Bake Potato Bar

I know! I know! You are scratching your head thinking that this is not allowed on my low carb eating plan. Yep! I am a cheater!! And was very happy and content while eating this for dinner. I had the biggest smile on my face until the next day when I went to take a run. I was paying for it the entire hour. But, I still contend that it was completely worth it! After all, Potatoes should not be a carb. As soon as I figure out who to petition this to, I assure you I will!!

This used to be a good standby meal when The Fireman would work. It takes little effort and not only do each child like this meal but they really like being able to customize their potato. The key is to warm up some chili (it is to die for on a crunchy bake potato) and some vegetables to pile either on the potato or on the side. It helps with the guilt. When The Fireman heard that we would have this when he was on duty it became an issue. No longer do I keep this for his duty days but include him. Who knew he would like it so much (he is only Honorary Irish rather than Irish like I am)

Everyone seems to have different methods for baking potatoes. I used to wrap in foil but over the years have found that it really isn't necessary. Now I wash and dry (no dirt necessary) and then rub just a tad of olive oil on the potato. I love the crunchy skin that you get when you do it this way. Salt and Pepper all sides.
Bake in a 400 degree oven for about an hour or until you can take a knife and pierce into the middle of the potato easily.

Put out all your favorite toppings. You could have the following (or all)
Butter
Sour Cream
Ranch
Green Onions
Chili (bean or no bean-I only happen to have no bean on hand this time)
Steamed vegetables (tonight it is broccoli but last time it was a box of cheesy broccoli)
This is my favorite! Baked Potato with chili, cheese, sour cream and green onions. Totally worth the pain I felt the next day!
If you want to trick your mind that it is really good for you, add the broccoli to the potato and add cheese! Also good for during Lent or Meatless Mondays.

Favorite Vegetable Recipes

With it being the New Year and hopefully everyone is still into eating healthy, I wanted to share some of my favorite vegetable recipes. I am very lucky, my kids like most vegetables. I try to keep them interesting. Dress them up so they aren't boring.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Now most kids HATE Brussel Sprouts. Mine are not the biggest fan of this recipe. They like the next one if picking favorites. But The Fireman LOVES them cooked this way!


Sauted Brussel Sprouts
Now this one, everyone in the house loves. Your kids will never know that they are eating yucky Brussel Sprouts!
Green Beans
My kids could eat these just about every night if I let them. In fact there are a couple that they would eat every night.Parmesan Roasted Asparagus
I love this one because it looks and tastes like you really worked hard at it but it can be cooked in 15 minutes
Sun Dried Tomato Broccoli
I could eat the entire pan of this. I am not kidding, it is by far my favorite
Rocking Corn
the name says it all!


Now these are just our favorites! You can go to the Recipe Link and try tons more!

Herb & Roast Garlic Standing Rib Roast

This happens to be something I only make a couple times a year. First of all, the meat has to go on sale to dirt cheap for me to buy it. If I have a little extra money in my food budget, I will buy a couple and store them in the freezer. This is usually made on Christmas or New Years. It's a WOW meal. You get a big WOW affect but really it doesn't take much work. I always serve with both a pan gravy and a horseradish cream.

First thing, you need to roast some garlic. I roasted the garlic the night before. You need to two heads of garlic. (I am roasting four heads for two different recipes) Lob off the top. I like to use a huge serrated knife. Stick the garlic on some tin foil and cover with olive oil.Wrap up tightlyBake in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes. When you take it out, it's all soft and gooey.Let it cool until you can handle it with you hands. Squeeze the garlic out of the bulb. I am placing into a plastic container for the night.I also take a fork to it so its all pureed so to speak.I have a lot of garlic here. Half will be used in the mashed potatoes and the the other half is getting smeared on the standing rib roast. Try to resist using on a piece of french bread with butter.

