#BrunchWeek: Papas con Chorizo

May 5, 2015May 6, 2015 ~ lk529 ~ 6 Comments

Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody! And happy day two of the third annual #BrunchWeek hosted by Terri of Love and Confections and Shaina of Take a Bite out of Boca!

I’ve been meaning to venture into the breakfast world of Mexican cuisine, but always manage to forget about it. Until today! Thanks to Cinco de Mayo falling during this year’s #BrunchWeek I finally had my opportunity.

Today I bring you the simplest dish, perfect to accompany any brunch menu. Potatoes are always a perfect side at breakfast, so why not trade in those classic hash-browns for papas con chorizo! Potatoes, chorizo, and cheese. You can’t possibly go wrong! If you want to turn this dish into a main course you could add some scrambled eggs and serve breakfast burrito style.

Le Creuset is one of our #BrunchWeek sponsors and I receive their new Revolution Bi-Material Slotted Turner. Let me take a minute and tell you about this great product! The materials used in creating this spatula are of great quality and don’t scratch the surface of skillets and dishes. It’s a very sturdy product and can stand up to flipping a wide variety of foods and the angle of the handle makes using it very easy and comfortable; I not only used it for mixing and serving these potatoes but also flipped burgers without any trouble. The slotted turner could also withstand the pressure I put on it to break up the chorizo as it cooked in the skillet.

Papas con Chorizo

Ingredients:

1 lb gold potatoes, peeled and diced
3 links Mexican chorizo, casings removed
1 C shredded Mexican blend cheese

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cook until almost fork tender.
In a cast iron skillet (or oven-safe skillet), brown chorizo over medium-high heat, breaking up. Cook completely.
Drain potatoes and add to the skillet with the chorizo. Toss, gently, to combine. Cover with cheese and put in the oven for 7-10 minutes until cheese is melted and potatoes are fully cooked.

*This recipe is adapted from David at http://leitesculinaria.com/85425/recipes-potatoes-mexican-chorizo.html*

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway and be sure to check out the other bloggers who posted more brunch recipes today:

BrunchWeek Beverages:
Oat-Chata from Culinary Adventures with Camilla.

BrunchWeek Egg Dishes:
Build Your Own Benedicts from A Day in the Life on the Farm.
Ham, Asparagus and Goat Cheese Egg Muffin Cups from Cupcakes & Kale Chips.

BrunchWeek Breads, Grains and Pastries:
Donut Holes with a Trio of Dipping Sauces from The Redhead Baker.
Trail Mix Granola from Making Miracles.
Bananas Foster Baked Oatmeal from The Suburban Soapbox.

BrunchWeek Main Dishes:
Vegetarian Breakfast Enchiladas from The Spiffy Cookie.

BrunchWeek Fruits, Vegetables and Sides:
Caramelized Onion and Sweet Potato Hash from Take A Bite Out Of Boca.
Asparagus and Heirloom Carrots Salad from Jane’s Adventures in Dinner.
Roasted Grape & Bleu Cheese Bruschetta from Bread Booze Bacon.
Papas con Chorizo from Sew You Think You Can Cook.

BrunchWeek Desserts:
Whiskey Walnut Tart from Love and Confections.

Disclaimer: Thank you to #BrunchWeek Sponsors: Bob’s Red Mill, Cabot Creamery Cooperative, California Walnuts, Dixie Crystals, Grimmway Farms/Cal-Organic/True Juice, KitchenAid, Le Creuset, Nielsen-Massey Vanillas, Pacari Chocolate, Stonyfield Organic, Vidalia Onions, and Woot Froot for providing the prizes free of charge. These companies also provided the bloggers with samples and product to use for #BrunchWeek. All opinions are my own.

Potato Bread

March 13, 2015March 12, 2015 ~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

Am I the only one who really likes grocery store commercials? I think they must hire Hallmark admen to help out, especially during the holidays!

Publix takes the cake for most touching commericals – ever. It makes me feel like a huge nerd to admit that I miss Publix commercials. (Along with certain Publix products. And Publix subs.) Winn-Dixie does a decent job at tugging at the heartstrings too, again, during the holiday season. I don’t have Winn-Dixie up here either. Now, I shop at Kroger. I haven’t caught myself crying at a Kroger ad but I do enjoy their commercials nonetheless. They’ve really been pushing their generic brands lately, in particular their organic one (Simply Truth). Their most current commercial shows the wide variety of products they have covered in the Kroger brands. And at the end of the commercial they announce a promotional price on potatoes. A 5lb bag of Kroger Idaho Potatoes for 99 cents! Again, nerd-alert, I got really excited.

