Sweet Potato and Smoked Sausage Hash

Every once in a while we do breakfast for dinner.  Honestly, I don't know why we don't do it more often. The food is easy and delicious and generally faster to make than regular, normal dinner food.  This hash is hearty and yummy, perfect for a big, comforting dinner or a great kickstart to the morning.  For breakfast, I suggest this one recipe serve 4 people.  Dinner is generally a bigger meal, so it is good for 2 people.  And did I mention it is pretty healthy?

Sweet Potato and Smoked Sausage Hash
1 small onion, chopped
1 lrg sweet potato (~1 lb), chopped
2 tsp garlic
1 7oz link smoked turkey sausage, chopped*
4 eggs
a scant 1/3 C water
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

   Heat about 2 tsp of oil over medium heat in a large skillet with a lid.  Saute onions until translucent, ~5 min.  Add potatoes, a little salt and some pepper, heat for 2-3 minutes.  Add water and immediately cover.  Allow potatoes to steam until tender and water evaporated.  It will take about 10-12 minutes.  Remove lid, let any excess water evaporate.  Add sausage and heat through.  When edges of sausage and potatoes are browned it is done.  Salt and pepper to taste.
   While potatoes and sausage are crisping, cook eggs.  Heat ~1 Tbsp oil over med heat.  Crack eggs directly into pan.  When whites have set up, flip and cook for ~1.5 minutes.  Eggs should be between over-easy and over-medium.  Salt and pepper eggs to taste.  Top hash with eggs.
   Serves 2-4

 *You can use beef or pork if you like, but it will not be as healthy.

Black Box Malbec

Today is my birthday, but I had yesterday off so I celebrated then.  Maybe "celebrate" isn't an accurate description of what I did.  I didn't leave my pajamas, I marathoned The Lord of the Rings (extended editions, of course), ate Blue Coast Burrito for lunch, and indulged in several glasses of Black Box Malbec.  It was exactly what I wanted/needed.

Boxed wine has come a long way from the check-red-or-white Franzia.  Several companies are completely devoting themselves to boxes, like Bota Box and Black Box.  The liquid bladder inside keeps air away from the wine and thus, the wine stays fresher, longer.  Also, cardboard is much cheaper/easier to deal with packaging-wise than glass.  So I say, bring on the boxed wine!

Malbec is not a new variety of wine, but it has recently gained a new popularity here in the States.  Black Box was the first malbec I had, and I fell in love.  It has a medium body and is on the drier side, but has a slightly sweet finish.  Also, the tannins are not over-powering.  Personally, I think this is a great introductory-red for those looking to branch out from whites.  Lastly, it isn't expensive.  You get a high quality wine, the equivalent of 4 regular bottles, for about $22.

Mushroom Braised Chicken Thighs

My first really big catering job was this past weekend.  I, along with the help from my wonderful mom, spent all say Saturday and Sunday morning cooking for 105 people (though, only 75 actually showed up.)  It was exhausting and sometimes frustrating, but I had so much fun!

This is the chicken dish that I made, and it went over very well.  And let me tell you, it is easy... even on a large scale.  Also, cheap.  You can make it fancier and more expensive by using different mushrooms, but the plain old button mushrooms work just fine.  I lucked out on Saturday and the potabellas and baby bellas were on a really good sale.  You can even use a variety of dried mushrooms if you like.  This would be perfect for a holiday gathering or for a fuss-free Christmas dinner.

(Picture taken when testing recipe using dried mushrooms, not final recipe.)

Mushroom Braised Chicken Thighs
8 large chicken thighs
1 10oz can cream of mushroom soup
1 C water
~10-12 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
salt and pepper
chopped parsley for garnish

   Cut off excess skin from the bottom of thighs.  Salt and pepper chicken.  Place skin side up in a roasting pan.
   Combine soup, water and mushrooms.  Pour over chicken.
   Bake at 375 deg F for 50 min-1 hr on a middle rack.  (If skin starts to get very brown, cover with foil.)
   Serves 8.  Top with parsley.
   (Really fantastic over rice or couscous.)

I told you that was easy. =)

Quick Cheddar Dill Drop Biscuits

I love biscuits.  I went through a phase where I made them from scratch every weekend.  Cutting butter into flour is definitely not one of my favorite things to do.  Somewhere along the line, I began wondering why I wasn't using a mix.  There are good mixes out there.  Enter, my favorite short cut:  Bisquick Heart Smart.  (I prefer it to regular, I don't know why.)  Now my weekend mornings (when I don't have to work) are much more relaxed and just as delicious!  (Also... healthier.)

Cheddar Dill Drop Biscuits
2 C Bisquick Heart Smart
1 C shredded cheddar
1 tsp dill
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 C + 2 Tbsp low fat buttermilk
cooking spray

   Combine Bisquick with spices and cheddar.  Add buttermilk.  Mix well.
   Drop onto a lightly sprayed baking sheet.
   Bake at 400 deg F for 10-12 minutes, until tops are golden brown.
   Makes 8 biscuits.

Red Wine-- Spanish Style

Wow, with my new crazy schedule (which isn't being helped by the holidays) I have very little time to do the things I want to.  I do think that no matter how insane things get, you need to take a few minutes of the day to just slow down and breathe.  This little concoction is an easy key to start that slow down process.

Red Wine Spanish Style
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
5 1/2 oz dry red wine

Combine and enjoy.

