Goldie's Cole Slaw

If you've ever eaten Goldie's Cole Slaw, you know that it is the best ever! As a matter fact, it is about the only coleslaw I will eat. I tried this recipe tonight. It wasn't exact (as I hear they mix some of their bread and butter pickle juice in with their's) but it was pretty darn close...it was YUMMY!!!

8 cups (one small head) cabbage, shredded or sliced thin
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup mayonnaise

Mix all together and allow to stand several hours or overnight.

Creamy Rosemary Potatoes

This is also a recipe from Ree Drummond - The Pioneer Woman. I can't help myself! I love her! But, after this one, I will be taking a break from her cookbook for a few weeks! This recipe was relatively easy and a great side for just about any meat dish. I did cut this recipe in half and it was plenty! I am listing the recipe as I made it, so adjust accordingly!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 c half-and-half

1/2 c heavy cream

2-3 medium russet potatoes

2 garlic cloves

1/2 medium onion
4 oz cream cheese

1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt, to taste

black pepper, to taste

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 -2 green onions

1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp dried chives

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom of a pan, approximately 8" x 8" size. Combine the half-and-half and the cream.

2. Slice the potatoes very thinly. I recommend using a mandoline, so that your slices will be even, but if you don't have a mandoline, a sharp knife will work fine.

3. Place the potatoes in a large bowl and drizzle with half of the half-and-half/cream mixture and set aside.

4. In a large skillet over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic and onion and cook until translucent, stirring occassionally, about 4 minutes.

5. Cut the cream cheese into cubes and add to the skillet, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the mixture is smooth and combined, about 3 minutes. Pour in remaining half-and-half/cream mixture and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper and stir. Adjust the seasonings as necessary. Add the rosemary and green onion and stir to combine. Finally, add 1/4 c of the grated Parmesan and stir. (Lots of stirring going on here!)
6. Pour the cream-soaked potatoes into the baking dish.

7. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the top. Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan over the top.

8. Bake for at least 1 hour, or until golden brown and bubbly. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes. Sprinkle with chives and serve.

Creamy One-Pot Pasta

This is another Pampered Chef recipe. I made it at a lot of my shows and it always got rave reviews. It is very versatile, so you can add and take out whatever you don't like. As always, I have modified this recipe to my preferences! The recipe makes 6-8 servings.

Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves, pressed

1 jar (7 oz) sun-dried tomatoes in oil, undrained

3 cans (14.5 oz each) chicken broth

1 lb uncooked penne pasta

2 cups broccoli (fresh or frozen)

2 medium carrots, julienned OR 2 handfuls of matchstix carrots

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Grated fresh Parmesan cheese

dried basil leaves (optional)

Steps:

1. Pour 1 Tbsp of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes into an 8-qt stock pot. Add garlic. Cook over medium heat 2-3 minutes or until garlic is golden brown, stirring occassionally.

2. Remove from heat; add broth. Return to burner; increase heat to high. Cover and bring to a boil. Add pasta; cover and simmer vigorously 8-10 minutes or until pasta is almost cooked but still firm, stirring occassionally.

3. While pasta is cooking, put broccoli and carrots in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. This starts the cooking process so that they vegetables are not crunchy. Drain the sun-dried tomatoes; pat dry and add to bowl with cooked broccoli and carrots. Here's a picture of the carrots and tomatoes that I buy. If you don't buy julienne cut tomatoes, you will need to slice them into thin strips.

4. Cut cream cheese into cubes. Add vegetables, cream cheese, salt and pepper to pasta. If you want a little spice, throw in some cayenne pepper, too! Stir until cream cheese is melted and fully incorporated.

5. Reduce heat to medium; cover and cook an additional 2-4 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Top with Parmesan cheese and basil, if desired.

6. For a heartier version of this recipe, you can add grilled turkey, Italian sausage or sliced grilled chicken breasts to pasta.

Steamed Artichokes

Artichokes are misunderstood...mostly because people don't know what to do with them! They are easy to cook and easy to eat and have TONS of health benefits! Give 'em a try!

Ingredients:

2 whole artichokes (1 per person...if you are feeding more, adjust accordingly!)
water
butter
salt

Steps:

1. I use a stock pot with a steamer insert. Fill the pan with just enough water to cover the bottom. Bring to a full boil over high heat.

2. While water is heating, trim and discard the stems and tough outer leaves of artichokes. Some people also trim the thorns, but it is not necessary. They will soften as the artichoke cooks and pose no threat to the person eating the artichoke.

3. When water is boiling, place steamer insert into pot and set artichokes in steamer, stem-side down. Cover pot with lid and allow artichokes to steam for approximately 20 minutes, until tender. They are tender when a knife is inserted easily into the stem.

