Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

Happy day after Easter! While I didn’t celebrate in any religious aspect, I do embrace a good holiday meal and love the opportunity to whip up a somewhat fancier than normal meal. Even if it is just for me and my roommate, and our dog if you’re like me and dumb enough to leave chicken sitting on the counter where she can reach. Lucky for the dog, it was just some pieces of thigh meat that I didn’t really want anyway.

Backing up for a minute though, my weekend kicked off with a trip to the liquor store after having a particular bad day on Friday. I was all set to get vodka drunk and most likely cry, and then after receiving a few quick texts my mood took a complete 180. My friend surprised me with a visit for the night, because he knew I was in a terrible mood (even if he might have had a little to do with said bad mood in the first place). All was very quickly forgiven, and we got vodka drunk together and watched Pitch Perfect. I even gave them permission to cover my mouth when I inevitably started singing along and quoting the movie. It was a pretty perfect evening.

However, when you go vodka drink for vodka drink with someone who has 80 lbs on you it takes a toll and I was hurting a little bit on Saturday. After a quick lunch and goodbye, I relegated myself to the couch for the rest of the day/night. It happens. Just left me with more energy for cooking on Sunday; which started off with some banana chocolate chip muffins to make use of some disgustingly over-ripe bananas. My favorite part of Sunday’s Easter meal though (which consisted of roasted chicken, asparagus, and scalloped potatoes) were the scalloped potatoes. It was my first time attempting the dish, and I have to say I think they came out pretty well. And I used my Mandolin without losing any fingers, which is huge.

I started off by slicing some Yukon Gold potatoes into thin slices, and then boiling them for a little while to speed up the casserole cooking process. While that was happening, I buttered my casserole dish, placing a layer of potatoes on the bottom once they had cooked slightly.

For the sauce, I melted one stick of unsalted butter in a saucepan, added 8 oz of sour cream, 8 oz of shredded sharp cheddar, pepper and seasoned salt. Once thoroughly combined, I poured 1/3 of the sauce on the first layer of potatoes.

Add another layer of potatoes, more sauce, and a final layer of potatoes and sauce, which I then topped with breadcrumbs just because I felt like it. Bake covered at 350 for 40 minutes, and uncover for the last 20 until bubbly and brown around the edges.

Now if anyone wants some potatoes… I have leftovers.

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
3 lbs Potatoes (russet or yukon gold)
8 oz sour cream
1 stick unsalted butter
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
seasoned salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 350, wash and slice potatoes about 1/8 inch thick with a Mandolin or a very sharp knife, be careful. If you have the time, boil your potatoes after slicing for about 5 minutes, drain and cool. In a medium saucepan melt the butter, stir in the sour cream, add the cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Butter the bottom and sides of a casserole dish, arrange the potatoes in a thin layer, pour 1/3 of the cheese sauce over top, repeat twice more. Bake covered for 40 minutes, uncover for another 20. Slice and serve.

xoxo

 

 

Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken

After taking a few weeks off, I decided to bring back Crock Pot Sunday’s yesterday, and Pulled Barbecue Chicken was on the menu.  I stumbled across the recipe in the February issue of Fitness Magazine and couldn’t wait to give it a shot (tried to find a link to it online, but couldn’t).

Chop a medium onion and dice 3 cloves of garlic and add them to your crock pot with 14 oz of tomato sauce.

Add 1 Tbsp of Red Pepper flakes

Add 1/3 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar and Molasses each

And 3 Tbsp of Tomato Paste

Stir everything to combine it

Season your chicken with salt and pepper before adding it to the sauce mixture.  Cover evenly with the sauce and cook on low for about 8 hours.  Once finished, remove the chicken from your crock pot, shred, return to sauce and stir.  Serve on a toasted roll with a slice of mozzarella and piece of lettuce.

So, the recipe says it makes 4 sandwiches, but that’s bs because I can see myself getting like 10 out of this.  They must make really big sandwiches at Fitness Magazine.  The sauce is sweet, and thinner than most barbecue sauces which is cool with me because that’s the kind of sauce I like anyway.  I had this for dinner last night, and have it packed to enjoy for lunch every day this week.  I predict by Friday I will be amazingly sick of BBQ chicken.

Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken
2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts
14 oz can of Tomato Sauce
3 Tbsp of Tomato Paste
1/3 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1/3 cup Molasses
1 Tbsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 Medium Onion
3 cloves Garlic
Salt and Pepper

Chop your onion and dice the garlic, add to your crock pot with the can of sauce and tomato paste.  Add in the red pepper along with the vinegar and molasses, stir to combine.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add to the sauce mixture, covering evenly.  Cook on low for 8 hours.

From Me to You with Love

Happy Valentine’s Day my loves!  If you’re celebrating with a significant other tonight, enjoy! If not, I hope you plan on doing what I am and treating yourself to a delicious dinner of some sort and a glass of wine.  Said delicious dinner has not yet been decided on, but fear not it will be fantastic.  I finally got my shit together, so here’s the recipe I said I was going to post yesterday.  Whining about Live Fit shall resume tomorrow.

When I was younger, one of my favorite after school snacks was pizza rolls; or pizza bagels, or really anything that resembled pizza. Also, if we’re being completely honest with one another there were a few years there in college when I lived off the super sized bags of Totino’s Pizza Rolls.  Anyway, now, I couldn’t tell you the last time I picked up a box of those delicious goodies as they’re not really helpful to my ever permanent fight with my jeans to fit.

However, after my sister’s visit I was left with a plethora of ingredients that included turkey pepperoni, mozzarella, pizza sauce, and wonton wrappers, and I thought to myself, “I bet I can make my own damn pizza rolls.”  So make my own damn pizza rolls I did, and it was easy, delicious, and I’m guessing a lot more kind to my hips, thighs, and ass.

The process was relatively simple, and the only real tips I would offer up are to make sure the sides of your rolls are sealed really well so the sauce doesn’t explode out, and maybe chop the pepperoni a little smaller and DON’T OVERFILL.  This recipe made 24 pizza rolls, and I’m not going to tell you how many I ate between Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening.

Better than Your Favorite Frozen Pizza Rolls
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese
20ish Turkey Pepperoni
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp Basil
1/4 tsp Oregano
Pinch of Pepper
1/8 cup Parmesan Cheese
24 Wonton Wrappers
Small cup of water

Preheat oven to 450 degrees, and line a baking sheet with foil/parchment paper and spray with non stick spray.  In a large bowl add the sauce, mozzarella cheese, and spices.  Cut the pepperoni into quarters (or even smaller bite size pieces) and add to the bowl.  Stir to mix all the ingredients together.  Place a small spoonful of the mixture into the middle of the wonton wrapper, wet a finger and trace a line on three corners.  Fold the wonton wrapper in half connecting the dry corners to the corners you just wet.  The water acts like a glue and seals the wonton together.  Place the rolls onto your prepared cookie sheet, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and mist with cooking spray.  These will cook for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven.

I’d tell you to wait and let them cool so you don’t scald your mouth, but I think such a warning would be pointless.  So just enjoy the shit out of them and deal with the burnt mouth later.  Smooches!