Moms Potato Salad

Everyone who has my moms potato salad loves it. I took it to a Memorial Day BBQ on Sunday and had 2 people ask me for the recipe. It's easy to make but there really isn't a recipe per say. I'll try my best though!

Ingredients:
5 pound bag of potatoes
6 hard boiled eggs (my mom said for this many potatoes she would use 8-10 eggs, but I only used 6)
2-3 stalks of celery, chopped
minced onion - how much depends on if you like onion. I'm not much of a fan so I only put in a handful
Hellman's mayonnaise (must be Hellman's)
yellow mustard
garlic salt
pepper

Directions:

Cook potatoes with skins on in a large pot of boiling water with salt until fork tender. Drain and peel skins once the potatoes are cool enough to handle. Cut potatoes into chunks and place in a large bowl.



Chop eggs, onion & celery and toss in with potatoes. Everything from here is added to taste. With this batch I ended up putting in about 6 heaping wooden spoonfuls of mayo. I would start out with a few, stir - then add more if you think it needs it. Add mustard, pepper & garlic salt - all to taste.

Give it a good stir and taste. Add more seasonings, taste. Repeat until you have a potato salad you are happy with. :)

Easy Fresh Tomato Sauce

(Last photo with my phone, I promise!)

This is a very basic and quick tomato sauce that you can alter to your tastes. I found this recipe a few years ago on allrecipes.com, where else?! I love allrecipes because you can read other people's reviews to see what they thought of the recipe and any changes they made. I've found a lot of great recipes on that site!

Basic ingredients:
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato puree
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large skillet over medium heat, cook onion in olive oil until translucent. Stir in tomatoes, cook until juice begins to thicken. Stir in puree, salt and pepper.

Here is where you should taste the sauce and see what you think it needs. I added oregano, italian seasoning, basil, about half the can of the puree. I also sauteed some mushrooms in butter and white wine and tossed in with the tomato sauce as well. Nothing was measured, just tasting as I went until I was happy with the end result. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes more, until rich and thick.

I served this sauce over a linguine I bought at Trader Joe's with toasted bread and a salad. Next time I think I would serve it over rigatoni instead. Enjoy!

Feta Bruschetta

(Jordan is out of town and took my camera with him so I only had my cell phone to take a picture with!)

I have had this bruschetta recipe from Quick Cooking for years. It's actually a recipe that I've forgotten about. I decided to make it as an appetizer for a ladies movie night with some friends. This turned out alright, but I thought it needed a little more flavor. I used dried basil because the grocery store didn't have any fresh stuff. I also had to use minced garlic out of the jar because my fresh garlic had gone bad but I didn't realize that until I was already in the process of making this. I really think that is why it wasn't as flavorful as I remember this recipe being. So if you make this one, make sure to use fresh basil and garlic!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup olive oil
10-20 slices french bread, about 1 inch thick (not too thick or it's hard to eat)
1 package (4 oz) crumbled feta cheese
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoons minced fresh basil or 1 tsp dried basil
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine butter and oil; brush onto both sides of bread. Place on baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Combine the feta cheese, garlic and basil; sprinkle over toast. Top with tomato. Bake 8-10 minutes longer or until heated through. Serve warm.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

We don't eat cheesecake very often, maybe once or twice a year. But if I'm making cheesecake this is the only recipe I use. I found it on allrecipes.com several years ago but I make a few changes. It is so yummy and it turns out nicely every time.

Ingredients:

Crust ingredients (these are doubled to make a thicker crust, I think the butter could have been less than the 1/2 cup)
2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
6 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 - 1/2 cup butter, melted

1 jar seedless raspberry jam
2 cups white chocolate chips
1/2 cup half-and-half cream
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix together cookie crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.



Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water (I used a double boiler), melt white chocolate chips with half-and-half, stirring occasionally until smooth.




In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in vanilla and melted white chocolate.



I bake my cheesecake in a water bath. This helps it cook evenly and not crack. Wrap your pan in foil. I used two sheets - you want to make sure water doesn't leak inside your pan. Pour half of batter over crust. Warm raspberry jam in microwave for 30 seconds. Spoon 3 tablespoons raspberry sauce over batter.



Pour remaining cheesecake batter into pan, and again spoon 3 tablespoons raspberry sauce over the top. Swirl batter with the tip of a knife to create a marbled effect.



Place pan into a deep baking dish - 9x13 or larger if you have it. Fill with warm/hot water until it's about halfway up your pan. Bake for 60 minutes, or until filling is set. To test for doneness, shake the pan gently - the very center of the cake should jiggle just slightly.

Turn oven off and let cheesecake sit in oven for about an hour. Open oven door and let sit in oven for another 30 minutes. Let finishing cooling on counter. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight before removing from pan. Cooling too quickly is what makes the cheesecake crack and I've never had them crack this way.

Spicy Orange Garlic Shrimp - Spaghetti

The Pioneer Woman is one of my favorite food blogs. I've tried a lot of her recipes and I can't think of one I didn't like. About a month ago (I know, I'm behind on posting!!) I made a recipe Spicy Orange Garlic Shrimp from her blog. I was planning on serving with white rice and sauteed mushrooms & onions but in the middle of cooking I realized I didn't have any white rice. Yikes! So I thought I'd serve the shrimp over pasta instead. As I was plating everything I decided to just toss the sauteed mushrooms, green peppers, & onions in with the pasta and shrimp.

I was pleased with the results, considering I was throwing stuff together as I went - Jordan was very pleased. :) He loves sauteed mushrooms and kept raving about this meal. The shrimp are very flavorful and would be great as an appetizer. Definitely give this one a try!

Ingredients:
1 bag frozen raw shell-on shrimp
3/4 cup orange juice
2-4 cloves of garlic
3 Tablespoons butter
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 tsp old bay seasoning - I didn't have old bay seasoning so I used Creole seasoning instead - might have made my dish a bit spicier.. :)

Directions:

Rinse shrimp under warm water until thawed. Peel shell & tail off shrimp and let shrimp dry on paper towel.

Thinly slice garlic cloves and combine with orange juice. Add spices to the orange juice/garlic mixture and stir to combine.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter over high heat. Once the butter has melted add the shrimp to the pan.



Cook for about 1 minute and then flip all the shrimp over. After another minute the shrimp should be cooked through.



Remove the shrimp from the pan and turn up the heat to high.

Once it starts smoking a bit add the orange juice mixture. Give it a stir and add the last tablespoon of butter.

Cook for a few minutes until the sauces is a bit thicker. Add cooked shrimp back to the sauce and stir until all shrimp are coated with the sauce. I kept them in there so the shrimp were warmed back up.



You can eat them just as they are, served with rice or served over pasta.

I served mine over pasta with sauteed mushrooms, green peppers and onions.