How To Make The PERFECT Brtish Roast Potato

One thing I've learned living here in England is that on Sundays, you have proper English Sunday dinners!  It usually consists of either roast beef, chicken, pork or gammon (ham) with roast potatoes, roasted veggies, Yorkshire pudding and most importantly a huge heaping ladle full of gravy! 

You can't go out on a Sunday for a leisurely walk around town without smelling Sunday dinners being cooked in every household.  Mmmmmmmmmmm, it leaves you feeling hungry every time! 

While I have yet to perfect a home made Yorkshire pudding (I cheat and buy frozen ones), I am confident that I have perfected the art of making really great roast potatoes! 

Here's how!

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F or 200 degrees C.  Get yourself a Pyrex rectangular glass dish and pour in just enough oil to cover the bottom of the dish.  I used Sunflower oil.  Then put the dish into the oven to heat up.

Step 2: Get yourself (depending on how many people you are feeding - family of four) 4 potatoes (washed) and ready to peel.  Chop into good size chunks.  You don't want them cut too small.

Step 3: This is key - you are going to want to par-broil the potatoes to get them a little tender before roasting them.  This is and reheating your oil will give them the crunchy texture on the outside, but the tenderness you want in the inside.  I would say par-broil them for at least 5 to 7 minutes.

 

Step 4:  After heating your glass dish with oil for around 15 to 20 minutes, take it out of the oven.  Once you have par-broiled your potatoes for 5 to 7 minutes, drain and add to dish.  Because the oil is so hot, step back, you are definitely going to get a little crackle and pop! :)  Stir the potatoes around in the oil, coating each one.  Then pop into the oven for 45 to 55 minutes.  I would say keep an eye on them around the 45 minute mark and take them out when they are brown and crispy on top!

 

 

And that's it!!!!!!!  Just sprinkle with a little salt and pepper when they come out of the oven!  Super easy and so perfect with any dish, especially with the holidays right around the corner!!!  

 

The perfect Sunday British dinner! 

 

Roast chicken with stuffing, roast potatoes, roasted veggies (carrots / broccoli) and Yorkshire puddings with lots and lots of gravy!!! 

 

Can't beat it!  I promise you won't be disappointed in trying these roast potatoes.  The key again is to make sure your oil is hot and your potatoes are par-broiled!

 

Enjoy!!!!  xxx

Chicken Cabbage Stir Fry

Here is another FAB low carb dish I have made a few times this month.  I found it randomly on Facebook and decided to give it a go since once again I had most ingredients in my pantry. 

- 3 chicken breast halves
- 2 tsp. oil of your liking (I use Sunflower Oil)
- 3 cups of green cabbage, shredded (I usually use 2 bags of green cabbage/leek mixture -so good and cheap.  It also means I don't have to shred the cabbage myself)
- 1 small red pepper, diced
- 1 tbsp. of cornstarch ( I use flour b/c I have a hard time finding corn starch here in England)
- 1/2 tsp. of ground ginger
- 1 tsp. of garlic powder
- 1/2 cup of water
- Soy sauce to taste

1. Dice chicken breasts into strips.
2. Heat 1 tsp. oil in frying pan.
3.  Add chicken strips and stir constantly until done.  Drain.
4. Heat 1 tsp. oil in frying pan.
5.  Add cabbage and red pepper, saute for 2 to 3 minutes until cabbage is crisp tender.
6.  In a small bowl, mix cornstarch, ginger, garlic and water until smooth.
7.  Add chicken back to cabbage mixture.
8.  Pour sauce into chicken / cabbage mixture. 
9.  Cook until sauce has thickened and everything is coated. 
10.  I usually add in a few tbsp. of soy sauce before plating it. 

Enjoy - it really is so good and so easy.  If you fancy adding a carb to it, you can add some cooked spaghetti noodles to make it more of a lo mein type dish.  I've done that before too and it is delicious! 

