Potato, Patotto

What a fun weekend it has been! First of all it's great because I have slept in for 3 consecutive mornings now....yahoo! In case you missed it, I have taken a summer job that gets me up at 4AM. You can feel sorry for me now, since I am NOT a morning person. The second reason it's great is because James came home from Lincoln for a couple of days, always a fun time. The third reason is that we have been able to spend lots of time with friends and that is always a WIN-WIN situation!!

I made a yummy potato Sunday for lunch that is fast and E-A-S-Y, and I think you all should try it out this summer. With farmers markets offering those cute little baby red potatoes there is nothing holding you back, so get busy!!










HASSELBACK POTATOES
with herbed sour cream

16 oz red new potatoes
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced - more if they are small cloves
4 Tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper or restaurant pepper

Preheat oven to 375*
Using a wooden spoon as a cradle, place each potato in the spoon and make several parallel slits in the top, making sure not to slice completely through. (I did not have a wooden spoon deep enough, so I used a large serving spoon) Place a garlic slice between each slit at the top of the potato. Toss in a medium bowl with butter and olive oil to coat thoroughly.
Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until tops are crispy and potatoes are cooked through, about 45 min. Transfer to a platter and top with herbed sour cream .

HERBED SOUR CREAM
1/2 C sour cram
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh chives
Combine in a small bowl and season as needed with s&p.

The OTHER white meat.

Today was my first day of summer vacation! Last night I had 22 preschool graduates in their cute little hats receiving their diplomas, it was a fun evening. So, today I did a lot of odd jobs around the house, one of the things I did was clean out my fridge, some of it anyway.

I am sad to admit that we really do end up wasting more food then we should. I found the last couple of slices of a great pork roast that we made, and if I don't post the recipe on here I'll never find it again to repeat the meal!

This recipe has some zing, and I do like zing these days. We cook a lot of pork because it's so economical, this is a variation that I really enjoyed. We had it with a kicked-up mashed potato, oh it was g-o-o-d!

Rosemary Pork Tenderloin

1/3 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons restaurant black pepper
1 tablespoon freshly chopped rosemary leaves, plus 4 sprigs rosemary, with hard woody stems
2 large garlic cloves
2 pork tenderloins, about 1-pound each
2 slices bacon

In a small bowl, whisk together the Dijon mustard, fresh ground black pepper, chopped rosemary, and minced garlic and mix well. Rub the mustard mixture over the surface of the tenderloins and wrap in plastic wrap. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Place rosemary sprigs in the center of a roasting pan. Remove the plastic wrap from the tenderloins and top each with 1 slices of bacon. You may tie with kitchen twine to secure bacon strips, I just laid mine on top and it worked fine.
Place the roasting pan in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer, inserted in the tenderloins, registers 160-170 degrees F. Remove from oven when desired doneness is reached and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes on a cutting board. Remove kitchen twine, slice and serve with your favorite sides.

Here kitty, kitty!

How many of you make puppy chow? I made it when my kids were young, and I find that the "younger" faculty members that I work with seem to have an indescribable love for it. I have not made it for a while, however when I was in Lincoln last weekend at the Farmers Market I saw a new version that was fun. It was called Kitty Chow - and instead of using Crispix cereal, they used Kix! I was intrigued enough that I came home and googled it, and today I tried it out. I took half of it to a co-worker and the other half is being appreciated by MY better half. If you have young kids or are young at heart you better give this one a try!!

KITTY CHOW
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chocolate chips-semi sweet
1/2 tsp vanilla
6 cups Kix cereal balls
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Microwave the peanut butter, butter and chocolate chips together for about 1 min. in the microwave, stirring after 30 seconds. Once it's melted stir in the vanilla and pour it over the Kix cereal in a large bowl. Make sure you thoroughly coat all of the cereal. Pour the powdered sugar into a large sack and add your chocolate covered Kix. Close securely and shake like crazy! I ended up adding more powdered sugar because it wasn't powdery enough for me, you decide how much you want!