Grilled Potatoes and Carrots

This is by no means an "original" recipe. I have seen variations of it at bar-b-ques and picnics, so I don't really know where the credit for it's tastiness should fall. It is however incredibly quick- incredibly tasty- and incredibly easy to make.

Potatoes
Baby Carrots
(any other veggies you may like)
Ranch Seasoning Packet (or 2!)

Wash and cut raw potatoes. I used approximately 8 medium-smallish Yukon golds, but any type/size will work. Just clean enough for your family. Boil potatoes for a few minutes to soften them. You don't want them mushy, just slightly cooked through so they will cook quicker on the grill. You can even do this ahead of time and have them in the fridge, ready to go whenever you are. (You don't have to pre-boil them, but they will definitely take longer to grill if you don't.)

Combine carrots and potatoes. Mix in 1 Ranch Dips packet (I used Hidden Valley). Sometimes I even throw in some salt and pepper.

Make a foil pouch and dump veggies on it. Roll up tight and take it to the grill.
Flip it a couple times to make sure it cooks evenly.

End result:

 yum

Canned vs. Martha Stewart

There was a comment left on my post about apple pie that amused me no end.  The Anonymous commenter had very obviously not read the recipe post, and furthermore, made the point of this blog more apparent to me.  The comment was: "pie filling from a can. way to go martha stewart. "  While I get that there are always people on the Internet that troll for the opportunity to be contrary and really should be ignored, I thought this was a great opportunity to explain why I began this blog.   

There is always room for easy cooking AND a little "Martha Stewart" or Emeril.

From every angle of our lives as women, homemakers, working women and moms, aunts, grandmothers, etc.  There are high expectations that either push us to frustration or make us just give up.  This is even more true when it comes to the kitchen.  This is so sad.  We are hard enough on our selves with out having to endure more fuel to our kitchen woes fire.  Food is what brings families together. In some families, it is all they do together.  If your choice for feeding your family is a bowl of cereal for dinner or eating out, every single night.... well, you're either trying so hard you can't live up to your expectations so you quit, or just not trying at all.  Yet you also don't need to spend hours cooking and creating, make a gorgeous center piece out of what once was belly button lint to add to an $80 meal your kids won't eat.



When I became a wife and mom, I knew how to make very few things.  Sure, I had enough basics to follow a recipe and I knew a few basic recipes by heart.  It wasn't until I began gaining the collective kitchen knowledge of the family my hubby and I had and our more artsy-foodie friends, that I began to realize how much variety and availability each household and situation has.  Not to mention the camaraderie in cooking with other women.  Some of my best friends have shared a kitchen and their table with me and I have been honored to have them at mine.  We can all learn from each other is we put aside those crazy expectations of perfection and just be one of the girls who knows her way around a kitchen.

Some nights you are on the run; some mornings you just don't feel like making a big fuss.  There are those days when you are so sick of coming up with lunch ideas that you want to scream and call the pizza guy.  Then you look at how much you've already called the pizza guy and how much you could have spent eating real food.  Here is a place you can grab an idea and whip something up that enriches your family, your health and your confidence as a homemaker.  Now, if you have time to make it look amazing, then more power to you.

A woman who loves to feed her family is a woman who thinks about other people and what is best for them.  The secret is she doesn't have to break her neck or the bank to do it.

So YEP!  Canned is great if that's what you've got.  Because, be it pie filling or veggies or cream of something casserole, it sure beats Del Taco for the umpteenth time this month, is more nutritious and your family will think you care about them... particularly if you make it look nice.  Think about it.  If you take your kids to a fancy restaurant, tell them to order cheap or split a meal so you can eat nice, it isn't the same as making that same meal in the all you can eat form for 8 people at the cost of one plate at the restaurant.  That makes your kids and hubby happy and you have more money left to do an activity with your family.

I have a load of recipes that make my family feel loved and special and it only takes a little elbow grease, 30 minutes and 10-15 dollars to do it.  And they all agree a place setting is so much more personal than the gift bag full of greasy, who knows what's really in it, here just eat, "food."

Happy Cooking, Ladies!  Oh, and to Anonymous:  Eating good food makes you less grumpy.  You should try one of our recipes.  ;)

Apple Pie

Richard's Grandma said she loved apple pie as dessert for her traditional Irish dinners.  She's no longer with us, but the tradition continues.
I have some odd inability to make a decent pie crust, so I buy mine.

You can be lazy and buy canned pie filling, (this way often lacks flavor) but the best way to make the pie filling is finding tart apples, and following on of the many recipes such as this one by Paula Dean.  I find apple pie filling to be like a bread recipe.  Everyone has a recipe they love, but few of them are truly bad.

