Yummy Hasselback Potatoes and The Little Things in Life

Sometimes, we rely on the little things in life to get us through the day. This doesn't mean that life is bad, or not worth living. Just that our long term plans and goals are so far away, that we need something closer to us to pick up our spirits.

Yesterday was a pretty standard day, some work, some chores, blah blah. Lucky for me I had a trifecta of little things lifting my mood and pushing me on.

First was getting to have a lovely sit down on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket, drinking a nice cup of tea. Even better? Drinking out of my "Morning Gorgeous" mug. Perfect way to start a chilly morning. Nothing gets the day going like a bit of caffeine and an ego boost! 

The second pick-me-up for the day was finally having the time to try "Hasselback Potatoes". I had been wanting to try them since I first pinned them several months ago. Now, these potatoes are really easy to make, they just take a bit of preparation time. However, the time is worth it, as they are delicious and enjoyable to eat!

Hasselback Potatoes

Ingredients:

potatoes

butter

olive oil

garlic

salt and pepper

herbs (I used thyme and rosemary)

1st: Cut slits into the potato, almost all the way to the bottom. The pieces need to still be attached, but you should be able to easily spread the pieces apart with your fingers.

Cut the slits about 1cm apart

2nd: Here is the time consuming part. You need to put garlic and butter in EVERY slit. Ok, it won't be a disaster if you don't do every single one, but hey, if you are going to do it, do it right! Unfortunately I don't have an easy way to do this. This time I tried sprinkling the garlic, then pushing in the butter. I'm thinking, next time, I will mix the butter and garlic, then push it in? Or go super lazy, and just buy garlic butter.

3rd: Drizzle olive oil on top of the potato, then sprinkle salt, pepper, and herbs. 

4th: Bake for 30-40 minutes at 425 F.

All filled and ready to go in the oven!

While I was waiting, the third little thing happened- my wonderful fiance brought me flowers! Pretty sure that there isn't a woman out there who doesn't love receiving flowers. Definitely brightened my day!

And here is the final potato! 

I didn't take more pics, as it was so yummy I just cut right in and ate it all up! 

Have you tried any other ways of making a Hasselback potato? Comment below and let me know!

Simple Slow Cooker Bread

Last night, I attempted something that I had been eager to try for awhile...

So, as my devoted readers know, things rarely work out perfectly for me. Not whinging, (whining, for those not fluent in British), just being honest. My own fault usually. This is no acception.

Now, please don't automatically think "She messed up, no reason to read this blog", but I promise that this mess up in no way ruined my creation- just made it really funny. And a bit odd looking. But still fine. Read on, please.

So here we go!

Ingredients

-1 pkg yeast (7g)
-750g flour
-1oz butter
-450ml water (boiled, but still warm)
-2 tsp salt (I think I used less than this, I'm not a big salt person)

-Olive oil (to coat the inside of the cooker)

Cook time:
1.5 hours - 2 hours, on low (depending on how much dough you put in the cooker. Mine was closer to 3 hours, because I put too much in.. well, you'll see that soon enough).

 First, mix the salt, flour, yeast and butter in a big bowl.

I had no big bowl (ok, I know that's weird, but hey, I'm leasing). Found another large container, albiet rectangular. Lined it with foil to make it easier (no corners).

So far, so good.

 Next, stir in water.

 Put dough onto floured surface, and knead.

This is where my foil became a bit of an issue (not THE issue mentioned above, that is coming later. Keep reading). Eventually abandoned the foil idea, kneaded on the flour covered counter. MUCH easier. Keep the flour handy, you are going to need to re-coat your hands and the counter after a bit of kneading.

 Set dough aside to rise. The idea is that it is in a warm place, and that the size should double. Could be anywhere from 45 mins to an hour and a half.

Coat the inside of the slow cooker so the bread doesn't stick. I used Olive Oil, but butter or vegetable shortening should work just as well. I even poured some around the edges, on the top.

