Category: CASSEROLES & SIDES

Paula’s Smashed Potato Pancakes

I had blueberry pancakes, the other day, and they were delicious which brought me to thinking of making June, pancake month at Cooking with Chaya.  Everyone loves pancakes and there are so many variations on the simple pancake.
I am starting with Paula Deen’s Smashed Potato Pancakes.
Smashed Potato Cake Paula Deen About 14 cakes
6 cups cubed (1-inch) Yukon gold potatoes
1/2 cups panko, divided I used about one cup of corn meal
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar
1/2 cup cooked and crumbled bacon not kosher
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup butter was not necessary for us
1/4 cup sour cream
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Method:
In a large pot, combine potatoes and add water to cover.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat, and simmer 10 to 12 minutes, or until tender.
Drain well and mash.
In a large bowl, combine potatoes, cornmeal, egg, cheese, onion, butter, sour cream, garlic, salt, and pepper.
Form potatoes into 3-inch patties; dredge in remaining panko.
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.
Add potato patties, and cook, 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until brown and crisp.
Serve immediately.

CRAB LOUIE with OOMPH!


I bolded the OOMPH ingredients that are
different from my day to day recipe.

CRAB SALAD & HOMEMADE 1000 ISLAND DRESSING
CRAB SALAD
8 ounces Louis Kemp Crab, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/3 cup minced green onion
salt and pepper
mayo (about 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon Frank’s Red Hot Pepper Sauce
Romaine lettuce
Roma tomatoes, sliced
Snap peas, halved
pickled beets, sliced
hard boiled eggs, sliced

  • Wash lettuce, peas and tomatoes. Arrange on plate. Salt and pepper.
  • Mix crab, celery, onion, hot sauce, salt and pepper together until well blended using enough mayonnaise for desired consistency.
  • Place a large scoop of crab salad over the romaine mix.
  • Serve over chopped romaine lettuce, sliced tomatoes and snap peas.
  • Top with dressing.

1000 ISLAND DRESSING
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
1 heaping tablespoon minced red onion
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

  • In a mini blender blend all ingredients to desired consistency.
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Pizza Casserole: Lovin’ From The Oven

This recipe was originally meant for the slow cooker, but after making it, I realized it would have been a lot easier to simply bake it.  Any crock pot recipe that isn’t easy, that makes you cook two or three things separately, just shouldn’t be a crock pot recipe in my opinion. So that being said, the pictures you are about to see take place in a slow cooker.   You will have to use your imagination.  (Tamy, this would look great in your new white roaster!)

Pizza Casserole: 
1 package egg noodles, cooked
1 1/2 pounds ground beef (a combo of beef and pork would be great)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 small can mushrooms
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
+ your favorite pizza toppings (1 cup ham or pepperoni, green peppers, black olives, etc)
3 cups each shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese (I added some Provolone, too)
Cook the hamburger with the onion.  Combine the meat with the spaghetti sauce, mushrooms, and Italian seasoning. 

For Crockpot: Spray crock with PAM.  Layer the meat sauce, then noodles then pizza toppings then cheese three times.  This completely filled my large crock pot.  Cook on low 3-4 hours.
For Oven: Spray a very large casserole or maybe two 9 X 13 pans with PAM and layer 2 or 3 times like you would in the Crockpot.  Cover with foil and bake 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until cheese is melted and all is heated through.  (Note: you could eat one and freeze one before you baked it)

MEXICAN BEEF TORTILLA CASSEROLE



BEFORE BAKING~~~~~AFTER BAKING

MEXICAN BEEF TORTILLA CASSEROLE
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
4 ounce can diced green chiles, drained
1 cup milk
1 can cream of celery soup
2 cups grated jack and cheddar cheese mix
Tortilla chips

  • Saute’ beef and onion until well browned. Drain off fat.
  • In a saucepan over a medium heat combine soup, chiles, tomatoes, cheese and milk until well blended, cheese is melted and mixture starts to bubble.
  • Spray a 9×9 baking dish with PURE.
  • Loosely layer tortilla chips in bottom of casserole.
  • Top with meat mixture.
  • Pour cheese mixture over meat mixture.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

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Spicy Chipotle Shrimp Over Sweet Corn Cakes

Welcome to Simple Saturday!

