Lighter Twice Baked Potatoes

Notice I said "lighter." Emphasis on the -er. : )

These are still made with white potatoes and are definitely a nutritional splurge. But they're a splurge you can feel better about. And you'll never miss the full fat stuff!

Lighter Twice Baked Potatoes
Prep Time: 20 minutes / Cook Time: 90 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 6 medium baking potatoes
• 2 tablespoons buttery spread (like Brummel & Brown)
• 1/2 cup fat free sour cream
• 1/4 lb. reduced fat grated cheddar cheese
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 turkey bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
• 1/2 cup scallion greens, thinly sliced
  

Directions

• Wash potatoes well.
• Bake at 400* for one hour (or until well done). Allow to cool until easy to handle.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350*.
• Slice off top 25% of each potato and set aside.

• Using a spoon, carve out the center of each potato into a large bowl, leaving just enough flesh around the skin to hold its shape.

• Whip potato whites with a hand mixer on medium-high until no clumps remain.

• Add all remaining ingredients except scallion greens to bowl and mix well.
• Gently fold in scallion greens.

• Spoon potato mixture back into skins.

• Use a fork to make decorative indentions, if desired.
• Bake at 350* for 30 minutes (or until thoroughly warmed and lightly browned).

So it's turkey bacon instead of the real deal, lowfat cheese, fat free sour cream and better "butter". If you're craving twice baked potatoes, this should do the trick!

Bang Bang Shrimp

Bonefish Grill ranks very highly on my list of favorite chain restaurants. And we don't even have one in our neck of the woods. But I love them for one reason (clearly not their real estate strategy): Bang Bang Shrimp.

I came across a recipe on Pinterest and knew I had to try it. Mom's birthday was the perfect occasion!

Bang Bang Shrimp
Original Recipe from Chef Mommy

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 60 (including refrigeration)
Yield: 4 appetizer servings

Ingredients

• 1 lb. medium shrimp; peeled, deveined and tails removed
• Sauce
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 5 teaspoons garlic chili sauce, i.e. Sriracha sauce
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• Egg Wash
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• Breading
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup Japanese-style panko bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 8-12 cups vegetable oil, for frying
  

Cooking Directions

1. Combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
   
2. Mix egg wash ingredients in a shallow container and set aside.
3. Stir together breading ingredients in another shallow container and set aside.
   
4. Bread shrimp by coating first in flour mixture, then in egg mixture, then back in flour mixture.
5. Arrange breaded shrimp in a single layer on a plate. When first layer is complete, top with plstic wrap and continue to stack.
6. Refrigerate breaded shrimp for at least 30 minutes. (This will help the breading adhere to shrimp and ensure a crisp coating.)
7. Heat oil to 350* in deep fryer or dutch oven.
8. When oil is hot enough, fry shrimp in batches for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Drain on brown paper bags or paper towels.
10. When all shrimp have been fried, toss gently with sauce mixture to coat.
11. Serve immediately.

Perfect by themselves as an appetizer or in soft flour tortillas with pico de gallo, these babies are sure to be a hit at your house!

Happy birthday, Mom!

My sister and I pulled off the impossible over the weekend. We surprised our mom! (If you have a family anything like ours, we come from a long line of Type A personalities. We like to know what's going on and when. And what we should wear, of course.)

At the Culinary Institute, back in October for the Bake-Off

And how do you celebrate the woman who taught you 99.9% of what you know?!? Who one day you'll inevitably turn into? (I open my mouth about once a week and hear her words come out.)

Anyway, she and Dad went to Florida with friends for a long weekend and were driving back on her actual birthday. So we swooped in, decorated the house and had dinner waiting when she walked in the door. Take that!

I made several new recipes (including Bang Bang Shrimp and lighter Twice Baked potatoes!), but more to come on those later. Life is uncertain, and I have one heck of a sweet tooth, so I figured I'd show you dessert first.

Meet Mom's favorite Caramel Cake.

She's a beaut.  And you'd never know she came from a box! Duncan Hines, to be exact.  And the frosting? From the Cake Mix Doctor.  Just piped on with a petal tip, inspired by none other than Martha Stewart herself.

