Twice Baked Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

A few weeks ago I had twice baked stuffed potatoes at my friend C's house. They were delicious, I could have ate at least 4 of them. The other night I wanted to recreate the recipe, but this time using the vitamin laden sweet potato.

More Lemon

I am going through some major with drawl. My apartment still isn't fixed yet, and I haven't been behind a stove in over a week. I'm itching to get back to cooking. I did find some pictures today on my camera from a dinner I made last week before the power problems. (Which someone is coming to look at tomorrow).

I should scratch that last paragraph. I am currently typing this with Intervention playing in the background on television, and I am nowhere near an addict.

New start:

The power to my kitchen is still out. I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how I can make an actual hot meal using only outlets, without the use of my stove, oven or microwave. Being the idiot that I am, I didn't even think to use The Wife until I got home tonight, which is kind of late notice to put a meal together in a slow cooker. I do miss being able to cook though, and I am getting tired of take out. The only reason why I have a post to put up is that I found some pictures on my camera today from a meal I made last week. (I believe this is the one that was being made at the time the power started going wonky)

When I was at my friend C's parents' place on New Year's Eve, the topic of conversation led to food. Someone brought up my blog and some of the dinners that I had been making and someone asked me why I would want to put so much effort into a dinner that only I will enjoy. I'm not sure what I had answered with, but it would have been along the lines of why wouldn't I?

I have to eat every night, so I might as well enjoy my meals. I did admit though, that sometimes trying to cook for one with recipes that are made to serve four or more can be a pain in the ass.

This is when C's mom pulled out a couple of magazines with recipes designed to serve two people. This is perfect for me since I like to make enough food in one meal to serve me twice, once at dinner and once the next day for lunch.

One of the recipes was Lemon Sirloin with Feta Tabbouleh.
Tabbouleh is a Mediterranean salad that consists of bulgur, vegetables, and herbs. I have never worked with bulgur before but from the picture in the magazine I knew it would be similar to couscous or quinoa. The bulgur grains are slightly bigger than couscous, which I liked. The salad is incredibly healthy, it's loaded with vegetables and the oil used in it is the heart-healthy olive oil. The only unhealthy item is the feta, and I did use a bit more than what the recipe called for. Because I love feta. I could eat it straight out of the container.

The only issue I had with this recipe was due to my lack of experience with a grill pan. My aunt had called me a couple weeks ago. She was at Canadian Tire and they had a sale on KitchenAid grill pans, and she wanted to know if I wanted one. As soon as she mentioned "70 % off" I said yes, without even asking what color it was. (It was red by the way, so obviously I was meant to have this pan)

I didn't heat the pan up slowly, and I also didn't let it get hot enough before placing the steaks on. This will explain why there are no grill marks on the steak. Also why you don't see much of the steak in the picture, it isn't very pretty looking. The lemons look beautiful which is why the picture is even getting posted.

Overall, I loved this dish. I don't normally think to pair lemon with red meat, and I think they make a great pair. The tabbouleh was incredibly tasty and I can see it making a regular appearance at my table.

Skins

The New Year has inspired me to make some changes. I even made some resolutions this year. Number one on my list was to complain less. The classic "go to the gym more" is on my list too. I can already see this is not going to happen. Maybe my resolution should be to find out when my contract runs out and cancel the gym membership. Boom! Roasted. I also resolved to blog more.

I am making one change on the blog. Right now the title to each post is a song title, and while I still like this idea it's hard to tell from the title which food is involved in the post. I want to make it a bit easier to navigate through older posts.

A while ago I stumbled onto a blog, The Pioneer Woman. The Pioneer Woman, or Ree Drummond, was a city girl who fell in love with a cattle rancher and started a blog about transitioning from a city girl to a country girl. She recently released a cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. When I heard about this book coming out, I immediately put it on my Chapters wish list. I had flipped through it a couple times, but as Christmas was nearing I couldn't justify spending money on myself. I did buy the book for my friend C. The book sat on my kitchen table, tempting me to open it. Since it was her Christmas present, I didn't feel right about flipping through it and reading it before giving it to her. Temptation proved to be too much, and I did read it. And I loved it. So I kept that copy and bought her a brand new one.

What I love about this cookbook is that the recipes are so simple. My friend C is married to a very picky eater, and when I buy her cookbooks I always try to find ones with things I think her husband would eat too. When she flipped through the cookbook after opening it, she did confirm my belief that her husband would love many of the recipes as well.

On New Year's Day, I took a day for myself. I spent the entire day lounging, reading, and watching more Moonlighting. I was also going to make use of my new cookbook and make some of her appetizer recipes for snacks.

The first thing I made was her Pico de Gallo. Pico de Gallo is a mix of tomatoes, onion, jalapenos, cilantro and lime juice. I'm posting the link to her recipe and I recommend that you click on it. She gives step-by-step instructions, as well as a picture for every instruction. (This is also something I love about the book, she gives step by step pictures) I used a little less cilantro than she does (mainly because I don't really like it), and a bit more lime juice (because I love it), though not enough lime juice to kill the flavor of the onion and tomato. I really liked the Pico de Gallo, it was really refreshing, and it makes a great healthy snack. Not only can you use it for tortilla chips, you can also use it to top tacos, fajitas, grilled chicken or fish. I think I might try it with seared scallops sometime.

