Got leftover potatoes? Make these!

Recipe for Restaurant Recreation: Arby's Loaded Potato Bites

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and all week I’ve been seeing articles about how to cut the calories in the meal or what to eat so that you don’t consume a bazillion calories. I see it every year and it kinda drives me batty.

Holiday calories don’t count! We all need to splurge a little every now and then. To me, “splurge” means enjoying a piece of pumpkin pie – not three – without any guilt.

The recipe I’m sharing with you today is a great way – other than potato pancakes – to use up leftover mashed potatoes. If you’ve ever been to Arby’s and love their Loaded Potato Bites than you are in luck because they were the inspiration for this recipe. And they are pretty spot on too - crispy on the outside, and soft and cheesy on the inside with bits of bacon and scallions. A guilty pleasure for sure, but share them with some friends and I swear you won’t be sorry.

I should have taken a shot of the inside of these babies for you, but I ate them instead.

Whoops!

Loaded Potato Bites
*Makes 18-24 bites depending on size
Print it!

Ingredients:
- 2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
- 2 tablespoons of flour
- 2/3 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
- 3 strips bacon
- 1/3 cup scallions, chopped
- 1 egg
- 1 ¼ - 1 ½ cups Italian bread crumbs
- Oil for frying
- Salt and Pepper
- Ranch or Honey Mustard for dipping

Directions:

1. Take potatoes out of the fridge and let sit for a few minutes to take the chill off a bit. Meanwhile shred the cheese, chop scallions, and cook bacon then dice finely. Add potatoes and flour to a large mixing bowl and stir to combine well, then add cheese, bacon, and scallions. Take about a heaping tablespoon of mixture and roll with hands into a small ball. It if doesn’t hold its shape, add a little more flour to make the potatoes sturdy. Repeat until done.

2. Heat oil in a medium sauce pan – or use your fryer – over medium/medium high heat to about 350-375 degrees. Whisk egg into a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. Place bread crumbs in an additional bowl. Dip each ball in egg and then roll in bread crumbs until fully coated. Set aside on a sheet pan.

3. Test oil with one ball. The oil should bubble when potato is in oil and ball should take about 1-2 minutes to brown and cook through. (If takes longer the oil needs to be hotter, if it browned too quickly on the outside and the inside is still cold, the temperature needs to be lower.) Once oil is ready, add potato balls in small batches and fry for 1-2 minutes – it will depend on size. Remove with slotted spoon and place on paper lined plate to allow excess oil to drain off. Repeat until done.

4. Allow to cool for a minute or two and serve with dipping sauce.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Day Favorite: Green Bean Casserole

Let me start by saying it was never my intention to make and post a green bean casserole recipe for this blog. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of recipes out there claiming to be the best, better than Campbell’s, better than your mother’s, and most are completely made from scratch.

The world didn’t need another one. Yet here I am, posting one.

Why?

Because I needed to use up a lot of green beans and I happened to like the way it came out.

You see, when Brent and I do our major bulk shopping trips, we always pick up some frozen vegetables. Sure, we prefer fresh, but some nights you just don’t feel like shopping so we keep a few options on hand. We decided it was a totally wise decision on our part to buy a 5lb bag of frozen whole green beans for two people.

It’s been 3 months and we still aren’t through the whole bag yet. So one night I decided to take a stab at making green bean casserole since I had mushrooms to use up as well.

Now I’m not going to tell you it is better than anyone else’s, or the best ever, but I will say this…

I can’t tell you what the hell else I made for dinner that night and I might never make the original version again. Even though I always did doctor that recipe up a bit anyway.

It’s good, maybe not the best, but I did add bacon to it, so it does have that going for it. BUT you can totally leave it out of you are a vegetarian. Just substitute with more butter =) Win-win!

So below is my recipe that I totally threw together and it ended up coming out pretty good. For the record, I was planning on frying my own onions up for the top, but Brent said that was ”ridiculousness” and we decided on the panko topping listed below. Which I thought worked pretty well because you need that crispy onion topping on a GBC.

Also, if you want to use fresh green beans instead of frozen, just blanch them first and you should be good to go.

Green Bean Casserole

*Serves 4-6
Print this recipe

Ingredients:
- 1 pound frozen whole green beans, thawed
- 3 slices bacon, cut into strips
- 1 shallot, sliced
- 1 extra large garlic clove, minced
- 2 cups sliced baby bella mushrooms
- 3.5 tablespoons butter, divided
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 pinches nutmeg
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- Scant ½ teaspoon onion powder
- Salt and pepper

Directions:

1- In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat cook sliced bacon until crisp. Remove with slotted spoon – leaving the grease in the pan – and set aside in a medium bowl.

Simple Supper: Blackened Fish Sandwiches

I can’t deny the fact that living in the Tampa Bay area for so long hasn’t left some sort of impression on me. I love a good sunset, I know how to combat humidity riddled hair days, I wear sandals 360 days a year, and I love a good fish sandwich.

Before moving here, I’d never had a fish sandwich. Sure, I’d had fried whole belly clam rolls, or hot lobster rolls – very tradition New England fare – but not a simple fish sandwich. Florida converted me to them. I suppose it was only a matter of time.

