Cheese & Spice Potatoes

These are a classic side that goes pretty much with anything. In the meal I prepared in the photos, I cooked some maple glazed salmon with snow peas. It takes minutes to prepare and limited baking time - I find that russet baby potatoes work best.

Cheese & Spice Potatoes
Taken from my Dad's kitchen.

Ingredients:

Russet baby potatoes (I usually fill the cookie sheet for a serving of 3-4 people for a side dish)
1 1/2 cup old white cheddar cheese (2-5 year old)
3-4 TBSP olive oil
2-3 TBSP Montreal steak spice

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 and line the cookie sheet with foil.

2. Slice the potatoes in thin pieces and place in a medium sized bowl. Pour 3-4 TBSP of olive oil in the bowl and mix with hands until completely coated.

3. Arrange potato slices on cookie sheet so that there are none overlapping and they are evenly distributed.

4. Generously sprinkle Montreal steak spice over the top. Eyeballing it, it's approximately 2-3TBSP.

5. Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes.

6. While potatoes are baking, grate cheese and set aside.

7. Remove potatoes from oven and cover with cheese. Return to oven and bake for 5 more minutes.

It's that simple! Some favorite dishes that I've also had these potatoes with include BBQ steak or chicken, fish, lamb, and roast beef. Enjoy!

Stuffed Zucchini

 With Christmas sneaking closer, it got me thinking about stuffing. Christmas stocking stuffing, turkey stuffing, and stuffing your face with delicious treats.  However, one thing that I didn't think that could happen was stuffing my own leg into a cast.  But here I am, leg propped up, cast on, and ready for the Christmas season (as you can see!). 

This weekend my husband and I decided to go for a little hike. Nothing crazy, no multi-day backcountry deal, just into the woods, check out some potential places to explore in the spring, and then come home after a boil up with some maple smoked salmon we had packed.  It was a few degrees, sunny, and the trail was rocky and twisty that led to some stunning views. 

Half way back, it began to snow. We had our hiking boots on, and extra clothes packed just in case. No problem.  We had just eaten our lunch and were ready to head back to the parking lot and excited of  when we would return in the spring. Then it happened. My foot slipped on a large angled rock covered in snow, my body when flying, I saw and felt my ankle crack at an unnatural angle, and then heard myself scream as I landed in a heap.

It happened.

I broke my ankle or leg in the woods.

It's snowing.

Something is broken.

My husband runs toward me making sure that I didn't hit my head or hurt anything else. We slowly prop me up to see if I can bare any weight.  I quickly crumble. He fashions two large sticks into crutches to see if I can hop. 

Hop. Wince. Hop. Bones moving. Hop. I can't do this.

We must sacrifice a pack. I throw all of the cooking gear, garbage into my day pack and it's thrown into a tree. We then make sure we have the important things like extra clothes and a cell phone. A search and rescue was not what we wanted - especially with the sky only having a couple more hours of daylight and the astronomical costs of rescue plus the risk of us getting too cold while waiting. We weren't lost - we just needed to get out. 

I'm wearing his pack, bracing my leg, and am slowly lifted up on his back to begin the 2 hour  piggyback rescue until we reach the parking lot.  There were a lot of tears, words of motivation, and breaks to catch our breath.

But we made it. Onto the ER we go. After much welcomed morphine to kill the pain and X-rays, it is clear that I have broken my left fibula right above the left ankle. Thankfully, it's broken clean enough that it looks like surgery will not have to be an option, and I can get a cast.

Here I am casted. Trying to get in the Christmas spirit. And utilizing my crutches in the kitchen slowly getting from one place to the next.  I will have the cast on for at least six weeks - but this will NOT stop me from getting my Christmas cookie exchange and recipes ready - I have had time to look through too many recipes to give up now! Thank you for following along and for my friends who are giving much love and support! 

So, I have one foot stuffed into a cast or "stocking" for Christmas... here's some early supper goodies for you - stuffed zucchini :) Enjoy!

Stuffed Zucchini

Taken from America’s Test Kitchen: Light & Healthy 2010.

Makes 4. They’re great as a side dish or as a meal itself.

Ingredients:

4 zucchini (buy ones that are between 6-8 inches long)

1 shallot, minced (about 3 TBSP)

1 tsp olive oil

salt

2/3 cup couscous

¾ cup low sodium chicken broth

3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about ¼ cup)

¼ cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped coarse

2 TBSP chopped fresh basil (preferred but you can use dried spice)

pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven 475 degrees.

Slice off and discard the top third of each zucchini lengthwise and arrange the

bottoms, cut side down, in a microwave safe dish. Microwave on high until the

cut side of the zucchini is slightly translucent and easily pierced – 4-8 minutes.

Combine the shallot, oil, and ¼ tsp salt in a small saucepan.  Cover and cook

over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4-6 minutes. 

Increase the heat to medium, add the couscous, and cook stirring frequently,

until lightly browned and aromatic, about 4 minutes.

Stir in the broth and bring to a brief simmer. Remove the saucepan from the

heat, stir in ½ cup of the feta, olives, and basil, cover and let sit for 5 minutes.

Fluff the couscous with a fork and season with pepper to taste.

