August 2013 – Loving Food, Fashion, & Life

Sweet Potato Love

Posted on August 31, 2013 by LFFL

Made with fresh sweet potatoes, brown sugar, heavy whipping cream, butter, salt & pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, vanilla extract, brandy, and orange zest.

OH, I’ve fallen in love!! These are the BEST SWEET POTATOES EVER!! I can’t begin to tell you how delicious these are. You’ll have to try them for yourselves.

Recipe for—Candied Sweet Potatoes
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup brandy
zest of 1 orange
3 1/2 lbs medium-sized sweet potatoes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish with vegetable cooking spray.

In a saucepan, mix the first 8 ingredients with a wooden spoon and cook over medium-low heat. Cook while whisking gently for 5-7 minutes, until the mixture thickens. Add the vanilla, brandy, and orange zest. Cook another minute to thicken further. Turn off heat, cool slightly; set aside.

Peel and slice sweet potatoes into 1/2-inch circles and arrange in prepared baking dish. Pour candy sauce over the sweet potatoes, cover with foil, and bake for 40-50 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 20-30 minutes uncovered until sweet potatoes are fork-tender, basting periodically with sauce.

Makes 8 servings.

Made with canned candied yams, butter, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and miniature marshmallows.

I love the crunchy marshmallow topping on this. I love to peel the browned marshmallows off with my fingers and just eat them.

Recipe for—Whipped Sweet Potato Bake

Made with fresh sweet potatoes, olive oil, red onion, red bell pepper, green onions, chopped garlic cloves, smoked paprika, salt & pepper, and fresh parsley.

Recipe for—Sweet Potato Hash

So, if you have nothing else to do today, definitely make those LOVELY candied sweet potatoes! They are to DIE for!! And make the sweet potato bake if for no other reason than to peel those crispy brown marshmallows off with your hands and pop them in your mouth. So fun!

Take-Away Life Lesson: The sweet potato is your friend.

Corn Pudding & Casseroles

Posted on August 30, 2013 by LFFL

Made with brown rice, canned corn with red & green bell peppers, egg, chive & onion cream cheese, four-cheese Mexican-style shredded cheese, and fresh chopped cilantro.

This cheesy rice and corn pudding was a yummy delight—and the cheese just made it all the more lovely.

Recipe for—Cheesy Rice & Corn Casserole

Made with sweet corn, milk, heavy cream, white cheddar cheese, eggs, cayenne pepper, and salt & pepper.

This sweet corn pudding gives plain corn a little kick as a side dish.

Recipe for—Sweet Corn Pudding

Made with canned whole kernel corn, canned cream-style corn, corn muffin mix, sour cream, butter, and cheddar cheese.

This corn casserole was ok, but I didn’t really dig it that much myself.

Recipe for—Corn Casserole

So, if you have nothing else to do today, get to know a cornfield, buy a corn shucker, and try different ways to put a little twang into your corn.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Plain corn can always be dolled up just like anything else.

Cheeseburger Pie

Posted on August 29, 2013 by LFFL

Made with ground beef, chopped onion, cheddar cheese, eggs, Bisquick, milk, and salt.

My usual purpose for buying a box of Bisquick is to strictly make skillet-sized pancakes. But this time around I decided to try one of the Bisquick recipes I saw on the box.

I chose this particular one because it not only sounded good, but it looked so simple to make—and it was! I whipped this sucker up pretty quickly and I was done in no time.

Slice it down the middle for two servings. The recipe says it serves 6, but I beg to differ.

Dinner is served.

Recipe for—Cheeseburger Pie

So, if you have nothing else to do today, get a box of Bisquick and try making one of the recipes on the box just for grins. If those recipes don’t tickle your fancy, look up Bisquick recipes online and have at it.

Take-Away Life Lesson: It’s nice to know cooking dinner can be quick and simple if you want it to be. No need for that long drawn out process when you’re tired after a long day.

Buttermilk Baked Chicken

Posted on August 28, 2013 by LFFL

Made with boneless skinless chicken slivers, buttermilk, corn flakes, juice of a lemon, onion, fresh thyme, fresh chopped garlic cloves, Parmesan cheese, and salt & pepper.

Mines doesn’t look exactly like the recipe—maybe because I used chicken slivers. It was still chicken, nonetheless—and edible.

