3 Cheese Garlic Potatoes – Tasty Tuesday

Today for Tasty Tuesday, we head into the kitchen to make another easy and flavorful potato side dish. It is easy to prepare, and sure to please those around your dinner table. Are you ready to head into the kitchen? Let’s go!

Ingredients
3 russet potatoes
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 cup shredded cheese – I used the Stella 3 cheese blend

Ingredients

Turn your oven on to preheat and set the temperature to 375 degrees. Get out a baking sheet. Use your silpat or line the pan with foil. If using foil, then grease the pan with either cooking spray or a bit of butter.

Wash the potatoes really well and leave the skin on. Cut the potato in half. Then cut in half again and cut into wedges. Add them to a mixing bowl.

Potato wedges with olive oil

Drizzle the olive oil over the potatoes and mix. Add in the cheese, mixing it really well so that the cheese sticks to the potatoes.

Add the cheese

Next, grind some fresh salt and pepper over the potatoes, and then add the Italian seasoning, garlic and onion powders. Mix this up really well so that the potatoes are coated with the oil, herb and spice.

Herbs and spices added

Place your wedges on your baking sheet. Any cheese that remains in the bowl, sprinkle over the potatoes.

The wedges on the silpat

Bake for about 30 minutes until golden brown.

Crispy, cheesy potatoes

Serve it up!

Serve them up!

Don’t they look really good? The flavors are amazing and my family wanted more!

Thank you for stopping by today. Stay tuned for next week’s Tasty Tuesday. I will be featuring an amazing scallop dish that is easy to make and chock full of amazing flavor! Be well… ^..^

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Simple Beef Stroganoff – Tasty Tuesday

It is another edition of Tasty Tuesday! Today we will be preparing a simple yet elegant beef stroganoff that is sure to please you and your family! It is the addition of whole grain mustard that really “beefs” up this recipe! Ready to head into the kitchen?

Ingredients
1 small onion, sliced thinly
1/2# of shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 TBS butter
1# steak, cut into 1/4″ slices
1/3 cup of brandy
1/2 cup beef broth
1 bay leaf
1 tsp whole grain mustard
1 cup of sour cream
egg noodles, buttered with parsley

Ingredients

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms and onion and cook until gently browned.

Brown the mushrooms and onion

When these are done, remove from the skillet and set aside. Now we turn to the beef. Add this to the skillet and brown the meat.

Brown the beef

Once the beef is browned, slowly add in the brandy.

Gratuitous pouring shot of the brandy

Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the broth, bay leaf and whole grain mustard. Now tell me, doesn’t that mustard look amazing?

Bay and whole grain mustard are added

With everything now incorporated, add back the mushroom and onion mixture.

Mushrooms and onion are added back

Cook for another couple of minutes. Turn the heat down to low, and add in the sour cream.

Add the sour cream

Stir continuously until steam begins to rise from the pan.

Heat through

The dish is now ready to serve! I like serving this over buttered egg noodles that have a bit of parsley added. Here is what the dish looks like before you gobble it up!

Serve over buttered noodles with parsley!

There you have it! With preparation and cooking time, expect to spend an hour in the kitchen. This dish will serve four.

Thanks for stepping into the kitchen with me, and I hope to see you back next week! Be well… ^..^

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Let’s Make Enchiladas! Tasty Tuesday

Hello world! Today is Tasty Tuesday and have I got an easy and very tasty recipe for you to try! The recipe featured today is my favorite Enchilada recipe! Let me entice you with a preview!

Preview

Doesn’t that look good? This dish will serve 6. Well let’s head on into the kitchen! We begin with our list of ingredients…

Ingredients
1 1/2# ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro, lightly chopped
1 7 oz. can fire roasted diced green chiles
2 TBS cumin
1 tsp Mexican oregano
1 tub medium hot salsa
1 28 oz. can of enchilada sauce
1# of Mexican cheese blend, split 1/3# and 2/3#
1 package of large flour tortillas
Sour cream
Cilantro leaves

Let’s start by getting all the ingredients together and ready to use. In a large skillet, heat over medium high heat, and add the ground beef, the onion and the lightly chopped cilantro.

