Ham and potato soup

I had this soup at my sister-in-laws house.  She must have a magic touch because I've tried to make it about 5 times and although it is easy and delicious, I still haven't been able to make it quite as good as she did.  I'm gonna keep trying though!  It's basic, foolproof, hearty, and comforting. 

*Notes: I use Yukon gold potatoes for a creamier texture in the soup.  Also, the more flavorful the ham is, the more flavor the soup has.  Once I used store bought ham, not so great.  I usually wait to make this when I have leftover spiral ham.

Beef Stew

I pretty much ate everything my mom made growing up, except for a couple things here and there.  First and foremost on the yuck list: beef stroganoff.  Just the name alone gives me the shivers.  I also happen to love a good beef stew, but somewhere along the line I realized that I don't like beef stews that have tomato bases.  Yes, I am very picky.  So as I was scouring the interwebs for tomato-less beef stews, I stumbled across this recipe.  The name threw me off, but when I looked at the ingredients, I thought how bad could it be?  I gave it a try and was very happy.  The first time I made it I even forgot to add the sour cream, and it was still delicious.  

*note: in her actual beef stew recipe, she gives a tutorial on how to add carrots without turning them to mush.  Basically she cuts them up and tosses with oil, salt, and pepper, and wraps them in a foil packet and places that on top of the meat inside the crockpot.  When the meat is finished cooking, add the carrots.  They will be nice and tender yet still retain their texture.

Lion House Rolls

This is a no-fail roll recipe.  Sweet and fluffy, soooo good.  They take a little time with a double rise, but worth it.  Just plan ahead, and you won't be sorry

*Note: I like round dinner rolls so I usually don't go to the hassle of rolling them out, just shaping into balls

*Note: this bread recipe is the same for cinnamon rolls.

Thin Mint Poke Cake

I almost broke my phone drooling over this picture when I saw it on Pinterest a few months ago.  It was literally screaming my name.  Luckily I had a baby shower to throw coming up and so this went straight to the top of the menu.  IT DID NOT FAIL.  I think I got more compliments on this cake than any other cake I've ever made in my life.  It was easy and unbelievably delish-if you like chocolate mint, then this is the perfect cake for you!

Pumpkin waffles

I'm not a big pumpkin fan when it comes to the actual vegetable, but I do love the flavors that usually surround it: ginger, cinnamon, molasses, clove, etc.  Warm and slightly spicy.  I had half a can of pumpkin puree leftover and always have a craving for waffles!  This recipe came to the rescue, and who can resist a flavored syrup?!? Not me.  We had a happy breakfast-for-dinner :)

Sausage, kale, and potato soup

This soup has been all over the internet for years, but I've never been apt to try it.  A few months ago I had it at a friend's house for dinner, and I almost died.  Absolutely delicious, in fact I would venture to say it is one of the best soups I've ever had.  Full of flavor and easier than easy.  Very filling.  And my favorite part: the kale.  I love the way it softens but doesn't melt.  It's hearty and warming and fabulous.  Can't believe it took me so long to try it.

Lettuce wraps

With Jeremy on a no-carb "lifestyle", I try to be nice every once in a while and make something special for him.  I had an idea for lettuce wraps the other day and set to whipping some up for him.  Easy, peasy, and full of flavor!  I looked at a few recipes and then threw together my own.  You can get as creative as you like with this recipe!

Ground turkey or chicken, about 1 pound

Finely diced carrots, celery, and onion (about 2 carrots, 2 stalks of celery, and a small onion)

A few cloves of garlic, minced, a knob of finely chopped ginger if you have it

1/2 can of chopped water chestnuts

Trader Joe's Soyaki Teryaki sauce

Sesame oil

Rice wine vinegar

For wrap assemly:

Romaine or butter lettuce leaves

Optional additions: cooked rice, matchstick cucumbers or fresh carrots, chopped peanuts or cashews, diced green onions

I browned the meat and then added the veggies and just kept the lid on until they softened up.  Added about 1/2 cup of Teryaki sauce, or until it was saucy enough for my liking, then just sprinkled a little vinegar for tang and a tiny bit of oil for some nuttiness.

My kids skipped the lettuce and ate the filling on top of rice.  Everyone was happy!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

I love me some Chicken Cordon Bleu!  Sometimes it can be a lot of hassle, though.  This recipe is super easy to assemble and the flavor is delicious!  No pan frying or unusual ingredients.  It doesn't even necessarily need the sauce.  The chicken stays moist and everyone gobbled it up.

Pumpkin Bread

Since my mom isn't here to make her pumpkin bread this winter, I searched high and low for a good recipe.  I wanted moist and flavorful, and as healthy as possible.  I stumbled on this recipe, and halfway through throwing ingredients in the mixing bowl, I realized it was vegan.  It also had less oil than all of the other recipes I had looked at.  Fingers crossed, and it turned out amazing!  Incredibly moist and tons of flavor.  A keeper for sure.  

