Greek Potato Salad

This salad reminds me of the salad I used to make at Whole Food Market. Obviously, I do not recall the Whole Food market recipe since it has been 5 years since I have worked there. I do remember that it is made with red potatoes and I think they used the Greek dressing made in their commissary. Since I don't have a huge kitchen that makes fancy dressings for me, I used the old oil and lemon juice recipe. This is relative easy to make.

Gather together:

• 1.5 lbs of red potatoes
• 1 medium red onion (I used yellow b/c it was all I had)--thinly sliced
• 1 jar pitted Kalamata olives--They were $11 in the DLG***
• Cherry Tomatoes (I didn't have any so no tomatoes in this salad)
• feta cheese
  
• juice from 2 lemons
  
• olive oil (or canola oil--once again, this is what I had on had)
• Cavenders Greek seasoning (Salt-Free)--BUY THIS STUFF, IT IS AWESOME!
• Parsley--chopped
  
• salt and pepper to taste

Boil or steam the potatoes until tender, about 10-15 minutes. While those are working, make the dressing. Add the seasoning to the lemon juice. Slowly whisk the oil until it thickens. This amount will very depending on the amount of lemon juice you have. Add the onions, olives, tomatoes and parsley. Drain the potatoes and allow to cool. I put mine in the freezer for about 10 minutes. (I am not so worried about the ice cream that is probably getting ruined by putting hot potatoes on it. Here is my confession, I don't really care for ice cream. It's sick I know.) Once the potatoes are cool, mix them in to the dressing. Crumble with feta cheese on top and add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to chill about a half hour before serving.


This salad is really flavorful and super easy to make. And if you haven't about some of this Greek seasoning, you really should. I put it on french fries, fried potatoes, fry bread, hamburgers, chicken and all other things good. You will love this stuff.

***I also wanted to note that the olives were not pitted and I had to do it by hand. The rest of the country can get pitted olives that are under $11 dollar, not here in DLG.

Cranberry Almond Chip Cookies

I jazzed up my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe because I was bored one day. I love almond and wished I would have put actual almonds in the cookie, rather than just extract. Learn from my mistake! Otherwise, these were pretty good. Something a little different but still tastes like a chocolate chip cookie.

Cranberry Almond Chip Cookie

1 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extact

1 tsp baking soda (dissolved in 2 tsp hot water)

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups flour

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (or so)

1/2 cup cranberries (or so)

Preheat oven to 350. 

Cream butter and sugars until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time (not sure why this is important, but I always do it this way).  Stir in vanilla and almond extracts. Add baking soda (dissolved in water) and salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and cranberries. 

Put large spoonfuls on baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Rosemary Focaccia

I have a new super power. I make bread on my lunch break. It's pretty super. I took the recipe from the Betty Crocker cook book. I think I might try to make bread everyday for a week...Not this week. Maybe next. People around here do love their sourdough. Maybe I should make a starter... And while you wait here is the recipe for the Rosemary Focaccia.

Gather toogether:

• 1 cup warm water
  
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 1/2-3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
  
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed (optional)
  
• 1 tablespoon rosemary--crunched up
• 1tsp honey
  

Put the yeast in the warm water with the honey. Allow the yeast to bubble for about 5 minutes. In your kitchen aid mixer bowl (with the bread hook attached to the mixer) add 1 c. of the flour, salt, sugar, rosemary and olive oil. Once the yeast has done its thing then add that to the flour mixture and mix on medium for 3 minutes. Slowly add more flour and flax seed. Keep mixing until the dough pulls from the sides (that means makes one big lump). Pull the dough out and knead the dough for 6-8 minutes. You could let the dough hook do this, but I like the way warm dough feels. It's therapeutic. Put the kneaded dough in a greased bowl and allow to double. This takes about an hour maybe longer if your house is drafty.
(notice the pretty flax seed in the dough--pretty and healthy too!)

Once the dough has doubled punch it down and cut in to 2 pieces. Shape the dough on to 2 greased cookie sheets. Allow to double again--this time for about 30 minutes. Make indentations in the dough with your fingers about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top (or garlic powder) Bake for 15-20 minutes in a 400 degree oven. (Do not accidentally put the oven on broil--it will burn the bottom of the bread. This will make you sad. At least, it made me sad. )

Eat. Between Aaron, Saramay and myself we ate one whole loaf. It wasn't completely burned on the bottom, just crustier on the top. It was still pretty good.

Strawberry Cupcakes

I made these for Easter. This was a pretty simple recipe. It's not a hardcore homemade strawberry cake, as it has Jello in it, but I'm not going to judge it for that. The flavor was good and didn't taste incredibly artificial despite the Jello. The frosting was really the best part of this cupcake (isn't it always?). It's a cream cheese buttercream and oh so good.

