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Recipe Idea: Baked Potato Bar

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A baked potato bar is not a new idea and I am sure you have done it many times… but recently we “rediscovered” this dinner idea and it continues to be a huge hit around here!

I like potato bar’s because they are easy and cheap. We usually can find many toppings in the fridge and I rarely have to pick anything up at the store for it, the only thing I have to do is get them in the oven in time 🙂

I always butter and salt the potatoes with kosher salt and wrap them in foil, my husband tells me this is why he loves me! This is a good job for the kids. ** I think they turn out better when you don’t wrap them in foil, but it makes a mess of my oven and smokes even with a pan underneath…

A month or so ago I got a great deal on this BBQ. I usually make my own but it was so cheap I thought I would try it. I bought a bunch and threw them in the freezer. When we have baked potatoes we use 2 for my family. I toss them in the microwave and we top the potatoes with it.

This is a picture of my daughters plate, I forgot to take one of mine and my husbands, we had ours TOPPED with everything! It was prettier that way! We usually have sour cream, cheese, butter, green onions, pulled pork, and salt and pepper.

Here are some ideas of what you can put in your bar:

Vegetables
mushrooms, sauteed
fresh or frozen peas
onions
celery
carrots
tomatoes
olives
avocado slices or chunks
broccoli
cauliflower florets
sweet bell pepper
jalapenos		 Sauces and Dressings
flavored sour creams,
such as chipolte, truffle, cilantro
Ranch dressing
sour cream dips
seasoned butters
garlic butter
cheese sauces
Meat sauces such as stroganoff
Marinara sauce
Alfredo sauce
chili
nacho cheese or chili con queso		 Meats
flaked tuna
smoked salmon
bacon bits
shredded ham
grilled or creamed chicken
shredded or crumbled ground beef
stroganoff or beef tips
chopped barbecue
blue cheese
shredded Parmesan cheese
tiny shrimps scampi		 Exotic and Gourmet toppings
chopped fresh herbs
pesto
sauted spinach with garlic
stir fried baby vegetables
roasted red peppers
mixed grilled vegetables
caviar or fish roe
dipping oils
truffle oil
sliced toasted almonds
chopped water chestnuts

Baked Potato bars are really good to serve to big groups and company, Ellen’s Kitchen has methods on how to transport and arrange Potato Bars for large crowds.

What are you having for dinner tonight?


Recipe for Homemade Pretzels

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homemade pretzels recipe

Christmas came early in the MyLitter household! Last week my Mother and my lovely Sister decided to do a mixer comparison. My Mom has had a Kitchenetix machine for many years, she just got a Bosch. I have a fabulous Kitchen Aid that my MIL got me many years ago, but it was and still is, top of the line.

My Sister borrowed my Kitchen Aid and took off to my Moms house. They set all three mixers up and tested all kinds of things, like whisking egg whites, cream and finally they decided to make 22 loaves of homemade bread. They wanted to see which was the best mixer.

When the mixer left my house, it was in perfect working order. I sent the one regular attachment with it and was hoping they would clean it up when it came back. I didn’t hear form anyone for a few days and finally my Dad came over to get his hair cut.

“Here’s you mixer back” he says.
I set it on the counter and notice a slight campfire smell. My Dad is a big time scouter so I just figured it was his clothes.
“Did you hear what happened to your mixer?”
“Ummmm, NO. Do Tell!” I say waiting for the news.
They (my Mother and Sister) were making the bread dough.
My Sister did not realize that there was a SEPARATE DOUGH HOOK for the mixer and that you don’t make bread dough with the paddle on LOW SPEED.

Needless to say, I no longer have a Kitchen Aid and my Mom’s kitchen that night was full of smoke! They killed my mixer!
But, I am happy to say that I am the proud new owner of a Bosch! The WORKHORSE of the kitchen!