I’ve been participating in a challenge this month, do you think you could eat on a Dollar a Day? (Check out the link for details). I’ve been doing the challenge but with an unfair advantage – I allowed myself to use anything I already had on hand. It’s turned out to be more of an “eat from the pantry and freezer month” than anything else so far.

Here is last night’s yummy, frugal and very simple recipe. It was definitely the Meal of the Week!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_WPbjJzRqviA/S7-qngfQFUI/AAAAAAAAGzI/8kg8KfIKdok/s1600/chipotle+shrimp+corn+cakes.jpg

Chipotle Shrimp – 1 pound of shrimp marinated overnight in bottled chipotle sauce (with one teaspoon of cornstarch added). Put shrimp and marinade in large, deep skillet, add a can of diced tomatoes. Simmer on low, stirring occasionally while preparing corn cakes.

Corn Cakes – 2 boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix, 2/3 cup milk, 2 eggs, one can of sweet creamed corn and 1/2 can regular sweet corn. Mix and prepare just as you would pancakes.

Spoon shrimp and sauce over corn cakes and serve with fruit smoothies. Trust me, it’s a perfect combo, it was delicious – except for the fact that I used shrimp I had in the freezer that had been cleaned and shelled, but it didn’t occur to me that it still had the tails on until dinner was ready. Be sure to take the tails off if you try this, duh!

We have two birthdays at Our Krazy Kitchen this week – be sure to stop by to wish our Tuesday host Min and our Wednesday host Chaya a Happy Birthday!

Have a great weekend 🙂

THE ULTIMATE COMFORT MAC & CHEESE

This started as a recipe I saw in a magazine, but has metamorphosed into a new family favorite that in no way resembles the original germ of an idea.

You start with crispy bacon.
And super sharp cheddar cheese to add to the creamy roux.

Add some pasta.
Then you add more cheese and bacon.
Toss in some ruby red tomatoes for good measure.
Bake it until it’s ooey, gooey, creamy and Enjoy!

COMFORT MAC & CHEESE
12 slices bacon, crisp (retain fat)
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
16 ounces macaroni medium shells
1 small red onion, chopped
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
3 cups shredded super sharp cheddar cheese
Enough slices of cheese to randomly cover top of casserole
4 medium firm hot house tomatoes, chopped

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Chop tomato and onion, set aside.
  • Grate cheese, set aside.
  • Prepare pasta al dente, about 8 minutes in boiling water. Drain well.
  • Fry bacon until crisp, set aside to cool. I use my griddle so I can catch ALL the fat!
  • Transfer bacon grease to skillet and saute’ onion. Using a slotted spoon remove onion and add butter.
  • When butter is melted add flour and make a roux.
  • Gradually add heavy cream and water, stirring to incorporate to a smooth consistency. Cook over medium heat until thickens. Add salt and pepper, adjusting to taste.
  • Crumble 8 strips of bacon, set aside. Crumble the other 4 slices, set aside for topping.
  • Add cheese and stir constantly until well blended.
  • In a large bowl toss onion, tomato and 8 slices crumbled bacon with pasta.
  • Pour cheese sauce over and blend well.
  • Pour into a greased casserole dish.
  • Top randomly with cheese slices and remaining crumbled bacon.
  • Bake 10 minutes until bubbly.
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KICKING POTATO SALAD

We are in that moving mode again and I’m developing recipes based on the ingredients on hand. On the flip side our niece & hubby are coming for a BBQ this weekend and we really wanted some potato salad so I threw together what we had and voile’ we have a new recipe!

