Sesame Noodles

First let me just apologize for this picture. It was just sitting on the counter waiting to be eaten and I remembered I needed a picture. So I didn't try to make it look fancy. It's just as is. Also, I just had angel hair pasta on hand, so it looks a little "off," but I promise you it's good!

I have no idea where my head was at, but as I was preparing meals for our "health week," I looked at my plans for buffalo chicken lettuce wraps and thought an Asian noodle side dish would pair well. They were both great on their own, but together I have no idea why I put them together! It's not even really like they're super healthy, but hey, I had already drowned chicken in hot sauce so.... we'll just go with it.

These had really good flavor, most likely due to the sesame oil used! My husband loooooves sesame oil so I had zero reservations about the whole thing. They were deeeelicious! Of course. Pioneer Woman, right? Not to mention, this whips up FAST. You're using thin noodles so they don't take long at all and everything is just kind of dump and mix and go. Loved it!

What you will need:

• 12 oz. thin noodles, cooked and drained
• 1/4 C soy sauce
• 2 T sugar
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 T rice vinegar
• 3 T pure sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp. hot chili oil
• 4 T canola oil
• Green onions, thinly sliced (optional)

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients (minus the noodles) together in a bowl
• Toss the cooked and drained noodles with the oil
• Top with green onions (optional)

Kielbasa Corn

It sounds so simple. Turkey Kielbasa and corn. Now I'm trying to figure out how I lived my life before it. I seriously stared at my computer for a few minutes trying to figure out what to call this. So act like it's something that sounds really delicious and measures up to the unbelievable yumyumness this has. Oo! Yumyumcorn. Kielyumcorn. Yumcornkiel. Kielbasayum!

My husband and I have been putting it on our menu almost every week since the day we first tried it and we obsess over the leftovers. He of course likes it more with onions in it.

That's the beauty of this thing, you can add whatever you want and it'll be great! P
robably not "whatever" you want, but nearly. Heck, take these two ingredients camping and wrap it in some tin foil together to cook over the fire!

I actually like my kielbasa browned a lot more than this, like almost burnt coloring. But I wasn't paying attention while I was shopping because my son brought "moo-moo" (his cow) with us and was mooing at me and demanding I stare at him instead of shop.

So, I grabbed some kind of sausage type stuff that wasn't turkey kielbasa and I didn't love the way it browned or tasted but....we can pretend it's the good stuff here.

What you will need:

• 6-8 ears of corn
• 2 turkey kielbasa 
• Garlic Salt
• Black Pepper
• Onions, peppers, etc. (optional)

Directions:

• Shuck and boil your corn for 10-15 minutes depending on the texture you like
• While that's boiling, slice your kielbasa into coins
• When it's done boiling, set your corn on the side and drain the water from your pot
• Dump your kielbasa coins into that same pot and start to brown the sides (if you're planning on adding onions or other vegetables, go ahead and toss those in for a bit before adding the kielbasa in)
• While the kielbasa is browning, cut the corn off of the cob
• When the kielbasa is browned, add the corn into the pot with the kielbasa and mix together with seasonings

Braised Potatoes

I didn't realize braised potatoes was a thing that was kind of frustrating to get "just right" until I watched an episode about them on Americas Test Kitchen. Turns out the trick is to boil them with the butter, so when the water evaporates, the butter that's left will sizzle and brown the bottoms. I thought heck, might as well give it a try!

PERFECTION!

Who am I kidding, though. It's from America's Test Kitchen. As if they'd give me a recipe that wasn't tested a bajillion times with ensured quality. 

