Potato Cakes

Potato cakes... this is one of my favorite foods but because they are fried I do not make them too often. But when I do... I am a happy girl. These are one of the foods that Wade was very confused about when we first got married. A couple of others were: Ham and Beans, big pots of fresh green beans w/ ham and potatoes, grits, fried zucchini, meatloaf, sweet tea, wilted lettuce... I could go on and on... You know, all those good dishes from the south! He now loves all of the above but being from the north, they were a little odd to him. The first time I tried to make potato cakes for him he swore he would not try them. Looking back, he said he had envisioned putting syrup on them like you would pancakes. No wonder he thought they would be gross!! Once I explain that you salt them and even put ketchup on them, he was more game to try them. He likes them now!! Potato cakes are also a great way to use up leftovers!!
You need:
2 cups cold leftover mashed potatoes
1 large or 2 med eggs
3/4 c. flour
1 teas garlic salt
1 teas pepper
oil for frying

Mix everything together but the oil. Heat oil about 1/2 inch thick. Make sure your oil is hot but not too hot. If you put a pinch of flour in the oil and it is bubbling, it is ready. If it sinks... your oil is not hot enough. You want to maintain that temp. Smoking oil is not ok and potatoes absorb favors. If the oil gets too hot your cakes will have a burnt taste. I drop the batter by spoon fulls to make smaller cakes. I always use a cookie scoop. The oil should bubble nicely around them. Once you see air bubble pop up in the center of your cakes OR you can see the edges brown, flip them over. They usually cook a couple of min on each side. When done, drain them on a baker's drain rack. Paper towels hold oil in your food. If your oil is the right temp, you drain your food properly, and use the right kind of oil, frying is not always that bad. Salt the cakes and enjoy.

**Note** Good oils can include canola, peanut, and olive oil. Olive oil is very healthy for you but has a low smoke point and a strong flavor. So olive oil is never good to use to fry. Canola has a very light flavor and is cheaper that peanut, so I use it more often. But NOTHING can beat peanut oil in my opinion. So for potato cakes I would use canola or peanut oil.

Swiss Steak

This is one of my mom's fav recipes of mine. I serve it with pasta or usually rice. It is very easy and yummy. You can even start this before you leave for work and let it cook this in a crock pot. It is great to have for company. It is easy to make and cheap. You can make smaller or larger amounts. I will give the recipe to feed four...or so...

3-4 lbs of round steak
1 c. flour
1/2 T. garlic salt
1/4 T. pepper
1 jar of basil tomato spaghetti sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes (I like petite diced), drained
1 yellow pepper, julienne
1 onion, julienne
1 T. Italian seasoning
1/2 - 1 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
Oil for browning

First mix flour, garlic salt, and pepper. Cut the round steak into steak serving sizes. Coat each piece with flour mixture and drop into a hot pan of oil. Just cook the meat until brown. It does not have to be done. When brown, drop it into a crock pot or large baking pan. In a bowl mix the remaining ingredients. Pour over the meat. Cook in a crock pot for 4 ( but it can cook up to 8) on low or bake covered at 325 for 90 mins or until meat fails apart. The meat will be able to cut with a fork when done. Enjoy.

Poppy Seed Chicken

I laugh every time I say the word chicken. Sarala talks about chickens a lot but she calls them "Kickens." So when I think of kichens... I smile.

This is one of my favorite meal. I have also not found a person who does not love it. This is a great to fix when people come over. It can also be healthy. I use reduced fat or nonfat products for this recipe but my grandma always used dark meat chicken and regular ingredients. I am going to list the recipes for the more healthy one but you can sub in as you would like.

1 Bag of boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 cans of cream of chicken soup- reduced fat
1 can of cream of mushroom soup- reduced fat
1 container sour cream -reduced fat
1/2 stick butter-melted
2 rolls reduced fat ritz crackers- crushed
2 T. poppy seeds (and really you do not HAVE to use the poppy seeds.. I have made it w/o)
1/2 T. garlic pepper

I first boil the chicken brst (remember to reserve 1/2 cup of liquid from boiling). Once they are cooked, I cut them into chunks and throw them in a bowl. I mix the chicken with the soups, sour cream, and garlic pepper. You then dump the chicken mixture into a pan (13x9, foil throw away, anything that is big enough). In another bowl you take 1/2 cup of the chicken broth you made when boiling the chicken, the butter, poppy seeds, and crushed ritz crackers. Mix that up and dump it in the chicken. Bake at 350 for about 45 mins. It should brown and be bubbly. I ususally serve this with a simple salad or green beans... It will be a hit. And.. if you know non mushroom lovers... you cannot really tell they are there.

Healthy Yummy Chili

Yes, I know it is a little hot outside but Wade and I love chili. We just crank the A/C and eat chili whenever. We both like very lean chili. This is the recipe that I always follow and we enjoy it every time. This is something you can throw on in the morning and let it cook in a roaster or crock pot.

