Rosemary Home Fries

Posted on May 20, 2013 by jgisvold

I think these potatoes are quite possibly the best potatoes I’ve ever made. I like my potatoes crispy on the outside and soft in the middle and Bobby Flay knows how to do that. You boil the potatoes in water first until the potatoes are fork tender. Then you cook them in a skillet until brown with some of that olive oil infused with rosemary. Total yum. I’m going to make my potatoes this way from now on. If you can’t find some pancetta use peppered bacon. I had mine with an egg on top.

Do any of you like to watch the Cooking Channel? I found this recipe while watching Bobby Flay’s show called Brunch at Bobby’s.

Recipe from Bobby Flay

Rosemary Oil:

1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup fresh rosemary leaves
4 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

HOME FRIES:

One 1-inch-thick piece pancetta, diced
3 large russet potatoes, cooked in salt water until tender, cooled and diced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Pinch red pepper flakes
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
For the oil: Combine the oil, rosemary, garlic and some salt and pepper in a blender and blend for 2 minutes. Let the oil sit for 30 minutes, and then strain through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl. Set aside 1/4 cup, plus more as needed, for the home fries, and reserve the rest in an airtight container for another use.

For the home fries: Heat 1/4 cup of the rosemary oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook until golden brown and crisp. Transfer to a plate.

Add more rosemary oil to the skillet, if needed. Add the potatoes in one layer and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook the potatoes, pressing the firmly with a spatula, until they are golden brown and crusty on the bottom. Turn the potatoes over, and repeat, adding more rosemary oil if needed. Stir in the parsley, red pepper flakes, reserved pancetta and cheese and serve from the pan.

Quinoa Lasagna

Posted on May 15, 2013 by jgisvold

One of my pet peeves when making lasagna is, that I NEVER have enough ingredients to fill a 9 X 13 in pan and that is what the recipe calls for. That always irritates me to know end. I decided to try an 8 X 11 baking dish this time and that worked way better. Now I am satisfied and can mark that down for future reference.

If you haven’t noticed yet, I’ve been making a lot of recipes with Quinoa recently. I had made some granola bars this past weekend and I never got to take a picture of them because Ben had eaten them all. They were one of his favorites. I think this by far is my favorite recipe I’ve tried using Quinoa. Who knew you could make lasagna with this hearty grain? The best part is there’s more protein in the quinoa which replaces the carb filled noodles you normally have with lasagna. Go ahead and give this one a try. You will be impressed this still tastes like lasagna!

Servings: 8

Points Plus: 8

Ingredients

1 cup of Quinoa, cooked
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 jar of store bought marinara sauce
1 16 oz container of low fat cottage cheese
1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
1 cup of part skim mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook the 1 cup of quinoa in a medium sauce pan with 2 cups of water until all the liquid has
been absorbed. Set a side.

In a skillet, cook the ground turkey, until brown addd in your favorite jar of marinara sauce. I added
in a pinch or 2 of crushed red pepper flakes but that is optional.

While the turkey is cooking in the skillet, mix together the cottage cheese, 1/8 cup of part skim
mozzarella, parmesan cheese, and the salt and pepper.

When the turkey is done cooking begin layering all the ingredients together in a 8 X 11 baking dish. Half of the quinoa,
then the turkey and marinara mixture, and then cheese. Repeat this a second time, and
the last time top with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

Jerk Shrimp with Caribbean Quinoa

Posted on May 12, 2013 by jgisvold

Eating this dish really makes me want to go to some place tropical again. The last tropical place I went to was last year and it was Jamaica. We ate a lot of spicy meat with rice and beans there, and this kind of reminds me of that but the rice is replaced with quinoa and tropical fruit. So good. While I was there, I picked up some Jerk seasoning at one of the stores. You can pick up Jerk Seasoning in the grocery stores here too or make your own recipe. The website where I got this from has a recipe for Jerk seasoning if you’re looking for one.

Spicy Jerk shrimp with a tropical quinoa salad is a healthy and fun dish you can make this summer. The shrimp is really hot but after you eat some of the quinoa it helps to cool your tongue off a bit. I love this meal and I’ll definitely be making it again.

