Three Potatos. Three Ways.

Potatoes are such a versatile side dish. You can mash them, whip them, boil, bake and grill them. You can have them a new way every day of the week. I recently made them three ways: sweet potato fries, russet hasselback potatoes, and garlic red potaoes on the grill.

The sweet potato fries are so easy to make -the hardest part is cutting them all the same width so they cook even. I did a quick google search and found a lot of different recipes, so I combined a bunch and came up with something delicious.

Thats the beauty of fries, you can do what you want with them. My favorite is to toss the fries with olive oil, garlic powder and maybe some cayenne pepper for a kick. I've also tossed them with smoked paprika and plain ol' salt and pepper. Bake around 375 depending on how thick they're cut and level of crispyness you want, for about 20-25 minutes, flipping halfway through.

Hasselbeck Potaotes take a lot longer to prepare and cook, but are totally worth it. I'd never heard of them before reading Cravings, and these potatoes totally live up to that name. These potatoes will impress people. They have a great presentation and are super yummy. Again the hardest part is slicing the potato into even slices. My first attempt sucked! 

The recipe said to use chop sticks on either side of the potato while slicing it but, sorry Chrissy Teghan, it doesn't work very well unless your potato has a flat side. I used two steak knives to keep me from cutting through the russet. It was also a little frustrsating making sure all the ingredients made it between each slice, but just keep reminding yourself how delish they're going to be and you won't mind.

The only potatoes I'd done on the grill before were baked potatoes -russets wrapped in foil with some butter. so when I needed a quick side dish and all I could find were a bag of reds, I improvised. I had some help from google again, just to figure out the cooking time. 

Once the potatoes were quarted, I smashed a few cloves of garlic with the side of the knife, sliced some butter, and tossed it all into a foil pack with some basil. It only took about 20 minutes on the grill. 

They were a little under seasoned -some salt would have solved that- but it was a good side for the kabobs we also had that night.

Three different potatoes, three different ways. I think my Irish is showing ...

Enjoy!
Karie

New Pot. New Roast.

I love new kitchen gear. I have a tendency to get a little enthusiastic whenever I get something new. Like jumping up and down, happy dance through the house, excited in the store aisle enthusiastic. Pots, pans, knifes, gadgets; if its new, I'm pumped to use it ASAP. I also love new recipes, especially for meals I already cook. I recently came into some new pots and a new roast recipe. Let the fun begin!

First the good part: chuck roast. Pot roast in the crock pot happens on the regular in our house, but I'd never had a pot big enough for an oven roast. As it turns out my dutch oven is only big enough for a smaller roast and I had to nix a few potatoes and parsnips to get the lid on.

Just a little full after adding all the ingredients ...

  I used the Pioneer Woman recipe since I'm slowly working my way through her book. I was intrigued by the use of red wine, beef broth and sweet orange marmalade was a combo I wouldn't have considered, but that's why I need these cookbooks. It was so much better than the water and spice pack I usually throw into the crock pot. The rest was basically veggies, rosemary, and some salt and pepper. So simple! And nothing is better than healthy, homecooked, comfort food.

By the time it was done the meat was falling apart and the veggies were soft and flavorful. It made a lot of food for the little family dinner, but that meant everyone had some left overs for lunch the next day.

So much food I had to use my turkey serving tray to fit it all.

Speaking of parsnips, I'd never had one until I made roasted veggies for dinner this past Christmas. Now they seem to pop up everywhere. They are a tasty root vegetable, have a nice texture, and are easy to cook. Gavin did have some constructive criticism after I roasted some parsnips that still had a bit of a crunch to them -he pointed out that the larger pieces were undercooked, so I've started cutting the larger pieces in half and haven't had the problem since.

A few months ago my husband and I were married (!) and as a gift to myself, I bought a new pot and pan set that was on super sale. It's the Calphalon Elite set that has a triple layer non-stick coating, with a textured bottom so you can sear! It's safe for the dishwasher and metal utensils, which makes the hubby very happy. I bought a 10-piece set along with a few additional pieces to bring my total up to 16 pieces, including the steamer/poacher insert for the dutch oven.

The new dutch oven! (And my new sauce pot.) 

Now I know a lot of professional/semi/famous amateur chefs don't like cooking with non-stick cookware for various reasons, but in my house non-stick is king. My husband, Gavin, hates scrubbing dishes or washing anything by hand; and with one kiddo here and others in the future, I think non-stick is the most family friendly. So far I love my Calphalon Elite cookware (and I wasn't paid to say that, I'm just genuinely happy with it). It is easy to use and easy to clean, which is perfect for this stay-at-home-mom.

I'll still be making the standard crock pot roast, since I can leave the crock pot going all day without worry and it's still a comforting meal. But when I have the time and inclination, and when chuck roast is on sale, I'll enjoy making this.