NOT YOUR MOTHER’S POTATO SALAD
2-3 pounds potatoes, washed well
6 eggs, hard boiled
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 +/- cup Bob’s Bleu Cheese dressing
1 1/2 teaspoon Frank’s red pepper sauce
1/3 cup sweet pickle relish
2 tablespoons orange champagne vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
paprika for garnish








  • Hard boil eggs. Cool and set aside.
  • Boil potatoes in salted water until tender. Cool and set aside.
  • Drain pickle relish in sieve for 10 minutes to remove excess juice.
  • Mix together the bleu cheese dressing, hot sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper, onions and garlic until well blended. You may or may not need to add more dressing to reach the desired consistency.
  • Grate the hard boil eggs into the bowl and toss well.
  • Grate 1/2 of the potatoes into the bowl and toss until well blended.
  • Chop remaining potatoes into bite size pieces and fold into mixture.
  • Chill well.
  • Top with paprika garnish before serving.

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FRIJOLE CHILI

What do you do with leftover refried beans? Make chili of course. One of the things I have done for many years is menu plan. Nothing, and I mean nothing goes to waste around this house! I made this recipe a few years ago to use up some leftovers and it quickly became our favorite alternative chili.

FRIJOLE CHILI
1/2 batch refried beans *
2 pounds ground beef
1 medium Vidalia onion, chopped
2 cans Rotel original tomatoes with chiles
2 cups beef broth (2 tablespoons Better than beef bouillon + 2 cups hot water
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper

  • Brown ground beef and onion. Drain fat.
  • In a large sauce pan, combine remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer.
  • Add ground beef and onions. Heat through.
  • Top with a dollop of sour cream and shredded cheese.

*you can substitute 1 can of refried beans if you prefer

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JELL-O TRICKS


I think most everyone knows this trick by now, but it always amazes me how much better it makes a bowl of Jell-O so I thought it was worth mentioning again. Around our house we always put canned fruit (peaches or pears usually) in the Jell-O for a little bit of extra UMPH! When you drain those canned fruits, use a sieve and drain them into the measuring cup for the cold water first. Then just add enough water to bring the level to where you need it. I usually get about 1 1/4 cup of fruit juice. Doing this will make for a better, more substantial flavor to any Jell-O. Just after I pour in the Jell-o I use a small salad fork to stir up the fruit in each bowl. The fruit is usually well distributed in the Jell-O. We also don’t like the film that forms on the top. And I hated trying to stack all the bowls in the refrigerator, so I started using my Pampered Chef prep bowls for making Jell-O. Once you’ve made it, put the lids on and you can easily stack them in the frig. If I keep this made, we both tend to eat this at night when the munchies strike and stay away from the chips and ice cream.
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Simple Saturday – Hasselback Potatoes

Welcome to Simple Saturday!

Today I have a fun simple side for you …

Hasselback Potatoes

Scrub baking potatoes

Stick metal skewers through the bottoms lengthwise
(so you won’t accidentally cut all the way through the potato)

Cut thin slices all the way along the potatoes

Rub with olive oil

Slather tops with butter, minced garlic, and parsley
(I don’t think the original version had garlic – I’m Italian, everything has garlic!)

Bake just as you would a baked potato

Wouldn’t these look pretty next to a nice steak and some greens?
Eat and enjoy!

Visit me over at Seaside Simplicity for more simple recipes.

Have a great weekend!

POTATO PANCAKES

3+ cups peeled, grated & squeezed* potatoes
1 large bunch green onions, minced or 1 small Vidalia onion, minced
1/2 cup self rising flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons butter, melted

  • Sift together the flour, salt and pepper.
  • Whisk together the buttermilk, egg and butter until smooth.
  • Whisk in the flour mixture until well blended.
  • Fold in the potatoes and onions.
  • Drop onto hot griddle and make your pancakes.
  • Serve with applesauce and sour cream or with the Sauerbraten gravy.

*I use a flour cloth towel as my base. I grate the potatoes on top of it and then bring all the corners together like a knapsack wrapping the potatoes inside. I continue to tighten the turns until I squeezed all the moisture from the potatoes.
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