Next prepare the pan. I take whatever veggies I have on hand. I happen to be using carrots, celery, onion and some mushrooms.
Now lets prepare the rub. These are the herbs I bought. I would love to say that I grow them but lets be honest, I don't!! You will need a couple TB's of the herbs. Pull the rosemary off the stalk as well as the thyme (all while complaining "I don't have time for thyme!" Chop it up really good.add the herbs to the garlic and add some salt and pepper (about a tsp. of each) and mix well.
Rub it onto the meat. In case I didn't mention this, the ribs go down on the pan.Take a carton of Beef stock and pour the whole thing into the bottom of the pan.Bake 400 for 15 minutes per pound. I have one of those pop up thermometers in the roast so the pressure is off me as long as I keep an eye on it!
My kids always complain about the bits on the top of the roast as it comes out of the oven. The Fireman and I fight over this bark. It all falls off as he carves it. OOOh and don't even think about carving this pretty baby until you let it rest for 15 minutes. It's the perfect amount of time to make the gravy and the horseradish cream.So let's make gravy! Take all the drippings and put into a sauce pan.If you don't have enough, add some beef stock to the pan. Take some Wonderflour, about 2 TB and sprinkle it onto the warm drippings while you whisk the whole time. Pour into your favorite gravy boat.

In a bowl mix 2 TB horseradish (prepared in the jar found by the mayo) with 1 TB mayo and 1 TB sour cream. Mix well
Now your rib roast should be ready to carve. First cut off the ribs . You could cut them up and put the ribs on your serving tray. Kids usually love them but I don't give them a chance. I put them into a freezer bag and stuff into the freezer. It will make amazing stock and soup later when it is really cold out or rainy in the spring.
Serve with your favorite mashed potatoes.

Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes

The Fireman calls these"Holiday Potatoes." They are basically your favorite mashed potato recipe that are piled into a baking pan and topped with more cheese and bread crumbs only to be baked until golden brown. I like them because you can make this ahead of time, say in the morning and then pop them into the oven thirty minutes before you are planning on serving dinner. I do tend to only make these around the Holidays. These would be great for a potluck though. They are still yummy with gravy over them or on their own.


Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes

First thing, you need to roast some garlic. I roasted the garlic the night before. You need to two heads of garlic. (I am roasting four heads for two different recipes) Lob off the top. I like to use a huge serrated knife. Stick the garlic on some tin foil and cover with olive oil.
Wrap up tightlyBake in a 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes. When you take it out, it's all soft and gooey.Let it cool until you can handle it with you hands. Squeeze the garlic out of the bulb. I am placing into a plastic container for the night.I also take a fork to it so its all pureed so to speak.I have a lot of garlic here. Half will be used in the mashed potatoes and the the other half is getting smeared on a standing rib roast. Try to resist using on a piece of french bread with butter.

Cut up about ten potatoes and boil in salted water until fork tender. Drain and return to the pot they cooked in.
Add 1 stick of butter
1/2 cup sour cup of sour cream
1/2 to 3/4 cup of cream or milk
roasted garlic
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

See the two piles? One is for the topping. I always freshly grate the Parmesan. It makes a big difference in taste and texture. Mash until smooth. You could take a mixer to it. Personally, my family doesn't care it it is perfectly smooth.
Take the mashed potatoes and spoon into a baking dish
Now in a bowl combine 3/4 cup bread crumbs with 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese and 1 TB melted butter
Top on the mash potatoes and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Serve!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Jalepeno Coleslaw

Yesterdays post was my Country Pork Roast. Everyone showed up for dinner. I am not sure if it is the Pork or the gravy but I am sure it might be the Mashed Potatoes. We are potato junkies. In fact! Writing this post is causing me great pain because it was cooked before the first of the year...before we all went off carbs. But we had just enough leftover for the sandwiches. This is not the first time I have posted on Pulled Pork. Each time it is just a little different from the last. This one has jalapenos in the coleslaw. I am obsessed with nacho jalapenos. I also think they are best served with beer. Guilty

This is too easy. You could use leftover chicken, beef but we are using pork. First you need to make the coleslaw. I always make it first so it can "marinade" so to speak in the frig while you do everything else.
In a bowl combine
1/2 cup of mayo
2 TB rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
3 TB nacho jalapenos minced
Add to it 1/2 bag of coleslaw mix. It's only 1/2 a bag because you are piling ON the sandwich and not using as a side dish.Cover with plastic wrap and stuff into the frig while you start on the pork.
I take all the leftover pork and drop into a pan. I like to have the stove on medium heat so I don't dry out the pork but warm it up.
As it warms up, start breaking it all apart so its shredded so to speak.
Now add about 3/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce. To be honest, it's whatever I have on hand. So it's probably what ever was on sale at the store.
Let it all warm up and start toasting buns. I like mine toasted. There is a huge debate in our house over it. The Ballplayer likes his untoasted.

Pile meat on the bun and coleslaw. Eat quickly. The Fireman always says that Pulled Pork isn't a polite sandwich. It's meant to be messy.