Burger, onions and cilantro

Cook the meat until browned, breaking it up as you go. It should look like this:

Brown burger and drain

Drain the meat but leave about 1 TBS of the liquid in the pan with the meat. Next, add in the green chiles and stir to blend.

Add in fire roasted green chiles

Oh, boy does the kitchen smell good! Now let’s add in the cumin, oregano and 4 TBS of salsa.

Add in cumin, oregano and salsa

Cook for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and add in the 1/3# of the cheese blend.

Add in the cheese to the beef mixture

Your mixture should now look like this:

Cheesy yummy goodness!

Now is the time to preheat the oven. Set your temperature to 350° F or 177° C. Let’s get our pan ready for the enchiladas, shall we?

Use a 9 x 13 glass baking pan. I use glass because it will not react to the tomato in the sauce. Coat the bottom with about 5 TBS of the enchilada sauce and 5 TBS of the salsa and stir them together. Your pan should look like this:

Prepare the baking pan

Now, let’s go on to making the enchiladas! Take a tortilla and lay this on a plate. To the center spoon in 3 heaping spoonfuls, and spread as this next photo shows.

Meat goes onto a tortilla

Now fold in the sides, then take the edge closest to you and roll it up! Add this to your pan with the seam side down. When you are done with all the enchiladas your pan should look like this:

Enchiladas all wrapped up

Now pour the enchilada sauce over the enchiladas leaving about 1/2 cup as reserve. Then spoon two good size spoonfuls of salsa over each enchilada. Let’s take a look!

Cover with sauce and salsa

Now, for the remaining cheese. Cover the enchiladas with the remaining cheese spreading it evenly over the enchiladas.

Cover with remaining cheese

Now pop that pan into the oven and set the timer to 30 minutes. Midway through cooking, check out your enchiladas. I like to spoon some of the sauce over them at this point.

As it cooks spoon sauce over the cheesy enchiladas

When the timer goes off, serve this up with a hefty spoonful of sour cream topped with cilantro!

Dinner is served!

Now doesn’t that look good? Tuck the reserved sauce away in the fridge if you are not going to eat all 6 servings. This will give you a bit extra to add to the enchiladas when you reheat them!

Well, I am going to go eat! Thanks for stopping by today and see you next time for another fabulous recipe! Be well… ^..^

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Slow Cooked Beef with Mushrooms – Tasty Tuesday

Good day and welcome to Tasty Tuesday! For today, I wanted to share with you an easy beef recipe that takes about a half hour to prepare and then 8 hours of cooking time in the crock pot. The flavors are amazing, and the aromas that will fill your home while this is cooking will make others believe that you have been slaving in the kitchen! Here is a preview of this dish…

Preview

Looks good, doesn’t it? Let’s head into the kitchen…

Ingredients
6 tri-tip strips or 6 medium hanger steaks (I used a combo of these because of limited availability in the store)
1# cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 onion sliced and separated
1 TBS fresh thyme, leaves stripped from stems and minced
1 tsp of Spanish paprika
3/4 cup of chicken stock
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 cup of flour
4 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1 TBS dried parsley
1/2 cup of heavy cream

Ingredients

The first thing that I do is get all of the ingredients prepped and ready to use. This cuts down the prep time of this dish, or any other.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 1 TBS of olive oil. Add the mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms begin to brown.

Brown the mushrooms

Move them to the crock pot. Then add another TBS of oil to the skillet and heat. Add in the meat and brown on both sides. Remove the meat to a plate.

Browned beef

Add the remaining oil to the pan, heat and then add the onion, thyme and paprika.