2 lbs stew meat
1 lb ground turkey
2 cans diced tomatoes (you can use plain, chili ready, or w/ onions)
2 drained cans of dark kidney beans
1 can of chili beans in chili sauce
1/2 onion-chopped
1 green pepper-chopped (optional)
1 T. chili powder
1 T. garlic pepper (my fav is the Sav-a-lot brand)
1 T. taco seasoning
1 T. cumin
Salt- this one you will have to feel out. Salt is an enhancer. I usually do not add salt in the beginning. The is salt in some of the above seasonings. After it is hot and cooking for a while or even up to 15 min before you eat, I taste the chili. If the flavors are not blending, I add a pinch of salt. You do not want it too salty because if you use crackers, corn chips, or cheese... these also add salt.


I first brown the ground turkey and then dump it into the crock-pot / roaster. To save on dishes, I next brown the stew meat. While I am cooking the meat I add all my other ingredients to the pot. Once everything in in the pot, I give it a stir and let it cook. It need to cook a while so that the stew meat will be tender. The cooking times are:

crock pot- high to start (like while you are getting ready for work, up to an hour) and then low for at least 4 hours.
roaster- 350 for at least 2 1/2 - 3 hours.
Stove top in soup pot- high until boiling point, med low for 2 hour.

Enjoy

Lazy Salsa

I LOVE fresh salsa but I hate to cut tomatoes. Of all the different things you can do when you cook... cutting tomatoes is what I dislikehg the most. I also only really enjoy fresh tomatoes that you get out of the garden. I do not buy tomatoes from the store very often and when I do, I am picky and stick to grape or roma tomatoes. So here is my quick (a.k.a lazy) salsa.

2 cans petite diced tomatoes drained really well
1/2 chopped red onion
1/4 of a chopped jalapeno (NO SEEDS... that is the heat)
1 chopped yellow or orange pepper
1 T minced garlic
1 bunch of cilantro chopped
The juice from 2 limes
1/2 T salt

Mix everything together. Let sit for 2-3 hours, then taste. If the flavor do not blend well, you may need more salt. Salt is a favor enhancer. You can add more or less of any of the above ingredients. I love fresh salsa with baked lays scoops or pita chips.... If you are feeling froggie, you could even use fresh tomatoes... I like salsa made from grape tomatoes the best!

Good Ol' Chicken Wings

So... usually I make many wings around Super Bowl time. Wade and I are wing eaters. At our wedding we had like 7 different kinds of wings. I know that may sound like a weird wedding food but... it was us. Anyone who knows Wade and I (and especially when we were dating) also knows that we stay pretty true to just being us. Wade was the one who changed out of his tux and into a Bovine City steak eating contest shirt right after picture and before we walking into the reception as husband and wife. Because it was VERY hot, all the grooms men did have my permission to change but I was a little surprise that Wade had a steak eating shirt on... but that is him. One thing that I can always say about Wade is that he is always himself, never fake or tries to act or be a certain way for someone else. But back to the wings.... This is my favorite hot wing recipe... it sounds complex and messy... but you will get the hang of it. They are always a favorite. Now... I will warn that they are not the healthliest but.... they will be yummy....

You first mix:

2 cups flour, 1 teas of each garlic, salt, paprika, black pepper.

I always put my raw wings in a bowl. I mix up 3 eggs and pour it over the wings. I just kinda toss the wings around to get them all eggy. I then dip each one in the flour mixture and drop them into hot oil for frying (I use canola but peanut oil is the best). You can tell in the oil is ready for frying by dropping in a pinch of the flour. If it sinks... not ready. If it bubbles, it is ready to go. Smoking oil is not good. You do not need to worry about cooking the wings all the way through because we will be cooking them again. You just fry them until they have that nice golden fried chicken look to them. Once you pull them out of the oil, I drain them on a plate with a paper towel. I then dip then in my hot sauce mixture. The hot sauce mixture is:

2 cups frank red hot wing sauce
1 stick REAL butter (anything but real butter will make it greasy)
1 teas garlic salt
The juice from 2 limes

After you dunk them I lay them single layers in a 13x9 sprayed with Pam. I then bake them at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Summertime is Grill'n Time (summer burgers)

In the summer I grill 75% of the time. I enjoy the smoky flavor plus it does not heat up the house. My favorite thing to cook up for a crowd is my... well they don't really have a name... Wade calls them the "burgers with the stuff in them" They are super easy and add a kick to your burgers.

This makes 6-8 burgers.

You will need:

3lb of hamburger
1 sleeve of ritz crackers, crushed
1 large egg
1/4-1/2 red pepper chopped fine
1/4-1/2 cup fine chopped onion
2 T. Montreal Steak Seasoning
1 T. minced garlic
1 slice of provolone cheese per hamburger or BBQ sauce

Mix all but the cheese (or BBQ sauce) together. Make patties. It is hard to tell you and estimated grilling time. It depends on so many heat factors. One key to a juicy burger, of any kind, is to flip it only once. Constantly flipping our pressing on the burger with dry it out (although these burgers are a little harder to dry out). You can see the sides of the burger starting to cook. This is a sign that you are close to flipping. I also cover my grill with the lid often so I can trap some of the heat and smoke. Once you flip it over and allow the burger to cook a bit longer, you can tell how done the burger is by pressing lightly (to hard will cause the juices to run out) on the top. The more give, the more rare. You can feel the density gain as it cooks. Once close to done lay a slice of cheese on each burger. Cover with the lid. This will smoke / melt the cheese. It is also good to not use the cheese and top it will BBQ sauce. I brush them with BBQ right after I flip them... You are all done. Enjoy.