Better Than Numero Cinco - Chicken Enchiladas

What's your favorite ethnic food?  I like Italian and Greek, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese food, but I LOVE Mexican or Tex-Mex food.  It is my favorite.  All of the flavors speak to me somewhere deep in my soul, a primal place.  Perhaps I once lived in Mexico or the deep Southwest in another life.  It's really hard to say.  I just know from the moment I tasted Mexican food, I was hooked.

I had cooked those two whole chickens the other night when I made the chicken, broccoli super yummy casserole and I had a lot of chicken left.  Today was a busy day as I had my appointment for my visual field test and more pictures of my optic nerves.  In addition, our daughter had called and asked if we could watch our grandson for a bit while she got her hair done.  You know, there is nothing more important than a hair appointment, especially when you are 39 weeks pregnant!!  All you ladies will understand that!  So, we went over to play with little G while momma got her "hair did."  Then, off to the opthalmologist's office to finish up this year's eye examination and tests.  

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, sunny with clear blue skies.  People downtown were walking around in shorts and flip flops on February 2.  Talk about a great day!  Wow.  After we left the doctor's office, I told Dan that I thought we should have chicken enchiladas for supper.  I mean, come on - corn tortillas, chicken, cheese and green chiles in a beautiful bechamel sauce.  What could be better on such a gorgeous day?  So, we made a quick stop at the grocery before heading home to begin preparations for a delicious dinner.  Sunny days always make me want to cook something super good.  But then again, so do rainy days and cold days and every day I guess.  Who doesn't want good food to eat?  

I have made this recipe before and it is excellent.  I found it on where?  You guessed it - Pinterest - the world's greatest resource for all things yummy.  Here is what you will need.

Ingredients:

10-12 corn tortillas

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

3 cups shredded jack cheese 

3 Tbsp butter

3 Tbsp flour (or 1.5 tsp corn starch for gluten free)

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup sour cream

1 4 oz can diced green chiles

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 casserole with cooking spray.  

Mix chicken and 1 cup cheese in a bowl.  Roll up in tortillas and place in casserole dish.  

Here is a hint for your corn tortillas to keep them from breaking when rolling.  Make sure they are new tortillas.  Older ones break easier.  Heat a skillet and brush with cooking oil.  Heat a tortilla on each side for just a few seconds, dip in bechamel sauce, fill down the middle with chicken/cheese mixture, roll and place in casserole dish seam side down.   Not overfilling the tortillas also helps keep them from breaking.  If they do break, don't be alarmed.  You are going to cover them with sauce and cheese and no one will ever really know.

Making Bechamel sauce:

In a fairly deep saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the flour or corn starch, cooking for 1 min.  Add the chicken broth and whisk until smooth.  Heat over medium until thick and bubbly.  Stir in sour cream and whole can of chiles.  Do not boil!  Remove pan from heat when you add the sour cream or your sour cream can curdle.  (This is the sauce you will dip your tortillas in before filling.)

Line the casserole with filled tortillas.  I had 12 in mine - two rows with 5 across and two across the bottom.     Pour the sauce over the enchiladas.  Top with 2 cups of shredded jack cheese.  Bake for 22 minutes and then broil for 2 - 3 minutes to brown the cheese.  Remove from the oven.  

This is a really easy and delicious recipe for all you enchilada lovers out there.  Be sure and use corn tortillas for authentic enchiladas.  Flour tortillas will tend to get gummy in the sauce anyway.  I served these enchiladas with black beans, rice and home made guacamole and chips.  Better than what we get at the local Mexican restaurant and way less expensive because we have left overs for tomorrow and fed 5 people this evening!  Wahoo!  

You can expect this recipe to feed 4 to  6 people easily if everyone eats two enchiladas and up to 12 if everyone has just one as they are very filling and oh so good!  I can tell you this, it's hard to eat just one, so make a double batch if you are expecting a crowd.