Recipe from Iowa Girl Eats

Servings: 4

Ingredients:
1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed very well under cold water
1-1/4 cups chicken broth
1-1/2lbs peeled & de-veined shrimp
1 recipe Jerk seasoning blend (or 2-1/2 Tablespoons store-bought)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup each chopped strawberries, mandarin oranges, green grapes, and canned pineapple tidbits packed in natural juices (drained and juices reserved)
1 green onion, chopped
2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro

For the Caribbean Vinaigrette:
3 Tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons reserved pineapple juice
salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Rinse quinoa very well under running water, then combine with chicken broth in a pot. Bring to a boil then place a lid on top, turn heat to low, and simmer until broth has been absorbed and quinoa is cooked, about 15 minutes. Spread quinoa out onto a big plate to cool.

2. Meanwhile, pat shrimp dry with paper towels then place in a large bowl. Add olive oil and jerk seasoning blend, then toss to coat. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, spray with non-stick spray, then cook shrimp for 1-2 minutes a side, or until cooked all the way through. May need to work in batches. Set shrimp aside.

3. Combine Caribbean Vinaigrette ingredients in a jar or bowl, then shake or whisk to combine. Place chopped fruit, green onions, and cilantro in a large bowl then add cooled quinoa and dressing. Stir well then taste and add more salt & pepper, if necessary. Spoon quinoa onto plates and top with cooked shrimp.

Breakfast Quinoa

Posted on May 11, 2013 by jgisvold

If you like having oatmeal for breakfast quinoa is kind of like that, but it’s like a fancier upgrade to oatmeal. To cook quinoa all you do is boil it in some water or milk. Usually 1 cup of quinoa you use 2 cups of liquid and just boil the quinoa until it all the water evaporates. The organic quinoa was rather expensive at my store. 1 cup was 4.98 a pound. That is quite a lot, so maybe opt for the non-organic kind. I know Trader Joe’s has bags of quinoa in their store, not exactly sure on the price of it though.

Quinoa is SUPER healthy too. 1 cup has 8 grams of protein in it and has more fiber than any other grain. I actually like this more than regular rolled oats now. You can add basically whatever type of fruit you want to quinoa and nuts to give you even more protein value!

This recipe makes 2 whole cups of quinoa so there’s 2 servings for the whole recipe. 1 cup is A LOT so this is really filling.

Breakfast Quinoa recipe from Martha Stewart

Servings: 2

1 cup

Calories: 260, Fat: 4.37g, Carbs: 43.76g, Fiber: 3.3g, Protein: 12.74g

Points Plus: 7

Ingredients

2 cups whole or low-fat milk, plus more for serving
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
3 tablespoons light-brown sugar, plus more for serving
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for serving
1 cup (1/2 pint) fresh blueberries, plus more for serving

Directions

Bring milk to a boil in a small saucepan. Add quinoa, and return to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, until three-quarters of the milk has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.

Stir in sugar and cinnamon. Cook, covered, until almost all the milk has been absorbed, about 8 minutes. Stir in blueberries, and cook for 30 seconds. Serve with additional milk, sugar, cinnamon, and blueberries.

Beer Can Chicken

Posted on May 8, 2013 by jgisvold

I am so excited about having a smoker. So far we’ve tried salmon, pulled pork (which was the best pulled pork I’ve ever had) and a whole chicken. Seriously, you have not had good pulled pork until you’ve tried it smoked. Pulled pork made in the crock pot just doesn’t do any justice. It was over cooked a tad, but man was it really good. I used the left over smoked salmon to put on bagels with sour cream and chive cream cheese. Having a smoker is well worth it. You can smoke so many different kinds of food like cheese, cookies, macaroni and cheese, you name it. It was a good investment and I can’t wait to try making my own bacon soon.

Tonight we made beer can chicken. It was pretty easy too. The hardest part is probably trying to get the chicken attached to the beer can without it sliding all over your fingers. Then we just seasoned the chicken with some Lawry’s seasoning salt and it was the juiciest chicken I’ve ever had. I dipped my chicken in some barbeque sauce. If you don’t have a smoker to make beer can chicken, you can cook the chicken in the oven. Just make sure there’s some kind of pan underneath it so the beer doesn’t splatter all over the oven.

