Homemade Tater Tots with Honey Mustard Dip

Mmkay, so, I actually got this recipe from Melissa D'Arabian's show, $10 dinners, and kind of adapted it a little to suit my family more. In her recipe she uses just sweet potato, and fries them. I use a combination of sweet and russet potatoes, and I bake them...

Also, I would like to admit I'm a moron, and forgot to take the pictures of the ingredients before I used them.

Sooo, For the tots, you will need:

3 good sized potatoes, whole
2 sweet potatoes, whole
2 slices of bacon
1, maybe 2 tablespoons flour
Salt & Pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400°. Par-boil your potatoes. Par-boiling is just part-cooking your potatoes. Place your potatoes in a big pot, cover with water, add about a tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil. Let boil for about 15 minutes, then drain and let cool. While your potatoes are boiling, brown your bacon. Cut your bacon into little chunks and brown in a small pan over medium heat. This only takes a few minutes. Be sure to stir it, as you don't want it to burn.  Drain bacon. You don't need all the grease, drain it on a paper towel, once it's cooled, chop the crispy bacon into smaller pieces, like bacon bits for a salad. Grate potatoes.  Once your potatoes have cooled enough to hold, use a box grater to grate them up, skins and all. I grated mine directly on top of a clean tea towel, so I could fold it over and press out any excess water from the shredded potato. Like this:

Combine. Combine all of your potatoes with the bacon in a large bowl, add salt and pepper. [Remember what I said about seasoning your food!] Start by adding just a tablespoon of the flour and see how it comes together, you can always add more if you need it, but you can't take it out if you put too much. Same with the olive oil. The mixture will be sticky until the flour and olive oil are added, then it should be easier to work with. Mix the ingredients with your hands, you don't want to mix them with a spoon and make them into mush. You want to keep the shreds in tact as much as possible. Shape. Start making your tot shapes. I used a rectangular length of tin foil, as I was out of saran wrap [cling film] but I would advise using that, over tin foil, if you have some. I placed the mixture to start forming a log...

Then, used the tin foil to help roll it into a log shape...

Then, I just unwrap it carefully, and cut the logs into smaller logs. Add a small amount of olive oil to the bottom of a sheet pan, and then place your tots in the pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

This recipe is a little long with the different steps, but it's totally worth it, and it's fun to do!

Now, for the dipping sauce. It's REALLY easy, especially if you're like me and have all of these ingredients on hand at all times anyway...

You will need:

3tbs Mayo, 1 tbs Dijon Mustard, 1tbs Honey

Combine in a bowl, and Voi La!

Here is a picture of a picky [yet cute] 4-year-old, unknowingly eating something healthy for him...

God, he's cute. :]

Thank you, Melissa D'Arabian! And happy cooking, everyone! :]

Roasted Veggies, etc.

Sooo, I've been pretty slack the past week, and have only cooked once since the brat pizza. Well, twice if you count tonight. In my defense, I work four nights a week.

Anyway, today I wanted to talk about making a side dish that's low maintenance, cheap, delish, and pretty fast, too.

We are talking about a full tray of roasted vegetables! [Yum!] The great thing about this recipe, is not only that I remember seeing my grandmothers cooking in this very same way, and my mother for that matter-- But it's versatile. You can add or subtract to any ingredients that I have used on this particular night. So, here's what you'll need:

Onion, Cauliflower, Celery, Broccoli, Cilantro

PLEASE keep in mind that these are just veggies that I happened to have on hand at the time. I'm stealing a quote from Rachael Ray here, but, I don't think she'll mind... I'm just trying to teach you a method with these ingredients, you can use the same ones as me if you want to, you can use whatever ones look good that day.

Okay... For my family I serve one potato per person, and kind of work the other vegetables around that.
So, here I have,

7 potatoes, chopped [peeled first if desired]
1onion, SLICED [NOT chopped]
3 stalks celery, cut into sticks
1/2 head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 broccoli crown, cut into florets
Couple tablespoons olive oil
Salt and Pepper

I used some fresh cilantro in mine, but if you don't like it, don't use it. If you like rosemary, or dill, or thyme, or parsley, or nothing that's fine, too.

Mmkay,

Preheat your oven to 450°. Prep all your vegetables. If you're not too sharp with your knife skills, it'll take a little while, maybe 10 or 15 minutes. It just so happens that chopping is one of my favorite parts about cooking, so I don't mind the prep time. Your main goal in this step is to just chop everything around the same size, so that everything cooks at the same time. Don't forget to take into account how thick or thin some of them are, the celery, for instance.

 Throw all of your veggies into a bowl, or on a sheet pan. Cover in the olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Now, please, let me take a minute to talk about seasoning. You need to season your food. Don't put a tiny pinch of salt on alllll of those vegetables. There's no point. You won't taste it. I think I used around a tablespoon of salt, and about half that amount of pepper on my veggies. Mix. Make sure all your veggies have olive oil, s&p covering them. Put in oven. Cook for 20-30 minutes. You can open it up and turn them around half way through, if you like. If you forget, no big deal.

I made mine with cilantro marinated pork chops. And I was going to share my recipe for Yorkshire puddings this week, but I'm an idiot and mixed up my flours, using self rising flour instead of AP, and they turned out more like muffins, LOL. :] I made a gravy, too, but I'll save all of those for a different blog.


REMEMBER: You don't have to use what I used. If you like rutabaga, or jalapenos, or carrots or turnips use them!.. Whatever you like!

Happy cooking! :]

Bratwurst Pizza

Sounds weird, right? Welp, don't judge it until you try it, it's flippin' delicious!

