Greek Potato Salad

If you're heading off to any picnics or BBQs this Labor Day weekend, chances are you, or someone attending, is expected to bring some sort of creamy salad, like potato salad or macaroni salad. These sinfully delicious (and sinfully unhealthy!) salads are a staple at any picnic. Rather than bringing the same old boring potato salad, why not mix things up and make this tasty Greek potato salad? It's easy to make and has a distinctive and alluring taste that will keep the picnic-goers coming back to your dish.

Unlike a traditional potato salad that uses Russet potatoes, the Greek potato salad uses red potatoes. Personally, I prefer these smaller, less starchy potatoes to the Russet. (For more recipe ideas with red potatoes be sure to check out an earlier recipe, Baked Red Potatoes.) Also, instead of using mayonnaise as the main "goup" ingredient in the salad, the Greek potato salad replaces the mayo with olive oil and feta cheese.

The ingredients for Greek potato salad, unfortunately, are a bit more expensive than for a traditional potato salad, but it's worth every penny:

• 2 lbs medium red potatoes
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
• 1/2 lb. feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 sweet red bell pepper, seeded
• 1/2 cup green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup black olives, drained & chopped

Start by washing and cutting the potatoes into bit-sized pieces, leaving the skins on. Next, cook the potatoes in boiling water until tender. Part of the art of cooking this recipe is ensuring that the potatoes achieve the right level of tenderness. If the potatoes are not tender enough, the dish will suffer as the potato pieces will taste somewhat raw and be crunchy. If the potatoes are too tender, then when mixing the ingredients you'll find that you end up with a sort of oatmeal-like mush.

While the potatoes are being cooked, mix the oil, vinegar, oregano, and rosemary. After the potatoes are tender, drain them and move the potatoes to a mixing bowl. Then pour on the oil/vinegar/spices mix and gently toss in the remaining ingredients. After all of the ingredients have been thoroughly (yet gently!) mixed, let the salad stand for at least thirty minutes before serving. This dish will keep well in the fridge for up to a week.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Rice Casserole

If you like chicken, rice, and creamy soups, and you think that they taste even better if they're all mixed together, then this recipe is for you! It's amazingly fun and easy to make and, while a little on the salty side, is quite a tasty recipe that we enjoy usually once a month, or so. The ingredients are relatively inexpensive, especially if you opt to buy frozen chicken.

For this dish you'll need:

• 8 to 10 chicken thighs, skin removed (you can also use boneless, skinless chicken breasts if you are looking for a healthier, meatier dish)
• 1 cup of uncooked rice (rinsed)
• 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can of cream of celery soup
• 1 can of French onion soup
• A pinch of paprika

The goal here is to mix together the soups and uncooked rice and then bake it with the chicken. Start by mixing together the three cans of soup. Save about 1/3 of this soup mixture in a separate bowl. With the remaining 2/3, mix in the cup of uncooked rice.

Pour half of this soup/rice mixture into a 13"x9" pan and then place the chicken thighs on top. Pour the rest of the soup/rice mixture in the pan, filling the gaps. Finally, cover the chicken with the soup-only mixture that was set aside earlier. Lastly, sprinkle with paprika (optional).

Let this baby bake for 75 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 350 degrees. After cooking, let it cool for 15 minutes or so, then enjoy!

Baked Red Potatoes

I really like potatoes, especially french fried... with lots of katchup. Pity that they're so unhealthy, drenched in oil and loaded with high calorie carbs. While baked potatoes or mashed potatos are a more healthy choice than french fried potatoes, even a baked potato can quickly lose any nutritional value once its smothered in cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, and butter, or mashed potatoes in milk, butter, and gravy.



There are healthy potato servings that taste great without slathering on high calorie, high fat items. Today's recipe is such a dish: Baked Red Potatoes. This dish is cheap, easy to cook, and tasty. I wouldn't go so far to call it health food - after all, the two main ingredients, potatoes and breadcrumbs, are both high calorie items - but as far as potato options go, this dish is one that will require less "make-up" time at the gym than most others.



