Pots & Plots

In the category of things that make you go mmmmmmmmmmmm, I present to you, my mother-in-law’s sausage dip–lightened up, of course.  This pairs great with homemade tortilla chips or, as my husband prefers, Fritos Scoops.  With sausage and cheese, what’s not to love?  Your favorite carnivore will thank you

.Ingredients:

• 1 lb turkey sausage (original recipe calls for pork, but I slashed the fat by 74%)
• 1lb Velveeta cut into 1/2 ” cubes (I used 2% Velveeta, cutting more fat)
• 1 7 oz can of mushrooms, drained (I have yet to make this with fresh mushrooms.  If you try it, let me know how it turns out)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes and chiles
• skim milk

Directions:

1. Brown the sausage over medium high heat.
2. Drain and rinse cooked sausage to get rid of any extra grease.
3. In a 2 quart microwave safe dish (think Corningware), add the cubed Velveeta, the sausage, the undrained can of tomatoes and chiles and the mushrooms.  Add a splash of milk (This really depends on how thick or thin you like your dip.  I suggest starting with a splash and adding more as you get it melted.)
4. Microwave in 1-2 minute increments, stirring well after each session in the nuker.
5. It’s finished when all the cheese is melted and everything stirs together smoothly.
6. Reheats well.

You could also make this dip in a small crock pot, though I’ve never tried that either (don’t have a small crock pot).  This is great for a party.  We make it every Super Bowl.

Potatoes are an inexpensive, low-fat food. Forget low-carbing it. As far as I’m concerned, a life without potatoes is just…sad. We wind up having this dish at least twice a week. It’s a serious family favorite.

Ingredients:

• any type of thin-skinned potato (I normally use either red potatoes or Yukon golds)
• olive oil
• kosher salt
• coarse ground pepper
• paprika
• garlic powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450
2. Scrub potatoes clean
3. Dice potatoes into approximately quarter inch chunks and toss into a bowl
4. Drizzle with olive oil (don’t overdo it–you just want enough to coat them)
5. Give the potatoes a good stir to coat with the oil
6. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder
7. Give them another good stir to coat with seasonings. Add more seasonings as necessary to fully coat.
8. Spray a pyrex baking dish with cooking spray (you can use a metal pan, but I find they stick more to that)
9. Bake for 35 minutes, until potatoes are golden brown.
10. You’ll want to let them cool a few minutes before trying to remove from the baking dish, so they unstick themselves.

I always make extra of these, as they go wonderfully with scrambled eggs in the morning. You can pair them with almost anything. It’s a very versatile, flavorful dish. You can change up the spices as much as you wish. The constants are salt, pepper, and olive oil. I’ve used herbes de Provence, Italian seasoning, Cajun seasoning, and Greek seasoning to good effect. But this particular combination is my favorite.

I know, I know…it’s been ages since I updated. It’s not that I haven’t been cooking–I just haven’t made anything new or interesting enough that I felt it merited posting about it!

But I made a happy discovery recently. Sometime last year, I got into the notion of buying corn tortillas (one of those packs of 100 for like $4) and making my own chips–because I could both control the level of fat and it’s a WHOLE LOT cheaper! I tried several methods and recipes with varying levels of success and then just stopped trying. I kept having chips come out either too hard, or a little chewy, or overdone. And I really just got annoyed at having to flip them halfway through so that they cooked evenly.

Then it occurred to me that if I applied the same method I use for my oven fries (and I should post those here too, as they are a family favorite), I probably wouldn’t have to turn them. So I took out my big baking sheet and layered the whole thing with my wire cooling racks, baking the chips so they were suspended. And voila! Perfect chips! They come out crispy and firm (think Tostitos Gold) and GREAT for dips.

Ingredients:

• 8″ corn tortillas
• cooking spray
• kosher salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Spray one side of each tortilla and stack up (I usually do 5 at a time, as that’s all that will fit on my baking sheet).
3. Take a knife or pizza cutter and slice the stack into quarters or sixths.
4. Lay out the chips, sprayed side down on the cooling racks on your baking sheet.
5. Spray the top with cooking spray.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes (will vary from oven to oven, but they should come out golden brown around the edges).
7. Layout on a kitchen towel or paper towels to cool and sprinkle with salt or other spices as preferred.

This was a recipe born of needing to use stuff up before we leave on vacation. I had 2 roma tomatoes and a going to stale baguette, which isn’t quite enough to make bruschetta for more than one. So I decided to toss in roasted red peppers (which hubby will eat) and some of my favorite goat cheese.

Ingredients:

• roma tomatoes (I used 2 but I was making a very small batch)
• roasted red peppers (approximately the same quantity as the tomatoes)
• 1 tsp oil from a jar of sun dried tomatoes
• goat cheese
• basil (5-6 leaves, finely chopped–fresh is best, but dried if that’s not available)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• splash of balsamic vinegar (or more if you prefer)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 baguette

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Slice baguette on the diagonal, approximately 1/2 inch thick slices
3. Parboil the tomatoes for 1 minute to loosen the skin.
4. Using a sharp knife, remove the skin, then seed the tomato, also removing the stem portion.
5. Finely dice the tomatoes.
6. Finely dice approximately the same amount of roasted red peppers (this will vary depending on how many tomatoes you use!)
7. Peel and finely mince the garlic
8. Add tomatoes, red peppers, garlic, olive oil, oil from the sun dried tomatoes, the basil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper to a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
9. Arrange baguette slices on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. You may have to do this in batches.
10. Bake slices 5-6 minutes or until they just start to turn golden brown
11. Arrange bread on serving platter olive oil side up and top with bruschetta and crumbled goat cheese.

I got this recipe from my mother in law who got it, I think, from Southern Living. It’s so simple and surprisingly delicious. A fantastic accompaniment to, well frankly, any kind of meat other than fish. It’s particularly yummy served with beef or chicken.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium to large Vidalia or other sweet onions. You can also use white onions, but the sweet are better.
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 2 Tbsp margarine

1. Cut the top and bottom off of each onion and remove papery skin.
2. Using a paring knife, cut a little hole in the top of each onion, large enough to fit a bouillon cube.
3. Slip a bouillon cube in each onion and place 1 Tbsp of margarine over the top of each. You may substitute a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil instead of the margarine.
4. Set the onions in a microwave safe dish and cover.
5. Microwave on high for 8-10 minutes (8 for medium onions, 10 for large ones).

Voila! You’ll have a delicious and tender side dish.