Labor Day 2013 Recap

I realize summer is over and everyone has moved on to pumpkin spice lattes and apple picking, but I have a couple posts still to go covering summery things, so please bear with me. Plus, it is supposed to by 90 degrees in NJ today so it definitely still feels like summer here! 

The week before Labor Day Joe and I decided to throw a last minute, impromptu BBQ. We knew a lot of people would probably already have plans, but we wound up with a decent crowd. I decided to give a couple new recipes a spin.

First up was this Loaded Baked Potato Salad I have had pinned for over year:

Source: Dishing With Leslie

I attempted to double Leslie's recipe, but probably did a little more than double with the potatoes. As a result, I am not sure I had the right ratio of potato versus dressing.

Clearly Leslie is also a much better food photographer than me.

The Verdict: It was ok. I think I threw off the ratio since I only doubled the wet ingredients. I also undercooked the potatoes a little bit. I am just not that good at making a good potato salad. I would say I would try it again because I think its a great recipe, but I would probably be better off just buying it next time.

Loaded Baked Potato Salad
recipe by Dishing With Leslie
Ingredients:
4 large Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup freshly chopped chives, divided
8 strips of bacon (6 for the salad and 2 for topping) cooked and crumbled
1 tsp black pepper
salt to taste
Serves 4 - 6 (Simply double list of ingredients if you need a larger serving)

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together your mayonnaise, and sour cream. Make sure the two are completely combined and then add half of the chives, cheese, and pepper. Taste mixture to see if you prefer some salt. (I usually add a dash or two.) Let chill in fridge for a bit. Meanwhile, peel and cube your potatoes in to bite size pieces. Put in a large pot, cover with water, and boil until fork tender. About 20 minutes. *You need to keep an eye on them. If they cook too long you'll end up with more of a mashed potato consistency when you mix them with the sauce.


When potatoes are ready, drain and let cool just a bit. *Let them cool a lot if you plan to serve chilled. Put potatoes in a large bowl or dish and combine with sour cream mixture. Fold in most of your crumbled bacon. Top with remaining half of chives and remaining crumbled bacon.
*See Leslie's post for some helpful notes.



Next up was this delicious looking Caprese Pasta Salad:

Source: Simple Scratch

Laurie grows her own basil, but I just picked some up from the foodstore. I can barely keep my flowers alive - I would hate to see what I could do to herbs! I couldn't find orecchiette pasta, so I settled on small shells.

Again, my food photos are crap, but it was night so it was dark and this is the best I could do.

The Verdict: I thought it was delicious. I am a sucker for anything with balsamic vinegar though so I may be biased.

Things to Consider: I used a whole pound of pasta and just tried to balance out the right amount of everything else. I probably could have used a little more dressing, cut the mozzarella a little smaller and added more tomatoes (I used only one package). Next time I would try just using less pasta as we had more than enough. I will definitely be making this again though - it was so easy and delicious! 

Caprese Pasta Salad
recipe by Simply Scratch

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups dried Orecchiette Pasta, cooked as directed on the package
1 pint Grape Tomatoes, quartered
1 container Fresh Mozzarella Pearls {or 1 ball fresh mozzarella, cubed small}
1 cup Fresh Basil, sliced into ribbons
Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
FOR THE BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE:
2 Cloves of Fresh Garlic, squeezed through a garlic press
1/3 cup Balsamic Vinegar

3 tablespoons Olive Oil

DIRECTIONS:
In a small bowl squeeze two cloves of garlic through a garlic press. Pour in balsamic vinegar and whisk. Continue to whisk while slowly, pouring in the three tablespoons of olive oil in steady stream.

Cook orecchiette pasta according to package directions. Drain and then rinse with cold water. Add the cold pasta to a bowl along with the quartered tomatoes, fresh mozzarella pearls and basil ribbons.


Season with kosher salt and black pepper and drizzle with desired amount of the balsamic vinaigrette. Taste and adjust seasonings to your taste preference before serving!


I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend and is settling into their fall routines. JJ had his first day of "school" (which is really just mom's day out type program my aunt is taking him to twice a week) this week. He loved it and I am so excited for him to meet some new little friends and work on his social skills.
I promise I will get to some pumpkin recipes soon! 

