Mashed Potato and Rutabaga Casserole With Caramelized Onions

Ingredients:

6 cups chicken broth
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 pounds rutabagas, peeled and cubed
6 cloves garlic

1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 large onions, thinly sliced
salt and ground black pepper to taste

optional: shredded cheese (mozzarella for mild taste or maybe gruyere for a stronger taste)

Preparation:

1. Combine chicken broth, potatoes, rutabagas, garlic, bay leaf, and thyme in a large pot.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and cover partially. Simmer until vegetables are very tender, about 30 minutes. Drain.

2. Transfer vegetables to large bowl. Add 1/2 cup butter. Use an electric mixer, beat mixture until mashed but still chunky. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer mashed vegetables to a buttered 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish.

3. Melt remaining 1/4 cup butter or margarine in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced onions. Sautee until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low. Sautee until onions are tender and golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper. Spread onions evenly over mashed vegetables. Casserole can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes, or until heated through and top begins to crisp.

Jeffrey and I both agree that this recipe needs cheese, so we added mozzarella to ours.  It's pretty good, and besides the butter, very healthy.  Enjoy!

*Recipe from Howard at Dominion Harvest*

-Sarah

Shrimp Gyoza, aka Pot Stickers

I first learned of gyoza over Christmas from my sister-in-law Jenny and her husband, Alex, while they were home from China.  I tried a few from a local Chinese restaurant in Greensboro...my were they tasty! Michael then confessed they were one of his favorite foods while in China.  I knew I had to experiment on these little Chinese potstickers.  Michael and I ventured out to an Asian market here in Charleston today, and we bought a handful of authentic Chinese cuisine, including gyoza and wonton wrappers.  Here's our first take at them, and personally, I think they were delicious!  Michael agreed that they tasted "authentic." That's a great start! I bet they aren't as good as Jenny's, though. Can't wait to try hers one day!

Shrimp Gyoza/Pot Stickers

Sauce:
1/2 c soy sauce
5 tbsp white vinegar (we used rice)
4 tsp Sriracha sauce (we used 2 tsp)
2 tbsp sugar (we used 1)
1 tbsp grated, peeled fresh ginger
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

**Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

Pot Stickers:
1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 cups chopped cabbage
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 cup chopped carrot
1/2 pound ground, cooked shrimp (could use pork, beef, chicken)
1 egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 (10 ounce) package wonton wrappers
1/4 cup water

**
1.Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Mix in cabbage, onion, garlic and carrot. Cook and stir until cabbage is limp. Mix in ground pork and egg. Cook until pork is evenly brown and egg is no longer runny.


2.Preheat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

3.Place approximately 1 tablespoon of the cabbage and pork mixture in the center of each wrapper. Fold wrappers in half over filling, and seal edges with moistened fingers.

4.In the preheated vegetable oil, cook gyoza approximately 1 minute per side, until lightly browned. Place water into skillet and reduce heat. Cover and allow gyoza to steam until the water is gone.

It definitely helped to have this little wonton contraption!

 
 
*These were 2 recipes I combined in one.  One is from the January 11 Everyday Food magazine, and the other is from All Recipes.
 
Enjoy!
 
~Lynn

Not really fancy, but really good.

Comfort foods were calling my name this weekend.

For starters...corn on the cob.  Just steamed in water, drizzled with butter and sprinkled with parmesean cheese.

Homemade split-pea soup - compliments of Jay's mom.

Grilled cracked pepper mill turkey with Vermont cheddar cheese sandwich.

And for you sandwich dippers out there...this is the best.

Split pea soup recipe to come later.

Love ya ladies,

Priscilla

Crowd pleasing sliders

We just had a party to celebrate Kaelyn's baptism. I made these slider burgers and they were such a HIT!! easy and delicious with a kick....
for every one pound of ground beef (i've done this with turkey too)
add 1 chipotle in adobo sauce + 1 tablespoon of sauce
and 1 tablespoon of montreal steak seasoning (or any steak seasoning)
Mix together and then shape into mini burgers. You should get about 6-7 burgers per pound of meat. These would be great on the grill or I just use a grill pan inside because of the small size and quickness of cooking. Cook until done to your desired likeness.
In the grocery store I found chipotle cheddar cheese and a bacon cheddar cheese. I topped the burgers with half a slice of whichever you perfer (the chipotle cheese of course will make it extra spicy...but delicious!) while still on the grill to melt.
serve on the sweet hawaiian mini rolls...(in the orange package) and enjoy...I miss and love you girls... xoxo Kristen

Stat Counter

Hey Friends!  I thought it would be cool to see how many hits our blog gets every day so I installed a free stat counter.  You can see the count underneath the "followers".  If you click on it, it will take you to a website where you can sign in with our blog username and password and see how many people viewed the blog today, this week, this month, etc.  Just thought it would be fun to see!

Sarah

White Bean and Kale Soup

Ingredients:

1 onion diced

2 carrot, diced

2 ribs of celery diced

1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic minced

½ teaspoon dried ground rosemary

½ teaspoon dried thyme

1 bay leaf

½ teaspoon white pepper

1 cup white beans, soaked (or canned)*

5 cups water

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ pound kale stems and center ribs discarded and leaves chopped into bite size pieces

¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions

1. Dice onion, carrot and celery into even ½ inch pieces.
2. In a medium pot, heat oil than the onion, carrot and celery and sauté vegetables for 4- -6 min till onions are translucent.
3. Add fresh garlic and dried herbs and sauté 1 min more
4. Add beans, salt, pepper, bay leaf and 5 cups of water
5. Cover the pot and bring up to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 50-60 min till beans are tender. *If using canned beans reduce cooking time to 20 min.
6. Add ½-1 cup more water till desired consistency.
7. Add kale and simmer stirring occasionally till kale is tender 10-12 min
8. Serve soup garnished with freshly grated parmesan cheese. (optional)

*Recipe from: http://www.examiner.com/healthy-food-in-boston/hearty-white-bean-and-kale-soup-recipe

- Sarah

Baked Spaghetti and Mozzarella

Ingredients

course salt

2 cans (28 ounces each) whole peeled tomatoes

2 T olive oil

2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

3/4 lb. spaghetti

2 cups packed basil leaves, torn

3/4 lb. fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch peices

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Set a large pot of salted water to boil.  In a food processor (or blender), pulse tomatoes until coarsely chopped.  In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Cook at a rapid simmer until sauce thickens, about 12 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook pasta 5 minutes (it will still be crunchy).  Drain pasta and return to pot.  Add tomato sauce, basil, and half the mozzarella and toss to combine.  Transfer mixture to a 3-quart baking dish and top with remaining cheese.  Bake until cheese is golden and edges are bubbling, about 25 minutes.

I used whole grain pasta to add an extra bit of healthiness and had it with some salad.  It was very delicious!

*Recipe from Everyday Food Issue 75

-Sarah