04.18.

Sweet Potato Au Gratin

I have to admit.  I have a problem.  I happen to be a “gadget girl”.  There!  I said it.  It’s out now and I can’t take it back.

Whenever I’m in a homestore or go to a home party where these things are sold, I have to practice self control.

My palms start to get sweaty (nice, huh?) , my pupils begin to dilate, and I have even been know to twitch a little.  I know!  I am painting a very pretty picture for you.

One of the little gadgets I have always craved, but have to be honest, have been scared of is the Mandoline.  No, not the one you play.

The one you SLICE with!

So, while in the store the other day, a Sweaty Palmed girl broke down and bought one.

BEHOLD!

This is the one I got.  I paid only $24.99 for it at my local Sam’s Club.  These can run pretty high.  That is the reason it has taken me so long to purchase one.  They can go upwards of $100.  I didn’t want to pay a lot, only to find out I wouldn’t use it.  This is the only reason I bought this, because I was so excited it wasn’t $100!

Well, let me just tell you…………  I LOVE IT!  By the way, since purchasing this, I have seen them even cheaper than what I paid for mine.  Even as low as $11.99 online!!!

I have always shied away from recipes that call for thinly sliced ingredients.  If I couldn’t buy them already that way, I probably wouldn’t fix it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to announce that GONE ARE THE DAYS where I do this anymore!

I had some Sweet Potatoes lying around that I wanted to use up and so I decided to make  Sweet Potato Au Gratin for dinner last night.  Before you go, “Esther!  I don’t like Sweet Potatoes…..”  You can definitely do this recipe by substituting them for regular Russett Potatoes.  If you do that, you can also either use the Thyme I used in my recipe along with the Gruyere OR you could also substitute those for maybe Chives and White Cheddar Cheese.

So, without further adieu, this is what I did:

I peeled and sliced (with the Mandoline) 4 or 5 Sweet Potatoes (it depends on size) and put the setting to “3/16” of an inch.

I buttered a 13 x 9 in. baking dish.

Quick Tip from my MOM:  Don’t throw away those empty butter wrappers!  Save them for something like this where you need to butter a dish.  It makes it much easier to do it and your hands get less messy!  🙂

I made a layer the Sweet Potatoes in a slightly overlapping pattern on the bottom of the baking dish.

Then I sprinkled with a little Salt, Pepper, and Thyme.  Then I sprinkled a thin layer (about 1/2 cup) of Smoked Apple Gruyere Cheese on top.  YUM!  Is all I can say!

Next, I repeated the layers 2 more times.

After that, I put 1 more layer of Sweet Potatoes on top.  (By now, I had 4 layers of Sweet Potatoes total)

Then, I simmered 2 cups of Skim Milk and 2 cloves of Minced Garlic for 2 to 3 minutes.

Then I poured it over the Sweet Potatoes.  I made sure I touched every potatoe on the top layer so that none would be dry during the baking process.

Em wanted to help me, so I let her sprinkle the last layer of cheese on top.  Then, I covered it with foil and baked it for 30 minutes on 400 degrees.  Then, I removed the foil and baked it for another 30 minutes.  Be careful when you remove the foil because steam will escape and that may cause you to get burned.

This is what it looks like when you pull it out.  Not sure if you can tell, but the milk will still be visible and almost appear like it isn’t finished because of so much being in the pan.  NO WORRIES!  I let mine cool for 30 minutes, allowing all the potatoes to absorb the milk.  BY THE WAY:  The brown around the edges is from the milk and steam.  I showed this in the picture so you would know to expect it.  😉

After that, right before we were ready to eat, I popped it back in the oven for a few minutes on broil so that the cheese could get a little more browned.  Make sure you watch it though!  Cheese can burn VERY quickly if you aren’t watching it.

This is what it looked like when finished.  Unfortunately, the picture doesn’t do it justice because it was later and there wasn’t as much light outside.  (BUMMER!)

This was AMAZING with the Pork Tenderloin we had with it.

Lucky for me, I had just enough leftover for lunch today!    Burp!

 

Recipe:  Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

Tags: Apple Smoked, Au Gratin, Great with Pork Tenderloin, Gruyere Cheese, Layered Potatoes, Mandoline Slicer, Recipe, Sam's Club, Summer, Sweet Potatoes

04.12.

