough into a 9-inch pie pan, and refrigerate while you prepare the torte ingredients. Yield: 2 (9-inch) pie crusts

#14 :: Mushroom Gruyere Burgers

I got brave tonight and tried something with our left over ingredients from other meals! No recipe required! :) The mushroom sauce was incredible!

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil
1 pint baby Portobello mushrooms
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp. oregano
A sprinkle of Parmesan cheese
2-4 strips bacon
2 sirloin burgers
2 thick slices of Gruyere cheese
Lettuce, tomato, Dijon mustard for garnish

Directions

First, saute the mushrooms in HALF of the olive oil (1/4 cup). Add the heavy cream and oregano and stir until mixed. Add a few sprinkles of Parmesan cheese to thicken the sauce. Once it starts to thicken, remove it from the heat. It will thicken more as it sits.

In another pan, fry the bacon in the other half of the olive oil (1/4 cup). Once the bacon is cooked, put it on a paper towel lined plate to drain. Then cook the burgers in the same bacon grease/olive oil pan. After cooking both sides of the burger, add the slices of Gruyere cheese to the top at the last few minutes of cooking so it will start to melt. Adding a lid to the pan helps it melt, too. Top it with warm mushroom sauce. Garnish with the rest of "the goods".


Makes 2 burgers.

Recipe from Me!

Star Rating: 4.5 out of 5

#7 :: Blue Cheese Burgers

This is my recipe for Blue Cheese Burgers. I read so many different recipes, and with the exception of a few burgers that contained everything but the kitchen sink, they all called for the same basic ingredients. So, I'm not following one certain recipe. I'm going to wing it!



Ingredients

• (4) 1/3 pound sirloin burgers
  
• 1/2 cup of bacon, cooked & chopped
• (1) 6 oz. tub of blue cheese crumbles
• (1) Plum Tomato, sliced
• Romain lettuce
• Dijon mustard
  
• Salt and pepper to taste
  

Directions

Press blue cheese crumbles and chopped bacon into one of the sirloin burgers. Season with salt & pepper. Add a bit more blue cheese and chopped bacon to the top of the burger.

Place another burger on top of that, then press and seal the sides to hold in the blue cheese and bacon. Season both sides of the burger with salt & pepper. Cook over medium heat for 5-8 minutes per side, or until done. (They're done when the blue cheese starts to bubble out the sides and/or top).

Makes 2 burgers.

Recipe from Me. :)

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

#1 :: Mini Beef Wellingtons

So to start the blog, I'm going to cover our New Year's Eve appetizer spread. I was a little nervous cooking 4 new dishes that I had never cooked before, but they all came out amazing! I saw these 4 recipes on different Food Network cooking shows, and decided I could handle doing them all. It was a "big bite to chew" for my first project!

Here's the first dish... Mini Beef Wellingtons!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 pounds beef tenderloin, cut into 24 (1-inch) cubes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 10 ounces cremini mushrooms, stemmed and finely chopped
• 1 large *shallot, finely chopped
  
• 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed

* I substituted 1 small bunch of green onions instead of shallots

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Pat the beef dry with a paper towel and season all sides with salt and pepper. Quickly sear the beef on 2 sides only until deep golden brown, about 4 minutes total; do not overcook. Transfer to a plate to cool.

Add the mushrooms and cook until beginning to brown and release liquid, about 5 minutes. Add the shallots and continue cooking until mushroom mixture dries out, is golden brown and shallots are soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

Preheat to the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

On a work surface, roll 1 sheet of puff pastry to a 10 by 14-inch rectangle. Put teaspoon-sized mounds of mushroom mixture on the pastry, evenly spacing them in 4 rows of 3. Top the mushroom mound with a piece of beef, seared side up. With a sharp knife, cut the pastry into even squares around the meat and mushrooms. Working 1 at a time, pull 2 opposite sides of pastry up over each beef piece, then fold the ends over the top to make a packet. Invert and arrange the packets seam side down on the baking sheet and press them lightly to seal the pastry. Repeat with the remaining beef, mushrooms, and pastry.

Bake the Wellingtons until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven to a serving platter and let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 24 servings.

Recipe from 5 Ingredient Fix on Food Network.

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Reviews (the first thing people said when they tried it):

Chris - "Those are going to be gone."

Jeremy - "Wow!"

Jamie - "These are amazing!"