Potato Salad

After my last potato salad post where I was trying to re-create the deliciousness that I had experienced in Munich. A friend sent me one of her own potato salad recipes and I decided to give it a whirl. Do you know what I love about this recipe........it's so whole......all of the ingredients are real, meaning no mayo or anything!  

Don't get me wrong I do use mayonnaise and all kinds of other condiments and sauces but I like it when I can avoid it.  I feel you are truly making something from scratch when all of your ingredients are whole real foods and it makes the final product that much more special.  And yes  I am aware that you can make things like mayo yourself from scratch (I've done this successfully once or twice before) and then insert it into your recipe, it's just not always so logistically realistic.  As much as I love to cook I don't want to be a slave to my kitchen!

But I digress,  the recipe was a success and worth a share.

4 potatoes boiled and sliced (sadly I did not follow the sliced instruction and instead chopped my potatoes but feel that the flavour is too delicate and was lost on my chunks of potatoes....I will definitely slice them next time) 

4 hard boiled eggs chopped
1 onion finely chopped and sauteed in butter

in a small bowl mix together:

2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp flour
1 tsp dry mustard
Mix and add:
4 tbs. cream (I used full fat whipping cream)
3 tbs. vinegar
Mix and add warm sliced potatoes, eggs, and Sauteed onion and mix again.

Broccoli Casserole

Last night we were having BBQ for dinner and I decided to make broccoli casserole to go with it.  We also tried out a friends potato salad recipe but that will be for the next post. Both T and H really liked the casserole......no surprise considering the amount of cheese in this recipe(cheese makes the world go round in our house)

(the naked uncooked casserole before any cheese or paprika)

• 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 4 cups chopped fresh broccoli
• 8 ounces shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 2 pinches paprika
• 
  

Here's what you do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Set aside a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together condensed cream of mushroom soup, mayonnaise, egg and onion.
3. Place broccoli into a very large mixing bowl.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape soup-mayonnaise mixture on top of broccoli, and mix well. Sprinkle on cheese and mix well. Spread mixture into prepared baking dish, and smooth top of casserole. Season to taste with salt, pepper and paprika.
4. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour in the preheated oven

Enjoy!

Lamb chop BBQ with the Fam!

This past Sunday we decided to have a little family BBQ.  My Dad had suggested we do lamb, since it had been a while.....probably about a year since any of us had eaten lamb.  Dinner ended up being a group effort and it was a fun afternoon.

 Dad did the meat and the salad, I did the sides (Grilled asparagus, Zucchini squares, and Grilled/marinated Portobellos)with a little help from Lil A who came up with the Portobello recipe

 It all came together nicely and by the end of it we were all sooooooo stuffed!!!!!!!!!!

 (please see previous post for zucchini square recipe)

(Isn't eating out side so great!)

Grilled/Marinated Portobello Caps

• 3 large portobello mushrooms stems removed
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 small chopped onion
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 balsamic vinegar
• 
  
• Here's what you need to do:
• 1. Clean mushrooms and remove stems, reserve for other use. Place caps on a plate with the gills up.
  2. In a small bowl, combine the oil, onion, garlic and vinegar. Pour mixture evenly over the mushroom caps and let stand for 1 hour.
  3. Grill over hot grill for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
  *We set up the shrooms in little tinfoil bowls and allowed some of the vinegar to drizzle over the side and then popped them on the grill as is (in their homemade little bowls) so that the balsamic on the bottom would thicken and make a nice sweet syrupy gravy.

Squares were a hit!!!!

(don't they look yummy!)

This post is a continuation of Zucchinis out the Wazoo.  Last night I had the opportunity to try the Zucchini squares recipe and Mmmmmm Mmmm Mmmmm they were yummy.  A nice blend of zucchini and Parmesan cheese mixed with onion garlic and bit of parsley.  Definitely an easy recipe worth recommending.  Only thing I wasn't crazy about is that the recipe calls for Bisquick mix.........but the girl who posted the recipe said her grandmother always used to make these and because it was her grandmothers recipe she didn't want to mess with it and she was posting it as is........Fair enough......I feel family recipes need to be respected, even if they're not my family recipes :-)

Here's what you need:

5 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup grated Romano cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon seasoned salt
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ cup finely chopped yellow onion
2 cups Bisquick
3 cups thinly sliced zucchini......I thinly sliced about 1 cup of zucchini and Grated the other 2 cups

Here's how you do it:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Grease a 9×13 pan and set aside.

3. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, oil, Romano cheese, parsley, salts, oregano and garlic powder. Whisk in the onion, and then the Bisquick. With a rubber spatula, gently stir in the sliced zucchini, being careful not to break up the slices. Turn the mixture into the pan and smooth the top.

4. Bake until puffed and golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool to warm room temperature before serving.

5. *optional* I sprinkled freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top of the zucchini squares and then let them cool

For any of you wondering I got this recipe off of Food Buzz.  There are a ton of other food blogs there.  I came accross one blog called the browneyedbaker and she had posted this recipe which she had found going through her grandmothers old recipes

Mmmmmmm!

I hope you enjoyed the post......stay tuned for the third zucchini recipe coming up in the next couple of days!

German style potato salad

I loved lots of things about living in Germany, particularly the food.  German food is so delicious.....so rich.....so filling.  Never having spent much time in Germany before moving to Munich, the amount of Pork and Potatoes that the Bavarians ate was at first a little overwhelming, but before long T and I had embraced our new life and all the delicious food that came with it!  Often when T and I are reflecting on our time there and thinking of the friends we miss since we've come home or yummy food we ate or the places we visited it sparks a craving in me for a true German potato salad. The potato salad we have here in North America while good, has nothing on German potato salad......in my opinion.  T and I have been back in Canada for over a year now and I have only just found a potato salad recipe that is even close to the deliciousness that I remember and long for.

• 3 pounds potatoes, peeled boiled and sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley
• ground black pepper to taste
• 
  
• In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, oil, vinegar, sugar, parsley, salt and pepper. Gently stir in the potatoes and onion. Let stand for 1 hour before serving to enhance flavors.

I think that this recipe is a pretty good dupe for the German potato salad I so fondly remember, and it's definitely worth a try.  I'd love to know what you think and let me know how you think it compares to your own potato salad recipe.   I would be over the moon excited if anyone out there has a better, or more authentic version that they would like to pass my way!  Keeping with that sentiment anytime you have a recipe that you think I might like send them my way!  I love to try new things and new techniques!