Goat Cheese & Parsley Potato Salad

I shan't tell a lie - I'm not a fan of potato salad. Actually, I'm just not a fan of the regular potato salad that shows up at most picnics and summer events. German potato salad is delicious, as is loaded baked potato salad. But, I was feeling a little adventurous, so I thought I would put my own little spin on tater salad.

Goat Cheese & Parsley Potato Salad

28 oz. Yukon Gold potatoes (2-bite size)

2 pinches kosher salt

2/3 cup reduced fat sour cream

1 Tbsp. mustard

1/4 cup creamy goat cheese

salt & pepper to taste

dried dill to taste

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1.5 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

1 tsp. fresh oregano, chopped

First, wash the potatoes and put them in a large sauce pot. Next, sprinkle some kosher salt over them.

Next, cover the potatoes with just enough water so that none of them are peeking out.

Put the cover on the potatoes and let them boil for about 15 minutes (until you can pierce the largest potato with a fork and it goes in like it would into chilled butter).

Now, mix the sour cream, mustard, and goat cheese in a bowl with a whisk. Then add the spices and taste the mixture. Remember that the cayenne pepper will intensify as it sits in the fridge, so put a little less than you actually want. Then add the olive oil and whisk that in.

Once the potatoes are done, drain them and allow them to cool. Slice them in half (or quarters, depending on their size).

Put the potatoes into the bowl with the sour cream mixture.

Now, stir it up with a large spoon - being careful not to smoosh the potatoes too much.

Now, chop the herbs!

Sprinkle the fresh herbs over the potatoes and stir a few times.

Next, cover the bowl with saran wrap and stick it in the fridge for a few hours (this allows the flavors to soak into the taters!). All that's left to do now is eat it! (Take it out about 30-45 minutes before you want to eat it if you want it a little creamier.)

I served it with a seared pork chop and warm apple slaw (courtesy of Ellie Krieger). Delish! It has a nice creaminess to it and a unique tang from the cayenne. The parsley and oregano add a great freshness and texture to it. I hope you like it as much as Ryan and I did!

~ Mari

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

So, sweet potatoes are delicious and nutritious. They are also one of my favorite foods. Also, who doesn't like French fries? So, I consulted someone that I seldom consult: Paula Deen. Nothing wrong with Paula, but I would never have dreamed that she would have a healthy sweet potato fries recipe. Surprise! She did. So, I tweaked it a bit... and here's what I made!

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

3 large sweet potatoes

extra virgin olive oil

salt

black pepper

sugar

cinnamon

allspice

paprika

onion powder

First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Then peel the sweet potatoes. Next, use a mandolin (or cut them by hand like moi...hehe) to cut the potatoes into French fry shapes (potato sticks). Place the sticks into a large bowl and drizzle olive oil over them. Toss the sticks to coat them with the oil.

Sprinkle the potatoes with 2-3 Tbsp. of salt, 2 Tbsp. sugar, and enough of the other spices to coat the fries. Don't overdo it, but make sure that the spices are on there enough that you can see it.

Spread the potato sticks onto a sheet pan (make sure that they aren't overlapping too much so that they cook evenly). Stick them in the oven and allow them to cook for about 25-30 minutes. You'll know when they're done if the edges are a little crispy and caramelized. Granted, these aren't going to be super crispy fries, but they taste DELICIOUS and are much better for you that fried fries.

Let the fries cool for 5-10 minutes. They are good to go now, but what are french fries without ketchup? And since tomato ketchup would not be the greatest with sweet potatoes, I made a maple butter sauce. All I did for the sauce was mix a little whipped butter with pure maple syrup.

And voila! They're done! Ryan and I ate them with homemade bison burgers. Yummers.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

~ Mari

Happy Memorial Day!

Hope everyone had a fabulous Memorial Day! It is raining here in Kathleen, but we had our Memorial Day festivities last night, so all is well. Above is crudite and crackers with roasted red pepper hummus. A great way to start off the evening!



Our meal consisted of large hunks of prime rib (oh yeah....), steamed broccoli, and roasted fingerling potatoes. Twas delicious!

And then there was dessert... I made individual trifles (brownies, chocolate fudge pudding, snickers bars, and cool whip) that were ridiculously easy!

So, happy times to everyone!

~ Mari

Carb-tastic!

Today was a day o' carbs (not that I'm complaining...). My group was assigned Tuscan Roasted Potatoes, Glazed Sweet Potatoes, Polenta, and Rice Pilaf. It was quite hectic at times, but (as you can see in the photo), we pulled through and came out with some very tasty, starchy foods.


We did make a few mistakes, though...

1. We over-boiled the Russet potatoes before roasting them, so they kinda fell apart in the oven. That's what happens when you are trying to worry about the three other dishes you are working on.
2. Before making the sweet potato dish, we had to bake them. I completely forgot to poke holes in the little devils and they exploded in the oven. Not very pretty. That didn't affect the taste or what the finished product looked like, but we sure felt stupid.
3. The rice pilaf actually went pretty well. We almost burned it, but ALMOST doesn't count.
4. Ahhhh the polenta... polenta, in case you didn't know, is basically yellow grits. You can serve it like grits, or you can spread it in a sheet pan, chill it, cut it into shapes, and grill/saute it. We wanted to do the latter. So, we made the polenta, added some reconstituted sundried tomatoes, rosemary, and garlic, and spread it into the sheet pan. Our sheet pan, however, was too large. So, when we pulled our polenta out of the fridge, we noticed it was about as even as the Smoky Mountains. Drat. We also ran out of time, so I cut them into uneven squares... not the most attractive polenta shape out there, I might add. But, they tasted great and had the right consistency. If only they weren't square...

So, all-in-all it was a sucessful day. We made the four dishes we were assigned, they tasted delicious, and we got to eat LOTS of carbs at the end of class. What could be better?