Mashed Potatoes with Bacon and Cheddar

Ingredients:

2 bags frozen mashed potatoes
10 slices of bacon
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c. sour cream
2 1/2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
salt & pepper

Cook potatoes according to package directions and set aside. Fry bacon till crispy, allow to cool and crumble/break into small pieces. Using a fork, mash the potatoes until light and fluffy. Add the cream cheese, butter and sour cream and stir till well mixed and smooth. Add 2 cups of the cheddar cheese, half of the bacon pieces, salt and pepper to taste. Stir until well mixed. Put potato mixture into large casserole dish and top with the remaining cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 until slightly golden brown, about 30 minutes. Garnish with remaining bacon and serve.

I discovered this dish on Pinterest. It had all the ingredients I love - mashed potatoes, bacon and cheddar. The original recipe had you making the mashed potatoes from scratch. I cheated and used the frozen kind that you cook in their bag in the microwave. This takes all the hard work out of it as far as I'm concerned. The combination is delicious - I like it better than my old potluck recipe for hash brown cheesy potatoes. I'm making this to go with our ham this weekend for our family Easter dinner. I hope everyone likes it as much as we did.

Oven Roasted Squash

Ingredients:

6 c. zucchini, cut into large chunks
6 c. yellow squash, cut into large chunks
2 Tblsp. olive oil
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. lemon pepper
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Preheat oven to 450. Grease roasting pan with a bit of olive oil. Chop zucchini and squash and put into large bowl. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil over squash and mix until well coated. Sprinkle with garlic salt, lemon pepper and pepper. Mix with spoon until evenly coated. Pour squash into roasting pan and spread out evenly. Bake 20 minutes, stir, and bake an additional 15 minutes.

This is a recipe that I found online and tweaked the spices and cooking times - and it came out fantastic. I don't know how the recipe comes out the way I found it, I never made it that way. The recipe above is my own version and I wanted to remember how I made it so I can recreate it.

Usually when I cook squash and zucchini, I grill it or cook it in the skillet and it turns mushy and loses the flavor. I had some zucchini still left from my garden this year and we bought some yellow squash at the farmer's market to go with the zucchini. Cooking it according to the recipe above, the consistency and color were fresh and delicious, so flavorful. I cooked it in my stoneware 9x13, so I didn't need to grease the pan with olive oil. The skins of the squash and zucchini were really thick and I was worried it would be tough but they cooked perfectly. I won't bother grilling or pan frying it ever again.

Cucumber Pasta

Ingredients:

16 oz. rigatoni
3-4 cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 Tblsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. water
3/4 c. white vinegar
1 Tblsp. mustard
1 Tblsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic salt

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and rinse in cold water. In large bowl, combine oil, cucumbers and onion. Combine all remaining ingredients. Pour over salad and toss. Cover and chill 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally. Serve with slotted spoon.

I don't know where I found this recipe, but I'm glad I did. It's always a hit at potlucks and cookouts. I peel the cucumbers before slicing, but you can leave the peel on for an extra crunch and a bit of green in the salad. When I know I'm making this salad, I try to make it the night before so the cucumbers and rigatoni have time to soak up all the great taste. It's one of those that's possibly better the next day as leftovers. I've caught my husband sneaking into the fridge with a fork just to have a bite or two at night.

No Name Salad

Ingredients:
1 head fresh cauliflower
1 bunch fresh broccoli
12-16 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 can pitted olives (medium), sliced
1 packet Italian dressing mix
1 16oz. bottle Italian dressing

Use a large bowl with a water-tight lid. Cut/break apart cauliflower and broccoli into bite-size pieces and put into the bowl. Slice mushrooms and olives and add them to the cauliflower and broccoli. Put lid on on the bowl and shake to combine well. Sprinkle the dry packet of Italian dressing mix over the vegetables. Shake up the bottle of dressing and pour over the salad. Put the lid on tightly and shake again to make sure the entire salad is covered in the dressing. Allow to sit overnight to marinate the vegetables.

My husband collected this recipe from a co-worker. I think she came up with this recipe herself and didn't have a name for it so she called it "No Particular Name Salad." This is a great dish when entertaining - it makes quite a bit and you make it up the night before so your time prior to your dinner party can be spent doing other things. It is a great summer salad for cookouts or potlucks - there's no mayo to worry about spoiling in the heat, it is refreshing, crunchy, and tasty!

Smashed Potatoes and Broccoli

Ingredients:

2 lbs. large baking potatoes, quartered
2 broccoli heads (or 1 bag frozen chopped broccoli)
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 stick margarine
salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, about 20 minutes. Add the broccoli to the boiling potatoes and cook another 7 minutes. Drain and put back into the pot. In a small saucepan, heat the milk, cream and margarine. Pour this mixture into the potatoes and broccoli, mash together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This is a tasty alternative to plain mashed potatoes. My husband saw this side dish whipped up on the Food Network and we found the recipe online.

Steak Fries

Ingredients:

4-6 large baking potatoes
olive oil
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. thyme
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to the highest temperature. Slice the potatoes long and thin, leaving skins on. Place in single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Crush oregano and thyme and sprinkle over fries. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place in hot oven and bake for 20 minutes, turning once. Don't open the door to check on them other than when turning them the one time.
A great way to have a real meat and potatoes meal. I use Italian seasoning instead of the oregano and thyme - it has both in it and some other herbs that just add to the flavor. The Pampered Chef large bar pan (stone) works great to cook these, it has a lip so the fries cook in the olive oil and get brown and crispy where they are touching the stone.

Hash Brown Cheesy Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 32oz. bag frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 c. onion, chopped
1 stick margarine, melted
1 lb. cheddar cheese, shredded
1 pint sour cream
cornflakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine potatoes, soup, onion, cheese, margarine, and sour cream in large bowl and mix thoroughly. Pour in greased 9" x 13" pan. Top with crushed cornflakes. Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes, uncover and bake 45 minutes more.

This is an old stand-by - no potluck is complete without them. I have made these as a crockpot recipe as well: place in crockpot instead of the 9" x 13" pan and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Some recipes use crushed Ritz-style crackers instead of the cornflakes but I prefer the flakes. I make cheesy potatoes to go with ham for dinner some nights. These are great for brunch too.