Twice baked loaded potatoes

Last week I bought a large bag of russet potatoes. I love potatoes, but I didn't really have any ideas on what to cook other than mashed potatoes and stew or curry. Then my friend told me about twice baked potatoes. I had never made them before but they sounded delicious so I took a stab at it. Now I know how long it takes to make them and I don't think I'll make them very often. Also, I had no idea of the proportions so I made too much of the "loaded" part of the potatoes. Now I have leftover chili. I unintentionally made the "loaded" part with ground beef, onion, and tomato which is essentially chili. I don't mind. It's all delicious.

The "loaded" part

Potatoes covered in extra virgin olive oil before being baked

Baked potato prep

Baked potatoes with the insides scooped out

Mashed potatoes and the "loaded"

The "loaded" stuffed back into the potatoes

Finished product with delicious melty cheese on top

Leftover "loaded" that will become chili

Twice baked loaded potatoes (Warning: This recipe will give you lots of leftover ground beef mixture)

Ingredients

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 28 oz can of petite diced tomatoes
• half onion chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• salt, pepper, cumin, oregano to taste
• extra virgin olive oil
• shredded cheese
• 6 russet potatoes
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 1 tbsp butter

Procedure

1. Cook the onion and garlic with about 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large pan and then add the salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano. When the onions are cooked and begin looking a bit clear add the ground beef and canned tomato. Mix well.
2. While the beef is cooking, place the 6 potatoes on a microwaveable plate. Use a fork to stab small holes in each potato.
3. Cook potatoes in microwave for 15 minutes on 60% power.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 
5. When potatoes are done, cover a baking pan with foil and place the potatoes on the sheet. Cover the potatoes with the olive oil.
6. Bake potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes.
7. Check on the beef mixture and try to cook out as much of the liquid as you can.
8. When potatoes are done, cut a small slice off each potato and then dig out the potato like a little boat. (See pictures above).
9. Mix the potato innards with about a quarter of the beef mixture. Add the cream cheese and butter. This makes the "loaded" part of the potatoes.
10. Put the "loaded" part of the potatoes bake inside the little potato boats and bake at 400 F for about 10-15 minutes. Top with cheese. Enjoy!

Grilled Ham and Cheese with Tomato Soup

The first time I ever had a homemade grilled cheese sandwich was when I was a sophomore in college. My friend Lisa introduced me to the surprisingly delicious grilled cheese sandwich dipped in tomato soup. After that, I was hooked. Every time I eat a grilled cheese sandwich I can only have it paired with a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup and every time I eat it, I am reminded of Lisa and my first grilled cheese sandwich. It's comfort food. Simple and delicious. I find that a lot of my recipes are a little too involved and complicated so today I wanted to share something without all the frills.

I wanted to add a little more protein so I added ham to the sandwich. The pictures nearly speak for themselves.

All the ingredients (yes, that's pepper jack cheese)

Ham nicely folded over the cheese and a slice of bread.

Tomato soup!

Butter the bread on the outside to get a nice brown toasted look.

Ham and cheese sandwich, nicely grilled/toasted.

The best and only way to eat grilled cheese sandwiches.

Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwich with Tomato Soup

Ingredients

• slices of deli ham
• your preferred variety of sliced cheese (Usually I stick with cheddar or American, but I had some pepper jack that I wanted to use up.)
• bread
• butter
• can of Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup
• water or milk

1. To make the soup, follow the directions on the can.
2. Butter a slice of bread and place it butter side down in a small non-stick pan.
3. Place a slice of cheese on top of bread and then place folded slices of deli ham on top of the cheese.
4. Butter another slice of bread and place the slice of bread on top of the ham with the butter side facing up.
5. Cook the sandwich on low to medium heat for about 3 minutes and then flip the sandwich with a spatula and cook the other side for another 3 minutes.
6. Dip sandwich in soup and enjoy!

Slow cooker/crockpot chickpea stew

I might have gone overboard with all the ingredients.

I remembered to scribble everything down this time.

Crockpot chickpea stew
Ingredients

• 15.5 oz can chickpeas, drained
• 14.5 oz can diced tomato, undrained
• half medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
• 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 small carrots diced
• 1 cup chicken stock/broth
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 chicken breast diced
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Prepare all ingredients and then place in crockpot.
2. Set crockpot to low and let it cook for 8 hours.

Experimental Potato Salad

This was the second time I made homemade potato salad. The first time I used too many radishes and it became a little too peppery. Since it was Labor Day weekend, and some of my coworkers were getting together for a barbecue, the first thing that came to mind for me to bring to the barbecue was potato salad. Most store-bought potato salad has too much mayo in it. I think I still need to tweak the recipe a bit, but overall it was a huge success at the barbecue.

Mmm...bacon

Giant pot of boiling water and potatoes while bacon was cooking on another pan

Big bowl with celery

Cut up bacon with some kitchen scissors, also I use chopsticks to turn the bacon in the pan to keep from scratching non-stick pans

Finished product!