You will need::

Pizza Dough. I used whole wheat dough.

Pasta Sauce, and one can of beer.

Olive oil, salt and pepper

Mozzarella Cheese

Bratwurst

Poblano pepper, sliced [Or any pepper you like]

Onion, sliced

Mmkay, You're going to start by preheating your oven, and pizza stone, if you have one, to 450 degrees. [If you don't have a pizza stone, I suggest preheating a cookie sheet/sheet pan.] Then, coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil, and throw the bratwursts in. Slowly poor in the can of beer, and turn the heat on medium-high to high heat. Let the liquid come to a boil, and completely evaporate. It takes around 8-10 minutes. And looks kinda like this...

 

Once all the liquid is gone, start browning the brats on each side, and add the onions and peppers to one side of the pan, like this...

 

<-After evaporation

         V After adding onions and peppers

 After the brats have browned on each side, take them out, and set aside to rest. This also gives the onions and peppers more room to groove. Oh, and P.S. You wanna make sure that once the liquid has evaporated, to turn the heat down to medium. While those are working, You'll want to roll out your pizza dough. I use my hands at first to stretch it out a bit, and then flour my counter to prevent sticking, and roll it out to the size I want it with a rolling pin.

Now, it's just a matter of building your pizza, which is pretty self explanatory, but for those of you who need a step by step guide.. Continue reading...

Cut your bratwursts into bite-sized pieces. Carefully remove the pizza stone [or sheet pan] from the oven, and put on your stove top. Place the pizza dough flat onto the stone/sheet. Start building your pizza with as much or as little sauce as you like.Then start placing the brats onto the dough, after that, add the onions and peppers, and finally the cheese...

AAAAAANNNNDDD, the final product looks something liiiiike THIS...

 

 

 

Yummy!

 

And here's a cute baby enjoying the hell outta some bratwurst pizza.

 

And, dudes, remember my rules. If you don't like brats, use Italian sausage, or hot dogs for all I care. If you don't want to use a tomato based sauce, you could use an alfredo, or a pesto would be awesome... If you don't like onions or peppers, try whatever you want. Broccoli, asparagus, WHATEVER! Make it your own, and have fun doing it!

 

Happy Cooking! :]

What Do I Do Now?

So, I'm starting a blog. Mostly about food, 'cause I love cooking. But, I'm pretty random, so, it probably wont just be all recipes and food photos.  Here are some basics about me and the stuff I like, food-wise and other-wise....
                                                       

Me trying to be cute

Firstly, I'm Ellie. [Duh.]
I have four bellies [other than my own] to feed, sometimes more. I have kind of a sailor mouth at times. [Sorry about that...] Bread is my favorite, I can't get enough. I love veggies, and my kids do, too. They're not so hot on fruit. [I know how weird that sounds.]
I come from a big family. My extended family is huge. I have three siblings myself, and dinner was always eaten together, as a family- EVERY night. We do the same for our kids, too. When I hear of people that have kids and "don't know how to cook" besides something like Spaghetti-O's, I honestly ponder that information for a second and think ".....Really?! How is it possible? What do your kids EAT??" Have no fear! I am now here for all of you non-cooking folk. My recipes are kid approved, and not necessarily MY recipes, but that's okay. Most of the time I get inspiration from TV or magazines or cook books, like normal people. But there are some key things you need to remember...

• Adjust according to YOUR taste

If you're watching the TV and Rachael Ray is on with her 30 Minute Meals, and you think to yourself, "Dang, those breaded chicken cutlets look fucking awesome! I'm going to make those!" But, then you get discouraged because she pours a mushroom gravy on top and you're all like, "Ew, I hate mushrooms!" ...Guess what? You don't have to make mushroom gravy to go on those delicious chicken cutlets! Rachael Ray isn't going to come and find you and kick your ass for not wanting to use her recipe by it's exact specifications.

•  Pretty isn't always better

If it's burnt, don't worry about it. Burt [in my opinion, depending how bad] isn't always bad.
If it's slopped out all over the place, don't stress it. We're not writing a cook book, you're family doesn't care what it looks like [though, might be impressed if you DO make something pretty.] Some of the ugliest things I've plopped on a plate were the most delicious... And, you'll probably see as we continue on this journey, that my stuff is not always visually appealing. I don't care. It tastes good, and my family eats it. My job is done.

• Don't have it? Use something else

So many times, I have set out to make something, started cooking the main ingredients, to then find out that I'm out of an ingredient. For example: An Asparagus Pizza recipe I was making the other day called for Fontina Cheese. But, if you can't find Fontina, or don't want to spend the money on Fontina, or just don't LIKE Fontina... Don't flippin' use Fontina! Use Mozzarella or cheddar, or heck sliced American for all I care. [I wouldn't use sliced American...] But if that's what you like, USE it! If you have kids and you know they're going to like it, USE IT!

• Kids learn from their parents

Whenever I share photos of my food on my Facebook page, so many other parents ask me what the secret is to getting my kids to eat vegetables.... Sorry to disappoint, but there is no secret. I make them what I make them, they have two choices. They can either eat it, or not. But they don't get anything else. It may sound cruel to someone who hasn't tried it, but I have a house with three boys who eat all kinds of greens. Also, Don't make it an option. This is not mom's short order cook session. Don't make 3 different meals for 4 people. Don't make vegetables for you, but not put any on your kids plate because they "won't eat it". Just something to think about...

So, now that the boring, awkward intro bit is over, I guess we'll start with the recipes and stuff.

Happy Cooking! :]