Chicken Parmesan Burgers

If you are in the middle of this ridiculous heat wave like we are in the northeast - stay cool! The air conditioning in the area where I sit at work is broken, and while not unbearable, its pretty uncomfortable. Hopefully the repairman will show today as promised. According to Bill Evans, it should be a stormy break on Saturday (you know I love some local news!). Anyway, onto the real post...

My friend, Mary Claire, started a blog chronicling her dinner adventures with her newlywed husband KK. She been blogging since the beginning of the year, but for some reason I haven't gotten around to trying out any of her recipes until recently. The first one I tried: Chicken Parmesan Burgers

Source: 3D Dinners

They are pretty simple to make so they work well for a weeknight meal. Just mix up the ingredients, pop in the fridge for a bit, then grill them up. Top with some sauce and fresh mozzarella cheese and enjoy!

All the ingredients ready to be mixed.

It was a little wet once everything was mixed, but firmed up well after being in the fridge.

It makes 4 patties, I just didn't want them to stick together so I added a piece of wax paper on top of these before I put the last one in there.

I actually did all the mixing the night before so after work all I would need to do is cook them. Of course mother nature ruining my plans to have Joe grill them outside....

It is hard to tell, but it was pouring.

...and I don't have a nice grill pan, so I had to settle for just cooking them in a regular frying pan.

I served them up with a salad and some penne with more sauce (and cheese!). 

The Verdict: Pretty tasty. They were a little greasy but I think that just comes from frying them the way I did. They were also a little dense so I would probably make them a little thinner next time. We really enjoyed them though so I am sure they will make it into the regular rotation (especially during grilling season - I can't wait to try them that way!).

Things to Consider: I think they worked well making them a day in advance...since they have to chill anyway, whats a few (or maybe 23 more hours in the fridge), right? My patties were really really wet when I first formed them and I was afraid I was missing something, but they really firmed up once they were cold. 

I have another 3D Dinners recipe to type up - and it was a great one! If you follow us on Instagram (@pinstersisters) - you can get a delicious preview from a couple weeks ago.


Chicken Parmesan Burgers:
Adapted from 3D Dinners who adapted from Sweet Tooth Sweet LifeServes 4

Ingredients1lb. ground chicken1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese1/4 cup breadcrumbs1/4 cup marinara sauce1/4 cup chopped onion2 cloves garlic2 tablespoons dried parsley2 teaspoons Italian seasoning1 teaspoon dried basilMozzarella cheeseHamburger bunsButter spread or margarineGarlic powderExtra marinara sauce

Directions1. Combine first nine ingredients (through dried basil) and mix well. Form into four patties, creating a slight dent in the center of the patty; refrigerate about 30 minutes.
2. Grill over medium-high heat, 6-8 minutes on each side. Top cooked chicken burgers with mozzarella cheese.
3. Coat insides of hamburger buns with a little butter and a sprinkle of garlic powder and place on the grill 1-2 minutes (or in the toaster oven), until lightly toasted. Spread marinara sauce on toasted buns and top with cooked chicken burgers.

4th of July Recap

What a lovely week. With the 4th falling on a Wednesday, Joe and I decided to have a little Pre-4th of July BBQ last Saturday. Then we both either took off or worked from home most of the week so Joe was home the whole time and I had an amazing 5 day weekend. Here's a little recap of two of the things I made for our 4th of July Celebrations.

For our BBQ, I decided to try out this BLT Pasta Salad I pinned a long time ago:

source: a bird and a bean

I prepared most of it Friday night and added the lettuce in on Saturday before serving.

After cooking the bacon, warm the tomatoes with some minced garlic

cooked pasta with the chives, sour cream, mayo and bacon

almost finished product (missing the lettuce, I forgot to take a pic after that)

The Verdict: It was sort of plain. I must confess I didn't use enough chives and sort of forgot the thyme, but I don't think that would have made much of a difference. It was ok - just nothing much to it.

Things to Consider: I think throwing in a packet of Ranch dressing mix and some more sour cream would really help it out. It would give it some more flavor. Perhaps I will attempt that next time.