Give this recipe a try the next time you want something that is not too spicy, but very very tasty.  It's a great way to use left over chicken or you can even use one of the rotisserie chickens from the grocery.  This recipe can be made gluten free by substituting 1.5 tsp of corn starch for the flour in the bechamel sauce which I have done.  Talk about a great recipe to serve for a super bowl party this weekend!  Everyone will be talking about them and how good they are.  They will all want the recipe.

Tomorrow, I'm going to show you how to make super Mexican rice to complement your enchiladas - as good or better than they serve at your local restaurant!  It will even have that beautiful color they get and you always wonder how they do it.  It will no longer be a secret.  Now, how is that for temping you to come back tomorrow?

Everyday Donna

Things to remember:

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating." -- Luciano Pavarotti

This Is For You Corrie - Strawberry Banana Muffins

What is it about a nice warm muffin that is so comforting?  They are good for breakfast, lunch or dinner and even as a snack - especially with a big glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee.  Sit down, prop your feet up, peel that paper back and enjoy every morsel.  Mm Mm Mm  What does Starbucks and most coffee shops tempt you with but a case full of muffins in different flavor varieties.  If they have streusel topping, they are even more tempting.  Here is a recipe you can easily make for way less than Starbucks charges and they are twice as good because they are made with love.

Our grandsons are muffin lovers, probably even more than cupcakes.  The really great thing is you don't need a plate and a fork to eat them.  Even better.  Therefore, I try to bake them often so they have some to munch on when they are here.  Last night, I baked these strawberry banana muffins for dinner and they were terrific with the chicken, broccoli casserole that I wrote about yesterday.  Here is what you will need.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 large)
1 cup chopped strawberries
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Line muffin tin with papers  (makes 12)

Melt butter and let cool to room temperature.  Stir together eggs, mashed bananas and vanilla. (I mash my bananas with a potato masher or you can use a fork.)  Add cooled butter to this mixture.

Sift dry ingredients together.  Add berries to the dry ingredients and mix, making sure all the berries are coated well.  This will keep them from sinking to the bottom of the muffins when baking.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients until just combined.  Add 1/4 cup milk.  I used a fork, don't over mix.  It will make your muffins tough.  This batter is pretty dense, so don't be alarmed.

Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full.  I used a heaping 1/4 cup measure to fill mine, or you could use an ice cream scoop.  Bake 18 - 20 minutes at 400 or until nice and brown on top.  Remove from oven and enjoy!!


Dan and I had a muffin for breakfast this morning and they were maybe a little better than they were for dinner last night - if that is possible.  Yum.  Yum.

If you want to make some memories with your children, let them help when you are doing simple baking projects like muffins.  They will really appreciate what goes into the process and will be so proud to have contributed to the final product.  Nothing like a muffin made with love.  Enjoy!

Everyday Donna

Things to remember:

One of my proudest moments from childhood was the cake I baked from scratch when I was 9 years old.  My grandmother helped me and it was crooked as can be, but the best cake I ever ate.  One of the best memories ever.  Led to a lifetime love of baking.♥

Chicken, Broccoli, Rice, Cheese Casserole - Broccolicious Good!

Nashville is experiencing beautiful weather that is giving me a really bad case of spring fever. It makes me want to redecorate my house, or maybe just give it a good cleaning.  I want to put away my winter clothes and break out my sandals.  Oh yes, I love sandals and I really hate closed shoes.  But, I know this is just nature's way of teasing us, making us think it is spring.  There is going to be more cold weather, you can bet on it.  I just hope the trees and shrubs don't freeze their little buds off.

We spent today running around doing errands, enjoying every moment of this glorious day.  Our daughter is due to give us another grandson around February 14, and we spent time buying some baby boy things today.  Even though she has a 23 month old son and he had lots of stuff, every baby deserves a few new things just for them don't  you think?  Besides, Grandma and Pawpaw like to shop for the grandsons.  It is so much fun.  You can get so wrapped up in looking at all the amazing things they have for babies these days.  There are so many wonderfully handy things that I wish had been available  when our children were little, but we survived.  Sure wish I had thought up a few of them though.

