My Chef's Hat - Italian Style Potatoes

Potatoes are one of the reasons that it's so hard to go low-carb.  I could eat them at every meal of the day.  Baked, fried, scallopped, cheesy...you name it, I love them.  The sweet pepper bacon cheese fries at Joe's are probably some of the most unhealthy things ever in life, but for some reason I can't help myself, especially on game weekends.  And when it comes to french fries, I want them straight out of the oil, not sitting there for any length of time. 

But, since I've been trying to eat lower carb this fall I try to only buy potatoes every couple weeks, and also try to buy the smallest russet potatoes I can find.  I had bought 2 potatoes the other day, and was looking for a reason to use them.  And while I have several good potato recipes, I was looking for something new to try out.  Several I found looked very good but also very unhealthy, so I kept looking and came across Italian Style Potatoes.  I loved the combination of spices, and also love that they're roasted instead of fried.  So there's a little olive oil involved, but not too much.

Here's the official recipe:

And here's my version:

Yes, I realize they don't look like much...but man are they awesome!!  I did have a pretty small potato and I  definitely cut them too thin.  Plus, I made the mistake of actually cooking them at the recipe temperature 425 instead of lower for the thinner cut.  So they cooked faster than I planned on the outside, and the inside was just a tad under-cooked.  But the taste more than made up for the prep/cooking errors I made.  The spices were amazing together.  I wasn't sure what the recipe meant by "grating cheese" so I just tossed some parmesan on there...from now on, that is my official "grating cheese".

I'll definitely be making this again soon, if for no other reason than to do a better job on the directions!


Recipe found on What's Cookin' 

My Chef's Hat - Pan Roasted Salmon

The other day I was looking for a new salmon recipe.  I already have a few staples on hand that I love.  However, since I eat salmon once a week I needed to find a few more recipes to add to the collection.  I found a few different recipes on pinterest, and decided to go with the Pan Roasted Salmon.  As soon as I saw that brown sugar was one of the first ingredients I knew it would be awesome, because that would create a great caramelization.

Here is the official recipe picture:

And here is my version:

Just as I thought, the brown sugar browned perfectly.  Who would have thought that sweet would work on salmon?!  The cinnamon was a great addition, something I never would have thought would have worked.  Searing the salmon first created lots of smoke in the kitchen, but it sure smelled good!  And I love the idea of finishing the dish in the oven.  The sear provided a great "crust", and the oven finish allowed it to cook all the way through without burning. 

No question I'll be making this again and again.  Mine turned out a little more seared than the picture, but it was still really good. 

Recipe found on A Sweet Pea Chef

Repeats with a Twist - Louie's, Stillwater, OK

Louie's Grill & Bar is one of my favorite restaurants in Stillwater.  The food is consistently good, there's about a million TV's so you can watch pretty much any game there is, and I love that it's downtown rather than in other parts of town.  The only downside is the size.  There's only about 20 tables, plus the bar, so it's very packed, especially at lunch and dinner.  I don't know if they were worried about making it too big, but they could have easily doubled the size and it would still always be crowded. 

The fried pickles could very well be my favorite thing on the menu.  They always come out screaming hot, are thick cut and breaded, and the dipping sauce is awesome.  My dad rarely eats fried food but he really likes them.  I think my second favorite is the pepperoni pizza.  Not sure what they do to the crust, but it is absolutely delicious. It really is too big for a single meal, but I'll admit I have eaten the whole thing in one sitting once or twice when I was absolutely starving.  Some of my other favorite dishes are the Gobble Gobble (turkey sandwich), avocado burger, bleu cheese burger, and southwest wrap.

I rode back from the Kansas football game last month with Tony & Joni, so we decided to have lunch at Louie's before they dropped me at home.  We had eaten (and drank) about as unhealthy as possible all weekend, so I decided to go the healthier route for lunch, and went with the blackened tilapia with black bean salsa.  You get 2 sides with entrees, so I chose the fried green beans and broccoli salad.

Your choice of blackened and topped with
black bean salsa or grilled with lemon pepper

The tilapia was really delicious!  It had a little kick, but definitely wasn't spicy.  I squeezed a the lime wedge onto the fish and it added a great flavor.  Tilapia fillets are always pretty thin, so I wish they would give you 2...hopefully for dinner they do that.  The black bean salsa was a great accompaniment for it.  It looks pretty simple, so I need to figure out how to make it.  The broccoli salad was just okay.  I think it had too much dressing for my taste.  I've had the fried green beans before, and they were really good, as always. 

My Chef's Hat - Honey Lime Shrimp

I'm always looking for new ways to prepare shrimp.  It's healthy, convenient to cook, and you can really cook it in about a million ways.  A couple weeks ago I was craving shrimp and wanted something different than one of my standby dishes, so I turned to pinterest for some inspiration.  And there I found the recipe for honey lime shrimp.  It looked super easy, and the picture was making my mouth water so I decided to try it out.

Here is the official recipe photo:

And here's my version:

I decided to go with the blogger's suggestions of mixed veggies and brown rice as sides, and made it a big bowl of deliciousness. 

For the veggies I did a quick sautee of green beans, snap pepas, mushrooms, carrots and celery. 

The shrimp marinade was awesome.  It was so simple, but yet added tons of flavor, and also gave great caramelization to the shrimp as it cooked.  I took a reviewer's suggestion:  double the marinade, cook it down, and pour it over the dish.  That way you got the flavor in every bite, not just with the shrimp. 

Will I make it again?  I already have!  The only change I made was to use broccoli instead of green beans, but I really think there's tons of veggie combination options you could use.  This is definitely going on my constant rotation. 


