Home-made French Fries

HOME-MADE FRENCH FRIES

These are really simple to trow together! The hardest part is cutting the potato into french fry sizes..unless you have a french fry cutter, which I don't.

Anyway...
Cut several large baking potatoes into fries, then put them in a large kettle of cold water (will make them crisp) for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Place fries on a sheet pan in a single layer. Drizzle with a little vegetable oil and then bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until tender, stirring them around occasionally

Sprinkle with salt! Enjoy this healthy snack!

You can also fry them for a bit-less-healthy snack. =)

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I also want to wish my baby girl a Happy 7th Birthday!

Wordless Wednesday

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

The perfect marshmallow turned into the perfect ooey gooey treat!

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Blog Hops....

   

Daring Kitchen Challenge: Potato Salad

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

LOADED BAKED POTATO SALAD

7 to 8 whole medium sized red potatoes
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 cup real bacon bits
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (shred from a block for best results)

Clean and cut red potatoes into quarters, and boil for 15 minutes or until fork-tender. Drain. Place in large bowl and toss with melted butter and S&P. Place in the fridge, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix sour cream, mayonnaise and milk. Stir the sour cream mixture, bacon and cheese with the potatoes.

Serve immediately or cover a refrigerate until serving.

Sprinkle shredded cheese and bacon bits over top for garnish and even more flavoring! =)

Serves 6 to 8 (or 4 if you're my family)

PMM #4 & Watermelon Shark

Its good to be back home after a week of vacation with the family in Branson, MO. I'll put up several review on my other blog about some great places we were at.

On the other hand, I feel so out of the loop in the blogging world! I had posts up all week, so I bet hardly anyone noticed. If I haven't replied back on anything, I'll get to them today. Now back to a normal week!

WATERMELON SHARK

 

This was a fun treat for my kids while camping out. My son loves sharks and got the biggest kick out of this! I found this idea on the Sun Scholars Blog. There is detailed directions there as well as to how to make it. It was quite a bit of work, but wonderful to see everyone's reactions.

Personally, I think it looks more like a monster than a shark. Or maybe one of the dragons from "How to train your Dragon" movie. I'll make sure I get the angles and cuts more accurate next time! I also didn't get fancy with the fin and gills like others have. My kids were begging to eat it, so I "had" to hurry and finish. =) This would be perfect for a birthday party with a theme like pirates, underwater, ect..

Make sure you eat it before it eats you!

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Now for my Penny Meal Monday recipe....

SPAGHETTI NIGHT

Not only is this a penny-meal, its also a favorite among my kids. They beg for it every week! I cave in only once or twice....a month... =)

ground turkey: $1.79; sauce: $0.89 (sale); spaghetti noodles: $0.30 (case sale). TOTAL: $3.00
We usually serve it with a salad on the side, but when in a pinch, it gets left off. We love pigging out on just a plate full of spaghetti. This batch also makes a huge leftover dinner for us.
~Cook the meat until fulled browned, drain. Add sauce and mix until heated through. Cook noodles according to directions, drain. Mix the sauce and noodles together and serve. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top.

SPAGHETTI LEFTOVER CASSEROLE
Leftover spaghetti: FREE, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese:$1.25; TOTAL: $1.25
~Grease casserole dish with cooking spray. In large bowl, mix together leftover spaghetti and cheese. Put into the casserole dish. Sprinkle a little cheese on top. Cook in oven at 375 degrees F for 30 to 45 minutes.

Grilled Corn on the Cobb

It's National Corn-on-the-Cob Day! Here's some grilled corn-on-the-cob!

GRILLED CORN ON THE COBB

4 to 5 ears of corn
2 tablespoons butter, melted 
Seasoned salt


Take each ear of corn and pull back the husks and remove the "strings" then pull the husks back up and tie a piece of kitchen twine near top of corn to help keep husks on.

Put into huge kettle of cold water and soak for 20 to 30 minutes.

Remove and grill on medium heat for 20 minutes, constantly rotating. Peel back the husks a little and brush butter and sprinkle some seasoned salt on them. Serve!

FBF #3 {{LINKY}}

FLASH BACK FRIDAY TIME!

I have always loved entertaining guests, so this is another "hobby" of mine. Setting up a dinner table for a "fancy" dinner and impressing guests.

Follow Cookin' for my Captain and Cookin Mimi  on GFC [Google Friend Connect] and then Link away! You are welcome to add as many as you would like!

Carrot Cabbage Slaw

CARROT CABBAGE SLAW

4 cups shredded cabbage
2 cups shredded carrots
2 medium Golden Delicious apples, chopped
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup (8oz) sour cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 to 1/4 ground nutmeg, optional [go more less rather than more--it has a very strong flavor in the slaw]

In a large bowl, combine cabbage, carrots, apples, raisins and walnuts.

In a small bowl, combine the honey and lemon juice until smooth. Stir in sour cream, salt and pepper and nutmeg if desired. Stir into cabbage mixture.

Chill until serving.