*We did muffin tins, makes about 20 muffins and I baked at recommended temp for about  18 min

Pancakes perfected

Finally!!!

I am a terrible pancake maker.  Just not one of the life skills I was born with OR able to ever cultivate.  They always turn out mushy, hard, crispy on the outside and raw on the inside, burned, whatever, you name it, I've ruined a pancake with it.

I finally came across a fool proof pancake recipe.  AND finally got over my OCD urge to mix that batter til it was lump free.  I didn't mess with anything and made sure to have the buttermilk and the malted milk.  Also, I dragged out the old broken griddle. 

Perfection.

Light, fluffy, perfectly cooked.

Don't forget the blueberry sauce!!!

French dressing

Far from your typical french dressing, this is my all time favorite vinaigrette!

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp pepper

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp salt

1/2 tsp paprika

dash cayenne

2 c extra virgin olive oil

2/3 c red wine vinegar

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tbsp sugar

***I like my dressings more tangy than usual so I put about equal parts oil/vinegar

Fresh peach pie glaze

Every year on my birthday for as long as I can remember, I requested a peach pie from Marie Callendar's.  My family's "cake", THE cake, is eaten all spring/summer long (3 in May, and yes, they each have to have their own!) and by the time it's my birthday, I'm all chocolated out.  Plus, I have never been a huge chocolate girl, I will take a fruit dessert over anything chocolate.  I am a pie, cobbler, crisp and crumple girl through and through!

A few years ago my mom's peach tree started blossoming and the search for a peach pie glaze began!  My mom finally came up with the perfect storm.  She has always been there to make me one, but this year is the first time she isn't around since I was born (we will try not to focus on that though).  So in her memory, I whipped up my own!  With her recipe, of course :)

1/2 cup peaches

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1/4 tsp almond extract (I do more because I love it)

1/4 tsp nutmeg (opt)

1 tbsp butter

3 tbsp corn starch

1/2 tsp Fresh Fruit

Now this was all she sent me so I had to figure out the rest for myself.

I wasn't sure what she meant by 1/2 cup peaches so I didn't add that, but I'm guessing that just gives the glaze the oomph of peach flavor.  Maybe a puree or mash would be good.

I mixed the cornstarch with the sugar and nutmeg before I added the water, and I didn't have Fresh Fruit so I left it out.  It is to help the fruit from turning brown, but my pie stayed fine for a couple days, which it probably won't last much longer than that anyway!

It thickened up pretty quick (keep an eye on it constantly, I wasn't paying attention and it thickened up a little too much on me) and then I added the butter and almond extract after I turned off the heat.  

I took my sliced/chunked peaches and tossed with cinnamon ( they were ripe and there was so much sugar in the glaze that I didn't figure it needed any more) and then gooped them all up and filled my graham cracker crust.  I stuck some fresh peaches on top and nestled them in the rest of the pie glaze and then in the fridge it goes to get nice and cold!  Don't forget your whipped cream!

Old School Taco salad

Mmmm, my family loves our taco salad!  My mom made it all the time for us as kids and there were never any leftovers!  Ours always had:

Crunchy iceberg (still good for a few-very few-things in life)

Dark red kidney beans

Carrots

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Grated cheddar cheese

Tortilla chips

Taco meat

Now we were weird and always ate our with Wishbone Russian Dressing.  Like, none of us would even touch a "taco salad" unless there was Russian Dressing to go with it.  And every time we would use an entire bottle, and my mom would bark "THAT'S ENOUGH, look I don't even HAVE any on my salad, the flavor of the meat is good enough!!!" and we would all ignore her and pour another 1/4 cup on our "salad"

Now that having been said, my friend Emily introduced me to taco salad with Catalina dressing.  Gasp!!! But I have to say, it adds a tanginess that the Russian doesn't have.  Russian is more sweet, but it has the bitterness of the celery seed in it that balances it out.  (Yes, I have issues, I can taste the freaking celery seed in a salad dressing full of high fructose corn syrup).  That having been said, they are both delicious, and take me right back to the good ole days around the Blickenstaff family dinner table!

Santa Rosa Rice Salad

I had this gem at a baby shower a couple weeks ago.  It was the perfect Mom's dish: healthy and delicious and light!  I couldn't stop eating it and went straight home, begged for the recipe, and made it and ate the entire thing by myself, it was THAT good!  The dressing is light but tangy, not heavy at all. The snow peas give it the perfect crunch and round it out with a little bitterness.  The chicken gives it body and fills you up and the avocado gives it the perfect cool creaminess.  As you can tell, I am extremely particular about my tastes and textures, and this salad won me over!

