Twice Baked Potatoes

Since Bri loves potatoes, I'm always looking for a new way to make them. While twice baked potatoes take a little more time and effort, it's definitely worth it. My aunt Pat always makes these and they are delicious. You can add sour cream and chives to the top if you wish, but these potatoes are perfect just as they are.

Ingredients:

5 medium baking potatoes

2 tbl. butter or margarine

1/2 cup each cheddar and colby cheese

1/2 jar of Hormel Bacon Bits or 1/2 crumbled bacon

1 tbl. mayonaise

milk

salt and pepper to taste

Wash and dry potatoes. Pierce holes in potatoes and bake in a preheated oven at 450 for an hour. Don't wrap potatoes - put them on rack in oven. Let cool for 15 minutes. Cut a length wise slice from the top of each potatoes. Discard skin from slice. Scoop out the insides and mash. Add butter and mayo. Beat in enough milk to make a stiff consistency. Add cheese, saving a little for the topping, and bacon. Salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon mashed mixture into potato shells. Place in a baking dish. Bake in a 425 oven for 20-25 minutes or till lightly browned. Place cheese on top of potatoes, sprinkle with paprika. Bake 2-3 minutes longer or just until cheese melts.

**Please note in the picture above, I left the potatoes in too long at the end so the cheese browned. I was at cooking club, there was wine and an appetizer. What potatoes?

Spinach Orchiette Soup

Our soup days are coming to an end, although you wouldn't know it by the weather we had this weekend. It's almost April and it feels like January. I can't take it anymore. 7 weeks and counting until we're in sunny Mexico though, basking in the sun and drinking frozen concoctions that will make me forget about this never ending miserable winter we've had in New England.

This healthy soup is a cinche to throw together and you can freeze in serving size portions. It's a Cooking Light recipe that was given to me by Stacey (founder of the SSCC)!

Ingredients:

1 cup water
3 (10.5 oz) cans chicken broth (or vegetable)
1.5 cups uncooked orecchiette (I used Campanelle pasta)
1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed (or use fresh spinach)
1 cup chopped seeded tomato
3 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp salt
1 large egg
2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Bring water and broth to a boil in a large Dutch oven. Add pasta and spinach; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until pasta is tender. Stir in tomato.

Combine 3 T parmesan cheese, pepper, salt and egg; stir well with a whisk. Slowly drizzle egg mixture into simmering soup, and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with parmesan cheese (to taste). Serve immediately.

Asparagus Risotto

This has been an interesting week to say the least. I'm rarely speechless but this week I am. When you think you know someone and the suddenly find out you really just never know what goes on behind closed doors, it rocks you to your core. So before you start worrying about me, it's not the husband or any of our family members thank goodness. I'll leave it there....

So what I have been able to do this week is eat. Usually when life gets a little chaotic, food becomes my best friend. Sad, I know, but I'd venture to say a lot of people deal with this same problem. If anyone knows me, I've got an obsessive behavior. I made this asparagus risotto on Monday night and I've been dreaming about it ever since. If I had any left overs, I was going to bring it to cooking club on Tuesday, but I was selfish and wanted to hoard the leftovers in the back of the fridge all for myself. It was that good. I found the recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, http://www.elise.com/. I made one change, only because I didn't have shallots on hand, but other than that followed the recipe. It was a creamy delicious meal that just felt good going down. Very comforting.

Although I will warn you, risotto is not the easiest meal to make. It's not a meal you can make while trying to multi task. You must constantly stir to make sure the rice doesn't burn or stick to the bottom of the pan. And there's no real measurement for how much chicken stock to use. You just have to keep tasting the risotto to make sure the consistency is right. If there's to much stock or it's overcooked, it can become a startchy bowl of mush. It's supposed to be a little firm to the bite. Even though this is a little more work that regular rice, it's completely worth it and you'll be happy you tried it. You might even become obsessed like me.

Ingredients:

1 pound asparagus
3 Tbsp plus 1 teaspoon butter
1/2 cup chopped shallots (i used yellow onion since I didn't have any shallots)
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine (or 1 Tbsp lemon juice and 1/4 cup water)
About 3 1/2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock for vegetarian option), can substitute some of the asparagus cooking water for stock
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

1. Prepare the asparagus by breaking off discarding the tough ends (about the last inch of the spear). Cut into 1 to 1 1/2-inch pieces (tips longer, base shorter). If your asparagus are especially large, cut into even smaller (bite-size) pieces. Bring a saucepan with a quart of water to a boil. Blanch the asparagus pieces for 2 minutes. At the end of two minutes, use a slotted spoon to remove the asparagus pieces to an ice water bath to shock the asparagus into a vibrant green color and to stop the cooking. Drain from the ice water bath and set aside.

2. In a 3 or 4 quart saucepan, heat 3 Tbsp butter on medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for a few minutes until translucent. Add the rice and cook for 2 minutes more, stirring until nicely coated.