I feel like I need to stop a moment and tell you that I was not asked to promote any grocery stores or products! Sometimes I just get on a roll…

I put potatoes on my grocery list and found ways to use them up! I got brave and decided to try my hand at baking bread. (Without the help of my mom.) I was introduced to potato bread from my good friend Kate; it’s her bread of choice. It’s sweeter than white bread and a little heartier. And good news, it’s not too difficult to make! Case in point, I made four loaves in three days! One loaf was given to the neighbors as a thank you for clearing the snow off our drive way, one was devoured immediately, one put in the freezer with the destination of becoming French Toast, and the last is sitting on my counter almost gone.

As with all yeast work, the most difficult part is making sure the yeast proofs. The key to that is not killing it by putting it in too hot or too cold liquid. The perfect temperature is between 105-115 degrees F; there’ll be instructions on your yeast containter, too. Don’t go off of “feel”, unless you’re a bread baking pro, use a thermometer to check your liquid temperature.

This recipe calls for mashed potatoes, you can use leftover mashed potatoes if you have them. Any flavorings you put in it will add uniqueness to your bread. I cooked and mashed potatoes for the purpose of bread making so I didn’t add anything to them. I mashed them up and used some of the cooking liquid to get a smooth mixture, no added salt or pepper. The amount of flour you need for the bread will depend on how moist your potatoes are.

If your oven has a warming setting, feel free to turn that on for a little bit before baking so your bread will rise more quickly. See the original recipe on how to do that. My little, old oven doesn’t have a warming setting so I let my dough rise in the microwave where it wouldn’t get a draft and could be slightly protected from the cold. It took well past two hours for my dough to double in size but I’m glad I didn’t rush the process – this bread is worth the wait.

This recipe makes two loaves of bread.

Potato Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 C warm milk, at 110 degrees F
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 C mashed potatoes
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 C butter, at room temperature
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp salt
3 – 3 1/2 C bread flour

Steps:

Sprinkle yeast into warm milk. Let sit 10 minutes, until it gets foamy.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the mashed potatoes, butter, and eggs. Mix in the sugar and salt. Add in the yeast mixture.
Fit your stand mixer with the dough hook and add the flour, 1 C at a time. After three cups have been added, add remaining flour 1 tbsp at a time, if needed. (The first batch I used 3 C + 2 tbsp, the second batch I only needed 3 C.) Kneed the dough until it comes together around the dough hook and is no longer sticky.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning to coat. Cover and set in a warm location for 1-3 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.
Punch the dough and turn it onto a lighly floured surface. Divide dough evently in half. Roll each half to the width of your loaf pan. Roll dough along the short end and place in a lightly greased loaf pan. Repeat with the second half of the dough. Cover and set in a warm location for 1-3 hours, or until the dough has risen 1″ above the edge of the pan.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Bake break for 25-35 minutes, or until it reaches in internal temperature of 190 degrees F.

*This recipe is adapted from Emily at http://www.goldilockskitchen.com/2014/02/the-best-potato-bread.html*

I’m entering a new stage in the world of mommy food blogger. Here’s a little behind the scenes fact: We don’t have a dining table set up in this house. We did, but it was taken down to make way for our Christmas tree and it was never resurrected. I like having the open space for my son to play. And honestly, we eat on the couch anyway. Unfortunately, not having a table makes taking photos of food difficult, especially when there’s only one space in my home that gets natural light. Almost every photo this year has been taken on the floor. Now that my little guy is a skilled and fast crawler I have to work quickly to take advantage of the daylight – I can’t always wait for naptime.

Spanish Steaks and Cheesy Potatoes

February 6, 2015April 7, 2018 ~ lk529 ~ 22 Comments

Before I get to today’s amazing recipes I’m taking a trip down memory lane. A “Flashback Friday” if you will.

Six years ago to the day I was asked a very important question by a very important person.