Ingredients

1 whole chicken 3 – 4 pounds
Lawry’s Seasoning Salt
1 can of beer (I used Bud Light)

Directions:

Remove any giblets from inside the bird. Pat the bird dry and season with Lawry’s Seasoning salt. Open up a can of beer and poke a few extra holes in it. Set the bottom of the bird where the opening is on top of the can so that it sits on the beer can. Make sure the chicken is secure on the can of beer and place it on a smoker on top of a sheet pan. Smoke for 2 – 3 hours.

Blueberry Cheesecake Icecream

Posted on May 4, 2013 by jgisvold

This ice cream was really EASY to make. If you don’t have any kind of stand mixer to make this you could use a hand mixer. If you don’t have a hand mixer you could use a wire whisk and beat the crap out of the whip cream until the peaks form. If you choose that method, you’d get your exercise in, and that really wouldn’t be considered easy then, now would it?

Ben’s aunt had given us a jar of blueberry jam for Christmas and I finally got around to using it in this ice cream. I didn’t take the extra step to make the blueberry sauce I cheated and used that jam. You can do that to if you want, I won’t tell anyone. I pretty much love anything with cheese cake in it. I think this ice cream would be even better with chunks of cheese cake diced up and thrown into it. Yum. The batter is kind of stiff, and not like a regular ice cream batter. I would set it out on the counter and let it thaw for a bit before scooping it out of the container.

Be prepared for a lot of recipes coming that use a smoker!

Recipe from Just Putzing Around in the Kitchen

Ingredients:

(Ice cream base)

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
7 oz cream cheese, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla

(Blueberry swirl)

2 cups fresh blueberries
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

Combine blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a pan over medium-high heat. Cook until berries burst and release juices.
** Use your spatula or spoon to gently smoosh some of your berries to release more juices.
Allow berry mixture to simmer for a few minutes, until mixture thickens. Remove pan from heat, pour mixture into a bowl, and stick your bowl in the fridge to chill.
In a large bowl, beat your cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth.
If you’re not already using them, change your mixer attachments to use whisk attachments.
Slowly add condensed milk and vanilla, and whisk mixture until smooth.
Add heavy cream and keep whisking until stiff peaks form.
** This will take longer than usual b/c of all the other ingredients. Be patient and keep whisking!
Spoon about half of your whipped cream mixture into a standard sized loaf pan.
Remove your chilled berry sauce from the fridge and spoon about half of it over your whipped cream mixture in the loaf pan.
** Drop blobs of sauce in spoonfuls over the top of the cream. Doesn’t have to be pretty.
Cover with your remaining whipped cream mixture, and top with your remaining berry mixture.
Use a butter knife to drag/swirl your blueberry mixture into your cream mixture.
Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil, and stick it in the freezer for about 6 hours, or until ice cream is firm enough to scoop.
Enjoy!

Caramel Bacon Buns

Posted on April 28, 2013 by jgisvold

I am so excited because this weekend the husband and I bought a smoker. We don’t get it until sometime later this week, because we asked the hardware store where we got it from to put it together for us and there’s a waiting list. That is ok though, because that will give me some time to defrost a pork butt I have in my freezer. I want to smoke so many things. The sales person who sold it to us said that he had smoked some macaroni and cheese and I never would have thought about making that in the smoker. I really want to try making my own bacon now. That is the number one thing on my list to smoke.

Speaking of bacon, have you bought my cook book 50 Shades of Bacon yet? You should. This recipe isn’t a recipe that was featured in the cook book but I had to go ahead and make it anyway. Why? Because it had bacon in it, and the recipe only called for 3 ingredients. I love recipes that only have 3 ingredients. Ben really liked this too and he’s not much of a bacon fan as I am.

Recipe from Ohbite.com

Ingredients

1-7.5 oz. can of Pillsbury Biscuits (10 ct.)

1 lb of Crispy and crumbled Bacon

1 jar of Caramel Sauce (approx. 1.5 cups)

2 standard Cupcake/Muffin Tins

Directions:

Fill each cup with enough Caramel Sauce to cover the bottom nicely.