Recipe for—Buttermilk Baked Chicken

So, if you have nothing else to do today, make some buttermilk chicken for dinner with corn flakes.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Baked chicken can taste just as good as fried chicken if you know what you’re doing—it’s just healthier.

Zucchini Gratin

Posted on August 26, 2013 by LFFL

Made with zucchini, onion, chopped garlic cloves, chopped plum tomatoes, fresh chopped thyme leaves, all-purpose flour, butter, brown sugar, eggs, salt & pepper, half-and-half, sharp white cheddar cheese, and Parmesan cheese.

I just fell in LOVE with this dish! It was SO good. Needless to say, it has a permanent home in my recipe book.

I have to say, I don’t eat like the humans. Instead of this being my side dish and part of a bigger meal like it probably should have been—this was my ONLY meal! When something is that good to me, I’ll slice it into big hunks and go to town on it. Then I’m full.

Slice this straight down the middle length-wise, then into thirds the other way. SIX HUGE CHUNKS, PEOPLE!!

Recipe for—Zucchini Gratin

So, if you have nothing else to do today, try making this zucchini goodness. It was SO easy to make.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Side dishes can always be a meal in and of themselves. It’s like eating an entire box of macaroni and cheese to yourself. You eat until you’re full.

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Fried Zucchini With Spicy Dipping Sauce

Oooooo, Look At The Veggies

Posted on August 25, 2013 by LFFL

Sautéed Spinach made with spinach, turkey bacon, fresh garlic, balsamic vinegar, and salt & pepper.

All these little extras made eating spinach taste so much better than eating it plain.

Recipe for—Sautéed Spinach

Broccoli

Squash

Brussels Sprouts

Steamed Broccoli, Steamed Squash with seasonings, Steamed Brussels Sprouts with salt & pepper.

I just love my little steamer basket. You can put it inside any sized pan and make it expand as wide as you need it. I’ve never had one before and you know how excited I get when I get myself something new to try!

Cabbage made with shredded carrots, lots of butter, and salt & pepper.

This was SO good! I attribute a lot of it to the massive amounts of buttery goodness.

Sautéed Asparagus, Peppers, & Onions made with asparagus, sliced yellow peppers, sliced red onions, Parmesan & roasted garlic vinaigrette, and topped with Parmesan cheese.

I used canned asparagus in this rather than fresh and I used a slightly different type of vinaigrette—and it was OH SO delicious!

Recipe for—Sautéed Asparagus, Peppers, & Onions

Sautéed Kale made with fresh kale, chopped garlic cloves, and salt & pepper.

I just love kale made this way.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, get to know your vegetables and play around with them a little. Buy yourself a steamer basket, too—you’ll love it!

Take-Away Life Lesson: Vegetables taste SO much better when you can season and doctor them up just the way you like.

I Found A New Little Diner!

Posted on August 24, 2013 by LFFL

Biscuit & Gravy, Pancake with maple syrup and butter, Breakfast Sandwich made with scrambled eggs, ham, and melted cheese served on a croissant with a side of potatoes and fruit.

Oh, my word!!! I’m in LOVE with this new diner I discovered a few minutes north of me. A friend of mine turned me on to it a while back, but I just decided to drive out there and try it out for the first time this morning.

Let me tell you—there was a CROWD of peeps out there! They open at 7:00am but I got there at 9:00am and the place was entirely full with people sitting outside the diner waiting for their names to be called from the list.

I was about 7 names down, but was told it’d only be about a 10-minute wait. So no worries from me. We didn’t mind waiting.

The huge portions they give you are utterly amazing. I loved every minute of it. I wish they were closer to me, but it was SO worth the trip.

They close at 2:00pm every day though—which is super early. Probably a good thing for me or I’d be alternating between both the other diner I frequent and this one every day after work.

This is the Cinnamon Roll topped with icing that I took home to-go and warmed in the microwave. This was SO deliciously good. Big ups to the kitchen for making these bad boys! Ahh! It totally hit the spot. They’re not as big as the ones from my other diner, but they rock nonetheless.

Oh, how I just love little out-of-the-way diners! So homey.

So, if you have nothing else to do today, search out a new diner in your town that you’ve never tried out before and make yourself right at home.

Take-Away Life Lesson: Always try a small hometown diner first over a big chain restaurant. You’ll more than likely get bigger portions of food along with some fabulous home cookin’ in a homey-type atmosphere.