3. While the shallots are cooking, bring the stock to a simmer in a saucepan.

4. Add the wine. Slowly stir, allowing the rice to absorb the wine. Once the wine is almost completely absorbed, add 1/2 cup of stock to the rice. Continue to stir until the liquid is almost completely absorbed, adding more stock in 1/2 cup increments. Stir often to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking and stirring rice, adding a little bit of broth at a time, cooking and stirring until it is absorbed, until the rice is tender, but still firm to the bite, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

5. Gently stir in the Parmesan cheese, the remaining 1 teaspoon butter, and the asparagus. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Sweet Potato Chips/Fries

I'm not sure what to call these tasty treats - they don't have the crunchiness of a chip but they aren't shaped like a fry either. Anywho - I just kinda made up this recipe. Brian isn't sold yet - he still isn't a huge fan of the sweet potato but it's a healthy alternative to the regular potatoes I usually make so he'll have to get used to it. We're going to Mexico in less than two months and this mama needs to lose some lbs. - stat!

Ingredients

2 sweet potatoes

1 tbls of evoo

rosemary

kosher salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel potatoes and sclice them about 1/4 inch thick. Toss potatoes with the remaining ingredients until well coated. Place on a cookie sheet and cook until they slightly brown - about 25-30 minutes.

Asparagus

Again, apologies for the lack of posts but recently life and a lack of appetite has been getting in the way of cooking! Not much new to report here - most of you may know that Brian's niece was recently diagnosed with osteosarcoma. Prayers and positive energy would be appreciated. She's such a trooper and I'm amazed at her strength and courage.

This is a quick and easy recipe that one of the SSCC gals (shout out to Jenn) passed on to me! It's one of our favorites!

1 bunch fresh asparagus
butter
salt
pepper

Melt butter in a fry pan. Add asparagus, season with fresh ground pepper and salt to taste. Fry to desired crispness (or keep it soft, depending on your taste). Serve immediately

The House Salad

I make a salad pretty much every night of the week not because I don't know what else to make but because I love salads. But not any type of salad, I love my salad, or should I say my Nana's salad. And it's so simple and fresh. I'm kind of a snob when it comes to salad, I don't do bottled dressings and I don't like salad from a bag. I mean I'll eat it if someone else is serving it but I can taste the difference. My salad spinner gets more use than any other tool in my kitchen - although my microplane grater is a close second. There are a couple basics about salad.

1) Don't reach for the bagged lettuce - sure it will save you some time but you'll definitely sacrfice in flavor. My favorite lettuce is red leaf, romaine being my second choice. The only lettuce I'll buy bagged is spinach. And you'll never see a head of iceburg lettuce in my house!

2) Toss those bottled salad dressing - I hate pretty much any bottled salad dressing. I normally just use red wine vinegar and olive oil, or at least start with this as a base and build from there by adding shallots, garlic, lemon, etc.

3) Red onions - I don't eat red onions and neither does Brian. But they're essential to the flavor of the salad. Once my salad is washed, I'll put the lettuce in the bowl with a couple slivers of red onions and let it sit for a couple minutes before I dress the salad!

4) Sea salt - not regular salt, not kosher salt, SEA salt is a must. Not much, just a little to give it that extra flavor. I have been known to use Crazy Janes salt, which is basically sea salt with additional herbs.

5) Toppings - typically the O'Neil house salad has one topping, FETA CHEESE. When Brian is not looking I'll put goat cheese in there instead to spice it up. But really there are tons of things you can add to this salad - my favorties being avacados and home made croutons.

6) The bowl - it really does matter what bowl you serve your salad in. It might sound crazy but my salad tastes different depending on what bowl I use. The typical salad bowl I use is shallow, which allows the dressing to be evenly distributed, instead of all running to the bottom of the bowl.

I warned you I was a salad snob.

Stuffed Peppers

I'm trying my hardest to reduce the amount of meat Brian and I consume, but let me tell you, it's hard. Brian is very much a meat and potatoes type of guy - and me, well I'm a carb lover. Now that the winter months are coming to an end (hey, a girl can hope, right?) those bikini and speedo days are in sight. So we're back on the wagon, the diet wagon that is.

This stuffed pepper recipe is very versatile. You can add chicken, ground turkey or no meat at all. You can add any type of cheese, feta, goat or mozzarella. I've adapted this creation from a recipe I found on allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:
2 cup water
1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
2 green bell peppers, halved and seeded
2 red bell peppers, halved and seeded
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 can of diced tomatoes
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.

In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Stir in the rice. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.

Place the peppers cut-side down on the prepared baking sheet. Roast 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until tender and skin starts to brown.

While the peppers are roasting, heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the onions, basil, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper in oil for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, and cook for 5 minutes. Spoon in the cooked rice and cooked chicken, and stir until heated through. Remove from heat, mix in the feta cheese, and spoon the mixture into the pepper halves.