You must try these! They are extremely easy and actually cook up pretty fast. I especially like them in the summer time as opposed to roasted potatoes so I'm not turning on the oven. The bottoms of the potatoes can be a darker brown than this when they're done, but these were great for me! (There's also no chives in this picture so they don't look very pretty)

What you will need:

• 12" non stick skillet (I've used non stick, giant pot and everything in between and it's all worked out great)
• Baby red potatoes about 1-1/2" in size, halved
• 2 C water (or enough to fill the skillet up until just the tippy tops of the potatoes are peeking out)
• 3 T unsalted butter
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme (made them without as well. Still great!)
• 3/4 tsp. salt

Directions:

• Arrange potato halves with cut side down around in the non stick skillet
• Add water and salt
• Add butter
• Add garlic cloves whole
• Bring to simmer over medium-high heat
• Once it's simmering, reduce heat to medium and cover with a lid
• Let it simmer some more until it's just tender (about 15 minutes)
• Remove lid and remove thyme and garlic to set aside
• Keeping the lid off, allow the potatoes to continue simmering back at medium high heat, swirling pan occasionally until the water has evaporated and you can hear a "sizzle" sound from the butter started to work its magic (this will take about another 10 minutes)
• When garlic has cooled, mince into a paste and mix with 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/4 tsp pepper and 2 T chives (or you can use whatever seasonings you have around that you want to try out!)
• Check the bottoms of the potatoes and when they're a deep golden brown color they're done! Toss them around with the garlic/lemon paste or whatever seasonings you've chosen

Olive Garden Bread Sticks Copycat

My family is no stranger to the Olive Garden. My husband worked there off and on for 8 years, including working as the culinary assistant. So he gave me a few pointers on these bread sticks, but part of it just wasn't going to happen (drenching them in "well it's not really butter....I think it's worse than margarine. It melts at room temperature so they just paint it on until it's completely saturated"), and some wasn't possible (being shipped to my doorstep so I can just pop them in the oven).

I feel like the flavor of these were super spot on and extremely delicious. They were all eaten in a few minutes! The texture was mostly there, but I think I kneaded my dough too long by accident so they weren't as soft! I also didn't portion out  or "roll" the dough at all. I chose a much easier way, which turned out to work perfect! So I'll write the recipe the way it originally is from Cooking Classy , but I'll include my notes at the bottom, too :).

PS- most of my pictures for the next few months will be sad to look at. I don't have any special lighting so once it's dark so early, I'm working with dark natural light and bright awkward artificial light. So it is what it is!

What you will need:

• 1 C + 2 T warm water
• 1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
• 2 T sugar, divided
• 3-3 1/4 C flour*
• 1 3/4 tsp. salt
• 3 T vegetable oil
• salt*
• 2 T butter
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder*

Directions:

•  Using the whisk attachment (or just a whisk yourself), whisk together the warm water and yeast with 1/2 tsp sugar until the years is dissolved
• Let that sit for a good 10 minutes until it's nice and frothy
• Add in the reamining sugar (1 T+ 2 1/2 tsp)
• Add in the salt
• Add in the vegetable oil and, using the paddle attachment, blend until just combined
• Add in 1 1/2 C of the flour and blend until just combined
• Switch to the dough hook and add the last 1 1/2 C of flour while the dough hook kneads the dough until the dough is pulling away from the sides, smooth and elastic (still slightly sticky), adding in up to another 1/4 c of flour if needed*
• Place ball of dough into a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap to raise in a warm setting for about 1 1/2 hours
• Pinch down risen dough
• Divide dough into 12 equal pieces (2 oz. each by weight)*
• Roll each piece into a 9" rope*
• Place each rope onto a buttered baking sheet
• Cover and let them raise again for another hour
• Preheat oven to 425*
• Bake for 11-13 minutes*
• Run the end of a stick of butter over the top of the bread sticks straight out of the oven
• Sprinkle on the salt and garlic powder

My notes-
*It says you can add up to 1/4 C more of flour, but I found that after the initial 3 C it was plenty
*I would reccomend not using regular table salt. Something a big bigger or more crunchy is nice. I just used some Kosher salt with a tad bigger
*I didn't measure out the salt or the garlic powder, I just sprinkled them on until it looked right
*Instead of portioning everything out, I rolled out the dough into a large square. Using a pizza cutter, I trimmed off the edges so I had a nice straight sided square. After that I cut strips into the dough with the pizza cutter horizontally, and then one slice down the middle vertically, so I had strips of dough.
I put them on the baking sheet and kind of sculpted the ends just a little so they were a bit more "round" but it's not necessary. They'll still come out round once they've baked!
*Since my bread sticks were a little shorter, they were done after 8 minutes and I turned the broiler on the for the last few seconds to get the golden brown look

Cheddar Jalapeno Bread (3 Ingredients)

This stuff is crazy and addicting. My brother and sister in law made it years and years and years ago. My husband and I got a random craving for it the other day but no real memory of how to make it. We're pretty sure we got it right?! Because it was delicious.