 Put dough in cooker. HERE is my mistake. I forgot that my cooker is a small one (2 quarts, fine for cooking for two people). See how full the cooker is, even with the dough not fully risen?

Annnnnnd this is what it looked like after a bit of cooking. WAYYYYY too much dough.

 That's right, apparently my dough was trying to jump out and attack. Monster bread. Fitting for the Halloween season. Needless to say, I was giggling up a storm.

Lifted up the lid, poked it down, and left it to cook some more.

Online forums say it should take about 1.5 hours to cook. After 2.5, here is what mine looked like. Weirrrd.

 Now, I was starting to get concerned, didn't want a burnt slow cooker full of sludge, so I scraped off the top layer of uncooked dough.

Underneath? Cooked bread! Yummm!

Ok. I know it doesn't look pretty. Still has some doughy bits. Odd shape. But the taste?

Great!
I promise. Trust me please. Don't judge a loaf by its.. picture..

The stuff I scraped off the top? Microwave time!

3 minutes later, I had some very odd looking, but still tasty, microwave bread.

Looks like something off a bad B movie, huh?

So, in a nutshell:
Bread gets bigger, make sure you have a vessel that can control it all. Unlike me. If you are unsure, freeze half the dough for attempt #2. Yay hindsight.

My bread is yummy, and tastes like, well, bread. Simple, fast, delicious. Do it.

Simple and Delicious Lemon Chicken Pasta

Made a delicious meal the other night, and while the picture doesn't do the taste justice (you'll see what I mean later), the simplicity made me want to share.

Ingredients

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Garlic

Salt and Pepper

Rosemary and Thyme (or other similar spices)

Chicken

Mushrooms (you could do another veggie, broccoli would be nice too)

Spaghetti noodles

Lemon (just the juice is fine)

Cheese (I used mozzarella, but parmesan is nice too)

First, cook the chicken and mushrooms in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil.

                                 

While that's cooking, make the pasta. By the way, I learned on Pinterest that if you put a spoon on top of the pot, the water won't boil over- almost completely true! (If it's turned up all the way, it will still go over).

 Then, heat the oil, and add the spices and vinegar. I was lazy and didn't use fresh garlic, which would have added a nice flavor (but the normal shake stuff is fine too).

The oil mixture only needs to heat for a minute or two. When that is finished, mix the pasta, chicken, and oil mixtures together. Add lemon juice (I used a half of a lemons worth). Then add as much cheese as desired.

Voila!

Like I said, not the most visually appealing.. I think because it's all brown..But the taste was nice, light but filling! Next time I think I will go for broccoli and carrots as well- what do you think would be good to add?

British Breakfast- The "Fry Up"

Happy Monday! 

Hungry?

 This is what is called a "Fry Up". Bacon, sausage, eggs, beans, toast, yumm.. This was my breakky yesterday :-)

And here was my man's....

Yeah, he's a hungry boy. Notice the black pudding. Yuck. I tried it once, didn't mind the taste until I realized what it was (if you don't know what it is google it). Have you ever tried black pudding? Tell me what you thought of it, in the comments!

Sous Chef in Training

Made some delicious concoctions last night, thanks to Pinterest, and wanted to share.

My inspirations: 

(I always give credit where credit is due! But you better still read my blog...)

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/07/easy-7-up-biscuits.html

http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2009/01/recipe-for-roasted-green-beans-with.html

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/1139/BakedChickenKiev71886.shtml

Yes, 3 separate things- I know! Just call me Julia Child :-)

Remember though, my cooking is more realistic than others you see. I cook with what I have, whether that means smaller portions or slightly different ingredients. Which is my disclaimer as to why the things are not exaaactly the same!

7-UP Biscuits

Recipe:

4 cups Bisquick

1 cup 7-Up

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup meted butter 

What I had- 1 cup Bisquick. 

Yay for easy math. Divide everything with 4, you will find the rest of the numbers I needed.