It was mid afternoon by the time we returned, and there were those inevitable chores to do. You know, the ones the elves never come and do.  They are always waiting for you when you get home.  When the sun shines so brightly in the windows, you can see how icky the kitchen floor is along with the windows and everything else.  Ugh.  I opened the refrigerator to check out what I could make for dinner and decided that it needed cleaning before I did another thing!  It was just one of those moments when one thing led to another.  I tossed out some things that were past their prime and said thank you for coming,then  wiped down all the shelves and drawers.  That felt good.  One thing accomplished.  Now the floor was demanding attention, so I mopped it.  Awesome.   Another accomplishment.  Whew.  Still, what to fix for dinner.

There were two whole chickens in the fridge that needed to either be cooked or frozen before they passed their prime.  I decided to cook them.  I got out the 12 quart stock pot, put the chickens in, filled it with water and let them cook until done.  Guess that meant something with chicken for dinner.  Don't you hate when it's always your decision what to fix for dinner?  Anyway, I decided some kind of casserole since I now had a huge bowl of chicken I had picked off the bones.  Broccoli sounded good.  Cheese always sounds good.  So, I fixed a really, really delicious chicken, broccoli, rice and cheese casserole that has a wonderful home made cheese sauce and is topped with crushed Ritz crackers that gives the casserole that "what is that" flavor.  Oh, and strawberry banana muffins.  Yeah, they are fantastic.  That will be tomorrow's post.  I love when I am ahead of that curve ball, because tomorrow is our volunteer day at a local non-profit organization we support.  We sure are busy for retired people.

Anyway, here is what you need for this fantastic casserole.

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh broccoli, cut into florets and steamed for 2 minutes.  (I also cut thin slices of the stems about half way down and used those too)
3 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup minute rice
1 8 oz block cheddar cheese, grated and divided in half

Sauce:

1/3 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup cornstarch, dissolved in 1/2 cup cold water
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 cups milk
1/2 of the  grated cheddar cheese

Topping:

1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed (not too fine)
1/2 stick butter, melted

Directions:

Grease a 9x13 casserole or baking pan.  Place the steamed broccoli on the bottom of the casserole.  Cover with the chicken,  sprinkle the cup of dry rice over the casserole and cover it with 1/2 the grated cheese.

Make the sauce:

Melt 1/3 stick of butter (5 tbsp) in a heavy sauce pan.  Combine the cornstarch and cold water and stir until dissolved making a slurry.  Add the cornstarch slurry to the melted butter.  Add 1/3 cup chicken broth, seasonings and 2 cups milk.  Cook until sauce starts to thicken.  Turn heat to low and add the other half of the grated cheddar cheese.  Stir until completely melted.  Pour over the broccoli, chicken, rice and grated cheese in the casserole dish.

Topping:

Crush one sleeve of Ritz crackers in a large zip lock bag. I used my rolling pin.   Don't crush too fine, you want some bigger pieces.  Melt 1/2 stick of butter in the microwave and pour over the crumbs which you have placed in a bowl.  Sprinkle topping over casserole.

Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes until bubbly.  Remove from oven and serve.

The buttery Ritz cracker topping gives a wonderful crispy crunch to the goodness of the chicken, broccoli and rice in the casserole.  The home made cheese sauce is so much better than any canned soup you can use.  It is delicious and easy!  For us, it is "just right" as Goldilocks would say.  Feel free to add more cheese if you like things cheesier.  Also, you can add another sleeve of crushed Ritz crackers and another 1/2 stick of butter if you like really thick topping.  It's up to you.

This recipe reheats beautifully.  So, if you need something "make ahead" for any occasion,  this is the casserole for you.  You can add a salad, maybe some strawberry banana muffins and you are all set.  Dinner is served.

I am happy that I have plenty to reheat tomorrow night so I don't have to come home from a day of volunteering and cook.  Yippee!  Hope you give this casserole a try.  It is broccolicious good!