Again, sorry no photos!!!  It gets devoured as soon as it hits the plate.  :)

Ground Beef Asian Lettuce Wraps

So, Steve and I have been doing a "dry" January this month!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I know - it stinks!!!!!  Although, we did cheat and have a drink last Sunday while watching the Panthers game.  It was the only day, I promise!!!!

As far as food goes, we have been eating lots of protein, veggies and fruit.  While we haven't cut out all carbs, I've been trying to come up with easy low carb recipes and of course have turned to Pinterest to help with that. 

I made these Ground Beef Asian Lettuce Wraps this past week and they were delicious!  It is sort of a mix up from a bunch of different recipes I found. The best part is I already had all of the ingredients in my pantry!!  I think you will find most of you will.

Ground Beef Asian Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

• 1lb lean ground beef
• 1 onion
• 2 to 3 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch (I used flour b/c I didn't have cornstarch)
• 2 Tbsp cooking oil (I used sunflower oil)
• Boston Bibb Lettuce (I used Romaine leaves as they don't sell Boston Bibb Lettuce here)

Place cooking oil in pan.  Add your garlic, ground beef and onion.  Brown meat until no longer pink.  Drain excess fat.  In the meantime, mix together ginger, soy sauce, water and cornstarch until well blended.  Add meat mixture back to the pan.  Add your wet mixture to the pan and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. 

I served multiple lettuce leaves on a plate and split the meat mixture between Steve and I into two bowls so that we could add however much we wanted to each leaf. 

I served it with roasted parsnips! 

YUMMO!!!  I think this dish took less than 20 minutes to pull together.  I think it will quickly become a part of our day to day rotation!  So easy! 

Enjoy!  (Sorry no photos, I literally inhaled these things!)

Ugly Dip Recipe

UGLY DIP

2 cans white shoepeg corn drained (do not use yellow corn - big difference in taste)
2 cans black beans drained and rinsed (Goya brand)
1 cup Feta cheese
Green onions sliced (I used around 4)

Sauce: 1/3 cup each of apple cider vinegar, sugar, canola oil (make sure it's canola)

Mix corn, beans, feta cheese and onions in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix the vinegar, sugar and canola oil.  Pour the sauce mixture over the bean mixture.  Mix and refrigerate over night.  Serve with Tostitos scoops chips.

Enjoy!  Highly addictive!

I got this recipe from my cousin Ginger.  She brought it to a family function over the holidays.  Needless to say, it was delicious!  I have since made it twice.  It is the perfect dip to make for any party.  I LOVE IT!  However, it is highly addictive.  Beware!

Slow Cooker Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb ground chicken
1 red bell pepper, chopped fine
1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
4 oz. sliced water chestnuts, finely chopped
1 cup cooked rice (I used brown)
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1 head Bibb or Romaine lettuce (I used Bibb)

Saute ground chicken until chicken is no longer pink.  Drain off liquid and transfer mixture to slow cooker.  Crumble chicken with a wooden spoon and stir in bell pepper, onion, garlic, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ginger, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp of pepper.  Cover and cook on low until chicken is tender, 1.5 to 2 hours.

Stir in water chestnuts, rice and scallions.  Let sit until heated though, about 5 to 10 minutes.  Serve with lettuce and hot sauce, if desired.

Thank you Pinterest for another delicious, super easy recipe that took no time to prep! It's no secret how much I love my crock pot!  Click HERE for original recipe!  Also, I pretty much had all the ingredients in my pantry other than the chicken, water chestnuts, hoisin sauce and lettuce.  All in all, it ended up being a relatively inexpensive meal!

Rigatoni With Kale & Sausage

I made this recipe this past weekend.  I pulled it out of Food Network Magazine.  I love Food Network Magazine.  For some reason, this recipe really spoke to me!  I would say it's because I have been on a kale kick for about a year.  Although this recipe calls for Swiss Chard, I totally went with kale.

It came out very tasty!  The only thing I would suggest when making this is to avoid salt.  You really don't need any.  The sausage salts the entire dish as is.

