Crispy Potatoes with Rosemary Salt I made this and we loved it. I made it for 5 instead of 8 and didn't need as much salt as indicated. I also didn't have the salt flakes so used kosher salt.

Crispy Potatoes with Rosemary Salt

To make one large casserole arrange all of the potatoes in a 2 quart baking dish and bake 75-80 minutes

Hands on time: 25 min

Total time: 1 hour 45 min

2 tbl sea salt flakes

2 tbl fresh rosemary leaves

5 lb russet potatoes, peeled

½ cup butter, melted

¼ cup olive oil

1 tsp cracked black pepper

1.      Preheat oven to 400. Grease eight 4-5 inch miniature loaf pans, arrange pans in a shallow baking pan

2.      In a small food processor combine salt and rosemary; process until rosemary is finely chopped.

3.      Use a mandoline to thinly slice potatoes, placing slices in a large bowl as you go.  Add butter, oil, 1 tbl salt mixture, and the pepper.  Toss to coat potato slices well.

4.      Arrange potatoes standing upright to tightly fill pans.  Drizzle any butter-oil mixture remaining in the bowl over potatoes.  Bake 70-75 minutes or until tender and golden with crisp edges.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.  Serve with remaining salt mixture.  Serves 8

White Bean Chicken Chili in a crockpot This always is a winner and wins chili cookoffs if there is any left for the judges to try.

SLOW COOKER WHITE BEAN CHICKEN CHILI

YIELD: 6 SERVINGS,PREP TIME 15 MINUTES, COOK TIME 8 HOURS

INGREDIENTS

SOUP:

·          1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs  (sometimes I substitute precooked chicken and cut the time in the crock pot to 2-3 hours)

·          1 tablespoon oil

·          1/2 cup chopped onion

·          2 cloves garlic, finely minced

·          1 poblano pepper or large green pepper, diced (can use frozen peppers)

·          32 ounces low-sodium chicken broth

·          1 teaspoon cumin

·          1/2 teaspoon salt

·          1/2 teaspoon pepper

·          1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

·          1/2 teaspoon chili powder

·          2 cans (15-ounces each) white beans (like Great Northern), rinsed and drained

·          Juice of 1 lime

·          1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

GARNISHES:

·          Sour cream

·          Avocado, diced

·          Chopped cilantro

·          Shredded cheese

·          Tortilla chips

INSTRUCTIONS

1.       Place the chicken in the bottom of a round, 5-quart slow cooker. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil until rippling and hot. Add the onion, garlic, and pepper and saute for 3-4 minutes. Scrape the mixture into the slow cooker.

2.       Add the chicken broth and stir in the cumin, salt, pepper, oregano, and chili powder.

3.       Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

4.       Remove the chicken and shred into bite-sized pieces. Stir in the rinsed and drained beans. Cook on high for 30 minutes until beans/soup are heated through. Stir in the lime and cilantro and add salt and pepper to taste.

5.       Serve with garnishes.

Chocolate Mint Cookies Made by Bekah for Christmas 2019 at her home. They were delicious!

Chocolate Mint Cookies

¾ c. butter                                          

2 Tbs. water                                        

1 ½ c. brown sugar                             

2 c. chocolate chips

2 eggs 

2 ½ c. flour

1 ¼ tsp. baking soda

1 pound Andes mints

Melt butter, sugar, and water in saucepan on low heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips and stir until melted. Pour into large bowl. Let cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs and dry ingredients. Chill for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350. Roll dough into balls and cook for 10 minutes. Remove and place an Andes mint on top. Let stand for 4 to 5 minutes and then swirl to frost cookies.  Let sit until mint frosting is hardened before eating. 

Restaurant Style Salsa is easy to make from your pantry items

Restaurant Style Salsa:  Pioneer Woman

§  1 can (28 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes With Juice

§  2 cans (10 Ounce) Rotel (diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)

§  1/4 cup Chopped Onion

§  1 clove Garlic, Minced

§  1 whole Jalapeno, Quartered And Sliced Thin

§  1/4 teaspoon Sugar

§  1/4 teaspoon Salt

§  1/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin

§  1/2 cup Cilantro (more To Taste!)

§  1/2 whole Lime Juice

INSTRUCTIONS

Note: this is a very large batch. Recommend using a 12-cup food processor, or you can process the ingredients in batches and then mix everything together in a large mixing bowl.

Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you'd like---I do about 10 to 15 pulses. Test seasonings with a tortilla chip and adjust as needed.

Refrigerate salsa for at least an hour. Serve with tortilla chips or cheese nachos.

Quick and Easy Pizza Crust I made this and it was quick and easy and we liked it alot. I roll my crust fairly thin so one recipe filled a jelly roll pan.