Cook up the onions, paprika and thyme

Cook until the onions become translucent. Then add in the flour. Stir to coat.

Flour is incorporated in to the onions

Add in the chicken broth and sherry. This will be a bit thick. Add it to the crockpot.

The mushrooms and onions provide a bed for the beef

To the crock pot, add in the meat and any juices that have accumulated on the plate.

Beef is added

Cover and cook for 8 hours.

After the timer goes off on the crock pot, remove the meat to a plate and cover with foil. The meat will be very tender. To the liquid remaining in the pot, add in the cream and cook on high for about 15 minutes.

Sauce

Add the meat back to the crock pot and stir to coat the meat. I served this dish with green beans and baked potatoes! Check it out!

Dinner is served!

Thanks for joining me in the kitchen on this Tasty Tuesday! Enjoy your day, and be well…

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Pollo con Pancetta e Senape – Tasty Tuesdays!

Good morning and welcome to Tasty Tuesdays! For the last few weeks I have featured the remodel of our kitchen, and now I can finally return to cooking! Today’s recipe is another one that is easy to make and chock full of lovely flavors! The translation of the name of this recipe is chicken with pancetta and mustard! Total time in making this recipe is about an hour, and it serves 4. Are you ready to head into the kitchen? OK! Let’s go!

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs and 5 drumsticks, bone in, skin on
1/3 cup of Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp Spanish style paprika
Salt and pepper
4 oz. chopped pancetta
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1 tsp fresh thyme, leaves removed from stems and finely chopped
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
3/4 cup Pinot Grigio
3 TBS heavy cream

Ingredients

Let’s start this out by marinating the chicken. Place the first four ingredients into a zipper bag, and toss to coat the chicken well. As this sits, prepare and measure out the next four ingredients.

In a heavy skillet set to medium heat, add the pancetta. Cook until the pancetta is nicely browned.

Brown the pancetta

Remove the pancetta from the skillet and set aside. Drain off all but 1 TBS of the fat. Then add in the onions and cook until they are lightly browned. Now add in the thyme. Cook until the aroma of the thyme raises up and caresses your nose.

Onions and thyme

Remove the onion mixture to the bowl with the pancetta.

Next let’s turn our attention to the chicken. Add a bit of the EVOO to the pan, and heat. We are going to cook the chicken in batches. When the oil is hot, add half the chicken to the pan and brown on both sides.

Brown the chicken

Remove this to a plate, and repeat with the last bit of chicken. Remove this when done.

Slowly add in the wine to your skillet and stir up all the little browned bits.

The wine is added

As this starts to bubble, add back the pancetta and onions and stir.

Pancetta, onions and thyme are added back to the skillet

Then add back the chicken. Cover and cook this for about 20 minutes turning the chicken every so often. Check the chicken to see if it is fully cooked through. If it is not, go another 5 minutes or so and check again. When the chicken is done, remove it from the skillet to a plate and cover with foil.

Now get out that heavy cream, and add it to the pan juices. Stir this up until the sauce is heated through.

The sauce after the cream has been added

Add the chicken back to the pan and stir to coat the chicken with the gravy.

The chicken goes back into the pan

Heat through and serve!

Dinner is served!

To go along with this dish I prepared a porcini risotto, and I served the remaining Pinot Grigio.

If you try this recipe, please be sure to let me know if you liked it! Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today! Have a terrific Tuesday! Be well…. ^..^

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Wonton Soup – Tasty Tuesday!

There is nothing like a really tasty wonton soup! It is a soup that I have enjoyed since I was very, very young. For today, I am sharing with you an old family recipe. The broth is tasty, and so are the wontons!

Preview

Ready to head into the kitchen?

Wonton Ingredients
1 package of wonton wrappers
1/2# of lean ground pork
3 cloves of minced garlic
2 green onions, chopped fine
1 TBS oyster flavored sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 TBS ginger, chopped fine
1/4 tsp black pepper

Wonton ingredients

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients, except for the wrappers.

