🍋LEMON ROASTED POTATOES

Spending time with my Mommy in her kitchen is always great.  I pick up some good recipes and get inspired to get in there and get cookin things of my own.  Potatoes are my favourite food.  I wish I could live off of their starchy goodness.  She made these taters to go along side a fabulous greek salad.  So it’s only natural that I do the same.  She used russets and made wedges out of her potatoes but I had this variety bag of baby potatoes to use up.  They were awesome but mine turned out a little less crispy than hers which was unfortunate but still delicious and they still had crunch, just had to keep em in a little longer.  Find her recipe for these yummy Lemon Roasted Potatoes below and stay tuned for a great Greek salad and dressing recipe from my moms kitchen😉                                                              I cut my baby potatoes in half and had them soaking in heavily salted cold water for a few hours to draw out some of their natural moisture and in the end you will achieve a more crunchier potato.

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LEMON ROASTED POTATOES

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 OIL

• 1/3 CUP LEMON JUICE

• 1 TEASPOON OREGANO

• 1 TABLESPOON FRESH PARSLEY, chopped

• 3-4 CLOVES GARLIC, CHOPPED, chunky is best

• 1 TEASPOON KOSHER SALT

• 1 TEASPOON FRESH GROUND BLACK PEPPER

• 1/2 CUP CHICKEN STOCK

• 4-5 RUSSET POTATOES, cut in wedges lengthwise OR A BAG OF BABY POTATOES, cut in half

DIRECTIONS

*Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1. Combine oil, lemon juice, oregano, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper in a dish

2. Layer potatoes in a single layer in a baking dish.

3. Pour just 3/4 of the dressing over the potatoes and give them a toss

4. Pour chicken stock around the potatoes.  This will be soaked up in the potatoes making them super tender and moist on the inside.

5. Bake for about an hour, giving them a quick toss every 10 minutes, until they are crispy crunchy and golden brown.  

6. Pour remaining dressing over the “hot out of the oven” taters and serve.  

I was a little alarmed that perhaps I added too much chicken stock but after 10 minute in the oven I could see that the liquids wouldn’t last for long and they would then crisp up, so not to worry!  I just love the chunky garlic and parsley on these potatoes.  The lemon flavour isn’t overpowering at all and the chicken stock keeps them moist.    I took these pictures before I poured over the remaining dressing… . so they are missing the yummy fresh parsley and chunky fresh garlic but at least I remembered before I served them😜  Top them with a little dollop of sour cream and more fresh parsley.  

I grilled up some chicken breast in made some more of that yummy marinade from the salad I made a few days ago.  I just added in the juice of half a lemon and let them chill in the fridge for a few hours.  Then grilled them on the bbq and drizzled them with a bit of the Apple Cider Vinagrette from the salad that I had in the fridge.  No point in that going to waste.   

I’m going to do wedges next time with some russet potatoes.  Will make for better presentation.  But I did enjoy these lil lemon gems🍋

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Meatloaf Macaroni Cupcakes, Mashed Potato Icing, Bacon & Green Onion Sprinkles

Oh yes! Recipe/directions to follow but you get the idea. These had macaroni noodles in them, onions and even a cup of grated carrot. Super yum!

Love Hay
XoXoX

Vegetable Beef Barley Soup

Soup craze! Yup that is me! Pure satisfaction of chopping everything up into uniform pieces. Pure satisfaction of smelling it all come together. Pure satisfaction when I get rave reviews from Hubby. We were down in the states getting gas, groceries and stuff for the renovations and I picked up a nice beef chuck oven roast and my first thought was beef barley soup. But remember we are trying to be healthy or rather, healthier…. so I added in a bunch of veggies.

-My Vegetable Beef Barley Soup is made up of beef broth and water.
-Rubbed the roast with salt, pepper and garlic and browned each side in a frying pan in a little butter.
-Put the roast into my slow cooker with a little water and let her go till tender and medium rare.
-Let it cool before chopping it up into bite size little uniform cubes
-Throw the beef pieces into the frying pan with a tiny bit more butter, sprinkle with more S & P and quickly get it searing hot and just toss the pieces for a few minutes. This will bring out more flavor and seal in its juices.
-Sautéed onions in butter in the bottom of my favorite stock pot, a gift from my Grandma 🙂
-Added beef broth and water, lots and lots of both! I like a lot of soup!
-Bring it to a light boil and then added in the barley. I like my barley to be pretty soft so I let that cook for 45 minutes to an hour before adding in some of the veggies.
-When barley is 3/4 cooked to your liking add in cubed potatoes, chopped carrots, celery and the beef.
-Light boil till veggies are tender
-Now I added in the fun stuff: cut green beans, corn, & tomatoes
-Add some salt and pepper to your liking
Let it meld together for about 15 minutes and then jar it up while it’s hot!

My pot of soup filled up two pasta jars and one XL jar as well as three 1.6 ltr tubs that I put in the freezer.

First time making this soup and it was really great! If you like soup as much as I do please share some of your favorites! I’ve got everything I need to make one of my all time favorite soups next, New England Clam Chowder! Can’t wait, in fact I’m having to wait so that I have room for it in the fridge and freezer!!

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Love Haleykins

Easy Split Peasy Soup with Ham

It seems that all I do these days are cook and clean. Leaning more on the cooking side of course 🙂

So sorry that all my recent blog posts have been about food! Mmmmm food. But who doesn’t love good yummy food. Here’s a yummy liciousness soup I cooked up a few days ago.

Easy Split Peasy Soup with Ham

First, start with the ham and then the broth:
Bone In Ham
-cook the ham
-remove the meat from the bone
-boil ham bone in a stock pot with lots of water, 24 cups maybe

To make the broth I added what I had left in the fridge…

3/4 of an onion, quartered
2 carrots, chopped in 3rds
3 celery stalks cut in half, leaves still intact
4 gloves of garlic, cut in half
3 or 4 baby yellow potatoes, cut in half
4 bay leaves
some salt

bring the ham bone, water, and veggies to a boil
reduce heat and let bubble gently for a few hours
strain and save the liquid

**Careful! It’s easy to accidentally dump your hard work down the drain! This is not pasta water! Save your broth**

place liquid in the freezer over night or until the fat has settled and hardened at the top (a few hours), makes it easy to remove the fat for a healthy soup.

Let’s make soup!
Ingredients:
approx. 24 cups of vegetable broth
2 bags of green split peas
3-4 carrots, peeled & chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 russet potatoes cubed
4-5 cups ham, cooked and cubed

Directions:
bring the fat removed back to a boil
reduce heat to a gentle bubble
add the peas

cook em down 3/4 of the way, taste em, should be almost fully creamed but just a little bit hard in the centre
add the veggies

cook till the peas are smooth and no longer hard
the potatoes will have cooked down and added to the thickened soup base
add salt and pepper to taste, I only added about 2 tsps of salt

While soup is still piping hot you can put it into resealable jars with the correct lids to seal and store in the fridge.
As it starts to cool the bubble in the lid should suck down. That’s how you know it’s sealed. A friend of mine recently told me this method and she says it works for here as she never wants to freeze her stuff. If it doesn’t suck down it probably didn’t seal. Store in fridge and eat it within a few days.

I ended up making up 5 jars and then freezing the rest.

This will make nice, quick and Easy Split Peasy lunches over the next couple of weeks. 😊

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Thanks
Haley