MMUUUHHHH Hahahahahaha! It’s mine… alll mine!!!! All 800 watts of screaming mixer power! (Insert evil laugh!)
Thanks Mom and Dad! You guys rock! Thanks Anna for destroying my mixer so I got a new one… I’ll slip you that $50 later…

I had to test out my new mixer and my husband requested Homemade Pretzels, his favorite, so here you go…

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center; add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, about 7 to 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

My spiffy oven has a bread proof setting so I used that. Took a little less than an hour but doubled.

 

 

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.
  2. When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt.

 

Now is when you recruit the help. My Sister (who destroyed my Kitchen Aid) volunteered to teach the girls how to make a pretzel. Actually they taught her…

Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.

They turned out AMAZING! Can you smell them now? We took some and dipped them in the water/baking soda mixture, and added cinnamon and sugar to them and they were awesome also!

Homemade Pretzels (from Allrecipes)

How to slice an avocado and make guacamole! Video.

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O.K. don’t laugh, I made a little video about how to cut an avocado and make simple guacamole. Tucker filmed it with the camera and not the video camera so the quality isn’t great.
Simple guacamole recipe:

Some kosher salt
Few tablespoons of pre-made salsa
If you have it, some lime and maybe a little cilantro. Yum!
Do you have a good guacamole recipe??

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Recipe for Greek Salad!

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Sunday, I planned on making a salad for dinner. When I started pulling everything out I realized we had actually forgotten all the items from the store for the salad I had planned on making!

Since I don’t shop on Sunday running back to the store was not an option.

I remembered a salad that we had a while ago that was like a pasta salad but without the pasta, and I thought that I had most of the ingredients.

So I “googled and swagbucked” and didn’t come up with anything so I turned it over to all you on facebook!


Thank you for all the suggestions and pointing out that I had all the ingredients for a GREEK SALAD!

So I chopped it all up and added some Feta cheese that I had and Tada!! Salad!


It was awesome! Thank you everyone!

Greek Salad by Mylitter Readers!
3 cucumbers deseeded and cut up
1 package cherry tomatoes quartered
1 thinly sliced red onion
1 can black olives
4 oz. feta cheese crumbled
1 package salami sliced
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
oregano
salt
pepper

Combine all together and refrigerate!

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Taco Salad with Catalina dressing.

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My husband asked for this for dinner tonight, so I thought I would share the recipe with you again, as it is really good in the summer!
Ridiculously good Taco Salad recipe!

This has been a staple meal in our house for quite a few years now. It is a kid and hubby favorite! I love it because it is easy and yummy!!
First, brown 1lb. ground beef or turkey with 1 packet of taco seasoning. When cooked set aside and let cool.

Chop 1 head of iceberg lettuce into pieces, cut up one tomato ( isn’t this a beautiful heirloom one from my garden!) and finally grate 1 cup of carrots.

Next, drain and rinse, 1 can ranch style beans and 1 can black olives. Have your kids slice the olives.

Add it all together into a LARGE bowl.
Call your kids in and make them help! Add 1 package of your favorite yellow cheese mix. Almost an entire bag of nacho cheese Doritos crushed and a bottle of catalina salad dressing. Now if you can find the sweet honey great, if not just use regular.
Add the cooled meat and cheese. If taking to a potluck, wait and put the dressing on when you get there. ** Make sure to get the Sweet Honey Catalina or the Original, not the kind with the spices in it.
Again, have your kids or the BIG kid crush the Doritos up into the salad. This is my BIG kid, I don’t have man hands!
Serve with sliced avocado… I would have but my dumb store only had rock hard avocados, darn.

Taco Salad
1lb. ground meat
1 package taco seasoning
1 can black olives sliced
1 can ranch style beans drained and rinsed
2 c. shredded cheese
1 cup shredded carrots
1 head chopped lettuce
1 tomato chopped
1 small bunch green onions sliced
1 bag nacho cheese Doritos crushed
1 bottle catalina salad dressing
Brown hamburger and add taco seasoning, let cool. Add all ingredients together and dress with catalina when ready to eat. Garnish with avocado.