BLT Pasta Salad (from a bird and a bee)

Ingredients

• 12 ounce corkscrew shaped pasta
• 1/2 cup milk
• 12 ounces lean bacon
• 3 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 4 tablespoons chopped chives
• 5 heads Bibb lettuce, quartered, or 5 cups chopped romaine hearts

Directions

Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water as the label directs. Drain and toss with the milk in a large bowl; set aside.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Discard all but 3 tablespoons drippings from the pan. Add the tomatoes, thyme and garlic to the pan and toss until warmed through; season with salt and pepper. Crumble the bacon into bite-size pieces; set aside 1/4 cup for garnish. Toss the remaining bacon and the tomato mixture with the pasta.

Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream and 3 tablespoons chives with the pasta until evenly combined. Season with salt and pepper. Add the lettuce; toss again to coat. Garnish with the reserved bacon and the remaining 1 tablespoon chives. Serve at room temperature.

I also made a version of this summer punch and it was a hit. Of course I forgot to take pics, so I will just have to make it again to be able to post about it.

On Wednesday we went to the annual 4th of July BBQ at Joe's parent's house. I saw this pin last year, and have been dying to make it ever since:

The infamous Flag Cake

Now a lot of the people in attendance at this BBQ have restrictions on their sugar intake, so to account for that, I used boxed cake mix - the kind made with splenda. I just followed the directions, using food coloring to try and make them appear red and blue. I used a box for each color - making two 9" rounds of red, two 9" round of white (really yellow cake mix - apparently there is no white splenda mix), and 1 super thick 9" round of blue.

I know it looks green, but I swear its blue!

I know the pin calls to make one 9" round of each color and cut them in half. I knew these have a tendency to fall a little flat and cutting them would be a challenge, so I just decided to go with a huge layer cake and make all the stripes I need in separate pans.

Next up I frost a red round onto a white (yellow, whatever).

Then I cut a the center out of the blue (green, whatever) cake, and used that "hole" as a guide to cut the same size out of the remaining red and white layers.

I frosted the little red circle onto the little white circle, and then plopped them into the hole in the blue. I then attempted to frost the whole thing.

You can sort of see the red circle inside the blue

Attempting to frost the whole thing

Finished product!

Hurray it sort of worked!

The Verdict: It sort of worked. When Joe cut into it at his parents, I am not sure they knew what they were looking at, but once we explained it was a flag everyone got it. It didn't come out nearly as pretty as the pin, but you can see the flag. It was just so huge (the equivalent of 2 boxes of cake mix and 2.5 cans of frosting)!

Things to Consider: Working with the splenda mixes was challenging. I find everything to be sticky. The cake was very crumbly, and the frosting is super sticky and thick. You can see the crumbs in the top coat of the frosting and putting the small red and white layers into the blue was almost a disaster. The coloring was hard to get right also, though I am not sure if that the splenda or a user error. I used a whole tube of red gel in the one box and it still looks pink to me. The blue has a greenish tinge (and of course the white is really yellow).
The layers were thick, but I don't think I would have been able to easily cut them in half. Next time I think I would do one 8" round of each color and that would make them easier to cut.

I think I will definitely be attempting this again next year -  but maybe using a real sugar cake for a different event.

Hope everyone had a great 4th! I am not sure how I am going to survive a full week of work this week! Ugh.

Chicken and Cheese Lasagna Rollups

I am sure if you have ever browsed the Food pages on Pinterest, you have seen this image:

Chicken and Cheese Lasagna Rollups

The popular Chicken and Cheese Lasagna Rollups from ivillage. I decided to give them a whirl a couple weeks ago (I have a backlog of stuff to post about, this being one, but just haven't had the chance to get to the office computer to type them up!).



Mixing up the chicken/cheese mixture



Adding the filling and rolling them up.

 

All ready to bake!



Fresh out of the oven



Ready to eat!

 The Verdict: They were pretty good. A little too bland though, next time I would add some seasoning/spices to the cheese mixture. Joe would prefer it made with ground beef instead of chicken, so maybe next time I will try that and let you know how it comes out. The left overs also stored well and made a tasty lunch the next day!

Things to Consider: Once again I used my old standby, the rotisserie chicken. It saved me the step of cooking up some chicken breasts. Also, I was a little too skimpy on the filling in the first couple of rolls, so I got a couple extra out of the batch.