February 6, 2009 was just a normal Friday. Stuart and I both had a break between classes that lined up perfectly for us to grab lunch together. My brother had a break at the same time and Stuart told me that he was going to be joining us. I got out of class a little early and headed down to the concourse to wait for them. That morning Stuart had asked me to bring my camera to campus because he needed a photo for ROTC. We handed the camera to my brother and he caught the proposal on video! They’d obviously coordinated this ahead of time.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t know this was coming. The 7th was our two year anniversary and there’d been comments and hints that we’d be getting engaged then. I have to give a big shout out to my best friend for telling Stuart I was on to him. It’s because of him that I experienced a surprise proposal better than I could have imagined. (Although it would have been nice to have showered, put make-up on, and brushed my hair!) It meant a lot to me to have my brother there – catching it on video was just a bonus. We even got a loud “War Eagle!” from a campus tour that was walking by.

Today’s recipes, which come from the January/February 2014 edition of Food Network Magazine, make a perfect meal to celebrate a special occasion – a birthday, anniversary, or even Valentine’s Day. We enjoyed this meal for Stuart’s birthday this year. It was the first time I’d had rib-eye steak and I loved it! Cooking in the cast iron skilet also provided a perfect sear for this melt-in-your-mouth piece of meat. We enjoyed these steaks alongside the cheesy mashed potatoes suggested in the article and some roasted carrots.

The carrots were Wesley’s first food! He surprised me with how well he took to trying them. He even managed to swallow a little bit. However he hasn’t touched carrots since! He likes yellow bell peppers, flank steak, and apples – at least for now.

These steaks feed 2-4 people, let’s be honest though, they’ll only feed two because you won’t want to share. I doubled the potato recipe and it will serve 4. (I wanted the leftovers.)

Pan-Seared Spanish Steaks

Ingredients:

2 bone-in rib-eye steaks (3/4 lb each)
2 tbsp canola oil
2 shallots, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 C beef broth
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp chopped chives

Steps:

Heat a large cast iron skillet over high heat.
Pat steaks dry, lightly rub with a little canola oil, and season with S+P.
Put 1-2 tbsp canola oil in the skillet. Add the steaks. (I had to do one steak at a time.) Sear on one side for 3 three minutes. Flip and cook 1-4 minutes, depending on your desired doneness. Remove steaks and set aside, covered with foil.
Add the shallots to the skillet and cook until tender. Add the garlic and cook an additional 60 seconds. Whisk in the beef broth, Worcestershire, and vinegar. Bring sauce to a boil and cook until reduced by half. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter.
Serve sauce overtop the steaks. Garnish with chives.

Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb gold potatoes
3 tbsp butter
1/2 C heavy cream
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

Steps

Place potatoes in a large pot. Cover with cold water, season generously with salt, and bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes are fork tender. Drain and return to the pot.
In a small sauce pan over medium heat melt the butter. Stir in the cream until just warmed through.
Add the cream and cream cheese to the potatoes. Mash to desired consistency. Season to taste with S+P.

UPDATE May 2017: (written March 2018) I honestly can’t remember why I remade these steaks – I mean, other than the fact that they’re DELICOUS! I’m guessing I’d made them for our 7th wedding anniversary last May? Regardless, you really don’t need a fancy excuse to make such delicious steak. The above picture isn’t horrendous, but that giant bone-in steak was tricky to photograph, especially under tricky Ohio winter lighting. For round two, I decided to slice the steak to get the visual of the beautiful pink center and golden crust. Unfortunately, the juices still ran, no matter how long I let it rest. But hey, dragging those cheesy potatoes through the steak juices makes for a perfect last bite.

Spanish Steaks with Cheesy Potatoes | Sew You Think You Can Cook

Slow Cooker Pork and Potatoes

November 7, 2014November 6, 2014 ~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

Yesterday I discovered yet another new reason to love the slow cooker! I didn’t think I could appreciate this kitchen appliance more, but turns out, it was/is possible.

I am very excited that I have the opportunity to stay home and raise my son. I feel very lucky and blessed that my husband is supportive of my decision and that together we can make it work. I absolutely love being able to see my son changing every day. Even the bad days are good. All it takes is one little smile to melt my heart and remind me that I made the right decision for our family.

When I was working I loved the slow cooker so that I wouldn’t have to prepare dinner when I got home. As much as I love to cook and be in the kitchen, after a stressful day at the office sometimes standing at the stove would be the last thing I wanted to do.

