Weekend BBQ

This past weekend my family came to visit so we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and I put together a number of salads to go with the meal. Because of the hustle and bustle of getting everyone fed, I didn't get pictures of everything, but my menu was as follows:

• Burgers and hot dogs on the grill
• Corn on the cob on the grill
• Fruit salad
• Loaded baked potato salad
• Antipasto salad
• Apple pie for dessert

I did not get a picture of the Loaded Baked Potato Salad, but everyone raved about it - the flavors were phenomenal. Here is the recipe:

Loaded Baked Potato Salad
(Source: The Country Kitchen)

6 medium baking potatoes (about 2 pounds)
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup mayonnaise
8 slices bacon, crisply cooked, drained and chopped
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Thinly sliced green onions (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Scrub potatoes thoroughly and pat dry. Prick potatoes. Bake 50-60 minutes or until tender. Remove potatoes from oven; cool completely.

2. Combine sour cream and mayonnaise in a small bowl. Chop bacon and red onion; add to sour cream mixture with the shredded cheddar. Stir in salt and pepper; cover and refrigerate.

3. Coarsely chop potatoes into 1/2-inch pieces. Place in a large bowl; fold in sour cream mixture. Cover and refrigerate 4-6 hours or overnight. Garnish with sliced green onions and shredded cheddar cheese, if desired.

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I put together my antipasto salad on the fly and this is what I ended up using:

Antipasto Salad
(Source: Sugar & Spice)

1/2 lb. hard salami, cubed
1/2 lb. pepperoni, cubed
1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese, cubed
1/2 lb. provolone cheese, cubed
Small can artichoke hearts, quartered
Jar medium-sized green olives, drained
Can of large black olives, drained
Good Seasons Italian salad dressing (about 1/3 cup)

Combine all ingredients and let sit for at least 1 hour before serving to allow flavors to combine.

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My Grandma was sweet enough to have brought me a present when she came to visit, so I wanted to show it off here! She bought me the cutest pumpkin pie plate, with a cover. The bottom of the plate as an old-fashioned recipe for pumpkin pie. This is perfect for pie, or even as a fall candy dish! So cute :)

Itsy Bitsy, Teenie Weenie...

Meatloaves!

(sorry for the dark pics tonight)

A classic American dish with more varieties than Heinz 57 (yes, a shameless plug for my hometown!). These individual-sized meatloaves cooked up significantly faster than a large traditional meatloaf and the seasoning mix made them taste like huge meatballs! An additional benefit is having leftovers ready to go and not needing to be sliced up.

I served these with garlic mashed potatoes - the recipe is also posted below.

Teeny Tiny Italian Meatloaves
(adapted from Amber's Delectable Delights)

1 lb. ground beef
1 egg, beaten
1 cup spaghetti sauce, divided
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Italian style breadcrumbs
1/4 onion, grated
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt & pepper to taste

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Gently mix 3/4 cup spaghetti sauce with the remaining ingredients.

3) Divide into four equal portions and form into desired shape. Place onto greased baking pan.

4) Smother each loaf with remaining spaghetti sauce and top with extra mozzarella cheese.

5) Bake for 40-50 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.


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Garlic Mashed Potatoes
(source: Sugar & Spice)

4 medium sized red potatoes (about 3.5 cups cubed), scrubbed
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper to taste

1) Cube potatoes and place in pot with peeled garlic cloves. Cover with water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes; drain.

2) Place in a bowl with remaining ingredients and mash or beat with electric mixer.

Meat, Spuds & Dessert!

Tonight for dinner I made meatloaf, potatoes and green beans. The meatloaf recipe I used was the same as I have previously posted (see Meatloaf post - I even added a picture!). I really like this recipe, and this time instead of chopping an entire onion I decided to grate 1/4 of a large onion. I love the flavor of onion, but didn't really like the chunks of onion that I had last time. I love this modification and will continue to use it in the future.

Instead of making plain old mashed potatoes to go along with the meatloaf, I tried my hand at twice baked potatoes. I had never made them before, but I think they turned out great and Nick really liked them! They were a little bit of work but I'd definitely make them again.


Ultimate Twice Baked Potatoes

2 large baking potatoes
4 slices bacon
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, divided
4 green onions, sliced, divided (I didn't have any so I ommitted these)

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees.

2. Bake potatoes in preheated oven for 1 hour.

3. Cook bacon, crumble and set aside.

4. When potatoes are done allow them to cool for 10 minutes. Slice potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop the flesh into a large bowl; save skins. To the potato flesh add sour cream, milk, butter, salt, pepper, 1/2 cup cheese and 1/2 the green onions. Mix with a hand mixer until well blended and creamy. Spoon the mixture into the potato skins. Top with remaining cheese, green onions and bacon.

5. Bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Source: Allrecipes.com (I halved the original recipe posted)

The green beans I made were extremely simple - a bag of Steamfresh cut green beans nuked in the microwave and then seasoned with butter and salt. Nothing to write home about ;-)

Since we had a relatively heavy dinner with the mealoaf and potatoes I wanted to make something light for dessert. I was thinking of something with either angel food cake or pound cake and decided to go back to a recipe that I made once before from Kraft Food & Family and it was a hit!


Angel Lush with Pineapple

1 pkg (4 serving size) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
1 cup thawed Cool Whip
1 pkg (10 oz) round angel food cake
10 small fresh strawberries

MIX dry pudding mix and pineapple with its juice in medium bowl. Gently stir in Cool Whip. Let stand 5 minutes until thickened.

CUT cake horizontally into three layers. Place bottom cake layer, cut side up, on serving plate; top with 1-1/3 cups of the pudding mixture. Cover with middle cake layer and additional 1 cup of the remaining pudding mixture. Top with remaining cake layer; spread top with the remaining pudding mixture.

REFRIGERATE at least 1 hour. Top with strawberries just before serving. Store leftover dessert in refrigerator.

**EDIT: We had about half of this leftover after dinner, so I cut it into individual slices and wrapped in Glad Press n' Seal Freezer and then put them into a Ziploc freezer bag. They froze and thawed out perfectly! I think I'll definitely keep this around and in the freezer during the summer.

Source: Kraft Food & Family

Steak & Potatoes

Nothing like good old American cooking! I had a flank steak in the freezer that I wanted to use so I did a basic dry rub on it and grilled it on my grill pan and served it with some steak fries and green beans. Everything was super easy to make!


Flank Steak Rub:
1 T. salt
2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt.


Baked Steak Fries

These turned out just like my grandma's roasted potato wedges from Sunday dinner, but just a bit crispier. They were really good! I wish I would have had a sauce to dip them in!

2 russet potatoes
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. seasoned salt

1. Place potatoes in large bowl; add cold water to cover. Let stand 15 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.

3. Drain potatoes. Spread on a layer of paper towels. Cover with another layer of paper towels. Press to dry.

4. Move potatoes to clean large bowl. Sprinkle with oil and seasonings, toss to combine. Arrange seasoned potatoes in a single layer on baking sheet.

5. Bake for 40 minutes until golden (turning 1/2 way through).


Green Beans with Garlic

I just threw this one together quickly, but Nick said they tasted great and he really liked them! I simply boiled about 12 oz. (estimated from a big bag) of fresh green beans for about 4 minutes once they got back up to a boil. While they were boiling I sweated (on med low heat) 2 cloves of minced garlic in 2 tsp. of olive oil. When the green beans were done I used a slotted spoon to take them out and moved them to the skillet with the oil and garlic and just tossed and served!