Purple Potato Salad

So, on Monday, I decided to perfect my smoked brisket ability, but that's a story for another blog. I will say that's what prompted me to want to make potato salad (and the fact that I have so many potatoes to use up from our garden). We grew red, gold and purple potatoes and I hadn't cooked with purples before so I decided this was a good time to use them up. Of course, you know me, I went to google to search for a recipe and the first one that popped up was from Food Network. I really like Tyler Florence's recipes, so I knew this one was a winner. 

A few changes/adds: Added turkey bacon. [I had some already cooked and ready, but definitely prefer pork bacon.] Added just a touch of cane sugar to balance out the salt and vinegar. Didn't use Parsley. [I really need to grow some indoors during the winter; I'm not really a fan of dried herbs.] Added sour cream for extra tang and creaminess. Used spicy brown mustard which gave it even more kick. 

So, if I'm blogging this, it means it ranks as one of my top favorite recipes for potato salad. [I have another one with pickles and red potatoes so that makes 2 favorites. :) ]

Please give this one a try!

2 pounds small purple potatoes

1 purple onion, diced

2 celery stalks, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon cayenne

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 lemon, juiced

Salt and pepper, to taste

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/purple-potato-salad-recipe-1938543

Slow Cooker Refried Beans

 This is a simple recipe for homemade refried beans, however in the high altitude, I let them soak in cold water overnight first then turn on the slow cooker to get them cooking. I also used home processed lard instead of oil. Be careful to drain (and reserve) ALL of the liquid and then slowly add it back in until it reaches the desired consistency. In order to keep the beans in the pot, I just used an electric immersion blender to puree the mix. I didn't see salt in this recipe, so I added some. 

1 bag dry Pinto beans

Water

1 lb. pinto beans

1 sweet yellow onion

2 Tbsp. cooking oil

4 chicken bouillon cubes

2 garlic cloves peeled

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

6 cups water

Salt to taste

1/2 cup salted butter (wait to add this at the end)

Crumbled cotija cheese or grated cheddar cheese (optional)

Sour Cream (optional)

Fresh Cilantro or green onion (optional)

https://www.themagicalslowcooker.com/slow-cooker-refried-beans/

Chia Pudding

I've been reading about the health benefits of chia seeds and decided to try chia seed pudding. Oh my goodness, it was delicious. I just put some seeds in a mason jar, add the milk, vanilla, and maple syrup (which is the best sweetener!), stir and put it in the refigerator the night before and have it for breakfast. 

4 Tablespoons chia seeds

1 cup almond or milk of choice

½ Tablespoon maple syrup, honey or sweetener of choice*

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract, optional

Toppings of choice: fresh berries or other fruit, granola, nut butter, etc

https://www.eatingbirdfood.com/basic-chia-seed-pudding/#wprm-recipe-container-33190

Potatoes Romanoff

Chef John's Youtube channel "Food Wishes" is one of my favorite cooking shows. Not only does he cook great food, but his sense of humor is just my style.

Last week, I came across  his video for Steakhouse Potatoes Romanoff and decided to cook it for Christmas. Usually I do mashed or scalloped potatoes, but this was a winner hands down. 

A few changes I made: 

1. I used Yukon Golds from our garden. They were smaller and so probably took 2-3 times as many as the russets. I put them in a 13x9 pan covered with foil rather than individually wrap them. Cooked for 1 hour then refrigerated overnight. The cold potatoes worked best for grating. 

2. Easy on the white pepper and cayenne if your guests aren't fond of spice. 

3. I used shredded Mexican cheese blend. Next time, I'll take Chef John's suggestion and shred my own white cheddar. 

4. I added mild - it's likely that my sour cream was too thick, but the milk helped thin it out and mix everything together. 

5. I forgot to buy shallots, so yellow onions worked fine. [Next year hoping to use onions from our garden.] 

1 teaspoon butter, or as needed

3-4 large russet potatoes, scrubbed

¼ cup minced shallots

3 teaspoons kosher salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste

2 ½ cups grated sharp white Cheddar cheese

1 ¾ cups sour cream

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/276526/steakhouse-potatoes-romanoff/ 

Slow Cooker Refried Bean Soup

So, we had a new tradition for Thanksgiving this year. I was asked to make burritos. I made tortillas, spanish rice and refried beans from scratch. However, the beans had too much liquid and ended up being a little runny, and I made too much (a whole pound of pinto beans!). So, I was looking for a good refried bean soup recipe and as always, Taste of Home had a great one!

