Sliced Baked Potatoes

Recipe: Sliced Baked Potatoes

Source: Great American Recipes

http://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_31/2006/OCT/41248.html

Time: 1:15

Ease: 3

Taste: 5

Leftover Value: 2

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Down the Drain!

I love potatoes.  I have always loved potatoes.  I remember telling my second grade teacher that I wanted to eat mashed potatoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  She told me that I would get tired of eating them after a while.  I didn't believe her.  I couldn't imagine how anyone could ever tire of the buttery goodness that is mashed potatoes.

But just in case she was right, it's a good thing I never tried it.

Because I still love potatoes, and my heart would be broken if I didn't.  

Mashed.  Baked.  Scalloped.  Smashed.  Fried.  

It doesn't matter.  They all make my heart sing.

This particular potato, of this particular recipe, sadly left a little more to be desired.  It is my future hope to come up with a fabulous rendition of this "Down the Drain" recipe that will transform it into a "Keep it in the Strainer" option.

*And perhaps, this is the sparking of a new idea for this blog: "Down the Drain" recipes become "Keep it in the Strainer" ones?  I'm loving the sound of it.

The start of this recipe makes it seem a rather serious task.  After cutting or peeling off undesirable parts of your potatoes, make slices across the short side of the potato spacing them only about a quarter of an inch.

While I disliked this recipe, it did teach me how to make this slicing action happen.  Whenever I learn something that I can use in the kitchen, success has been found.

Place a spoon face down on your cutting board and its handle will act as a stopper for the blade.  This way you don't end up cutting your potato into chunks instead of a still attached sliced potato.

There were a few slices that went a little too far, creating hinged pieces in my potato (see following picture).  Next time I'm going to try sliding the highest point of the spoon's handle with me as I go along with the knife.

Place the sliced potatoes into a baking dish.  Open them up a little, but not too much or the areas you cut too far in will stick out like a sore thumb just like.....oh yes, the potato that is front and center in this shot.

Here's a mini confession: I love red potatoes.  Sometimes, I will just completely ignore all other potatoes in the grocery store.  I know, I need to broaden my horizons, but red potatoes have never steered me wrong.

Sprinkle the potatoes with a little salt.

This part.  Ah, this part.  It makes me wonder how these potatoes didn't instantly transform into delicious mountains of goodness.

Drizzle 2-3 T of melted butter over each potato.

The recipe gives you the option of sprinkling 2 to 3 T of chopped fresh herbs or 2-3 tsp of dried herbs.  I went with a dried mixture because I didn't have anything fresh on hand.

Bake in a oven that has been preheated to 425 for 50 minutes.

Then sprinkle with 4 T cheddar cheese and 2 T Parmesan cheese.

Hello fresh Parmesan cheese.  I love you.  I'm sorry I wasted you on this recipe.  But it was for the sake of experimentation.

My gut says, 'We need more cheese'.  Definitely.  We will have more cheese next time around.

Place potatoes back in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes.

If I was rating this recipe on looks alone, I'd give myself a 10 for delicious looking factor.

Maybe it was a bad batch of potatoes.  (But they're red, so how could it be?)  But maybe not.  There is a future for this recipe, just not the one that currently exists.  Keep your eyes open for its come back.

Egg-less Chocolate Chip Cookies: Take Two

Recipe: Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: All Recipes
Time: 40 minutes
Ease: 2
Taste: 9*
Leftover Value: 10*
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer:

*Hubby says they have a strange after taste.  I say that Hubby is the strange one.



Egg-less cookies are no stranger to the Orange Strainer.  You might recall my post last year about egg-less cookies I made for Hubby's boss:

Last year's egg-less chocolate chip cookies

For the same reason, a combined effort of needing to busy myself with baking and wanting to send a little treat to Hubby's boss/coworkers, I baked up another batch of egg-less cookies.  This recipe was a little different as it involved the use of yogurt.