My husband swears its perfect match is dipping it in bleu cheese dressing. I swear its Ranch. Either way, there's a match made in heaven here for all of you! It's so easy. Practically fool Proof!

What you will need:

• 1 loaf Rhodes Frozen bread dough, thawed
• 1 can diced jalapeno's & some of the juice
• Grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 375* once the dough is thawed
• Roll out the dough. I'm not really sure what shape we ended up with before we started piling things on
• Dump the cheddar cheese on the dough
• Sprinkle the diced jalapeno's all over the dough
• Drizzle some of the jalapeno juice over everything
• Then just use your hands and roll it all together until everything is mixed in and you have some kind of ball type shape of a loaf
• Sprinkle the bottom of a baking dish with some more grated cheese
• Place the dough ball on top of the cheese
• Bake for about 20 minutes
• Let it sit for 10 minutes or so before slicing in
• DIP IN RANCH! OR BLEU CHEESE! OR BOTH! But only if you don't want to stop eating it

Garlic Bread (Garlic Butter)

A while back I wanted garlic bread but didn't want to go to the store to get some of that pre-made stuff you stick in the oven to warm up. But rubbing some raw garlic all over a piece of toast didn't sound great either (yeah, that's literally what I heard one time....on the FOOD NETWORK. WHAT?). I told myself to just suck it up and figure something out.

I took a pretty simple approach to the whole thing but really wanted the flavors to stand out. What I came up with is extremely fool proof and I have been using it on EVERYTHING. Including the Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks. I used it for my Baked Salmon and added in some other seasonings with some lemon juice. It's just so nice to have this recipe on hand!

What you will need:

• 1/2 tsp. butter
• 4 cloves garlic, grated
• 1/2 stick butter, softened
• Any seasonings you'd like. A safe bet would be some thyme or rosemary

Directions:

• Grate the garlic into the 1/2 tsp of butter while it's warming up in a pan
• When the butter is melted and the garlic has swam around for a tiny minute, pour (and scrape every last bit of the butter/garlic along with it) into a small bowl with the softened 1/2 stick of butter
• Mix in any seasonings you like
• Spread over bread slices
• Bake at 375 for about 10-15 minutes

Roasted Vegetables

So I tried out a few different ways to roast vegetables since I'm pretty picky about the whole thing :). I eventually came up with this and to me it is PERFECT! I'm just now getting around to posting about it because every time I make it I end up eating all of it before I can snap a pic.

But this time, I was making a huge amount so I could have it for the week along with some chicken for lunches (chicken at the bottom of the post).

I have been completely forgetting to each lunch lately (perks of having 3 kids and one of them just 4 months old right?) so I figured it was time to do some make-ahead stuff! This is my favorite way for the veggies!

What you will need:

• Red potatoes, quartered
• Asparagus
• Broccoli, chopped
• Green beans
• Or whatever vegetables you like

Directions:

•  Preheat oven to 400*
• Drizzle baking sheet with olive oil
• Lay the potatoes on the baking sheet and roll around in the oil
• Add whatever seasonings you like to the potatoes
• Bake for 10 minutes
• Add the rest of the vegetables onto the baking sheet
• Season again and add a little more oil for the extra vegetables
• Bake for another 25 minutes

Here's my chicken! I just get a package of the chicken tenderloins (they come with about 20) and lay them out on a baking sheet. Add seasonings (I did different seasonings for each row) and bake at 375* for 25 minutes.

Chicken Strips

Have you ever been to Texas Roadhouse and wondered how they get their chicken strips to be all bumpy (or anywhere with bumpy chicken strips for that matter)? Cause I have. I love them! I've finally found a way using my trusty Pioneer Woman!