Return to the oven for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Garlic Green Beans

I was reviewing the recipes I've posted and noticed that I've yet to post any veggie recipes. It's not because we don't eat them, it's just because during the week I mostly serve a salad as our veggie. My taste buds have changed over the years. When I was younger I wouldn't eat any veggies. I blame my mother mostly for this because she would always say "Nikki, eat your vegetables, it'll put hair on your chest." I was scared that I would literally start growing hair on my chest. And to top it off, being Italian, hair was a sore subject for me since I pretty much had to start shaving when I was in the 3rd grade! So to all those moms out there - don't tell your little girl she'll become a hairy beast if she eats her vegetables.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb of green beans trimmed

1 tbs minced shallots

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 tsp of olive oil

Salt to taste

Cook green beans in boiling water for about 5-6 minutes. Drain beans and either dump the beans in cold water or just run cold water over them to stop them from continuing to cook. In a pan, sautee garlic and shallots in the olive oil until fragrant - about 1 minute. Transfer cooked beans into the pan and sautee for about 3 minutes. Add salt (kosher salt or sea salt) to taste.

Dill Mashed Potato Casserole

Please God let this week go by quickly. Saturday night I'm celebrating my b-day with my girlfriends. They are coming to my house for what should be a night full of sparkly headbands and blow up instruments. I'm anxiously awaiting my big gift, but I don't want to say anything until it happens. Check back on Monday to see if my dream and Brian's nightmare has come true.

In the mean time, here's a great recipe for mashed potatoes. What's so great about this recipe is you can make them ahead of time and chuck them in the oven to re-heat. Most mashed potatoes taste like crap if you don't eat them right away. This recipe was given to me by my sister in law, Suzie, and it's now an O'Neil staple. I've tweaked it just a smidge.

Ingredients:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup sour cream
3 lbs. potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
Dill

Mix together cream cheese, garlic salt, pepper, and sour cream until smooth; set aside. Prepare and boil potatoes, drain and using an electric mixer beat potatoes until smooth. Add a small amount (1/4 cup) milk and sprinkle of salt to potatoes to help soften them. Next add sour cream mixture and continue beating until fluffy and smooth, then add 1 teaspoon dill. Spoon potato mixture into a buttered shallow 3 quart casserole dish and dot with butter and sprinkle with dill. Bake covered in a 400* oven for 25 minutes and then uncover and bake for 10 more minutes.

Mexican Rice

TGIF! I'm so psyched the weekend is finally here. No big plans, just doing some errands, dinner with friends, watch the Pats on Sunday, which is my kind of weekend. This week I went to see Spamalot for the second time and I'll also be going next week. I know, a little obsessive, but the show is THAT good. Even if you don't love Broadway, this is a show you just have to see, which is why I'm dragging Brian to see it with me next week. I've been listening to the soundtrack all week. Brian pleads with me to turn it off because he wants the show to be a surprise. I just think he's sick of me singing every single words to every song. If they ever need an understudy for Lady of the Lake, I think I might just be that person they are looking for.

Now onto the food....this is a recipe I made up and it's so easy. Instead of using boxed rice try making your own. There's no need for all of those preservatives and sodium. I usually serve this when I make Mexican but really you can have it with just about anything. I find the key to great rice is using chicken broth instead of water.

Ingredients:
2 cups of chicken broth or water
1 cup of white rice
1 tbs of olive oil
1 can of dice tomatoes (regular or Rotel)
1/2 cup of tomatoe sauce
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro
Lime (optional)

In a saucepan saute the rice with the olive oil over medium high heat. Stir rice so that it's evenly coated with the oil and does not burn. Once rice is golden brown, about 5 minutes, pour in water, tomatoes, tomatoe sauce. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and cover. Cook rice for 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle cilantro and maybe about a tbs of lime into the cooked rice and stir.

The Best Darn Oven Roasted Taters

So I'm not sure how long this blog is going to last. Rewind to last night. I rush home from work anxious to start whipping up dinner so I can snap some pictures to post to the blog. All is well except from our outside deck Brian peers into our kitchen window to catch me taking pictures of potatoes. Not only does he scare the bejesus out of me, I feel sheepishly embarrassed because he's caught me red handed and looks at me like "why the eff are you taking pictures of potatoes." Now mind you, I casually mentioned this new hobby to him on the train ride home a couple days ago. I'm pretty sure he thought it was a good idea, but did not say much, which is normal for him. I guess he did not realize that pictures would come along with the recipes I posted. So after he caught me I continued to snap away, feeling more comfortable with what I was doing. Dinner was ready but I still wasn't satisfied with the potatoes shots. I'm still getting the hang of this and trying to figure out my new camera. I could feel him rolling his eyes and getting impatient, so I figured I should probably quit while I was ahead, therefore this picture will have to do.

So here's the recipes for my favorite oven roasted potatoes:

Ingredients:
6-8 red potatoes cut in cubes
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 tbs of Italian seasoning
1 tsp of kosher salt
3 cloves of garlic minced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, oil, seasoning, salt and minced garlic. Toss the cubed potatoes in the dressing. Spray non stick spray on a baking sheet. With a slated spoon, spoon potatoes evenly on the baking sheet. Cook for about 40 minutes or until they are golden brown. Put cooked potatoes back into the mixing bowl with the reserved dressing and toss.

Enjoy!