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2 Yummy Summer Dessert Recipes!

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While the family is watching Sunday night National Geographic, and my husband is shooting me dirty looks having to explain to the children what ‘mating’ and ‘sperm bullets’ are, an actual phrase describing lemon sharks reproductive habits. I thought I would sneak away and post two dessert recipes that I tried this week.
First, I apologize about the poor quality of the photos, my trusty little camera is on a weird setting I can’t seem to change.
This first dessert I tried because the ingredients I had on hand and it sounded really refreshing.

Pink Lemonade Pie:
  • 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 (6 ounce) can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
  • 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
  • 1 Graham cracker pie crust


  • DIRECTIONS

    1. In a large bowl, mix together sweetened condensed milk and lemonade concentrate. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into pie crusts. Freeze until completely chilled.

Now my pie looks a little lumpy because at the last minute I added some cream cheese to the mixture because I thought it would be too thin, no matter how much I beat the sweet milk and cream cheese I couldn’t get all the lumps out… Oh well, still tasted great! A little tart you wouldn’t want a huge slice but really nice and refreshing and for the easy factor, I would defiantly make again!

I am thinking you could use any frozen drink mix, pina colada, margarita, or even juice. Nice summer pie!
Now, if you have not ever been to Bakerella’s Blog, you are really missing out! Sylvia S. has gotten me hooked and I love her blog! I love her photos and great ideas. I couldn’t pass up making this dish and I am soooo glad I tried it, so is everyone else in my house and all the people who were over for dinner tonight! It is a little labor intensive but well worth it. You can read Bakerella’s blog HERE with the recipe and see her really nice pictures. I wish I had been able to take better pictures and can’t even tell you how wonderful the texture is.

Deep Dark Chocolate Truffle Cake
You’ll need a 9-inch springform pan. It has a latch on the side that helps you release the cake. Because there’s no turning this one upside down to get it out.

Place some parchment paper on the bottom so it hangs over. Close the latch to hold the paper in place and secure the sides. You’ll also want to spray the paper with some non-stick cooking spray just to be safe.

After your pan is ready, preheat your oven to 325 degrees.


Separate 6 large eggs. Yolks in one bowl and egg whites in another. Set aside.

You’ll also need 8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate and 4 oz. dark chocolate. Break it up in a large bowl and add 2 sticks of butter (thank you Paula!). Melt in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between until completely melted and smooth.

Whisk in 1 1/4 cups sugar until combined.

Then add the six egg yolks to the chocolate and sugar mixture, one at a time, whisking after eac
h addition.


Now, in a medium bowl, beat the six egg whites on high with an electric mixer. Beat it for several minutes until stiff peaks form.

Then, gently fold your egg white mixture into the melted chocolate mixture until combined. Pour it in your pan and bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees.

It will rise pretty high in the oven, but when you take it out to cool, it will fall. And fall hard. Yay!

Let it cool one hour on the counter and then for at least four hours in the refrigerator before you release it from the springform pan.
It was wonderful!


I had better get back to the family… If you are interested in watching; In the Womb: Extreme Animals, which explores the extraordinary methods of reproduction and gestation of four different animals: fish, bird, mammal and insect, using real-time 4-D ultrasound images.Ummm, you might want to preview it before letting all the kids watch. Or you will be answering questions like, “why do kangaroos have three vagina’s?” No. I am not joking. I had better go, my husband is going to kill me!

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes from Readers!

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Traditionally on Sundays I always make cookies for the kids. It is a fun time to try new recipes. I want to thank everyone for sending me their chocolate chip recipes this past week. I am going to try all of them, these are the first 2 we made.

I liked this one because it was simple and had oatmeal.

This one is from Pam!

Cream – 1 Cup Margarine

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Brown Sugar
Beat in – 2 eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla
sift together and stir in-
1 1/2 Cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
add 3 Cups Oatmeal
1 Pkg. Chocolate Chips
1 Cup Chopped Pecans
Stir til mixed together; bake at 375 for 10 – 12 mins. These are my husband and kids all time favorite…
These were fantastic!