What you will need:

• Chicken tenderloins (I think I made around 20 and the flour/buttermilk called for was still plenty for that amount)
• Buttermilk ( 1 1/2 C to soak the tenders and another 1/2 C or so for later)
• 1 1/2 C flour
• 2 T spices of your choice (original calls for 2-3 tsp Lawry's Seasoning Salt. We're a little freaky about flavor so we dumped in Lawry's, a Butt Rub and some Creole)
• Enough oil to fill about an inch in a large cast Iron skillet or fryer of your choice

Directions:

• In a large bowl, soak the tenders in 1 1/2 C buttermilk for 20-25 minutes. It breaks down the chicken and makes 'em all nice and tendery
• Meanwhile, in a 9x13" baking dish, dump 1 1/2 C flour and slowly drizzle in 1/2 C of buttermilk all around the flour while you do whisking motions with a fork. It will make some of the flour clumpy. You want it to be so that there's an even amount of dry flour and clumpy flour throughout the baking dish (IMPORTANT: You really want to use the 9x13" baking dish for this. I tried to use a bowl and it was much much harder!)
• When the chicken tenders have soaked, start heating up your oil (you want it to around 375*)
• Plop a few chicken tenders into the flour mixture and coat them. They will have clumps on them. You want this!
• Place the chicken to the side like on a baking sheet or somewhere for them to sit while you're frying them up
• Place a few at a time into the oil to fry each side (about 1 1/2 minutes per side)
• Done!

Mashed Potatoes

This is actually my husbands recipe! It is so important to have a great way to make your mashed potatoes. Everyone is different in how they like theirs, and the second we tasted these, we knew this was it. This was our favorite. Everyone that has had them has raved about them! I'm not sure why.....it's so simple. I don't know why this tiny combination makes them so much better. But it does! I get a little annoyed by mashed potato recipes that get a little over the top, so it's nice to have a simple way that makes a great difference!

What you will need:

• 6 large potatoes, peeled, rinsed and cubed (if you want to get particular, half Russet potatoes and half Yukon Gold is perfection)
• Heavy Cream
• 2 T butter

 Directions:

• Boil your cubed potatoes until fork tender (about 20-30 minutes depending on how large your cubes are)
• Drain the potatoes and dump them into a large bowl
• Mashed the potatoes up a bit
• Pour in some heavy cream a little at a time until it reaches the consistency you want
• Add in the butter and mash 
• Add salt & pepper to taste

Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks

So I usually make garlic bread with some nice bread from the bakery and my own garlic butter spread. So when I found this recipe for dough to make bread sticks I had to try it out! She and I do our garlic spread a bit different but I'm sure either way will be delicious! My husband was going to be late for dinner and I literally had to bribe my kids to leave him some of these. They were extremely upset, but obliged and left him 3. He took one bite and "MMMMMMMM" with his eyes closed. They're good. Real good.

What you will need:

Bread Sticks (can also be used for pizza dough!)

• 1 C warm water (I aim for 110*)
• 2 1/4 Active Dry Yeast
• 1 T sugar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 T olive oil
• 3 C bread flour (I used all purpose and it still ended up amazing! I only ended up using 2 3/4 C)

Garlic Butter Spread (and cheeses)

• 6 T butter, softened
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 T seasonings of your choice ( I used a blend of some rosemary and thyme but get creative! Or skip this step, it won't matter :) )
• Grated Parmesan cheese to taste
• Grated Mozzarella cheese  to taste

Directions:

Bread Sticks

• In your mixing bowl, sprinkle the yeast and sugar over your warm water and let it activate and foam up
• Add salt, olive oil and half the flour to the mixing bowl and combine
• Add flour 1/2 C at a time until your dough is sticky but won't come off onto your fingers when you touch it
• Knead the dough for 6 minutes exactly 
• The dough will be able to scoop out of the bowl and not be stuck to the sides
• Scoop the dough out and mold it into a bowl
• Spray your mixing bowl with non stick spray and put the ball of dough back in
• Cover with plastic wrap or cover with a towel and place somewhere warm to rise for 1-2 hours
•  Preheat the oven to 500*
• Roll out the dough out into a nice big circle
• Spread the garlic butter all over on top
• Sprinkle both your cheeses on top (I also added a little parsley to mine)
• Bake in the oven for 9 minutes

Garlic Butter Spread

• Grate garlic into the softened butter and mix together
• Add your seasonings (optional) and combine
• Spread over dough
• Top with cheese

Crushed Taters

Two things to say about this recipe.

