Category Archives: Sides

Aug 8 2014
pico de gallo

Pico De Gallo Recipe

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pico de galloI came up with this recipe because I was making shredded chicken tacos (just add some taco seasoning into a pan with a little bit of water and you have shredded taco ready chicken) and needed either a salsa or a pico de gallo to put on them. I decided on making a pico de gallo with the veggies I had in my fridge. One thing added, that was a nice addition, was roasted corn from an ear I didn’t end up needing from dinner the night before. I simply cut the corn off the ear and roasted in a pan to cook the corn. I also added diced cucumber which provided a refreshing crunch to the pico. It was a success in my kitchen that night, it tasted great on tacos and would be perfect with tortilla chips.

Ingredients:

  • roasted corn
  • chopped cucumber
  • chopped tomatoes
  • diced red onion
  • chopped green onion
  • seeded and chopped jalapeño pepper
  • some jalapeño seeds
  • cilantro
  • lime juice
  • salt

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients and stir! The amount of each ingredient is a matter of what taste is preferred. I personally like equal amounts of the veggies, only a few jalapeño seeds so it’s not too spicy for me, A LOT of cilantro, minimal salt, and enough lime juice to coat all the veggies in the bowl.

Enjoy!

pico de gallo

Jan 10 2014
fried pickles

Fried Pickles Recipe

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fried pickles

I love fried food. This is no surprise. My favorite fried food? Pickles, it is most definitely fried pickles, preferably in chip form.

Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup all purpose flour
  • ¼ cup corn starch
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • a few shakes of Tabasco, to taste
  • a little bit of red and black pepper
  • 2/3 cups of water
  • oil for frying

Directions:

  1. In a small sauce pan, heat oil on medium.
  2. In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Then stir in the water and Tabasco.  The batter should be thick.
  3. Coat a pickle in the batter and place it into the oil.
  4. The pickles should be fried for about 1-2 minutes. (I usually have to flip over the pickles because I don’t use a lot of oil.)
  5. Carefully remove with a slotted spoon. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt.
  6. Enjoy!
fried pickles

I also fried some cheese cubes with this batter.

fried pickles

Rusty would like a bite.

 

Apr 23 2013

Twice Baked Potato Recipe

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twice baked potato

 

Twice baked potatoes are amazing. Enough said, here’s how I make mine.

Ingredients:

  • 4 potatoes, the ones that are good for baking not the red ones
  • olive oil to taste
  • salt to taste
  • black pepper to taste
  • 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup mixed herbs
  • 1 cup cheese of your choice, I do mozzarella
  • sour cream to taste
  • butter to taste

OR

  • 4 potatoes
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 3-4 cloves of garlic minced
  • 1 cup cheese of your choice, I use cheddar
  • A lot of ranch dressing, to taste

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
  2. Scrub potatoes well, you need clean skins
  3. Pat dry with a paper towel
  4. Pierce with sharp object several times,  I use a fork
  5. Place in roasting tin or cookie sheet with a lip and drizzle with olive oil until potatoes are well coated, salt to taste
  6. Place tin on an upper shelf and roast for about 1 hour or until cooked, if you’re using a convection oven the time is about 40 minutes because it has a smaller small to heat up.
  7. While potatoes are in the oven, combine the rest of the ingredients to taste, set aside until the potatoes are done
  8. Carefully remove and cut each potato in half, lengthwise
  9. With a spoon, remove the potato flesh but be careful not to rip the skin and put into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mash until well combined
  10. Pile flesh back into the skins and return the potato halves to the roasting tin, sprinkle with cheese
  11. Return the tin to the oven for 10-15 or until the tops of the potatoes are light golden brown and cheese has melted
  12. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
  13. Enjoy!

twice baked potato

 

 

 

Mar 30 2013

Fried Caprese Salad Recipe

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fried caprese salad

Oh yes, this is another fried recipe and another caprese salad recipe combined into one, fried caprese salad. I wanted something fried and greasy but I also wanted to feel like I was attempting to be healthy. :/ So I made caprese salad and fried it. It was pretty good and satisfied my cravings but it’s not something I would make very often, just when I’m feeling the need for healthy and fattening at the same time. Does that make sense to anyone but me?

