2/6/17

Back to Basics

The ice storm on Friday kept Mike home from work and turned it into a three-day weekend. My internal calendar was off by a day the whole weekend. Thank goodness for Mondays. I can get back to knowing what day it is.

As you know, we spent the weekend doing camper things, but we got an early start Sunday morning. Pretty much everything we could do in the camper was finished by noon. I'm not really a football fan, but I've grown to enjoy Super Bowl Sunday just because it gives me an excuse to try some new recipes and spend the day making finger food. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I started with Sticky Baked Chicken Wings. The recipe is from Giada DeLaurentiis. Mike ate these like there was no tomorrow.


I'm always on the look out for recipes I can make in the camper, and this is a good one for that. It could be a finger food or even a main course, and it could be made with larger pieces if you wanted to.

Also, I made my own adaptation of Ree Drummond's Potato Skins. 


Her recipe makes enough for an army, but I've cut the recipe down to make just enough for two (or four, if you're not too piggy). Here's how I do it:

Potato Skins
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond
Serving Size: 2

4 whole russet potatoes
2 tablespoons canola oil -- divided
1 tablespoon  butter
salt to taste
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
4 slices thick cut pepper bacon -- fried until almost crisp, then chopped
2 whole green onions -- sliced
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup tomato salsa

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Scrub potatoes clean and allow them to dry.  With a paper towel (or just with your hands) rub the skin of the potatoes with one tablespoon of the canola oil so that they're nice and moist.

Stab the potatoes and plac them directly on the rack in your oven and bake until skin is crisp and potatoes are tender, about 40-50 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool until you can handle the potatoes (about 10 minutes).  

Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise.  Scoop out the insides, leaving a little bit of potato in the skins. Melt the butter with the remaining one tablespoon of canola oil, then brush both the outside and the inside of the potatoes.  Sprinkle the inside lightly with salt.  Place potato halves cut side down and return to the oven for 5-8 minutes.  Using tongs, turn the potatoes over and continue to bake until the edges of the potatoes start to turn golden brown, about 5 minutes more.

Remove from oven.  Sprinkle the insides of the potato skins generously with cheddar cheese, then sprinkle on the chopped bacon.  Return to the oven long enough for the cheese to melt, about 3-4 minutes.  Remove from oven and ladle a little bit of salsa into each one, add a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of sliced green onion. Serve immediately. Be happy. Enjoy life.

* * * * *

Also on yesterday's menu was Pizza Margherita. I made the same pizza dough recipe I used last time, Roberta's Pizza Dough. This time I had the "OO" flour, which was very nice. It's a finely ground flour, kind of like cake flour. And since I was using a pizza dough recipe from NY Times Cooking, I figured I'd use their recipe for Pizza Margherita too. And this was really tasty.


I followed the note at the bottom with regard to the "pizza sauce" and pureed a portion of canned tomatoes from our greenhouse last year. Also, I used a small amount of a Salsa & Pico seasoning I picked up at Penzey's recently. The seasoning is really nice on anything tomato. If I were going to do this again, I'd probably cook the tomatoes a little to reduce some of the liquid. It wanted to soak into the pizza dough a little bit, but it was still yummy. I just think it might be better if it were a little thicker. Anyway...so good. We ate it up. So that was pretty much food for the day, lunch and dinner. It's kind of fun to do those finger foods once in a while. 

There was another "Snowmageddon" event forecast for last night, but it failed to materialize. When we got up this morning, we had just a dusting of snow. It wasn't really cold enough for snow over night, which is a good thing because we got nearly four inches of rain over the weekend. Had it been colder, the snow really would have piled up.


Nevertheless, it's been snowing hard for the past couple of hours. When I sat down to write this post, it looked like this. I'm guesstimating about an inch of accumulation so far, and it's still coming down hard.


Snuggle Bug Sadie knows what to do.


The only sewing over the weekend was hand sewing. Charlotte is about 40% done at this point.


Today I'll get to work sewing Wheel Estate into a flimsy. Since I haven't really thought about how to set it, I'm not at all sure I have the fabrics I'll need. It's going to be a wall-hanging, and so I'm not going to get too carried away with sashings and borders. Hopefully, I can work with what I have and avoid purchasing more fabric...not that I have anything against fabric, but we're going to have to add a room onto the house if it keeps accumulating.

12 comments:

DeeDee said...

My family is outside of Seattle and they woke up to several inches of snow that was very wet and heavy! You've had a lot of snow this year, that's for sure. I can't wait to show my husband the pictures you posted yesterday of the new camper. He's going to love them. As far as fabric goes, I've got more fabric and yarn than I know what to do with - I have a whole room dedicated to my crafty pursuits. I need to use some of it up. And scraps - well let's just say I could probably wallpaper a room or two in our house with my scraps.

Pam said...

You better quit writing and showing us photos of your delicious food or you are going to have a mass invasion of hungry quilters. I will be first in the door. Your new traveling snail shell is cute as a bug (mixed metaphors?). Everything is so convenient and happily arranged.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I'm not a wings person - maybe some breast filetes with the sauce - Now pizza, bring it!! It's that bread love thing I think.

Quilting Babcia said...

Your superbowl treats look way more yummy than our leftovers, but then we didn't even watch the game so I suppose it didn't matter anyway. I need to stop thinking about quilting 24-7 and think more about recipes again, or not as long as nobody is complaining!

claudia said...

I got your Snowmageddon here. It wasn't lost after all, it took a wrong turn! We only actually got four inches, but for us it's a lot. For me it's crazy, I'm not used to this! But I love it. The sun came out a few hours ago and melted a lot of it. Now the clouds are coming back.
I need to go into town, but I am waiting for a prescription to be filled. I don't like going into town unless I can pick everything possible up all at once.
Your menu from yesterday looks Yummy!

Shirley said...

Your Super Bowl food looks delicious! We had a dusting of snow yesterday morning and it was gone within a few hours. Today the temps are in the upper 60s. So far, except for a couple of really cold days and one 10" snow, it has been a wonderful mild winter (in Virginia). Love the photo of Sadie. She is just adorable.

WoolenSails said...

You have been cooking up a storm, all of those dishes look delicious.
We are getting some more flurries but still too warm so it will turn to rain, fine with me.

Looks like the kitties know how to relax and enjoy the winter.

Debbie

Brown Family said...

Your finger food looks good. I have not gotten far on Charlotte, bu t I'll get there!

piecefulwendy said...

It's very fun to see Sadie so content and happy. She's very cute in the photo. Looks like you had a great weekend, despite the weather. The camper is amazing, by the way. Boy, they have really come a long way in design, etc. I watched a video a while back about a quilter who traveled with her long arm in her camper. I can't recall her name, but it was interesting how she managed to do that. It was the expanding sides that made it possible, if I remember correctly.

Lana said...

Move over Mike. I'm moving in! No, seriously move over! I'll just park myself in the camper for now. Lol just kidding. Barbara, your Super Bowl snacks look soooo delicious! And I've never camped, but I think I could in that awesome new camper. Looks like y'all will be having some fun times in that. If you come through Texas, stop and say "howdy!" And I'm sure we can locate some bluebonnet fabric for you.

quiltzyx said...

All the finger foods look delish. I think I had Jack in the Box tacos for dinner Sunday. LOL

Brr, cold is showing again. I'll be with Sadie, under a quilt, thanks very much.

Kate said...

Your finger foods look very yummy. Drama Teen turned on the very end of the game just so she would know who won. Hope you've had a chance to play with Wheel Estate. Looking forward to seeing how that one goes together.