Lemon & Dill Potatoes

This past weekend I found a recipe on Pinterest that I really wanted to try to accompany the kabobs we were making. I’m a huge fan of red russet potatoes and here’s the recipe I found that turned out amazing. The potatoes were tender and filled with flavor. I especially enjoyed the hint of lemon in them. Thank you Beloved Green for the awesome recipe!

I altered my recipe a bit because I didn’t have all the ingredients mentioned on the site I found the recipe. The ingredients you will need include:

1 lb of petite potatoes (ie. reds, whites, and purples)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
dash of ground pepper
dash of sea salt
lemon juice ( a splash)
1 Tbsp. dried dill
2 Tbsp. minced garlic

Directions:

Preheat 375°F. Place parchment paper on cookie sheet, or spray with cooking spray.

Wash the potatoes and cut them into quarter slices. Pour in the 1/4 cup of olive oil and coat the potatoes and then transfer to the baking sheet. Sprinkle ground pepper and salt on the potatoes. Bake for a half hour.

While baking, mix together remaining ingredients with whisk and set aside until half hour is up.

Pull out the potatoes and flip them. Using a pastry brush, coat them with the dill dressing and place back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Laying Lasagna a New Way!

I give credit to the Kitchn for this image and hopefully this tip as well. I love making lasagna because it’s quite simple to make and tastes so good! Usually we use the staple ingredients and noodles that aren’t cooked so I’m interested to see if the weaving technique will still work for me. I image it may be a challenge to weave the hard noodles together but I’ve never pre-cooked the noodles for lasagna.

We actually just made lasagna for my husband’s co-worker whose wife had surgery so I think I’ll try making it tonight for us to use up the left over ingredients. I’ll keep you posted with the results!

Beef Stew

Beef Stew

1 1/2 to 2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1 -inch cubes
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic*, minced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon paprika
4 shiitake mushrooms*, sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium red potatoes, diced

* I substituted garlic clove with 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic from a purchased jar of minced garlic. I also substituted the mushrooms for a can of mushrooms, drained.

Directions:

1. Place beef in crock slow cooker. Mix together flour, salt and pepper; sprinkle over beef. Stir to coat each piece of beef with flour.

2. Add remaining ingredients and stir to mix well. Cover; cook on LOW 10 to 12 hours or on HIGH 4-6*. Stir stew before serving.

* My stew was done just after 4 hours on high. This may be because the original recipe called for celery and onions and I didn’t have those included.

More Sushi!

My sister and her fiance traveled to our place a few weekends ago and we enjoyed their company and the food we made. Here’s another picture of the sushi recipe we have, this time with my sisters “inside out” technique to roll the sushi.

When making this meal we used the spicy tuna recipe again, but also made some that had cooked shrimp and imitation crab. I really enjoyed the spicy tuna but also the imitation crab ones.

Tip for making sushi: cut your seaweed paper in half. Not only will this reduce the amount of seaweed paper/taste you have, you can also make more sushi rolls!

Cream Cheese, Crackers & Cucumbers

So lately we’ve been having MANY cucumbers grow in our garden and I’ve started to think about different ways to eat them. Here’s a recipe for a very simple appetizer that includes cucumbers, crackers & cream cheese (and a few other things).

Cucumber Sandwiches
1 package cream cheese (soften)
2 or 3 cucumbers (depending on how thick you’d like to cut them)
1 package/box crackers. (Ritz or Wheat Thins work well)
1 (7oz) dry Italian salad dressing mix

1. Mix dry dressing packet with cream cheese. Spread on crackers.
2. Place a sliced cucumber on each cracker.
3. Sprinkle with dry dill weed.

Homemade Pickles in one hour?

Thanks once again to lifehacker.com I’ve found a recipe I’m willing to try. Right now in our garden we have so many cucumbers is unbelievable. Here’s a link my husband sent me to try out (thanks Jon!).

Quick pickled cucumbers

Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 2 minutes Chill: 1 hour Makes: 1 pint

1 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup water, plus more, if needed

2 teaspoons each: kosher salt, pickling spice

1 large cucumber, cut into 1/4-inch slices

1 Combine cider vinegar with 1/2-cup of water, salt and pickling spice in a small saucepan. Heat to a boil.

2 Place cucumber in a clean, dry glass container just large enough to hold all the slices. Pour boiling brine over cucumber slices to cover completely. If all cucumbers are not submerged, add cold water to cover. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour. Pickles will keep for about 10 days.

Lazy Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef browned
32oz spaghetti sauce
16oz cottage cheese
8oz milk (1 cup)
1/2 box uncooked lasagna noodles
1/2oz grated mozzarella or cheddar cheese (or mixed pack)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Brown beef and spaghetti sauce.
2. Mix cottage cheese and milk.
3. In 9×13 greased pan, spread 1/3 of the sauce & meat mix on bottom. Layer 1/2 noodles, half of cottage cheese & milk, 1/2 cheese. Repeat until sauce is used up.
4. Bake 1 hour covered and 20 minutes uncovered.

Baked Omelet Roll

Ingredients:

4 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
2/3 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1 green pepper, onion & can mushrooms chopped (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450° F. Lightly grease a 9×13 ( I used 11×17) inch baking dish.
2. In a blender (or by hand), combine eggs, milk, flour, salt and pepper; cover and process until smooth. ( I also added additional cheese to this mixture)
3. Saute vegetables until tender. Mix with blended ingredients. Pour into prepared baking pan.
4. Bake in preheated oven until set, about 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese.
5. Carefully loosen edges of omelet from pan. Starting from the short edge of the pan, carefully roll omelet. Place omelet seam side down on a serving plate and cut into equal sized pieces or size desired. Serve & enjoy!