This recipe is extremely easy, but a bit messy which is why I have a total of 2 pictures from it. Before and after. Sorry.

Mix ingredients (except for the butter), form balls/squares/whatever shape you want your biscuits in. 

Put butter on bottom of the pan (I lined with foil, yay for no cleaning up). Original recipe says melt it, I was lazy and just spread it around. Does the same thing. 

Cook. Temperature? Dunno, I think I did about 375. Time? Till they were brown. Told you it was easy.

And voila! Yummy Biscuits. 

They really are quite delicious. Mine were a tad dry, I think I needed more sour cream. Still, the taste was wonderful, and as they were so easy to make, I will be making them again.

Baked Chicken Kiev

This is an example of why, when you pin something on Pinterest, you shouldn't just assume form the picture/caption that you have all the info- you need to read the website! (Isn't that annoying? People, if you are writing a caption, please be sure it reflects what the site says, or, make a note that you did something different. Not hard).

I say this is Chicken Kiev, but it's not really. Real Chicken Kiev has butter cooked inside it, lots more spices, and is browned in a pan before being put in an overn. Well that sounds wayy to complicated for me.

I decided to try a simpler Baked Kiev, and made a little changes...

Recipe:

4 chicken breast halves

1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon Chopped parsely
4 ounces Monterey jack cheese
6 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

What I used:

Chicken breast filets (This was actually an accident. I wasn't thinking about what I was cooking when I bought the chicken, so really struggled putting it all together. More explanation later)

Italian spices

Mozzarella

Butter

Breadcrumbs

Salt and Pepper

First things first, flatten out the chicken. Good for getting a little of that bad temper out. Don't go crazy though, one wrong hit and you have two pieces instead of one (not good for future stages).

On the chicken, put the spices then the cheese. Here we see the beginning of problems from having small filets instead of normal size chicken breasts.  Does that look like it is going to roll well to you?

 Roll the chicken. If you have normal sized chicken, you should create a little pocket with the sides folded in. Me? Fail.

The best way to coat something in bread crumbs is to dip them in egg first, and then roll in the crumbs. Well, I didn't have a lot of crumbs to use, so I didn't feel like wasting an egg to do the same thing as butter (lots of crumbs-egg. few crumbs- butter. remember that). Here are my *beautiful* not correctly rolled, not fully breaded chicken filets.

 I know, I know. Pretty mangy. Ok, you don't have to call me Julia Child anymore.
After that, I put them in the oven for about 25 minutes at 375.

Here is what they should look like once cooked.

 And here is what mine looked like.

Yeahhh, big difference. But, I enjoyed the taste of mine just fine. I think it could have used more spices, because the flavor was very plain. More bread crumbs would have helped too, I think. Live and learn, right?

Balsamic Roasted Green Beans and Mushrooms

To me, this was the best thing I made yesterday, and if course I only took one picture. Sorry.

Recipe:
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Parmesan Cheese
Salt and Pepper

This was, again, very simple.
Coat the green beans and mushrooms with olive oil and vinegar (not enough to drown them, you just want all of them lightly coated).
Put in the oven (about 375) until they reach your desired stage of cookedness.
Meaning:
If you want them moist, like mine, 20-25 minutes.
Crispy, closes to 30-35 minutes.

When they are finished, top with salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese.
Enjoy.

Hurray for easy, yummy veggies!

Let me know if you guys try any of these recipes, have an ideas for them, etc!

Taco Lasagna

Last night, I made a scrumptious meal- Taco Lasagna! Simple, and delicious. My kinda meal :-)

Here was my inspiration: http://www.thecountrycook.net/2012/05/taco-bake.html

Now, I would have been content recreating that, but my man doesn't do so well with so much cheese. So, a little editing was in order.