Everyday Donna

Things to remember:

It's spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!  ~Mark Twain

Mmmmmm, Strawberry Cake

I know this is not the best picture ever, but this is one of the best cakes ever.  First of all, it's pink.  Second of all, it's delicious.  What's not to love about delicious pink cake?  It's so eye appealing and kids LOVE pink cake. (Adults do too)  Actually, it is a strawberry cake and the recipe has been around forever and a day.  My mother in love used to make this cake  when our kids were all little and the oldest is approaching the big 4-0. That gives you a little idea how long this recipe has been around.  My niece, Betsy, always wanted strawberry cake for her birthday and Mawmaw (as they all called my mother in love) lovingly baked her one every time she asked.  It was a family favorite.

We were having a family lunch yesterday and I decided to make pink cake for everyone - especially for the grandsons.  Grandma loves making things for the grandsons and I am never sure who does and doesn't like strawberries, or any other food item on any given day for that matter, so I called it pink cake.  All the boys devoured it and I am sure there is probably at least one who doesn't like strawberries.  Sometimes grandma has to be sneaky, if you know what I mean.

You can see in the picture that the icing is running down the cake.  The cake was still warm when I iced it because I was in a hurry.  I am not a lover of mounds of icing on a cake.  I hate when you buy a bakery cake or cupcake and there is as much or more icing than there is cake.  It's just not my favorite, so I usually make icings more like a glaze.  If you want a thicker icing, you will just add more powdered sugar to the recipe.   This recipe is a little different than the one Mawmaw usually made, but hers was always delicious, just like this one.  I have been using this recipe for years.


Here is what you need for this cake:

1 box white cake mix
1 small box strawberry jello
3 level Tbsp flour
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup frozen strawberries (sliced)
4 eggs


Strawberry glaze:

1 stick butter, room temperature
powdered sugar (I don't measure, sorry - but I will tell you "how")
4 or 5 whole frozen strawberries
any juice remaining in the bowl after microwaving
a tiny bit of milk

I put about a dozen whole frozen strawberries in a microwave safe bowl and defrost them.  Then, I slice enough to get 2/3 cup of berries.  Save the remainder of the berries and juice for the icing.

Mix the dry cake mix, jello and flour together.  Add the oil, water and 2/3 cup of strawberries.  Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition.  Spray your pan with baking spray and coat with flour.  You can bake this recipe in three 9 inch cake pans (if you want a layer cake) for 25 to 30 minutes at 350.  I baked mine in a 9 x 13 pan and it takes about 35 to 40 minutes because it is a very thick cake.  Watch it closely after 30 minutes and it is done when the top stops wiggling when you move the pan and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Glaze:

Beat the stick of butter until fluffy.  Start adding small amounts of powdered sugar until the icing is at spreading consistency.  About a cup at first, and then add more as needed.  When your icing is the consistency you want, add  4/5 whole thawed strawberries plus any juice in the bowl and blend with the mixer.   (Suddenly your glaze/icing is a lovely shade of pink, no food coloring needed.)  This will make the icing thinner.   If you want thicker icing, keep adding powdered sugar until you have the consistency you want.  Spread over cake.

This would be such a pretty cake for Valentine's Day.  If you wanted a heart shaped cake, you can bake one square cake and one round cake.  Cut the round cake down the middle.  Place the square cake in a diamond shape and place 1/2 of each round cake on each top side of the diamond.  This will give you a heart shape.  Ice and decorate as you want.

Who would not love this beautiful cake as a token of your love and affection?  It is moist, has bits of strawberry throughout and is soooooo good with a big dollop of ice cream next to it.   Add a lovely cup of hot coffee for the adults and you have got a big dessert winner on your hands.

There are so many occasions for this cake, but Valentine's Day is the perfect time to enjoy this beautiful pink concoction.   Or, how about a Super Bowl party?  That's coming up next week.  Or, make one for yourself.  You deserve it.  Make one and share it with your friends and family.  Take one to the office.  Make one for your children or grandchildren and watch their little eyes light up. They will all love you for it!!  Don't forget, you can make pretty pink cupcakes too!  I'm already making plans for the big day.  How about you?