1. My husband kind of just thinks potatoes are "eh." That doesn't make sense to me. I'm an Idaho girl. He's an Idaho boy. He must love potatoes as much as I do. He doesn't. If I didn't love him so much I might pick legit fights about it when I'm feeling grumpy but lucky for him, I love him a lot. So when I'm grumpy I pick fights about other stupid things instead. Win/win, right?

Where was I? He thinks potatoes are "eh." Except for these. He says these are his favorite and actually gets excited when I make them.

2. I found the recipe from Pioneer Woman, however she calls them Crash Hot Potatoes (I can't help but call them crushed taters) and makes them according to how normal potato lovers would make them. I, however, am dealing with Mr. Fancy Pants that has a crazy refined palate and knew right away I'd be in need of a potato a little more jazzed up with something other than just salt and peppa. So our recipe's are the same, but quite different. I hope at least a little of this makes any sense.

What you will need:

• Red potatoes (however many you think you want. I usually eat two and my kids eat one. I think my husband eats two or three, depending)
• 1/2 stick butter
• 4 cloves garlic
• Olive oil
• Seasonings of choice (I have just been using some mixed blends in a thing I got at some gourmet kitchen store. I tend to go for the ones with some thyme, rosemary, garlic-ee blends)
• Salt & pepper (I like the kosher salt that's big and crunchy. Mmm)

Directions:

• Boil your potatoes until they are fork tender (about 20-25 minutes)
• Drizzle a baking sheet with olive oil
• When potatoes are done, place them on the baking sheet 
• Preheat oven to 450*
• Use a potato masher and press down to crush the potatoes (don't go all the way down when you press. Just a little smoosh is fine)
• Slowly lift the masher back up and push any potato still on the masher back down onto the potato
• Melt your butter in a small saucepan
• Grate the 4 cloves garlic into it
• Spoon a little garlic butter over each potato
• Season your potatoes
• Drizzle the tops of the potatoes with a little olive oil
• Bake for 20-25 minutes

Homemade Taco Shells and Tortilla Chips

I'm not even really sure how these are "recipe's" because they're so easy but it's always good to have these directions around!

My husband and I usually like THESE tortilla's found in the refrigerated section, but if you're in the mood to make you're own, these are the reason my 7 year old will eat 4-5 taco's in one sitting.

What you will need:

Taco Shells

• White corn tortilla's
• About an inch of oil, heated to the point of it "popping" when you flick water at it (if that even makes sense)
• Tongs (this is important)

Tortilla Chips

• White corn tortilla's
• Kosher salt
• Olive Oil

Directions:

Taco Shells

• When your oil is heated up, place one tortilla into the oil
• After about 30 seconds, grab one side of the tortilla with your tongs and fold that side over towards the other side (to make a "shell")
• Hold the tortilla in that position with your tongs, making sure it's crisping up with a gap in the middle large enough to put your taco meat in (if you just fold the tortilla over and leave it, it will crisp up with the sides folded too closely together and your taco will break in half when you try to open it enough to put anything inside)

Tortilla Chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Cut tortilla's into wedges
• Brush both sides with olive oil
• Sprinkle salt on top
• Spray a baking sheet with non stick spray
• Lay out chips onto baking sheet evenly
• Bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on how large your wedges are) until they are crispy and golden brown

Eggs in a Hash Brown Nest

Goooooood MORNING! Would you like eggs with that?

I made these for Easter morning. Cause eggs in a nest is Eastery and comfortee. 