I thought the cake was too pretty to write on, so I made a little birthday banner with wooden skewers, thread, cut out printer paper and tape.  Took about 5 minutes and turned out really fun!

So thanks, Mom, for all that you do and have done over the years. I can only hope to grow up to be half the woman that you are!

Easy Poppyseed Ham Sandwiches

Thanks to a girlfriend at the office, I'm kind of obsessed with these. Perfect for everything from a baby shower to a Super Bowl party, these little ham sandwiches look (and taste!) like you put forth all this effort... except you don't have to. Now that's my kind of food for entertaining.

With a combination of mustard, butter and Worcestershire sauce, your guests won't be able to tell what makes them so good. And then they'll ask for the recipe. Which, in my mind, is the highest compliment. : )

Easy Poppyseed Ham Sandwiches

may be prepared the night before an event, heated just before serving

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (one stick) butter, melted
• 1 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons classic yellow mustard
• 2 (12-ounce) packages white party rolls, i.e. Hawaiian brand
• 1/2 lb. deli sliced ham
• 1/3 lb. deli sliced swiss cheese

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350* and line two baking sheets with aluminum foil.
2. Mix butter, poppy seeds, onion, Worcestershire and mustard in a medium bowl.
3. Separate rolls and slice each in half horizontally.  Set aside tops.
4. Arrange bottoms on prepared baking sheets.
5. Spread butter mixture over lower half of each roll and top with ham and cheese.
6. Replace tops and brush with remainder of butter mixture.
7. Bake 10-12 minutes, until cheese is melted and rolls are heated through.

Leftovers reheat in a snap for a perfect I-just-pulled-off-an-great-party-and-need-a-nap lunch the next day!

A Breakfast Parable

Image Credit

Once upon a time, a girl woke up early on a Saturday morning, all excited to make pancakes. She whipped up said breakfast deliciousness, but they turned out more like a sad excuse for crepes than the lofty little syrup sponges she was looking for. Her sweet significant other, not being one to complain, said that they were just fine. But she knew better.

So she checked the recipe again, only to find that she hadn't left anything out. And then it hit her. She checked the date on the baking powder and sure enough, it had just a few weeks left before the "best by" date.

Moral of the story: purge the pantry.  That, or eat at Waffle House. : )

PS - I got rid of a lot more than Baking Powder today.  Who knew that things like cake mix and salad dressing had expiration dates?

Mix it up!

Perhaps the most used tool in my kitchen is my set of graduated glass mixing bowls. And right now, you can get a set of ten from Anchor Hocking (made by Oneida) for $17.99. Regularly priced at $40, these are a great buy!

Image Credit

Plus, if you enter code TTE10, you'll get an extra 10% off.

Take a look around at the clearance section while you're on the site... there are a number of good deals on dinnerware, silverware and stemware as well. (Like this set of $64 steak knives for $16.99!)

Big thanks to Southern Savers for the heads up!

Chocolate-Filled Strawberries

Anyone else seen all the variations of cream-filled strawberries floating around Pinterest? I mean, they're strawberries. And cream. What's not to love?

And what's better than cream-filled strawberries? CHOCOLATE filled strawberries!

Simple to make and beautiful to serve.  You'll need:

• 1 pint fresh strawberries
• 1/2 can prepackaged chocolate frosting, i.e. Duncan Hines
• Piping bag and 1M star tip (or other open star piping tip)

Prep is seriously a snap.

• Wash and dry strawberries.
• Cut off green stem so that berry will stand flat on it's end.
• Starting at the narrow end of the berry, slice in half vertically nearly all the way through. Then, make another slice perpendicular to the first, almost all the way through.
• You should end up with four quarters of a strawberry, just held together at the (former) stem end.  It will open up like petals on a flower.
• Outfit piping bag with tip and fill with chocolate frosting.
• Pipe each strawberry with as much frosting as will fit. : )
• Eat.  Repeat.

Store in the fridge... that is, if you have more willpower than I and happen to have any left over!