Southern Style Strawberry Cupcakes (from Ezra Pound Cake) 

• 1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix (I used Funfetti because it was all I had. It was festive.)
• 1 (3-ounce) box strawberry-flavored instant gelatin
• 1 (15-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed (I pureed a container of fresh strawberries. The cake was still plenty sweet without the syrup strawberries.)
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup water

Prehead the oven to 350. Line your muffin pans with cupcake papers. In a large bowl combine the cake mix and gelatin.  Add strawberries, oil, and water and beat until smooth. Divide the batter into the cups. Bake for roughly 20 minutes. 

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting (also from Ezra)

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup strawberry puree (Measure it from the leftover puree you made for the batter.)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Up to 7 cups confectioners’ sugar

Beat butter and cream cheese until creamy. Beat in the strawberry puree and vanilla until smooth. Start adding confectioners' sugar until you reach the desired consistency. 

Bread Pudding With Bourbon Sauce

The last of the Derby day feast is the bread pudding with bourbon sauce. (see I told you had other plans for that $65 bourbon) This stuff is pretty good. I think I would have liked more of the milk and egg mixture to make it more custardy. But the sauce, that sauce is awesome. I envision a world where in I can swim in this stuff. I wanna put it on pancakes, french toast and ice cream.

Here's is the recipe:
1 pound French style bread
3 1/4 cups milk
5 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup pecans--I didn't have any more of these :(
1/4 cup raisins ( I soaked mine in bourbon overnight)

Sauce:
1 cup granulated sugar
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp. bourbon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. white corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla

Tear bread into medium pieces. Add sugar and cinnamon. Mix milk, lightly beaten eggs and vanilla. Add to bread mixture. Place half of the mix in a casserole dish. Layer pecans and raisins, if used. Top with the rest of the mix. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

To make sauce, combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil for one minute. The baking soda will make it foam up, just watch it so it doesn't boil over. Serve warm with warm bread pudding.

Mint julep bourbon balls

The drink of choice at derby time is the Mint Julep. The candy of choice in Kentucky is the bourbon ball and thus enters the Mint julep bourbon balls. Being the person I am, I made a few changes. I rolled the balls in cocoa powder. Normally, bourbon balls are dipped in chocolate, but I lack chocolate chips. And did I mention that the bourbon was $65? Yes, that's right. That's the kind of prices that I have to deal with. You can imagine I don't buy this kind of stuff very often. I also have other plans for the bourbon, but I digress.

gather together

2 1/2 c Vanilla wafer crumbs
1 c Sifted powdered sugar
1 c Finely chopped pecans or
-walnuts
3 tb Light corn syrup
1/4 c Bourbon
1/4 c White creme de menthe

Makes 50 to 60 balls

Crush vanilla wafers until fine and mix with powdered sugar and nuts
in a large bowl. Add corn syrup, bourbon and creme de menthe. Mix
well and form into balls.

If desired, roll in additional powdered
sugar or cocoa powder. Let mellow at room temperature for 24 hours ( I have no idea what this means--I put them in the fridge to firm up a bit. Store in tightly in a closed container.

Margarita Cake with Tequlia Lime frosting

I have been wanting to make this for some time. Yes, it is a boxed cake mix. No, I do not feel bad. It smelled so good while I was baking it. You can find the cake recipe on Better Crocker.com

1 1/2	cups coarsely crushed pretzels
1/2	cup sugar
1/2	cup butter or margarine, melted
1	box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
1 1/4	cups bottled nonalcoholic margarita mix
1/3	cup vegetable oil
1	tablespoon grated lime peel
3	egg whites
	Additional grated lime peel, if desired

	Print these coupons...
	About Concordance™

.	Heat oven to 350°F (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with shortening and lightly flour (or spray bottom with baking spray with flour). In medium bowl, mix pretzels, sugar and butter. Sprinkle evenly on bottom of pan; press gently.
.	In large bowl, beat cake mix, margarita mix, oil, 1 tablespoon lime peel and the egg whites with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter over pretzel mixture.
	Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until light golden brown and top springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool completely, about 2 hours. The Tequila Lime Frosting Recipe 1/4 cup butter, softened 1 tbsp milk 3 tbsp lime juice 1 tbsp tequila 2+ cups confectioners' sugar Cream together butter, milk, lime juice, tequila, and 2 cups of confectioners' sugar. Add in more sugar as needed to make frosting stiff, but spreadable. In my cake, I omit the pretzel crust and just sprinkle the tequila frosting with pink sea salt.