I'd love to write out the directions and everything for you, but once again this is a Pioneer Woman specialty and she explains it far better than I ever could. 

Just know that it's easier than you think! I was worried I'd have a mess on my hands making those nests. But I just baked the potatoes the night before and they were a great texture to grate and "mold" in the morning. 

Recipe here!

Fresh Basil and Pepperoni Tortellini Pasta Salad

I'm BACK! And boy do I have a fabulous recipe to share with y'all. I've been on vacation and stuffed myself silly full of amazing food (tried focaccia bread for the first time. Hello! Where have you been all my life? My sister in law is an amazing cook. I am forever in her debt for that one haha).

I made this before our vacation and really loved it, so I made it again for my parents when I was there. Totally spaced the cherry tomatoes, so just imagine that they're in there. This is so easy and so yummy. It has a very fresh yet filling taste to it that you'll just die for!

What you will need:

• 1 pkg. Buitoni cheese tortellini
• 1 C chopped pepperoni
• 1/3 C chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 C cubed mozzerella
• 1 C Ceasar dressing (I've only used Cardini's Caesar Dressing and it tastes fabulous)
• 1 C cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions:

• Cook pasta and set aside
• Add in all other ingredients and toss well
• Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving

This pasta will soak up the dressing once it's been in the fridge. So don't be worried if it looks like it's drowning in the dressing before you refrigerate it (like in my picture). 

Baked Potato Wedges

Once again, I found an amazing recipe from Life is a Lofthouse who actually adapted the recipe from Six Sisters Stuff! I tried these out tonight and they were a hit. Everyone loves potato wedges! If you don't love potato wedges I'm not sure if we can be friends.  :)

Seriously, these have a great crispy layer on the outside and they're all soft and pillowy on the inside. My daughter (who hates anything to do with potatoes (with the exception of french fries (yes she knows fries come from potatoes) actually ate these and loved them.

What you will need:

• Potatoes, cut length wise and then quartered
• Olive oil
• 2 T flour
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• salt&pepper

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 450 degree's
• evenly coat a baking sheet with olive oil
• Mix dry ingredients in a large Ziploc bag
• Drop 4 slices of wedges into the bag at a time and shake to coat the wedges
• Place potatoes on the baking sheet and bake each side for about 20 minutes*

*My oven is hotter than average, so I checked mine after 12 minutes and they were ready to flip and after another 6 minutes they were done. So be sure to check on them just in case! :)

Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes

This is my favorite way to make garlic mashed red potatoes. Once I'd played around with some spices I ended up with this and came to love doing it this way. I hate sweet potatoes, so in my mind this is the healthiest I can get with potatoes. :) I love the flavor and you don't need any gravy so that does take the health factor up a notch, right? Also, you may notice the fairly large amount of garlic I use. That is personal taste, but honestly the amount I use for this will not make you feel like you're eating straight garlic. It's not too subtle and not too over powering. Promise.

What you will need:

• 6-8 red potatoes, washed (I leave the skin on)
• 8 cloves garlic, grated
• 1 1/2 T onion powder
• 1/2 T olive oil
• 3 T sour cream
• Milk to desired consistency
• Dash of salt (or keep it out if you're trying to cut back)

Directions:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil
• Add 4 cloves grated garlic, 1 T onion powder and salt to the boiling water
• Cube the cleaned red potatoes and put them into the boiling water
• Allow to boil for about 20 minutes, or until potato slides off a fork when you try to pick it up out of the water
• Drain the potatoes (I save some of the water to steam my broccoli with)
• In the now empty pot you boiled your potatoes in, grate the last 4 cloves of garlic into the pot
• Add 1/2 T olive oil and saute' garlic for about 2 minutes
• Pour potatoes back into the pot with the garlic
• Add the sour cream, 1/2 T onion powder and a little bit of milk (I also add another dash of salt cause I love salt!)
• Mash them up a little until most of the pieces have been mashed once or so
• Using a hand mixer, whip those potatoes and add in milk until it's reached the desired consistency 

The Best Corn on the Cob in the World

Our wonderful neighbors ran over some crab to us the other day that was super fresh. Don't you just love awesome neighbors? I do! Anyways, let me tell you something about this here corn.