SANTA ROSA VALLEY SALAD

 Serves 8

2 boxes Uncle Ben’s Long Grain and Wild Rice, cooked with seasonings

   Juice of 1 lemon

6 chicken breast halves, cooked and cut into pieces

4 - 6 green onions, chopped

1 red bell pepper, diced

3 - 6 ounces Chinese pea pods, ends removed

2 medium avocados, diced

1 cup chopped pecans (can be toasted)

   Lettuce leaves for garnish

 DRESSING:

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon pepper

1/3 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Combine dressing ingredients in a blender.  Cover and refrigerate.

Mix all salad ingredients except avocados and pecans.  Combine with dressing and refrigerate 2 to 4 hours.  Before serving, add avocados and pecans and garnish with lettuce leaves.

Note:  May be made the day before.

White trash macaroni salad

I have never liked macaroni salad.  Mostly because they generally have egg in them which is a no no fo me.  But usually they are gloppy messes with weird jiggly things added to them.  

One time, years ago, I had a very simple macaroni salad that I fell in love with.  It has 5 ingredients and couldn't be simpler.  It's also kind of ghetto.  I've never seen it anywhere else, but it's the only kind I've ever eaten and probably ever will eat!  It's not the kind of thing I would ever serve guests because it's silly, but I have a little place in my heart for the only macaroni salad that ever won it.

Cooked salad macaroni

Tiny cubes of sharp cheddar and baby kosher pickles

A big ole scoop of mayo

A super big squirt of yellow mustard

A drizzle of pickle juice

Mix and eat in the secrecy of your own home :)

Tri-tip marinade

"Everything in the kitchen sink" marinade!

Throw that hunk of meat in a ziploc bag and fill it up!

Here's what I add: (keep in mind this is not measured at all, just eyeballed

Olive oil (a couple tablespoons)

Red wine vinegar (1/4 cup)

Soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce (couple tablespoons)

Course ground kosher salt (2 tablespoons)

Sugar (1 tablespoon)

Pepper (2 teaspoons)

Season salt and onion powder (1 teaspoon each)

lots of chopped garlic

If I feel like it, a glob of dijon mustard and a squeeze of a lemon

Now leave the grilling to the men!

Beef and green bean stir fry

This recipe is an all time Blickenstaff favorite.  I never was good at making it, mostly because I never paid attention to what my mom was doing.  She made it all the time, she could probably have made it with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back.  My mom always made hers with flank steak, which gives is a little more umph, but then you gotta buy flank steak and cut it up.  When I was at my aunt's house the other week, she made the ground beef version.  Super fast and easy.  I always have ground beef on hand, so this time I paid attention.  It was so simple!  Now, she did skip a couple steps that my mom probably would freak out at if she knew, but hey it was worth the time crunch!

However much lean ground beef you feel like using, anywhere from a half pound to a full pound.  You can also sub in ground turkey or pork or chicken.

I put it in a bowl and drizzle soy sauce over the top (a few tablespoons) and about a teaspoon or two of sesame oil, then use a fork to break it up and get the soy sauce all mixed around.  Try to do this up to an hour before you get ready to cook.  The longer the meat marinates the better it tastes.

When you are ready to cook, heat about a teaspoon of vegetable oil in a pan and then crumble your meat and cook it up.  Remove from pan along with the gravy.  Then toss in your cleaned, trimmed green beans ( I cut them into about 1.5 inch pieces).  After about 2 minutes, pour in some water, anywhere from 1/4-1/2 cup and cover with the lid so they can steam and soften.  You don't want to cover them, just so you can see water all on the bottom of the pan.  When the water has evaporated and the beans are tender, take the lid off and (optional) add finely chopped garlic and/or ginger (this will make it spicier for the kids.  After a couple times I decided I liked ginger but not garlic).  Salt your beans and let them crisp up a bit, meanwhile take the gravy from your meat (should only be a couple tablespoons or so) and in a little bowl, make a slurry with about a teaspoon (or less) of cornstarch.  Toss the meat back in the pan and drizzle the slurry over top.  Cook for about 30 seconds til the sauce thickens and done!  Serve over rice.

If you want to make this with flank steak, just make sure to cut your meat on the bias, and make it nice and thin.  Same directions!  Now my mother would NEVER cook her beans in the same pot as the meat, she would blanch them first and then throw them in at the end.  This allows for a crispier bean, but in the end it doesn't make much of a difference and it saves a pot!  So we just won't tell her...

Most often she made it with broccoli, and sometimes she mixed it up with sugar snap or snow peas.  And sometimes carrots even got thrown in there for a bit more crunch and color!  For the peas, omit the steaming, they soften much quicker.  For broccoli I would blanch in a separate pot.