Here are my ingredients:

1lb ground beef (also, turkey is a great substitute)

1 Packet taco seasoning

1 Can kidney beans (or black beans)

White rice

Salt and Pepper

Oil (vegetable, olive, whatever)

Tomato Paste

Garlic

Cajun Spices (not shown)

Tortillas

Cheese (Mexican Mix if you can find it, ours was a cheddar mix)

 First, the meat. Pretty basic. Brown it.

Then add the seasoning and beans.

Next is the rice. I found the simplest "Mexican Rice" recipe I could find. First, put oil in the pan, heat, and add rice. 

 When the rice has turned a bit brown, add the water, salt, pepper, garlic, spices, and tomato paste. All ingredients are to taste, if you are confident in your cooking skills use more, if you aren't less.

Cook rice like normal.

 Looking good :-)

 The next step is to make the "lasagna". Obviously, the dish I was using was not made for circular foods...
Layer: Tortilla, meat, rice, cheese, repeat.

 I added foil around the sides so I could be sure the stuff didn't fall out of the tortillas.  I managed to get three layers in the dish.

 Put in the oven, for about 15-20 minutes (melted cheese and browned edges).

Voila!

Yummy Taco Lasagna. I added more cheese to my half of it :-)

 Absolutely delectable. Made enough for 4 people, or 2 people and lunch for today (yesss). Enjoy!

My "Work With What I've Got" Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole

I've been using the crock pot a lot this week. Here is my lesson schedule for one day:

 You can imagine what the whole week's schedule looks like. So, the crock pot is a life saver.

I decided to try a breakfast casserole for the first time. Of course, thanks to the crock pot, if you use the ingredients suggested, it will taste the same as the original. Easy.

Here is my motivation: http://www.allkindsofyumm.com/2011/10/crock-pot-breakfast-casserole.html

The problem (come on, it would be a boring blog if I wrote about creating the same things as others, the same way and getting the same results) is that I didn't have the exact things suggested in the recipe. Sure, I could have gone to the store and got them, but 1, I wanted to save money and use what I had, and 2, that would be too simple.

The first problem I ran into (and have run into multiple times attempting to follow recipes online) is that the recipe is made for a large slow cooker. I actually even opened the manufacturers page, and compared pictures of cookers to hers, to try and figure which one hers is. I'm 95% sure she is using a 5 quart cooker. Mine? 2 quart.

Time for some math. Sigh.

Her recipe:                                  My recipe:
12 eggs                                       4 eggs
1 cup of milk                                1/3 cup of milk
1 tablespoon mustard                      Ew. I hate mustard
Salt and Pepper                            Probably not as much as most people
1 16 oz roll sausage                       6 Cumberland sausage links , cut up
16 oz  cheddar cheese                    2 cheddar cheese slices
1 bag frozen hash browns                About 8 large crumbled tater tots (I will explain)

As you can see, my ingredients were a litttle different than hers. Not the actual thing,
sausage is sausage, cheese is cheese, but just the pre-cooked forms of them were different.

First in goes the "hash browns". Other blogger "peeled and shredded" 8 potatoes. Yeah, I don't think so. We had some large tater tots left over, so I used them. I guess I piled them up about an inch high in the cooker. Potatoes are potatoes, right?

 Next comes the sausages. Blogger uses a roll of it. We always get the Cumberland links, because my man loves to make the traditional Bangers and Mash, and they are ideal for it. No sense in buying two types of sausages. Blogger tells you to brown it first. Again, no time. Using my handy-dandy slow cooker information site (love it- http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/blcrocktips.htm) I found that it isn't necessary. So of course, I didn't.

 By the way, cutting up the sausage was one of the most disgusting things I have ever done. Not going to describe why, cause it might put you of sausage. I would suggest getting the roll of sausage (without any kind of skin) just for the pure reason of avoiding the yuckiness.

Next was the eggs. Pretty sure I couldn't screw that one up.

 Sorry my head is in the picture. Was too tired to set up the shots better.

