Category Archives: supper

Crispy oven roasted potatoes

lunch, sides, supper 24 Comments

Can you tell how crispy these are? This is one of our very favorite side dishes.  And all you need is a potato, some butter, some olive oil and some spices. Yay for simple! We’ll start with a soak in hot water to remove some of the starch from the potatoes, which will allow them to to really crisp up in the oven  Here’s how to whip these up:

  1. Cut a baking potato or a few red potatoes into bite size pieces and put the pieces in a bowl of hot tap water to soak. Let them soak at least 20 minutes, but mine sat in the water for a good 40 minutes last night and were fantastic
  2. Preheat the oven to 400F, and put your potatoes in a single layer on a couple paper towels to dry
  3. In a large cast iron pan melt a pat or two of butter over medium heat and add a Tbsp. or two of olive oil; adjust amounts for how much potato you’re using — you want enough butter/olive oil mixture to thoroughly coat all the potatoes
  4. Pat your potatoes dry one more time and toss them into the skillet. Stir to coat with butter and olive oil, then liberally sprinkle on the spice(s) of your choice — I used Miracle Blend last night, but it’s also great with Lawry’s or dry ranch seasoning or…? Make it your own!
  5. Roast at 400F for about 30 minutes, stirring or shaking around halfway through to ensure even browning. They’re done when a fork goes in easily and the edges are starting to brown

If you don’t have a cast iron pan (go get one! They’re cheap!) you can mix the potatoes, butter, olive oil and spices in a bowl, then roast on a cookie sheet. Couldn’t be easier!

Beer can chicken

lunch, supper 4 Comments

I picture it something like this:

A kitchen…

Folks preparing a cold chicken for frying…

“Hey Vern! Watch this!”

Friends collapse in hearty guffaws

… crickets …

“Hey, what if….?”

And there you have it. Just like that, beer can chicken was born.

This chicken is so good and so easy! All the crispy goodness of fried chicken without the added fat or highly flammable liquids. And it’s so low maintenance that it’s great for serving a crowd — no standing over a hot stove required. What’s not to love?

The pan itself we’ve had so long that I don’t even remember where I picked it up, but you can get a really basic model for about ten bucks. All it really needs to do is help the beer can, and therefore the chicken, stay upright on the grill. You can do it just on a beer can without a pan, but it’s pretty tippy that way.

So beyond the pan all you really need is:

  • A chicken (duh)
  • A can of beer
  • Spray cooking oil
  • Whatever spices strike your fancy at the moment
  1. Start by opening the beer and drinking about 1/3 of it. I know, I know, but these are the sacrifices we make for cooking
  2. Using a church key, make a few more holes in the top of the can (like you’re opening canned milk) and dump in some spices; we use Char Broil It as raved about mentioned here along with some salt and pepper
  3. Now place the can in the pan (this feels like Green Eggs and Ham); put the chicken over the can, then spray the chicken with Pam. Got that?
  4. Now pat your spice mix of choice onto the chicken. Don’t be shy — get plenty on there
  5. Put the whole thing on the grill or in an oven — either way at about 350F
  6. Roast for about 30-45 minutes, or until internal temp is 180F

That’s it, people! A whole chicken done! This is great with roasted broccoli and some fresh bread. Enjoy!

BBQ chicken pizza

kids, lunch, slow cooker, supper 15 Comments

This is a perfect meal to throw together during the middle of the week. Quick, easy, and so delicious!

You will need:

  • chicken — I used three boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • dough — your refrigerator dough, homemade dough, or even store bought
  • barbecue sauce
  • cheese

And then:

  1. Start with the chicken: three chicken breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper, thrown into the slow cooker set to low in the morning — no barbecue sauce yet because you don’t want the sugar in it to cook as long as the chicken
  2. About two hours before supper time you’re ready to shred the chicken; since it’s in a crock pot this may be as easy as breaking it up with a wooden spoon, but you can take it out and shred it if need be. Return the meat to the slow cooker set to low and add in enough barbecue sauce to fully coat all the meat
  3. About an hour before baking time pull out some refrigerated dough, form it into a ball and set it in a olive oil brushed cast iron skillet to rise for about 45 minutes
  4. After 45 minutes, start your oven preheating to 400 degrees
  5. Now assemble your pizza! Pat out the dough, then top with barbecue chicken, extra sauce, and whatever else your little heart desires: onions, garlic, pineapple, you name it. Then sprinkle on the cheese and bake at 400F till the cheese is melted and the crust is done — this probably won’t take more than ten minutes or so

Enjoy!

Fish tacos with homemade flour tortillas

lunch, supper 13 Comments

What drives a girl to decide to make fish tacos for the first time? I’ll tell you:

  1. Finding this recipe for homemade flour tortillas this week. Doesn’t she HE (I am a moron) make it sound fabulously easy and do-able? Turns out it IS
  2. Realizing I had a giant stash of The Yankee-caught fish in the freezer
  3. Browsing through my new cookbook from Lulu’s

Honestly. What else would I do?

So first I made the tortillas. For those you will need:

  • 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp vegetable oil
  • 3/4 cup hot milk

Assembly:

  1. In a stand mixer, mix up the flour, baking powder, salt, and vegetable oil
  2. Add in the hot milk and mix till the dough pulls together, then let it knead in the mixer for another four or five minutes
  3. When it’s nice and smooth, divide the dough into 12 pieces, about 2 ounces each
  4. Pat them into little discs, then roll out as thin as possible
  5. Fry on a very hot pan, about 30 seconds each side
  6. Pour some boiling water into a dish and set it on your turned-off oven. Set a plate beside the dish of water and keep your tortillas warm on that plate — the steam from the boiled water kept mine warm and kept them from drying out, too. Bonus!

Next: the fish! This was super easy. I had a ziploc bag of thawed fish and a hot pan with olive oil in it. I cooked the fish, sprinkled with salt, for about three or four minutes on each side till it was cooked through and easily flaked with a fork.

Now make tacos! For ours I used:

  • afore-mentioned homemade tortillas
  • afore-mentioned cooked fish
  • black beans
  • mixed cheeses
  • lime juice
  • cilantro

The beauty of this meal was that we had all the ingredients on hand. The fish and beans were in the freezer, the cheese was in the fridge, the limes were on the counter, and the cilantro was in the garden. A lovely, fresh meal without a trip to the grocery store? Definitely a winner in my book.

Summer salad

lunch, sides, snacks, supper 5 Comments

One of many perks to having a garden in the back yard? THIS at any time:

I love this super simple salad! Fresh baby lettuce from the garden, homemade croutons, diced tomato, cheeses, and just a bit of Newman’s honey dijon dressing. SO good! And now that we’ve installed chicken wire around the garden, all the salad is going to me — not the bunnies.

I have a lot of lettuce coming in… faster than I can eat it! So I’m sure I’ll have to get more creative with toppings as the summer goes on. What are your favorite salad toppings? Something unexpected, or do you stick to the basics? My friend loves Gorgonzola cheese on all her salads. The Yankee wants all Caesar all the time. The Kiddo wants, you know, yogurt and Cheerios. This post isn’t for him. 😉

So enlighten me! What else should I try while I have lettuce coming out of my ears?