2 recipes, 1 post...

Here are two of the promised recipes - the third is coming tomorrow!

I'm gonna go in chronological order. So first up - POTATO CROQUETTES!

I made this recipe on a night i so totally did not feel like cooking, and i wanted some type of comfort food - potatoes seemed like a good choice. Unfortunately, i didn't have all the necessary ingredients and ended up improvising. So i'm going to tell you how i made them, and then post the recipe for how they are supposed to be made.

You need two cups of mashed potatoes to start this whole recipe, so i took a few potatoes, washed, skinned and then sliced them. Throw those in a pot of boiling water and then drain them once tender. Then put the drained, sliced potatoes into the pot with a stick of butter [yes, a stick] and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk depending on how creamy you like your potatoes. I wouldn't make them too thin b/c you're going to be making patties soon enough. Ok now get to mashin'!! I mash the hell out of my potatoes - in fact, i honestly get a little pissed off if i see lumps and its a good way to take frustrations out. MASH THEM FOOLS!

Alright, enough mashing of the potatoes. Now is when my making of these croquettes strayed from the original recipe. See i didn't have the cilantro, red chili, or spring onions...i just completely left them out which i KNEW would make them a little bland, but i wasn't too concerned that night.

So i put 2 cups of mashed 'taters in a bowl along with an egg , grated cheese,low fat mayonnaise, sesame seeds , breadcrumbs (enough to bind everything together), and salt & pepper to taste and mixed it all together until a good consistency for making patties.

At this point, the recipe said to put the mixture in the fridge for 30 mins, but i was HUNGRY and didn't care to wait - so i didn't. I made little silver dollar-sized patties while my oil heated up over medium heat.


And then i fried them until golden brown on both sides. Just keep an eye on them, it doesn't take too terribly long.

And Voila! my fairly bland potato croquettes. lol In fact, they were very good, but i ended up dipping them in bbq sauce! YUM!



Potato Croquettes:

Ingredients:
2 cups of mashed potatoes
1 egg
¼ cup grated cheese
1 sprig of cilantro - chopped
1 red chili - chopped
2 spring onions - chopped
2 tbsp of low fat mayonnaise
2 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds
Breadcrumbs (enough to bind everything together)
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Mix all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Form into small patties and set aside in the fridge for half an hour before frying.

Heat up a little bit of oil over medium heat and pan fried both side until golden brown.

Serve warm.

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Next is a Sarah Original! I was sitting at work and REALLY wanted spaghetti bake for dinner b/c i'd seen it at a restaurant the weekend before and it looked really good. I could have looked up a recipe, but who needs a recipe for something like that if you consider yourself a cook? Honestly?!

So here's my version of the SPAGHETTI BAKE

First i browned a lb. of ground beef, adding a couple teaspoons of garlic and salt & pepper.

While your browning the meat, go ahead and get your water boiling for the spaghetti noodles. I normally like the thin spaghetti, but i got the regular spaghetti noodles and i broke them up into thirds. You know how spaghetti bake always has short, fat noodles - well this is how you get them! Then just cook the pasta according to the directions on the ole' package. Also go ahead and preheat the oven to 350°F.

Once the meat is done browning, i put it in a colander, drain it and run hot water over it - try to get some of the natural fat off the meat, plus it makes everything all greasy :P yuckers. I usually wipe out the pan with a paper towel as well to get the majority of the grease out of the pan too.

Put the ground beef back in the pan. Now this is where i kinda messed up - see, instead of throwing the meat directly into the pan, i should have waited and sauteed the veggies a bit first - but i forgot and didn't. Everything came out well since you end of baking the whole thing which gives the veggies some extra softening time - so SCREW IT - i never messed up - forget i even mentioned it! lol

So meat in pan. Now add the jar of pasta sauce [or your own homemade sauce, you snooty bastards!], onion, mushrooms, tomatoes and a little extra garlic b/c its awesome!

At this point, the pasta should be done. So toss it in the pan as well.

Mix everything together really well and put into a greased baking dish. Once its all in the dish, cover the top with cheese b/c cheese RULZ as the kids say. lol Stick the whole shabang in oven for about 15 to 20 mins - just check on it every once in awhile to see if the cheese is good and melty.

I threw together some quick garlic bread too. Melted some butter on the stove and added minced garlic then spread it over the bread. And added a layer of parmesan, put it on a baking sheet and tossed it in the oven with the spaghetti. EASY PEASY!

And its so purty when it comes out of the oven!

Let it cool just for a minute or two - then scoop into a bowl or onto a plate and serve with the bread and a salad if you like!


Sarah's Spaghetti Bake:
i'm not going to put any real quanities in this recipe. You adjust it to your needing - whether its the 5,000 or just the two of you!

ingredients:
1 - 2 lbs. of ground beef
traditional spaghetti noodles
jarred spaghetti sauce [any flavor you choose]
medium yellow onion - diced
canned diced tomatoes [sometimes i get the italian flavored ones from publix]
sliced baby bellos
grated parmesan
minced garlic
salt & pepper
italian cheese mix [they should have this at the grocery store. its normally parm, romano, etc... all together in one bag]

instructions:
preheat the oven to 350°F.

cook spaghetti according to directions on package, but break noodles into 3rds.

brown ground beef and add garlic and salt & pepper to taste

Once the meat is done browning, i put it in a colander, drain it and run hot water over it

Put the ground beef back in the pan. Now add the jar of pasta sauce, onion, mushrooms, tomatoes and more garlic if you like.

Now add the cooked pasta, mix everything together well and transfer into baking dish. Cover top with cheese and put into oven for 15 - 20 mins until cheese melts well. Once its done, pull it out of the oven and let cool for a bit.

Serve and Enjoy!