The bottom layer needs to be poked with a fork to keep its shape and keep from bubbling.  Trim the outside of the bottom crust so it doesn't go over the sides.

dump pie filling into bottom crust and even out as best as possible.

Place the top layer, centered, on top of the fruit.  Use your fingers to "close the lid" and pinch the crust all the way around.  Sprinkle with sugar.

Use a small, sharp knife, like a paring knife to make air holes.  you can be creative or just make large slits.

Cover crust edges with foil. You do this because the crust will brown well before the middle of the pie is done with out it.  By the time the pie is done, with out foil, the crust will burn on the edges.

Bake at 400 for 20-30 min and remove foil.  Continue to bake until crust is browned.

Voila!

Corned Beef and Cabbage with Potatoes

We have to make this every once in a while for my hubby and kids and their Irish heritage.

This traditional dish is surprisingly one of the easiest to make.

Ready?

You need:

A large pot or crock pot

packaged corned beef with season packet

head of cabbage broken up or chopped

peeled and diced potatoes

water

Dump everything into the pot.  Incluing the juices in the meat package and seasonings from the packet.

This is meant to be boiled, so fill with water to the top of the contents of your pot.

Boil for 4-6 hours in a pot or on high in a crock pot

or on Low in the crock pot over night or for at least 12 hours.

When it is done, the beef will fall apart and be stringy.

the cooked cabbage will blend in with the potatoes.

Corned beef is a great source of Iron.  Corned beef and Cabbage has a ton of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, 1/8 your daily value of calcium,  and Potatoes have potassium.This is a high in sodium meal, but they do have lower sodium Corned beef if you look hard enough.

Traditional Irish Soda Bread Farls



Place a large flat skillet, lightly floured on the stove over medium low heat.

2 C Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda (Sifted)

fluff together in a large bowl and make a large hole in the center

1 Cup Buttermilk

fill the hole with the buttermilk and quickly mix into a dough.

Place dough on a floured surface and gently knead into a ball, then press into a disk about 1/2 in thick.

cut disk into 1/4 pieces (Farls)



Place your fourths/Farls on the floured, heated skillet and cook until golden brown (about 5 min) flipping once to brown the other side (another 5-ish minutes)

Think really dense KFC biscuit with butter and jam....but better.  Also, the dough can be fried like a scone or baked into a bread.

Wandering Gypsy Girl Roasted Chicken

What you'll need.

Preheat the oven to 400

In a small bowl combine spice mixture, lemon rind and butter. Spices: cumin, paprika, marjoram, thyme (there should be mostly thyme), S&P. Make a thick paste - this will go between the skin and meat as well as over the top of the skin for flavor and moisture.

Gently lift skin away from meat with fingers. Rub butter mixture in as you go.

Place thinly sliced apples and lemons between the skin and meat (over the herb butter). Layer the apples closest to the skin - the acid from the lemons will help bring out the sugars in the apples to flavor the meat. Stuff the cavity with onion, oranges, lemon, apples, and garlic that have been seasoned with S&P.

In your roaster create a bed for your chicken to cook on (this prevents it from sticking to the bottom - you may also use a rack or insert...but using vegetables and fruit adds far more flavor for the meat and the gravy after).

Saute roughly chopped onion, celery, carrot, lemon, orange, and apples briefly.

Nestle the chicken into the warm vegetables and fruit and cover the chicken with bacon (the fat from the bacon will keep the bird moist without braising. By increasing the initial fat content and cutting out the step for braising you allow the oven door to stay closed through cooking thus allowing for a more even cooking temperature throughout the process.

Cook at 400 for 20min then reduce heat and continue to cook for 20min per pound or until the juices run clear. Remove bacon about 10-20min before you are ready to remove the chicken to allow the outer skin to brown.

Once the juices run clear remove the chicken from the oven. The skin over the fruit will be thin d/t the high acidity.

Remove the chicken from the pan into a bowl breast side down. Allow to rest.

By allowing the chicken to rest breast side down you are allowing the juices to redistribute into the breast meat keeping the bird very moist.

Break down the chicken by removing the breast meat in whole pieces.

Separate the legs, thighs, wings and accessory meat. Serve on a formal platter for parties or separate and store if you are using the meat for other meals/recipes such as some of the leftover makeovers listed previously on the blog.

If serving immediately serve along side a nice bright vegetable such as green beans and a flavorful starch.

Homemade chicken stock

Waste not ... Want not! In my childhood home my mother almost always had something on the stove simmering away. From tomatoes to chicken bones my mother could transform leftovers and extras into delectable freezable's that could be used again and again.

