Avocado

There is a day approaching that I am trying to avoid.  It will be one year since my Grandpa Power left us, and I am really not sure what day he died, but I know it's approaching.  I kind of don't want to know.

What I do know is that while slicing into a perfectly ripe avocado, I realized how many fun memories of my Grandpa revolve around food.  As un-gourmet as it sounds, there is nothing like a ripe avocado crudely mashed onto a toasted piece of wheat toast and sprinkled with Bob's Big Boy seasoning.  It instantly makes me thinks of mornings in my grandpa's kitchen watching him stir wheat germ into his water.

Year before last Gpa gave me 10 bottles of the stuff kind of as a joke.  I didn't think of it until recently, but I think maybe, just maybe he bought it in the hopes that it would keep a fond memory alive for me.  It surely has.

Red Potato Salad-sans mayo

Red potatoes before roasting

Rustic Red Potato Salad

Ingredients

• 5lbs red potatoes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• herbs de Provence
• chopped shallots
• chopped garlic

Directions

Preheat oven to 400.  Chop potatoes into quarters and add to large bowl.  Add olive oil and then season with the spices I suggested or use your own favorite.  Bake for 20 minutes, then sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, bake for an additional 10 minutes or until potatoes look caramelized.  Let cool and then add a bit more balsamic and olive oil about 4 TSP each.

Adding a bit of mayonnaise to this makes it creamy and tossing in a bit of bacon makes it awesome!!

I Can (almost) Die Now

Eric Ripert replied to my Tweet. 

What's For Dinner

I've had a vision of Asian Pork Tacos for a few weeks now and have yet to really pull it off.  I tried it in the crockpot and it was delish, but not really what I wanted.  I pictured something a little crispy, a little sweet and a little salty. My husband brought up his love for Teriyaki pork chops, so that's what I made tonight.  I let them marinade over night in a homemade marinade of soy, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, cilantro and orange juice.  I BBQ'd them on low for about 5 minutes on each side.  Then after a mandatory rest on the counter, I sliced into the thin chops and was wowed!  My husband was right!  They are fab. I made them with my fave slaw.  Here's the recipe:

Crunchy Asian Slaw

Ingredients

• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 1 cup broccoli slaw
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 2 radishes, jullianed
• TSP fresh cilantro

   For the dressing:

• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 4 tsp oyster sauce or soy sauce
• fresh grated garlic and ginger to taste

Directions
For the dressing, simply combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with whisk.  Add cabbage, broccoli, carrots, radishes to the dressing and mix well.  Top with cilantro.  Goes great with a few honey roasted peanuts or crispy chow mein noodles.

TCD

Do I know the way to my man's heart or what?  Turkey chili dogs, while so simple and quick are one of my most fave disgusting food addictions.  I don't meant that it's really disgusting, it's just something that you could eat all the time and live with yourself.  When I was in my early 20's I mainly ate beer, vodka and other assorted spirits sandwiches and Top Ramen and the occasional TCD-turkey chili dog.  So last night when I just really didn't feel like cooking, I made him one, and he was happy!  I was too.  It made me feel 20 again. (Not really.)

What's one of your fave disgusting food addictions? 

Uh oh!

Whoops!  I was trying to get fancy with my blog and I ended up changing it entirely!  I will be finalizing my changes soon, and have some fun things on the horizon, including a give-away and some delish new recipes.  I hope you'll be back to check out it soon.

Cheeseballs

I recently had the pleasure of helping a dear friend with the food for a baby shower. One of the hits of the party was a very simple let delicious cheese ball recipe. Ours were more like cheese mountains, as we molded them in small souffle cups. Here's the recipe for all you die hard cheeseballers!

Cheeseballs/Cheese mountains

• 1 package non-fat cream cheese
• about 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• about 1/2 cup of finely diced Armour Dried Beef

Bon appetite!