I decided last week to begin hosting my family for Sunday dinner. The idea was to create a tradition for my own little family and hopefully encourage my parents and siblings to have a family oriented time each week spent together and with the kids. So, today was the first. Andy, Mom, and Dad came over. This was a good experience since Grandpa Frye had a stroke on Thursday night and has been in Peoria since then. We don't know what is coming for him, but we're all dedicated to the common prayer for his full recovery.
Today's Menu:
Pork Roast with a Walnut-Parmesan Crust
Verdict: For me, this is a 10. I would say to be generous with the ingredients creating the sauce as I ended up being a little light. I used 2.5 lbs and it was barely enough for the 5 of us.
Roasted Garlic Lemon Broccoli
Verdict: This was good, not shocking. Dad liked this a lot. I would give it an 8.5.
Feta Foldovers
Verdict: These were strong in flavor. They were Mom's favorite. I would give them a 9/9.5.
Twice Baked Potatoes Recipe (not sure how, but I don't have a link for this - sorry!)
Ingredients:
• 4 large russet potatoes, about a pound each
• Olive oil
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp butter, softened
Cheddar and bacon version
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 4 strips bacon
• onion powder
Blue cheese version
• 1 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Poke potato in several places with the tines of a fork so that when the potatoes are cooking they don't explode. Rub the potatoes all over with a little olive oil. Place directly on the middle or top rack of the oven. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. They should give a little when pressed.
If short on time you can bake the potatoes in the microwave, 10 minutes on high heat for 2 potatoes, 15 minutes for 4 potatoes. The skins of microwave baked potatoes aren't nearly as crispy, so you may want to rub a little olive oil on them and finish them in a conventional oven at 400°F for 10 minutes.
2 If you are including bacon as one of your mix-ins, while the potatoes are cooking, cook the bacon strips in a frying pan on medium low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, or until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Let cool. Crumble.
3 Allow the potatoes to cool to touch. Slice the top third lengthwise off the potato. Use a spoon to scoop out the insides, forming a potato "canoe", leaving about 1/4 inch of potato on the skin.
Alternatively you can slice the potatoes in half, lengthwise. In this case you may want to bake an extra potato so that you will have more potato filling to mound into the potato boats.
4 Place the scooped out potato insides, sour cream, milk, cream, and butter into a large bowl. Mash with a potato masher. If you want a creamy texture, beat with an electric beater until desired consistency. Note, do not over-beat potatoes, they can turn glue-y.
5 Mix in the extras with the potatoes. Reserve some of the extras to sprinkle on the tops of the potatoes. Spoon fillings into the potato shells. Sprinkle with extra toppings.
6 Heat oven to 350°F. Place potatoes on a roasting pan and bake 15 to 20 minutes until heated through.
Serves 4 to 6.
Verdict: I have tried the bleu cheese version and now the cheddar and bacon version. We prefer the bleu cheese version. They were both very good. I would give them an 8.5/8.
Choco-Scotch Marble Cake
Verdicts: I would give this an 8. It was moist and different than anything I've had.
So, this whole meal was really a good turnout. I'm very happy with the first effort. We finished the afternoon with a game of sets & runs.
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