Her guacamole was next on my snack list. It's very simple, you mash up some avocados and add some Pico de Gallo to it. I liked this guacamole, but it was not nearly as good as the other guacamole I have posted before.

Get the recipes HERE

I am really sorry this picture is so grainy, I tried everything I could to make this better, but this was the best I could do. However, if you listened to me and clicked the link, you will see her beautiful pictures there.

The next thing I made was her potato skins. I can't find a link on her site for the recipe, and I found another blogger who made them but she wrote SOY BACON WOULD BE A GOOD SUBSTITUTE FOR BACON. A clear sign that the blogger is deranged and I will not link to anything that would make that kind of a comment. My soul weeps for humanity.

Pioneer Woman's Potato Skins

Ingredients:

8 russet potatoes

8 slices bacon (NO SOY!!)

canola oil

salt

1.5 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1 cup sour cream

4 sliced green onions

The instructions in my words:

1) preheat oven to 400 F. Scrub and dry the potatoes, and then bake them for 45 min to an hour, until fork tender

1a) chop the bacon and fry it in a pan. Ree fried the bacon in whole strips and then chopped it later, but I don't think it makes a difference either way

2) when potatoes have cooled a little, cut them in half and scoop out the inner flesh, leaving a small margin of potato. You are making potato canoes, but you want to leave enough potato that the canoe is sturdy and it still technically a potato skin without being just the skin.

3) brush both sides of the potatoes with canola oil and salt them.

4) place the skins flesh side down on a baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes.

5) flip them over and bake 7 minutes more, or until skin is crispy.

6) divide the cheese and bacon into each skin and bake again just until the cheese melts.

7) place a dollop of sour cream into each and top with green onion.

I burnt the bacon by accident, but even with burnt bacon these potato skins were so delicious!

Note: with the leftover potato flesh that was scooped out you can mix in some cheddar cheese, green onion, bacon and form it into a cake of sorts. Heat up some butter and oil in a skillet and place the cake in the skillet. When that side has browned, flip the cake onto a plate. Heat up a bit more oil and butter and slide the cake into the skillet, browned side up. This is my version of a rosti, so that you don't waste the potato flesh. Top with sour cream.

I had every intention of actually making the rosti, but I didn't get around to it, so I don't have a picture. It is a good way to use up any leftover ingredients from the skins.

Two Pina Coladas

I absolutely love the smell of coconut. I remember a friend of mine had the best smelling body spray. She bought it for a couple bucks at the drug store, but since she bought that one we have never been able to find it again. There is nothing that tops the smell of a really good pina colada, except the taste of a really good pina colada.

Bacardi sells these delicious blended drink mixes in the grocery store freezers. I remember loving them so much when my dad would make them for us kids. (Without the rum). When I was rooming with my second roommate, we would makes these (with rum) only our blender was so awful it had to be "drank" with a spoon because the ice chunks wouldn't make it through the straw. When this roommate of mine was visiting me recently we had a supper of pina coladas, lobster tails, risotto and roasted pineapple.

Rebekah's Baked Lobster Tails

1) if you bought frozen lobster tails, thaw them out by placing them in a sink filled with cold water. This will take some time.

2) once the tails are thawed cut the tails in half lengthwise

3) take a piece of foil and fold up all four sides so it's like a square bowl. Place the tail inside with the exposed meat facing up.

4) place tabs of butter on top of the meat and sprinkle some lemon pepper seasoning on top

5) close up the tin foil so it's a pouch and no lobster is exposed

6) place in an oven @ 350 F until the lobster meat is opaque, about 7-10 minutes


The lobster has been placed on a bed of risotto. Risotto is one of my favorite things. (I have a lot of favorite things). The problem with risotto is it can be so time consuming. And it's not like you can start making it and then go off and do something else, you have to be attentive. Risotto is high maintenance.

Microwave risotto is not high maintenance, and yet it yields great results.

Tante's Microwave Risotto:

Ingredients: 1 cup arborio rice

3 cups BOILING chicken stock

1/2 or 1/3 cup chopped white onion

2 tbs butter

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

grated Parmesan cheese

(this will serve four small portions, so you can up the amount however you like the basic rule of thumb is 3 parts stock to 1 part rice)

1) in a large microwavable dish heat the butter and oil for 1 minute

2) stir in the onion and heat for another minute

3) stir in the rice and heat for a minute (keep the onion and rice glossy with the oil and butter, dry rice might burn, if you need to add more oil so all the grains are shiny)

4) add the boiling stock. If you do not heat up the stock first, it will not be absorbed. heat for 8 minutes

5) stir, and heat for another 8 minutes

6) add some grated Parmesan. 1/2 cup should work, but feel free to add more. Stir. Crack black pepper over it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When I say add pepper to any recipe, I always mean fresh ground pepper. I NEVER mean "restaurant pepper".