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

"Between the earth and sky above, nothing can match a grandmother's love."

Author: Unknown

Valentine's Garland Made From Felt

This felt heart garland is now hanging on our mantel.  The garland is for our grandsons.  We have 5 grandsons and another one due on Valentine's Day.  Wouldn't that be the most special Valentine gift? We can't wait to meet him!   Decorating the house for every holiday makes Granda and Pawpaw's house a place for the boys to enjoy.  They are 8, 5, 4, 23 months and 17 months.  The 8 and 5 year old really enjoy making crafts, so we work on them when they are here visiting - usually on the weekends.  

After Christmas, I had decorated the mantel in a winter theme, but we really haven't had much winter this year.  The temperature was 60 degrees today and I saw daffodils blooming in a yard.  It's January 26 and that's a bit early for daffodils, even in mid Tennessee (not that I'm complaining).  It just made me want to head on in to Valentine's day since the winter theme looked a bit out of place with all the unusually warm days we have been having.  I had some 9 x 12 felt pieces on hand that I wanted to utilize.  The mantel needed something, so I decided to make a garland. 

Here is what you will need for this project.

9x12 pieces of felt in colors of your choice.  (I used red, pink and white) You can get them at any craft or fabric store.

1 package of 16 mm pearls (mine came from JoAnn's)

A large darning needle

Heavy thread (you can use dental floss, buttonhole thread or this is what I used from JoAnn's)

This thread is in the section where the embroidery thread is and it has lots of colors in the package.  I have used it for many projects.  It is heavier than embroidery thread and is really good for crafting.  It worked great for the garland.

To start the project, take the pieces of felt you are going to use and fold each one in half the long way.  Place the folded side under your sewing machine needle and stitch a 1/4 inch seam the length of the piece.

Now, turn the seam to the inside by folding the open edges of the felt together the opposite way.  The seam will now be on the inside of the felt, instead of the outside.  It will look like this.

Now, stitch a 1/4 inch seam down the open edge of the felt.  

Take a piece of the thread you are going to use to sew the garland together and measure the length of where it is going to go.  I have a push pin in the middle of our mantel and one on each end.  I draped the thread from the left end to the middle and then to the right end allowing a bit if "drape" and about 4 inches extra on each end.  

Take your thread or floss and find the center by folding it in half and tie a knot to mark the center.

Next, you will cut strips from each of your sewn felt pieces that will become your hearts.  I cut 1 inch strips all the way down the felt.  Cut through the seam at the bottom all the way through the top seam.   This gave me 12 hearts of each color.    They will look like this after you shape them. 

Now, lay them out on a flat surface until you get the pattern of colors that you want.  I placed a pearl between each heart so I would have an idea how it would look.  Once you get your pattern established, it's time to stitch.  

This is how I did it, you may find a way you like better.   I laid out the entire length of the thread with the knot in the middle.  I began by threading the right end of the thread in the needle and started by placing a pearl on the needle and pulling it all the way down to the knot.  Then I folded a heart completely flat and pushed the needle all the way through the heart making sure to get the part of the heart that will hang down in the middle.  This will keep it from losing it's shape when it is hanging.  

 I repeated this procedure all the way down the right side of the thread following my color pattern leaving about 4 inches of thread open at the end so there is something to tie around the push pin.   On the right half of the garland, I had 16 hearts with a pearl in between each heart.

Next, I threaded my needle with the thread on the left side of the knot and reversed the pattern of heart colors that were on the right side so there was a mirror image.  I did NOT add a pearl on the left side so there is only one pearl in the center of the garland.  When I completed the left side, I laid the garland out on my kitchen table and shaped all the hearts on the thread and then tied a knot on each end so the first and last heart would not come off the thread.  All that was left to do was tie the garland on the mantel.  This is how it looks.