Porcine Thanksgiving

Jesus, guys.  I am sorry.  I'm having a hard time adjusting work and everything else I have to do.  I swear I'll get better at it and we'll be back to a more regular schedule. 

I promised to tell you about Thanksgiving.  We had a pig.  I'll spare you the before picture of our little friend whole and uncooked.  My father-in-law concocted some semi-tropical, sort of Asian marinade, then roasted the entire thing overnight in a BBQ pit he made. It was uuuhhhh-mazing!  Walking around, it was about 60 lbs, so not too big.  The inter-tissue fat didn't have enough life span to get globby and greasy which meant the meat fell apart into tender shreds but was insanely lean.  If this became our new Thanksgiving tradition, I don't think anyone would complain.

Pork, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole

The hubs and I contributed the main appetizer:  smoked salmon (variation of the recipe we made here.)  At the request of my mother.  My sister-in-law brought some fancy olives, which I could have polished off on my own.


Thanksgiving is nothing without chicken and cornbread dressing and that is why it takes up half of my plate.  My mom brought that and cranberry sauce with apples and cardamom which was fantastic!  Sarah (sister-in-law) made a really delicious butternut squash gratin.  Don't worry, I'll make a version soon and share it.

Sarah also made the stand-out dessert of the day:  Paula Deen's Mystery Pecan Pie.  It's like a pecan pie with a cheesecake hidden inside.  Seriously.  Make it.  I have nothing else to say about that.

I hope everyone is having a beautiful holiday season so far!  I am getting very very excited about this year because this will be the first Christmas the hubs and I have really, truly spent together.  Yeah, weve been together five years but with the Marine Corps, we haven't been able to simple enjoy the season with each other.

...And Many Gobbles to You

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I like to turn every holiday into a food driven holiday, but this one originated with sharing food.  The older I get, the more I love Thanksgiving.  As a young teen, I was not quite as ecstatic.  One year, I ate pickles off a veggie tray before leaving my aunt's house to go back down the street to my grandma's house and pick at whatever food was there.  That was an awesome year for me in general....

Tomorrow I will let you know just how effing fantastic today is.  Spoiler:  there is a pig.  Spoiler counterpart:  said pig will not be involved in any weird rituals.

And if you need a bit of reading or something to listen to if the family becomes too much and you need a mini-escape.  Read my post at STA about turkeys.  Or listen (and maybe even subscribe) to the newest edition of my podcast, Lip Smacking.  This week's episode is a little love and a little hate concerning food shows on TV.

BTW:  Did you know it is REALLY hard to make a hand turkey on you computer?

Plus side:  I found out that paint now has a crayon function.



Mushy Peas

Wow, I seriously can't believe how much of my time is being eaten away with this job.  That's cool, because I am going get some awesome arms out of this with all the lifting.  Not that I have flabby gross arms right now, but they will be looking pretty awesome by the new year.
Have I mentioned that I am making the food for my father-in-law's church Christmas dinner?  Well, I am.  So I've had to test new recipes.  He requested it be English/Dickensian in nature.  That is a new realm for me.  I know mushy peas aren't really Dickensian, but I wanted something bright and vibrant for the table that wasn't just a salad.  I know this sounds like bad baby food, but seriously, so delicious.  I think the key is leaving some of the peas whole so you get little bursts of sweet goodness.

Mushy Peas
1/2 med onion, diced
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
12 oz frozen green peas, thawed*
1/4 C vegetable or chicken broth (low sodium)
1/4 tsp rubbed sage
salt and pepper

   Heat oil over med heat.  Saute onions until soft and translucent.  Add garlic and cook ~1 minute.  Remove from heat, add peas, broth, and sage.  Use a potato masher to mash peas about 2/3 of the way.  You still want some that are whole.  Salt and pepper to taste.
   Heat over medium before serving.
   Serves 3-4.

*If you find a package of peas that is 1 lb (16 oz), it will definitely serve 4 people.  You may need to up the broth to 1/3 C.

That's Amorade

So sorry about not posting the last two days.  I was in training for my new ultra-prestigious job............. riiiight.

Ok, so, this drink quickly became our favorite drink after the first time we made it this past spring.  We altered the original recipe (simply called an Amorade) and our version is spectacular!  Seriously.  It sounds a little crazy when you read the ingredients, but it is great.

That's Amorade
1 1/2 oz Amaretto
1 1/2 oz Triple Sec
juice of 1 lemon
tonic water (~5 oz)
2-3 dashes lemon bitters

   Squeeze juice of lemon halves into a shaker, drop one half of lemon into shaker.  Add amaretto, triple sec, and ice.  Shake.  Pour into a glass with ice.  Top with tonic, add bitters.
   (This can be made in the glass and just gently stirred up, too.)
   Makes 1 drink.

Wednesday Redirect

It has been a couple weeks since I sent you over to Save the Artist.  There are so many exciting things happening over there that it is about time I directed you that way!

1. We have relaunched the site and it has some awesome new features.
2. Currently, I am writing a series of the top 10 American food icons, as I see it.  It's a rather unique take on the subject.
3. Yesterday, our first podcast went up and it features yours truly awkwardly rambling about coffee.
4. There is a coffee contest going on with the chance to win a $15 Starbucks gift card.
5. We are looking for contributions of any kind from our readers!  Photos, paintings, poems... anything!

So please, take a look around and get involved with our growing community.