Some changes I made were to substitute the stewed tomatos with rotel. Also added bacon, garlic and fresh, chopped yellow onion. I was out of canned black beans and didn't take time to soak and cook so I used canned Canellini beans instead. It worked out well. Also added redmond salt, pepper and, at the end, topped with broken tortilla chips, sour cream, shredded cheese and fresh cilantro. 

The great thing about the slow cooker is you can keep it on the counter overnight and have leftovers the next day. 

*See separate posts for the tortillas, spanish rice and refried beans recipes. 

Refried Bean Soup

1 can (16 ounces) spicy fat-free refried beans

1 can (15-1/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained

1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (14-1/2 ounces) chicken broth

1 can (14-1/2 ounces) stewed tomatoes, cut up

1/2 cup water

1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chiles

1/4 cup salsa

Tortilla chips

Air Fryer Chicken Chimichangas

Holy moly! I didn't think I would ever get to eat these again since fired food is off the menu. Air Fryer Chimichangas are the bomb! Super easy to make. Here are some of my mods: 

1. Make double the amount of sauce when cooking the chicken - it tastes amazing poured over top of them when they come out of the air fryer. 

2. It's ok to use cream cheese if you don't have Neufchatel-it's what I did. :)

3. We had a ton of green chilis in our garden this year so I added fresh ones to the mix. Yum! The rest went into my canned tomatillo green chili recipe that I use for chicken enchiladas. [I ended up with 17 quarts!]

4. I added some shredded cheese to the tops while cooking-nice touch!

5. This works best with an upright air fryer with trays that looks like a mini oven. [Also comes with a rotisserie attachment.] Worth the extra dollars.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/278702/air-fryer-chimichangas/?fbclid=IwAR2CnzKUgy3h1YCrnGLNQZCMvg-xZBJzI5OmquljLhr-TIS4-r-EBuYiR-s

Creamy Blueberry Gelatin Dessert

I love my inventory app. It alerts me to what’s expiring in the  pantry. This week it was grape jello so I went to Pinterest for ideas. I found this classic that I can’t believe I’ve never tried! I ended up making my own blueberry pie filling with fresh blueberries (quick and worth it!). With the crushed pineapple and cream cheese/sour cream topping with walnuts-this was crazy good. I mean, I’ve never had a dessert like it. The hubby said it is now his number one dessert-knocking blueberry pie to number 2. That’s saying a lot!

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/creamy-blueberry-gelatin-salad/

Pecan Chewies

What's expiring this week? Pecans and self-rising flour. What can you do with those ingredients? Pecan blondies! Don't make these if you're trying to lose weight. The brown sugar/pecan combination is ADDICTING! It was hard not to eat a half a pan in one night. I will definitely be keeping this one in my recipe box to bring to a party. Your guests will thank you-or not if they eat too many. Haha.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/77030/pecan-chewies/

Wild Rice Chicken and Mushroom Soup

Moving forward, my blogs will be based on expiring inventory and the recipes that I find to use up those items. Wild rice and mushrooms were on the list this week. I chose to use a crockpot rather than my InstantPot because wild rice takes so long to cook at 6500 ft elevation. I ended up adding heavy whipping cream instead of the flour roux and some pepper. So, so good. :)

https://pinchofyum.com/instant-pot-wild-rice-soup

Broiled Thai Sweet Chili Salmon

I've recently started using a pantry inventory app and now know what I have and when it's set to expire. One of those items was a bottle of Thai Sweet Chili. This recipe made one of the best broiled salmons I've had in a long time. I ended up throwing some cauliflower on the pan with the salmon and using the extra sauce over the veggies, then served over a bed of rice. Yum!

https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/broiled-salmon-with-thai-sweet-chili-glaze.html

 

Turkey Burgers

Leftover hamburger buns + thawed ground turkey=Turkey Burgers.

The texture is definitely not as easy to make into patties, but the egg helps keep it constituted when cooking. If you're looking for the beefy hardiness, this isn't it. But if you're looking for a healthier option that goes well with ketchup, pickles, onions, lettuce and tomato, this is an excellent alternative.

https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a19664658/best-turkey-burger-recipe/

Kansas Cucumber Salad

I'm feeling nostalgic for some good old-fashioned Kansas side dishes and luckily I get Taste of Home's emails periodically. I've made a couple of really good ones in the past week, so I thought I'd share.

We had some extra English Cucumbers and fresh dill from the garden. The apple cider vinegar made this a scrumptious dish. Can't wait to make it again when our garden cucumbers are ready!

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/kansas-cucumber-salad/?_cmp=holiday&_ebid=holiday5162020&_mid=345977&ehid=dfef5f62f666e299097ce5854fb7aea035676b6b&os_ehash=dfef5f62f666e299097ce5854fb7aea035676b6b

Broccoli Cualiflower Salad

I'm feeling nostalgic for some good old-fashioned Kansas side dishes and luckily I get Taste of Home's emails periodically. I've made a couple of really good ones in the past week, so I thought I'd share.