Ready to combine

Using your hands mix this together until well blended.

Filling is ready

Put about 1/4 cup of water in a bowl. Lay out a wonton wrapper, and using a regular spoon, add some mixture to the middle.

A spoonful of filling placed on the wrapper

Moisten two sides with water and folds over and seal.

Fold and seal

Next moisten the two corners and pinch together.

Pinch the corners

As you make these, place them on a sheet of parchment paper.

Wontons ready to cook

Cover with a damp paper towel to keep the dough from drying out.

Now let’s get to the broth!

Broth Ingredients
48 oz. of low sodium chicken broth
1 TBS sesame oil
3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
5 slices of peeled fresh ginger
1/4# fresh shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed, sliced
2 baby bok choy, washed well
3 green onions, sliced

Broth Ingredients

I like to get the ingredients together that go into the pot together. So, I have a bowl with the garlic and ginger.

Garlic and ginger

The mushrooms go in with the broth, so I have a bowl of just mushrooms, that I have sliced.

Shiitakes sliced and ready

And the bok choy and green onions will be added together, so I have a bowl ready of these two ingredients.

Bok choy and green onions will go into the soup together

Now let’s get to cooking! Heat the sesame oil in your soup pot. When hot add the garlic and ginger and cook until the fragrance hits your nose. Then add your broth and the mushrooms.

Broth and mushrooms added

Bring this to a boil then reduce the heat and cook for about 5 minutes. Then add the bok choy and green onions. Cook for two minutes so that the bok choy wilts but still remains that vibrant green. Then add your wontons, dropping them gently into the soup.

Green onions, bok choy and wontons added

Cook for another two minutes. This is sufficient time for the pork filling to cook.

Turn the heat off and the soup is ready to serve!

Soups on!

When I make this recipe I use pork, but you can substitute the pork with shrimp, or do a combination of pork and shrimp. It using shrimp, chop it up well. The other thing you can do is fry up these wontons in peanut oil as an appetizer and forget the soup! Whatever you do, you will really enjoy the wontons for this soup!

Thanks for dropping by for Tasty Tuesday! Have a great day! Be well! ^..^

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Introducing Tasty Tuesday!

What is tasty Tuesday? Well…I came to the decision, after realizing that I have been posting recipes sporadically, and cooking is one of my passions, that I would devote every Tuesday this year to posting recipes…As I write this, my belly is full, the smell of mushrooms and garlic permeates my home! Dinner was fantastic tonight! And, yes, that is a tease for a post tomorrow! Recipes on Tasty Tuesday is my own personal challenge which I will share with you….

If you want to check out recipes that I have posted so far, click on that button on the right that says “Category” and then scroll down and click on “The Recipe Box.” Feel free to check it out! There are some good ones, and quite a few are featured first on Google search! 🙂

I do love reading food blogs too, and highly recommend that you stop by and check out Conor’s One Man’s Meat. Conor’s posts are full of humor, great kitchen tips, and some of the best recipes! I have tried a number of them and he has not steered me wrong with any of them! Thank you Conor!

I also recommend Lesley’s blog Lola Rugula for fresh, tasty and easy to prepare recipes! I have gotten some great information from Lesley’s site, and the dog loves the PB biscuits!

And from down under, my friend Gaz does some amazing breakfasts and dinners! He is reviewing places to eat in Canberra, Australia, and should you decide to visit, check some of these places out before you go! His website is: Yummy Lummy!

So, stay tuned for the beginning of Tasty Tuesday! Tomorrow, the recipe features mushrooms and garlic! It is easy to cook and full of amazing flavors!

Be well! ^..^

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Chinese Char Siu Ribs

I love Chinese Barbecued Pork Spare Ribs. I thought that for today I would share a simple, easy recipe for Char Siu ribs with you! Char Siu is Cantonese and means Barbecued Marinated Pork. These take about a half hour of prep work, and four hours to marinate, and a little over three hours to cook. Here is a preview…

Preview

Are you ready to head into the kitchen?