IT IS THE BEST CORN ON THE COB YOU WILL EVER HAVE EVER EVER EVER.

Sure, you'll have to have some crab (or probably Lobster would do just fine) on hand to get it just right, but how is that a bad thing?

All of these ingredients were just tossed in and are all approximate. It seems a bit foolproof though. :)

I was a little sad that we didn't have any Old Bay Seasoning on hand, but after tasting the corn, I didn't miss it one bit. I'll still be tossing some in next time, though. Just to see! :)

What you will need:

• Crab or Lobster, cleaned and ready to boil
• 4-6 ears of corn, shucked and read to boil
• 1 big pot of boiling water
• 2 tsp. Creole Seasoning
• 1 T garlic salt
• 1 T black pepper
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 5 cloves of garlic, grated
• 1 tsp. salt

Directions:

• Put all seasonings into boiling water
• Boil your crab or lobster
• After crab or lobster is done, place corn in the boiling water
• Let them boil for about 8 minutes
• Smother them in butter and EAT 

Mexican Rice

Okay so I stumbled on this blog called Life as a Lofthouse totally by accident and about 30 minutes later had chosen 4 recipes to try out this week in my dinner plans. I have always wanted a nice simple side dish to go with fajita's or Mexican dishes and nothing has ever jumped out at me. But this...this is PERFECT! Such good flavor and so EASY! Plus, you could easily make this extra healthy using brown rice, so I'm tossing it in the "healthy" tab (you can see my standards are slightly low as far as "healthy" goes). Not only that, but it's just naturally Gluten-Free. A plus for my daughter, who freakin' loved this stuff (just make sure you double check the chicken broth you're using with this list I found right here).

The pictures on her site are way better than mine so don't base whether you think this would be good or not on this picture! :)

What you will need:

• 1 C uncooked long grain rice
• 2 C chicken broth
• 1 T butter
• 1/2 C salsa (I used Picante' which is confirmed to be Gluten-Free)
• 1 tsp. garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp. cumin

Directions:

• Put all ingredients into a non-stick skillet
• Bring to a boil
• Cover, reduce heat and let simmer for about 30 minutes

Deep Fried Fries

I know they look like just another average bunch of fries. But holy moly, these are unbelievable! Toying with seasonings will eventually pay off because I now get to share with you the BEST SEASONING COMBINATION AND WAY TO FRY THESE EVER to make fries.

What you will need:

•  Preferrably a fry daddy, if not, a pan large enough to fry them in 1" of oil
• Canola oil
• 3 potatoes

Directions:

• Cut up the potatoes french fry style
• Soak them in cold water for 30 mins.
• Fill the fry daddy up to the suggested line with oil, or fill your pan up with oil
• If you have a thermometer, wait for the oil to heat up to 325 degrees (if no thermometer, dip your fingers in water and splash the water into the oil. If the oil starts popping immediately it's ready)
• Fry the potatoes in 325 degrees for 2 minutes
• Take them out and let them rest for a few minutes
• Fry them again at 375 degrees for 3 mins
• Let fries rest again on paper towels
• Sprinkle with salt

Sun Dried Tomato Dip

What you will need:

• 2 (8 oz. packages) cream cheese, softened
• 2 C mayonnaise
• 1/4 C finely chopped onion
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 jar (7oz.) oil packed sun dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
• 2/3 C roasted sweet red peppers, chopped
• 2 C shredded part-skim Mozzarella cheese
• 2 C shredded Italian Cheese blend
• 1 C shredded Parmesan cheese, divided

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 Degrees
• Grease a 13x9 baking dish
• In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, onion, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, red peppers, Mozzarella cheese, Italian cheese and 3/4 C of the Parmesan cheese
• Pour mixture into 13x9 and spread evenly
• Bake uncovered for 22 minutes or until edges are bubbly and lightly browned

I lightly toasted some baguette bread slices to spread the dip onto. You can use different bread slices or crackers.