Can I take a moment to say that this is my favorite use for yogurt, ever?  Substituting it for sour cream with nachos/tacos is probably my second favorite.  Eating it by itself is just gross.

I used Greek yogurt because that's the kind of yogurt I had in my refrigerator.  You can use whatever you want.  I've even used cherry yogurt to give my cookies a cherry flavor.  Yum!

But enough with the healthier ingredients.

Thank heavens there is some of this goodness involved:

I don't think I could live with myself if I found butter-less cookies.

Cream brown sugar, white sugar, butter, and shortening together.

One of my favorite sights:

Add the yogurt:

and the vanilla:

Stir to combine.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt:

and mix into the creamy mixture until smooth.

Dump in the chocolate chips,

and exercise all the restraint within you to abandon the idea of making cookies and take the mixing bowl and a spoon to the couch and watch reruns of Real Housewives of New Jersey*

*Note: I never** watch Real Housewives of New Jersey, it just seemed the proper show to insert there.

**Note: Seriously, never.

The recipe says to grease some cookie sheets, but I discovered the miracle that is parchment paper last year and since then it's been no turning back.

At $5 a roll, it's money well spent.

1. My pans are always clean.

2. My cookies never need to be scraped off the pan.

That, my friends, is a win win situation.

It has been my attempt in life to find chocolate chip cookie recipes where my cookies do not come out flat as a pancake.

I think we have success:

They are perfect!  No pancakes here.

Although, pancakes are starting to sound good right about now...

You would never know that there aren't any eggs in them.  That is, of course, aside from the imagined after taste that Hubby says they have.

My favorite part of baking for others is coming up with a cute way to package my yummies.

Cookies make everything better.

Even a long day at the office.

Mac and Cheese That Is...wait for it...Healthy?!

Recipe: Healthy Mac and Cheese, with a twist
Source: Fitness Magazine
Time: 1 hour
Ease: 4
Taste: 9
Leftover Value: 9
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

I have made a lot of mac and cheese in my days as a wife, and even before that during my days as a college student.  Of course, it has not always been homemade.  In college, I thought nothing less of myself than to serve up mac and cheese from a box.  Today when I reach for that box of mac and cheese I always think, "You can do so much better".

Here's the catch.  Here's the reason that keeps me serving up boxed mac and cheese when it's 6:55 pm and I haven't started dinner yet and Hubby will be home in 20 minutes: Hubby loves boxed mac and cheese.  In fact, he constantly tells me that if he came home to hot dogs and boxed mac and cheese once a week for dinner, he would love it just as much as the semi-gourmet variety that I try to constantly set before him.

Hot dogs and mac and cheese...once a week?

My skin crawls at the thought.  It's almost as bad a thought as having a 'leftover night'.

I'm a snob, I know.  The first step to dealing with your issues is admittance, right?

The even stranger thing in this wacky world of mac and cheese is that any mac and cheese I have made without the box, Hubby has still preferred the box.  I was slightly offended, especially after I had made my slow cooker mac and cheese for Thanksgiving and my entire family tasted it then held hands and sang a song of thanks to the heavens for the deliciousness that was my mac and cheese.

Instead of sticking with this mac and cheese which all the normal people in the world said was perfection, I continued to seek out a homemade mac and cheese that would cause Hubby to resound my praises far and near.

I almost thought it couldn't be done.  Until we started this healthy kick to lose weight (20 pounds and counting...) and I scoured the internet for healthy mac and cheese recipes.

The secret to this delicious mac and cheese is Rocco's Secret Weapon.  Ordinary mac and cheese involves a lot of milk and sometimes, butter.  When flour is added to this it makes what is known as a Bechamel sauce  This adds texture to mac and cheese, but unfortunately with the additive of a lot of fat.

By the way, not to be a hypocrite or anything, I love fat.  I just don't love what it does to my thighs.

This puree is weird, it's smelly, but it works.