To make Chicken Stock

Remove the giblets, and neck bone (leave the skin on the neck bone/meat). Roughly chop celery, onion, carrots and garlic. (If you are deboning the chicken instead of cooking it whole you can add ALL of the bones to the stock pot. The bones add a great deal of flavor.)

Add all ingredients to a stock pot with 1-2 pads butter, thyme, a bay leaf, and S&P. Saute for 5-10 minutes over medium heat until onions are soft but not burnt. Cover with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and then cover with a lid. Simmer over very low heat for a few hours.

Once the stock is rich in color and flavor remove from heat and allow to cool.

Strain stock through a fine mesh screen or cheese cloth.

Discard the vegetables, giblets and bones. You now have a rich flavorful stock that can be used for cooking right away, can be stored in the fridge temporarily, or frozen or canned for longer storage periods.

Wandering Gypsy Girl Fried Red Potatoes

Red potatoes are small, tender and easily cooked in a variety of ways. One of the great things about them is that you can leave the skins on as they cook up beautifully.

Fried Red Potatoes:

Diced red potatoes

1-2 cloves garlic grated or mashed

olive oil (I like extra virgin)

1-2 pads butter

1/4 cup water

S&P to taste

Add olive oil and butter to a medium sized saute pan over medium heat. Add potatoes, S&P and saute for 3-4 min or until potatoes begin to crisp. Add water and cover with a lid. Steam potatoes until just tender. Remove lid and allow remaining of water to cook off. Add garlic paste to pan and toss thoroughly. Saute potatoes with garlic until fragrant and remove from heat before garlic burns.

Serve warm as a side.

Wandering Gypsy Girl Potato Leek Soup

I got the base for this soup from an Irish Pub cookbook (please see earlier post) and felt it could use a little Gypsy Girl flare. Below is how I made it tonight and I thought it turned out delicious. Alter and enhance as you see fit. Happy Cooking!

1 Leek

2 Potatoes

1/2 sweet onion

1can Chicken stock

3 slices bacon

1pkg cream cheese

1/4 cup heavy cream + extra for garnish

1/4 small block cheddar cheese

chives (garnish)

S&P to taste

3 pieces of bacon diced and fried until crisp.

While the bacon is cooking chop up 1 leek (including the majority of the green stock), 1/2 sweet onion, and two potatoes.

Remove bacon from pan when crisp and reserve for garnish at end. Add 2 pads butter to the bacon drippings in the pan and then add the onion, leeks, potatoes and S&P to taste. Saute until onions are soft but not brown.

Add 1 can chicken stock and 1/2 can of water. Cover with lid and simmer 20min or until potatoes are cooked through.

Poor potatoes/leek stock mixture into a food processor or blender. Pulse/blend until smooth.

Melt 1 package cream cheese, 1/4 cup heavy cream and 1/4 of a small block of cheddar cheese (if you have white cheddar that would be great...I went with yellow because it was what I had).

Pour the blended potato leek mixture back into the pan with the cheese and stir until smooth and heated through. If you desire a slightly thinner consistency simply add more cream, milk or stock until the soup is to your liking.

Garnish with cream, chives and crisp bacon bits.

Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been on a mission for about a year or so now to find the perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I've been on numerous blogs, Pinterest, Food Network, all the big recipe websites and more. Tried hundreds of recipes and some were great, and some well not so great. Then one day I was looking in an old recipe book I had started when Ryan and I were first married. It was a gift from my only sister Marlo who had shared a dozen or so of her favorite recipes in the front of the recipe book and the rest of the book was blank for me to write recipes down. When I came across this book the other night I started flipping through it. When I found a recipe for CCC's (chocolate chip cookies) that I used to make all the time when the hubs and I were newlyweds.

So I busted out the Kitchen Aid and whipped them up. I had completely forgotten how awesome and soft these cookies were. Not only were they soft but they still had an awesome buttery taste too. They even stayed soft the next day. I wouldn't know about any longer than a day because they didn't last that long ;-) The recipe makes the perfect amount for my little family of 5. OH! And the dough was delightful, cuz you know we all eat the dough by the spoonful am I right?

So now I'm sharing the recipe with you and also making sure I have a digital copy! Enjoy the yummies!

CCC's

1/2 cup shortening (I used the butter flavor cuz why wouldn't you?)
1/2 cup butter (1stick)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 bag milk chocolate chips (or your favorite chips)

Cream together shortening, butter, sugars and eggs. Add salt, soda, vanilla and flour and mix together. Add the chips last. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.