The ingredients are affordable and easy to find at any major grocery store:

• 3 regular red potatoes
• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 teaspoons oregano (or more, if you like)
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon lemon pepper (or 1/2 teaspoon regular, table pepper)
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 1 Tablespoon breadcrumbs

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Wash and chop potatoes into 3/4" cubes
• Mix potatoes with olive oil, coating well
• Mix in remaining dry ingredients
• Place potatoes on an aluminum foil-covered baking sheet and bake for 40-45 minutes, turning potatoes over about half way through

This will make 2 to 3 servings. These tasty baked potatoes work well with any dish where you might normally serve a baked potato. Really, though, this recipe works as a side dish for most any meat-based meal, especially red meats (although it still works well with chicken and pork, in my opinion).



Enjoy!

A Hawaiian Breakfast

I supposedly was born in Hawaii and lived my first three years of life there, but I'll be damned if I can remember a thing from those days. The only thing I do remember about my nation's fiftieth state is from the trip my family took there for two weeks between the summer of fifth and sixth grade. In particular, I remember the most tasty breakfast I think I've ever had (although how much can you trust your memory from when you were 10?), which I dub the 'Hawaiian breakfast.'

This breakfast is indicative of Hawaiian meals in general - high carbs and protein and not a fruit or vegetable to offend the eye. It's also easy to fix and very filling. The ingredients are:

• Portuguese sausage
• Eggs
• White rice
• Guava juice

Portuguese sausage is a wonderfully tasty and spicy sausage that, unfortunately, can be a bit hard to come by. I've only found on store in my city that sells this particular sausage mix, but it's worth the trip. If you can't find a store in your area that sells it you can either make it yourself or simply substitute in another fatty meat product, such as another spicy sausage or even SPAM.

Making this breakfast is a cinch. Just cut up the sausage into half- or quarter-thick inch slices. Get out a big skillet and grease it up. Then throw on the sausage and eggs, browning the sausage and frying the eggs. (For a great bit of info on frying eggs, check out the Eggs Cookings Methods page at the Georgia Egg Commission website. Personally I like the yolk a bit runny, so I do the eggs over easy, but over hard eggs are also just as tasty.)

Once the sausage and eggs are ready, serve with rice and a tall glace of guava juice. Yum! A tasty way to start the day.

Jambalaya

Jambalaya is a traditional Creole dish, typically containing a mix of meat (usually sausage, shrimp, ham, and/or chicken) along with an assortment of yummy vegetables, including tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, and celery. These ingredients are then sautéed together with a rice base that often includes some spices to give the dish an overall kick in the pants (think Tabasco sauce, black pepper, crushed red pepper, and so on). Jambalaya is a great dish to take care of leftover veggies, meat, and rice; it's quick and easy to make. Personally, I don't find it to be one of the best tasting dishes out there - it is the Creole version of meatloaf, in a way, a medley of what you have sitting in the fridge - but it is an enjoyable meal every now and then, especially if you're in the mood for something with a little bit of a kick.

You can really use whatever vegetables and meat you have at your disposal, but the more traditional recipes call for the meats to be polish sausage and shrimp and the vegetables to be celery, onions, and red bell peppers. Likewise, you can use any type of rice, although the ever-common instant white rice is the norm. A typical ingredient list might look as follows:

• 1/2 pound of (polish) sausage (or ham)
• 2+ Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 pound of shrimp (or chicken)
• 2 cups (white) rice
• 4 cups diced tomatoes (you can used canned tomatoes if you like)
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup (red) bell peppers chopped
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 to 2 teaspoons garlic
• 1 to 2 Tablespoons hot sauce
• Salt, pepper, & red crushed peppers to taste

Again, the recipe list is very flexible. Use your imagination and whatever ingredient you happen to have available. In addition to having a fluid ingredients list, the manner with which you cook Jambalaya is also equally flexible and simplistic. The main goal is to brown the meat(s), sauté the vegetables, and then stir in/warm the rice. I usually brown the meat(s) for three to five on medium to medium-high heat, followed by sautéing the onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, and celery until the onions start to brown (three to five minutes, again), followed by stirring in the rice, reducing the heat, and ensuring everything is mixed together and warmed equally. Finally, I season to taste with the salt, ground black pepper, hot sauce, and crushed red peppers.

Jambalaya makes a tasty, hearty, warming meal in a relatively short amount of time. It's a great way to thin out the meats and veggies you have lying around in your fridge and keeps well for several days.

Enjoy!