Cut up an onion, 9 cloves of garlic (ordinarily I use minced garlic because I always have that on hand), and 1/2 cup of water.  Place in a microwave safe bowl.

Here is where it gets a little strange, but I promise, well worth it.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and microwave for 10 minutes.

I never let mine go the total 10 minutes because of what starts to happen to the plastic wrap.

After it is done cooking in the microwave it should look something like this:

Next, blend it all together.  You can use whatever kitchen machinery you prefer to do this.  My preference is my immersion blender.

I absolutely love my immersion blender.  My life is complete now because of it.  I make the most delicious mashed potatoes with it, the smoothest smoothies, and this fabulous onion-garlic puree.

I'm planning to do a giveaway eventually of an immersion blender.  That's how much I love them.  Every kitchen in America should have one.

The onion-garlic puree can be made ahead of time and refrigerated.  I never do this, but I should because for as much as I love it, it is quite a process mixed in with the other steps of this recipe.

Start the recipe by boiling water.  This next step I added.  I recognize that it makes this 'healthy' mac and cheese a little less 'healthy' in a health nut's standards, but for me it makes it perfect (and without adding too many extra calories).

Fry some bacon.  I try to only fry four to six pieces.  Four for the mac and cheese, and two for me to nibble on.

Bacon.  The soul reason I could never be a vegetarian.

I ask you, is there a more enticing sight?

The answer is no.

If you're trying to be outrageously healthy, use whole wheat pasta.  I tend to hate whole wheat pasta because it tastes like cardboard rather than the glorious complex carbohydrate that it should be.

So sometimes I'll use the good stuff that wasn't too unhealthy in my grandma's day.

After the pasta is done cooking, using the same pot that the pasta was cooked in (because it's all about less dishes at the end of the night, right?) simmer the onion-garlic puree with 1/2 tsp of dry mustard and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Once combined, add one cup of shredded cheddar.  Wait a minute, this is healthy mac and cheese and all so make sure it is reduced-fat cheddar.

But I won't tell if you let some of the good stuff slip in though.

It'll be our secret.

When the consistency looks like this:

remove the pot from the heat.  Whisk in 1/3 cup of nonfat yogurt.

The recipe says to use the 'Greek' stuff, but any ole nonfat yogurt will work.

Once the sauce has reached a smooth consistency, toss the macaroni into the pot with the sauce.

*Note: If you've noticed that my pot changed, you would be right.  It has taken me several makings of this recipe to finally have pictures for the most important steps.  I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I left out the mixing of yogurt and cheese.  You understand, I'm sure.

Mix the macaroni and the sauce together until the macaroni is well coated.

You have two choices of what to do with your bacon.  What I do completely depends on my mood.  Sometimes, I'll mix it in with the macaroni and cheese.  Other times, I will pour half of the mac and cheese into the dish, top it with half of the bacon, then repeat.

Either way it will all flow together into a beautiful combination kissed from the angels in heaven above.

Pour the mixture into a baking dish that you already sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  (See again, healthy.  Most mac and cheese recipes will tell you to rub the dish down with, gasp, butter!)

Again, let me reiterate, butter is my friend.

I love butter.

Sprinkle a handful of Panko crumbs over the top, if you're into that sort of thing.  I find that it adds the perfect subtle crunch to the final product.

Then, sprinkle 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese.  I highly recommend using freshly grated Parmesan.  It is incredible.  Please, promise me you won't use the stuff that Kraft has pre-grated for you.  It is not the same.

P.S.  There is a time and place for everything.  I love my grated Parmesan cheese, but it does not belong on top of my mac and cheese.

Bake for 10-15 minutes at 425.

Oh my goodness.  It is the baked ziti of mac and cheeses!

This recipe makes four servings, a serving weighs in at 438 calories.  Put a little greens on your plate and you can feel content that you've eaten dinner for under 500 calories.

That is, so long as you only have one serving.

Which, tonight, I found it extremely hard to do.