Now that I’m home during the day I feel like the slow cooker possibilities have multiplied! Have you noticed that there aren’t too many recipes that cook for more than 8 hours?! But now! Now I can cook something on high if I can’t get into the kitchen until later in the day!

Sure that’s all sunshine and daisies, but the real new reason I love my slow cooker is that while Stuart was at CrossFit instead of getting dinner going, I was able to sit on the couch and watch Chopped while my little man slept in my lap after a feeding. I didn’t have to play the dangerous game of putting him down in the hopes he didn’t wake up to get into the kitchen. These are the moments I live for.

Slow Cooker Pork and Potatoes

Ingredients:

4 gold potatoes, quartered
1 can (10.75 oz) cream of chicken soup
1/4 C cooking sherry
1/4 C Dijon mustard
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tbsp olive oil
4 pork chops (I used boneless pork tenderloin chops)

Steps:

Place potatoes in the slow cooker.
In a bowl whisk together soup, sherry, mustard, paprika, Italian seasoning, and S+P. Pour over potatoes.
In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Season pork chops with S+P and sear on both sides for a couple minutes. Place on top of potatoes. Cook on high 3 hours or low 6 to 8 hours.

*This recipe is adapted from Laura at http://www.thecookingphotographer.com/2011/10/slow-cooker-pork-chops-in-dijon-paprika.html *

Buttermilk Ranch Potatoes

October 8, 2014January 2, 2015 ~ lk529 ~ 3 Comments

I used to be really bad at wasting food. I’d buy groceries with good intentions and then life would get in the way or cravings would overrule common sense. I have used the move as a great way to break that habit.

Instead of doing a massive “common pantry items” grocery trip I bought what I needed to make dinner. And then I would use those ingredients to plan out the next dinner plans, only buying what I needed at each trip to the store.

When I saw that the buttermilk in my fridge was nearing the end of it’s life and didn’t have enough to make Sweet Potato Waffles again (they’ve become a popular request of Stuart’s) I decided to make mashed potatoes.

I could’ve just thrown things together until they looked right, but I realized that sometimes people want a recipe for mashed potatoes and I could always use more side dishes on the blog. I pulled out the measuring cups and started creating a recipe!

Buttermilk Ranch Potatoes

Ingredients:

3 gold potatoes
1/4 C + 2 tbsp buttermilk
1 tbsp butter
2 tsp ranch seasoning
S+P, to taste

Steps:

Wash and quarter the potatoes. Because gold potatoes have thin skins I left them on, but feel free to peel if you prefer. Place potatoes in a saucepan, cover with water, salt the water, and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Boil potatoes until fork tender and drain. Mash potatoes with a potato masher, or a hand mixer if you prefer.
Mix in buttermilk and butter until creamy. Add ranch seasoning and S+P.

Rosemary Steak and Potatoes

June 14, 2014May 31, 2014 ~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

I am not a steak-and-potatoes type of gal. Potatoes? Yes. Steak? No thanks, I’ll pass. But my husband is most definitely a steak-and-potatoes type of guy. In fact, it’s the meal he always gets when we visit his parents.

I was informed that I needed to add more iron to my diet – so that means you’ll see more red meat entrees floating around Sew You Think You Can Cook. I’ve always tried to limit the red meat to once a week, typically in the form of Mexican Monday. And I am guilty of enjoying a burger quite often.

For this recipe, par-boiled potatoes share the skewer with cubes of sirloin and the result is divine. The potatoes end up resembling fries and the marinade is full of flavor. I particularly like the rosemary. Serve these skewers with your favorite vegetable and you’ve got yourself a complete meal!

If you’ve had too much red meat this week, Mom made this recipe using chicken instead of steak and it worked just as beautifully.

Rosemary Steak and Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh rosemary
1 tbsp fresh thyme
2 tsp steak seasoning
1/2 C balsamic vinegar
1/2 C olive oil
2 lb steak, cut into cubes
2 C golden potatoes

Steps:

In a bowl combine garlic, rosemary, thyme, steak seasoning, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.
Pour 3/4 C of the marinade over the steak and set in the fridge.
Boil potatoes for 15 minutes, until slightly fork tender. Drain. Pour the rest of the marinade over the potatoes.
Skewer the steak and potatoes. Grill until the steak is cooked to your liking and the potatoes are done.