Brocolli and Cauliflower always seem to need some help and, well, bacon makes everything better!

I made a couple of changes: I added pepper, omitted the grapes and substitued green onion for red. [The original recipe from the 50's would have had raisins.]

The hubby said it's one of the best broccoli dishes he's ever had. :)

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cauliflower-broccoli-salad/?_cmp=holiday&_ebid=holiday5212020&_mid=347010&ehid=dfef5f62f666e299097ce5854fb7aea035676b6b&os_ehash=dfef5f62f666e299097ce5854fb7aea035676b6b

Brown Mushroom Gravy

On Tuesday, we had NY Strip with some corn-on-the-cob and potatoes (with Za'atar seasoning). After discovering we were out of steak sauce, the hubby requested a mushroom gravy, so I found this one--best one I've ever tried, by the way! I think the key ingredient is balsalmic vinegar. It was so good. Don't really need to say much about it other than, wow!

https://www.daringgourmet.com/best-brown-mushroom-gravy-from-scratch/

Celery Risotto with Apples and Basil

This crazy recipe was discovered when I was looking to do something with limp celery that wasn't a soup. The original recipe called for Asian Pears and Shiso, so I substituted with Apples and Basil instead. I also didn't have ricotta or Romano, so I substituted for mozzarella and grated parmesan; I also used Chardonnay rather than vermouth. This was probably one of the most bizaare but totally worth it recipes I've made in a long time. So delicious! This might be one of my staple party side dishes in the future. :)

https://food52.com/recipes/14444-celery-risotto-with-asian-pear-and-shiso

Leftover Turkey in Creamy Mushroom Sauce

I tried to cook a turkey in my new CharBroil Oil-Less Turkey Fryer but the wind literally picked up when I fired it up. It didn't cook according to the timing and directions, so I might try again on a warm, windless day and post the recipe later. I ended up having to cook it some more in the oven. After all that, I had to deal with the dilemma of what to do with the leftovers. I had a bunch of mushrooms to get rid of too and so I was excited to try this in my 12" cast iron pan. It turned out delicious, however I would make a couple of modifications. Substitute some of the chicken broth for white wine and go easy on the chicken broth if using granules. The turkey was injected with a salt/syrup mix and was plenty salty. I ended up omitting the salt in the recipe and used salted butter. [I never use unsalted butter because I don't notice a difference in the food.]

https://natashaskitchen.com/leftover-turkey-creamy-mushroom-sauce/

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

Sometimes I buy too much sour cream when the menu changes. Since I’ve been hyper vigilant about watching expiration dates, I was able to find a way to repurpose some. I had heard or sour cream chocolate cake before but never seemed to make time to bake it. At first I just googled “sour cream desserts” and then found this recipe (5 ⭐️ reviews)! Both the cake and frosting were de-licious, maybe too good. Hard to stay away from this one, especially when there’s extra milk in the fridge. Definitely a keeper-and high altitude friendly.

https://lilluna.com/moist-sour-cream-chocolate-cake/

Hot Dog Bun Croutons

In these uncertain times, I’m trying not to throw anything away. I can’t believe I never thought to make these from leftover buns. They’re the perfect consistency! They’re a little sweeter than regular bread but I’m really happy with the recipe I found. Next time maybe I’ll try making my own brats instead :)

https://www.savoryexperiments.com/hot-dog-bun-homemade-croutons/

Dutch Oven Ham

I forgot to take a picture of my dutch oven on Easter but I wanted to share this link and picture of the ham I fixed. [We used to raise pigs-I managed to keep a few hams in our freezer and used fresh pineapple for the glaze. I put it all in the Dutch oven for 1.5 hrs] Omg! It was the best ham I’ve ever had. Also had au gratin potatoes in the 10” but didn’t really like the recipe...maybe next time I’ll share.

https://temeculablogs.com/dutch-oven-ham/

The pineapple glaze is from an old Betty Crocker cookbook of my mother’s. (the best!)

Cabbage Rolls

I had an excess of cabbage this week so I decided to try cabbage rolls for the first time. The hubby was blown away by how delicious they are. However, some lessons learned - They blew up like ballons in the oven, so, apparently, I shouldn't have rolled them so air-tight. I will probably poke a hole in the tops next time. Secondly, they weren't very tender. I will probably do the crockpot rather than oven method next time or boil the cabbage longer. Otherwise, I have a feeling I will be making these quite often. Next time I might add in some sausage with the beef.

https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/stuffed-cabbage-rolls/