Turkey Tenderloin w/ Blueberry Sauce

I am always looking for something different to cook for dinner.  Don’t get me wrong.  Sometimes, I just want to fix spaghetti or order out a pizza, but I think we can all agree that we tend to get into a “dinner rut” from time to time.

Well, the other night, I had a Turkey Tenderloin that I had been wanting to cook.  I new I wanted to do something different, so I started searching Eating Well’s website.  I heart that site by the way.  They have plenty of healthy recipes and the ingredients are not foreign sounding names that you look at and go , “HUH???”

Anyway, I searched Turkey Tenderloin recipes and this one came up:  Turkey with Blueberry Pan Sauce

Now, before you go “HUH???” again, trust me on this one.  It was REALLY  good!!!  Normally, I would put something like this in front of my kids and they would look at it……  sniff it…. and walk around it like a curious animal before pushing it with their nose over to the side, then eating the stuff they really wanted.  *Did I just refer to my kids as dogs?

But NO!  They ate it up.  Even the little one!

It has the most subtle sweetness to it and let’s be honest.  Cranberry Sauce goes just fine with Turkey at Thanksgiving, right?…….Cranberry haters,  don’t answer that!

I liked this recipe so much, that I think I may just switch out the traditional Cranberry Sauce next Thanksgiving for something like this instead.

I did notice that the longer the sauce had time to sit in the pan, the sweeter it became.  To tell you the truth, I preferred it that way.

I used frozen wild blueberries in mine because I didn’t have fresh on hand.  I think either would work just fine.  The recipe didn’t state whether or not they needed to be fresh or frozen.

If you want to look up the nutritional info, I have put a link to the recipe here.  However, if that kind of thing doesn’t interest you,  you could also just look below for the recipe.  Notice the *’s   .  This is used wherever I substituted ingredients for the things I had  😉

Turkey Tenderloin w/ Blueberry Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound turkey tenderloin
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped shallots  (*I used regular onions)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme  (*I used what I had, which was dried ground)
• 2 cups blueberries  (*I used frozen)
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 450°F. Whisk flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Dredge turkey in the mixture. (Discard any leftover flour.)
• Heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over high heat. Add the turkey; cook until golden brown on one side, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn the turkey over and transfer the pan to the oven. Roast until the turkey is just cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the turkey to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.
• Place the skillet over medium heat. (Take care, the handle will still be very hot.) Add shallots and thyme and cook, stirring constantly, until the shallots begin to brown, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add blueberries, vinegar and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt; continue cooking, stirring occasionally and scraping up any brown bits, until the blueberries burst and release their juices and the mixture becomes thick and syrupy, 4 to 5 minutes. Slice the turkey and serve with the blueberry pan sauce.

 

Enjoy! and let me know what you think!

XOXO, 

Esther

 

 

 

Tags: Blueberry, Dinner, Eating Well, Healthy Recipe, Recipe, Thanksgiving, Turkey Tenderloin, Wild Blueberries

03.29.

Strawberry Balsamic Glazed Brownies

There is a store near my house that is just Pure Genius!  I am not kidding.

If you are remotely in the slightest bit into cooking….. you would think this store is the coolest thing EVA!

It is called DEVO and is located here in Myrtle Beach.  It is a shop full of Gourmet Olive Oils and Balsamic Vinegars.

BUT!  That isn’t the cool part.  The cool part is YOU.GET.TO.TASTE.THEM!!!!!!!!!  All of them!  Anyone you want!

Go for it!  However!  Proceed with CAUTION!  You will not be able to decide upon only one, so you will end up buying a ton of different ones!

They have the original store in Branson, MO.  However, this is the first additional one they opened here locally.  So glad they did.

Make sure you check out their site here.

Let me just tell you about the Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar.  O.M.G.!!!  is all I can say.  This stuff is good.  No!  This stuff is GREAT!  The kinda great that makes you want to go and hide somewhere with it and just GUZZLE it.  Only you would probably immediately think that was a BAD idea once you remembered it was Balsamic Vinegar.  REGARDLESS!  This stuff is UH…… MAYYYYY……ZING!  (Is that a word????  Don’t check my spelling.)

They give you little disposable cups and allow you to serve yourself.  They have things like Blood Orange Olive Oil, Lavender Olive Oil and Lavender Balsamic Vinegar…… They even have Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar.  I mean, come on!

Instead of going on and on about the products that they carry, let me just start by telling you what I did to some ordinary Store Bought Boxed Brownies!

First, I took probably the best brownie mix on earth and fixed them according to the package instructions.