--Karie

Pioneer Pasta Primavera

I have a love affair with pasta. Screw calories and carbs, and give me some carbonara or a creamy alfredo. I live for a simple olive oil drizzle, with Parmesan-reggiano sprinkles and a shake of pepper. When I was pregnant, I ate so much pasta that my husband begged for something different one night after almost 3 straight weeks of pasta dinners. Oops.

Everyone pitched in! Grammy's salad, Jen's garlic bread, my pasta.

 The pasta primavera recipe in The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime is a super simple recipe. The trick to making it even simpler is to pre-prep everything -a trick I've always ignored until now. I was going to be cooking this recipe at my grandparents house for family dinner and I didn't want to dirty their kitchen with my mess, plus I'm more comfortable chopping and mincing in my own kitchen. The prep was fairly simple, it just took a little time to chop all the veggies and cook the pasta. I placed everything in separate bowls based on what the recipe said to add when so I wouldn't be scrambling later.

I used bagged cauliflower and broccoli (round two) since its already chopped. Fresh basil from the store and garlic feshly minced with my garlic zoom gadget. The wine is a good one  - we served it at our wedding!

Cooking was a breeze with everything pre-measured. Pour, stir, simmer, repeat. It was nice to be able to chat with my grandparents without rushing around the kitchen trying to gather and pep everything. And the house smelled so amazing -even Grammy commented on how great it smelled, which did great things for my ego. The pasta I bought went with the recipe too; an awesome mix of pesto stuffed "normal" tortellini and cheese stuffed spinach tortellini. Delish!

Now aside from the picky eaters we had (something about kids and vegetables), it was a hit at family dinner. This dish was filling and flavorful -really fantastic, to complete the alliteration. There wasn't any left to take home, even the extra pasta I cooked was gobbed up by the non-vegetarians.

The family!

Almost gone! New family favorite for sure.

I made the dish a few days later for Thursday night dinner with my mom and step dad. Again, I pre-prepped everything and it was super easy to make while chatting with my mom. This will definitely be a recipe for the recipe box!

 All deliciousness aside, I did hit a snag when I cooked it the second time. I cooked on my gas stove Thursday night and the veggies didn't cook all the way through; they were still a little crunchy. I may not have watched the clock as well, so they didn't cook as long, or maybe I didn't have the heat setting right. We've only been in our house for a year, and I haven't figured out all the tricks to our gas range yet. Tips appreciated!

--Karie

Happy Mother's Day to Us!

Mother's Day 2016 was around the time our blog idea was hatched. I had given Jennie The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime by Ree Drummond as a gift, then a week later she ordered a copy for me, along with a copy of Chrissy Teigan's Cravings. We became so obsessed with these two women and their cookbooks that we decide to start a blog to talk about it. That idea progressed into our renewed "weekly" family dinners to test our new found cooking skills and introducing new cookbooks as we find/rediscover them. We learn to cook new recipes and hopefully our followers find some amusement, and maybe a recipe or two themselves.

So brace yourselves for an onslaught of recipes from these two books, at least in the beginning. We promise to not be too overwhelming, but its so hard when it all looks so good!

Two beautiful women and their two beautiful books.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinner Time 

Jennie introduced me to the Pioneer Woman sometime around November of last year. We don't have cable in my house -we survive off Hulu and Netflix- so I hadn't seen Ree Drummond's show on Food Network. I live under a rock? I can't remember what recipe Jen made but I do remember a) that I couldn't get enough of it, and b) it was around the time she bought her mandolin and I decided I needed one too. So I went out and bought my mandolin with a gift-card from my awesome mom-in-law and made the Pioneer Woman's scallop potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner.

They were AMAZING.

Seriously drool worthy and everyone raved about them. Maybe it was the perfectly sliced potatoes; maybe it was all the creamy deliciousness; maybe its because Ree Drummond is a genius.

Fast forward 6 months and I am flipping through The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime. Not only is the commentary very relatable and family oriented, but there are pictures with every step! Every single step! No more waiting until the end to see if everything looks as it should. The recipes also use pretty common ingredients, making it a go-to for everyday meals. She even gives advice on how to prep everything early if needed, and which recipes can be easily frozen to have on hand for later.

All the recipes I marked as "MUST DO" in each book.

Cravings

This was also a Jennie discovery. I knew who Chrissy Teigan was and that she'd come out with a cookbook, so when it was suggested I was game to try it but still skeptical. It is the most hilarious cookbook I've ever read.

Chrissy doesn't hold back in her commentary. She's fun and witty and makes me laugh while I'm cooking, and lets face it, she's saying what we're all thinking anyway. The conversational commentary also makes the recipes easy to follow, and most of her tips and tricks are right where they are needed in the recipe, instead of off to the side.

The recipes in Cravings range from roasted chicken to crab cream cheese wontons to delicious looking Thai food that I'm too nervous to attempt right now. The intro says the ingredients are meant to be easy to find and should be at most grocery stores, but I'd probably need to ask someone what isle to find them in. I'm excited for the new flavors this will open up for us though!



Enjoy the next few weeks of posts! I'll be writing many of them, but Jen says she has a lot to say too.
-- Karie