This is a really easy, fun and festive project that you can do in about an hour.  It certainly adds a nice punch of color to the living room and will take us right into Valentine's Day.  When the boys come over this weekend, we will make another garland for them to use on the mantel at their house.  I know they won't always want to do crafts with Grandma, but for right now we are making memories that will last a lifetime.  Being a grandma is the best thing ever!

Everyday Donna

Things to remember:

"Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose." --  The Wonder Years"

7 UP Biscuits - You Read That Right! BEST BISCUITS EVER! AND EASY!!

That, my friends, is a cast iron skillet full of the best biscuits we have ever eaten, hands down, bar none.  I have eaten lots of home made biscuits in my day and so has Dan.  We both had grandmothers who took great pride in their biscuits.  Dan's mother made biscuits just like she was taught and so have I for many, many years.  But let me tell you, there is a new biscuit on the horizon and it is EASY to make which is even better.  I would not lead you astray on this matter.  It has the same wonderful texture of those biscuits I have worked so hard to blend and is so delicious and flakey that there are no words to describe.  Have biscuits always make you a little tense?  Scared?  Never fear again, the best biscuit in town has arrived and they are a snap to make.

This biscuit will change your life as it has mine.  This will be my new biscuit of choice.  You can make these with ease and you won't have to resort to "whomp" or tube biscuits any more.  No more worry about over working the dough and making your biscuits tough.  This is the second time I have made these in the last few days and they are easy, easy, easy.  And, you will not believe the ingredients.

If you are not a Pinterest addict, you may not have seen these posted and reposted again and again.  They are called 7 Up biscuits.  That's right - 7 Up like the soda.  Being the skeptic that I am, I thought that it must be a joke of some kind, therefore they must be made immediately.  Well, the author of the blog Plain Chicken could not have been more correct.  BEST BISCUITS EVER!

Here is what you need.:

2 cups Bisquick
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup 7 UP

1/4 cup butter

Yep, that's the entire list of ingredients.  Wowza, who would have thought you could made anything so dang delicious from those three ingredients?

Here is all you have to do.  Place your Bisquick, sour cream and 7 Up in a bowl and blend with a fork.  If it's a little gooey, sprinkle in a little more Bisquick.  Lay out some wax paper on your counter top and sprinkle some Bisquick on the wax paper.  Place your dough in a mound on the wax paper, work it by folding it over a few times until smooth, and gently press it out with your hands to about an inch thick.  Use a round cutter  (I use my ever faithful Tom and Jerry glass) and cut out your biscuits.  Remove the ones you have cut out, rework the dough and cut out more biscuits.  DON'T WASTE ANY OF THIS DOUGH!

This is my ever faithful Tom and Jerry glass that I have had forever.  It is actually a Welch's jelly jar.  Anybody out there old enough to remember when you got decorative jelly jars that you could use as drinking glasses?  I used to have a lot of them, but this is the only one left that hasn't been broken and it has always been my biscuit cutter.  It is about 2.5 inches in diameter which makes biscuits just the right size!  You can use a round cookie cutter or any glass you have available that is not too big.  Remember:  the bigger the glass, the bigger the biscuit.

Next, you want to melt your 1/4 cup butter in a pan.  You can use a cake pan, but I always use a 10 inch cast iron skillet.  Put the butter in the pan and place the pan in a preheated 450 degree oven watching closely until the butter melts.  IMPORTANT:  THE PAN WILL BE HOT, USE A POT HOLDER TO REMOVE THE PAN!!!!  DON'T LET THE BUTTER BURN!!   When you remove the pan from the oven, place it on something heat proof and this is what you are going to do with your biscuits.  Take each biscuit and place it in the butter, then turn it over so the buttered side is up.  Do this to each biscuit.  ‎

You will have to squeeze them in the pan, but that's okay.  They won't be perfectly round like the kind that come in a tube, but imperfection totally works here!  They may even be a little lumpy like the ones in the picture from squeezing them in, but they taste just the same as the round ones!  As you can see, I got 10 biscuits from the recipe with not one scrap of dough wasted!