This is so delicious. I could eat the whole thing for dinner. The risotto is creamy, and rich and so simple.

Roasted Pineapple

I took the whole pineapple and sliced of the top. Then I sliced the peel off in strips, using my knife. I cut the pineapple into slices and cut out the harder core in the center.

I topped it with some brown sugar and butter. I had some butter sitting on the cutting board from when I was making the lobster, and I couldn't let it go to waste.

Place the rings on a baking sheet and heat at 400 F to 425 F for 15 minutes or so. The pineapple should be soft, and the butter and sugar should be melted.

The pina coladas were easy. Take a can of Bacardi's frozen Pina Colada Mix and squeeze it into the blender. Add 2 cans of ice, and a half can of rum (if using, the drink is still very very good without any alcohol). Blend. Pour into a glass. Add a straw and some leftover sliced pineapple.

The Bacardi frozen mixers taste way better than the syrup that is sold in the grocery stores. It is worth the extra money. They also sell lime mix and strawberry mix for daiquiris and margaritas.

(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight

I think I am going to have to make my next week a light week. Most of this past week has been laden in sugar, butter, and all things delicious. I'm a firm believer in "all things in moderation, including moderation", yet there hasn't been much moderation at all lately.

Before I start attempting a "light week", I will finish off "slowly blocking off my arteries" week.

The vegetable for my supper tonight was beets, roasted beets. I stick whole beets in a baking sheet with about an inch of water @ 375 F. The beets I was using were on the large side so it took about an hour for them to be fork tender. Count on 40 minutes for small beets, 60 minutes for medium to medium large beets, and 80 minutes for the money beets.

Those of you who watch the Office might remember Dwight talking about money beets when he said "First rule in roadside beet sales, put the most attractive beets on top. The ones that make you pull the car over and go, 'Wow. I need this beet right now.' Those are the money beets"

After the beets are fork tender, let them cool for about ten minutes so they are cool enough to handle. Then peel and quarter them. Use a paring knife to aid in peeling. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, and season with salt and pepper.

For my meat part of dinner, I made my all time favorite pan-fried New York strip loin. The recipe is from Everyday Food. I take a skillet and on med-high I heat up enough extra virgin olive oil to cover the bottom of the skillet. Season the steak with salt and pepper on both sides. Place in the pan for 3 minutes, flip and cook for another 3. This will make a medium rare steak. (And really that's the only way to eat it). Remove the steak from the skillet and place under foil for 5 minutes. In the pan pour 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, and a 1/4 cup Dijon mustard. Pour the sauce over the steak after its 5 minutes resting period. (Cut into the steak before it rests and you are really doing yourself a big disservice)

Wow. I'm not going to lie, I will eat this sauce with a spoon. It is that good. Then again, I am an addict.
The final part of my meal was ravioli with a brown butter balsamic sauce. Yes, everything had balsamic in it, I did just admit I was an addict!

Cook the ravioli according to its package directions (I would use cheese ravioli as a meat one might overwhelm the very simple sauce). Meanwhile heat 6 tbs of butter in a saucepan, until the foam has subsided and the butter has turned a golden amber color. Remove from the heat and let cool for 1 minute. Add 2 tbs of balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper. When the pasta is done, drain it, and toss with the sauce. Top with Parmesan cheese.

I forgot to add Parmesan though. The pasta was very delicious and I imagine if I had added the Parmesan it would have even been better.

Blaze of Glory

For us Canadians, it was Thanksgiving this past weekend. Which means for a good portion of us... turkey dinners with family. I was fortunate enough to attend two family dinners. One with my immediate family and some friends, and the other with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

The dinner with my immediate family was the most eventful for sure. To start with, one of my sisters and I were in charge of making the vegetable sides for dinner. For every turkey dinner (Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving) since we have been given the veggie task, we have made carrots and peas.

The carrots are pretty standard. Boil until soft, drain, and serve with margarine and a bit of sugar on top.

The peas, however, we jazz up a bit. Start off by browning some bacon in a large pan. When the bacon is brown, remove it from the pan and set on some paper towel. Add chopped red onion to the bacon fat in the pan and saute until soft. Add a bag of frozen peas (remove from the bag first!) and if you are making these for a turkey dinner add a ladle full of the turkey gravy. When the peas are heated through, add the bacon, and stir to combine.

After dinner, two of my sisters and I played Rook with our dad. If you haven't played Rook, it's a card game using Rook cards, not a standard deck of cards. My mom and our family friends had retired to the basement to watch some TV, leaving my parent's living room unattended. Partway through our card game that was being played in the kitchen, my dad says "What's burning?"

I go out to the living room, and see that my mom's coffee table is covered in flames. One of her centerpieces had gotten too close to the candles, and the whole table was now on fire. Luckily my one sister and I are quick thinkers in a bad situation, and we quickly blew the fire out. To quote Michael Scott "I saved a life today-my own. Am I a hero? I really can't say...but yes". Sadly I only have pictures of the after burn, and not of the actual fire.

All in all it was a great day... I am ending with this picture of the turkey. It struck me as funny.