*This recipe is adapted from Whitney at http://littleleopardbook.com/2013/10/16/rosemary-steak-skewers/*

Chicken and Potato Casserole

June 6, 2014May 29, 2014 ~ lk529 ~ 2 Comments

If you’re looking for a super simple weeknight meal look no further. This chicken and potato casserole uses only 5 ingredients and creates only 3 dirty dishes (knife, cutting board, casserole dish)!

Thankfully, Stuart isn’t afraid of helping out in the kitchen but I still didn’t want to assign him anything too complicated. I found this recipe on Pinterest and it was a perfect! Not to mention delicious – this will definitely be a go-to recipe when life gets too hectic. The flavor all comes from the Italian dressing – so be sure to buy a bottle you know you like, or make your own.

Chicken and Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts, cut in half length-wise so they’re thin
1 1/2 lb baby potatoes, cut into thirds
1 1/2 – 2 C Italian dressing
2 lemons, sliced into rings
Fresh rosemary (optional)

Steps:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease casserole dish.
Season chicken with S+P and place in bottom of casserole dish. Top with potatoes and spread evenly.
Pour dressing over chicken and potatoes.
Place lemon slices on top of potatoes along with the rosemary, if using.
Bake for 55 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender and chicken cooked through.

*This recipe is adapted from Kim at http://www.cravingsofalunatic.com/2014/04/chicken-and-potato-bake-with-meyer-lemons.html*

Scalloped Potatoes

April 11, 2014April 6, 2014 ~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

If you are looking for a comforting side dish look no further. The perfect potato side dish made it’s way into my inbox on March 20th via Food Network’s Recipe of the Day email.

It’s rare when the Recipe of the Day is one that perfectly fits my menu or pantry items but this one arrived just in time to use up the bag of potatoes that were starting to get questionable.

And I got to break out the mandolin I got for Christmas! While I peeled potatoes Stuart slice away – he loved how quick and easy it was.

Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lb red potatoes
2 C half-and-half
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 clove garlic, smashed
2 tbsp unsalted butter
black pepper, to taste

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×8″ casserole dish.
Peel and slice potatoes to 1/8″ thick slices. This is easily done with a mandolin but if you don’t have one slice as thinly as you can.
In a large pot combine potatoes with the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium. Cook, stirring, until mixture has thickened.
Pull out the garlic clove and pour into prepared casserole dish. Give it a shake so the potatoes settle evenly.
Bake for 1 hour until bubbly and golden on top. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting into it – if you don’t it’ll still taste fabulous but won’t look as beautiful.

*This recipe is modified from Food Network Kitchens*

Mom’s Mashed Potatoes

September 25, 2013September 25, 2013 ~ lk529 ~ 5 Comments

When I created my Recipe Index for the blog I realized that I haven’t blogged about any sides! How unfortunate. I never really think about them being important enough for their own post. But then I found myself scouring Pinterest and other food websites for side dish ideas. It’s harder than I thought it would be. It’s really not that easy to make a star out of your sides – unless it’s Thanksgiving! I’m going to declare it now – this first Thankgiving of my blog will be celebrated with a week of side dishes! Guess I better get cookin’! But I digress…

My first side dish post is one of my favorites. I don’t do mashed potatoes often, but when I do I always wonder why not. They’re just so comforting. This recipe is actually from my Mom. Well, I added chives for color (food photography is not easy!) and actually had to sit there and measure things out. We normally do this “by feel” but for food blog purposes, I needed to do more than say “add some sour cream”. So, here it is. This particular ingredient list yields 4 side helpings of mashed potatoes.

Mom’s Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 baking potatoes (i.e. Russets)
3 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp butter
1/8 – 1/4 C milk
1 tbsp chopped chives
S+P to taste

Steps:

Peel and cut tomatoes into same size chunks – the smaller the cut the faster they’ll cook. In a pot cover the potatoes with cold water – you don’t need to fill the pot, fill about an inch above the top of the potatoes. Salt the water and bring to a boil. Cook until fork tender.
Drain potatoes and either return to the pot or put in a large bowl. Add butter, sour cream, and a little bit of milk. Using a hand mixer, mash until potatoes are smooth. Add remaining milk if necessary. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (I like a lot of pepper in mine!) Fold in chopped chives.