Once they cooled slightly, I turned them out onto a cutting board, top side up.  Then I pricked the top all over with a toothpick.

Then I took this Strawberry Balsamic goodness and ………….

heated about a cup of it on the stove.

I did this until the vinegar reduced by about half and coated the spoon like a syrup.  (About 10-12 minutes)

Then I poured that delicious syrup over the slightly cooled brownies.  OHHHHH!  YEAHHHHH!

I spread it out over the brownies with a basting brush so that every possible inch would be covered.

I know it looks sticky.  That is why you need to put it in the fridge for about 10 minutes so that it can set up.

I flipped it over after it had set up in the fridge and sprinkled powdered sugar over that side.

Then I flipped it over and did the other side too.

So!  I had NOT one………

BUT, both sides with powdered sugar on it.

Let me just tell you!  The taste is a slightly zinged out subtle strawberry flavor that is slightly sticky, but chewy sweet!

In other words………  YOU HEART ME!  YOU JUST DON”T KNOW IT YET!  😉

ENJOY and ALWAYS  serve with milk!

Recipe: Strawberry Balsamic Glazed Brownies

Ingredients:

– One store bought box of Brownies (cooked according to package instructions)  *I used Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Mix

– 1 Cup Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar

– Powdered Sugar for dusting

 

Directions:

– After cooking brownies according to package instructions, allow to cool slightly.

– Heat Vinegar in a medium saucepan until bubbly and allow to simmer for 10 to 12 minutes or until reduced by half. (mixture will heavily coat a wooden spoon and appear syrup like)

– Meanwhile, prick slightly cooled brownies all over with a toothpick or fork.

– Pour thickened vinegar over brownies and spread with basting brush or backside of spoon.  *NOTE:  Do this quickly as it will become more difficult as the syrup cools.

– Allow to set up in fridge for atleast 10 minutes.

– Dust powdered sugar over one side of brownies.

– Carefully flip brownies over by laying another cutting board over and carefully flipping over.

– Dust other side of brownies with a layer of powdered sugar.  *You should now have both sides of brownies dusted with powdered sugar.

– Cut brownie sheet into pieces and serve with ice cold milk.

NOTE:  As brownies sit, powdered sugar may melt into brownies.  If this happens, simply sprinkle with more powdered sugar before serving.

 

*DISCLOSURE:  In no way shape or form has DEVO paid me to write this Blog Post.  Just a simple fan who loves their products.  Trust me!  I have reached out to them and said….. “WILL WORK FOR BALSAMIC VINEGAR AND OLIVE OIL!”  LOL!

 

Tags: Balsamic Vinegar, Brownies, DEVO, Ghirardelli, Mix, Powdered Sugar, Strawberry

02.19.

Walt Disney Family Trip (Part 2)

As I was sitting here thinking about how I was going to start this post,

I began to tear up.

Now that I am a parent and know how it feels to want to give your kids everything they want….

I know how it hurts when you feel like you can’t.

Back when I was little, my parents used to take us camping at the beach all the time.

It was kind of our family thing.

Some people camp at the lake or the mountains, but the Wall’s would always camp at the beach.

In fact, it was normal for us to go for 2 weeks at a time during the summer.

Well, they didn’t have the internet then with all the great deals flashing in your face everytime you hopped on it.

My Mom and Dad always wanted to take us to Disney and it wasn’t until literally about 5 years ago, that my mom realized she probably always could have.

She just assumed that it was something that was too expensive for them to take a family of 5 to, so she never looked into it further.

Everytime I talk about our trip, she shares with me how much it breaks her heart to know that with what they would spend on our

family camping trips to The Outer Banks every summer, she could have taken the whole family to Disney World.

However, that was then and this is now and who knows…..

maybe one day I can take her to The Happiest Place on Earth.  ; )

Our first actual day at a Park had to be no other than …….

Magic Kingdom, of course!

And the first thing we did when we got there was get in line for “Enchanting Tales with Belle”.

This wasn’t a ride, but actually a storytelling adventure where they have the children be involved with helping reinact how

Belle and the Beast met.

Two of the kids were happy in this picture and one wasn’t….. can you guess which one?

The only problem was everyone else had the same idea we did.  LOL!

It took us 60 minutes to get in.

We thought this was going to set the mood for the day, but luckily it didn’t!

I have to say that it was well worth the wait,

because…..

Because my little baby was chosen to be “The Beast”!!!