Next is the cheese. These are my man's favorite, so I stole a couple of the ones he uses for lunch (rather than buying some to grate). Hand ripped cheese is just as good as grated.

 The order of the pot is as follows: hash browns, meat, cheese, then eggs over all.

 And that's it :-) About 8 minutes of prep, and 8 hours to cook on low.

This morning I woke up to this! Ok ok, it doesn't look like the most appetizing thing in the world.. but it's not the worst either! And the smell was awesome!

Clump of casserole :-) Very nice at 6am!

Overall analysis? I really liked it. Pretty sure it tasted the same (or close to) as hers did. I now see the reason for browning the meat, because it was very greasy. My use of tater tots made the consistency a bit soggy, and some of them burned to the cooker (reminds me, I need to go scrub it). But it was still yummy, and my batch made enough for either a smallish breakfast for 4 people, or big breakfast for 2. Looking forward to eating my leftovers tomorrow!

A Success and a Fail, All in One Day

This is my first time blogging about food, due to one basic reason. If you follow the recipe, it tastes like it should. No reason to share what has already been shared. Usually.

Growing up, I wasn't really into cooking. Sure, I liked to experiment like any kid, but being a picky eater meant that my ideal dinner was bowtie pasta with parmesan cheese. Well honestly, that's still my ideal meal... But my pickiness has subsided exponentially, and I enjoy attempting to recreate the concoctions that other people have perfected and shared.

I have made some great creations in the last few months, crescent roll burgers, pineapple chicken, peanut butter bars..I tend to stick to the ones with the least amount of ingredients, not for the ease of it, but so that I have to buy less things.

That being said, I decided to try two different things today, one meal and one snack. One, I changed some things on the recipe, and it turned out deliciously. The other, I did exactly according to the recipe, and it..failed. Not a complete fail, but enough of one.

First the failure.
Here is the recipe:
http://www.justaddasliceoflove.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/baked-cheese-balls.html

So the most important thing in the recipe is the mozzarella cheese sticks. Well I went shopping for them, and apparently, they do not exist in the UK. No mozzarella cheese sticks. Just cheese sticks. They don't even tell you what kind of cheese it is. I suppose some sort of cheddar collaboration, due to the yellow color. Ok, I said I didn't change anything about the recipe, but I guess I did, seeing I had a different kind of stick. Sorry.

Other than the issue with the type of cheese, I followed the instructions perfectly. Dip in milk, roll in breadcrumbs, bake.

What happened?

The cheese melted.

Most definitely not the picturesque snack from the blog. Apparently the cheese did not want to stay inside it's bread crumb home.

I'm thinking, ok maybe more breadcrumbs would make it stay.. but the bread crumbs wouldn't stick to the cheese because they were attempting to hold on with milk. Milk? What kind of glue is that?

Of course I still ate them. And the taste was nice. But while it was ok for me, home alone, scraping cheese off the foil, I hardly think the nibbles would be good for company.

Cooking attempt #2 worked a lot better, despite some changes.
Recipe: http://blogchef.net/bacon-wrapped-chicken-recipe/

I used plain, fat free cream cheese (I hate onions. I can deal with them in some dishes, but if it can be avoided, I do). I sprinkled some rosemary and thyme on for a little more flavor.

The big change? I used turkey breast instead of chicken. We bought it just for a little bit of variety, and because it happened to be cheaper at the store we went to. I love using ground turkey instead of ground beef in dishes, because of the health pluses. I wasn't sure that would work as well as substituting turkey for chicken, but I figure it was worth a try. Fairly certain it tasted exactly the same as it would have with the chicken.

Again, I followed the directions. I used British bacon, which happens to be twice the size of ours. This was nice because I didn't have to worry about the toothpick- it wrapped it self up.

This was absolutely delicious. I was too impatient to worry about making the bacon crispy, but it still tasted great. It isn't an overwhelming bacon taste, but instead perfectly matched. This will be cooked again soon!