Recipe found on The Dough Will Rise Again

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Weekend Potluck

My Chef's Hat - Veggie Tacos

I've been trying to eat lower carb for the past 2 months.  It hasn't been as challenging as I thought, but I'm also not quite as hard-core as I was the first couple of weeks.  I've basically eliminated them from breakfast, and try to do carbs at either lunch or dinner, just not both.  That works great during the week, but come football gameday, with all the great food tempting me at every turn, it doesn't work out so well. 

Normally when I think of tacos, I picture chicken or beef.  But The other day I found an awesome-looking recipe on Pinterest for veggie tacos, and decided to make them for lunch.  Besides, I figured all the veggies in the tacos would help counteract the carbs.

Here is the official recipe photo:

And here is my version:

 This was so good!  I was little worried that the veggies might make the whole dish a little mushy, but I made sure to cook them to tender-crisp, and they were perfect.  I added a little corn as I was sauteeing the veggies, as suggested by a reviewer, and they added amazing flavor to the dish.  I didn't have any green chiles, but that's okay.  I'm honestly not sure exactly what flavor/heat they would add, and the tacos were still really good without them. If I can find the chiles next time I'm at the grocery, great; if not, no biggie.   I only used half a jalapeno , just to play it safe.  Next time I'll probably use a whole one.  I didn't have the cojito cheese so I used feta, again based on a reviewer.  Thankfully they did not lead me astray.  I did the whole thing with melting the cheddar cheese first.  It was good, but I don't know how really necessary it was.  I might try without it next time. 

Will I  make this again?  It's already been added to the lunch rotation!


Recipe found on Simply Recipes

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Wake Up Wednesday

#29 - Tara Thai, Hyattsville, MD

About a month ago I went back to Maryland to visit my family.  OSU had a bye week and Maryland had a home game, so it was the perfect weekend to get away.  My parents and I don't need a special occasion to go out to dinner, but it was a week from my birthday so that Friday night became my official birthday dinner with my parents.

My friend Karen is vegan, so I had to be sure to find a restaurant where she could get something good to eat.  We settled on Tara Thai, since none of us had been there before, and we all love Thai food.  It's right on Route 1 in Hyattsville, MD, right down the street from DeMatha HS. 

Back in college we drove past this area a million times on our way down to the bars in DC, but there was never anything much to make us stop in this area.  Well that has definitely changed.  It's now called Arts District Hyattsville, a $200 million mixed-use revitalization development area.  There's really nice apartments, shops, restaurants, and DeMatha has expanded and created a gorgeous new entrance to the school. 

Even though it was a Friday night and there are only about 20 tables in the restaurant we only had to wait a few minutes to be seated.  My dad and I shared an order of calamari.  It was good but it was battered, and I'm a much bigger fan of breaded.  But the sauce was good, and it was cooked perfectly.  Mom and Karen each got soup, which they both said was really delicious.

For dinner I went with the pork pad thai

It was really delicious!  It was a lot of food, but I was super hungry and cleaned my plate anyway.  I was expecting whole peanuts, but then I realized that I didn't read the menu properly because it clearly says crushed.  I thought it was interesting that they had 2 kinds of pork in the dish, but as weird as it sounds they had different flavors.  The "regular" pork tasted like you would expect from a pork chop, and then the smaller pieces were cured I think, kind of like bacon.  The only thing I would change next time would be to ask them to make it spicier.  I usually do that with Asian food, but forgot this time and I think it would have made the dish even better. 

Will I go back?  Yes!  As a matter of fact I want to go back and try a couple of the other restaurants in the district.

Repeats with a Twist - McAlister's Deli

Wow, I've really neglected this food blog the last 6 weeks!  Between football season and life, it  got away from me.  I've made some great recipes and found some awesome new restaurant dishes, so I definitely need to get my act together and get caught back up.

McAlister's Deli is one of the first restaurants I went to when I moved to Stillwater.  It's a favorite lunch spot for many local residents, and the menu includes all kinds of sandwiches, huge stuffed baked potatoes, soups, and sweet tea.  My first couple years in Stillwater we went to McAlister's for lunch almost weekly, but after a while I kind of got tired of it.  Probably because I was rotating between 2 or 3 different items and never branched out.  I really liked the soup, but over time it became too salty and wasn't as hot as I would have liked it to be. 

About a month ago I decided to give McAlister's another shot, and was very pleasantly surprised that they now offer entree salads.  I decided to try the Southwest Cobb salad

Grilled chicken breast, fire-roasted corn & poblano pepper relish, guacamole, cheddar-jack cheese, tomatoes and tortilla chips. Chef’s dressing selection: Chipotle Ranch

I was really surprised how big the salad is.  Of course, there's a good amount of lettuce, but they definitely don't skimp on any of the other toppings. 

The corn and poblano pepper relish adds a little kick that I wasn't expecting, but it was delicious.  I always ask for dressing on the side when I get a salad and they gave me 2 containers.  If they normally put all that onto the salad it's way too much.  The dressing is really good but I'm pretty sure it's not healthy so I only use half of one container and that's plenty.  It also comes with a small side of guacamole, so I add that to the salad and it helps to dress the dish.  It also comes with tortilla chips.  I tried a couple bites without the chips and then crushed up a couple and tried it with them...honestly, they can just save the chips.  To me they don't add anything to the dish. 

McAlister's is officially back onto my lunch rotation.  I figure if I go about once a month it will take me a lot longer to get tired of it, especially knowing I can always go to a great salad as an option.