If you ever travel to the Tampa area, I highly suggest you seek out a Grouper Sandwich. Pretty much every local restaurant serves them, so you won’t have to search hard. You can get them fried, grilled, or blackened. I prefer them fried with a slice of cheese and Brent likes them blackened. I honestly don’t know one person who has ever ordered one grilled, but you can if you want.

You may be wondering why the post it titled TILAPIA and I’m talking about grouper. The point is that grouper can be pretty pricey, so when I get a craving for something similar, I opt for the more wallet friendly and readily available Tilapia. While you can’t mistake tilapia for grouper, enough of the notes are there to hit the spot when I don’t feel like dining out. An added bonus is that tilapia cooks fairly fast and dinner can be done in about 20 minutes.

This particular night, I went for a blackened tilapia and made an avocado and dill spread to balance out the heat.

Blackened Tilapia Sandwiches with Avocado-Dill Spread
*Makes 2

Ingredients:
- 2 tilapia fillets, roughly 4-6oz
- 2 sandwich buns, any kind you prefer
- ½ a Hass avocado
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 teaspoon dried dill
- Squeeze of lime juice
- 1 teaspoon paprika*
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt*
- ½ teaspoon black pepper*
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper*
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder*
- ½ teaspoon onion powder*
- 1/8 teaspoon celery salt*
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (use more for more heat)*
- 1 tablespoon butter or oil
- Lettuce, tomato, and onion if desired
* Or just use any blackened seasoning you like.

Florentine Crusted Pork Chops

It’s starting to get dark earlier now.

This means taking pictures indoors because it is impossible for me to have dinner ready before 7pm. Other than that, I actually do like changes the clocks back. I need the light in the morning to get moving. That, and a good, strong cup of coffee.

Brent, on the other hand, hates it and will bitch and moan about it until we spring forward. It’s another one of those little things that we are polar opposites about. But he is also able to sleep until 8:30 AM during the week while I’m trying to get up by 6:30AM.

How is that even fair?

So let’s talk about food for a minute! This is a FOOD blog after all. Currently my house is on a pantry cooking challenge. It gets interesting when we go through these challenges, which is about every 3 months or so. Some meals are complete and utter failures, and other times, a pretty great new dish comes together.

This dish, thankfully, is the latter. I had some boneless pork chops I wanted to use and after brainstorming, this idea is what came along. The chops were crispy, but still moist inside, and the spinach and cheese on top kept it from being a plain ol’ boring fried chop. And I was surprised but pork chops actually went well with a side of pasta. I don’t think I’ve ever tried it before.

There is one thing I would do differently next time and that would be waiting to use fresh spinach that had been steamed or sautéed up. But there was no need to go to the store just for that when I had frozen that would work just fine. Use whichever you have on hand!

Florentine Crusted Pork Chops

 

*Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
- 4 boneless pork chops, pounded 1/3” thick
- 1 egg
- Splash of water
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 – 1 ½ cups panko bread crumbs
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 cup frozen spinach, thawed
- ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper


Directions:

1. Whisk egg in a small bowl and add a splash of water. Lay bread crumbs and flour out on separate plates. Season flour with salt and pepper. Add canola oil to a large sauté pan and heat to medium high heat.

Baking at Midnight: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

One thing that Brent and I differ on is keeping snacks on hand in the house. I have a strict policy of not buying sweets or junk food at the store, because honestly if they are in the house I will eat it. ALL of it. I have no self-control.

Sure, I get cravings for cookies, brownies, and chips, but the craving is rarely strong enough to make me want to drive to the store and go buy some. Brent on the other hand never resists he sweet tooth. That man will leave the house at any time of night if he wants some ice cream.

The point I’m getting at is that the “don’t buy it” game plan has served me well for a number of years. Until recently when I started to keep things like flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and chocolate chips on hand.

Do you see where this is going? Do you know how easy it can be to convince yourself at midnight on a Friday that baking cookies is a suburb idea?

I do. And I have 3 extra pounds to prove it.

A recently new product is Reese’s MINI Peanut Butter cups. I love Reese’s and the second I saw the commercial I knew I wanted to try making some cookies with them.

These cookies are pretty awesome. They are soft, slightly chewy and not overly sweet. Oh and the big peanut butter filled bites? They rock. If you have a well-stocked pantry, all you will need is the Reese’s to make them! Resistance is futile.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

*Makes 2 dozen(ish)

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

- 2 sticks room temperature butter

- 2 cups sugar

- 2 eggs

- 2 teaspoons vanilla

- 2 cups all-purpose flour

- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- ½ teaspoon salt

- 2 ½ cups of Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter and sugar together until smooth. Add vanilla and eggs. Beat again until mixture becomes fluffy and light.

2. In a separate bowl combines flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Stir to combine, and then add gradually to mixture of butter/sugar/eggs beating until fully combined. Gently fold in Reese’s cups.

3. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Drop small golf ball-sized amounts of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 6-8 minutes. Allow to cool completely before storing.

A couple of notes:

- I needed about a large bag and half of mini Reese’s.

- The dough will seem stiff – it’s totally OK.

- If using a spoon to drop the cookies, it is helpful to spray it just a bit with cooking spray.

- These will keep for about 3 days in an airtight container.

And if you’re wondering what to do with the leftover Reese’s that didn’t make it in to the batter. I suggest tosses them in the freezer for moments of weakness.

Recipe adapted from: Hershey’s Perfect White Chip Cookies Recipe