How to eat the artichoke:

Pull off petals one at a time and dip into melted butter. Sprinkle a little salt on it, if desired. Place in mouth, fleshy side down and pull through teeth to remove flesh. Discard petal. I usually keep a bowl on the table for petals to be discarded in.

Continue until you get to the fuzzy part, which is called the "choke"...I stop here, but you can scrape out and discard the choke (don't eat it!) and underneath is the "heart", which can be cut into pieces and also dipped into the butter.

Try them and let me know how you like them! Feel free to comment me if you have any questions!

Shepherd's Pie

I have been looking for a good Shepherd's Pie recipe and came across this one in People Magazine, of all places! It was pretty good...my husband particularly seemed to like it. One thing I will do differently next time is the carrots. The recipe calls for a whole carrot, grated. I used the crinkle cut carrots and they didn't get cooked all the way through. So, next time, I will probably just buy the julienned carrots, or leave them out all together, because I really don't like carrots that much anyway, unless they are covered in butter and brown sugar! But that's a whole 'nother story...



Also, I halved the recipe, but am writing the recipe as is. It halved well, so feel free to do that if you have a small family, like mine.



The recipe is broken down into 2 parts...the pie and the potatoes...we'll start with the pie:




Ingredients:



1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 carrot, grated
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups beef stock or broth
3 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper, to taste
1 (10-oz) package frozen peas



Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 and lightly grease a 3-qt casserole dish.


2. Brown the beef in a large skillet over medium high heat. Drain and remove from pan. In same pan, saute carrot and onion for 4-5 minutes. Feel free to add a little butter to the pan, if needed.



3. Remove the carrots and onions and melt the butter. Whisk flour into butter...making a roux.



4. Add beef and vegetables to the roux and stir everything together. Add stock, ketchup and Worcestershire and cook for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then add peas.





4. Spoon meat mixture into casserole dish.



Okay, now for the potatoes:


Ingredients:

8 medium potatoes

1/2 to 3/4 cups milk

4 Tbsp butter

2 oz cheddar cheese, grated (see my Note About Cheese)

salt and pepper, to taste

Steps:

1. Peel and quarter potatoes and put into large saucepan. Cover with water and boil with a few teaspoons of salt for 20 minutes. OR do like I do...If you have a Large Micro Cooker from Pampered Chef, you can cook them in the microwave. Because microwave times vary, I would start at 7 minutes and go from there...they are done when you stick a fork into one and it comes apart.

2. Drain potatoes. Add 1/2 cup of milk and the butter to the potatoes. Mash together with masher or electric mixer until smooth. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of milk if necessary. Stir in the cheese and season the potatoes to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Spoon mashed potatoes into casserole dish, covering meat mixture.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the potatoes start to brown.

5. Serve immediately. Makes 8 servings.

Green Bean Bundles

I stole this recipe from my cousin, Mollie! She is the one who enticed me to start this blog, so I got to give her props! Check out her recipe blog here. I can't believe she has kept this from me for all these years!



Mollie's recipe is for serving large groups, but I wanted to try it as a side dish, so I cut the recipe in third. It was deelish and we will definitely be having it again...who wants to wait for family gatherings or office parties to have it? NOT ME!!!



Ingredients:



16 ounce cans of whole Green beans
1-2 cloves garlic, pressed
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp butter
1/3 lb. bacon (Mollie uses pepper bacon, I prefer Wright's)
Salt & pepper to taste



Steps:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut Bacon strips in half (or thirds if you use Wright's). Wrap around a bundle of green beans (3 or 4) and place seam down in a square baking dish. Bring sugar, garlic, salt & pepper to boil. Pour over beans. Cover & Bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and broil until bacon is done. Here is Mollie's pic...I stole that, too! THANKS, MOLLIE!

Fried Squash

Ingredients:

vegetable oil
1 yellow squash (feeds 2 people, adjust accordingly for more)

milk

flour

Steps:

In a large skillet, cover the bottom of skillet with oil and heat it over med-hi heat. While oil is heating, slice squash. I like to use a mandoline so the slices are even.

Place squash in a container and cover with milk. Let soak for a couple of minutes. I like to set up an assembly line like this:
In another container, put some flour. Take a few pieces of squash at a time, and dredge through flour.Once floured, lay squash to the side.
Once all squash has been floured, check the oil to see if it is hot enough. Throw a little flour on the oil...if it sizzles, it's ready!

Lay squash in oil in a single layer:

and cook until the edges start to turn brown. Then flip squash and let it cook on the other side...
Take a cookie sheet and line with paper towels. As squash finishes, remove to paper towels: