Baked Potato

 My daughter will be going to college this fall. I'm hoping she'll use my blog as a reference as she learns to make meals for herself, hence the basic recipe post. This makes a nice fluffy potato with a crispy skin. We like to eat it with this Broccoli Cheese Soup on top as a sauce, and even with some BBQ Chicken. 

Baked Potato

1 russet potato

1 tsp olive or vegetable oil

Salt and Pepper 

Toppings: butter, sour cream, bacon, chives, scallions, cheese, salsa, chili.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Scrub the potato with water and a vegetable brush until well-cleaned. Blot dry with a kitchen towel or paper towel.

3. Rub the entire potato with oil, then sprinkle on a little salt and pepper and rub that in too.

4. Prick potato with a fork three or four times. This will allow the steam to escape while baking.

5. Place potatoes directly on the oven rack. Bake until potatoes just begin to appear wrinkly and papery on the outside, and when you squeeze the potato, it gives - 40-50 minutes, depending on the size of your potato. Test for doneness by sticking a fork into the potato (it's done if the fork goes in easily).

6. Remove from the oven and, as soon as you can handle them, slice each potato down the middle. Then place your forefinger and thumbs on the bottom ends and squeeze toward the center. This helps to fluff the insides, and helps keep moisture from getting trapped inside the skin as the potatoes begin to cool.

Fajita Grilled Cheese Sandwiches - Meal Idea

After you make these Chicken Fajitas, you should use the leftovers to have another meal of Fajita Grilled Cheese Sandwiches! They are better than you think! You don't really need a recipe for it, but I'll give you one anyway. :)

Fajita Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Bread

Butter or margarine for grilling 

Shredded cheese

Leftover chicken fajita meat with peppers and onions

Avocado, mashed

Heat a skillet or frying pan to medium heat. Butter one side of each slice of bread. Layer on cheese, fajita mixture, then avocado. Grill until golden. Serve with salsa and sour cream. Eat.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Shepherd's Pie

One more leftover turkey recipe I want to post before I forget. This is what I did with a bunch of our leftovers, and I might have liked it more than the original turkey dinner meal. :) I looked at my regular Shepherd's Pie recipe as a guide and this is that I came up with.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Shepherd's Pie

3 cups leftover turkey pieces, bite size
1 cup leftover turkey gravy
2 cups leftover vegetables (I used green beans and corn)
3 cups leftover mashed potatoes
1 cup cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8 x 12 or 3 quart baking dish.
2. Combine turkey, gravy, and vegetables, and spoon into baking dish.
3. Cover with potatoes and sprinkle with cheese.
4. Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Turkey Cranberry Sandwich

Hope everyone had some yummy food yesterday! I know I did! If you are looking for something to do with your leftover turkey, this is for you. 

Turkey Cranberry Sandwich

Sourdough bread
Leftover turkey (can also use turkey lunch meat)
Sliced Cheese (I used cheddar in my pic)
Mayo
Leftover cranberry relish
Lettuce or spinach
Tomato
Butter or margarine for grilling

Layer the turkey, cheese, and a little mayo on the bread. Spread some butter or margarine on the outside of the bread. Grill in a pan on the stove top or in a panini press. After it's golden and the cheese is melted, open it up, spread on the cranberries, and top with lettuce and tomato.

Easy Chicken Salad - Meal Idea

This is my dream lunch. I have been a little obsessed with it lately. All you need is cooked shredded chicken, chopped apple, chopped celery, seasoned salt, and mayo (or even Greek yogurt). I like to top it with some lettuce or baby spinach. It is especially good with leftover Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken. In my picture, I had it on a Hawaiian Sweet Roll. Yum! 

Meal Idea - BBQ Chicken Flat Bread Pizza

This is more of a meal idea than an actual recipe because I didn't measure ingredients and you can make it so many different ways. I had some leftover BBQ chicken from this recipe here that I needed to use. I bought a package of flat bread pitas to use as my crust. I squirted a little bbq sauce on the pitas and spread it around. Then I sprinkled on my leftover BBQ chicken, some shredded cheddar, and green onion. I baked them on cookie sheets @425 for 10-15 minutes. The pita got nice a crunchy and I loved how easy it was to make!

Meal Idea - Leftover Ham and Pineapple Pizza

This is an easy way to use some of your leftover Easter ham. Today I bought an uncooked cheese pizza from Walmart, and a 20oz can of pineapple tidbits. I topped the pizza with the pineapple and about 1 1/2 cups of leftover ham pieces. I don't usually buy the Walmart pizzas, but we really liked it. You could also try it with a Papa Murphy's cheese pizza or any other uncooked pizza.

Meal Idea - Frito Pie

I love Frito pie! I hadn't had it in such a long time. It really only takes 3 ingredients: Fritos, chili, and cheese. I added a few extra toppings to make it more tempting. Homemade chili would be awesome, but I used canned.

Meal Idea - BLT

I wasn't able to post anything last week because I was visiting my parents, so it's 2 for 1 day. Sometimes I have a couple slices of bacon leftover in the package, and instead of throwing them out I make a BLT. I use lightly toasted bread, mayo, and of course bacon, lettuce, and tomato. I had a special tomato from my parent's garden for this particular sandwich. These are yummy for lunch or dinner.

Meal Idea - Open Faced Tuna Melt

Sometimes I don't feel like making dinner. I'm sure that doesn't happen to anyone else, right? :) On one of those nights, I do something easy like this...English muffins, tuna (I mix mine with a little mayo and sweet pickle relish), and cheese. Put it under the broiler until the cheese melts, then top it off with some chopped olive.

Meal Idea - Breakfast Sandwich

Here's a quick and easy idea for breakfast, or any meal really. All you need is toasted English muffins, scrambled eggs, a few slices of ham or canadian bacon, and some cheese, and you've got yourself a homemade Egg McMuffin. I like to put a little mayo on mine too.

Meal Idea - Patty Melt

A patty melt is a hamburger patty with onions and cheese on toasted bread. My husband loves them. You can make one in just a few simple steps. 

1. Cook a hamburger patty.
2. Saute some onion slices until they are nice and brown.
3. Assemble the sandwich: bread, hamburger, slice of cheese, onions, bread.
4. Butter the bread and cook in frying pan until golden and cheese is melted.

If you want a sauce on the sandwich some options are: thousand island dressing, a mayo and ketchup mixture, or BBQ sauce (my husband's item of choice).

Meal Idea - Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

This idea is from Cat Cora's newest cookbook. In it she has a recipe for tomato soup, and then a recipe for grilled cheese croutons, which essentially are just plain old grilled cheese sandwiches cut into small pieces. I thought this would be an easy meal for me and the kids while the hubby was out of town. I used canned soup :), and made a couple grilled cheese sandwiches 1 with cheddar an 1 with provolone (Cat Cora uses sharp white cheddar). The little sandwiches in our soup made it kinda fun.

Meal Idea - Sloppy Joe Sliders

This is more of an idea than a recipe, because it's just too easy. My family loves sloppy joes. I've tried 2 different recipes for homemade sloppy joe, and didn't like them. I also think Manwich is pretty gross and don't use that. My absolute favorite is the Great Value seasoning packet (surprising huh?). I personally like the flavor better than McCormick. All you need is a pound of ground beef, the packet, a can of tomato paste, and water...so easy and cheap too! To make sliders just serve them on a roll.