Ingredients
Pork Spare Ribs (you can use baby back if you prefer but spare ribs have more meat on them)
1/2 cup of Hoisin Sauce
1/2 cup of bourbon
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup dark soy sauce
2 TBS sesame oil
2 TBS Tapatio hot sauce
2 TBS powdered ginger
2 TBS onion powder
1 TBS garlic powder
1 TBS 5 Spice powder
1 tsp red food coloring (Optional)

The first thing that I do is take the side of spare ribs and cut them into individual pieces. Set these aside.

In a zipper bag combine the rest of the ingredients, shaking the bag well to get the powdered parts incorporated. Reserve about 2/3 of a cup of this marinade. Add the pork ribs to remaining marinade in the bag. Let the ribs marinate for four hours. Take the ribs out of the refrigerator one hour before cooking.

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees (107C). Take a large baking pan with an edge and fill the pan half way with water. Then lay a rack over the pan.

The pan is ready

Place the ribs on the rack fat side up.

Marinated ribs are positioned and ready for the oven!

Carefully place this in the oven and let this bake for three hours. Over the last half hour baste the ribs three times with the reserved marinade.

Baste the ribs

Now to give this a bit of a crunch set the oven to broil and baste one final time. Set just below the broiler and keep an eye on them so that they do not burn! This will cause the sugars to caramelize a bit. Remove from the oven and serve!

Ribs are ready!

I like to have this with a good fried rice and fresh vegetables that are steamed or stir fried!

Let me know if you try this recipe! I hope you do as it is very tasty! And, they make good cold leftovers!

Thanks for stopping by and be well!

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Vegetables from the Garden

I had every hope of having a bounty from my vegetable garden this year. There was not as much as I hoped for. Even so, here are some of the amazing home grown veges from my garden over the years!

I love acorn squash baked with maple syrup and butter!

Acorn squash

There is nothing like the sweet flavors of home grown corn on the cob! These were very sweet!

Sweet, sweet corn

Here is a brilliant display of some colorful tomatoes!

Pretty slices

I love taking a huge zucchini, hollowing out the middle, stuffing it with tomatoes, herbs and then topping it with mozzarella! It tastes just like pizza! Here are a few of huge zucchini!

Huge zucchini picked fresh today!

For some reason, fresh home grown onions seem to be stronger in flavor than store bought. So, I now grow these every year!

Just plain onions!

And I love the flavor of a fresh artichoke! How about you?

Artichoke

Now I am hungry for some fresh, fresh veges!

Thank you for stopping by today! May you have a terrific day! Be well! ^..^

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Eggs, Eggs and More Eggs!

Well that title says it all, eh? Have you guessed what this post is about? 🙂 There are so many different ways to cook and eat eggs. They become a component in a lot of recipes. Today I wanted to share with you some of the many different recipes that I have previously posted on eggs!

Slop is one of my favorite egg recipes. Take whatever you have leftover in the kitchen, toss it with scrambled eggs and you have slop! Good for breakfast, lunch or dinner! This is good too when you go camping! Check it out!

Slop is served!

I love bagels. Having come from the east coast, I find that good bagels are hard to find. I discovered that our local grocery, Raley’s, has authentic bagels cooked in water. Bagels go really great with eggs as a sandwich. Here is what I created in my recipe Fried Eggs on Bagels.

Fried eggs, sausage and bagel is served!

Then there is Joe’s Special! Eggs with spinach, burger and mushrooms: To die for! What do you think?

Dinner is served!

I grew up eating Matzo Brei. There is just something comforting about a breakfast or dinner made with matzo…Add a little jelly and you have a sweet meal!

Serve it up with jelly!

Have I made you hungry? I know that I am!

Have an amazing day and thank you for taking the time to visit with me! Be well! ^..^

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