Divide the couscous mixture evenly among the zucchini. Sprinkle with the

remaining 1/3 cup feta and bake until the cheese is slightly browned, about 10

minutes. Serve!! f you have leftover "stuffing" it's awesome to eat as is - don't

throw it out. 

Thanksgiving

Megs has found one!

Megs and I went pumpkin hunting. Thanksgiving is enjoying the crisp fall air and picking out the perfect pumpkin while you dodge the running kids at the farm.  

After being overwhelmed with drool-inducing smells wafting from the farm bakery, we headed home and began the festivities of spending hours in the kitchen getting ready for our big meal.  Of course, you need some tasty appetizers and some wine do to this so you don’t pine away before supper is actually ready!  Today’s fall favorites are brought to you from Megs.

Megs’ Recipe Corner

Salmon Dip

Makes approximately 1 ½ cups.

Ingredients:

1 block of cream cheese

1-2 TBSP of horseradish

1 tsp of dill

1 cup of smoked salmon

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mash/stir with a fork until combined. Serve with your favorite crackers or Paris Toasts. Highly addictive!

Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce

Recipe taken from Ocean Spray.

Makes approximately 2 ¼ cups.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 package (340g) fresh or frozen cranberries (we used fresh!)

Directions:
Mix water and sugar in a medium saucepan; stir to dissolve sugar.  Bring to a boil; add cranberries, return to boil. You will hear them popping and this is normal :) Reduce heat, boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Cool completely at room temperature and refrigerate. 

Cranberry Surprise Cake

Handed down from Megs' Mom.

Ingredients:

3 cups cranberries

½ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

¾ cup melted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325.

Grease a 10” pie plate. Spread cranberries over bottom of pie plate. Sprinkle with the ½ cup sugar.

Beat the eggs, add the brown sugar gradually. Beat until blended.

Stir the flour and butter into the egg / sugar mix.

Pour the batter over the cranberries.

Bake  45 – 60 minutes.  It takes closer to 60 minutes if you are using frozen cranberries, rather than fresh.

More from our festivities...

Sweet Potato Casserole, Cranberry Sauce, Mashed Potatoes, Turnip, Carrot, & Cranberry Dressing

Turkey

Sweet Potato Casserole

The winner is in! Sweet potato casserole is a favorite side for “cooked dinner” more commonly known as turkey dinner.  Please don’t forget to cook your potatoes and other veggies for Thanksgiving too!  I never grew up on this dish, but have recently added it to my Thanksgiving and Christmas repertoire simply because it is so delicious. The first time I made it, I didn’t add pecans and regretted it.  The pictures I have posted are without pecans – so this year I am definitely adding them! I will add those pics once I have made the dish this weekend!  

Also, remember this is a sweet dish so don’t add too much sugar because it can be ruined if you’re not taking in to account the natural sweetness of the potatoes.  Taste along the way to make sure it’s to your liking. Adapted from “America’s Test Kitchen 2007”. 

Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

7 pounds (6-8 medium sized sweet potatoes, of equal size)

Streusel:

5 TBSP unsalted butter, cut into 5 pieces and softened, plus more for the pan

½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Imagine with crunchy pecans!
This year's photos will be posted after Sunday!

½ cup packed dark brown sugar

¼ tsp salt

1 cup pecans 

Filling:

5 TBSP unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp salt

½ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp pepper

1 TBSP vanilla extract

4 tsps fresh lemon juice

4 large egg yolks

1 ½ cups half-and-half cream

Directions:

1. Sweet Potatoes:

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Poke the sweet potatoes several times with a fork and space evenly across the rack.  Bake the potatoes, turning them once, until they are very tender and be squeezed easily with tongs – 1-1 ½ hours.

Remove the potatoes from the oven and cut in half lengthwise to let the steam escape; cool at least 10 minutes.  Scoop out flesh into bowl – there should be 8 cups.   Reduce the oven temperature to 375. 

** This step can be done 2 days ahead.  Simply scrape the flesh from the skins and refrigerate in an airtight container**

2.  For the Streusel:

While the potatoes are baking, butter a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Mix the flour, brown sugar, and salt in a bowl, until well blended.  Sprinkle the butter pieces over the flour mixture and pulse until a crumbly mass forms. Use a slap-chop like device (or simply cut) the nuts coarsely.  Sprinkle the nuts over the mixture and pulse until combined but some large nut pieces remain. 

3. For the Filling:

Add the melted butter, salt, nutmeg, pepper, vanilla, and lemon juice to the potatoes and mix until smooth.  Taste for sweetness – it’s going to be pretty sweet so I wouldn’t add any sugar. However if you think it needs some add up to 4 TBSP of granulated sugar if necessary (be careful you don’t make it too sweet! Remember the streusel topping is quite sweet enough! ); add yolks.  With the mixer running add the half-and-half cream until blended and transfer to the bowl with the potato pieces and stir gently to combine. 

4.  To Assemble & Bake:

Pour the filling into the prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer with a spatula.  Sprinkle with the streusel, breaking up any large pieces with your fingers.  Bake until the topping is well browened and the filling is slightly puffy around the edges, 40-45 minutes.