He was adorable…. and shy…… and TERRIFIED!

He was fine until the Pretty Belle started to talk to him.

The shoulders went stiff and he couldn’t speak a word.

He did manage to come out of it at the end and smile for the pictures, but they said no flash

photography, so unfortunately, this is the only shot I got.

You can, however, go online to Disney’s PhotoPass and order their pictures they take.

I probably will, but I haven’t yet.

From there, we quickly learned that if the kids are asking about something A LOT, then you best

take them to the ride and get it over with in order to maintain your sanity!

SO!

Our next stop had to be ……

The Haunted Mansion!

We loooooove that movie.  Eddie Murphy is hilarious and the dead Master of the house doesn’t hurt the eyes either.

Anyhoo!

I love all the props leading up to the entrance.  They even have interactive things to touch along the way.

I have to note that from here on out, the lines weren’t really bad at all.

I think the 60 minute wait at Belle’s was just the fact that everyone wanted to be in Fantasy Land.

Even Mr. Moose got in on the action.

BOO!

We went to Magic Kingdom on two different days.  I have to say that I am soooo glad we did.

It is by far, the biggest Park and we really needed two whole days to do the whole thing.

Our AMAZING travel agent, Kim put together an itinerary for us to have in the parks.

I’m talking Major Itinerary!!!

She told us where to go first, second and so on.  She told us what time to be there to do that first, second and so on.

She told us when the best time to get a Fast Pass would be.

It was like we had her next to us, holding our hand the entire time.

I gave a link to her site in my earlier post, but in case you missed it, here it is again.

I loved seeing the excitement on the kid’s faces everytime I turned around.

Even the “Big Kid’s” too!

On to our next adventure, Animal Kingdom!  (*MOO!)

I have to say that this was probably our favorite Park.

It was definitely smaller than the other ones. (Atleast it felt that way.)

Which, by the way, we didn’t mind.

Since returning, I have heard from a lot of other people that it was their’s as well.

We started off the day with a Safari.

This, by the way, took no time at all to get to the front of the line.

They must have had a million of those cars, the way they came up so fast.

We saw Giraffes….

Elephants……

What I hoped would be followed by a fence…..

Then we rode this (Mt. Everest), which I thought I would only have to do once…

until my 9 yr. old said, “Hey mom!  We still have two Fast Passes!”

Then my stomach began to roll and then we got in line again.

Can I just say that Animal Kingdom has it goin on!?!

In the center of the park, there is a big playground with ONE entrance and ONE exit!

And the BIGGEST SANDBOX  I have ever seen where you can “dig for fossils”!

We rested there while the kids just ran crazy!

This was probably my favorite thing in The Animal Kingdom.

I’m pretty obsessed with Trees.  When I say obsessed,

I mean REALLY CRAZY OBSESSED!

The Tree of Life is what they call this tree.  It is just breath taking.

I almost felt like I was in a scene from Avatar.

If you look closely, you can see all the animal’s faces that have been carved into the side of it.

AMAZING!

We decided not to go with a stroller, so this is a scene that occurred quite often.

Z didn’t mind though.  Just a Daddy and his little boy.

By the last day, we were all tired.  Especially the smallest one.

We saw very little of Hollywood Studios because of this.

If I had to make a suggestion, I would say this…..

If you have smaller children, maybe think about taking a break in between a few days.

By that, I mean hang out around your Hotel.

Maybe go see a movie.

(We didn’t do this.)

So, by the last day, when little ones who are used to getting a nap during the day and didn’t……

 finally had a meltdown….

we decided that next time we would not only take a break,

but we would incorporate a pit stop at the beginning of the trip and one at the end.

I’m so glad we did this trip.  I do not regret one single thing.

Except for maybe the nap thing.  🙂

It truely IS the Happiest Place on Earth!

Until next time…….

Love,

Esther

 

*I want to note that we went during January and during the week when the lines are not as long and it is considered their “off season”.  Some of the eateries inside the parks

were closed, but not enough to really notice.  Lines are always longer during Holidays and breaks when children are out of school.  Please keep this in mind

when planning your trip.

Tags: Animal Kingdom, Camping, Disney World, Eddie Murphy, Elephants, Enchanting Tales with Belle, Fantasy Land, Fast Passes, Giraffes, Happiest Place on Earth, Magic Kingdom, Mt. Everest, Off Season, Safari, Sandbox, The Beast, The Haunted Mansion, Tree of Life, Trip