 

Quick and Easy Pizza Crust

• Prep
  10 m
• Cook
  20 m
• Ready In
  30 m

Recipe By:CHEF RIDER

"This is a great recipe when you don't want to wait for the dough to rise. You just mix it and allow it to rest for 5 minutes and then it's ready to go!! It yields a soft, chewy crust. For a real treat, I recommend you use bread flour and bake it on a pizza stone, but all-purpose flour works well too. Enjoy!"

Ingredients

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or baker's peel dusted with cornmeal. Spread with desired toppings and bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let baked pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

4 cups chicken stock (I usually use water and chicken base)
2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
1 sprig dill, plus sprigs for garnish (I honestly have never added dill)
1 shallot, halved (I have used regular onions and green onions)
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 6 oz)
1/3 rounded cup orzo pasta
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions:
1.  In a large saucepan, combine the chicken stock with 4 cups water, carrots, celery, dill, shallot/onions.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken breast, lower the heat to a bare simmer, and cook, turning occasionally, until just cooked through, 12-15 minutes.  Transfer the breast to a plate.  (The original recipe has only one carrot, celery, shallot and here tells you to remove them from the broth and discard !?!  I, of course don't do that and add additional carrots, celery, and onions.)
2.  Raise the heat to a brisk simmer.  Add the orzo to the broth and simmer until tender, 6-8 minutes.  Meanwhile, shred the chicken. *
3.  Whisk the eggs with the lemon juice in a medium bowl.  When the orzo is cooked, slowly ladle about 1/2 cup of the hot broth into the egg mixture while whisking constantly (tempering).  Pour the mixture into the saucepan and cook, whisking occasionally, just until the broth returns to a simmer, about 2 minutes.  Turn off the heat, add the shredded chicken, and season with salt as desired.

*at this step I often add some frozen mini chicken/cilantro wontons you can buy at Costco, sometimes instead of, sometimes in addition to the orzo pasta.  And sometimes not as much or no additional chicken. 

My friend Amy shared this recipe with me in January of 2019 along with some lemons from her tree!  It makes up pretty quick with ingredients we usually have on hand . . . or we try new variations in it just for fun.  It is ALWAYS great.

Belgian Sugar Waffles

Inspired by Paul's Belgian waffles I tried a few versions and I like these the best.  I also tried making them with pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice and that was good, too.  Yes, I realize that makes it not very Belgian since pumpkin is a new world food.

It's great with a little buttermilk syrup.

These aren't just for breakfast, they can be dessert waffles topped with ice cream.  I have a waffle stick waffle iron that works well for them, you can eat them with your fingers and dip them. 

I just got a fancy (used of course $15) Krups removable plate, flip, Belgian waffle iron--it is THE BEST thing to make these waffles with!  The removable plates make clean-up SO MUCH EASIER and after one false start when every recipe I saw said to cook the waffles for 4 1/2 minutes on 6 (highest level) I found they are perfect at level 4 for about 2 1/2 minutes.  In the picture the waffle on top is with the Krups inversion waffle maker, you can see some of the waffle sticks below where I didn't get the fill quite right.

Here is the link to the original blog post: 

https://www.thespruceeats.com/belgian-sugar-waffles-428321?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=shareurlbuttons

Here is the recipe and directions:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons sugar (light brown)
• 1/2 cup water (lukewarm, or for richer flavor substitute scalded milk)
• 1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of butter (melted)  [I often double it because I usually make it for a crowd and IF there are leftovers they are great, so I will do a mixture of butter and oil--because I just can't do a full pound of butter in anything!--and I am finding that I can reduce the amount of fat and it still works fine.]
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup pearl sugar

Steps to Make It

1. Gather the ingredients.
2. Whisk the brown sugar and yeast with the water and let stand for about 5 minutes, until it is nice and foamy.
3. Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. [I do it in my KitchenAid stand mixer.] Gradually add in the yeast mixture until the dough is sort of dampened and shaggy looking.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition.
5. Whisk the vanilla in the butter and add to the batter gradually. Mix for about 1 minute or until smooth. It will be very sticky and have a thick, but not a stiff texture. Cover and let rise for about one hour.
6. Right before you are ready to cook the waffles, mix in the pearl sugar. If you add it too early it will dissolve and will not create that crispy coating.
7. Using two spoons [I use a scoop], pull off about 2 tablespoons worth of batter and place onto a preheated waffle iron. Cook until golden brown.
8. Place on a cookie cooling rack over a sheet pan. Keep warm in a preheated 250 F oven.
9. Drizzle with chocolate sauce if you're feeling saucy and serve warm.

Buttermilk Syrup

2 cups sugar
1/4 cup Karo syrup
1 cup buttermilk*
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla

Combine and boil for 1 minute all ingredients EXCEPT vanilla.  After mixture has boiled, add vanilla.  Yield 3 cups.

*You can use powdered buttermilk, but do the amount to make 1 cup of buttermilk, not 1 cup of buttermilk powder (right, Melissa Een?).  Although when we added enough of the other ingredients to go along with 1 cup of buttermilk powder we had enough syrup to last for months.