This next one scared me a little because I have never had any luck with melted butter! It also called for 1 egg and 1 egg yolk. Having used all my eggs earlier in the day I used my powered eggs from my food storage. I think they turned out perfect!


Thanks Sharon E.!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
  4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Thank you so much for these 2 new awesome recipes to add to my box!

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Guest Post: Recipe for Chicken Chasseur

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This is a recipe from my friend Heather O. I have not had a chance to try it, which is silly because I know my kids would love it. I am planning on having it on Sunday, I’ll let you know how it goes!
From Heather: It is a family favorite that I have been eating for years. A little sidenote about this recipe: when I was growing up my sister, brother and I called this dinner “chicken in the sewer”. Somehow it stuck, we couldn’t pronounce “chassier” and I’m not even sure if that is how it spelled, but anyways “Chicken in the Sewer” has always been a favorite, and I’m embaressed to admit that I was a freshman in highschool before I learned that was not the real name. I never understood why my friends got grossed out when I told them that was what we were having for dinner. LOL!
Okay this is real easy:
Ingredients:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into chunks
1/3 cup corn starch
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 cup of onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil.
2 Tablespoons butter
8 oz of fresh mushrooms quartered
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
3 large tomatoes, cut into 8th’s
Put cornstarch and spices into large plastic bag. Add the chicken and shake well to coat. Saute the chicken in the oil and butter until the chicken is nice and brown. Add the onion, mushrooms and celery and cook until the onion is translucent. Add the chicken stock, season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes on low. Stir in the fresh tomatoes, cover and simmer for 5 more minutes.
Serve over hot, steamed rice.

 

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Oreo Truffles – All you Mom’s deserve them!

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If you have not had these heavenly little treats before, you need to make them NOW. They are so EASY, do not be afraid ANYONE can do it! I am telling you they are worth it!

You start with a package of Oreos, do NOT use double stuff. And one package of scream cheese.

Next, blend the entire package of cookies and the cream cheese together in a food processor.
Next, teach your kids to make these so they can make them for you. Really, it is that easy to make them.
Next, take the “dough” from the food processor and roll into balls and place on a cookie sheet. I like to use a small melon baller or little cookies scoop so all my truffles are the same size.
When you have them all made, put the tray in the fridge or freezer for a little while until the truffles are not sticky.
Melt 2 (8oz.) packages of Bakers baking chocolate in a double boiler (if you have one, i don’t) and dip the truffles in the melted chocolate and put them on a new tray. I use the smallest sauce pan I have, with a fork and spoon I roll the truffle in the chocolate, lift it out with the fork and shake the extra chocolate off. Occasionally I have to put the truffles back in the freezer to set up a little more before covering in chocolate.
When you have them covered in chocolate I set them back in the fridge for a while. You can decorate them with a little bit of cookie crumbs or drizzle with white chocolate. At christmas we use crushed up candy canes and sprinkled the tops with them. These freeze really well. In fact, I freeze them so I don’t eat them all!
The best part is that you can make these with almost any stuffed cookie. They are out of this world with Nutter Butter’s. I have made them with almost all the flavors of Oreo’s and they are delicious! I have even done fat free cream cheese and the low fat Oreo’s and they were excellent.
If I could make some for all you Mom’s that follow my blog out there for Mother’s Day I would, I could never afford the postage though! So the next best thing is to tell you to make some for yourself! HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!

~Have you made these before? What combinations of cookies have you used?

HELP! What to bring to dinner!

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A friends husband was severely injured in an accident over the weekend. He is having surgery tomorrow and I am bringing dinner over to them tomorrow night. I have a few standard dinners I make when bringing them to people, usually a main dish (lasagna etc.) that they can put in the oven at their convenience, salad, bread and dessert.

But, I always wonder what other people bring? Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

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