‎Bake them in the 450 degree oven for 15 minutes.  When tops are golden, remove biscuits from the oven.  REMEMBER - USE A POT HOLDER TO REMOVE THE PAN, IT IS SCREAMING HOT!

I served them right from the skillet because it kept them warm and crispy.  YUMMMMMMMM!

Dan, who is a connoisseur of all things biscuit related has declared these the best biscuits ever and I have to agree with him!  We had them with butter and sorghum and they were better than dessert!  Wow!  Here, I have spent all these years working to get everything just right, when it could have been this easy!  This makes me a very happy camper indeed.

Give this recipe a try.  You will impress guests with these!  Your family will love you for it, and you will be pleased with your new biscuit making skills.  There will be a request for these over and over and over.   Simple.  Easy.  Divine.  Enjoy!

Everyday Donna

Things to remember:

 Whole worlds have been tamed by men who ate biscuits.   Bad Blake, Crazy Heart

Giada's Fried Smashed Potatoes with Lemon Sauce

Did you think these were portabella mushrooms?  Guess again.  These are "fried smashed potatoes."

If you are a follower of this blog, you know that I have never met a potato that I didn't like.  Actually, I probably qualify as an addict.  Love, love, love potatoes fixed just about any way.  But, I am always on the lookout for new recipes and this one is fabulous.  

I like to watch the Food Network on Saturday and Sunday mornings when I wake up early - which is pretty much always.  Remember when you used to sleep in on the weekends?  Don't know what happened with that, but I know that the cooking shows start at  6 am.  

Giada De Laurentis is one of my favorite shows.  Her recipes are relatively easy and have always been really, really good.  She was preparing her "fried smashed potatoes" and I KNEW that recipe had my name all over it. I looked it up online so that I would get all the ingredients right.  It is fairly simple and really, really good.  The first time I made these potatoes and the yummy, nummy lemon sauce, Dan declared he could eat the sauce on just about anything.  He does not usually eat sauces or condiments - especially if they contain vinegar.  He is a no vinegar kind of guy.  But, this sauce is made with olive oil and fresh lemon juice and is, simply put, "heavenly."  The picture doesn't make you think heavenly, but if you could taste it you would think otherwise.

Here is what you need for this recipe:

Ingredients:

About 2 pounds of small, red potatoes like red bliss, or ruby bliss, or you can use fingerling potatoes

3 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 Tbsp fresh chopped thyme

kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper

3 whole garlic cloves, peeled

1/4 cup olive oil

Wash the potatoes and place in a pan deep enough to cover with water.  Boil potatoes until fork tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.  Remove from heat, drain and let cool.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, place the potatoes on a cutting board, and "smash" with the heel of your hand.

Heat 1/4 cup good olive oil over medium high heat.  I used my electric skillet, but you can also use a large saute pan.   Add the three cloves of peeled garlic and cook until fragrant and lightly browned.  Remove the garlic.  This "perfumes" the oil and adds extra flavor to the potatoes.

Place your "smashed" potatoes in the olive oil and cook on each side until brown and crispy.  Turn and brown other side.

Remove browned and crispy potatoes from pan and place on a platter.  Make the lemon sauce.

Place 3 Tbsp good olive oil, 3 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice, 2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley and 1 Tbsp fresh chopped thyme in a bowl and mix vigorously with a fork or whisk.  Season to taste with some kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

Place the bowl of lemon sauce on the table so that each person can place as much sauce as they want on their serving of potatoes.  The light, lemony sauce flavored with the fresh herbs is simply divine on the crispy, brown potatoes.  We had these with our fish on Friday night and they are terrific.  You might even want to try a little of the lemon sauce on the fish.  Yummmmmmy!

If you are a potato lover like me, or if you are looking for a new side dish to serve, give these wonderful "fried smashed potatoes" a try.  And, don't forget the lemon sauce!  It is worth the effort, believe me!  

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

"Only two things in this world are too serious to be jested on, potatoes and matrimony."Irish saying.