Experimental Potato Salad
Ingredients

• 6 med red potatoes cubed
• 6 slices of bacon cooked and cut into bits
• 2 stalks of celery diced
• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• garlic powder to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Boil the cubed potatoes in a large pot until cooked then drain and place in large bowl.
2. Mix in the rest of the ingredients in the large bowl.
3. Let cool in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Crunchy baked chicken nuggets

This recipe is adapted from a blog called How Sweet It Is. I didn't have any buttermilk so I just used regular milk and I definitely cut down the amount of panko, flour, and milk. Since I didn't have asiago and I didn't feel like spending a lot of money on fancy cheese, I just grabbed a bag of Italian blend shredded cheese. This recipe made several batches of chicken and I still have left over panko/breading.  I definitely wish they had turned out cheesier and crunchier, but I can fix that later. The recipe included instructions on how to make honey mustard from dijon mustard and honey; I just eyeballed the amount of each, but you could simply buy honey mustard or use whatever dipping sauce you like.

Honey mustard dipping sauce

Finished product

Crunchy baked chicken nuggets

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup low fat milk
• 1 cup panko
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup Italian blend shreded cheese
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• honey to taste
• dijon mustard to taste

Procedure

1. Cut chicken breast into nugget size. Soak in milk, salt and pepper.
2. Preheat oven to 450F.
3. Mix panko, flour, cheese, garlic powder, and paprika into a bowl.
4. Mix honey and mustard in a separate bowl.
5. Coat/bread chicken and place on greased baking sheet.
6. Bake for 7 minutes or until golden brown, then flip and bake for another 7 minutes.

Mango Gelatin

I visited my parents and while I was there, I had the opportunity to eat lots and lots of mango from the tree in my  parent's backyard. I think I ate a mango a day while I was there. We had so many mangoes that my mother decided to experiment and make mango gelatin. It was pretty interesting, but even though the mangoes themselves were sweet the gelatin need more sugar than what we had decided to put in it.

Gelatin powder mixed with cold milk

Mango the size of your hand!

Boiled and blended mango

Mango gelatin mixture before it sets

Finished mango gelatin

Spoon and spoonful of mango gelatin

Mango Gelatin
Ingredients

• 4 packets Knox unflavored gelatin
• 1 cup milk
• 2 med mangoes, mashed/blended until smooth
• 2 tbsp sugar

Procedure

1. Mash or blend the mangoes in a food processor or blender if you haven't already.
2. Transfer the mango blend into a pot and heat until boiled.
3. Add sugar to the mango.
4. Dissolve gelatin in a cup of cold milk. Some small clumps are alright.
5. Pour milk and gelatin mixture into the pot of hot mango and mix well, making sure the gelatin further dissolves.
6. Pour the mango gelatin mixture into a Pyrex dish and let cool/set in the refrigerate for several hours until gelatin becomes firm. Make sure to smooth out the mango mixture so that the gelatin will end up smooth instead of full of pockets where bubbles were.

Experimental Indian Curry or Keema

What could I do with a pound of ground beef? Originally I was thinking of making a dish with the beef and some left over mango. I tried to look up recipes and maybe create my own curry recipe but decided that what I wanted to do would probably turn out bad. So, I took the mango out of the equation and decided to go for an Indian dish called keema. According to wikipedia: "Keema, Kheema, or Qeema  is a traditional South Asian meat dish. Originally this word meant minced meat.^[1] It is typically minced mutton curry with peas or potatoes. Keema can be made from almost any meat, can be cooked by stewing or frying, and can be formed into kababs. Keema is also sometimes used as a filling for samosas or naan." I worked with what I had in the fridge and pantry and came up with something the my roommate and I both enjoyed. This recipe would probably have been better if I had an onion, but I only had onion soup mix. It kind of looks like chili, but with random vegetables in it. I definitely recommend yogurt or sour cream to go with it, especially if you can't handle the spiciness of the dish.

Keema in the pot

Keema served with rice and sour cream

Experimental Keema
Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef (lean)
• 8 oz frozen mixed vegetables (the kind with peas)
• 1 1/2 tsp garam masala spice mix
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 plum tomato diced
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp onion soup mix
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 8 oz can tomato sauce
• serve with sour cream on the side and some rice

Procedure

1. Melt butter in a large pot and cook the minced garlic in it. Once the garlic becomes slightly golden, add the rest of the spices and the frozen vegetables.
2. When the frozen vegetables seem mostly defrosted, add the ground beef to the pot. Break apart the meat and stir occasionally.
3. Once the beef no longer looks pink, add the chicken broth and the tomato sauce. Cover the pot and let it come to a boil. 
4. Mix pot occasionally and let simmer for about 20 minutes.
5. Serve over rice with some sour cream or plain yogurt.