Ingredients:

  • tomato slices
  • mozzarella slices
  • fresh basil leaves
  • balsamic dressing
  • olive oil
  • bread crumbs
  • egg wash (1 egg 1/2  milk, whisked together)

Directions:

  1. In a small skillet, heat up about a tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat.
  2.  Stack the basil then mozzarella on top of a tomato slice.
  3.  Carefully pick the stack up and dunk in the egg wash.
  4. Coat in breadcrumbs.
  5.  Place in heated skillet, fry until bottom side is a golden to dark brown and flip to other side and fry.
  6. Place on plate and drizzle with balsamic dressing.
  7. Enjoy!

 

Feb 24 2013
bacon wrapped asparagus

Easy Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

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bacon wrapped asparagusBacon makes vegetables taste better. It’s just a fact. For dinner I decided to make bacon wrapped asparagus. I use my toaster oven when I make it. It’s the perfect size.

Need:

  •  2 slices of bacon
  • ~ 12 stalks of asparagus
  • olive oil
  • pepper

How to:

  1. Preheat oven to 375°
  2. snap the ends off of the stalks of asparagus
  3. coat the asparagus in olive oil, I use my Misto so I don’t put too much on them
  4. take the bacon and wrap the asparagus with it in two different spots
  5. place on broiler pan, you want something with holes because the bacon fat will be dripping down as it cooks
  6. sprinkle pepper on it to taste
  7. place it in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until bacon is cooked
  8. Enjoy!
Jan 5 2013

How to Make Sweet Potato Fries

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This really isn’t a recipe for sweet potato fries. Just a “How To” because the only ingredients I used were sweet potatoes and extra virgin olive oil. Sometimes you just really want to have something fried but don’t want to feel guilty about eating it afterwards. Maybe that’s just me; but here is an alternative to regular fries and using a fry daddy. It would be dangerous to my health, and I don’t have the counter space, to have a fryer because I love french fries and fried pickles! I’ll stick to the stove.

Sweet Potato Fries on the stove!

1. Scrub your potatoes! Veggies are pretty dirty in general, because they come from dirt and also you have no idea how many people have touched your food before you took it home. Ok rant over back to cooking.

2. I am not a big fan of skin so I peel it off. Sometimes I’ll leave a little skin on for a bit of a flavor change.

3. Chop it into fries! sweet potato fries

4. Put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet. Heat it up on medium heat. sweet potato fries

5. Put in the heated skillet. Cook it for about 10 minutes moving the fries around on a pretty constant bases until desired crispiness.

Enjoy your sweet potato fries! I like to dip mine in ranch. sweet potato fries

Dec 14 2012
ready

Simple Biscuit Recipe

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I have this biscuit recipe because my husband requires bread at all meals. He doesn’t always get it but he’d prefer to have it. Here is my simple biscuit recipe I sometimes make him because it is easy and simple to make and it doesn’t take all day to make.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 5 Tbsp butter, cut into tiny pieces
  • 2-4 Tbsp honey, depending on how sweet you want them, I normally do 3
  • 3/4 cup milk, whole, buttermilk, 2% I’ve used all and prefer whole, they all change the taste a little bit

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400° and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
  2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and butter until it’s coarse
  3. In a small bowl, combine milk and honey
  4. Pour milk mixture into flour mixture and combine until all of the ingredients are no longer dry
  5. Put dough on a flour surface and kneed for a couple of minutes
  6. Roll dough into a log a couple of inches thick
  7. from log, cut 1.5-2 inch thick biscuits and place on cookie sheet

    biscuit recipe

    cut and ready to be baked

  8. Bake for 10-12 minutes
  9. Enjoy!

 

biscuit recipe

yum!

 

Dec 5 2012
guacamole recipe

My Guacamole Recipe

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guacamole recipeOne thing I love is chips and dip, especially tortilla chips and guacamole! But I find it difficult to find good guacamole at grocery stores. One time I accidentally bought guacamole flavored dip! So it wasn’t real! It was full of randomness and things I couldn’t pronounce that didn’t need to eat. I made it a mission to make my own. Here is the guacamole recipe that I came up with, with the help of my husband. 🙂

Ingredients:

  • avocados
  • tomato, chopped and without seeds
  • onion, chopped
  • cilantro, chopped
  • juice of half of a lime
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper

Directions:

  1. Peel, remove seeds, and mash avocados in a small to medium bowl
  2. add tomato, onion, cilantro, olive oil and lime juice to avocado and mix
  3. season with salt and pepper and stir into dip

I usually do 2 large ripe avocados, if they’re still hard, it’s difficult to make dip, so go for the ones that are a bit mushy. I also use one roma tomato, half of a small red onion and a handful of cilantro before it’s chopped. But the amount of all of the ingredients completely depends on your own taste and the amount you want to make.