Top the Caramel with some crispy, crumbled Bacon, making sure to evenly coat the bottom of each cup.

Now top the Bacon with one Biscuit.

Place the empty Cupcake Pan on top of the Biscuits and press down lightly, this will help them not get too puffy.

Place them on a baking sheet to keep your oven clean in the event of a spill-over.

Bake them at 350 degrees for about 12-15 minutes. Take them out and let them cool before attempting to flip them out.

Place the baking sheet over them and flip it over. If they don’t all pop out give them some help, but they will come out pretty easily.

Mango-Kiwi Sasla

Posted on April 24, 2013 by jgisvold

The last time I went to Whole Foods (Ben likes to call it Whole Paycheck, because it’s expensive), I ended up picking up this incredible mango salsa. It was so fresh, I ended up eating the whole container of it in one hour. It was THAT good, and money well spent.

It is sometimes hard to find a fresh mango where I live (that and every other type of Tropical fruit), and I’ve been thinking about using frozen mangos, but haven’t come to try that yet. Thinking frozen mangos would get kind of squishy and make the salsa go bad really fast. There is also canned mangos, but I need to go on a mission and hunt them down in every store in town. Don’t really feel like doing that. One thing I don’t like about mangos is the big pit that is in the center of it. I feel like that is all I’m paying for. You have to buy 4 or 5 mangos to get enough mango, to make the salsa. Kiwi was pretty cheap so I threw it in there with the mangos. This would be good over anything grilled or just with some chips.

Ingredients

2 ripe mangos, chopped
2 kiwis, chopped
2 tablespoons of chopped red onion
2 tablespoons of cilantro
1 half of a lime, squeezed
1 half of a jalapeno, diced
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Cut and dice up all the fruit and vegetables and toss together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Egg Sandwiches

Posted on April 22, 2013 by jgisvold

I finally was able to make my own egg sandwiches using my new egg rings that I got at Williams Sonoma. I love that store and I could spend hours just looking in there. For my sandwiches, I used cheese, ham, and egg. You could use sausage, avocado, tomato, whatever you like. The cheese is usually melted on breakfast sandwiches, but that will be done in the microwave whenever you heat them up in the morning for breakfast. Wrap these sandwiches up in some parchment paper and freeze them. Let them thaw over night in the fridge and heat them up in the microwave for about a minute and thirty seconds. Very filling breakfast. Keeps me full for quite awhile.

Toast some English muffins in the oven at 400 degrees until the edges start to brown or look golden.

Start assembling the sandwiches. Start with the egg, and put whatever you want on top.

I only made 6 of these at a time. I should have bought another package of English muffins at the grocery store, so that I’d have enough for 2 weeks. Next time!

Ingredients

6 English Muffins
6 large eggs
6 slices of your favorite type of cheese
6 slices of deli ham

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the English muffins on a sheet tray and bake them for 10 minutes or until the edges start to brown.

Meanwhile, while the English muffins are cooking cook the eggs inside some time of circular device. You can use jar lids. I used egg rings.

Let the eggs cool and cook the ham on each side until it turns brown.

Assemble the sandwiches eggs first, then cheese, then ham. Enjoy.

Puppy Chow/Muddy Buddies

Posted on April 21, 2013 by jgisvold

I do believe that I have found the best recipe for Puppy Chow and it’s a recipe from Ree Drummond. I’ve tried other recipes before this, and none of them had the right Chex Mix to chocolate/peanut butter ratio consistency. I would make it and be disappointed after there was hardly any peanut butter/chocolate mix coating all the chex mix. And *gasp* there is also Nutella in this recipe. Yum. I never would have thought to add in other ingredients like pretzels and candies which makes puppy chow even better. This recipe makes a lot, so I will probably be taking some of it to work and sharing it with others tomorrow.

Recipe from Ree Drummond

Ingredients

10 cups combination of corn, rice, and wheat cereal squares
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup chocolate hazelnut spread, such as Nutella
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups powdered sugar
2 cups miniature pretzels
1 cup chocolate coated candies, such as M and M’s

Directions

Place the cereal in a very large stainless steel bowl and set aside.

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, add the chocolate chips, hazelnut spread, peanut butter and butter. Microwave for a minute, then stir. Microwave 30 seconds longer and stir until smooth. Keep going until it’s all melted, being careful not to burn. Stir in the vanilla and salt. Then pour the chocolate mixture over the cereal, tossing to evenly coat.

Spoon the mixture into a 2-gallon resealable ziptop bag along with the powdered sugar. Shake the bag until the cereal is evenly coated. Then add the pretzels and candies, seal and shake the bag again. Pour onto baking sheets to set/cool. Serve in bowls.

Bacon “waffles”

Posted on April 16, 2013 by jgisvold

I’ve seen people put a lot of different types of food in waffle irons. Cinnamon rolls, tator tots, etc… Since I am a bacon fanatic, I thought why not try cooking bacon inside a waffle iron? Sure enough it worked! I placed a sheet tray beneath the waffle iron, just in case any grease had dripped down from the sides of the waffle iron. It was pretty sweet.

Start off with your favorite bacon. I like Oscar Meyer.

Place enough bacon to cover the waffle iron completely and a couple strips on top. Close the waffle iron. Let the waffle iron do it’s thing until the bacon is crispy like this picture below.

Salmon & Guacamole Sandwiches

Posted on April 13, 2013 by jgisvold

I haven’t made a Barefoot Contessa recipe in a long time. I did watch her episodes on Food Network, where she was staying in California for vacation. Usually I like her recipes, but I thought most of those were a little too fancy for me. Sometimes her recipes can be rather high class, but this one was just perfect! We like to keep bags of frozen salmon from Sam’s Club in the freezer and they only take like 2 hours to defrost.

I’ve been wanting to use my cast iron skillet more, but they’re always such a pain in the butt to clean. Plus, I don’t know what to really cook in them. I see the Pioneer Woman using hers all the time too. She cooks food like scrambled eggs in hers and I wonder how she gets them clean all the time? This recipe requires using a cast iron to cook the salmon. You cook the salmon on both sides for 2 minutes and then transfer the salmon to the oven to finish cooking. I had my oven set to 400 still and the salmon was still rare. Ended up having to cook it for almost 7 minutes. There was only one oven temp mentioned in the recipe, so who knows which one she really used. These sandwiches were delicious.

Recipe from Ina Garten

Ingredients

8 slices applewood-smoked bacon (8 ounces)
2 ripe avocados, seeded and peeled
¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice (2 limes)
4 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
¼ cup minced red onion
1 tablespoon jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Four (6-ounce) salmon fillets, skin on
Good olive oil
4 individual ciabatta rolls

Direcyions:

Baby arugula leaves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place a baking rack on a sheet pan and lay the bacon on the rack. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until browned. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels.

Meanwhile, prepare the guacamole. Place the avocados, lime juice, scallions, red onion, jalapeño pepper, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a mixing bowl and mash roughly together with a fork. Taste for seasoning; it should be very highly seasoned. Set aside.

When the bacon is done, heat a dry cast-iron skillet over high heat for 5 minutes. Pat the salmon fillets dry with paper towels, brush them all over—top and bottom—with olive oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Place the fillets in the skillet skin side up and allow them to cook without disturbing them for 2 minutes exactly. With a metal spatula, carefully turn the fillets and cook for 2 more minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven for 2 minutes (time it carefully!). Remove the salmon to a plate and cover it tightly with aluminum foil. Allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

While the salmon rests, cut the ciabatta rolls in half crosswise, place them cut side up on a sheet pan, and toast in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes, until lightly toasted. To assemble the sandwiches, place the bottoms of the ciabatta rolls on a board and spread each with 2 rounded tablespoons of guacamole. Remove the skin from the salmon fillets, cut each fillet in half crosswise, and place both halves on top of the guacamole. Add 2 slices of bacon, a handful of arugula, and a sprinkling of salt. Spread another rounded tablespoon of guacamole on the underside of the top bread and place on top. Continue arranging all the sandwiches. Cut each sandwich in half diagonally and serve warm or at room temperature.