Enjoy!

Crockpot Recipe - Zuppa Toscana Soup

This might be one of the easiest crockpot recipes ever!  If you love Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana soup, then you are going to love this.  The best part is that it is super easy and makes great leftovers!


Recipe c/o Retro Modern Mom - Thank you Pinterest!


Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana


INGREDIENTS:

• 5 1/2 cups chicken broth (or 3 cans)
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 2-4 cups chopped kale (FILL TO THE TOP OF YOUR CROCKPOT)
• 2-3 potatoes sliced thin and quartered
• 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
• 2-3 shakes of red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper (to taste)

Combine the chicken broth and heavy whipping cream in the crockpot.


Chop up kale into bite size pieces or, if you are like me, buy a bag of pre washed and chopped kale! I didn’t really measure it but grabbed about 3 large handfuls. I would certainly suggest grabbing more than you think you need as it cooks down A LOT. I almost filled my crockpot to the top with kale and still felt I could have added more.


Wash and cut up the potatoes with the skin on. I used 3 large potatoes and felt the soup ended up being too potato heavy. I would suggest 2 large or 3 small baking potatoes. Add both potatoes and kale to crockpot.


Brown the sausage and break apart into small chunks. Season with a touch of salt and pepper then add to crockpot.


Mix all ingredients together and add more salt and pepper for taste as well as a few shakes of red pepper flakes. I don’t like things spicy but I didn’t feel this made it spicy at all. It just gave it a much needed kick to cut the heaviness of the cream base.


Set your crockpot on high for 3-4 hours until the potatoes break apart easily with a fork.

This is what it looked like in my crockpot - so delicious!!!!!!  Don't be scared to buy some good crusty bread either!  Dipping never tasted so good!

White Bean Chicken Chili

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

1 tsp of minced garlic

2 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers

1 carton of chicken broth (I used HT brand)

1 rotisserie chicken

1 can of sweet corn

1 can of cream of chicken soup

2 (15 ounce) cans white beans (I used Great Northern)

1 Box of White Chicken Chili Seasoning mix (You can find it beside the packets of marinade, taco seasoning, etc. aisle)

Shredded Mexican blended cheese

Sour cream

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir the onion until tender. Mix in the garlic and green chile peppers. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in the chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, corn, white beans, chicken and chili seasoning mix. 

I cooked the mixture on low for about an hour, stirring occasionally.  You can go longer than that if needed.  Serve with cheese and sour cream to your liking!

Of note.......the chili seasoning box comes with chili seasoning mix, dried green pepper / jalapenos, cayenne pepper and mesa flour (to thicken the chili if needed).  It allows you to make it as spicy as you'd like.

Another easy, satisfying recipe that you won't regret you made!!!  Even the hubs LOVED!

I got the recipe online and tweaked it based on my taste and reviews.

Cha Cha's White Chicken Chili

Happy Monday! 

Slow Cooker Chicken & Dumplings

4 halved chicken breasts
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cartons of chicken stock (I used the HT brand)
1 minced onion
2 tbsp butter
2 (10 oz) packages of refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into small pieces

1. Place the chicken, soup, butter and onion in the slow cooker.  Then fill with enough chicken stock to cover. 
2.  Cover and cook for 6 hours on high.  About 2 hours before you are ready to serve, put the torn pieces of biscuit dough in the slow cooker.  Once the biscuit dough goes in, I would stir it every 30 to 45 minutes to make sure they are covered in liquid.

I was a little weary of the biscuit dough and wondered how it would compare to actual dumplings, but it turned out great.  I received so many compliments on what I thought was one of the easiest recipes I've ever cooked in my slow cooker. 

What made me decide to cook this specific recipe was the ratings and 5 stars it got online along with the simplicity and few ingredients.  I am such a stickler for easy, inexpensive recipes that receive high praises. 

Most people tweaked the recipe to make it their own.  You can obviously add veggies, spices, etc. 

Hope you enjoy!!

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings