**Food Friday** Easter Eats

I love to cook (duh) but sometimes I wish it was just more than Husband and myself so I could indulge in my love of big meals. Well for Easter, I got to do just that when I cooked lunch for us and the Neighbors. They are by far one of my favorite families and even let us partake in hiding and the subsequent finding of Easter eggs. It was such a beautiful day, our girls even participated (well they spent a lot of time trying to slip their head harnesses and roll in the grass).

Not only did I get to make a big meal but I also, wait for it, planned it ahead of time. I know, Husband was shocked too, and when cleanup time rolled around and it was just a matter of sticking everything in the dishwasher, I had to really ask myself, "WHY HAVEN'T YOU DONE THIS BEFORE?!" So having done pretty much everything but the mashed potatoes the night before, I got to enjoy the morning sitting on the porch soaking up as much vitamin D as possible with Mandie.

I promise you, she's thrilled it's Easter.

Homemade Bread

HAM! (I remembered to get a picture this year)

Potatoes boiling away

Alfredo Cheddar Butter Mashed Potatoes...eat if you dare.

 I also made a green bean casserole sans french fried onions (horrors I know! But I don't particularly care for them and neither does my hips) but since it is such a standard dish, I didn't deem it picture worthy. That and it only lasted like two seconds.

And if you're wondering, yes I did eat some of my Alfredo Cheddar Butter Mashed Potatoes. I actually had two helpings and I'd do it again because they, my friends, are freaking spectacular.

Alfredo Cheddar Butter Mashed Potatoes

Printable Version

 

5lbs yukon gold potatoes

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

water

salt to taste

1 jar alfredo sauce (I used the roasted garlic Safeway brand)

8 Tbl butter

1/2 cup milk

2 cups grated Sharp Cheddar cheese

Peel and chop potatoes into 1 inch pieces and put in pot with chicken broth and enough water to cover. Add salt and bring to boil. Once boiling, turn down heat and let potatoes cook until fork tender (I actually let mine get to fork mashable but that's just my preference).

When they potatoes are soft, drain and either return to pot or put in whatever bowl you're going to use to mix them in. Add alfredo sauce, butter and milk (I put the butter in first and then the potatoes in so butter melts from their heat). Use electric mixer to beat smooth (unless you have another prefer mashing method, I'm undomestic remember, so I do not). Stir in cheese until melted. Resist urge to take pot to your bedroom and not come out until the entire thing is empty.

So what did you do for Easter??

**Meatless Monday** You say potato, I say delicious

Remember when I wrote about my dirty little secret? Well sometimes I redeem myself, by reusing. Or rather, reheating.

This potato casserole tastes just as good for breakfast as it did for dinner.

Food Friday

Another action packed week in The UDG casa. Husband's grandfather's health is failing, so Husband flew out last week to be with his family. Upon coming home, he gave me the royal treatment. Not only did I get to take a nap on Sunday, but he whipped up some jambalaya as well. You can be jealous. Sure I cooked the rest of the week, but for one night I got to sit on the couch a la Al Bundy style. I live an excellent life.

 Sunday: Uncle Mark's Jambalaya

Turkey sausage browned and water added.

We Husband used Zatarain's Jambalaya mix and added shrimp meat.

Best meal of the week! Can't wait to have it again.

 Monday: Slow Cooked Rosemary Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Don't forget to vote for me (#76) on this post

Tuesday: Ground Turkey Tacos w/ The UDG's Go To Rice

Takes all of 30 minutes. Perfect dinner after a double shift.

 Wednesday: Easy and Delicious Chicken

This chicken was so tender is practically shredded itself.

I'm still working on perfecting these rolls but everything else was awesome.

Thursday: Everything in the Potato Soup

Rather than throw things in the trash, I did a fridge purge and threw everything in one pot.

Don't forget to check out the What's Cooking page for all the tastiness.

PS Here's my last shameless plug (for this post): Vote for #76!!

**Meatless Monday AND Crazy Cooking Challenge!

I'm not usually a joiner, other than the workforce and the Save a Cow, Eat a Vegetarian Foundation (that's right I just endorse cannibalism on my blog in a post about food, you may judge me). However, I came across the Crazy Cooking Challenge while stalking scouring blogs for food fodder. I'd been feeling like spreading my wings a bit and the way that Tina over at Moms Crazy Cooking laid it out, well she made it sound like not joining was the harder thing to do. Besides, the upcoming challenge was "The Ultimate Mashed Potatoes," and I mean, please, this is The UDG we're talking about here. Starchy skinned substances are my thing.

So, I set off into Blogland. Besides making delicious food, the Crazy Cooking Challenge is a way to feature recipes from bloggers who don't have their own show on Food Network or make the big bucks telling you six ways to cut an onion. The recipe I chose, Slow Cooked Rosemary Garlic Mashed Potatoes, is by Rachel at Coconut and Lime.

As you all know, I love my crock pot and I love it now more than ever, working two jobs. It's wonderful to be able to throw something in it and be able to walk away and Pinterest get my housework done. Other recipes I found called for cooking the potatoes, mashing them AND then putting them in the crock pot. Tres stupido. The thing I like most about this recipe is that, in true crock pot fashion, it's all done in one place.

I must tell you that when I made this recipe, Husband was still out of town, so I got to have these all to myself. Which is good, because the scent alone of the potatoes cooking was enough to make me find any excuse to go into the kitchen and sniff the air around the crock pot.

Here's the story of how 3 lbs of unsuspecting red potatoes became a glorious rendition of mashed potatoes.

You began your journey as nothing more than spuds, needing to be cleansed of your impurities and imperfections.

With (not so) loving care, you were whittled down and married to chicken broth, garlic and rosemary.

After you had reached your peak tenderness, you were introduced to the Dairy Fairies: Milk, Butter and Sour Cream.

Put together in the most tastiest of situations, it was a mash made in heaven.

The end.

Wash them down with some ice tea and you've got a meal. Or I suppose normal people would eat them as a side dish. So overrated.

Be sure to check out another recipe or two or all of them if you don't have a life have the time. If by chance you're feeling so inclined, go ahead and vote for me #76. If you're not, well do it any way, no one wants a guilty conscience.

Food Friday

What a week. I'm officially working the midnight shift at my new job and while I really think it's great (lots of me time, just me and the 8 gajillion towels I fold), it's at midnight and my body is questioning my self respect. I have a couple nights off now and when I tried to go to sleep last night, I couldn't. Here I was, able to sleep at the same time as Husband for the first time in days and I couldn't stop thinking about the towels I needed to fold...here. Ugh.

Needless to say, meals this week have been take what you can get. Husband is working out of town today, so when he gets home it will be pizza (as usual). I'm hoping to start a second day job soon, so the amount of food posted may decline, but I'm hoping that the quality will go up (because you know I've been giving you substandard food posts, right). So here is what we ate this week, kind of.

Bread that's supposed to taste like the cheddar biscuits from Red Lobster. Needs some work.

Italian dressing marinated chicken, slathered w/ mayo and coated w/ bread crumbs.

Served with cheddar mashed potatoes and leftover cheddar cheese bread. Oh and corn.

Cheddar cheese mashed potatoes, one of the most essential comfort foods of all time.

So how was your week? Pretty typical? Or so out of the ordinary you wondered if you stepped into the twilight zone.

SUNDAY-Cheese Bread Like Red Lobster's
Please click the link to see the recipe.

 THURSDAY-Marinated Bread Chicken
(original recipe posted by ???
adapted by the UDG)
Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup plain bread crumbs

1 tablespoon dry parsley

1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon seasoning salt

1/2 cup mayonaise

1 bottle Kraft Italian dressing/marinade 

(note: you can try another brand of dressing but you won't like the way it tastes, I promise)

Directions:

Place the chicken in a dish with the entire bottle of dressing (if you have two 9x13 pans, one you can marinate in and one to bake in, that would work perfect for this). Let marinate for at least an hour, overnight is preferred, turning the chicken half way thru.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9x13 pan non-stick cooking spray. Mix bread crumbs, parsley, Italian seasoning and seasoning salt together.

(note: obviously if you have seasoned bread crumbs already, you can use them; I prefer to spruce up plain ones so I can control the amount of flavor)

Coat chicken in mayo and then roll in bread crumb mixture. Place in pan and bake for 30 minutes or until bread crumbs no longer look dry.

(note: the mayo helps keep the chicken juicy and the marinade lends great flavor)

Cheesey Mashed Potatoes  

(original recipe posted by???

adapted by the UDG)

Ingredients:
4 medium sized potatoes

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

 1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 cup shredded Extra Sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

Peel and cube potatoes and put them in pot with salt and garlic. Fill with water to cover and bring to a boil. Boil until potatoes are fork tender and drain. 

Before putting the potatoes back into the pan, add butter to the pan and allow to melt as much as possible. Add potatoes and begin to beat with electric mixer. Slowly add milk until level of desired creaminess achieved. Stir in cheese and cover. Let sit for five minutes until cheese is completely melted. Stir before serving. 

(note: I don't recommend using your mixer to stir in the cheese; you'll end up with all of your cheese on the beaters in a sticky gooey mess)

**For whatever reason, I can't find the original recipes that I used. Maybe I just randomly came across a bunch of ideas and just threw them all together, I don't remember.